Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Synoptic Gospels 1: Messenger of the Covenant (5)
Pray Psalm 107.1-3.
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
Sing Psalm 107.1-3.
(Faithfulness: Great Is Thy Faithfulness)
LORD, You are good, we give thanks and we praise You!
Your steadfast love will forever endure.
Let the redeemed, who from trouble You rescue,
gather and say that Your mercy is sure!
Refrain vv. 1-3
LORD, for Your wondrous works, and for Your steadfast love,
we give You thanks, we exalt Your great Name!
We who from east and west, north and south gather,
boldly redemption in Christ we proclaim!
Read Matthew 4.18-22; Luke 15.1-10; Luke 19.1-10; meditate on Matthew 4.18-22.
Preparation
1. Whom did Jesus come to seek?
2. How did He intend to do that?
Meditation
Luke especially, among all the gospels, shows Jesus as Messenger to the lost. A lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son, a lost tax collector: Jesus saw in their lostness their deep need for His message—Himself.
We once were lost, but now we are found. Nothing of our own did we bring to this salvation. Like lost fish in the sea, the Lord cast His net by the hands of faithful fishermen—parents, a minister, a friend, or the Holy Spirit speaking in your soul—and gathered us unto Himself.
The first disciples left home, family, and work to follow Jesus as messengers to the lost. In our own place and time, we must all be prepared to do the same. God has spoken His Word over us; our duty is to hear and obey. James and John, like Andrew and Peter, may have known Jesus, or heard Him preaching the Kingdom (v. 17). When He called them, He and His message were irresistible. They wanted to be with Him. They wanted to enter that Kingdom. In Jesus they glimpsed something eternal, beautiful, good, and true, and they devoted themselves to obtaining it, whatever the cost.
Their example is the model of discipleship to which we must aspire. When what we see in these disciples is true of us, we’ll follow Jesus no matter how He leads us, in whatever calling He has appointed for us. As in the days of His incarnation, Jesus continues to be the Messenger to the lost through His disciples.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
To follow Jesus, two brothers left their fishing nets; and another set of brothers left the boat and their father.
To find a lost sheep, one man left ninety-nine safe sheep to go after the one.
To locate a lost coin, one woman swept her whole house clean to search carefully for the missing piece.
To show His disciples what Kingdom work looked like, and to give Zacchaeus a new life, Jesus went to Jericho and stood under a sycamore tree so a very short man could see Him and realize salvation.
In response to Jesus, Zacchaeus repented of his sins, restored all he had unjustly taken, and his life changed from that moment on. As Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19.9, 10).
Peter learned this lesson so well that when his ministry began, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 2.18), he said: “‘Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart [just like Zacchaeus], and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call’” (Acts 2.36-39).
“And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the Name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls” (Joel 2.32).
It did come to pass, and then it came to pass again, and now it will come to pass in finality. And blessed are we, as we get to participate in this Kingdom work!
We are living in that time and place, the here and now of eternity, called to be His disciples and to follow Him. We are to leave the extraneous behind—anything that is vying for attention that should go to God (Ex. 20.1-11), our nets, boats, fathers, sheep, coins, sins—to carefully search for the lost sheep, coins, and Zacchaeuses in our Personal Mission Field.
It’s what Jesus did; it’s what the disciples did; and it’s what we are to do.
“Their example is the model of discipleship to which we must aspire.”
Reflection
1. What does it mean for you to seek the lost in your Personal Mission Field?
2. Think back: How did Jesus seek you when you were lost? What faithful “fishers of men” did He use? How?
3. What can you learn about fishing for the lost from the way Jesus sought and found you?
So the Lord chose fishermen who in a better way of plying their fishing trade were converted from earthly to heavenly fishing, that they might catch the human race for salvation like fish from the deep waters of error, according to what the Lord himself said to them: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Chromatius (fl. 400), Tractate on Matthew 16.2
Pray Psalm 107.17-22.
Give thanks and praise to God, Who sought us, bought us, took us to Himself, and commissioned us to join Him in seeking the lost. Ask Him to help you do that today
Sing Psalm 107.17-22.
(Faithfulness: Great Is Thy Faithfulness)
Foolish and sinful, afflicted and dying,
all of our ways with iniquity fraught—
You hear our moans, our laments, and our crying.
You sent Your Word and to us mercy brought!
Refrain vv. 1-3
LORD, for Your wondrous works, and for Your steadfast love,
we give You thanks, we exalt Your great Name!
We who from east and west, north and south gather,
boldly redemption in Christ we proclaim!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: Our Read Moore podcast is concentrating on praying the psalms to seek revival—why we should and what we might expect. Do you ever wonder about what God’s will for you is? Patrick—echoing Paul—makes it clear, as you can see in last week’s Crosfigell. Our current ReVision series, “Pray for Your Church”, teaches us how to pray for the ministries of our church, beginning with worship. And new in our bookstore, our book, The Ongoing Work of Christ shows us how the book of Acts provides a template and footprint for all who take up the work of building Jesus’ Church.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
