SOMETHING TO BE GLAD ABOUT

 

Most of us, if we think about Heaven at all, think of it as a kind of glorified church where everything is sedate. Or a marathon hymn-sing — a prayer meeting that never ends.

 

We think of Heaven as a world off by itself, isolated from all the clamor and pain and tragedy of this earth. But the Heaven Jesus describes is not like that at all.

 

The Heaven Jesus describes is a place where every sor­row,

                                                                         every pain,

                                                                         every act of love,

                                                                         every evil deed that takes place on this earth is more keenly felt there than it is here.

 

Jesus says that every child that walks this earth has an angel that constantly beholds the face of the Father in Heaven.

 

Jesus says that when one sinner repents Heaven is filled with joy over that one sinner. Imagine! One broken-down soul like you or me repents and all heaven rejoices.

 

Jesus says that the people this world forgets are the very ones that Heaven remembers. The people this world ignores, despises, tramples on are the ones Heaven pays special attention to.

 

When poor Lazarus who laid at the rich man's gate died;

 

- he was given royal treatment,

- he was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

 

There are numberless people who never will get decent treatment on this earth. They will die without ever having one human being take their part or give them a decent meal.

 

But Heaven will see to it that they are comforted. They will be comforted.

 

There are people in our city who don't know how to stand up and demand attention. If they die before the coming of the Lord they will die forgotten by this world. But not by Heaven.

 

Heaven may be far away, as far as human eyes are concerned, but it's closer than our own hands, as far as God is con­cerned.

 

 

 

When you pray,

 

 Our Father who art in Heaven ,

 

it doesn't take half-a-year for your prayer to get there. It is heard immediately.

 

Precisely because this earth is Satan's present home and the scene of so much misery and grief Heaven is very close. The eyes of Heaven are on this earth 24 hours a day.

 

Not a sparrow falls.

Not a hair drops from your head.

Not one tear runs down the face of a child without the Heavenly Father and all the glory-creatures that sur­round Him knowing all about it.

 

If you really want to know what Heaven is like, and whether Heaven cares about what's going on in this world, watch Jesus as he walks through the land of Israel

 

- healing the sick,

- feeding the hungry,

- comforting the bereaved,

- forgiving the sinners.

 

There's not a pain or a sorrow or a temptation that He doesn't feel.

And who are the people Jesus' heart goes out to?

 

The lost sheep.

The sinners.

 

Jesus wasn't being sentimental. He was simply doing the thing He came to do — to seek the lost.

 

Jesus didn't just sit around and drink beer all night with these sinners and try to be their buddy. He called them to repentance. And they repented.

 

God be merciful to me a sinner!

 

Lord remember me when you come into your Kingdom!

 

Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if

I have de­frauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold!

 

And every time one sinner repented, how Jesus rejoiced! Nothing on this earth brought Jesus more joy than to see a sinner turn around and come into the Kingdom!

 

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured saying, "This man re­ceives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: ''What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders re­joicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors say­ing to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost'. Just so I tell you there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

 

Jesus hasn't changed. Jesus is still seeking the lost. And Jesus is seeking the lost not invisibly or in mid­air, Jesus is seeking the lost through a Body of flesh-and-blood people. A Body of people who are ruled by His love.

 

If you want to know where the Church of Jesus Christ really is,

 

- Don't ask what brand it is,

- Don't ask how many members they have,

- Don't ask what kind of building they meet in,

- Don't even ask what their doctrines are.

- Don't ask whether it's institutional or non-institutional.

 

If you really want to know where the Church of Jesus Christ is, look for people who give evidence of two things:

 

l. They're out there with Jesus seeking the lost.

 

2. They rejoice with Jesus and all the company of Heaven when

     one sinner repents.

 

Wherever you see these two things you're looking at the true church of Jesus Christ. You will see His church nowhere else.

 

Churchianity is not out there seeking the lost. It's busy seeking numbers, building its own thing, expanding its influence, asserting its power, consolidating its gains. It goes not where the lost are;

 

- but where the money is,

- where the people are that it can use,

- or where it can make an impression on the news media.

Many of us have spent years of our lives laboring to build churchianity. Some of us still haven't caught on to what a waste this is. We're trying to preserve something that isn't worth preserving. God isn't in it and we know it.

 

The true Body of Christ on earth is made up of the people who are out there finding that one lost sheep, that one lost coin, that lonely broken prodigal.

 

They're out there looking, seeking, calling.

 

If we really belong to Jesus,

 

- we're going to see people through his eyes,

- we're going to care about them,

- we're going to weep over them,

- we're going to pray,

- we're going to give them of our substance,

- we're going to share what we have.

 

If we really belong to Jesus, we will be drawn by God to the very people that this world is passing by. We'll spend time with them. And when we start having the love of Jesus toward them, God will give us the power to speak just the words they need to hear.

 

If there is any message the Spirit of God has been driving home to his people, it's:

 

 Get out there and seek the lost!

 

 Spend time with those people this world has forgotten!

 

And I'm not just talking about people in bars and dope houses and street corners and convalescent homes and bikers clubs — although we ought to be in all these places. Sit down with pencil and paper and ask God to remind you of the people you have forgotten and you'll be amazed at the faces that will flash across your mind,

 

To seek the lost!

 

- That's what we're here for.

- That's the only reason God didn't take us off this earth.

- That's our work - to share with them the for­giveness of God that has set us free from Satan's power. To touch them with healing. To show them the love that never fails. And we don't seek them in numbers. We seek them one-at-a-time.

When you start seeking the lost in the name of Jesus, you will find that the lost will start seeking you,

 

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near

 to hear Him.

 

They drew near to Jesus because they knew that they were close to his heart. And they will draw near to you when they know His love is in you.

 

It's easy to spot a group of believers that seeks the lost. That fellowship will be sought out by the tax collectors and sinners and Lazaruses and Mary Magdelenes — they'll all be there.

 

And the second mark of the true Body of Christ on this earth is that there is genuine joy among them when one sinner repents.

 

- Not froth.

- Not cheap enthusiasm...

 

"Strike up the band, we got another member."

 

But JOY.

 

The joy of God and all the angels to see another brother or sister walk in the door of the Father's house.

 

Not joy over numbers. "We got 25 souls tonight." Joy over one sinner that repents. There will be numbers. 3000 were baptized on Pentecost. But Heaven rejoiced over each one of those 3000 as if it were the only one. Not one soul was lost in the shuffle. Not one was for­gotten.

 

Expect to see it happen:

 

All kinds.

All ages.

All races.

All classes.   Finding their way into the kingdom.

 

We will have more occasion for joy than we have ever had in our lives. I pray that for every one of us as we see these things it will be not hardness of heart like those murmuring Pharisees, but holy joy.

 

I pray that joy will spread over us like a mantle each time one man finds his way home to God. Each time one woman washes Jesus' feet with her tears.

 

 

 

 

For as the clouds thicken and the storm of Divine Judgment prepares to strike;

 

God is giving his people on this earth something to be glad about.

 

God is giving a harvest of reborn souls wherever his people are out there seeking the lost,

 

There will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

 

If, as you read these words, you are hearing the call of Jesus to repent and draw near to Him, don't hesitate! Jesus himself invites you. And may God give us all — today and in the days ahead — the joy that sweeps through Heaven every time one sinner repents.