The Joy of Winning Souls

Recently I had a conversation with a man and I asked him what was the most important thing or event in his life.  He told me it was his family and went on to say that his daughter has a child 1.5 years old that lives with him and his wife.  He commented how this young child brought great joy to the family.  Children are a blessing and when they arrive there is usually great joy among the parents and family members.

Jesus told 3 parables in Luke 15 that emphasized what brought great joy in heaven.  So much joy that all the angels celebrated when a special event happened and that event was when one wicked sinner repents.

Luke 15:7,10,32

Jesus told these parables to the Pharisees who were questioning his involvement with people who were outcasts according to their theology.  They did not understand the level of joy celebrated when a wicked sinner repents.  This joy expressed in heaven is the same joy that we can have when we dedicate ourselves to being a soul winner for the Lord. 

Sadly 97% of Christians in the USA will never lead another person to Christ; they will never experience the joy of bringing someone to saving faith in Christ. 

 Luke 15:1,2

The Pharisees could not understand why Jesus would associate with such vile, horrible sinners.  They looked upon the people that Jesus spent time with great contempt.  In their eyes they were of no value and to spend time with them, eat with them, drink with them was not within the parameters of their religious legalistic beliefs.  Their self-righteousness and perceived moral superiority kept them from engaging these people.

“They called them the People of the Land.  There was a complete barrier between the Pharisees and the People of the Land.  To marry a daughter to one of theme was like exposing her, bound and helpless, to a lion. The pharisaic regulations laid down, “When a man is one of the people of the land entrust no money to him take no testimony from him, trust him with no secret do not appoint him guardian of an orphan, do not make him the custodian of charitable funds, do not accompany him on a journey.:  A Pharisee was forbidden to be the guest of any such man, or to have him as his guest.  He was even forbidden so far as it was possible to have any business dealings with him or to buy anything from him or sell anything to him….

the strict Jews did not say “There is joy in heaven over one sinner, who repents”: but, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.” Source: Wm. Barclay commentary on Luke.

The Pharisees knew how to keep rules and their lives were governed by them.  Anyone who did not keep the rules was scorned and despised.  Since these vile sinners did not conform, they were ostracized and avoided.  They could not get beyond the exterior of the people to see why they did not conform and what they were really like.  The solution of the Pharisees to control behavior was found in conformity to rules and they had hundreds of them to help clarify the commands of the Law.  Some of their rules were ridiculous.  Work on the Sabbath was forbidden so work had to be qualified by rules to make sure that they did not violate the command.  The Jew was forbidden to spit on the ground because the spit would move the dirt and that was considered work!  Likewise when Jesus healed the lame man on the Sabbath they took great offense when Jesus told the healed man to take up his bed and walk.  This too was considered work and was forbidden.  It would have been better for the man to remain lame then be set free.  This warped understanding of the Law lead to legalism and bondage.

Legalism never leads to liberty.  When was the last time a new rule brought transformation to your life? Conformity to rules never leads to compassion for people but leads to being critical and judgmental.  Instead of seeing divine potential the Pharisees only saw violations of their rules.  They never were able to see the heart of the people or have any compassion or understanding of their situation.  They judged quickly by what they saw and based on their assessment wanted nothing to do with these people.

Jesus took a different approach to people.  He saw beyond the external behaviors.  He saw a person of value and worth who had needs that they were trying to meet in ways that were not God’s ways.   He saw people caught in lifestyles of sin and rebellion that needed to be helped and set free.  He saw people who were not understanding their true identity and were living lives that were marked by destructive and unfulfilling behaviors.  The Pharisees were blinded to them by their own selfish, sinful behavior. One definition of sin is “missing the mark” and the Pharisees were missing the mark just as much as the people they called sinners.

The problem with legalism is that it keeps us from seeing our own true heart.  We can comply and conform to rules externally but our heart can be full of rebellion.  We can be obedient to the rules while at the same time hate the one who made the rules.  Many young people when they leave home find out what is really in their heart.  Often they engage in behaviors that were previously forbidden because they do not have their parents nearby to make sure they conform.  Their true heart is revealed.  Their conformity was not their own personal choice and when given the opportunity to not conform their true heart was revealed.  Rules will not transform the heart and when the rules are not enforced our true heart is revealed.

