Jesus in a bottle, Luke 19:1-10
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
June 9, 2002
A man is walking down the beach and comes across an old bottle. He picks it up, pulls out the cork and out pops a genie.
The genie says "Thank you for freeing me from the bottle. In return I will grant you three wishes."
The man says "Great. I always dreamed of this and I know exactly what I want. First, I want 1 Billion dollars in a Swiss bank account." Phoof! There is a flash of light and a piece of paper with account numbers appears in his hand.
He continues, "Next, I want a brand new red Ferrari right here." Phoof! There is a flash of light and a bright red brand-new Ferrari appears right next to him.
He continues, "Finally, I want to be irrestible to women." Phoof! There is a flash of light and he turns into a box of chocolates.
Let’s be honest this morning. Not getting exactly what you thought you were going to get can be very frustrating. I remember one year when I was about 10 years old for Christmas I told my parents that I wanted a remote control airplane.
Now when I say that I think most of you get an Idea of what I wanted. I wanted an airplane that was not attached to any strings that would fly wherever I asked it to go by using the buttons and knobs on the remote control. What I got that Christmas was a plane that flew in a circle around me because it was attached to a kite control by a 25 foot string. It was not at all what I had asked for.
Sometimes we have expectations of Jesus. And when the results are in we find that sometimes we don’t think we received what we asked for. I hear stories all the time about people praying for something and the problem gets solved but the person praying is left disappointed because they feel like they didn’t get exactly what they wanted.
The purpose of the church is clear. It is the purpose that Jesus left us with right before he ascended into heaven. That we make followers of everyone. I can say with confidence that here at Farwell our goal is to bring people to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
That being said though, it is also important for the church to refocus on the main mission of the church. The church was established so that people could become closer followers. It’s not always easy to redirect. our main text is going to be Luke 19:1-10 this morning but before we get there I think we need to look at a little history.
On the day of Pentecost the New Testament church was born. The Bible tells us that about 3000 people were baptized on that day and in the following days the church exploded in size. Now there were things happening in the church at that time. First they were being persecuted. Second they were growing like wildfire. But God knew that they needed to get the message beyond Jerusalem. So the bible says that He scattered the church. This mainly happened by Roman persecution.
One hundred and fifty years ago the pipe organ was the main instrument of the church. Then someone brought in a piano. This spurred a heated debate because the piano’s were only found in saloons and taverns at the time. In Fact some of our favorite old songs would make people storm out of church because they were tavern hymns with the words changed to have Christian meaning.
Now you can look back at our history as the church of Christ and non instrumental churches and see that as a direct split from introducing the piano. How sad that churches had to split because they could not agree on the purpose of the church.
It’s no secret here that we exist to bring people closer in their relationship with God.
But those incidence in history were not the first time anyone ever questioned the purposes of Christ. We find one occasion in the book of Luke chapter 19:1-10
19:1 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 being a short man he could not, because of 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 what was lost."
Prayer
It never ceases to amaze me about just how callous and hard God’s people can be at times. These people were in the crowd following Jesus and they showed no compassion for the man who was destined for hell.
Here’s hard question number 1 for those of us who are settled into Christianity. Do you have compassion for those who are not promised eternity in heaven with God
You say well I mow the lawn for the church. You might say I go to work in a soup kitchen during the summer. You might say I go do missions work on many occasions. Wait.
The question is not: are you active in service? The question is do you have compassion for those who are without Jesus?
That’s who this man was to these people. He was a chief tax collector who got very rich by taking advantage of regular hard working people. He was the enemy, I mean come on he worked for the government.
Has anybody in this room ever been audited by the IRS? Today if you are audited you are supposed to receive something in the mail that says so and the person makes an appointment. Then he comes and looks at your finances and if you have to pay there is a limited amount.
Zacchaeus didn’t work for the IRS the worked for Rome and they said we need a certain percentage but it’s up to you to determine your own wages. Zack got very wealthy be saying: “That’s $1000 for the government and $2000 for me. He could show up at virtually any time. People were a little afraid of him but they also hated him.
This man was selfish, arrogant and a cheat. When you meet him today he is the guy who cut you off on the way to work, the co-worker who takes credit for your accomplishment. She’s the teacher that seems to give preferential treatment to the children of important people. He is the neighbor that makes you think ungodly thoughts. He is the bitterness on your tongue and the reason you think humanity is worthless. It’s him.
Do you care if that person spends eternity separated from God?
Well these people didn’t
In fact the Bible makes an interesting statement by saying Zacchaeus wanted to get close to Jesus but the crowd was in the way.
