Zacchaeus and the Parable of the Pounds - Gerald Birky

Good morning, greetings in Jesus name this morning. You're welcome to you all,

whether you normally come here or whether it's a rarity for you to be

here, the visitors, We're glad we can spend this time together looking into

looking into God's word. Thank you Joel for those those thoughts about rest and

taking our taking our taking our our sight forward. Aways in the verse or

the fragment of verses that stuck out to me as Joel was reading this chapter

in Hebrews. Was verse eleven where he says, let us labor to enter

into rest. I skipped a few words. Or is there therefore that in

there labor to enter into You'll you'll understand more as we as we as I

go through my thoughts of the morning, why why that was? What that

was? What jumped out at me. You can turn in your Bibles if

you care too, to Luke nineteen. We're gonna be looking looking at that

chapter this morning. The the first well I'll get. I'll give you the

title. I mean, you'll look at that that that chapter and and and

zach Kus's name comes up in in verse two of chapter nineteen of Luke for

a title, I have simply down in zach Kaas and the parable of the

pounds. It's what we find in that chapter. And we're gonna be going

through that, pulling it apart, looking at looking at at a number of

things, noblemen, nobleman, his instructions where we fit into that. But

as I as I was looking looking at this chapter and looking at thinking about

this over the last it's been several weeks, actually, a series of questions

came up in my mind and I'm going to I'm going to ask them to

you. And yeah, I just have I have a couple of questions and

a couple of thoughts just where my mind went, and I'll take years on

a little trip there as well. But first, just a comment on on

Sunday School. I've I'm I as well am enjoying the adult sun Is class,

the moving through of the Book of Proverbs, and these these various looking

at wisdom from various angles. I think we have a problem of conflating or

confusing wisdom and the correct answer to the question. You see, we're all

faced with questions. They they come at us all day every day. Do

we do it this? Where do we do it that? Way? Should

I do this, or should I do that? Should I spend my money

here or there? Should we buy these plane tickets? Are those plane tickets?

Wisdom isn't God hard coding the correct answer to the question. Wisdom is

showing us how to find correct answers. And so as we look at this

chapter here in Luke, think about remember remember that, remember the fact that

that it is, that is it's going to wisdom to look at these things.

But now just to just some more thoughts about our just think moving your

mind away from wisdom possibly or or even even rest in the in the end

of life, just thinking about Christianity and the fact that we're here as we're

here's Christian people. We are we are Christians, We are followers of Christ.

A Bible school going on, we have people, we have people engaged

in teaching and more engaged in studying learning. Can you be can you be

a joyful Christian? Next week? And now to complicate that, this is

this is imagination, imaginary. The fact of the matter is we're used to

doing what we want to do. You see Roman Ruth. They got probably

got on an airplane a day or two ago, and because they wanted to

come here, they came, they leave again. This week, I wanted

to attend a trade show in a neighboring state, and so wound up driving

to Portland, got on a plane. We go and do what we feel

like doing. But if you would have this morning been Forcibly, I mean

Jesus one time said this. You know, if a man compell thee to

go with him a mile, go with him Twain. He was talking to

a people who were somewhat used to getting their life overhauled at an instant,

at a moment's notice. They were under the Roman. The Romans were in

charge, and they were kind of they were subservient. They could get their

day overhauled. But let's just say, for the sake of the discussion,

I asked myself this question. If Sunday morning arrived and I was at gunpoint

Forcibly taken somewhere and told you're going to stand here and wash the homeless dishes,

the dishes for the homeless camp all Sunday and you can go home Sunday

night, would I be able to be a joyful Christian on Monday. I'm

not used to getting my life overhauled like that. It could happen to you

someday. So think about your christian your your Christianity as it relates to our

public worship service Sunday morning. We get together and the lights are bright,

the temperature's right, and the chairs are soft. Is that what makes your

Christianity work? Which is the cause and which is the effect? Christianity worship

service? Does coming to church make you a Christian? Or do you come

to meet with the Christians because you're a Christian because You're Christianity is working?

