Reaching the Lost: Jesus’ Mission and the Heart of Church Growth
Reaching the lost is central to Jesus’ mission and God’s desire for church growth. Through the parables of Luke 15, Jesus reveals the Father’s compassion for those who are far from him. Stephen Bond connects this message to the Great Commission and the extraordinary growth of the early church, reminding believers why evangelism must remain a priority.
- Reaching the lost reflects Jesus’ mission to seek and save people who have not yet embraced God’s grace.
- The parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son reveal God’s compassion and joy when sinners repent.
- The Great Commission and the growth of the early church demonstrate why evangelism remains essential to the church’s mission.
By Stephen Bond
“I will build my church . . .” (Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:18)
God intends church growth. We know this because there are still people who have not yet embraced God’s grace through faith in Christ. Those people face the specter of eternal separation from the Heavenly Father. Jesus came to seek and to save these lost people. This is not the only message Jesus brings, but it is one of the most important.
At the age of 21, I opened the Bible for the first time and discovered a world of truth I had never known. In those early days as a believer, I was particularly captivated by Jesus’ encounter with a despised, height-impaired tax collector named Zacchaeus.
The aroma of grace that followed Jesus obviously captured Zacchaeus’s attention. Why else would this wealthy man unceremoniously climb a tree to observe Jesus as he passed through Jericho? Jesus’ bold self-invitation into a complete stranger’s home is nothing short of shocking.
The ensuing in-a-heartbeat transformation is stunning. While Jesus was still visiting his home, Zacchaeus gave half his wealth to the poor and agreed to pay back anyone he cheated four times what he stole. It takes considerable time for most people before the message of grace impacts their pocketbook. With Zacchaeus it happened immediately!
But, more than anything else, what rivets attention in this story is Jesus’ closing commentary. “Today salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:9, 10). This is one of the rare moments in the New Testament when Jesus trumpets his mission on earth with pristine clarity. We dare not miss it: Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. This is why God became a man in the person of Jesus, walked on earth for 33 years, and then died on the cross and rose from the grave.
We must never forget this! In the din of voices clamoring for the church to be all things to all people, we must never sidestep the Lord’s passion to seek and to save the lost. When we do this, by and by, lost people will be introduced to Christ and the church will inevitably grow. Jesus wove this urgent priority throughout his teachings in the Gospels.
Rescuing: The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Luke 15 is a seminal text exposing God’s heartbeat to reach the lost. In rapid succession Jesus relates three parables. The first story is the Parable of the Lost Sheep. It concerns a shepherd with 100 sheep. One sheep becomes lost. But every single sheep matters, so the shepherd leaves the 99 and goes after the lost sheep “until he finds it.”
No effort is withheld in the attempt to rescue the lost sheep. Once the sheep is recovered, the shepherd brings it back safely on his shoulders and joyfully celebrates with his friends.
The parable is only four verses, but the terms joy or rejoicing are used three times. Clearly, there is great joy when what is lost is found. To make sure we don’t miss the point of his parable, Jesus says, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7).
Seeking: The Parable of the Lost Coin
The second story is the Parable of the Lost Coin. A woman has 10 silver coins and she loses one. So, she sweeps through the house searching feverishly “until she finds it.” Once again, the result is joyful celebration when the lost coin is recovered. And, once again, Jesus adds a clarifying comment. He obviously does not want us to miss the meaning of these two parables. “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).
Both parables reinforce Jesus’ passion “to seek and to save what was lost.” People are lost if they have not received God’s grace through faith in Christ. These two parables emphasize the urgency to recover what was lost. The sheep and the coin are metaphors of something much more valuable—humankind. That’s why both parables underscore that the angels in Heaven rejoice when lost people repent by coming to faith.
Welcoming: The Parable of the Lost Son
The third story in Luke 15 is the Parable of the Lost Son. Even more clearly than the first two, this third story opens God’s chest cavity revealing the Heavenly Father’s heart for those who are lost.
The details of the parable are familiar. The younger son defiantly insists on his inheritance. This willful lack of respect for his father would have been scandalous in Jewish culture. The inheritance is then squandered in “wild living,” and the younger son ends up penniless and friendless. After “he came to his senses,” the young man sets out for home willing to become a mere slave in his father’s household. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).
Nowhere in Scripture is there a more vivid portrait of God’s heart for the lost. Instead of being angry at the younger son’s defiance, the father offers compassion. In the same way, God offers compassion to us when we come to him with a repentant heart.
The aging father running toward his prodigal shouts of his eagerness to welcome his son back—and of God’s eagerness to welcome us back, too! The emotion evident as the father threw his arms around his son also underscores how deeply the Lord longs for every single lost son or daughter to return to him.
What Matters to Jesus: Reaching the Lost
We dare not miss the significance of the three parables in Luke 15. Lost people matter to the Lord! In response to this, we must bend every effort to reach those who are far from God. And when these new Christ followers are added to the church it inevitably leads to church growth.
Among the Lord’s last words before he ascended to Heaven was the clarion call: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). It’s been said that last words are lasting words. The Great Commission is indeed a Great Commission.
After the empowerment of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, God began to show the early disciples the implications of the gospel. These results were not contrived by the church—they were a divine demonstration of God’s heart to seek and to save the lost, which translated into breathtaking church growth.
Breathtaking Growth in the Early Church
Thus, after the first gospel message was preached by Peter on the Day of Pentecost we read, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:41). What a vivid demonstration that lost people matter to God! Three thousand souls came to Christ as the new church dawned.
This evangelistic passion beats like a drum cadence throughout the book of Acts. “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Salvation was not a rare experience in the early church—it was the norm! It happened daily.
Acts 4:4 says, “Many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.”
Acts 6:7 indicates, “The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”
Acts 11:21 repeats this same theme: “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”
This evangelistic growth was fueled by the early disciples’ realization that to follow Jesus meant being passionate about seeking and saving the lost, just like the Lord.
A picture of the ultimate fruit of this passion for the lost is evident in Revelation 7:9: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”
Surely, an image like this was in Jesus’ mind when he commissioned his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations.” The early disciples understood this mandate and obeyed. This is why the New Testament church grew so astonishingly.
May this also be said about us!
Stephen Bond serves as senior pastor alongside “the greatest ministry team in America” at Summit Christian Church in Sparks, Nevada. He and his wife, Pam, are still head-over-heels in love after 32 years of marriage. Their greatest blessing is watching all four of their adult children walk faithfully with the Lord.
