Good day
In the previous message we found out that we'll be rewarded or recognized for how well we carried out the assignment God has given us and the lives we impacted with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now why would God reward us for something if it wasn't important or if it didn't mean anything?
Surely one can conclude therefore that reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ is held in high esteem, that it's considered a worthwhile cause, that God places a value on it ... and that reaching these people must therefore be important to Him.
Luke 15:1-24 NLT
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
The Parable of the Lost Coin
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
The Parable of the Lost Son
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
I want you to notice some points from the above passages. It all began when the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complained that Jesus was associating with sinful people, to which Jesus responded with the 3 parables indicating to them, and to us, the priority that God places on reaching the lost and how there's MORE rejoicing in Heaven over that 1 person that comes to salvation than over 99 who are righteous...This tells me that preaching the gospel is important, that leading people to salvation is important.
We can also see from the above passage that lost people are IMPORTANT to the Lord. This is seen in the COMMITMENT of the shepherd, the PERSEVERANCE and PURSUIT of the woman and the COMPASSION of the father.
God valued relationships so highly that He came down to the earth, taking the form of a man, laid aside His deity, walked among us humbly and without sin, demonstrated the kingdom of God, was rejected by man and was crucified on a cross, died and shed His blood for our sins, taking the punishment of sin that was due to us and purchased our salvation through His blood, death and resurrection ... all so that we could have a relationship with Him!
John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Romans 10:9-13
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 5:6-9
While we were yet in weakness [powerless to help ourselves], at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly. Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die. But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.
All of this God CHOSE to do ... He set it in motion ... This clearly tells us that God places a value on having an eternal relationship with us and that people are important to Him.
... and if they're important to Him, then they need to be important to us as well.
Amen