Dancing before Angels

Have you ever been lost? You find yourself in a place you don’t know and have no idea how to get to where you need to be? Once as a young child, long before the cell phone era, I was probably not where I was supposed to be and therefor got left at church. At first I thought it was funny and exciting. Even when people started leaving I was excited to have the whole place to run around it. Then the lights started going off. Have you ever been in a big church as the lights were going off? It’s soooo scary!!

I ran to the front door just in time to catch the janitor as he was locking up. He called my parents and they came and got me. Wow it was so good to be found again!! The fear of the dark, of being alone and of being lost finally gave way to relief at the sight of my parents. Joy and celebration replace the fears of before.

There is great joy being found! Fast forward a few years later when I took the youth group to Winter Jam in Cleveland. Winter Jam is a concert with probably close to 10,000 people attending. When the concert was over I led our group out to the hallway to regroup. Only to find out that one young lady, I won’t mention her name here, was missing! I do not know who was more scared at that point, me or her!

One of my greatest fears as a youth pastor is losing a student! It’ such a horrible and sickening feeling when you feel completely out of control. She did not have a cell phone either. So one leader stayed with the group, I ran back to the van to see if she ventured out, and Steve ran back to our seats to see if she was still there. Thankfully she did have an iPod, signed into the wifi and Instagramed me a picture of were she was. After finding the picture I was able to track her down. Again, I felt joy and relief at finding her safe and sound. It was something to celebrate!

These stories help me understand what Jesus was trying to tell His disciples in Luke 15:3-10. How a man celebrates after finding his lost sheep, or a woman who finds her lost coin celebrates is a picture of celebration when someone comes to repentance. Here were two very relevant stories to that culture and the people would have understood the joy of finding what was lost. It’s as if a man lost his wallet after just having cashed his paycheck. Or if a woman lost her engagement ring right before the ceremony. Finding them would bring relief, joy and even celebration.

What I love about these stories is the verses about the celebration that takes place when a sinner comes to repentance. Look at verses 7 and 10. What stands out to you? Some have said, “the angels rejoice when a sinner is saved,” and I am sure that is true. But what is significant about these verses? Who is the one rejoicing, particularly in verse 10?

God! God is celebrating in the presence of the angels when a sinner repents. When someone realizes they have sinned, are headed in the wrong direction, turn and trusts Jesus, God erupts into celebration.  What that means is that when you chose to follow Jesus, God threw a party for you in heaven! If you trusted Jesus, then God celebrates you! Think about that for a moment. THE…GOD….OF….THE….UNIVERSE….CELEBRATES….YOU!!!

WOW! That is exciting to think about. God dancing before the angels because one of us has come to know Him. We do not deserve His great love, yet He pours it out on us, not begrudgingly but with great joy!

Have you ever been in the presences of someone who is really joyful? It’s contagious! God’s joy and His love are contagious!

This is the type of love we should want to talk about! This is what we should be celebrating! This is why Paul writes in Philippians 4 to “rejoice always and again I say rejoice!” How could we not be a joyful people when we understand that God has rejoiced over us? Celebrate with God today, be full of joy and live for Jesus!