PENTECOST • 15

What Does God’s heart for the lost look like?

SONGS FOR PRAYER

SET PRAYER

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.


reading for: Tuesday Night, 6 September

Luke 15: 1-10

Through Our Lord Jesus, God seeks the lost

  • READ

    Luke 15 presents three different parables. In today's reading, we will look at the first two parables, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. A parable is a short story that illustrates and lets the hearers understand one main point.

    Luke 15 starts with Jesus being near tax collectors and sinners. These are the people who are the outcasts of the day. They are what many would refer to as the lost. They were society's rejects, and no one would want to eat or hang out with them. Jesus did not refuse to hang out with them but chose to eat with them. This caused grumbling from the pharisees and scribes, who were the religious leaders of the day. Jesus responded to them by telling the parables in Luke 15.

    Luke 15:4-7

    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 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. 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 that 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.

    A man that has a hundred sheep and if one sheep was lost would leave the ninety-nine sheep and go and search for the lost sheep. When he finds the lost sheep, he carries it home and rejoices with his friends and neighbours. Jesus then points out that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

    Luke 15:8-10

    "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

    The parable of the lost coin makes a similar point. Any woman who has ten silver coins and if she loses one will light a lamp and search the whole house for the lost coin. There will be rejoicing when the coin is found. Jesus ends this parable proclaiming that the angels will rejoice over one sinner who repents.

    Jesus is the Lord concerned for the lost, and he does not leave them alone, but he will go and search for them. Jesus is willing to eat and fellowship with them. He wants to bring them home so they may know him and his Father.

  • REFLECT

    The parables present Jesus, who does not isolate himself from the lost but delights in searching for and spending time with them. As followers and disciples of Jesus, will we follow our Lord to search and seek for the lost so we can partner with him in leading the lost back home? Reflect and ask God to place the desire in us to say yes to him. What is one thing we can do this week to partner with our Lord in this work of seeking and saving the lost?

reading for: Wednesday Night, 7 September

Exodus 32:7-14

Through Godly persons God intervenes for the lost

  • READ

The Israelites were sinful people who, while Moses was up on the mountain with God receiving the commandments from God for the people, the people of Israel were impatient and sinful. They called on Aaron to make them gods. They were forsaking the God who brought them out of Egypt.

God speaking to Moses on the mountain, told Moses to go down, for his people have corrupted themselves. They have not followed the ways of God. They have worshipped other Gods. They are stiff-necked people. They are lost, and they are sinners. What was God going to do with them?

Exodus 32:10

Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you."

God told Moses to leave him alone so that the wrath of God may burn against them and that God would consume these people so that God may make a great nation of Moses. Moses did not waste time and started to make intercession for the sinful and lost people.

Exodus 32:11-14

But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.' " And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Moses interceded for the sinful and lost so that God would not destroy them. This same intercession and more is what Jesus makes for the sinners today. Jesus is the true Moses and faithful high priest that makes intercession for the sinners and the lost. (Read Hebrews 4:15,5:7-10)

  • REFLECT

    Jesus makes intercession for the lost and sinful people. He is the one that is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. Will we be like Jesus and intercede for the lost we know and come into contact with? Will we pray for them that they may return home? Will we partner with our Lord in this journey to bring them home?

reading for: Thursday Night, 8 September

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Through our Lord Jesus, God saves the lost

  • READ

    Paul gives thanks to the Lord, who has given him strength because the Lord has judged him faithful and appointed him to serve the Lord. Though formerly Paul was lost and a persecutor of the Lord, the Lord saved him and showed him mercy. In short, Paul says that he was previously lost, and the Lord searched for him, found him and brought him home.

    1 Timothy 1:15

    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

    Paul states categorically that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This is the work of Jesus, it is to save the lost. Paul received mercy so that Jesus Christ could display his perfect patience as an example to those who believed in Jesus. Paul is saying that if Jesus showed patience to him as the persecutor of the Jews, surely those lost and sinners would be shown patience if they would come and believe in Jesus. Jesus, our Lord, delights in showing patience to the sinner and lost and desires to bring salvation to each sinner and lost who believes in him.

  • REFLECT

    Reflect on how the Lord has saved us from sin and darkness. Jesus did not abandon us when we were lost but came to save us. He has shown us mercy. Therefore, let us partner with him to let his mercy shine forth to others.

    What is one thing we can do this week to partner with our Lord in this work of seeking and saving the lost? Will we say yes to our Lord?

reading for: Friday Night, 9 September

Psalm 51:1-10

Through the Holy Spirit, God gives mercy to the lost

  • READ

    Psalm 51 is a psalm of David written in the lowest valley of the life of David. It was written at the time, just after David committed adultery with Bathsheba and when Nathan the prophet came to confront David. Adultery was a grave sin in the time of Israel and carried with it very severe consequences. (Leviticus 20:10)

    Psalm 51:1-10

    Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

    The Holy Spirit exposed David’s sin, through the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12). This resulted in David’s conviction and repentance. In the psalm, David called on God to have mercy on him and to blot out his transgressions. He was calling on God to wash him from his iniquity and cleanse him from sin. David recognized that his sin was first and foremost against God and that he was asking God to cleanse him and wash him.

    We know that God did have mercy on him because though he was punished, God did not put him to death. Just as God showed mercy to David, God will also show mercy to the lost in Christ.

  • REFLECT

    Jesus is the one that shows mercy to the lost and sinner. He is the one that forgives their sin and blots out their transgressions.

    Reflect on how when we have failed and were in darkness, how the Lord forgave our sin and brought us from darkness into light. Also, partner with him to pray and intercede for the lost so that the mercy of the Lord will be poured forth on the lost.

Season of PentecostCNL