2nd April 2023 Communion Service - Yasmin Chaffer - Journey to the Cross

Good morning, morning, good morning. So, following on from our theme

over this last month and the Cross, I'm going to be speaking the journey

to the Cross. I must admit I had anticipated, with it being Palm

Sunday, that I've been speaking more about that, but the Lord led me

further back to a different point on his journey to Jerusalem and the Cross.

So I'm going to start with a little background to the passage we're going to

be looking at today in the New Testament, in Luke chapter nine, Jesus

and his disciples are in Bethseda, the city just northeast that the city of

Galilee at the Sea of Galiley. Excuse me, in the region of Trachonitis.

Don't you think trachonitis sounds like a medical condition, It actually means rugged

regions. So I never anyway, when the point comes where Jesus as recognized

as it's time for him to be crucified and then resurrected, and starts making

his way towards Jerusalem. In Luke chapter nine, verse fifty one, it

says as the time drew near for him to assent to Heaven, Jesus resolutely

set out for Jerusalem. So Jesus starts traveling south through Galilee and Samaria and

then to Jerrycho, about fifteen miles northeast of Jerusalem, where he meets Sacchias.

So we come to our main passage for today, and that's Luke chapter

nineteen, verses two to ten. And I'm reading from the NIV. That's

Luke nineteen, verses two to ten. A man was there by the name

of Zachias. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted

to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he couldn't see

over. The crowd ran ahead and climbed a sycamore victory to see him,

since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked

up and said to him SACas, 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's gone to be the

guest of a sinner. But Zakia 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 the son of Abraham, for the

son of Man came to seek and save the lost. So back to Luke,

chapter nineteen, verse two, a man was there by the name of

Zakias. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. A tax collector

worked for the Romans, and a chief tax collector would hire people to collect

the taxes and set the tax rates, so he would pay the Romans what

they wanted and demand whatever he wanted to line his own pocket. And as

we see in verse eight where Zekias said if I had cheated anybody out of

anything, clearly he fleeced his own people, which is why he was so

wealthy. So it's easy to see why tax collectors were deeply unpopular and perceived

as traitors to their own people the Jews. A book came out last September

by a guy called Manoj Ritata called Filthy Rich, Whilst he doesn't appear to

have been exploiting people the way that Zekias was like Sykius, money was his

god until he discovered the one true living God. The back of the book

says this, why not spend thirty five million pounds on one beak day out?

Good question, but anyway, Thus said the Daily Telegraph in a comment

on Manoj's growing property empire in two thousand and five, Manuj Ratato appeared to

have it all, a booming property company, a picture book family and the

power to shape his destiny. Yet behind the enviable facade, his reckless ambition

was consuming him and wreaking havoc on his marriage. Then his professional and personal

worlds were shattered. The two thousand and eight financial crisis devastated his business,

and a sudden illness threatened his son's life. With his hollow foundations exposed,

Minaj found himself utterly dependent on the prayers of others and the help of a

previously unknown God. What happened next would forever change his life. Morilly bankrupted

by greed and selfishness, Monad would have to build his life a marriage,

anew with different foundations. Whilst I haven't read it, it's a true story

and clearly an illustration of the danger of making money your god. As it

says in One Timothy six, verse ten, the love of money is the

root of all evil, not money itself, which can of course be used

for both good and evil. But the love of money and to become a

chief tax collector, Zaychius must have allowed a love of money to guide his

life. Luke, nineteen, verses three to four. He Zachius wanted to

see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see

over the crowd, so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to

see him, since Jesus was coming that way, I can empathize with Zychias

for those of you who are listening online and can't see me. I'm five

foot half an inch, although in these boots I'm probably about five foot two

or three. Ychias wanted to see Jesus but couldn't because of the crowd because

he was short. But Zychias didn't let that stop him. There was no

point planting himself in the ground and hoping he would grow. He couldn't change

his height, nor could he get rid of the crowd. So he found

a way of working around these issues, which together was stopping him from seeing

