7 REASONS TO REACH THE LOST FOR CHRIST
Reading: Luke 19:1-10
Luk 19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.
Luk 19:2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was one of the most influential Jews in the Roman tax-collecting business, and he had become very rich.
Luk 19:3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowds.
Luk 19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree beside the road, so he could watch from there.
Luk 19:5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. "Zacchaeus!" he said. "Quick, come down! For I must be a guest in your home today."
Luk 19:6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.
Luk 19:7 But the crowds were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled.
Luk 19:8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have overcharged people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!"
Luk 19:9 Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a son of Abraham.
Luk 19:10 And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost."
Jericho was a very wealthy and a very important town. It lay in the Jordan valley and commanded both the approach to Jerusalem and the crossings of the river which gave access to the lands east of the Jordan. It had a great palm forest and world-famous balsam groves which perfumed the air for miles around. Its gardens of roses were known far and wide. Men called it "The City of Palms." Josephus called it "a divine region," "the fattest in Palestine." The Romans carried its dates and balsam to world-wide trade and fame.
All this combined to make Jericho one of the greatest taxation centers in Palestine. We have already looked at the taxes which the tax-collectors collected and the wealth they rapaciously acquired (Lk 5:27-32). Zacchaeus was a man who had reached the top of his profession; but he was the most hated man in the district.
Here is the first reason why we should go and reach the lost for Christ.
1. PEOPLE ARE HURTING AND INCOMPLETE INSIDE WITHOUT CHRIST
Luk 19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.
Luk 19:2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was one of the most influential Jews in the Roman tax-collecting business, and he had become very rich.
Zacchaeus was wealthy but he was unhappy. Inevitably he was lonely, for he had chosen a way that made him an outcast. He had heard of this Jesus who welcomed tax-collectors and sinners, and he wondered if he would have any word for him. Despised and hated by men, Zacchaeus was reaching after the love of God.
Zacchaeus was like many other people around us. Smiling in the outside but hurting and crying in the inside. All the wealth, power and luxury cannot mend the broken heart cause by rejections and inadequacy
• He might be a successful businessman but still the people ridicule him for being a short man
• He might be a rich man but still people hate him, curse him, ridicule him and even branded him sinner and outcast due to the nature of his job
• He might be influential and he had many servants who obey him because of his position and money and yet his heart is hungry for the real and genuine love and affection of his fellow human being.
• He might have all the luxury that the world can offer but still he is empty, lonely, insecure and miserable
• He might give some of his money for charity but without Christ in his heart everything are but useless, his heart remain hungry and starving and his soul still lost
Here is the second reason why we should reach the lost for Christ
2. PEOPLE CANNOT REACH OUT GOD BY THEIR OWN EFFORT
Luk 19:3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowds.
Luk 19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree beside the road, so he could watch from there.
Zacchaeus determined to see Jesus, and would let nothing stop him. For Zacchaeus to mingle with the crowd at all was a courageous thing to do, for many a man would take the chance to get a nudge, or kick, or push at the little tax-collector. It was an opportunity not to be missed. Zacchaeus would be black and blue with bruises that day. He could not see--the crowd took an ill delight in making sure of that.
So he ran on ahead and climbed a fig-mulberry tree. A traveller describes the tree as being like "the English oak, and its shade is most pleasing. It is consequently a favourite wayside tree . . . It is very easy to climb, with its short trunk and its wide lateral branches forking out in all directions." Things were not easy for Zacchaeus but the little man had the courage of desperation.
The action of Zacchaeus is a picture of human effort to reach God. The sycamore tree is a type of human way to reach out to God. But being short and inadequate, human effort cannot reach God’s standard to find the way back to God. Only the tree of Jesus which is the cross can bridge the gap between God and man. The connection that has been lost by sin has been reconnected through Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man.
3. JESUS LOVE THE LOST PEOPLE AND WANT THEM TO BE SAVED
Luk 19:5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. "Zacchaeus!" he said. "Quick, come down! For I must be a guest in your home today."
Jesus was looking for Zacchaeus more than Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus! Jesus is looking for lost sinners more than lost sinners look for Jesus. He wants to enter to every people’s hearts and lives and dine with us.
This kind of compassion for the lost should be the heart bit of every believer of Christ. Bill Bright, Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, said, "Millions of surveys which we have helped to take around the world indicate that approximately 98 percent of the Christians do not regularly introduce others to the Savior."
With so few believers actively sharing their faith, we must get back to the heart of Christ’s mission and passion so that the Church can be the voice of truth to those who are lost.
God make it clear through the Scripture that: 1Ti 2:4 He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth
4. HAPINESS, JOY AND SATISFACTION CAN ONLY COME TO A MAN ONCE HE FOUND THE LORD
Luk 19:6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.
Human’s endless pursuit for real happiness and satisfaction can only come to an end when they found Christ. There is vacuum and emptiness upon every hearts of people until Christ came into their lives. Only Jesus can quench our spiritual hunger and thirst.
