*ChildrenOfLight!*: 3/16/08

This week we will be celebrating Easter and we are all believing God for a great harvest!
- We should never get tired of winning the lost!

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Jesus came to save the lost, this was His mission.

I believe that deep in our hearts, as all true followers of Christ, we also long to become evangelistic, soul-winning, “contagious” Christians.

Although some of us may be unsure about how to do so or what are the risks involved ...
- Deep down, they sense that there isn’t anything as rewarding as seeing a person opening up to God’s love and truth.
- We want to see the lost being saved like never before here in Singapore, as well as in the mission field.

However, we will not take decisive action unless we first raise our motivation level.
- And one of the best ways to become motivated = getting God’s perspective on evangelism.

There are two main motivations we will study.

MOTIVATION #1: PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD.

God’s ultimate priority = bringing salvation to the lost!

God wants to save the sinners.
- He has an unquenchable passion to find those who are lost.

How do we know that? Let’s consider the following four points:

1. God longs to save the lost.

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2)

One day, Jesus was teaching in a major city center.

He found Himself surrounded by two groups of people:
• The tax collectors and sinners.
- The non-religious, the “undesirables,” the spiritually-confused, the morally- bankrupt people of the town.
- People who mostly felt that God wouldn’t have any use for them.

• The Pharisees and scribes.
- The religious people, well-educated, those who obeyed the laws of God.
- People who thought quite highly of themselves.

They were complaining about Jesus hanging out with the group of “undesirables” in society.

Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking about and got very upset.

So He told a series of three parables in succession ... to make sure everybody understood who or what really mattered to God.
· The Parable of the Lost Sheep (v3-7)
· The Parable of the Lost Coin (v8-10)
· The Parable of the Lost Son (v11-24)

Notice the common thread that runs through these three parables in Luke 15.

In each story, something of great value was missing, and it was something that really mattered to the person affected.
· The wandering sheep was very important to the shepherd.
· The lost coin was vital to the woman.
· The confused son mattered greatly to his father.

Jesus is showing us through these three simple stories that the wanderers, the lost, and the spiritually confused, are actually of great value to our heavenly Father!

That day, when Jesus’ listeners put all that together, they were probably crushed by the weight of God’s love.
- A love so great that it could look beyond sin, to treasure the wayward people.

A love so powerful that it could patiently endure years of resistance, selfish pleasure-seeking, money-chasing, and power-wielding.

In the face of all this, God’s love says, “Even though you’re way off the track, you still matter to Me! You really do!”

That is the kind of compassion God has for fallen humanity.

- And, friends, if we are not careful, we can all fall into the same religious pride of the Pharisees.

The truth is: people matter to God and therefore, they should matter—and really matter—to US!

When you start looking at other people with the same kind of attitude Jesus had, you will be totally revolutionized in the way you treat people.

The three parables in Luke 15 clearly tell us that there is no human being who is not valuable to God.

- When that truth becomes a revelation to you and grips the core
of your being, you will never be the same!

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9)
God desires for all to come to repentance.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:1-4 )
God desires all men to be saved and know the truth—the truth of His love for them.

All right, people matter to God ... but how much?

2. God is concerned for actual souls.

NOTE: In the three parables in Luke 15, we see another important point:

Whatever was missing was important enough to warrant an all-out search.

· The sheep gets lost, the shepherd “goes after the one which is lost until He finds it (v4).”
· The coin was missing and the woman searched the whole house until she located it (v8).
· The wayward son ran away and the father’s eyes kept scanning the horizon, refusing to rest until the son came back home (v20).

These parables emphasize an “actual finding.”
- God does not believe in just talking about evangelism.

- He is eager for actual souls.

Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
(John 4:35)
Jesus says the time for the harvest is now! - But simply proclaiming His lordship alone to these people is not enough!
- Laborers must be sent ...

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:37-38)

God wants the grain cut, bound in sheaves, and carried back into His barns—the Church!

And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. (Matt. 10:14 )

Jesus instructed His disciples not to waste time with those who rejected the gospel
- But to move on to those who would be ready to receive it.

Christians are people on a mission ... we are in a race against time.

Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:23)

We must try our best to persuade, challenge and influence others to be saved.

But like the father of the prodigal son, we must respect the freedom of the lost.

- So although we don’t force or bribe people into salvation, we must share God’s love and care with great urgency.

3. God’s primary purpose in sending Jesus is to save the lost.

God’s singular purpose for sending Jesus Christ to the earth is recorded throughout the New Testament.

for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
It is through Jesus Christ that the world will be saved.
- This is Jesus’ primary purpose ... to save the lost!
- Everything else is secondary.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have absolutely no business in entangling ourselves with secondary issues while His primary purpose is left unattended.

Which leads us to the last point ...

4. God’s primary mission for believers is to win the lost.

What is God’s plan and purpose for us here on earth?
- To worship Him? To study His Word? To serve Him in His
house?

- We can do all that for eternity in heaven... but there is one thing we cannot do in heaven—save the lost!

Many Christians faithfully go to church and worship God, yet, they still feel unfulfilled in their life ... something is missing.

So, what is God asking us to do?

The primary mission for us here on earth is to evangelize to the lost and win them into the kingdom of God.

- That is the only one thing we can do on this side of heaven.
- God wants us to be the channel of His love to reconcile the world back to Him.

John 20:21 (Jesus said:)
“... As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Matt. 28:19-20
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age.”

As we go forth to obey the Great Commission, our life will take on a new dimension of joy, purpose and fulfillment.

CONCLUSION
Friends, people matter to God!
- Let’s be motivated by the love of God that we have experienced and begin to share it with others. Over the remaining days until Easter, let’s begin to evangelize like never before!