The Pharisees did not have transformed hearts.  When John the Baptist came he preached a message of repentance.  The Pharisees saw no need to repent.  We, like the Pharisees will not repent from our sin until we see our selfish, judgmental, self-righteous, legalistic, moralistic behavior and attitudes.  Once we see ourselves as we really are we can repent and receive forgiveness and experience the true joy of being in right relationship with God.  The reason there is such great joy in heaven after one sinner repents is because a transformation of the heart can now take place and the sinner can become the person they were created to be.  The phony shell that has kept their true identity and purpose hidden has been stripped away and they can now become the New Creation God wants them to be through Christ!!They become a child of God which is what God desires and this brings great joy to him.

The “great joy” Jesus brought out in these 3 parables must have been very disturbing to the Pharisees.  Their joy was found in condemnation not in reconciliation.

Luke 15:3-7

In all 3 parables something of value was lost, found and resulted in a joyous celebration.  The lost sheep was of great value to the shepherd.  He was responsible for its care and if lost would have to pay the owner or if was his own he would lose the money from its sale or the sale of its wool. The shepherds often worked in pairs so one could leave the sheep in the care of the other to seek after the lost sheep.  They were expert trackers and would search through rough terrain until the sheep was found.  If it was killed they had to bring back the skin as proof.  The entire village would wait for the shepherd to return and when the lost sheep was seen with him they would all celebrate.

Luke 15:8-10

The lost coin represented a day’s wages to the woman and if you are poor this means more to you because the loss will be felt more.  The coin may also have represented the future identity as a married woman. 

“In Palestine the mark of a married woman was the head dress made of ten silver coins linked together by a silver chain.  For years maybe a girl would scape and save to amass her ten coins, for the head dress was almost the equivalent of her wedding ring.  When she had it, it was so inalienably hers that it could not even be taken from her for debt.  It may well be that it was one of these that the woman in the parable lost, and she searched for it as any woman would search if she had lost her marriage ring.” Source: Wm. Barclay commentary on John

She searched with great diligence until it was found.  When found she celebrated with her friends, it was a joyful time to be shared with others who understood the value of the coin.

In these 2 parables a new concept was introduced by Jesus to the Pharisees.  The idea that God would search and seek after men was new to them.

 “The Jew might have agreed that if a man came crawling home to God in self-abasement and knelt before God praying for pity he might find it; but the Jew would never have conceived of a God who went out to search for sinners.” Source: Wm. Barclay commentary on Luke

Luke 15:11,12

The parable of the Lost Son was really a story about the two lost sons. Both the younger son and the older son were lost.  The value of the son could not be compared to the value of the lost sheep or coin; he was of infinite value and was irreplaceable.  He was not a possession but an eternal soul. 

He left home of his own will to fulfill his own selfish desires.  He brought shame to his father when he asked for his inheritance.  It was a though he was saying to his father, “I wish you were dead!”  It was very costly to the father.  In order for the son to receive his inheritance the father had to sell part of the property to be able to give him the money.  The property sold caused the father to lose the income it would produce until the day it would be given to his son as his inheritance.  One third of his property was sold to meet the demand of the son, “Give me the share of the property that is coming to me.”  The father did not prevent him from leaving even though he may have had reservations about his intentions.  He gave him the freedom to do what he wanted to do perhaps hoping that he would use the money wisely and be successful. 

Luke 15:13-19

 Once he left, the father did not send out a search party to monitor his behavior or try to bring him back home.  He let him go, releasing him to experience either success of failure.  Like any father he hoped for the best, that his son would be successful.

But this was not the case and the money was wasted on fleshly desires.  Finally the son realizes where he is at but he also remembers where he came from and made the decision to return to his father not as a son but to ask to be a hired servant. 

“The hired servant was the lowest rank of slaves who were only day laborers.  The ordinary slave was in some sense a member of the family, but the hired servant could be dismissed a day’s notice.  He was not one of the family at all.” Source: Barclay

He left his father with arrogance and pride but returned with humility and repentance for the sins he had committed against God and his father.  His attitude changed from “Give me” to “Make me”.

