Heavenly father's happiness.

Luke: 15:1~7 "Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

While reading carefully Luke chapter 15 from the first verse till the last, we can feel God father's mind, comparing with the parents of this world. We don't know how desperately God father wants unbelievers to come back to him. They are the people who live their lives according to their own will. They don't know what sin is. They don't know how terrible the consequence of the sin is. They are just boasting of themselves. They are blowing their fists against God. They are really poor and miserable. They are the very people God is interested in. God wants them to come back to him. God is waiting for them. To let us know this fact, Jesus uses three parables in chapter 15.

One shepherd grow 100 sheep. In the evening, he counts them. He finds one missing. One lamb hasn't come back yet. So the shepherd goes out to the field to go after the lost lamb. He spends all night long there. At last he finds the lost lamb and he is so pleased that he comes back with the lamb on his shoulders. Here this shepherd is God father.

One woman has 10 drakmas. A drakma is a very valuable silver coin. She loses one of them. She is searching for the lost one every corner of her house. When she finally finds it, she is very happy. Here the woman who is searching for the lost drakma is God father.

A father has two sons. The second son leads a loose life. He gets his heir from his father and goes far away from his father, where he is absolutely free to do everything without any interference. With each passing day he wastes all money he has. And finding no other place to stay, he decides to come back to his father although it is too shameful. As soon as his father can see him from a long distance, at the one hand with compassion and at the other hand being so happy, his father runs to him and throws his arms around him, kisses him and is dancing with joy. Here this father is the very God father.

there are several verses which show how much God the father considers the lost one as precious and valuable in chapter 15 like verse 7 "I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." and verse 10, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." and last verse 32, "But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." In these verses Jesus describes God's mind very vividly, realistically and in detail.

There is another fact that moves us. That is, God shows his interest to specifically one person. For example, one sheep among 100 sheep, one drakma out of 10 drakmas, and one son out of two sons. Like this, God shows his deep interest to one person. But this one person is not so important to our point of view. In chapter 15, verse 1, we can see there are tax collectors and sinners listening to Jesus. Pharisees and leaders of Israel laughed at Jesus, because he kept his friendship with them.

Yet through these parables Jesus says that they are the very people whom God is looking for. When one sinner returns to God and one tax collector repents, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God. God is desperately waiting for the one who is not considered as a valuable person and to whom people never show any interest to come back. And when they return by repenting God is very pleased as if he got the whole world. This is the very message which Jesus gives us.

Whenever we have worship service on Sunday morning we are interested in the number of the people who are attending worship service by thinking that "How many people are attending today's worship service." For example we think like this; 'last Sunday we had 30 members, and if there are more than 30 members, it's OK, but if there are less than 30 members... it may be, or can be a problem.

But God has a different viewpoint. God is not happy with the numbers. If God is concerned about the number, how many people should attend worship service to please God? And God does not want only famous people to come back, either. We tend to be happy if one or two well known celebrities or rich men are newcomers. And we will make fuss by saying, "This time, a professional singer decided to believe in Jesus!" We are very much interested in the fact that well known people and famous people repent and come back to God. But God is different. God regards one tax collector, one prostitute and one sinner as precious.

through this word We find out the fact that God is looking for a soul. And when he finds one, he is most glad. He is not looking for a large number of people but one person. He put the greater value than whole world on one person and waits for him or her to be saved. And God wants us to put the work of saving one soul in the first place of our ministries. So let us give God our heavenly Father joy and happiness and that is making a lost soul come back to God. Let's pray together.

[Closing Preaching Prayer]

Thank you God! for your salvation for us. And thank you for your searching for the lost people. We would like to join in your joy. We would like to feel happy like you. We want to be used for the work with which you are pleased. There may be some brothers and sisters around us who do not believe in Jesus for long time. God father embrace them, forgive all their sins and fill their hearts with the happiness of being God's son. And fill us with holy spirit so we can spread gospel to them. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.