Introduction:
What’s in a gift? It’s an important question as Valentine’s Day approaches. Guys, are you like me? Do you struggle with what to give your girl for Valentine’s Day? Did you even remember that Valentine’s Day is coming up? Don’t forget. The worst gift you can give your girl is nothing.
A gift contains a message. And as much as I hate Valentine’s Day, I certainly want every chance to tell my wife I LOVE her. But when I give my gift, I want to send the right message. And there are definitely some bad gift ideas.
For example a gift card says, “I don’t know you well enough” or “I was too lazy to look around.” A gym membership says, “I think you could stand to lose some weight.” A self-help book suggests, “I think you have some problems that you need to work out.”
A cookbook suggests, “You could stand to improve in the kitchen.” The $5.99 Wal-Mart Valentines Basket says, “I am cheap”, “I forget Valentine’s Day until the last minute (again)”, or “I don’t really value you that much.”
Those are messages that I hope we do not want to send to the one we love. We want the gift to reflect our heart.
It’s the same way with the church. We continue to build on our series of messages, From Castle to Community. And we have defined what the church is.
And we have established the following ideas over the last several weeks. We have established that….
1. WE are the church and God wants to build something in us and through us that is greater than any building.
2. We are liberated in worship because we are no closer in proximity to God by coming into the building than we are further away from Him when we leave the building (no matter how we feel).
* God living in a building is God in a box that we take out once a week.
* And God in a Sunday box is way to small to handle my weekly cares.
3. It is imperative that we know WHO we are before we can ever establish a plan for what we should be doing. Last week, we defined the church as the body of Christ. People. You and I. The church is a who, not a what. And since we are the body of Christ, with his spiritual DNA, then what we do as the church should refelct who Jesus himself is.
Today’s goal then is to define what the heart of Jesus looks like and how we can reflect it? What was Jesus’ mission?
I want to go to Luke 19:1-10 to explore the answer to this question.
Read Luke 19:1-10
It’s the story of Jesus and man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was Jewish by heritage. The story also tells us that he was not just a tax collector, he was a CHIEF tax collector. His job was to collect the funds that were due to the occupying nation of Rome. Zacchaeus is in the employ of Rome. Zacchaeus was working for the Gentile occupiers of Israel. That would have been a good enough reason for any Jew to avoid him.
Add to the fact that tax collecting was a job with a bad reputation. Tax collectors were known for extorting extra funds and lining their own pockets. And they could because they had the might of Rome to protect them. The Italian mafia was alive and well in the first century. And Zacchaeus was firmly in their employment. The text also tells us that Zacchaeus has become quite wealthy. He had likely made his money at the expense of others.
Put the pieces of the picture together and it does not look like a good formula for making and keeping friendships. Zacchaeus stands isolated from his people (who no longer consider him Jewish); and he is probably looked down upon by Rome because he IS Jewish. Zacchaeus doesn’t fit anywhere. His fellow Jews hate him; and the Romans only respect him based on “what he has been able to collect in taxes for them.” He has a “what have you done for us lately” relationship with them.
Do you see where Zacchaeus is?
Illustration: It’s like a stray dog. My family has taken in our fair share of stray dogs. They start off tails tucked and slinking. Often strays will stand at a safe distance because they are afraid to draw near. They are afraid of being hurt or mistreated. And when a dog does not find a home; when it is lost without an owner; when it is abused, mistreated, and pushed away for a long enough time, it eventually becomes distrusting and fierce. You can almost tell when a dog is a long time stray. They have a tendency to growl, bark, or even bite when people come near.
I think Zacchaeus feels like a stray dog. No place to belong. He has earned some of that through growling and biting, but he still wants a place to fit in. So he’s standing at a distance.
Then he hears about Jesus. And I am certain that he hears about Jesus power and Jesus teaching. And one day Zacchaeus hears that Jesus is coming to town. And verse 3 says “He wants to see who Jesus is.”
There must have been something radically different about Jesus. Jesus was different than the Pharisees and religious leaders in the community of Jericho. He must have been. Because Zacchaeus, the stray dog, comes in close proximity to the crowd he knows hates him.
Zacchaeus goes to see Jesus, but he finds himself at a disadvantage when he reaches the route Jesus is traveling. It seems all of Jericho has turned out to see Jesus. And Zacchaeus cannot get through the crowd. You see along with being wealthy, Luke tells us that this chief tax collector was very short. As the old song suggests, he was a wee little man. And he cannot get through the crowd of people to see Jesus. The crowd is an obstacle.
