DEVOTIONALS
Joy In Finding and Sharing
Luke 15: 1-32
What are God and His Son Jesus like? Once you accept the existence of God
and His Son Jesus that becomes life’s biggest question. Nowhere did Jesus
more clearly answer that question than in Luke 15:1-24. Jesus in these three
parables tells what His Father is like. And in John 10:30 Jesus says, “I and My
Father are One.”
1st. The Lost Sheep: God seeks that which is lost. God’s greatest joy is in
finding that which is lost. (Luke 15: 5-7), “And when he has found it he lays it
on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home he calls together his
friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘rejoice with me for I have found my
sheep which was lost.’” I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons
who need no repentance.” Jesus declared His mission from His Father in
(Luke 19: 10),”For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which
was lost.” NKJV
2nd. Parable of Lost Coin: “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she
loses one coin does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully
until she finds it? ‘And when she has found it, she calls her friends and
neighbors together saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece
which I lost!’” “Likewise I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15: 8-10).
3rd. Parable of the Lost Son: The son made a choice to leave the home of
his father and go into a far country and waste all his living on his chosen life
style. Luke 15:17 is a very important part of the rest of his life, “But when he
came to himself….” The follow-up verses 18-24, involve the prodigals’
homecoming scene describing the actions of the boy’s father. That is “What
God is like.” Words like: longsuffering, forgiveness, and love describe both,
the prodigal’s father and our Heavenly Father. There are so many ways that
God shows Himself to those like the “Prodigal” who in coming to himself
remember what home is like and return.
Jesus does attract the lost... The central characteristic of Jesus’ ministry
was His appeal to the abhorrent, repulsive, despised, and branded of His
age. More and more of them came, one group after the next. These were not
Jesus “groupies” seeking to be close to a great man. He really had an
affinity for the irreligious and they felt it in their hearts. In this regard Jesus
stands unique among all biblical figures. The lost wanted to be near Him. Do
they want to be near you and me?
Adversely, Jesus repels the merely religious from Himself. The Pharisees
were a 6,000 member layman’s league dedicated to outward piety and purity.
When they saw Jesus’ attracting the irreligious they continually and
persistently muttered their disgust (Lk. 15: 1-2). In these parables our Lord
wants us to understand that God is like the Shepard, the Woman, and the
Prodigal’s father. God and His Son Jesus are like those in these parables.
Those who are following Him should be like this. Our God seeks and joyfully
recovers that which is lost.
Take a moment to pray about the actions of those in these parables. Get
serious about your life and your life style; come to your self, consider where
you are and where you could be. If you are lost He is seeking to find and
recover you.
GIVE YOUR LIFE A CHANCE, “Christ came to seek and to save that which is
lost.”
Brother Steve
E-Mail (steveshipley39@yahoo.com)
Luke 15: 1-32
What are God and His Son Jesus like? Once you accept the existence of God
and His Son Jesus that becomes life’s biggest question. Nowhere did Jesus
more clearly answer that question than in Luke 15:1-24. Jesus in these three
parables tells what His Father is like. And in John 10:30 Jesus says, “I and My
Father are One.”
1st. The Lost Sheep: God seeks that which is lost. God’s greatest joy is in
finding that which is lost. (Luke 15: 5-7), “And when he has found it he lays it
on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home he calls together his
friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘rejoice with me for I have found my
sheep which was lost.’” I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons
who need no repentance.” Jesus declared His mission from His Father in
(Luke 19: 10),”For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which
was lost.” NKJV
2nd. Parable of Lost Coin: “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she
loses one coin does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully
until she finds it? ‘And when she has found it, she calls her friends and
neighbors together saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece
which I lost!’” “Likewise I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15: 8-10).
3rd. Parable of the Lost Son: The son made a choice to leave the home of
his father and go into a far country and waste all his living on his chosen life
style. Luke 15:17 is a very important part of the rest of his life, “But when he
came to himself….” The follow-up verses 18-24, involve the prodigals’
homecoming scene describing the actions of the boy’s father. That is “What
God is like.” Words like: longsuffering, forgiveness, and love describe both,
the prodigal’s father and our Heavenly Father. There are so many ways that
God shows Himself to those like the “Prodigal” who in coming to himself
remember what home is like and return.
Jesus does attract the lost... The central characteristic of Jesus’ ministry
was His appeal to the abhorrent, repulsive, despised, and branded of His
age. More and more of them came, one group after the next. These were not
Jesus “groupies” seeking to be close to a great man. He really had an
affinity for the irreligious and they felt it in their hearts. In this regard Jesus
stands unique among all biblical figures. The lost wanted to be near Him. Do
they want to be near you and me?
Adversely, Jesus repels the merely religious from Himself. The Pharisees
were a 6,000 member layman’s league dedicated to outward piety and purity.
When they saw Jesus’ attracting the irreligious they continually and
persistently muttered their disgust (Lk. 15: 1-2). In these parables our Lord
wants us to understand that God is like the Shepard, the Woman, and the
Prodigal’s father. God and His Son Jesus are like those in these parables.
Those who are following Him should be like this. Our God seeks and joyfully
recovers that which is lost.
Take a moment to pray about the actions of those in these parables. Get
serious about your life and your life style; come to your self, consider where
you are and where you could be. If you are lost He is seeking to find and
recover you.
GIVE YOUR LIFE A CHANCE, “Christ came to seek and to save that which is
lost.”
Brother Steve
E-Mail (steveshipley39@yahoo.com)
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