Projectionist: Start by showing 5_MeChurch
It doesn’t matter whether you have been in church all of your life, are coming back to the church after a long time away, or are new to church. Our natural pull is always going to be toward a church that we perceive as meeting our particular wants and desires.
The natural pull of every church is away from the mission the Lord left for us to do and toward an insider-club mentality focus. Because of this natural pull it is important that we remind ourselves from time to time why the Lord established His church in the first place.
Jesus didn’t leave us guessing on our mission. In the passage we call “The Great Commission” Jesus said, “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:19–20, GNB). We have taken this commission and express it as our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That is not always as easy as we would like it to be because sometimes we get in the way.
Jesus was in Jericho when an interesting encounter took place. “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.” (Luke 19:1–2, NIV84).
Jericho was an important city in the time of Christ. Its wealth provided for the royal family of Herod quite nicely. It was the main stopping point for anyone traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem.
In this town lived a man by the name of Zacchaeus. His name means “righteous one” but Zacchaeus was not living up to his name! He was anything but righteous!
Much like today, the Jewish people had hierarchy of sin. The really righteous people were the Pharisees. They were viewed by the common people as being the truly religious. They viewed themselves that way and at times could be heard praying that they were glad they weren’t like other folks! Below them were the common people. They were good Jews, but just not as radical as the Pharisees. They had enough religion to keep them right with God (they thought). Today they would be your average church-goer.
Then, below them were "sinners." These were the people who pretty much had given up on any religion. They were bad and they knew it. They didn’t feel they had any chance of having a relationship with God and they were okay with that.
Finally, on the bottom rung were tax collectors--they were the lowest of the low. Even sinners said, "I might be bad, but at least I'm not a tax-collector!"
Then there was Zacchaeus. He is beyond category! He’s even lower than the lowest. I mean, the disciples raised their eyebrows when Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, in a minute they are about to have a stroke!
Our text describes Zacchaeus as a “chief tax-collector.” He not only collected the Roman taxes, he was in charge of all the tax collectors in the area! The result is he grew quite wealthy!
Our text continues, “He wanted to see Jesus . . . .” That’s something no one would have expected. Maybe a sinner, they might want to see Jesus because of what they had heard about Him, maybe a tax-collector, but not this guy! He was too far gone!
“He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.” (Luke 19:3, NIV84). The politically correct phrase by the way is vertically challenged.
While no one would have expected Zacchaeus to be interested in Christ, Zacchaeus was determined to see Him. What he knew about Him we don’t know, but something drew him to Jesus. Problem was, being vertically challenged proved to be an unexpected obstacle to him in this instance.
Another obstacle that kept him from seeing Jesus ironically was the crowd. It is strange to consider that those who were so enthusiastic about Christ were the very people who blocked Zacchaeus’ view.
There is a lesson for us here. Sometimes those of us who are so enthusiastic about spiritual things become the barrier blocking those who desperately need to see Christ! I am not saying we shouldn’t be enthusiastic about the things of God, I think the things of God should be the most exciting thing we do, but when we allow our traditions and desires to rule the day, we may be guilty of acting as a barrier between the Zacchaeus’ all around us and the Savior we claim we want them to know.
Thankfully, in this instance the real Zacchaeus doesn’t give up. “So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.” (Luke 19:4, NIV84). Now, there is a number of important things going on in this verse.
First, you need to understand that middle-eastern men don’t run—it is considered undignified. Certainly middle eastern men who had the status that Zacchaeus enjoyed would not be caught dead running, and a grown man is not going to climb up into a tree! But for Zacchaeus suddenly the important thing was seeing Jesus and his personal reputation, at least what was left of it didn’t matter anymore! Something was drawing him to this Man. He was willing to do whatever it took just to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”” (Luke 19:5, NIV84) Zacchaeus thought he was seeking Jesus; turns out that Jesus was seeking him! Maybe it is that way with you as well—you thought you were looking for God but all the while He has been looking for you!
By nature, we do not seek the Savior (Rom. 3:11). When our first parents sinned, they hid from God, but God came and sought them (Gen. 3:1–10). When Jesus was ministering on earth, He sought out the lost; and today the Holy Spirit, through the church, is searching for lost sinners.
As far as we know, Jesus had never met Zacchaeus before and as far as we know He had never heard of him either, but Jesus, the Divine Son of God, knew who Zacchaeus was, and let me assure you, He knows you by name as well!