Luke 15:20,21

The reunion of the son with the father was probably unexpected by the son and the Pharisees while listening to the story must have been very upset by the response of compassion by the father.  The son must have had thoughts of being rejected by his father for the shame he had brought to him.  When he saw his father running toward him he probably wondered if he would be chastised and rejected.  It was not considered dignified for older men to run, they were to always walk.   Some have speculated that the father ran to the son in order to protect him from elders in the community who could have demanded that he be stoned for the disrespect he had shown to his father.  The reception of his father must have been overwhelming to him.  To be embraced and kissed by his father had to be a huge relief to him and certainly made it easier for him to make his confession of his sins. Though the son was willing to become a servant, the father never gave him the opportunity to make this request.

Luke 15: 22-24

Grace not judgment and condemnation was extended by the father.  The father was delighted that his son had returned and called for a huge celebration to be given.  The son was restored to the family and given a robe that represented honor, a ring that represented giving him the power of attorney to transact business for the father, sandals that identified him as a son and not a servant who went barefoot.  To top it all off the wheat fattened calf that was worth a great deal of money was butchered so they could have a great feast.

Luke 15:25-30

All the while this is happening the lost older brother is growing madder and more hostile to the father and his brother.  The older brother was responding just like the Pharisees would respond in a situation like this.  He was thinking only about himself. He became angry with his father and refused to join in the celebration.  He felt that he was entitled to better treatment because of his moral behavior and obedience to his father.  He was obeying out of wrong motives; it was not out of love for his father but love for himself and what he could get out of the situation.  He felt his behavior deserved more recognition from his father.  His years of service to his father were out of duty and not of love.

We see also in the comment of the older brother that his heart was not pure.  His comment that his brother had spent his money on prostitutes was his own speculation that revealed what he probably desired for himself.  Given the same opportunity his brother had he would have done the same thing.  His moral superiority was only a cover up for what was really in his heart.

His moral behavior was self-serving, hoping that he would be rewarded for his goodness or be seen as a virtuous person worthy of respect and recognition

Tim Keller uses the following story in his book “Prodigal God” that illustrates this point.

Once upon a time there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot.  So he took it to his king and said, “My lord, this is the greatest carrot I’ve ever grown or ever will grow.  Therefore I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.”  The king was touched and discerned the man’s heart, so as he turned to go the kings said, “Wait!  You are clearly a good steward of the earth.  I own a plot of land right next to yours.  I want to give it to you freely as a gift so you can garden it all.”  And the gardener was amazed and delighted and went home rejoicing.  But there was a nobleman at the king’s court who overheard all this.  And he said, “My! If that is what you get for a carrot-what if you gave the king something better?”  So the next day the nobleman came before the king and he was leading a handsome black stallion.  He bowed low and said, “My lord, I breed horses and this is the greatest horse I’ve ever bred or ever will.  Therefore I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.”  But the king discerned his heart and said thank you, and took the horse and merely dismissed him.  The nobleman was perplexed.  So the king said, “Let me explain.  That gardener was giving me the carrot, but you were giving yourself the horse.”

His resentment of his brother was so great that he did not even claim him as his brother “your son” was his description of his brother.  His brother had diminished the value of the family in the community, disgraced their name and diminished the family wealth.  He could not forgive his brother because he did not see himself as just as much a sinner as he was.  He had no sympathy for his brother and wanted his brother to be treated much differently than his father was treating him.

The attitudes of the older brother represented the very attitudes the Pharisees had toward the people Jesus found time to spend with and befriend.  They were being judged by Jesus in the parable and found guilty of the sins of being critical, judgmental, thinking of themselves as morally superior while having hearts as black as the sinners they condemned.  They lacked love and compassion for people who were of infinite value.

Luke 15:31,32

The father in the parable represents God’s attitude toward the lost and as believers we need to have the same attitude if we really want to bring joy to heaven. 

