Rick Warren - When Jesus Comes to Dinner—Part Two

Hello, everyone, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Thank you

so much for joining us today. Now, as we approach

the new year, it's really a great time to reflect

on your relationship with God, what's behind you and what's ahead.

And that's why Pastor Rick has a timely and powerful

message called how Much You Matter to God? Now. If

you've ever doubted your value or wondered about your place

in God's plan, this message is for you. So let's

get right to Rick with part two of today's message.

Jesus is walking through Jericho that day, and of all

the people he stops to talk to, and of all

the people he pays attention to, and of all the

people he invites himself to their home, he chooses the

most unloved, the most disrespected, the most evil, the most

unappreciated person the entire city, a guy named Zachias. Now

he's walking through town and when he comes to the

tree that Zachius is in, he stops. He looks up

and he says, Zachias, I want you to come down.

Now.

This story teaches us four truths about how much you

matter to God. You need to write these down. Four

truths about how much you matter to God.

Number one.

The first thing we learned is that no matter how

small I.

Feel, Jesus notices me.

No matter how small I feel, Jesus notices me. Now,

as I said, Zachius is very wealthy, but he's very lonely.

And so when he comes he hears Jesus come to

the city. He wants to see him, but being so short,

he can't get a glimpse. So he does two things

that no Middle Eastern wealthy man would ever do. First thing,

he runs. He runs ahead of the crowd. Now, in

those days, running was for slaves. No wealthy, self respecting

Middle Eastern man would run. But Zachias doesn't care. He

runs ahead of the crowd, and he finds a tree,

a sycamore tree, and he climbs up in a tree.

Second thing he does, he climbs up in a tree.

No self respecting Middle Eastern businessman would climb up in

a tree. That's what you have a slave do. Now

he's shocking. He's just hoping for a glimpse of Jesus.

But Jesus does something even more shocking, and the Bible

says this verse verse three, and Luke nineteen Zacchias was

too short.

But when he climbs up in a tree. But when

Jesus got to the tree, he looked up.

Now, those he stops at Zakius's tree, and in a

packed crowd, he pauses, and of all the people in

the crowd that he notices and pays attention to, he

notices Zachias. Can you imagine how this guy's heart started

racing boom boom. All of a sudden, he thinks, I'm

just gonna get a glimpse of this guy. And all

of a sudden, Jesus stops at my tree, looks up

at me and calls me my name, hello, And he's thinking,

Jesus is noticing me, and he's totally focused on me,

And so everybody in the crowd is totally focused on me.

He's not looking at anybody else. I'm little, I'm short,

I'm overlooked, I'm.

Insignificant, but Jesus is paying attention to me. Now, why did.

Jesus stop at that particular tree and look up? Because

he knew exactly where Zachias was. Now, let me just

say this, I don't know what you're going through right now.

You may feel like you're betrieve financially, you may feel

like you're out on a limb relationally, you may feel

like you're in a hole spiritually, and nobody even knows

you're there. But God knows where you are, and he's

paying attention to you, and he notices you. He's always

had his eye on you. That's because you matter to God.

There has never been a moment of your life when

God took his eye off of you. When you get

to heaven one day, if you've trusted in Christ, there's

not going to be a time because, oh, God says, oh,

I didn't see that one happen in your life. He

saw you take your first breath, He heard you scream

your first scream. He saw you being formed in your

mother's womb.

Why because He made you. God fought you up.

You wouldn't exist if God hadn't thought of you first,

and he wanted you alive. And he's watched every second

of your life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

You may feel you're all alone right now. You may

feel that what you're going through God's a million miles away.

Well, you're dead wrong.

God is paying intimate, close attention, and just as much

as a year before Zach, he has even decided to

go to that tree. God knew he'd be there. God

knows where you are right now. He knows where you're

going to be in the next hour. He knows where

you're going to be next month. He knows where you're

going to be next year. He knows where you're going

to be on the last day of your life and

the last breast you're going to take. Why Because God

is not limited by time. God does not live on

the earth, which rotates in a twenty four hour cycle

around the sun, so he's not limited by time. God

can see the past, the present, and the future all

at once, and he knows it all, and he never

takes his eye off you. And just as much as

a thousand years before this happened, God knew Zachias would

be in that tree at that moment. I want to

tell you, God knows where you are in this moment,

and he's seen everything that happens to you. He's seen

every word of abuse that has been said to you

that hurt, and he heard it. He saw every unkind

act that's ever been done to you, and he grieved

when it happened.