Jesus. What stops us from seeing Jesus? Is there anything stopping you from

seeing Jesus? Is there anything stopped you from Jesus, Seeing Jesus in person,

in other words, saying yes to his invitation to spend eternity with Him

in heaven, as well as living out your time on earth in and with

and for Him. There may be many reasons why it's physically difficult for you

to get to church at the moment, that that doesn't stop you from saying

yes to Jesus even right now. The Word of God says in the New

Testament, in the Book of Romans ten verse nine. If you declare with

your mouth Jesus is Lord, in other words, recognizing his power, his

authority, and majesty as God, and believe in your heart that God raised

him from the dead, you will be saved for those of us who have

already surrendered our lives our hearts the Lord. Is there anything stopping you stopping

us from seeing Jesus. This could mean different things to different people. For

example, is there's anything stopping you from spending time with the Lord in the

Bible, Which of those reasons are within your control? Which can you do

something about? What does it mean for you to climb a tree, so

to speak? So in your situation? In other words, do something different

so you can see Jesus by spending time with God in his word. There

may be other things which are stopping you from seeing Jesus, maybe doubt,

unbelief caused by what you've been taught by someone, your respect. It may

be something to do with painful experiences, either your own and or other people's.

Ask the Lord to open your eyes so you can see him, and

ask him to show you how you can climb a tree, how to overcome

these obstacles. As a student many years ago, I was traveling around Italy

and I remember being on a platform to take the train to Siena in central

Italy, and I was standing there with my backpack, and a little further

down there was this guy, also standing on his own with a backpack,

and we got talking, and we then got on the train together, and

I've never had an experience like it before or since. Within ten minutes,

I knew and he knew, and I knew that he knew the conversation was

heading towards God and that this wasn't the time or place to go there.

So we both agreed to postpone the conversation until later, and we chatted on

about other things. When we got to Siena, we got settled into the

youth hostel that we'd both planned to stay at, and then we returned to

the conversation. He was an Israeli ex soldier who was struggling with depression.

He was drinking a lot. I don't think he was alcoholic, but he

was drinking, he was smoking, and he wasn't really looking after himself the

previous day. I still remember he'd only eaten a Mars bar all day.

Anyway, he was fine with me praying for him, so I did.

I simply asked, Lord, please reveal yourself too, whatever his name was,

in a way that he can understand. It was just another way of

saying, Lord, please open his eyes so he can see you. He

had his head down whilst I prayed, but when he eventually looked up,

his face was one big smile. It was just amazing. He said he

felt like a dark cloud had lifted off him. A couple of days later,

he committed his life to the Lord. I never saw him again.

My point is, I asked the Lord to open this guy's eyes so he

could see him. We can obviously ask the Lord the same for ourselves and

or others. We can ask for someone who doesn't know the Lord, like

this guy, or for example, if we need to know where Jesus is

in a particular situation, we can also ask the Lord what is stopping us

from seeing him? If we need to. The words we use are obviously

not a magic formula. It's about applying our faith, choosing to believe that

the Lord will answer, whether we see it straightway or not. The Lord

gave me a definition of faith a couple of days ago, which unsurprisingly I

find helpful. He said, faith is not figuring out how or when God

will answer prayer. It's trusting in his character to do it. So my

question to all of us, including me, is what is stopping you from

seeing Jesus? Or it may be more pertinent for you if I take that

a step further, what is stopping you from seeing more of Jesus? Or

a similar question may be relevant to you. Lord, where are you in

this situation? Luke nineteen, verses five to six. When Jesus reached the

spot, he looked up and said to him, Zaichias, come down immediately.

I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once

and welcomed him gladly. Jesus noticed Sakia's up a tree. Jesus will always

notice you too. I'll say that again. Jesus noticed Scias up a tree,

and how keen he was to see him, And he will always notice

you too. The Lord wanted me to emphasize that Sikes immediately did what Jesus

said. How many of us do that? And Siicius hadn't even committed his

life to the Lord at that point. Zakias, the bad guy known as

a sinner, as it says in verse seven, immediately did what Jesus said.

Siicius, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.

