From Selfishness to Selflessness
“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 because he was short he could not see over 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 the lost.”
The Parable of the Ten Minas 11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.”
Luke 19:1-10
Intro: You probably know this story.
Excitement was in the air.
People from all over had come to town to watch
Everybody was talking about it
A large crowd of people gathered pushing and shoving trying to see.
In fact, just to be able to get a closer view takes advance planning and preparation.
Trying to figure out how to get a better line of sight
A short, little person, no more than 5’4” having difficulty seeing over the crowd to watch the parade.
It’s a great story.
About my wife Gina Ann trying to get a good view of the Apple Day Parade last fall.
No, It’s a Bible story that we’re talking about.
I’m talking about a tax collector named Zacchaeus who wanted to see Jesus.
Jesus was at the height of his popularity.
Every statement he made was reported and repeated.
Every move that he made was followed by a crowd of people.
It’s probably one of the most familiar Bible stories that you heard as a child.
In fact, you may have learned the song to help remember the story.
It’s a great story because it is a story of transformation.
We’re going to step our way through this account that’s found in Luke 19
and try to see this change that takes place, this incredible transformation.
As we work our way through it,
we’re going to notice that there are four, different characteristics of transformation
when someone is changed from being selfish to being selfless.
Luke is the only gospel account that tells us the story of Zacchaeus (The other gospel writers don’t tell us.) and in Luke 19 the passage begins.
It says, “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.”
Immediately we learn some different things about Zacchaeus.
Tax collecting back at that time was often unreasonable and unfair.
The Rome government would use local tax collectors who would find out just how much people had.
So this was a despised position, and I’ll tell you why.
People would oftentimes double-cross the citizens, and the tax collector would say,
“Boy, you’re going to have to pay a lot of taxes on all that you have.”
And the people would say, “Hey, why don’t you just not tell the government all that I have?”
And the tax collector would say, “Well, if we do that then you better, out of gratitude for what I’m saving you, give me four of your sheep.”
And he would take the sheep from them.
Then he would go and he would do the exact opposite to the government and say,
“Hey, these people are trying to keep some money from you. They’re trying to trick you.”
And so basically they would double-cross the folks and they would double-dip.
Zacchaeus had money;
he had power,
but he was consumed with self and he was miserable.
Any person, regardless of their physical height, is a small person if they are consumed with self.
Zacchaeus had finally had enough of himself and he wanted to change.
If you want to be transformed by Jesus Christ, Zacchaeus in Luke 19 would be a good example for you today.
The third verse says,
“He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.”
Here we see the first characteristic. Zacchaeus desired to get close to Jesus.
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I. Zacchaeus desired to get close to Jesus.
People who don’t want to change don’t want to get anywhere close to Jesus.
They don’t want to get near him.
They don’t want to go to church.
They don’t want to talk about religious issues.
They don’t want to talk about spiritual values.
Have you ever seen those contest rules that say, “Must be present in order to win”?
I think that’s kind of how it is with the body of Christ.
If you really want to reap the benefits and the blessings of the Christian life,
put yourself… present in church…, to win.
You have to have a desire to get close to Jesus.
Remember, after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection,
the disciple Thomas missed out on Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples
because he wasn’t with the disciples in the most likely place where Jesus would appear?
“If a person doesn’t believe in God, Who is to blame?
There is a sense, in which we’ve got to put ourselves around God’s people,
We have to put ourselves in God’s Word.
We have to put ourselves in Prayer.
The Bible says, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”
We cannot spend all our time on our knees but it is possible to have a heart that is in prayer.
That attitude become built in as we grow more mature as a Christian
When you realize the presence of God living in you.
A prayerful attitude is not a substitute for actual prayer
But is a characteristic of the believer that grows by faith.
Have you ever wondered why Zacchaeus desired to get close to Jesus?
Perhaps he’d been at that party that Matthew, another tax collector, had thrown.
Do you remember what took place?
Matthew, after he started following Jesus, threw a big party and he invited all the disciples to come,
but he also invited all of his worldly friends to come as well
in hopes that they would intermingle
and that they could find out a little bit about what it’s like following Jesus Christ.