What is it that you want out of life? You know, you're you're

a Christian, You're you're You're living life and you have you have the same

needs everybody else does. You need a place to sleep, and you need

food to eat, you need you need all these things. What do you

really want out of life? Wealth, food, family, friends, social,

social interaction, social life. What should a true Christian wish for or

want or desire? Well? Labor to enter into rest. That's part of

why that surfaced in my mind. But we should want to, we should

have a desire to work for our Master, our creator. We need to.

We need to remember that we are indeed created beings, We are not

our own and we should we should desire. We should work to please our

creator with our worship. Our worship is mostly a spiritual exercise, an internal

thing, but it's but our worship of God, Our our our worship also

has a visible external component. Our true worship to God is an outworking of

our understanding of who God is, what he does, and what God's definition

of a faithful servant is. Psalm one hundred, Verses three and four.

We know that Psalm. You know you've memorized that Psalm. Probably you know,

make a joyful noise in to the Lord. You know how to worship

verse three, Know ye that the Lord he is God. It is he

that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and

the sheep of his pasture, and are into these gates with thanksgiving and his

course with praise. Be thankful unto him, bless his name. But the

He hath made us, not we ourselves. And so this morning we're gonna

look at Luke nineteen out of the Bible. The Bible being this record of

God, the Creator, God's interactions with man is God making himself known to

his people. And that's what this book is. It's a record of God,

God trying to communicate to people what he wanted from them, and then

how they responded to it. We, incidentally, are those people as well,

were those people who who know something of God, know something of how

we should live, and it's our job to live. Let's read here in

Luke nineteen and this story I'm going to We're gonna look at the chapter and

I'm going to try to bring in some context here. Story of zach Chus

is a familiar one, very very very common Luke nineteen one. And Jesus

entered and passed through Jericho, so man traveling through a city, and behold

there was a a man named Zachaeus, who was chief among the publicans,

and he was rich, and he sought to see Jesus who he was,

and could not for the press because he was little of stature. And he

ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he

was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he

looked up and saw him and said, unto him, Zachaeus, make haste

and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he

made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they the people

around him saw it. They all murmured, grumbled, saying that he was

going to be a guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zachaas

stood and said, unto the Lord. Behold, Lord, the half of

my goods I give to the poor. And if I have taken anything from

any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. Jesus said, unto

him, this day is salvation. Come to this house forasmuch as he also

is a son of Abraham. For the son of Man is come to seek

and to save that which was lost. And as they heard these things,

so they heard these things. They the people around him, this this people

who was actually a fair fair sized group of them, I believe. But

as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable And then the

writer doctor Luke here explains why. Because a he was knight a Jerusalem,

and because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear. So these

these oppressed people, these people who were tired of carrying the packs for the

Romans, tired of getting their life overhauled. They they had a belief that

the Kingdom of God should immediately appear. It was it was around the corner.

It was about to happen, and they were They were excited about this

prospect of a kingdom of God, a kingdom, a kingdom of not Caesar,

not not the Roman military. The shots a reasonable enough hope wish request.

So Jesus gave them this parable verses verse twelve through twenty seven. They'd

like to take you on farther, just in your mind here. And when

he had thus spoken, this is talking about Jesus now verse twenty eight.

He went before ascending up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass when he

was come nigh to Bethphagi and Bethany, at the mount called amount of Olives,

he sent two of his disciples, saying, go you into the village

over against you in the witch. At your entering, ye shall find a

colt tide whereon yet never man sat, loose him and bring him hither.

And if any man ask you, why do you loose him? Thus shall

you say unto him? Because the Lord hath need of him. And they

that were sent went their way and found even as he had said unto them,

And as they were loosing the colt, the owners there have said unto

them, why you loose ye the colt. They said, the Lord hath

need of him, and they brought him to Jesus. They cast their garments

upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon, And as he went they

spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even

now, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of

the disciples began to rejoice and to praise God with a loud voice for all

the mighty works that they had seen, saying, blessed be the King that

cometh in the name of the Lord, Peace in heaven and glory in the

highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude, Some of the

Pharisees from among the multitude, said, unto him, Master, rebuke thy

disciples. In other words, you guys are getting You're over the top,

you're out of line. And he said, unto them. Jesus said to

the pharisees, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the

stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld

the city and wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known even now,

at least in this thy day, the things which belonged to thy peace.

