THAT LOST SOUL

D a v i d    P a m   M c Q u e l

As soon as human beings form communities, alliances are build and people associate based on priorities and values. These values define who they are and what their choices are. As a result, they follow paths and patterns that feed their preferences.

It is true in social relationships as it is in spiritual communities. As Israel strayed away from the covenant of Abraham, as the Old Testament began to whine down to its end, the voice of God went silent, because the grain of wheat must die to bring forth the new.

The Levitical Priesthood became prominent since the prophetic ministry depended on hearing God. That prophetic guidance was lost. Israel eventually depended on traditions built around her past experiences with God. Even though some of these traditions contradicted God’s revelation knowledge.

The three arms of spiritual leadership in Israel was the High Priesthood, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Scribes were basically secretarial heads.

Then Jesus came.

Prior to his coming, the Pharisees and their rivals, the Sadducees were gladiators. They ruled spiritual things with arrogance, with pride and with selfishness. Gradually, it became clear according to tradition that as long as you don’t go through the two, it will be impossible to reach God.

What arrogance!

Then Jesus came. But Jesus will not join either team. And they will not accredit him for ministry. The intriguing thing about Jesus to them was his faultless life and the unparalleled manifestation of grace and power through him.

Nicodemus summarised it this way:
He came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. We know that God is with you. If he weren’t, you couldn’t do the miraculous signs you are doing.” John 3:2 NIV

They had no doubt about the integrity, transparency, infallibility, wholesomeness and genuineness of his person and ministry. But their major problem was that he would not associate with them.

In their exaggerated self-importance, nobody should know God without passing through them and God should not reveal Himself to anyone beyond them without letting them know.

As the launched series upon series of attacks to discredit him, to smear his ministry and his person, He just superseded all their expert professionalism.

On one occasion, this drama ensued.
“The tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were whispering among themselves. They said, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Then Jesus told them a story.
He said, “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them. Won’t he leave the 99 in the open country? Won’t he go and look for the one lost sheep until he finds it?
When he finds it, he will joyfully put it on his shoulders.

And go home. Then he will call his friends and neighbors together. He will say, ‘Be joyful with me. I have found my lost sheep.’

“I tell you, it will be the same in heaven. There will be great joy when one sinner turns away from sin. Yes, there will be more joy than for 99 godly people who do not need to turn away from their sins.” Luke 15:1 – 7 NIV

It is true that tax collectors and prostitutes were some of the morally depraved people then. And God liked neither extortion nor sexual perversions.

However, some people in society were vilified, condemned and written off.

The tax collector and prostitutes were at the top of the table.

However, the truth is that man was lost. Man was destined for eternal judgement. Man’s final place has little to do with his practice but more to do with the fallen state of man engineered by Adam our first ancestor.

In His first coming Jesus came to save and restore from the fall. And from His coming, Jesus got down to business. He spent three-quarters of his ministry attending to the weak, the despised and the rejected. They needed eternal salvation. All mankind including the Pharisees needed eternal mercy.

The Pharisees on the other hand sat merely as judges rather than mercy high priests. Their self-assigned duty was to judge and enforce the law of Moses and the tradition of the elders.

What is the worth of one lost sinner? One lost sinner is equivalent to the 99 who never wandered away.

Jesus taught that the one lost sheep was worth sacrificing all the 99 to save it.

This passage made me realized we need to understand and follow the pattern left by the Master.
Everyone one lost soul, every wretched life, in captivity to sin, drugs, crime or whatever is that lost precious soul that needs to be our pursuit.

Finally, notice the reaction in heaven towards the salvation of one lost person. Great joy! That one lost but found soul will be well celebrated and it will for the moment take the shine off the 99 who never strayed in the first place.

Now we know where the heartbeat of God is, the lost soul.

What will you do about it?