November 4th, 2025
Rejoicing
“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.” -Luke 15:7
As usual, I am writing this to you on Sunday evening. We had a baptism today. Baptism, as we understand it in the Reformed tradition, is an outward sign of an inward change. It is a way of saying without words, “I know I am a sinner. I understand that I need Jesus. He is now my Savior and my Lord.” The young lady who was baptized today is, as far as I know, a very nice girl. She seems sweet and quiet and good and all of the things. Although I don’t know her well, I find it hard to imagine her committing horrible, egregious sins. I suppose I could be wrong, but I rather doubt that. Still, as both of our sacraments remind us, we are all sinners in the sight of a holy God. We need redemption. Without Christ, we are all hopelessly and irretrievably lost, nice girls included.
Luke 15:7 is of course the denouement of the parable of the lost sheep. I wrote about black sheep a couple of weeks ago, and at the time I reminded us that we are all at some point that black sheep—wandering, lost, confused, and pretending it’s all just fine while fighting against the Good Shepherd trying to rescue us. It is still true and always will be. The question is, why would the angels rejoice more over the one than over the ninety-nine? In a nutshell, it’s because the ninety-nine don’t actually exist. There are no righteous persons who need no repentance. Not a single, solitary one. Jesus Himself was the only human for whom that applies, which is why He was able to take the punishment for the rest of us.
Once a long time ago I took a class on what was called “The Six Great Ends of the Church.” Even as I was participating in the course, I knew it was largely nonsense. I don’t recall now specifically what those alleged six ends were, but I remember thinking that there was actually only one, and that all the other stuff was either a means to it or an outgrowth of it. That one great end is to bring people into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and to disciple them in that relationship. That’s it. The Great Commission. Go ye unto all the world and preach the gospel. Or go ye next door, or to work or to school or to Walmart or wherever it may be that there is need for the good news. Spoiler alert: it’s everywhere. You can’t tell too many people, you know? It’s not like there’s a bag limit or something.
The other side of this, naturally, is that sinners come home all the time. Every minute of every day, somewhere in the world a sinner falls to his knees and repents and invites Christ into his heart and life. And every single time, the angels rejoice. God’s goodness and mercy are great indeed. I know hearts were singing this morning as we watched our young friend receive the sacrament of baptism. There was joy in the house of the Lord today—in our house, for our family; and there was joy in heaven. May that joy be known everywhere.
Peace.
Jackie
“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.” -Luke 15:7
As usual, I am writing this to you on Sunday evening. We had a baptism today. Baptism, as we understand it in the Reformed tradition, is an outward sign of an inward change. It is a way of saying without words, “I know I am a sinner. I understand that I need Jesus. He is now my Savior and my Lord.” The young lady who was baptized today is, as far as I know, a very nice girl. She seems sweet and quiet and good and all of the things. Although I don’t know her well, I find it hard to imagine her committing horrible, egregious sins. I suppose I could be wrong, but I rather doubt that. Still, as both of our sacraments remind us, we are all sinners in the sight of a holy God. We need redemption. Without Christ, we are all hopelessly and irretrievably lost, nice girls included.
Luke 15:7 is of course the denouement of the parable of the lost sheep. I wrote about black sheep a couple of weeks ago, and at the time I reminded us that we are all at some point that black sheep—wandering, lost, confused, and pretending it’s all just fine while fighting against the Good Shepherd trying to rescue us. It is still true and always will be. The question is, why would the angels rejoice more over the one than over the ninety-nine? In a nutshell, it’s because the ninety-nine don’t actually exist. There are no righteous persons who need no repentance. Not a single, solitary one. Jesus Himself was the only human for whom that applies, which is why He was able to take the punishment for the rest of us.
Once a long time ago I took a class on what was called “The Six Great Ends of the Church.” Even as I was participating in the course, I knew it was largely nonsense. I don’t recall now specifically what those alleged six ends were, but I remember thinking that there was actually only one, and that all the other stuff was either a means to it or an outgrowth of it. That one great end is to bring people into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and to disciple them in that relationship. That’s it. The Great Commission. Go ye unto all the world and preach the gospel. Or go ye next door, or to work or to school or to Walmart or wherever it may be that there is need for the good news. Spoiler alert: it’s everywhere. You can’t tell too many people, you know? It’s not like there’s a bag limit or something.
The other side of this, naturally, is that sinners come home all the time. Every minute of every day, somewhere in the world a sinner falls to his knees and repents and invites Christ into his heart and life. And every single time, the angels rejoice. God’s goodness and mercy are great indeed. I know hearts were singing this morning as we watched our young friend receive the sacrament of baptism. There was joy in the house of the Lord today—in our house, for our family; and there was joy in heaven. May that joy be known everywhere.
Peace.
Jackie
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