No hurt has ever been hidden from him.

He saw Zachias every mean thing that was said to

him on the playground about his size when he was

growing up. And God, no matter what you're going through,

has not forgotten you, no matter how small, how insignificant

I feel.

Jesus notices me.

Look at this verse Luke, Chapter twelve. The Bible says,

God never overlooks a single sparrow. How many sparrows you

think they're in the world, How many birds you think

they're in the world. The Bible says, God notices every

bird and everything they're doing, every time. And he says

he pays even greater attention to you, down to the

last detail. God knows more about your life than you do,

even numbering the hairs on your head. Do you know

what the greatest expression of love is. It's not given

somebody flowers. The greatest expression of love is not buying

somebody a box of chocolates. The greatest expression of love

is not given them a gift card to Best Buy.

The greatest expression of love is attention. It's attention paying attention,

because when you pay attention to somebody, you're giving them

your time, and your time is your life, and you're

never going to get that time back, you were giving

them a part of your life. And when you pay

attention to somebody and you look them in the eyes,

that child, that husband, that wife, that friend, and you

pay attention to them, you were saying you matter to me.

It is the great, greatest gift.

Some of you grew up with parents who thought that

what you needed were things.

Kids don't need things. They need attention.

Little kids, they're obvious about their need for it. They

crave attention. Watch me, daddy, Watch me, daddy. And for

the rest of your life you're going to be saying,

watch me, daddy. You're still saying it today. Watch me

everybody by the kind of car I drive, Watch me

everybody by the kind of clothes I wear, Watch me

everybody by the way I manicure my front lawn. Watch

me everybody by how I make myself stand out. You

crave attention. It is a fundamental human need. You crave attention.

And there are people all around you, the people you

work with, they're starving for attention. Your next door neighbors,

and the people around you, they're starving for attention. And

if you want to be like Jesus, you pay attention,

You show up up and you pay attention, and you

be there when they need you. There are people all

around you dying to be noticed. Most of you do

not realize the awesome attention that God is paying to

you every single second of your life. Why, because you

matter to God. Number two, not only no matter how

small I feel, Jesus notices me. The second thing we

learned is that no matter who ignores me, Jesus knows me.

No matter who ignores me, Jesus knows me. That this

is more than noticing. He doesn't just notice you as

one in six billion people.

He doesn't just notice you.

He knows you, and he calls Zachias by name.

Now, all of his life.

Zachias has been ridiculed and rejected. First, as a young person,

he's ridiculed and rejected for his size. He's not as

tall as everybody else. His appearance and his physical handicap

cause him to be the subject of some mean spirited things.

But then when he gets older, he's ridiculed and rejected

for his dishonesty and his corruption. Now you could only

imagine the kind of gossip and the kind of verbal

abuse that this guy probably receives daily for being a

jew who sold out to the Romans and is ripping

off his own people for his own benefit, and he

is being ignored by everybody. But Jesus has another surprise

and the second part of this verse, Jesus looked up

at Zachius.

And called him by name. He knows me and just

noticed me.

He knows me, Zachius, he said, Now, imagine the shock.

He knows my name. How did he know?

How did Jesus know the same reason. Jesus knows your

name because he made you, He created you. He's God.

That's why he knows your name. Because God knows your name. Now,

I want to tell you this. God not only knows

where you are, he knows who you are. He not

only knows what you're going through right now and knows

it better than you do. He knows why you're going

through it, and he knows how you feel about it,

even when you don't even know how you feel about it.

He knows you.

Inside and out. He knows you. He doesn't just notice.

He cares about you personally, because God is not an

impersonal force. Now Jesus is walking through the city of Jericho.

