“The Greatest Joy”
Luke 15:1-10
March 1, 2009
Joke: Do you like to laugh? Do you like to have fun? What are some of the fun things you have done? A lot of people don’t realize that ‘joy’ is a major part of who and what God is. Last week we talked about love – and the essence of God is love. But He is also joy. One of the ‘fruits’ or expressions of God is joy. God laughs! He lives in joy. One of the products of His being - is joy. Heaven is a place of joy. We learned in our Scripture that heaven ‘celebrates’! Isn’t that a cool thought? When I think of heaven, I don’t picture people sitting on clouds serenely playing harps. I think of a party. It’s a celebration. I think of laughter and joy.
Since God is a God of joy and heaven is a place of celebration – I want to share with you today what puts a smile of God’s face and causes His heart to leap in joy – and I want to show you how to do it.
First you need to realize that God is your Father. God is your creator. He loves you so much. His love is so tender and filled with desire to bring you joy. Do you believe that? Do you believe that He doesn’t want harm to come to you? He certainly does not want you to perish – or die spiritually. God is a good God and wants only what is best for you.
Now understand if that is true for you – it is true for everyone in the whole world. It is true for your kids. It is true for you family. It is true for your neighbor. The Bible says,
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come…”
1 Peter 3:10
Folks, the day of the Lord is coming. Things will just be going on as they always have – and then the Lord will come for His own. And He doesn’t want anyone to perish. God wants everyone to come to repentance. God doesn’t want anyone to suffer the consequence of sin or rebelling against Him. You remember the consequence of sin don’t you? Death.
“For the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23
"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” John 5:28-29
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:11-15
It is so important to believe in heaven and the rewards God has for us – but it is equally important to believe in Hell and the consequence of rebellion. Most Christians, while they say they do – ACT as if they didn’t. If we really believed in hell and the result of ignoring God’s will or rebelling against God – we would be highly motivated to do what we could to save our loved ones and friends.
Last week, one day after a hard day of work, I put on an old movie. It was called “The Red Badge of Courage”. The lead actor was Audie Murphy. It must have been one of his first movies after the War because he looked like a baby faced teenager and neither his acting nor the movie was very good. The story was about a soldier in the Civil War who was afraid and ran from combat – then returned, overcame his cowardice and became a hero.
It wasn’t too believable to me, because I don’t believe Audie Murphy was ever a coward – and never cried in fear. Audie Murphy was the most decorated soldier of World War II. He received every decoration for valor that this country had, including the congressional medal of honor, plus 5 decorations presented to him by France and Belgium. He did what He did for the same reason most people do heroic things – for the love of his friends.
If we love others – it ought to motivate us to heroic actions. I believe the most heroic and meaningful thing you will ever do is to lead someone to Jesus. The wages of sin is death – but the gift of God is eternal life. Jesus provided the means of salvation – He wants to present it through you. His last recorded words in Matthew is:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:1-20
Jesus came back from the dead and found His old Friend Peter, who had denied Him and deserted Him. Jesus helped His friends catch some fish, built a fire and cooked the fresh fish, and ate it with them. As they sat beside the Lake, they talked. Listen to Jesus’ dialog with Peter.
“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.” John 21:15-17
Do you know Jesus asks you to do the same thing? Maybe not in the same way. Your gifts and talents are different than Peter’s – but God asked you to give your life in service to others.
I love the story of the young man, walking along the beach after a big storm. The beach was littered with debris and hundreds of star fish that had washed up to shore. He knew it was only a matter of time before they died.
As he walked he came across an old man gathering as many star fish as he could and throwing them back in the sea. He said, “You got to be kidding. There as so many. You won’t be able to save them all.” “No”, the old man said, “I can’t save them all”, and as he threw a star fish in the sea, He said, “but I can save this one.” And Your job is to save as many as you can. You are able to reach people no one else can. In fact, they won’t be reached – if you don’t do it.