The father was quick to forgive the younger son and treated his older son with respect.  The older son had lost nothing; his inheritance was still the same.  The father emphasized the miracle of the younger sons return and how joyful the older son should be that his brother was now home.

We have all sinned and come short of what God intended for our lives.  We were either like the young son who rebelled and acted in the flesh to fulfill its desires in unholy ways or we are like the older brother who lives a moral life, is hard working, a rule keeper yet our hearts are not transformed and we live with anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, condemnation, judgment of others, insecurity, the drudgery of duty and lack real joy.  Both need to be saved by the grace of God, liberated to become the person God desires them to be through the work of Christ who alone can transform our lives.

We have to see people as God sees them with infinite value and worth. They are worthy of our efforts to reach them with the gospel and make every effort to share the message of salvation.  No one is beyond the grace of God, unworthy to be reconciled to him. We cannot isolate ourselves from the lost with judgmental attitudes.  Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to encourage them to reach out to the immoral people.

1Co 5:9  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--

1Co 5:10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

We have to represent God as he truly is.  People who are lost, who have strayed from God because they do not know him for who he is.  Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve and even in the fall, God’s true image has been damaged by the lies of the enemy.  Fallen man does not know God as a loving father who has sacrificed his most precious Son to be the payment for our sin.  God has been misrepresented and people have rejected him. We have to represent God and re-present God to a world that has been blinded to the truth of who he is and how much he loves this fallen world. Forgiveness and restoration to the place of honor in the family of God needs to be the message we communicate to the world.  The greatest joy in heaven and earth is leading someone to the Lord to receive everything God has for them.

The other part of this story which was the main reason Jesus told the parable is to expose the wrong attitudes of the Pharisees toward the lost.  There are many Pharisaical Christians in the church today. They have no love for the lost, especially those who are really horrible people.  They let fears and prejudice keep them from reaching out to the marginalized.  During the Jesus People Movement in the 1970’s Chuck Smith, the pastor of Calvary Chapel began to reach out to the hippies.  They would come to his church with dirty clothes and disgusting smells and would sit in the front on the carpet.  People in the church complained to him that they would ruin the carpet.  Chuck’s reply was “then we will take out the carpet.” 

Pharisaical Christian follow rules but lack a real relationship with God.  No real joy, life is about conformity and duty.

We all need to judge ourselves to see if we are misrepresenting God by holding Pharisaical attitudes toward any segment of the lost.  We also have a responsibility to the body of Christ to judge people in the church who are not reflecting God’s love for the lost.  We are not to judge people who are not believers, the Holy Spirit will do that for us but we are to hold each other accountable within the church to live as a real disciple of Christ.  Many will say, “Judge not least you be judged” but within the church it is our responsibility to make sure Christ is being represented as he truly has been revealed through the Scriptures.  Paul had to bring correction to the Corinthian church for immoral behavior that was taking place within the church.  He wrote:

1Co 5:12  For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

1Co 5:13  God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."

We do not do the church a favor by being silent when there is obviously a major issue that needs to be corrected.  Church leadership needs to take up this responsibility and hold believers accountable. It is not an easy job but it is necessary and it needs to be done correctly or it will not have the desired effect or result.  Restoration always needs to be the goal.  Recently in the news a pastor of a large church in Orlando, Florida was asked to step down by the leadership of the church after it was revealed that he had an adulterous affair for several years which was kept hidden.  These are obvious things that need to be addressed but just as important is our own attitudes that Jesus exposed among the Pharisees that we need to address with each other.

We must keep in mind that our mission on earth is to bring people to Christ.  We need to be reminded of the great joy expressed in heaven when the lost are found.  The joy in heaven is an expression of the heart of God when people are reconciled to him. 

We must reject the attitude of the Pharisees or the older brother and not let it creep into our lives and keep us from reaching out to the lost, no matter how lost they may be.

God has chosen us to re-present him to the world, to be his instruments he uses to reconcile people to himself and help restore people to their true identity.  He allows us the privilege of preaching his word to the lost so that the Holy Spirit can do the work of bringing people to repentance and faith in Christ. We bring great joy to heaven when we allow God to use us to bring people to Christ.