Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:1-2

We seek to make houses of worship and to honor God with the finest forms of praise, but does God seek these things? Do these things win us God’s favor or cause Him to take note of us? What does God say?

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.’”

God created the heaven and the earth by the power of His Word and He speaks of heaven as His throne and earth as His footstool. So, can we cause Him to dwell among us by building Him beautiful churches and cathedrals or honoring him with the most majestic sounds of praise? Indeed, what can we give Him in comparison to what He already possesses?

Again, what does God say? “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Instead of taking note and looking upon the high and lofty efforts of man, God looks on those who are humble and contrite in spirit, who tremble at His Word. In other words, God looks with favor and in mercy upon those who tremble in awe and respect at His Word and all it teaches, who humble themselves before God and His Word, acknowledge their sins and are sorry for them, and look to God for pardon and forgiveness in the Son, Jesus Christ, who came into this world to redeem us with His holy and precious blood shed upon the cross for the sins of all.

Are you trying to make God accept you by your own efforts or your own lofty worship and praise? Or, do you humbly submit to His Word, repent of Your sins and trust in the shed blood of Jesus for pardon and forgiveness and then, as a fruit of your faith, seek God’s help and strength to amend your life and live for Him in accord with His holy Word?

“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Your Word, O God, reveals my sinfulness and utter failures to be pleasing in Your sight. Even my best works and praise are unclean before You. I deserve only Your eternal anger and punishment for my sin and disobedience. Have mercy upon me, LORD, for the sake of the Son, Jesus Christ, and His holy life and innocent sufferings and death in my stead. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Luke 5:1-11

I remember when I was contemplating studying for the ministry, an uncle of mine jokingly told me being a pastor was a great job because you only had to work a half-day a week and you could go fishing the rest of the time. To be honest with you, it’s even better than that. A pastor’s job allows him to go fishing every day of the week. And, of course, the same is true for every Christian. Even though we may have toiled all night and tried everything we can think of, Jesus tells us to let down the nets for a catch and He fills the nets beyond belief.

Jesus calls you and me — every believer — to be fishers of men (cf. Luke 5:10; Luke 24:46-47; Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16) and He commands us to let down our nets again and again, trusting that He will accomplish His purposes. And so we do. We continue to preach and proclaim God’s Word, knowing and trusting God’s promise that His Word will not return to Him void, without accomplishing His purpose (Isa. 55:10-11).

Perhaps we can take the analogy of our text even further. Jesus commanded His disciples to launch out into the deep and let down their nets for a catch. He didn’t tell them to stand on the safety of the shore and try to bait the fish in. He sent them out to where the fish were — in the deep — and it is there where they were to let down their nets.

So also, Jesus would have us to go out into the world where the people are — maybe even into places we would rather not go — and there let down our nets. It doesn’t usually work to call the fish to come onto the shore or to jump into our boats. Nor is it sufficient to simply invite people to come within the walls of our church building that they might hear the Word of God and believe. We need to go to them and find ways to reach them with the Word of God where they are. It’s only when they are caught in the net out there that they can be brought into the boat and in here!

So, how do we launch out into the deep that we might catch men for Jesus? First of all, we need to go out where the people are and not expect them to come to us where we are. Secondly, we need to let down our nets, and they may need to be let down deep to where the fish are. That means finding ways to touch people’s lives with God’s Word where they are and in ways that they will hear. Thirdly, we need to remember who it is that fills the nets and follow His fishing instructions. We won’t catch souls for Jesus unless the nets we let down are His words of Law and Gospel — warning people concerning their sin and its eternal consequences and telling them of God’s mercy and forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus, who fulfilled all righteousness for us and then suffered and died on the cross for our sins and the sins of all and rose again in victory!

And what a great job God has given us! We get to go fishing every day by taking the message of His Word out into the deep, where the lost are, and catching them with the good news of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior!

Dear Lord Jesus, You have called us to be fishers of men, to launch out into the deep and let down the net of Your Word for a catch. Grant us the faith to go out into the world and proclaim Your Word to people where they are that You might fill the nets and bring people from the depths of sin to faith in You as their Savior. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” Psalm 51:4

We don’t often think of our sins as offenses against God. Rather, we see our sins as offenses against those people to whom we have done wrong or caused harm. But, truly, all our sins are sins against God, for even when we hurt others through our sins, God is offended as our Creator in that we fail to honor Him in our thoughts, words and actions, and we abuse and harm others whom He has made.

Psalm 51 was written after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then tried to cover up his sin by having Uriah the Hittite killed in battle. Certainly, David sinned against Uriah. David first took his wife and then his life. Cf. 2 Sam. 11-12.

Yet, David could pray: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”

So also, it is with us. We may have offended our spouse, our parents, our children, our boss or our fellow employees, and yet we have sinned against the LORD God who created us and commanded us to love Him above all else and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

With David, we confess: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”

And God would be perfectly just if He were to condemn us to the eternal fires of hell for our sins against Him. He made us to love Him and serve Him but we have turned aside and become self-centered and self-serving.

It is for that reason that we join with David and believers everywhere in confessing our sins to the LORD God and asking Him to deal with us in love and mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:1-3).

And we know that God “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” … because “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:9; 2:1,2).

Against You, and You only, I have sinned, O God. Wash away my sins in the shed blood of Christ Jesus, Your Son and My Savior. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 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. “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 15:1-10

How important are lost souls to you? When publicans, those who collected taxes for the Roman government and overcharged to make their living, and other sinners came to Jesus to hear Him and learn of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life which He offered to all, the Pharisees and scribes were critical of Jesus for associating with such sinners.

