The sinners flock to Jesus, not because He preaches a compromising message but for the way they were treated – Jesus loves them.
• The first thing needed for reaching the lost is compassion.
• We need to show more compassion to those we need to bring to Christ.
• Love makes the different. It separates Jesus from the teachers of the Law.
The lost matters to God – there is MORE joy over one sinner coming home than the 99 already at home.
• God is in a relentless pursuit of lost people.
• Here we must learn the heart of God. He wants to save one lost sheep at any cost.
• God sent his one and only Son Jesus to the cross as a ransom sacrifice for our sins. God sacrificed everything to save his lost sheep.
• God’s care for one person is absolute. He will make a detour to talk to a Samaritan woman at a well; He will change His itinerary and stay over at Zacchaeus’ house.
The second thing needed for reaching the lost is persistent effort.
• It requires sacrifice. It requires commitment.
Read Luke 15:4, 8
The lamb is lost, and so is the coin.
• Both the shepherd and the woman hunt and rummage around until they find what’s missing. They are persistent!
• One lost lamb is a little thing to find in so vast a wilderness. One lost coin is a tiny thing to find in the whole house.
• But that didn’t stop them.
The son has gone far from home, with the inheritance.
• There is nothing left to draw the son back home.
• The father receive no letter, no phone calls, no news of his lost son
• But there is no letting up of hope – we see the father watching, longing, and hoping for his return. Who knows how long he has waited…
They all showed a common attitude towards the lost – don’t give up!
• It’s a “never give-up” attitude – the hope is always there for the lost to be found.
• Tremendous time and effort are spent, but it’s worth it.
• Jesus’ life purpose statement is “to seek and save what was lost.” (Luke 9:10)
In order words, we cannot be PASSIVE, if we really want to find the lost.
• It cannot be a “wait and see” thing.
• They won’t come to us, if we do not go for them.
• Our lack of desire to start the search, or our failure to act, will mean they will remain lost.
Someone puts it this way:
In essence, we’ve condemned the lost before they’ve been given a chance at survival.
• By our passive indifference, we cause them to remain in their ‘condemned’ state.
See the account in Acts 10 – Cornelius’ house.
• Peter was called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.
• God tells him in a vision that he “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (10:15)
• See Acts 10:28. It wasn’t easy. Peter obeyed, went and preached.
• As he was preaching, the Holy Spirit falls on those who hear the Word (10:44).
You see something here – God needs a carrier.
• They need to know Jesus, only then can the Holy Spirit works in their lives.
• One man did what he was called to do – and a whole crowd was saved.
God is looking for carriers – who are willing to make the connection (with lost people) and then He will do the rest.
• Which mean, we cannot remain in a passive mode.
• We need to connect with the lost in some way.
I need to say something here – we must not be discouraged by lack of results.
• We tend to look at results as the number of people coming to accept Christ.
• If I cannot convert anyone – if it’s the Holy Spirit that does that - then it is obvious that God is not looking at results but the efforts I put in.
• The question, “How many people have you converted?” is not correct. The right question is, “How much efforts have I put in, to reach the lost?”
We are just one ring in a long chain of events that will challenge the lost person to consider Christ.
• We’re just one ring, but we are critical! The chain is as strong as its weakest link.
• Every act of kindness and love is a ring built into the chain.
• One day, may be at a crusade or some outreach event, the person will come to accept Christ – not solely because of a 30-min sermon he just heard, but for the many encounters he had with Christians over the years.
On the contrary - a bad testimony by a Christian can mars or destroy years of preaching the person has received.
• It’s not just an event-based thing, but a relationship-based thing. We are into it for the long haul.
So make every effort to reach out.
• We cannot afford to be passive and expect the lost to be saved.
• We have to ask, “What sacrifice am I prepared to make? What kind of investment have I put in to reaching my friends?”
What if you are evangelistically introverted?
• We love the Lord and desire to see our friends know Christ, but we don’t think we have mastered the right techniques or we are afraid of rejection.
• We need to look at evangelism at a different angle. It’s not just about preaching.
• Reaching out is about “ordinary attempts.” Ordinary attempts like a readiness to pray for or with your friend, simple relational acts of kindness, sincere questions, or a listening attitude.
• Someone said, “Missing people prefer prayer to preaching”; “People crave attention. Give it away, and they’ll find it hard to resist.”
What can motivate us? See again the true VALUE of that which is lost.
• We have more than 150 people worshipping here on average. It means that if two of you went missing (out of this whole church congregation), we must take noticed and show concern.
• But that is usually not the case. It really doesn’t bother us that much.
• Frankly, to have 99% of us still around is a GREAT thing.
We’re very contented, but not God.
• 2 Peter 3:9 “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.”
• That’s what Jesus wants us to see.
In 1995, during the Bosnia-Serbia war, a US fighter plane F-16 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile south of the Bosnian city of Banja Luka June 2.
Captain Scott O’Grady ejected and evaded capture by Bosnian Serb forces for 6 days before his rescue June 8 by a Marine Corps search and rescue team with multinational support. Initially nothing was heard of O’Grady, whether he had been captured or not, but the US Base finally made radio contact with him and he was immediately rescued.
All the sophisticated instruments via satellite, personnel and planes used in the rescue operation of captain amounted to US$1.6 billion. That’s how much they value the worth of one US pilot.
But spiritually, how much is a soul worth?
• Our Lord tells us, "What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37).
• That soul is priceless. Nothing of any value on earth could buy that soul.
• That is why heaven had to pay the price. Jesus came and paid that price.
From The Straits Times, Monday, September 30, 1996
"No money, no rescue"
A 6-YEAR-OLD boy drowned in a river in southern China after bystanders refused to rescue him unless his penniless sister paid to save her brother’s life, a newspaper reported.
Hongkong’s South China Morning Post said that Huang Tao and his 8-year-old sister were standing on a bridge overlooking Yangchuan River in Guizhou province watching soldiers in a drill when he slipped and fell into the water. Huang Yan cried out for help, but no one responded to her plea.
"There were many people fishing, walking or playing on either side of the river… but no one would help the little boy," the newspaper quoted a stinging commentary published in the Women’s Daily in China. A group of young men playing cards told the girl to stop bothering them. A vendor folded up his stand and left without a word.
"If I rescue him, what good will it does me?" asked a young man. The commentary said that “the boy was not killed by the merciless waters, but by the merciless hearts of those people.”
Tao’s struggles kept his head above water for several minutes before he succumbed to exhaustion. Only when the boy’s parents, alerted by his sister’s screams, arrived and offered 100yuan (S$17) did the bystanders indicate an interest.
"The young men even tried to bargain for a higher price," the newspaper said. As soon as the soldiers heard the commotion, several rushed over to save the child but it was too late.
A fisherman who retrieved Tao’s body refused to turn it over to his sobbing parents until they paid him 200yuan.
"Money itself is not cruel, but when people are obsessed by it, the world becomes a terrible place," the newspaper said.
Earlier this month, Guangzhou issued rules stipulating punishments for people who did not try to save others "in mortal danger". Beijing officials are also drafting similar legislation.
It’s sad to see how the world has degenerated to such an extent.
• A physical life was lost here. The same thing is happening in the spiritual realm.
• Don’t allow our hearts to turn so cold, that it no longer moves us.
Let’s start somewhere. Make it a point to reach out to someone this week.
• Instead of reaching out to billions (in the world), try starting with one.
• Don’t reach out to your class, just start with the one sitting beside you. Don’t reach out to your company; try starting with just the one across your table.
• Just one? One is enough to shake heavens and call for a party!
The second thing needed for reaching the lost is persistent effort. Never give up.