Zacchaeus found Christ and consequently found the happiness, excitement and joy.
• The happiness that he failed to acquired through money, he found them free in Christ
• The love that he cannot buy through his riches, he found it unconditionally in Christ
• The acceptance that he cannot get through his success, he found it readily in Christ
• The forgiveness that ha cannot get through his alms and work of charity, he found it in Christ
• The salvation that he cannot found in any religion, he found it in Jesus Christ
5. GOD DOESN’T CARE OF HOW MUCH SIN A PERSON HAS COMMITTED, HE WILL ACCEPT THEM UNCONDITIONALLY IF THEY WILL COME TO HIM
Luk 19:7 But the crowds were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled.
But the crowds weren’t too pleased with Jesus’ choice of a new found friend. Zacchaeus was the most despised man in Jericho, a crook, a cocky little crook. Not only was he a tax collector at the toll booth; he was the chief tax collector. The big boss! The richest man in town! He worked for the Roman government, collecting their taxes, and Zacchaeus would pad the tax, for his own personal benefit. If there was an immoral skunk in town, Zacchaeus was the man. He is a thief, but untouchable because he was protected by the Roman government. What a poor choice Jesus made!
The crowd of religious people completely misunderstood the mission of Christ to the world. They think that Jesus came for the good people to save them. It is the very reason why they condemn the compassion of Christ when he decided to be the guest of sinners like Zaccheaus.
However, the acceptance of Zacchaeus into the family of God should become encouragement to others.
• There is no worst sinners that God cannot forgive and accept if only they will repent
• There is not sin so dirty and dark that the blood of Jesus cannot cleanse
• There is no place so far that we can travel away from God that He cannot reach us by his hand for us to come back.
• There is no person so bad that God cannot change his life
• There is no heart so hard that God cannot melt and humble him to obey Christ
• There is no impossible and complicated situation in our lives that God cannot entangle to correct our lives for God.
• If God can reach and change Zacchaeus, a chief sinner, then HE CAN REACH AND CHANGE YOU!
6. THERE IS POTENTIAL OF GOODNESS IN EVERY PEOPLE’S LIVES IF ONLY THEY WILL FOUND CHRIST
Luk 19:8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have overcharged people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!"
Zacchaeus took steps to show all the community that he was a changed man. When Jesus announced that he would stay that day at his house, and when he discovered that he had found a new and wonderful friend, immediately Zacchaeus took a decision. He decided to give half of his goods to the poor; the other half he did not intend to keep to himself but to use to make restitution for the frauds of which he had been self-confessedly guilty.
With the amazement of everyone, Zacchaeus came out of the front door by himself and addressed the large crowd who finally quiet down. He said, “I apologize to you folks. I have been cheating you for years now at the toll-booth. You know it and so do I. I have been taking advantage of my position. I’ve gotten richer at your expense. I apologize. To make it right, I will pay back each one of you from whom I have stolen. I will repay you back four times the amount I cheated you. Yes, each and every one of you. Also, I am giving half of my goods to the poor of our city.” I can almost see how the crowd was shell-shocked. Their cynical selves couldn’t believe it.
In his restitution he went far beyond what was legally necessary:
• Only if robbery was a deliberate and violent act of destruction was a fourfold restitution necessary (Exo 22:1).
• If it had been ordinary robbery and the original goods were not restorable, double the value had to be repaid. (Exo 22:4, 7).
• If voluntary confession was made and voluntary restitution offered, the value of the original goods had to be paid, plus one-fifth (Lev 6:5; Num 5:7).
Zacchaeus was determined to do far more than the law demanded. He showed by his deeds that he was a changed man
7. FINDING THE LOST IS THE VERY HEART OF THE MISSION OF CHRIST AND EVERY BELIEVER OF GOD
Luk 19:9 Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a son of Abraham.
Luk 19:10 And I, the Son of Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost."
The story ends with the great words; the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. We must always be careful how we take the meaning of this word lost. In the New Testament it does not mean damned or doomed. It simply means in the wrong place.
A thing is lost when it has got out of its own place into the wrong place; and when we find such a thing, we return it to the place it ought to occupy. A man is lost when he has wandered away from God; and he is found when once again he takes his rightful place as an obedient child in the household and the family of his Father.
Thus ends one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible, about a short little man who climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus. But Jesus commanded him to go down from that tree so He can come to his house. Zacchaeus humbly received Jesus into his house and even to his heart and the change was obviously evident after that.
• He was transformed from greedy to generous
• From selfish to selfless
• From a thieving heart to a thanksgiving heart.
• From loneliness to excitement and joy
• From rejection to acceptance
Jesus change his identity, He was once branded as chief of sinners. But now he was identified as the son of Abraham, the receiver of blessing and grace from God.
If you have been blessed, encouraged or inspired by this sermon then it’s your turn to be an encouragement too. You can do it by sending email to this contributor at spy2rb@yahoo.com or post comment on the discussion box below.