Maybe that was the first time in which Zacchaeus was exposed to Jesus
—coming at the invitation of a friend named Matthew and a business associate.
Maybe months later Matthew may have written Zacchaeus and told him about how Jesus had changed his life and called him from the tax collector’s booth.
Perhaps Zacchaeus headed out to the street to see this man that Matthew followed.
To Zacchaeus’ credit he didn’t simply go to see Jesus; he went to see who Jesus was.
People are still seeking to do that today.
In fact, that’s why we’re having a Friends and Family day May 6th.
It’s an opportunity for us to look for people who are seeking,
who are in need of Christ in their life,
who have no relationship with him
or maybe they’re not involved in a church.
If you sign up as going on Facebook.
You may have friends who would love to have an excuse to see what’s going on inside of these walls.
What an opportunity for us to build a bridge so that they can find out more about Christ!
James 4:8 (We just sang this song): “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
Warren Wiersbe said, “Zacchaeus thought he was seeking Jesus but Jesus was actually seeking Zacchaeus.”
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II. Zacchaeus persevered despite obstacles.
Let’s notice the second characteristic, and that is that Zacchaeus persevered despite obstacles.
Look at verse 3 again:
“He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.”
Now notice the obstacles that stood in the way of Zacchaeus coming to Jesus.
First there is a physical limitation.
Zacchaeus was short and he couldn’t see Jesus.
He could’ve said, “Well, you know what? I am to short. I can’t do it.”
He could’ve headed for home and just given up.
But he did not give up.
He went the extra mile to see Jesus.
I’ve seen many of you here go the extra mile to see Jesus also.
You could let your physical limitations cause you to give up and not do anything.
You could say, I am too old, I am too tired, I am too weak.
But in spite of the pain struggle of being weary you don’t let your physical limitations keep you from God.
Some could say, I am too young, I have kids to get ready to bring to church.
But in spite of having to get kids ready
You get up early and bring your kids to children’s church.
You also go the extra mile. You overcome physical limitations.
And that’s what Zacchaeus did.
Please understand it was more than just his size that kept him from seeing Jesus.
He was a man despised in the community.
Whether he was an honest person or not.
People in the community only saw him the guy who works for the Roman I.R.S.
I guarantee you that everybody did their part to try to block his view and they tried to crowd him out.
The question is, in your own personal life throughout the week,
are you the type of person that tries to crowd people out of having a relationship with Christ?
Or are you the type of person that likes to make it easier,
make it more accessible for people to find out about the Lord?
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Luke 19:4 says, “So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.”
Talk about going against the cultural norms
—climbing up a tree,
-- running down the road in order to get a bird’s eye view.
You see, that’s all part of going the extra mile and trying to get close to the Lord and overcoming the obstacles that Satan might put in front of us.
The devil will do all he can to block us from seeing Jesus.
Verse 5 says, “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus!’”
Now notice Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ name.
Guess what. Jesus also knows your name, too.
Isn’t that a good feeling?
People say that the sweetest sound for a person to hear is when someone says your name.
And that’s what Zacchaeus experienced, said by the voice of the Son of God.
We love to be recognized;
we love to be called by name.
It makes you feel so good.
Can you imagine how Zacchaeus felt when Jesus, the miracle man, called him by name?
But the Lord not only knows your name;
he even knows the number of hairs on your head.
Matthew 10:30, “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
Isaiah 49:16 tells us that God has engraved you on the palms of his hands.
I have a biker friend who says that God has a tattoo of you in his palm.
Luke 19:5: “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
Wow! This was a shocker.
The people must’ve been stunned because all they saw was a greedy, selfish man.
Zacchaeus could’ve said, “Well, you know what? I’m not worthy.”
Or he could’ve said, “You know, I just really came to see you. I really didn’t want to get that close to you.”
Or he could’ve said, “You know, if we go to my house, I’ve got to be honest with you, Lord.
There are some things there that I have bought with stolen money
and there are some things that I have stolen that are there, and you might not feel that comfortable.”
Now most of us wouldn’t characterize ourselves as being selfish
but the truth of the matter is that most of us are more selfish than we’d like to admit.
