“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. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a “sinner.”’ 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.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.’” (Luke 19:1-10, NIV).
We believe that there is a need for us to seek God. And I hope we also realize the great value when we are seeking God.
But do we realize and believe that even before the thought of seeking Him came to one’s mind, He had already determined to seek for His own who are lost? In fact, Jesus Christ came in order not to be sought, but “to seek…”!
About more than two months ago, I experienced being sought by an aunt, I’ve never met for more than 36 years.
She is now living in Los Angeles, California. She requested a friend who came to the Philippines to look for me (who is living in one of the economically depressed region of the country). Her friend who happened to be a friend also of my father, when he was still alive, did not stop his search until I was found.
When I met him, I found it hard to believe that there was someone in America who was looking for me! Besides, when he mentioned the name of my aunt, it was not familiar to me – I just knew her by her nickname and I didn’t know the family name of her husband.
As the man proceeded to relate things that I might know my aunt – describing her and adding more and more information about her – and at the same time proving that he knew my father, I was finally “convinced” that my father had a sister in Los Angeles and who wanted to find me.
What a wonderful feeling to be sought and to find out that I have an aunt in U.S.!
Within a month, I received a call from her. The excitement and gladness in her voice were also in my heart when I found out that though she is already 78 years old, she is still working to spread the Word of God! Afterwards, I also received a letter from her and, perhaps, next year she would be able to come to my place.
However, consider the Excellence of the Sovereign Seeker -- the Glorious God. We read Ezekiel 34:11-16 in the New King James Version:
“For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,’ says the Lord GOD. I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."
Notice very well verses 11-12 and part of verse 16:
“For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.’” “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick…”
Jesus also said in Matthew 18:12-14:
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost” (NIV).
Truly, the Father is not willing that those who belong to Him will be lost. Jesus also said in John 6:38-39, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (NIV).
That’s the reason why He sent the Son to look for them. And we can be sure that because of His Sovereign Power, they would be found.
And they would be saved. Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29, NIV).
Another account that shows that God is a Sovereign Seeker is in John 4:4-24. Consider verses 21-24: “Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth’” (NIV).
The Father seeks “true worshipers (who) will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
Surely these true worshipers are those who are the “dwellings” of the Spirit of God. We read in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (NIV.) Read also 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 2 Corinthians 6:16.
But these true worshipers really know the Father.
And they really know the Father, NOT because they are Jews. Even during the time of Christ, there were also Jews who did not know the Father. Jesus told them: “’You do not know me or my Father,’ Jesus replied. ‘If you knew me, you would know my Father also’" (John 8:19, NIV).
If we know Jesus, the Word of God, we would know also the Father. For the Word reveals the Father (Matthew11:27; John 17:26).
God seeks His own who are lost to save them – not just to give them eternal life, but to enable them to become true worshipers. They would be worshiping in spirit and in truth not just during this present age. But to worship God for all eternity.
If He is seeking for you, He will be making Himself known to you. Just like the man who was sent by my aunt and he was trying to make her known to me. Well, do you realize that Someone Great from a very far place – heavenly place -- is looking for you? And Jesus Christ Himself is revealing Him to you.
Just how excited and glad are you, as you realize that you know not just an aunt, or uncle, but your Heavenly Father is residing in a very glorious place and may come to you in some future time?
And this Sovereign Seeker is actually inviting Himself to dwell in us. Jesus said, “…come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
He told us to come down from our pride, or any “elevation” that we see ourselves, or we focus our attention. He wants to stay not just in our house, but in our very being.
What is our response?
Zacchaeus “came down at once and welcomed him gladly.” Let’s be like Zacchaeus. Give up even whatever “elevated” position, ambition, or high regard we give to ourselves or to others or things. Welcome the Word gladly as He continues to reveal to us the Magnificence of the Father – the Sovereign and Divine Seeker who seeks His lost sheep, so they could “lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel” – so they could worship God in spirit and truth.
PRAYER: Our Sovereign Father, we praise You for seeking and saving us from worshiping You in vain. Thank You for the wonderful privilege of becoming more and more familiar with Your Greatness and Grace. Indeed, praise, honor and glory belong to You alone! In the Name of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who came to seek and to save the lost, we pray. Amen.