Sometimes the crowd will hinder us from seeing Jesus.
When I was a teenager, “peer pressure” was the buzz phrase to describe the temptations that teenagers face because wanting to fit in with the crowd. I used to think it was something that only teenagers had to deal with. Boy was I was wrong. We all face peer pressure no matter how old we get. We all must face the crowd to get to Jesus.
Zacchaeus was facing a crowd that was between him and Jesus. And he has a choice. He could have tucked his tail between his legs and hid; clearly it would have been better to stay safely away from angry glares and hostile whispers. Or he could find a way to see Jesus. And in our narrative, Zacchaeus has made his decision. He is GOING to SEE Jesus. And being a resourceful man, he figures if he cannot get THROUGH the crowd, he will literally go OVER the crowd. He runs ahead of the route that Jesus is traveling through Jericho and he locates a fig tree. And Luke tells us he climbs it.
The scene was probably a bit comical. Think about it. It’s kind of unbecoming behavior for a full grown man to climb a tree even today. For a Jewish man in the First Century it would have been downright undignified. For a short man, it would have been downright funny. But Zacchaeus has one thing on his mind. He WANTS to see Jesus.
So picture it in your mind. He jumps and misses the lowest branch. So he wriggles up the trunk and awkwardly swings his legs up. He is constantly trying to figure out how NOT to get his robes tangled in the branches. When he gains the lowest branch, he ascends higher into the tree to a higher branch. When he finds the ideal perch, he roosts there like a bird to wait for Jesus. One glance would be enough.
The Savior soon appears on the road and he is still surrounded by people. The crowd is still there. And as Jesus proceeds along the road, he walks directly underneath the tree that Zacchaeus is in.
And the text tells us that Jesus stops. Jesus KNEW Zaccheaus was there. So he looks up and his gaze penetrates into Zaccheaus. And Jesus says, (And I know you are all singing it in your heads) (from kids song)
(“Zaccheaus, you come down for I’m going to your house today.”)
(vs. 5) “come down immediately, for I must go to your house today.”
The tone of the words are imperative. Drop down from the tree NOW! Come down QUICKLY! For I MUST go to your house today. It is NECESSARY for me to go.
Wow! Zacchaeus had hoped to simply catch sight of Jesus as he came through town and Jesus stops directly where he is and DEMANDS a visit to his house.
And verse 6 begins a comparison in reactions. Verse 6 tells us that Zaccheaus welcome Jesus into his home gladly. His heart is open to the visit. I think the tax collector realizes his life is missing something. Wealth had not been enough to secure his happiness. And Zaccheaus I think believes Jesus has the answer. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during that conversation. What did Jesus and Zacchaeus talk about? The narrative does not record it.
We do get a hint of the reaction of the other Jews in the community. They are shocked by Jesus’ actions. No good Jew would eat at the house of a tax collector for fear of becoming unclean. And Vs. 7 tells us that they began muttering to themselves that Jesus eats at the house of sinners. Jesus has gone to the house of an apostate Jew. Jesus shouldn’t be eating at the house of the local mafia. Why would Jesus do that?
Do you hear the “us vs. them” attitude? The Jews in the community had thrown down the gauntlet. They had isolated Zacchaeus as a dangerous stray. And they ask, “Why is Jesus eating with a sinner?” Why is Jesus eating with a man who extorted money from me for protection the last time he collected taxes for Rome? Jesus should be for us, the Jews, not for an apostate sinner like Zacchaeus.
The whispering must have carried on for some time. Some probably shook their heads in disgust. I would bet some gave the house the sign of the evil eye. I would even guess that some in the crowd went home and shared the self righteous play by play to their friends.
Zaccheaus was certainly no friend of the Jews.
And because of the “us vs. them” attitude, the crowd misses it. They miss the transformation that takes place in Zaccheaus’ life.
Repentance has come. Zacchaeus is so profoundly changed by his encounter with Jesus that the whole focus of his life changes.
In Luke 19:8 we see a man’s life that is deeply ruled by money that is now changed. Zaccheaus is so profoundly changed by his encounter with Jesus that he stands up and announces for all to hear, “I am giving half of what I have to the poor.” He is already beginning to throw things in the goodwill bag. He says “I will repay with 400 percent interest those I have cheated.”
Do you see the profound change? Those who come to see Jesus, those who REALLY encounter him, have no choice but to leave changed!
Zacchaeus is so profoundly changed that Jesus looks at him and says in verse 9.
Luke 19:9-10 (NIV)
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."
In verses 9 and 10, Jesus proclaims his heart and his mission. First, he announces a saving moment. Today salvation has come to this house.