Jericho was one of the cities of the priests, and yet our Lord, defying public opinion and His personal image aside, passed over their houses, and announced his intention of lodging for the night with one whose life’s occupation was so hateful to the Jewish religious world. This is more than Zacchaeus could have ever imagined!
“So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.” (Luke 19:6, NIV84). “All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ‘” (Luke 19:7, NIV84).
This is a major turning point in the ministry of Jesus. His actions here in Jericho get people upset. John the Baptist had ministered in this very area and told them that the Messiah would bring forth righteousness and justice and here is Jesus once again associating with someone good religious people weren’t supposed to associate with!
Sadly, we who know this story so well, will shake our heads in unbelief that these people could react that way, and then we turn around and act the exact same way! We can deny it all we want, but when we demonstrate a desire to keep “my church my church” and if the lost want to come, they have to accept our way because we certainly aren’t going to go out of our way to make them comfortable, we are demonstrating the same attitude of those here in our text!
Here’s something to consider: if you read through the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—you will discover that every time Jesus touched someone, that person was elevated and Jesus’ reputation suffered. That’s what happened here: everyone started to complain about what Jesus had just done and who Jesus was hanging with! (If I can end a phrase with a preposition).
Suddenly, if you follow the text, Jesus’ ministry goes from popularity to opposition. Sadly, things haven’t changed that much among those who claim to be followers of God today. I am constantly amazed how quickly ministers who try to do the right thing are vilified by those they are seeking to lead; how quickly a leader can go from hero to zero today, if they make a decision the with which crowd—or at least a vocal minority—disagrees. I see it all the time and if you are honest, so do you! That needs to change.
The haters be hatin’ but the hated be converted. “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.’” (Luke 19:8, NIV84)
Jesus reponds to this by saying “Today salvation has come to this house . . . .” He is not saying that because Zacchaeus did this, he was saved. Salvation is not by our works. Zacchaeus’ actions are not to gain favor with God, but a response to the favor he experienced from God. When Christ truly touches a life, that life is changed. You cannot be the same old person doing the same old thing.
Under the Mosaic Law, if a thief voluntarily confessed his crime, he had to restore what he took, add one fifth to it, and bring a trespass offering to the Lord (Lev. 6:1–7). If he stole something he could not restore, he had to repay fourfold (Ex. 22:1); and if he was caught with the goods, he had to repay double (Ex. 22:4). Zacchaeus did not quibble over the terms of the Law; he offered to pay the highest price because his heart had truly been changed.
This is important. Often I find Christians who want to quibble over everything! They are always looking for loopholes so they don’t have to obey something or do something. The most common one today is the constant appeal to “grace” we use. “I’m under grace,” for many is simply a statement that means I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do, and you and even God can’t tell me otherwise!
No one, including our Lord even suggested that Zacchaeus had to do anything, but Zacchaeus chose to respond to God’s grace by taking the hardest course of action not the easiest. We might learn something from that.
“Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19:9, NIV84). That was like rubbing salt into the wounds of those who were already muttering about what Jesus had just done! That He would dare call this hated, despised, unpopular tax-collector a “son of Abraham” and put him on par with every religious person in the city was more than they could handle!
Then Jesus reminds us of something we need to be constantly reminded, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10, NIV84). And that is why the church even exists. We are not called to have our secret meeting of the saints, not called to be salt kept in nice salt cellars so people can look at us and admire us, and I’ve got news for all of us: we are not called to form a group that meets our needs, we are called to be the body of Christ and meet the needs of others. We are called to do whatever it takes, make whatever sacrifice we must to reach the Zacchaeus for Christ not block their view of Him.
So, today is Communion Sunday a time when we remember the Sacrifice Christ made for us. A thousand times in history a baby has become a king to rule a nation. Only one time as a King become a baby to save all nations. And He was all in—the bread reminds us of His broken body and the cup reminds us of His life-blood spilled out for us. Jesus was willing to sacrifice Himself totally for you—how much are you willing to sacrifice for Him? Are you like Zacchaeus willing to do whatever it takes to see Jesus and when you do, gladly accept Him into your Hearts home and make the big sacrifice rather than trying to see how little you can get away with.
Or are you like the enthusiastic crowd whose very presence blocks a seeker from seeing Jesus and who judges and complains about who Jesus can and should change and who He shouldn’t? Come on, be honest: some of you are upset because of the change we made in the bulletin today—if that has you upset, I have news—you are part of the crowd!
The motto of the Army’s First Infantry Division, known as the “Big Red One” is “No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great—Duty First!” I wonder what would happen in our community if God’s people decided to follow that philosophy this year; decided to make that commitment?
Let me pray for us.