A crowd is following him. He stops at this tree,

and he looks up and he sees the most hated

guy in the community. And he not only stops and

notices him, he calls him out by name, Zacheus, Come down,

I'm going to your house today. I'm going to have

a party at your house. He knows his name. Now

this shocks everybody. First the fact that Jesus, How does

Jesus know this guy's name? Okay, but in a packed crowd,

he's noticing him. But not only that, how does he

know his name? The second shock is the meaning of

the name. Do you know what Zacheus means?

It means pure one, pure one.

Now that's the last thing Zachias was. He's anything but pure.

He's mister corruption personified. And Jesus looks up at him

and says.

Hey, pure one.

It probably been decades since anybody had ever called him

by his real name. They're probably calling Zachius every other

name in the book, okay, every other despised scoundrel. He's

a crook, he's anything but pure. They're using all kinds

of derogatory names and behind his back. But Jesus calls

him by his real name.

What is he doing here?

He is affirming his potential rather than pointing out his past.

Now follow me on this.

One of the principles of parenting is treat your kids

the way you want them to be, not the way

they are. Don't label them, help them see what they

can become. When you say you're just what are you

doing only reinforcing the past. Don't tell it like it is,

Tell it like it can be. Guys, if you want

your wife to treat you like a king, you treat

her like a queen. You treat people the way you

want them to be, and then they tend to measure

up to your expectations. Jesus looks at Zachius, and he

doesn't point out his flaws.

He says, hey, pure one, come on down. Now follow

me on this.

The reason your friends are afraid to come to Christ,

and the reason why you are afraid to get close

to Jesus is you think if I get close to Jesus,

he's going to scold me. He's going to nag me,

and he's going to tell me and remind me of

all the things I've done wrong in my life.

Wrong.

Jesus goes to the biggest center in town in the

people's view and he doesn't say, Oh, Zachius, let me

give you one hundred things you've done wrong in the

last three weeks. No, he looks up at it and

he says, hey, pure one, let's go party.

What's going on here? He is treating Jesus.

He's treating Zachius the way he wants him to be treated.

He said, I know you, I made you, I know

your potential. I'm not looking at your sin. I'm looking

at what I made you to be, and I made you.

To be a pure one. They can't forget him.

Look at this next verse, this verse out of Isaiah.

God says, can a mother forget her nursing child? Can

she feel no love for a child she has born?

The answer is obviously no. If you're nursing a baby,

there's no way. If you're nursing a baby, you're gonna

forget that baby. It's impossible. If you're nursing a baby,

you cannot forget a baby. But he says, even if

that were possible, God says, I would never forget you.

See I have engraved your name on the palms of

my hand. When Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross,

they nailed nails through his hands. Those created scars, and

God says, I have engraved you on the palms of

my hands. This is how much I love you. When

you get to heaven, there aren't going to be any

scars in heaven. You're not gonna have any imperfections or

any scars in heaven. The only person with scars in

heaven will be Jesus. For the rest of eternity, we

could see how much he loved us.

I have engraved you on the palms of my hand.

Look at the.

Scars on my brow from the crown of thorns. Look

at the spears scar in my side. Look at the

nails in my hand, the nails in my feet. These

are the scars that say this is how much I

love you. I call this God's tattoo.

Verse.

God says, there's no way I could ever forget how

much I love you. I've engraved you on the palms

of my hand in spite of his zachiezs and Jesus

affirms him. You see, God has created you. You're his

custom creation. He made you. You weren't mass produced when

he formed you. He uniquely formed you for a purpose,

and he knows that purpose for your life, and he

didn't use an assembly line, and he lovingly crafted you,

and he knows your name, and he's impressed you on

the palms of his hands. I like to say say

it this way. God has your picture in his wallet.

Do you realize that you're not number one billion, four

hundred and eighty six, two hundred and eighty two whatever.