But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come

upon THEE, that thine enemies shall cast the trench about THEE, and compass

THEE round, and keep THEE in on every side, and shall lay THEE

even with the ground, and thy children within THEE. And they shall not

leave in THEE one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of

thy visitation. And he went into the temple and began to cast out them

that sold their inn and them that bought, saying to them, it is

written, my house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it

a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple. But the

chief priests and scribes, and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,

and could not find what they might do, for all the people were

very attentive to hear him. So in that reading we morph from kind of

specific in Jericho gave a parable traveled on to Jerusalem, and then verse forty

seven, he taught daily in the temple, taught each day in the temple.

I'm not sure how long how long that went on. I'm not going

to go into into all these time frames. But the scene, the story

there is is impressive to me because Jesus here has a has a group around

him, a large group that involved Pharisees as well as multitude of disciples.

Are the words used Jesus Jesus invitation or Jesus acceptance of the I R.

S. Agent zach As, the tax collector, the the the the Roman

thugs probably what he was viewed as. Jesus said no, because because of

because of your seeking out, Jesus, because of your hunting after true wisdom,

in the context of our Sunday school lesson, you've you've come to find

me. I actually have the words of eternal life. But because of your

attitudes Verse nine, this day is salvation. Come to this house for as

much as he also is a son of Abraham. So to the crowd around,

to the people Jesus was addressing, the step there was the was large.

He called this man one of you all verse ten. For the son

of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. But then

to go on and jog there, jog their memory or or or or get

their attention. He said therefore verse twelve. So what Jesus did in this

co in this at this point in time is he gave them these verses twelve

to twenty seven, which was a he wasn't naming names here. He used

the term a certain nobleman. But one writer I was reading his explanation of

this says that this actually would have had a very very very recent memory political

connotation. In other words, apparently there was that was the way the local

ruler as they as they related to Rome. I read the names, but

they escaped me. Herod this or that, I don't know which one.

But the father died and the son actually did this. He left, He

left, and he went to Rome. He traveled, he had to.

He had to get to Italy from from Jerusalem, from Israel. He had

to go on a fairly long journey to get to get his authority handed to

him because he was he wanted to be the next king or the next ruler

over the over that that area. And so to these people, I think

they they had a they had a political they knew the story from the political

side. Jesus gave it, but he he tweaked it a little bit.

Just he just gave the story. And it works all the way to us

today because the third meaning I think it may have been a poke at the

Roman system. But he also knew that this would would also be a picture

of his leaving and coming back. Let's read it Luke nineteen verse twelve.

He said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive

for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants

and delivered them ten pounds pounds apiece, and said, under them occupied till

I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a message after him,

saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. And it

came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then

he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given

the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten

pounds. He said, unto him, well, thou good servant, because

thou hast been faithful in a very little have thou authority over ten cities.

And the second came saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.

And he said, likewise to him, be thou also over five cities.

And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound,

which I have kept laid up in a napkin. For I feared thee because

thou art an austere man. Thou takest up that thou layest not down,

and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he said, of unto him,

out of thine own mouth, will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.

Thou knewest that I was an unstere man, taking up that I laid

not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest not

thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required

mine own with usury. And he said, unto them that stood by,

take from him the pound and give it to him that hath ten pounds.

They said, unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. For I

say unto you that every one which hath shall be given, and from him

that hath not, even that he hath, shall be taken away from him.