So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. I'll put that out

there as a gentle reminder to all of us, and look at Jesus,

Oh sorry, Sekia's attitude. He wasn't reluctant or passive, aggressive, or

even hesitant. He welcomed him gladly. Skius welcomed Jesus gladly. How do

we respond to what Jesus says? It probably depends on what he's saying to

us. If he's saying come down out of a tree, that my a

bit uncomfortable. Maybe we might be a little more ready to respond quickly than

to some of the things he says to us, But the principles there.

If we've already surrendered our lives to Jesus, do we always welcome him gladly

when he nudges us to spend time with him or to consider his ways and

maybe do something we don't feel like doing, like forgive someone who's wronged us,

or spend time with someone when we're super busy, or basically do something

that will cost us personally, be it financially or not. It's important that

we learn to recognize the difference between doing something because we feel we ought to,

as in from a sense of guilt that isn't from the Lord, and

doing something because we know it's the right thing to do. Luke nineteen,

verse seven. People saw this and began to mutter or complain. As it

says in other translations, he's gone to be the guest of a sinner.

The crowd was right. Jesus had gone to be the guest of a sinner,

a man known for the wrong that he'd done. What Zakias was doing

as a tax collector was wrong. Cheating other people out of the money,

extorting money out of people to make himself rich. But Jesus looked at his

heart. One Samuel sixteen, verse seven in the New Living Translation says,

the Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward

appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Jesus didn't snub, condemn,

or condone Zachias because of the wrong that he was doing, but stopped

interrupted his journey just for him, someone we would probably have considered considered a

horrible man. Clearly the crowd did, I have to say, it would

take divine eyesight, supernatural twenty twenty vision to see past the cheating and wrong

that Zekiirs had done, to spot a heart that was open to love,

open to God. God is love. We may need that sometimes, that

divine eyesight to respond as Jesus to represent him well, especially in our interaction

with people who have wronged us and all those we love. Once Samuel sixteen

seven, the Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judged

by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. There are no

easy answers or formulas as we know. It goes back to our dependency on

God, on his strength, the power of his love, and his insight,

his divine eyesight, to know how to respond to those who have wronged

us and all those we love. Forgiveness is not an optional extra. When

the disciples ask Jesus how to pray, he taught them a model of prayer

that covers it. I'll just read that point from Matthew six, verse twelve

in the Passion translation, forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we

ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. It takes a decision on

our part to forgive, and God will strengthen us to stay with that decision

if we ask him. A while back, someone really wronged someone I really

care about, and I had to choose to forgive that person repeatedly expressed to

that person because that would have been inappropriate. But on a number of occasions

I found myself getting angry as I thought about how this person is treating the

person I cared about. Sometimes you have to keep going back to that basic

command to forgive. Left unchecked, the anger could consume you. I had

known someone like that, and trust me, it is not worth it.

And we have to keep reminding ourselves that Jesus paid the price for that person's

sin too, and that price is sufficient thanking Jesus for it is one of

those sacrifices that we can only make this side of heaven because there'll be no

pain or anything like that once we get there. But it is worth it.

So how do we react when Jesus wants to show that person grace like

he did soa he is, especially if he wants to show it through us

out. Do we try and belt into the crowd and just grumble about how

horrible that person it is it has been that's the easy option. Or do

we ask the Lord what to do, as well as for the strength to

do it. He never expects us to just do it on our own.

No one ever said that life was easy, or if they did, they

were either lying or joking Luke nineteen verse eight. But Zakiath 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. Something about Jesus made Zequius

want to make amends. We can allow Jesus' presence to affect change in us

too, or we can resist it. We get to choose. We see

this really clearly with the two criminals who were executed at the same time as

Jesus. There was one on either side of him, as it says in

Luke twenty three, when he was nailed to a cross and brutally murdered to

pay the price for our sin. This is remembered especially on Good Friday this

coming Friday. But I will mention it briefly here. So that's Luke twenty

three, verses thirty nine to forty three, and I'm reading from the New

Living translation. That's Luke twenty three, thirty nine to forty three. One

of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed. So you're the Messiah? Are you

prove it by saving yourself and us too while you're at it. Messiah comes

from the Hebrew word nashia and means anointed one, which chosen one. The

Greek equivalent is the word Christos or in English christ. So one of the

criminals hanging beside him scoffed. See, you're the Messiah? Are you prove

it by saving yourself and as too? While you're at it, but the

other criminal protested, don't you fear God even when you have been sentenced to

die. We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn't done

anything wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into

your kingdom, and Jesus replied, I assure you today you will be with

me in Paradise, amazing, showing that grace when he was in the agony

he was in, but never losing sight of his purpose. All three men

were physically in the same boat. Suified people naked those hanging on crosses couldn't

chase flies away from their wounds, protect themselves from heat or cold, or

attend to any other very basic needs. Both criminals were in Jesus' presence.

