Intro: As a little boy when Christmas time would approach one of the most tortuously exciting prospects of Christmas morning was seeing the ever increasing pile of presents under the tree. I never had any trouble understanding the old saying, “slow as Christmas”. Every December just drug by for me as I anticipated the joy of Christmas morning. As the presents would mount from my parents and brothers and sister I would round up all mine into one pile for a few important purposes. First so I could closely examine each one several times a day to make sure none of the wrapping was coming untapped, or getting too lose. Secondly to keep a very close count on my total number of presents so to be sure none of them disappeared before the big day. Thirdly, I would methodically with scientific precision calculate which presents where to opened in what order. Inevitably every Christmas there was one box that according to size, shape, and rattle that I just couldn’t wait to unwrap. So I would beg my mother every year to let me open just one present before Christmas morning. Some of my friends would tell me how their mom’s would let them open one present before Christmas morning and it would drive me nuts. I would be so excited on Christmas Eve that I couldn’t sleep a wink. I would lay in my bed all night just starring into the dark listening to my brother across the room in his bed peacefully sleeping away, just wishing I could sleep. I thought if mom would just let me open one present before Christmas it would curve my excitement just enough so that I could sleep some. I mean on Christmas Eve night I would literally be bouncing off the walls, I needed medication, or Dr. Phil or something, man I was in bad shape. I would think to myself every Christmas, “out of all those presents is opening one present too much to ask?” But there were two cardinal rules with my mother, two things my mother saw as unacceptable under all circumstances, they were tattle telling, and begging. So she didn’t give in to my begging and made me wait for Christmas morning to open all my presents. And today looking back on it, even though at times it was more than I could bear, the anticipation sure did make Christmas morning great.
Transition: God has a pile of gifs that He wants you to have also. But He doesn’t want to wait for a specific time or day; He wants you to open them today. This morning we’re going to look to God’s Word and open the gift of God’s mercy.
(v. 1) Jericho was known for it’s warm climate and abundance of trade. Many wealthy people would stay in Jericho during the cold season.
(v.2) CHIEF TAX COLLECTOR –either a farmer-general of the taxes, who had subordinate collectors under him: or else the most respectable and honorable man among that class at Jericho. WEALTHY – isn’t it interesting that a wealthy man would be seeking out an impoverished carpenter from Nazareth? This says something about the attention and attraction Jesus had on the people of his day. It’s obvious from this story that Zacchaeus accumulated his wealth my cheating his fellow Hebrews on their taxes. The Jews hated tax collectors because they not only cheated them to make money off them, but they were viewed as traitors since they worked for the Roman government.
(v.3) HE WANTED TO SEE WHO JESUS WAS – curiosity was on of the factors that motivated Zacchaeus. But what was it that made Zacchaeus curios, could it have been that Zacchaeus was concerned about his soul’s eternal destination? This is a great motivation for all of us, to seek out Jesus to know Him better, to understand who God is and how He relates to us.
(v4) SO HE RAN AHEAD AND CLIMBED A SYCAMORE-FIG TREE TO SEE HIM, SINCE JESUS WAS COMING THAT WAY. When Zacchaeus made it to the parade he couldn’t see because of all the bigger-closer people. He could’ve turned and went back home and said, “oh well I gave it my best shot but I’m just not big enough.” How many people stop just short of a thriving relationship with God with this attitude? Oh well I tried but I’m just not good, spiritual, smart, churched, or straight enough to be saved. They always find some excuse as to why they can’t be saved.
(v.5) WHEN JESUS REACHED THE SPOT, HE LOOKED UP AND SAID TO HIM, “ZACCHAEUS, COME DOWN, I MUST SAY AT YOUR HOUSE TODAY…. Jesus had never meet Zacchaeus before this, but he knew him by name. WHEN HE REACHED THE SPOT. Is there a spot in your life where you came face to face with God? Is there a time you can look back on and say that’s when I accepted Jesus’ death on a cross for my sins, that’s when I asked to Lord to save my soul? I MUST STAY AT YOUR HOUSE TODAY – notice Jesus didn’t ask if He could go to Zacchaeus’ house, but told him He MUST STAY. We should desire the staying presence of Jesus not only in our homes but also most assuredly in our hearts.
(v.7) “HE HAS GONE TO BE THE GUEST OF A SINNER”. We see hear the opinion others had of Zacchaeus. If he had based his self-worth on the opinions of others Zacchaeus would have seen himself as a hopeless sinner. The one thing that was preventing Zacchaeus from seeing himself as hopeless was the overwhelming proof of Jesus’ acceptance of him. Both Zacchaeus’ past failures and Jesus’ unconditional love were realities, but Zacchaeus chose to value Jesus’ love more than his past failures.
