Joy Before the Angels of God

“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.” (Luke 15:8-10)

Jesus is on a roll with this as He continues on from the parable of a man who left the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one lost sheep and just rolls right into His next example of this concept – a woman who lost one of her ten silver coins. She searched until she found it and then called her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. With the ultimate point being made again that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

Everyone is Precious

Notice this theme, that only one was lost, yet it was counted as precious and important enough to search for. The shepherd has lost one of the hundred and it was worth his time and effort to find it because it was precious to him. This woman lost one of ten coins and it was worth searching diligently for.

Every single person is worth an immense value to God. So much so that He deemed them worthy to die for.

This parable not only demonstrates the value people have to God, but the joy He has when they are no longer lost. There is a joy in repentance because repentance is a reconciliation between God and man, the reconciliation God paid the ultimate price of Jesus’ blood to redeem.

We might be tempted to look at lost people by the dirt they’ve accumulated on them by sin, but their value never changes in God’s eyes. Jesus died for all of us while we were yet sinners – the sin that Jesus took on and became on the cross in order to redeem us wasn’t a hinderance to His love and sacrifice. Just because not everyone will accept Jesus as their salvation, doesn’t mean their value is any less in God’s eyes – He still paid the price for their salvation whether they accept it or not.

Lighting the Lamp

In the first parable with the shepherd, it gave a clear picture of Jesus as our Good Shepherd, going out to seek the lost sheep. However, in this parable of the woman, it gives a clear picture of the church. The Church is likened to the Bride of Christ, and we are commissioned as members of His Church, to go make disciples.

The Holy Spirit is also likened to oil in the Bible, being the oil in our lamps that lights the way for us, as the Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. Notice in this parable that the woman lights a lamp as the first act in searching for the lost coin. God’s word is essential in being the first action of the Church in searching for the lost. We can’t be lights of the world if we don’t first spend time in God’s word, individually and corporately together as a church body.

Sweeping the House

And after the woman lit a lamp, she swept the house. This, metaphorically, is effective in both our personal lives and in the ministry of reconciliation. We need to sweep the house of our hearts often. There can be dust bunnies hiding in places of our hearts that need to be cleaned out and make finding a lost coin much easier.

Practically, if you had dropped a coin and it fell under a dresser, then when you shine a light, the dust is going to make it harder for you to see the coin because the dust may block some of the light from hitting the coin. In the same way, dust in our own spiritual lives can hinder the light as we search for the lost.

Joy in Heaven

This phrase that Jesus keeps using, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents, has more meaning than our current culture understands on the surface reading of this. According to William Barclay, a Scottish minister in the early 1900’s, the religious rulers during that time, of which Jesus was primarily speaking to during this, had a saying, “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.”

How vastly different Jesus’ words and the perspective of God is here! The Pharisees in essence had made sound bites glorifying destruction of sinners and attaching a false perspective that it was joyous to God. Yet Jesus is telling them that the truth of the matter is – it’s the exact opposite. There isn’t joy in heaven over the destruction of sinners, that actually hurts the heart of God; the truth is, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

We must be careful as followers of Jesus to not have hearts like the Pharisees over the lost and sinners. We must remember from where we once came – we were lost, we are sinners, and just because we have accepted salvation and are saved by grace through faith in Jesus doesn’t make us perfect people who can now judge the lost. Being saved makes us people with a testimony who can be very effective in reaching the lost because we were once there too. We have experienced the change of Jesus in our lives and can help others by bringing that good news of salvation to them and walking alongside them in discipleship. So that what was once lost can be found.

And we should join with the angels of God in heaven in rejoicing over even one sinner who repents. That is a glorious thing when the reward Jesus died to pay for grows larger as His kingdom grows with each sinner who repents!

Will you take time to be in the word, being the light Jesus told us to be, and sweep your house, and be the hands and feet of Jesus in diligently seeking that which is lost? Diligently seeking the lost does take time, it does take energy, but I can 100% guarantee you that it is well worth your time and energy and is more important than anything else you could do with your time.