God has your picture in his wallet. He made you

to love you, and there's never been a moment of

your life that he didn't love you, that he didn't

see notice, and that he didn't know what's going on

in your life. Some of you have had some pretty

tough shots in life, and you've had some pretty mean

things said about you, and you can still remember the

names you've been called, names you've been called by your dad,

names you've been called by your mom, names you've been

called by people on the playground or at school, and

you've been the braun of verbal abuse. And you can

still recard the recall the words, and so you have

a pretty hard time feeling good about you. But I

want you to remember this, even though all those other

people called you, all those other names, you'll never amount

to anything. Why can't you be like your brother or

your sister. You're gonna failure, you're gonna end up in prison,

on on and on and on, and all those things

that people said about you, and all the names they

called you. You're dumb, you're uncoordinated, you're a klutz, you

don't matter, and all of that doesn't really matter, because

what matters is not the names they've called you, but

the fact that he knows your name, and he says,

pure one, I see in you what I made you

to be, and I've never given up on that. No

matter how insignificant I feel, Jesus notices me, and no

matter how things go wrong in my life and people

ignore me, Jesus knows me.

Wow. Thank you, Rick for that amazing message. You know,

people are being transformed by these messages every day, but

that's only because of your partnership with us. In fact,

here's Rick to share some important news with you.

Let's be honest about this time of year. At the

end of every year, there are so many ministries that

ask for you to support them in the end of

your giving. And you know what, we believe in every

ministry that proclaims the name of Jesus, and we thank

God for them. And I know it can be difficult

to decide who to give to, So let me just

give you some biblical foundations forgiving, some simple guidelines for

end of your giving. You might think of these three

or four things. Number one, give to the ministry that

God tells you to support. Go to God, pray to him,

ask him, say God, who do you want me to support?

And you know what? I support you giving to whoever

God tells you to give to. And if it's not daily,

hope I still support you to give to who God

tells you to give to, So pray and ask God. Second,

never give when you feel pressured. The Bible says in

Corinthians that we are to never give under pressure or

compulsion or under guilt. So if you ever feel guilty

about giving, don't give because God tells you in the

Word not to give at that time. Give because you

want to give, not out of guilt or pressure. Number three,

give to where you support and believe in the goals

of that particular ministry. Now, every ministry has different goals,

but if you believe in and have a heart for

going to the last, the least, and the lost, this

would be a ministry you should consider supporting and then

finally give where your gift will be multiplied. For instance,

at the end of every year, there is a donor

to Daily Hope who offers to give a matching grant

to apply to any donation that we receive before the

end of the year. Now what this means is that

for every dollar you're able to give this month the

Daily Hope, it's going to be doubled that donor will

match it. That multiplies your gift. Like the little boy

who brought his loaves and fishes to Jesus, and Jesus

fad the five thousand. If you give twenty five dollars

to Daily Hope this month, the matching grant will match

it at twenty five dollars. If you're able to give

one hundred dollars, the matching grant will add another one

hundred dollars. That multiplies your gift. I would consider that

as a factor in where to give during this month.

Now let me just say this. If you can't help

us financially, that's okay, I understand, but I would ask

that you pray for us. I'm so grateful for those

of you who are a financial supporter of this ministry

that monthly giving, month after month. It means so much

to me, it means much to God, but it means

so much for eternity to those who are hearing the

good news for the very first time. And so you

and I are partners together in reaching people for Christ

all around the world. In closing, let me just ask

you to continue to pray pray for me as I

pray for you, and pray that God's word will be

taught clearly, with compassion, with clarity, with simplicity in this

new year, and that it will not only help you

as you listen to these broadcasts, but it will help

us reach people for Christ and disciple believers and build

churches all around the world, especially in the tribes that

have never heard the name of Christ. Thanks for your generosity,

thanks for your prayers, and God bless you.

All this month. Every dollar you give to help David

Hope share the transforming love of Jesus with people around

the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars.

You can give right now by going to Pastorrick dot com,

or you can just text the word Hope to seven

oh three to oh nine. But there's only a few

more days to have your gift doubled. Anything that's not matched,

well it's going to be lost. So please give your

best gift today. Again, that's Pastorrick dot com or just

text the word hope to seven oh three oh nine

and thank you so much for your support.

Be sure to.

Join us next time as we look into God's word

for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor

Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.