On the other side of the spectrum many times Christians are too judgmental on others and aren’t willing to take the gospel to so-called “sinners”. Or we feel overwhelmed when we think of the pull the world has on the lost, and what little influence we have as born again believers.
Illust: There is a true story of a boy who suffered under the Nazis during WWII. This Jewish boy was living in a small Polish village when he and all the other Jews in the vicinity where rounded up by Nazi SS troops and sentenced to death. This boy joined his neighbors in digging a shallow ditch for their graves. Then they were lined up against a wall and machine-gunned. Their corpse fell into the shallow grave and the Nazis covered their crumpled bodies with dirt. But none of the bullets hit this little boy. His naked body was splattered with the blood of his parents. And when they fell into the ditch he pretended to be dead and fell on top of them. The thin covering of dirt was so thin that it didn’t prevent the air from getting to him so that he could breath. Several hours later when darkness fell this 10-year-old boy clawed his way out of the shallow grave. With blood and dirt caked to his little body he made his way to the nearest house. And he begged for help. Recognizing him as one of the Jewish boys marked for death by the SS the woman who answered the door screamed at him to go away, and slammed the door. He was turned away at the next house as well as the one after that. In each case the unwillingness to get into trouble with the SS overpowered any feeling of compassion. Dirty, blooded and shivering the little boy went from one house to the next begging for someone to help him. Then something inside him guided him to say something very strange for a Jewish boy to say. When the next family who responded to his timid knocking they heard him cry, “don’t you recognize me? I’m the Jesus you say you love.” After a poignant pause the woman who stood in the door way swept him into her arms and kissed him. From that day on that family cared for the boy as if he were one of their own.
Matt 25:40
`I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
How can I go against a world that screams louder than I scream and can offer more logic than I can offer? Offers more support from people than I can offer?
SEE CHRIST IN THEM!!!
(v.8) Luke 19:8
The half of my goods I give to the poor. Giving was a new experience for Zacchaeus. Like most tax collectors, he had previously been interested only in taking. If I have taken any thing. The type of conditional sentence used here (Gr. ei . . . esykophantesa) implies that he knew well that he had extorted money from others. It could be translated, "Since . . ." The if implies an actuality, not a hypothetical case. Fourfold. The Law required only the restoration of the principal, with 20 per cent interest (Lev 6:5; Num 5:7), but Zacchaeus imposed upon himself a much severer penalty, comparable to that exacted for robbery (Ex 22:1).
In addition to a changed self-worth, Zacchaeus is experiencing changes in every area of his life, his business, his money, his relationships, and his outlook. Zacchaeus is like the illustration of the trapeze artist.
Illustration: Life is like a man hanging from a trapeze. The trapeze bar was the man’s security, his pattern of existence, his lifestyle. Then God swung another trapeze into the man’s view, and he faced a perplexing dilemma. Should he relinquish his past? Should he reach for the new bar? The moment of truth came, when the man realized that to grab onto the new bar, he must release the old one. To move forward with God we must be willing to release our past.
(v.9) TODAY SALVATION HAS COME TO THIS HOUSE. Zacchaeus went to see who Jesus was, I think he learned who Jesus was, don’t you?
(v.10) FOR THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST. Some men may think they are seeking God but not as much as God is seeking them. Man is constantly looking for a way to work his way to God through religion. But God has done the entire work on the cross through Jesus Christ. The gift of God’s saving mercy is a gift that He longs for all to receive.
2 Peter 3:9
9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
I don’t think Jesus just had dinner at Zacchaeus’ house I think he must have stayed there at least over night, “I must stay at your house”. Why did Jesus stay at a sinner’s house? Because He came to “seek and save that which was lost”. His whole purpose for coming to this world was to save people just like Zacchaeus, just like you, and just like me.
Illustration: Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother’s heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janeiro. Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for streetwalkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture--taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note. It wasn’t too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.
It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home." She did.
Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him the Savior, Multnomah Press, 1986, pp. 158-9.
Conclusion: An early Christmas gift for us all would be to realize that in Christ we are deeply loved, fully pleasing, and totally accepted by the God of the universe. Confess your sins, worship God, and get on with your life. You can experience the mercy of God no matter what you’ve been through.
You might think you came to this church this morning to seek God, but in all reality God lead you to this church because He is seeking you.
The gift of God’s mercy is set before you this morning. It comes with no cost to you although it cost Jesus his life on a cross. It’s yours free for the taking. This gift isn’t for only the good, the spiritual, and the churched. It for the “sinners”, the despised, the needy and the helpless. It’s for whosoever will accept it. Why don’t you unwrap it today and accept God’s mercy into your live regardless of what you have done, or whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. God just wants you to come home. Do it today!