Jesus told the two parables in our Scripture reading to point out that it is perfectly normal for anyone who loses something to seek it until he finds it. A shepherd with one hundred sheep who loses one does not say, “I still have ninety-nine,” and then forget about the one that is lost. Even the scribes and Pharisees would not do such a thing! Nor would a woman with ten silver coins who lost one of them just forget about the one lost coin and be content with the nine. Both the shepherd and the woman in these two parables would seek out and find that which was lost. Then they would rejoice because they had found that lost sheep or that lost coin. Wouldn’t we also act in the same way if we were to lose something of ours?

So also every lost soul is extremely important to the Lord. Our God created man to live for Him and serve Him in eternal righteousness. Because man fell into sin, He sent His only-begotten Son into this world a true man, that He might fulfill the righteous demands of God’s Law and suffer and die for our sins and then rise again on the third day. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. During His earthly ministry, He sought out all sinners and turned away none who came to hear His saving Gospel.

Since He had come into this world to redeem fallen mankind by His innocent sufferings and death, it gave our Savior great joy, along with the angels of God in heaven, when a lost sinner repented and turned to Him for forgiveness and life everlasting. Our Lord Jesus was not afraid to associate with sinners; He shed His blood to redeem them!

Since Christ died to redeem us, should not we also live in daily repentance, being truly sorry for our sins and trusting in our Savior for forgiveness and eternal salvation? It gives our risen Savior, as well as the angels in heaven, great joy when we hear His Word and live in daily repentance. We certainly should not, as did the scribes and the Pharisees, consider ourselves righteous and in no need of repentance (cf. 1 John 1:8-9; 2:1-2; Prov. 28:13).

Like our Savior, we also should seek out lost souls and rejoice when they are brought to repentance. We should not be satisfied if 99 percent of our members are continuing in the truth and only one is gone astray; we should seek that one until he is found and returns to the fold. The same is true of the lost souls who are not under the care of our congregation. We should, in the love of our Savior, seek out the lost and seek to bring them to the Good Shepherd by sharing with them the saving truths of God’s Word.

Christ Jesus shed His holy, precious blood to redeem them. We also ought to care enough for their souls to share with them the good news of forgiveness and life everlasting through faith in the Savior. Never should we be ashamed to be seen sharing the Gospel with lost sinners, no matter how bad their past reputation!

Knowing Thee and Thy salvation, grateful love dare never cease to proclaim Thy tender mercies, Gracious Lord, Thy heav’nly peace. Sound we forth the Gospel tidings to the earth’s remotest bound that the sinner has been pardoned and forgiveness can be found. Amen. (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #498, Verse 4)

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” … And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living….” Luke 15:1-2,11ff. (Also read Luke 15:11-32)

In the first verses of Luke 15, we are told that the Pharisees and scribes murmured against Jesus because He received known sinners who came to Him to hear His life-giving Word. Rather than rejoicing with the angels of heaven over these lost sinners who were being converted and saved through Jesus’ Word (cf. v. 3-10), the Pharisees and scribes were critical of Jesus for receiving such persons. The parable of the prodigal son was told by Jesus to show them that they too should repent and that they should rejoice over the repentance of lost sinners.

The prodigal son in this parable must certainly have been considered to be the worst of sinners in the eyes of the Jewish scribes and Pharisees. Not only had he wasted his inheritance on prostitutes and in riotous living; he even cared for, lived with, and tried to eat with pigs. Yet, when he came to his senses and returned to his father seeking forgiveness for his sins, his father forgave him and rejoiced at his return.

This is a beautiful description of our heavenly Father and His forgiveness for our many sins against Him. Our heavenly Father created us to serve Him and do His will. He placed us over His creation on the earth that we might use these things according to His will and for His glory (Gen. 1:26ff.). But man disobeyed the LORD God and fell into sin. Instead of living for the LORD and using His creation in accord with His will, we have all turned aside from the LORD and His holy will and have used His creation for our own selfish ends. Like the prodigal son, all of us sinners need to confess: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (v. 21; cf. Gen. 3; Rom.3:9-20,23).

Because God sent His only begotten Son into the world to suffer and die for our sins, we can be sure that our heavenly Father will also forgive us when we repent of our sins and turn to Him for forgiveness (cf. 1 John 1:9; 2:1-2; Rom. 3:23-26). Through faith in Christ, our heavenly Father not only forgives all our sins against Him; He receives us as sons and gives us an eternal inheritance with Him in heaven (Gal. 3:26-29; 4:4-5).

Jesus’ parable goes on to describe the great rejoicing which took place when the prodigal son returned, and of the anger of his brother that such a wicked son would be received back with joy and celebration.

Because the Pharisees and scribes did not see their own need to repent and receive forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ, they, like the angry brother in the parable, could only see the great sin of those coming to Jesus. They did not see the great blessings of forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation which were being imparted to these penitent sinners for Jesus’ sake, and they were, therefore, unable to rejoice over the salvation of these lost souls.

Note the father’s response to the angry son: “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (v. 32).

When we remember that we too “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked” and that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:1,4-7), then we will be filled with joy when others also receive the salvation God has provided for them in His Son!

Alas, my God, my sins are great, my conscience doth upbraid me; and now I find that in my strait no man hath pow’r to aid me. Lord, Thee I seek. I merit naught; yet pity and restore me. Just God, be not Thy wrath my lot; Thy Son hath suffered for me. Amen. (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #317, Verses 1,3)

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]