SCRIPTURE
In this chapter, Jesus is speaking to an audience of sinners, tax collectors, and the religious Pharisees and scribes. The religious men started complaining because Jesus was eating and speaking with sinners saying in verse two, “this Man receives sinners and eats with them.” But they didn’t understand that the very reason Jesus came was for sinners. In Luke 19:10, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost,” therefore, sinners, the lost are who He came to save. Then Jesus began to tell a parable about lost things [people.] He was making the point that when something is lost, as were these sinners and tax collectors, our natural response is to go look for it until it is found.
OBSERVATION
In these parables, Jesus very clearly describes His purpose for coming to the earth - to seek and save the lost. During my lifetime I have lost many things, but the most precious things in my life that are lost are family members. I have had the privilege of leading some of my family members to Christ, and boy you can’t imagine how elated I was. Needless to say, there was rejoicing in the house over each one that received salvation. That’s how Jesus feels when a sinner’s life has been pulled out of the fire and brought into the Kingdom of God. Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life so that all people can be saved. At the end of each of these parables, Jesus speaks about the “joy in heaven over one sinner that repents.” Sinners are lost souls and unless they are found, and led to life in Jesus Christ, they have no chance of eternal life in Heaven.
APPLICATION
Jesus is simply teaching us in these parables to go after lost people, share the good news of the gospel, and lead them to salvation in Jesus Christ.
The most important thing we can do as Christians is not to live to accumulate things, riches, or gain status. It is to go after people and share the good news. Those of us who are saved were brought into the Kingdom, and we are alive for such a time as we are living in today.
Don’t be afraid to tell people about Jesus. He has not given us a spirit of fear but of POWER, LOVE AND A SOUND MIND. 2 Timothy 1:7.
When a lost person is found and they repent, we should rejoice and celebrate because a brother or sister has been saved from the terrifying consequences of their sin.
In 2024 my goal is to let my light shine brighter than ever before to draw sinners and backsliders to Jesus.
PRAYER
Father in Heaven, thank You for saving me and allowing me to live for such a time as this. When I was on my deathbed, You lifted me up and spared my life, not for myself but to tell others about Your love for them. Father, help each of Your children to be a bright light in a dark and dying world. Help us to use our gifts to draw sinners to you. Give us boldness to tell everyone we meet that You love them. Guide us by Your Holy Spirit and Your Word each day to those who need to hear about Jesus. Let our tongues be like the pen of a ready writer, ready to release the good news that You have put in our hearts to others. In Jesus’ Holy Name. Amen!