Clearly both had heard enough, either about Jesus or directly from his own mouth

when he'd been teaching publicly, to have some idea of who he was.

Because the one who mocks him refers to Jesus as the Messiah, albeit not

from the heart, while the other one humbly recognizes him as God, rebuking

the scoffers, saying, don't you fear God even when you've been sentenced to

die? Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He recognized

him for who he was. Like I said, we can allow Jesus' presence

to affect change in us, or we can resist that. We get to

choose, and Jesus will honor your choice. Our choice, Jesus replied to

the humble criminal, I assure you today you will be with me in Paradise.

What amazing words. Zaccheus also allowed jesus presence to affect change in him.

Luke nineteen versa says, but Zakia 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. Notice how Zekius addresses Jesus, Lord. And

we can tell that Zekius is not just paying lip surface because he immediately follows

it up with a commitment to make a massive change, a sea change in

his life, to make good the wrong that he's done. He's made of

fortune by getting money by fair means or foul from his own people, and

now he commits to giving half of what he owns to the poor and paying

back four times what he's got from cheating. Jewish laws for restitution required repayment

of a multiple of what was stolen, and now he's once again having respect

for those laws. Zaki has spent time with Jesus. Let us never underestimate

the importance, the power, or the change that can come about through time

spent with Jesus. Me So he comes to the last two verses of the

passage that we're looking at today Luke nineteen verses nine to ten. Jesus said

to him, today, salvation has come to this house because this man,

too is the son of Abraham. For the son of Man came to see

and save the loss. I think it's really important to recognize that Jesus' comment

that salvation had come to Zekier's house was not because Zekiers had earned his salvation

through the good works that he'd determined to do. It's very clear in different

places in the Bible that our good works will never cut it. We can

never earn salvation, we can never earn a place in Heaven. Only faith

in what Jesus has done for us, in the punishment that he took for

us, and his resurrection from the dead will bring us salvation. As Jesus

says in Mark one fifteen in the Amplified Repent, Live accordingly and believe that

in the good news regarding salvation. On another note, Jesus was not distracted

from his determined purpose to go to Jerusalem. As I mentioned at the beginning

in nine fifty one, Jesus recognized an ensignment en route which would take time,

but nonetheless was in keeping with his purpose to seek and save the loss

lost. It's so important that we too learn to recognize the difference between a

distraction and a God given assignment that may come up unexpectedly and interrupt our plans.

Jesus, our role model in life, was guided by two principles,

well at least two. Anyway. He only did what he saw his father

doing, as it says in John five nineteen, and only said what he

heard his father saying, Our Heavenly Father, John twelve forty nine. As

we learn to live more and more like this, as we become more and

more aware of the Holy Spirit guiding us in life, we two will learn

to recognize the difference between a god given assignment and a distraction. As it

says in Colossians three point fifteen in the Passion translation, let your heart be

always guided by the peace of the anointed. One to close, let me

summarize us three points. Zekiah's height and the crowd stopped him from seeing Jesus.

What is stopping you me from seeing Jesus or seeing more of Jesus,

maybe in a particular situation. The second point is Zakia has climbed a tree

to overcome these challenges. What can we do? And the third point is

Zikis immediately obeyed jesus instruction albeit to come down from a tree. How are

we responding to what Jesus has asked or told us to do. We may

immediately know the answers to some of these questions, and we may need to

seek the Lord about them. Either way, Let's right, Lord, we

so want to see more of you. Please show us if anything is stopping

us on what we can do about it. Father God, please change what

we can't change because we ask it in Jesus' name, And thank you because

we know that we know that you have heard us. Amen, Thank you,