But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them,

bring hither and slay them before me. Jesus told this story to make

a point to teach some lessons. I'd like to take the next few minutes

here and look at some of these first, first looking at this nobleman,

and then for us as Christians, what deductions, what deductions can we make

from this? From this, I guess it's called a parable story that was

given. Look at the nobleman, think about think of the nobleman as as

as God or or as Christ. The nobleman gave resources to work with.

He called these men, ten of them and handed handed them resources. What

resources do we have to work with? What have what have you been handed?

What have I been handed? I've got a few here I listed.

I don't consider these to be exhaustive lists. They're just kind of what what

came to me. But you're handed life or time. That is something you

have. You hold it in your hand. You have twenty four hours in

a day. You have health, the ability to stand up and be productive

do things to some to some degree, not all of us have the same

level of health. I understand that. But another thing that we're handed,

and I think we should look at it as a resource, and that is

the ability, the ability, the innate, the God given ability to feel,

accept and respond to love, I was watching a few days ago.

I was watching a a new baby getting passed from mother to grandmother to great

grandmother. They were having quite a they were having a lot of a lot

of fun holding this little pink bundle. And I looked at that and I

was thinking about this, this this concept of the ability to to feel,

accept and respond to love. That that little that little baby was doing that

they she was she was kind of looking at people and anyway doing doing the

baby thing. But that's what that was, that interaction. Kind of the

next stage. When you reach adulthood, you have the ability and responsibility to

reciprocate love. We call that the the establishment of relationships. So think about

those things as as resources, as the talent or the talent or the pound.

The resources were given equally, and those things, those things are kind

of I mean, when we're young, when we're sixteen years old, we

pretty much all have them equally. We have time, we have health,

we can feel love, and we can give love. The resources were given

equally, but the abilities of the men who got it seemed to be quite

different. The nobleman gave one simple directive, occupy till I come verse verse

thirteen. He said unto them called the ten servants, delivered them ten pounds,

set unto them. Occupy till I come. The other calment of a

Bible says, and the goo Siah Anthony tomto kevengel you're supposed to be doing

something Verse fifteen. When he came back, we can see a little more

what he had in mind, that he might know how much every man had

gained by trading. Trading is the same is to negotiate, to train,

to trade, to work. I think what he was telling them there and

actually, yeah, actually this this I found this I found interesting a couple

of months ago, this verse being explained by a by a man preaching,

a Latino man preaching in Mexico. He scrolled through he he had the ability

to get verses up on the board. He scrolled through a bunch of different

translations until he found the translation he wanted up there, and it was the

English translation, the King James version. And he pointed out this occupy till

I come phrase, which I found rather interesting because he seemed to need the

English to explain the Spanish, and I tend to need to the other way

around. I need the Spanish to explain the English. This word occupy as

we know it mean well, occupy Wall Street or occupy Seattle or San Francisco,

is a little bit of a different connotation. Occupy just kind of sit

in one place and take up space. This as a this as a command

has more the more the context of be engaged, get busy. The other

thing, Look, just let's leave the leave what he said, But the

other thing that he left didn't really say, so, didn't really say when.

He didn't know when he would return, but there would be a day

of reckoning. That kind of goes with the territory. And in the day

of reckoning, the nobleman comes back, the faithful and productive will receive a

reward. Verse fourteen. That there was there was some hateful citizens. There

were citizens who got the resource, got the pound, but didn't like it.

They said, we will not have this man to reign over us.

We don't want Christianity. And there's people around, lots of people who reject

Christianity. Apparently, apparently in the historical setting here, there was a delegation

of fifty men sent to Rome kind of on the heels of this nobleman to

to try to influence Caesar against giving him the kingship, and apparently that they

were successful. We will not comply. But at verse twenty seven, when

the nobleman came back, he had a place to put them in his mind.

But those mine enemies would which would not that I should reign over them,

bring hither and slay them before me. In other words, that this

will not be accepted, This will not be tolerated. So for us as

Christians, what deductions can we make from this? From this a kind of

an account, kind of a story, allegory, whatever you want to call

it, probably the first and foremost. And I spent a little time on

it already. The the the occupy till I come, or be be occupied,

engage in business until I come. Now, what does that look like?

