So Jesus told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he’s lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing? When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost?’ Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.”
– Luke 15:3–7
What a beautiful story. And here’s what I’m thinking about when I read this passage today. I’m thinking about somewhere I was preaching recently. It was a smaller group. At the beginning I said, “A few minutes from now I’m going to invite people in this room to trust in Jesus.” And I knew it was a room of mostly followers of Jesus, but I just said, “I’m going to give an invitation at the end for you to stand in this room,” which I know would be a bold thing to do with everybody looking, “And to say, ‘Today I want to trust in Jesus as the Savior Lord of my life.'”
Luke 15:3–7 encourages us to live for Heaven’s joy.
So we got to that point at the end, I invite people to stand, and one person over here on the side stands up. One person boldly stands up, and the whole room erupts in applause and everybody’s cheering. And I’m standing there just thinking about this picture from Luke 15 of all of Heaven going nuts, like rejoicing. What a picture of joy in Heaven of rejoicing that one person has come to new life in Jesus. Wow.
And I just want to encourage us to live for this today. Do you realize you and I, by the power of the Spirit of Jesus in you and me today, can bring about a party in Heaven? Like cause angels, myriad angels to go nuts in celebration today? Why would we not want to pray for opportunities to do that, and pray for boldness to share the gospel, and pray for openness and people around us to hear and believe the gospel and trust in Jesus, and to go from death to life in a way that obviously brings eternal joy to them and causes a heavenly celebration to erupt? Let’s live for this today.
Luke 15:3–7 challenges us to share the gospel with boldness.
God, we pray for this to happen today. God, we would love to be a part of instigating a party in Heaven, rejoicing in Heaven, angels shouting, you as Father, rejoicing over a child brought into your family, a sheep that was lost being found.
So please help us today by your Spirit in us, Jesus, to boldly share the gospel with somebody today, with confidence not in ourselves. God, we have no reason for confidence in ourselves; but with confidence in your Spirit in us and the gospel that has power to save people today.
God, we pray that it would happen. We pray for people we know we’re going to be around who may not know you. God, we pray for their salvation today. We pray that you would bring about heavenly rejoicing today.
And God, please help us to live for this every day. Help us to live for this every day, God. Don’t let us grow complacent with the good news of the gospel when we’re surrounded by sheep in need all around us every day. Help us to live for this rejoicing in Heaven.
Prayer for the Aringa People
And God, we pray for this all around the world. We pray specifically today for the Aringa people of Uganda, for this Muslim people group, 700,000 of them. God, we pray for rejoicing in Heaven over the Aringa people’s salvation. Please God, bring it about. Please. Draw in sheep from the Aringa who are brought into the flock… Children brought into the fold of you as Father through Jesus, the Son. God, we pray for the salvation of the Aringa people… For their eternal joy and for the sake of rejoicing in Heaven.
We pray all of this according to your Word in Luke 15, in Jesus’ name…
And oh God, I’m just compelled to also just praise you that there was rejoicing when this happened in my life, in each of our lives; that when we went from being lost to being found by your grace, Heaven had a celebration over us. Oh, this is awesome. We love your Word and we pray it according to it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
