When Jesus Enters Our Lives Series

When Jesus Enters Our Lives

Series: Encountering Jesus (through the Gospel of Luke)

Brad Bailey – January 12, 2020

Series #53 / Text: Luke 19:1-10

Intro

A belated welcome to the new year….and decade.

There is a certain type of grace… an opportunity to for fresh starts.

That leads to the slew of resolutions… some may be mere wishes…and some significant intent. There are various things we want to relate to differently… our health… money… substances.

So we bring our will to bear on the changes we want.

Research conducted by Strava, the social network for athletes, analyzed more than 31.5 million online global activities last January, and was able to pinpoint the date when most people report failing their resolution.

Gareth Mills from Strava told The Independent.“A key factor in success is motivation and analyzing millions of activity uploads, we’ve been able to pinpoint the day your motivation is most likely to waver.”

January 12th… is the fateful day of New Year’s resolutions. [1a]

But here is some good news. There are two types of change that can come into your life this year… those that come with a relationship to a pattern (which is good)…and those that come in relationship to a person… which will then change patterns.

What creates the most significant change…is a new relationship.

When people have someone new in their lives…someone significant…it actually leads to changes…often positive ones.

It’s been found that what changes men with destructive behavior more than any program…is a relationship. When the love of a woman enters their life… or they have a child. It’s the power of being loved…and of loving.

And there is no relationship that can come into our lives and change us more than God.

Today…as we pick up in our series Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke… Jesus brings this reality to us.

PRAY

Luke 19:1-10 (NIV)

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'" 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." 9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Luke begins…

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through

Jericho… amongst the largest cities of ancient Israel… it was a center of trade, commerce, business, industry and agriculture.

It had been a very important city for many generations. In fact, well before the time of Christ, the Romans knew and valued the city of Jericho. Marc Antony once gave the city of Jericho to Cleopatra as a gift.

King Herod built a summer palace there… as well as a hippodrome which was a stadium for horse racing and chariot racing.

It’s a place that one could try to “make it” in ways that no one across the mass of small towns and villages could ever do.

But now one comes who is bigger than anything than any man could make of himself.

His influence had been growing and growing…and as he came into the city….the crowds were intense. When the word begins to spread that this figure who is like no other… has come to Jericho again, people by the hundreds and perhaps by the thousands flocked down those narrow dirt streets to meet Jesus as he enters the city.

And there in their midst was …

2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

If you have become familiar with the Gospels and culture of this time…you are familiar with the notorious role that the tax collectors had. For those less familiar… you likely have a sense that it’s not a popular role. (Even today… if someone says that they work for the government but won’t say what they do… they probably work for the CIA or the IRS.)

No one likes having someone demand their money…or those who are involved with it.