This? This man, this, this this nobleman that left. He

left the money and expected it to be used, And you used profitably the

resources that the nobleman has left us life, health, ability to feel love,

the ability to love and engage in relationships. You know the clock,

The clock has ran on here that I have a question down here? What

does being occupied look like? Proverb six, verse six. Actually turn to

that, you young men, you can you can read while I talk but

proverb six. We went through that in Sunday school not so long ago.

But if you look at that chapter, the beginning of it, this is

this is the negative side. This is what this is what being occupied does

not look like. Starts out, don't your mouth could be getting into trouble.

Verse two. You're snared with your mouth. You've made promises you can't

keep. Don't don't be doing that. Verse six. Go to the end,

Thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, don't be unoccupied,

and lazy goes down, goes down through here talking about the ant through verse

through Verse eight, how long will you sleep? Verse nine, Verse sixteen

has the has the poster on the wall of the of the seven Despicable things

in God's sight. He was talking about a lazy man, the foolish man,

heading after what he wants out of life, what he wants to do.

That's what we should not be. But rather we should be preoccupied and

busy, be busy till I come. You got three things I'd like to

like you to think about that you should be preoccupied with. I don't know

if preoccupied is the right word, but but they you should you should actually

be thinking about these things rather actively think about it a lot. These three

things three three resources that you've been given or the ability to get them,

your money, your time, and your ideas. Your money. What you

do with your money is actually important. You need to. You need to.

I mean God, God has given us differing abilities, differing gifts.

But He's God has and and God isn't necessarily so concerned about exact quantities that

that we kind of can get that that concept here from this, this story

of the nobleman. Some were indeed more productive than others, but the but

the the punishment, the harsh criticism was for the one who used a napkin,

just wrapped it up, did nothing with it. Yeah, so back

back to your money, your resources. You have time, you have health,

you can earn, you have money, you have the thing in your

hand to trade with that he might know how much every man had gained by

trading money is part of that. Yes, we need money to live.

No, we don't all have the same amount, but faithfulness is required of

all servants. More does not necessarily mean easier, easier life, easier decisions.

It's actually probably worse. It's actually the opposite. Consider this in Luke

Chapter twelve, Verse forty eight, few chapters back, last half of a

verse a sentence, unto whomsoever much is given of him, shall much be

required. And to whom men have committed much of him, they will ask

the more. Moving from money to time, God has given each of you,

each of us, gift of time, or you could call it the

gift of life. We're given this, We're given this opportunity with with the

with the pound of with the pound in your hand, so to speak.

We need to use time responsibly. We've been given minutes, hours, days,

weeks, months, years, but only one life? Do you have

a godly preoccupation about your time and what you're doing? I think of the

word regrets just a little bit. Think about that when when you hear someone

say the word regret. It often has when someone is when someone is spelling

out their regrets. I wish that there's often a component of time in there.

I didn't I didn't take the time, I didn't whatever your your mind

can fill in the blanks. In Acts six verse In Acts six we have

the disciples who were concerned with their use of time. They were concerned about

the proper use of time. That was when they came up with the idea

of ordaining six deacons. That was so that someone else could use their time

in preaching. I'm not sure why a deacon is standing here now, but

anyway, that's a different deal. Move on away from time. You can

go on, and you can go on and apply that in your minds.

Another thing that you have is ideas. Half a dozen or ten years ago,

I don't know how long ago it was, Charles Hamilton stood here and

he preached a number of messages kind of under that, under the under the

heading I remember his first first sermon, ideas have consequences. I thought that

was rather poorly worded, but I didn't forget it, so I guess it

was correctly worded. But ideas have consequences. We need to be preoccupied with,