You may be thinking, I don’t have a clue how to do that. Let me share with you a simple way to lead someone to the Lord. Paul wrote that some people plant the seed, some water it, and some are privileged to reap. So understand that you never fail when you share the Lord with someone. Your job may be to plant spiritual seed. It may be to water what someone else has already planted. If you are really blessed, you may be privileged to reap a soul for the Kingdom.
There are many, many plans and methods and I have tried most. I have settled on the method called “Evangelism Explosion” by James Kennedy. I like it because it is not threatening, you don’t have to memorize a lot, and it’s natural. It begins with a question. As you are talking with a friend about spiritual things, it is natural and easy to turn to them and gently ask, “May I ask you a question?”
Most people say, “Sure”. They give you permission. If they say, “No”. Then you assume the door is closed. Don’t go against their will or ‘force’ religion down their throats. If they say “Sure” as most people will. You ask the most important question anyone will probably ever ask them. It is this:
If you were to die right now, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven?”
Most people will say something like “I hope so” or “I think I will” or “No one can really know that. Some may say “Sure”. You then ask them to share how they know. But for the rest you ask another question.
“Would you like me to share with you how you can know for certain that you have eternal life?”
Most everyone says, “Yes!”
If I have my Bible I turn to 1 John 5:13. I have them read for themselves – or I read this:
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13
I point out that the Bible says that we may KNOW we have eternal life. John tells us how we know in the verses 11 and 12.
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:11-12
I point out that the Bible says the key to heaven is a relationship with Jesus. If you have the Son (or if HE has YOU) you have eternal life. If you do not have the Son – you do not have eternal life.
So what does that mean? Does it mean we simply ‘believe’ there was a person called Jesus Christ? After all the Bible says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31) But it also says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe – and shutter.” (James 2:19) James goes on to say ‘the proof is in the pudding’. Or faith will be accompanied by action. When John the Baptist saw some religious people coming to be baptized he said, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance”. (Matthew 3:8)
I think the real answer to what it means to ‘have Jesus’ can best be answered by Jesus. Listen to the Scripture.
“A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ’You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’"
"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Luke 18:18-22
Jesus is asked what a person must do to inherit eternal life. He establishes the fact that He is God, then says ‘be obedient’. The guy says he is. Jesus says there is still one thing missing – His heart. He loves wealth more than God.
God demands our all. God want us to love HIM with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength. Whatever is most valuable to you – is your god. Salvation is through Jesus – and we must value Him more than anything else. If we do – we have eternal life.
Now, I have to tell you, I don’t lay all that on someone I am trying to win to the Lord. It might be a bit much. It may take a little growing into. Did you notice how gentle Jesus was? We need to be kind and gentle and non-confrontational, too. I point out that in our relationship with Jesus, we are doing one of three things, 1. We are openly going against Him. 2. We are ignorant of Him and just doing our own thing. Or, 3. We are striving to follow Him and please Him in everything we do.
I ask, “Where are you in your relationship with Jesus.” If a person is willingly rebelling or have just been ignoring him, I turn to 1 John 1:9. It says,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Confessing your sins is kind of like apologizing to Jesus for not doing His will. I ask, “Would you be willing to admit you have sinned and ask Jesus to forgive you?”
If they would, I kneel with them and pray a prayer like this:
Dear Jesus,
I know I have sinned against you. Please forgive me. Please come into my heart and my life. From this point on – I am going to live for you. Purify and cleanse me from anything that isn’t right in my life.
In Jesus name,
Each of us has to have prayed a prayer like that at some time in our life if we are Christian. If you haven’t prayed a prayer like that – then that is the first thing you need to do. If you have prayed a prayer like that – it is now your job to go and prayer that prayer with others.
This last week, I certified 24 people in First Aid and CPR. In the next few weeks I have to certify about 36 more. I enjoy teaching people how to save someone’s life. But even more important is to know how to save someone’s spiritual life. It is my prayer that I have taught you how to do that this morning. It is also my prayer that you will be heroic and put yourself at risk to save someone this week. Wouldn’t it be great if we each won someone else to the Lord this next week? Jesus said,
“The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
Let’s do the same. Jesus said,
“I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10
Let’s start a celebration in heaven. YOU can do it!
