“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost…?” (Luke 15:4 NRSV)
“For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
The Church of Jesus Christ, in a challenging time in her life, desperately needs to recover the power of one. This, dear friends, is a universal call to leaders and laity alike. When Christ, through His Spirit, shares Himself with each of us, He shares His nature—His likeness. Inherent in the nature of Christ is the reality that He loves to share His salvation. And, since He is our salvation, I mean to say He shares Himself, and He gives Himself in pure, holy love. When He shares Himself in love for us, He begins to make us like Him. We then desire to share ourselves in love with one another. In Luke 19:10, which many biblical scholars identify as the key to Luke’s Gospel, we read that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” He challenged His disciples along these lines: “Which of you having a hundred sheep would not leave the ninety and nine to go looking for the one?” This principle, dearest friends, is the power of one. And His followers must hear His voice and give Him our trusting obedience to heed the call.
The power of one is nearly lost to current conventional wisdom. We translate it to mean one superstar, one perfect business plan to make the church grow to mega sizes. But Christ means to say just pick one—ANY one. Invest so fully in the one that they may come to know Christ and to love Him enough to go and do the same. In August 2021 the Francis Asbury Society held its annual retreat at the Hemlock Inn in Bryson City, NC. My colleague, Jerry Coleman, sang a short Christian chorus and then picked one other person to sing with him. Then the two did the same. By the seventh time, everyone at the retreat was standing together singing. Rev. Coleman went on to illustrate that if the process was repeated 35 times everyone in the world would be singing! In that moment I rediscovered the power of one.
Let’s take the challenge of faith today. Let’s think with the mind of Christ and ask this one significant question: Who will be your one? Invest your love in one today and ask them to promise to do the same. The impact will be astounding. Someone is crying out to God today for someone like you to come to them. So first, begin to pray and ask Christ to lead you. Second, sing the chorus to that old hymn “Trust and Obey,” then do it. Like Jesus, go to someone in love and befriend them with your love. Keep standing for them until they are willing to put their trust in Christ and until they are willing to befriend another. As you go, Christ will champion your cause! “Faithful is He who calls who will also do it!”
Dear friends, when we fail to practice the power of one we lose ground. How many profess to be Christians but have never put the power of one to the test? However, when we trust His word and His way, both the battle and the victory belong to the Lord. He is honored, glorified, and we get the joy of having led many to the eternal gates of heaven, even while yet on earth.
Someone is within your reach today. “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”