or preoccupied or give a high priority in our minds the ideas that are

godly ideas. There are things in your mind that are potentially put through by

God. And as individuals, and as an individual, do you want to

do you want to be the one who wrapped your idea, wrapped the idea

in a napkin, in other words, just stashed it because it seemed like

too risky I was afraid that he would ask too much, didn't know exactly

what he wanted. So how about no, you know, in this in

this parable, it didn't work out well for that man at all. It

was taken away from him. The idea in your mind, that that thought,

that that desire, that wish. Don't be afraid to let God change

it. You see, we have it. We have another. We have

another example of that. A man by the name of Joseph from about two

thousand years ago. He was about to get married. He had a he

had a he had a noble enough idea in his mind. He wants to

get married, to marry. The scandal erupts and he's minded. He has

the idea to put her away privately. He was just going to just going

to end this. Apparently things went sideways here. God appeared to Joseph in

a dream and took his correct idea that had changed into an incre anyway.

Joseph didn't hardly know what to do, but in the end he he allowed

God to overhaul the idea of divorcing, ditching his betroth. We benefit from

that. Joseph allowed his mind and his ideas to be changed by God.

Some of your ideas. Some of my ideas may need to be changed as

well, But we benefit from letting God just remember this also, that we

are we are kind of in control of these ideas that stay in our minds,

the ones we allow to continue to grow, versus the ones we reject.

This thing of the mind ideas, How how major are they think about

two salesmen in a city selling the same product, the level of success that

they get. Let's say one is successful and one is not. One sells

one hundred of them, the other cells fifty. That probably loops back to

individual ideas what they had in their mind. They're probably selling. They may

have been selling the same thing, these two salesmen to the same or even

different people groups. One may have sold one hundred, the other sold fifty.

They're both potentially faithful, but still ideas, ideas and concepts in the

mind are indeed far reaching. On the negative side to that, Proverbs twenty

three to six says, this thou not the bread of him that is an

evil eye, that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou His dainty meets,

for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he eat and drink

saith he to THEE, but his heart is not with THEE. The the

the ideas of your associates. You should consider as well, the people you

hang out with, the people you listen to. M hm. Lastly,

here the unfaithful servant. This this man who who wrapped his talent up,

money, his pound, he wrapped it up in a napkin and didn't bother

with it. I have a reading here. I'm going to read you a

few paragraphs. Well, some of this is from Spurgeon, and some was

another writer, and I don't I didn't write down which one that is.

But unfaithful disobedience here's somebody else's thought about this. At least one of the

ten men did not obey his master, and as a result lost even the

pound that his master gave him. It is a basic principle of the Christian

life that wasted opportunity means loss of reward and possibly loss of the privilege of

service. If we do not use the gifts God gives us under his direction,

why should we even have them? Someone else can make better use of

the gifts, To the glory of God. Charles Spurgeon wrote this. It

is always so, wrote Charles Spurgeon. The gracious and faithful man obtains more

grace and more means of usefulness, while the unfaithful man sinks lower and grows

worse and worse. We must either make progress or else lose what we have

attained. There is no such thing as standing still in religion. M hm.

So as you look at that in closing here, as you look at

that, think about these these men, these people who were given talents,

who were given their pound, who were given their their ability to do things,

to think, to interact with people around them. We all, we

all desire to be and we can be the faithful, the overcomers. It's

not going to look the same for everybody. In fact, in fact,

I think God set it up that way that it actually looks fairly different,

different differing gifts, differing we reach out to different people. But this word

overcomers, the faithful servants are also called the overcomers in in Revelation in First

John, I'm going to read you about five verses here about overcomers faithful servants,

Revelation twenty one to seven. He that overcometh shall inherit all things,

and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. He

that overcometh. This is Revelation three five, that overcometh the same shall be

clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot out his name out of

the book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father and

before his angels. One John five. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh

the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our

faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that

Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God. Take

that with you, son of God, the Creator, and the man who

gave this hint about the fact that he's leaving. He's leaving you with pounds

or talents or abilities, and he's coming back. One more random quote.

A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is

a great thing. A bit of a tongue twister, but I read it

a few times. A little thing is indeed a little thing, but faithfulness

in a little thing is a great thing. Thank you for your attention.

Let's have a song.