I love saving moments. Don’t you? I love reading the Reader’s Digest articles about people who risk their lives to save others. The first articles I read are the feature articles about salvation and survival. Church, I believe they are the first articles that Jesus would read too. Why?
Observation: Because the heart of Jesus saves.
Second, Jesus invites Zaccheaus back into the culture. Son of Abraham is a Jewish term that many Jews would have stripped from Zaccheaus. Zaccheaus, though of the right heritage, would have been stripped of the title because of his occupation. Most of the Jews in Jericho would have considered him DEAD.
But Jesus corrects the attitude, US vs. Him. Do you see it? Jesus says, “This man, too, is a son of Abraham.”
It’s an invitation for Zacchaeus to enter back into the culture. Jesus connects Zaccheaus’ past with his present again. He has been saved from isolation. He is part of the family. It’s an invitation for Zacchaeus to belong again. Church, is it not an amazing thing to BELONG! The invitation to belong should always trump "us vs. them."
Jesus announces salvation, and in verse 10 he gives his mission.
For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
It was Jesus mission. It was the reason he came. It was his goal; it was his objective. Jesus mission is incomplete unless the lost are saved.
Church, if we have an “us against them attitude”, we are not reflecting the heart of Jesus to save the lost. We are ignoring the very reason that Jesus came. And where we are standing is in the crowd. And we are muttering Jesus is for US, he’s not for sinners. And we preven someone who is desperately lost from seeing Jesus and finding salvation.
Churhc, It’s not ud AGAINST them as if Christians stand opposed to those on the outside;
That’s the picture of the castle; with walls 30 feet thick and moats filled with alligators and archer towers to protect our comfort from invasion. The church was never meant to be a castle.
Instead, it’s the idea of us REACHING them and reflecting the heart of Jesus to see that they are saved.
Jesus saves. His mission is to save the lost. He saved us, right? We were all at one time lost; we all needed direction; we all needed a savior. And God in his heart fo us, sent Jesus. John 3:16 is a beloved verse.
John 3:16 (NIV)
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
But what about verse 17?
John 3:17 (NIV)
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Church, I admit to you there are times I struggle with the second part. My struggle comes especially when I get benevolence calls from someone outside the church. I automatically feel like a stand opposed to a person who is requesting help. My guard goes up. I condemn. My assumption is that they are looking to use us so that they can have it easy. My experience teaches me it takes place. It does more often than I would like. My problem is that I condemn in my heart before I even hear the situation. And I fail to see the bigger picture of my savior.
How we use money is important; I’m not saying it shouldn’t be; but in the grand picture of the heart of Jesus should it be more important than reaching the lost?
Would we not celebrate if a gift of benevolence brought about a saving moment?
Can you think of questions like that in your life?
What if we changed the name of a room or the layout of the stage to make things more comfortable for the lost and unchurched? Would that reflect or go against the heart of Jesus?
Church, the word “Sanctuary” is engrained in me. It has meaning to me. But someone who knows nothing about Jesus will have a hard time knowing what a “sanctuary” is. I know. I have kids confused by the term all the time. And giving directions to guests in the church who have never met Jesus sounds foreign and churchy. It has an insider ring to it.
Illustration:
Have you ever been lost and someone’s given you directions with which they are familiar but you are not. Oh, you turn by Old farmer Bob’s field and you go around Coons corner to the apple tree by Levi Jones fence. I walk away thinking, “What in the world was he talking about. I’m still lost and he didn’t want to give me clear directions to find my way.”
Church, when I have used the term sanctuary at funerals or youth nights, I have seen the “what in the world are you talking about” look on some of the kids’ and adults’ faces. So I will intentionally change the term in my vocabulary to auditorium. It’s not sinful to call it the Sanctuary, but does it reflect the heart of Jesus to reach the lost?
What if we intentionally chose music to be inviting and songs that would help people who are lost come to find Jesus?
What if the ministries we do, and the worship services we hold, and the Bible Studies we lead weren’t ends to themselves, but they became a way to reach the lost for Jesus?
What if the prayer time we shared together reflected a strategy for the lost?
What do you suppose would happen? We would probably see those saving moments. We would witness them over and over again as people who are lost find their way to Jesus!
Folks it is going to mean that we have new sinners in our midst to add to the ones that are already here and saved. It is going to mean that we are going to have to invite with the heart of Jesus and not have a castle mentality.
What’s in a gift? Let’s not give Jesus the wrong gift. The gift he gave us is far too valuable.
Invitation.