If there are only two pieces of chicken left and one is a breast and the other is a wing, which piece do you take? Who gets to drive the good car?
When we go on vacation, do we make sure that our tithe still gets to the church
or do we feel that, “Well, you know, we’re out of town.
We really weren’t there, so I guess we don’t need to give that to the Lord.”
Or when you receive a bonus from work, do you keep it or do you share it with others?
You see, we can be a selfish people if we’re not careful.
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The whole concept of sin can be boiled down to selfishness.
We sin when we stubbornly choose to do what we want instead of what God wants.
Are we selfish?
Of course at times we are.
Can we change?
Can we be transformed?
That’s the question that Zacchaeus is pondering throughout this entire interchange.
So evidently they went to Zacchaeus’ house and they had a meal there.
I don’t know what was going through Zacchaeus’ mind, but he’s got to be thinking,
“He wants me and he needs me.
He needs a place where he can rest and get away from the crowds.
He needs a place where he can get some food.”
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III. Zacchaeus allowed Jesus into his private life.
Look at verse 6, “So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.”
But there is a third characteristic of genuine transformation,
and that is, Zacchaeus allowed Jesus into his private life.
He let him come into his house.
We have a very hard time doing that today.
Maybe we would allow him in but we don’t open that closet.
After all, it’s filled with things that divinity certainly wouldn’t want to see:
greed, gluttony, self-indulgence, selfishness, dishonesty.
“Don’t go downstairs!
It’s just an old basement, Lord. Let’s just stay right up here.
No need to see all the habits that hold me back.
shortcomings.
How many sins can you name?
Just fill in the blank________________________________________
I’d rather you not get close to my closet.
If Jesus were coming to your house today, what would he see?
Look at verse 7. It’s interesting. “All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’”
The interesting thing about Zacchaeus is he didn’t care.
Do you know why?
He had reached that point in his life where he was ready to change.
The Theme for “1000 Days” from March 18, 2018 to December 12, 2020 is “Helping People Changing Lives.”
The first step to overcome addiction is you have to want to overcome addiction.
This week Billionaire Matthew Mellon age 53 died in a rehab facility in Cancun Mexico.
He had a heroin habit of $100,000 dollars a month.
He didn’t want to kick the habit.
You say that is a lot of money.
The average SNAP or Food Stamps in the State of Kentucky is $393 a month.
The average cost of illegal Marijuana is $15 dollars a gram
A moderate user will use one gram a day.
That’s $450 dollars a month.
They had rather use Marijuana than eat.
We are called by God to help people.
But the only way to help through building a relationship with them.
It is through getting them to want to change.
That takes hard work.
But God often calls us to do things that are very difficult.
[You don’t have to be a drug addict to need a change of heart.]
If we really want to change peoples’ lives we have to get to know them by their names.
We have to walk with them.
We have to love on them.
We have to introduce them to Jesus.
Christ wants to come into your house,
and he wants to transform your heart
and he wants to change you from the inside out, just as he did with Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was given all these things by Jesus Christ
and the result of that was transformation.
Christ transform his selfish life to a selfless life.
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IV. Zacchaeus showed evidence of his transformation.
Verses 9 “Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.’”
Earl Palmer points out that this is the only place in all the gospels where it says that they all muttered.
Now there are a lot of places where it says the Pharisees murmured or it says that the disciples grumbled.
This was the only setting that I’m aware of in the gospels where everybody
—the disciples,
the teachers of the Law
the Pharisees
the people in the crowd—they all muttered,
“Why in the world is Jesus going to his house?”
No one likes it when someone can get away with being dishonest or they’re given an unfair advantage.
“Maybe Zacchaeus has tricked Jesus and Jesus doesn’t know all about him.”
And it makes the masses want to mutter.
But verse 8 says, “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord!’”
This is obviously in his home now. “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.”
Can you imagine that, giving half of your possessions?
Go back home today and imagine if half of the things that are in your home...you split it all up…
half went to the poor and you kept half.
What would you give? What would you keep?
Notice how he begins to make restitution.
He pays four times the amount.