Do you know why they were in the way? I do
No it wasn’t because they didn’t like Zack in fact they weren’t even thinking about him until Jesus found him. Don’t wait till Jesus finds people before you notice them, Bring them trough the crowd and to the one who will change their lives. The great tragedy of salvation is that we can think that it’s someone else’s job or that a person is not worth it.
But interestingly enough these people weren’t trying to stop this man from getting to Jesus they just were not thinking about him.
Are you guilty of forgetting about people who need to know Jesus?
They weren’t thinking about this man but that’s not why the crowd was in the way the answer is in verse 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.
Did you catch it? “the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.”
Do you realize how loaded that statement is?
Apparently from this text the people thought Jesus was going to bob his head and boom, Jerusalem restored.
The people were expecting something else. An exclusive kingdom where they would no longer be subject to Rome or their tax collectors. An exclusive empire where they would be the focus and they could call the shots.
A kingdom that would exclude God’s grace from filthy people.
A kingdom that came from the one who would fill all their expectations.
And if I get close enough to Jesus perhaps He will grant some of my wishes. That Day the Kingdom of God was demonstrated to them but they did not see it. It was wide open because the mission of Jesus was clear to the one who needed him. Jesus demonstrated that day that the kingdom of God is for everybody.
But he did something else that day. He set the mission for the church.
He was not just saying I came for everybody. But that the church needs to open it’s doors to everybody. Then he follows up by telling the crowd a story about a lost sheep. But the people didn’t hear the message.
In short these people missed the sermon because they were being selfish. They began to mutter and complain about who Jesus was focusing on.
“Hey Jesus we’re right here and we’re listening to you” While he was finding a lost soul they were finding ways to state their opinions and preferences.
“Look at this, the guy who is going to restore Israel and he is not doing what I think he should be doing”
These people had a concept of what the messiah would do and what he would look like. They clearly had Jesus in a bottle and they thought if they let him out that their wishes and requests would be fulfilled. Who knew that Jesus would have had a mind of his own?
Here’s hard question number 3: do you ever impress your own set of standards and beliefs on Jesus. Have you ever scrunched Him into the bottle?
The age old argument is: who does the church exist for? Jesus. And if we exist for Jesus we must carry his mission through the lifeblood of the church. If Jesus’ goal is to seek and to save. Shouldn’t ours be the same?
Truthfully which Jesus would you rather have. The one who grants wishes or the one who grants salvation? The Jesus that lives in a lamp or the one who has promise to reside in the hearts of his people?
As I looked at this text I came up with a few things that are true about Jesus.
1. Jesus will not be confined by human limitations.
2. Jesus will not change for you, but he did die for you.
3. Jesus will not obey your commands.
4. Jesus does not exist to grant our wishes.
5. Jesus came for the lost.
That’s why crowd following Jesus didn’t see poor Zacchaeus.
But in fairness they didn’t know what to look for. All they had were some vague understandings of prophetic writing. By Jesus own words the people could not understand the fullness of the kingdom until after his death.
So here we are almost 2000 years after the promised one came. Even today for some Jesus has little more significance than the Jeanie of the lamp. Whom we pray to and ask for favors. But those favors are not what we intended. Because we forget the purpose.
People who need Jesus should not be hindered from seeing him because of his followers. Men like Zacchaeus should not have to run ahead and climb a tree for hopes of catching a glimpse of the one who saves.
People who need Christ should be brought along with you. When given the opportunity to share the truth about Jesus take it.
Ellen
You know what I find most interesting about this text? Jesus walks right up to this man and says come down from the tree. But that’s not the only thing Jesus is saying. He is saying Zacchaeus holiness is here and we’ve got you stuck like a treed animal. He is saying Zack I can see you are caught up in the branches of sinfulness. I can see that you are wrapped up in the leaves of liars. And that sin disobedience and a heritage of cheating have made your temporary life good. And Jesus says to him “You come down”. You don’t have to wonder anymore, you don’t have to be alone, Zacchaeus you misguided overlooked man come on down because your sins are forgiven.
A couple of weeks later it was the other way around. I’ll bet Zacchaeus was there when they forced Jesus to carry the beam for his own cross. I’ll bet he was there when the spikes pierced his flesh. And I’ll bet he was there when Jesus paid for the sins of the earth by getting up on another tree.
From the cross Jesus has said “If you want to be with me, there’s a price to pay” It was a price that Zacchaeus found. In fact it was pretty expensive for him. Half of his wealth and if he had cheated anybody then four times the amount.
Conclusive proof that knowing Jesus changes lives.
If you are sitting in the branches of a tree this morning perhaps Jesus is telling you to come down because he wants to live in your heart and your house today.
