Who Cancelled the Party?

In my blog posting yesterday I shared two of the three reasons we see in Jesus' parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin in Luke 15 as to why He built bridges to sinners and tax collectors of His day. Those two reasons were:

Sinners are lost and very valuable to God!

God is willing to go through infinite trouble to find lost people!

But I think the third reason we see in these stories is the best one of all. The third reason why Jesus built bridges to sinners and tax collectors is because nothing brings more joy to heaven then when a lost person is found!

In the story of the lost sheep, when the shepherd finds the sheep he rejoices and calls all of his friends to rejoice with him. In the story of the lost coin, when the woman finds the coin she rejoices and calls all of her friends to rejoice with her. So it is in heaven! When a lost person finds Christ, the Triune God rejoices and calls all of heaven to rejoice as well!

Now think about it! Every day all over the world thousands of people put their faith in Jesus Christ! According to Jesus, every time one lost person is found all of heaven rejoices. Now, let's get these facts straight. If every time a sinner finds Christ all of heaven rejoices and thousands of people all over the world every day put their faith in Christ, what does that say about heaven? It says that heaven must be one non-stop gigantic party! With this in mind, I have to ask just this one question:

"WHO CANCELLED THE PARTY IN THE CHURCH?"

I think the old evangelist, Gypsy Smith, may have said it best when he said, "The church doesn't make half enough fuss when one is converted!" Oh, we get excited when everyone at church is dressed up and all the men have their shirts tucked in! And we can get excited when the temperature and lighting in the auditorium is to our satisfaction. And we can get really excited when the music in church is to our liking! And we reach the pinnacle of excitement on those rare times when the volume in church is how we like it!

But when was the last time that we got so excited about a man, a woman, a teenager, a boy or a girl coming to Christ that we just couldn't contain ourselves? That's why Jesus built bridges to sinners and tax collectors! That's why we must daily put the purpose of the church over our own personal preferences. That's why evangelism must be the engine that drives the church!

Come on, Church! Let's celebrate!