Now according to the law back in the Old Testament,
Numbers 5:7, if you gave a voluntary confession for having stolen,
you had to pay back everything plus twenty percent.
If you stole one hundred bucks, you had to pay pack one hundred and twenty.
He said, “I’ll pay back four hundred dollars.”
And I guarantee you, the people are lining up saying, “The line starts right here.”
And they couldn’t wait for Zacchaeus to start doling out the cash.
You see, there is a dramatic transformation that takes place
and there is restitution
and repentance that is worth something.
In your marriage, it’s easy to say you’re sorry; it’s tougher to change.
It’s easy to apologize and say, “Boy, I know I need to do better.”
It’s tougher to alter your words and habits say “do.”
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Does the name Hal Priest ring a bell for anyone?
Hal Priest was an American Olympic bronze medalist back in the 1920 Olympics in Belgium.
It was the first year the modern Olympic flag with the five rings was unveiled in Belgium that year.
and Hal Priest swiped one of the flags before returning to the United States,
He kept that flag hidden away for eighty years.
At the age of one hundred and three, to clear his conscience, Hal Priest journeyed back to Sidney, Australia, and gave it back to the Olympic Committee…to clear his conscience.
Hal died a year later the oldest living Olympian at age 104.
Restitution helps prove we really want to overcome our past transgressions.
Now you can’t undo something that you have already done,
but you can try to make restitution.
That’s what Zacchaeus tries to do.
I have a question for you: Do you think that this was the last generous gift that Zacchaeus ever gave?
Do you think that this was just a onetime shot because Jesus was right there in his home,
or do you think that he was transformed and it was a lifestyle change?
I think that Zacchaeus continued to be generous.
I don’t think this was a onetime action just because Jesus was there.
I think he stopped cheating people.
I think that’s why the Lord made certain that this story was included in the Bible.
I also think this because of the next verses.
The next verse is my favorite verse in the entire Bible.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Being transformed by Christ is not a single event.
It is a commitment of an entire future.
It is an ongoing commitment.
Please understand that baptism is not the finish line; it’s the starting line.
It’s saying, “Yes, I want to continue to be used by you, Lord.
Yes, I want to turn everything over to you. I want you to continue to transform me.”
And Zacchaeus is communicating, “I will not cheat in the future.
I will try to mend the relationships that my selfishness has destroyed.
I will continue to give generously because I am different.
I have met Jesus Christ and I will never be the same again.”
Jesus did two things for Zacchaeus: He forgave his sins and he restored his dignity.
He was changed. He was transformed.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Jesus says, “This man is a son of Abraham.”
Zacchaeus was a little man who became a giant.
Christ can do the same thing for anyone who puts their trust and belief in him.
Christ can transform this entire community.
How many people do you know who do not attend church on a regular basis?
We’re talking about thousands of people!
The message that we’ve got to get out is that Jesus Christ wants to seek and save that which is lost.
We’ve got to have the same passion.
But do you know what?
It goes much deeper than that.
Not only can Jesus transform and save our community;
Christ can transform you and he can change you.
He can take a life that’s selfish and that is bent on living for old number one,
and he can change it to where your focus is upon him.
“Eighteen verses after Jesus encounters Zacchaeus, Jesus marches into Jerusalem for Palm Sunday.
A week later he will be crucified.
The story of Zacchaeus begins with Zacchaeus climbing a tree because he doesn’t think that he matters,
and a week later Jesus will go onto another tree
to prove to Zacchaeus that he does matter and that you matter, too.”
Calvary proves that everybody matters to Jesus.
It’s not too late to choose him.
He asks you to come just as you are,
but he promises that you will never leave him just as you came.
If you’ve never turned your life over to Christ,
we invite you to do that today,
to confess his name,
to express your belief in him and be willing to be baptized into Jesus Christ.
Others of you are already believers in Christ
and maybe you need to commit to membership.
If you’ll just meet me right down front, we’ll guide you every step of the way.
You come as we stand and as we sing.
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Do you desire to get closer to Jesus?
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What are you willing to do to see Jesus?
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Will you let Jesus into your private life?
Holding nothing back?
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Has Jesus transformed your life?
