Luke 19:1-10 - Managing Expectations

Hi, I'd love to get a chance to shake your hand and connect with you after the service.

Uh, my wife and I and our three kids, we moved here back in August.

We've been here for just over half of a year already, which is crazy to think of.

In some ways that it's already been half a year, in other ways that it's only been half a year, because it feels like we've been here for so long.

And I've connected with so many of you.

Um, yeah.

As we dive into God's word, uh, I'd just like to pray for us and ask that God would that He be the one that would teach us uh by His Spirit.

So let's let's pray.

Uh our God, uh, we we thank you for this time.

Uh thank you that like we have space, like physical space, to come together, but also space in our lives where we can set it aside to say, Lord, like we want to hear from you.

We want to open up your word, we want to slowly walk through it, and we trust that you're gonna reveal yourself to us.

So as we do, pause right now.

God, I I ask that you would help to quiet our minds and our hearts.

I pray that you'd help us to be attentive to what you want us to be attentive to.

And like, I'm gonna say a lot of words right now, Lord.

I pray that only the words that you would find beneficial for us would be the ones that would remain, and the rest of them would fall away like the chaff.

So lead us, God, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Um, for for the majority of the school year, we've been walking slowly through the book of Romans together.

Around Christmas time, we pressed pause on that series to take a look at the book of Malachi and came away from that series, understanding that the the Lord of hosts will be feared among the nations.

That was the prominent idea through the whole prophecy of Malachi, and it pointed forward to the coming of Jesus, but also pointed even farther forward to look at the final day when God will make all things new, and every knee will bow before the Lord, some willingly, and others by compulsion.

And now as we approach Easter, we're gonna be pausing once again our regular scheduled programming and focus on Jesus' last days as they're recorded in the Gospel of Luke.

One of the difficulties we're gonna face in this short series is that it's short.

We're gonna be looking at the last few chapters of Luke over the course of uh four different sermons, and then we're gonna be back out of it again.

And what this means is that we've got a lot of catch-up work to do to help us understand what Luke is trying to accomplish through his gospel account.

Just a few minutes ago, Travis read from Luke chapter 19, verses 1 through 10, which means that there are 18 other chapters that we didn't read, that we're not aware of.

Luke 19:1–10

Unless, of course, you have all the different gospel accounts memorized, and that in your mind you're able to keep the four different gospel accounts separate, and in your memory work of that, you know what the main purpose of each different gospel account is is aiming for.

I know I don't have that.

I know that in my mind, all the different gospel accounts kind of blend together.

And sometimes it can be tough to remember what Matthew's trying to say and what Mark's trying to say in Luke and John.

And so this morning, as we jump into the beginning of this series, I want to pause and I want to quickly read the first 18 chapters of the Gospel of Luke.

I appreciate that you guys laughed, that you know that I'm joking.

No, we're not gonna do that, but what I do wanna do is I do want to kind of uh take a step back to the beginning of the Gospel of Luke and trace this theme that I've seen throughout the Gospel as I've been preparing for this morning's sermon.

I believe that in Luke's Gospel account, he's very clearly showing the reader that when Jesus came, he did so to save people who did not look the part.

Starting before the book of Luke even begins, we see just the title, Gospel according to Luke.

Luke, believe it or not, is not a Hebrew name.

So even at the very, very beginning, we have a name of a gospel account that is written by someone who is not Jewish.

As we consider this, there is a chance that Luke is actually just a pseudonym for a Hebrew person.

And one of the reasons why some scholars would think that it actually is written by a man who is Jewish is because there's so many Old Testament references and such a detailed understanding of Jewish culture that comes out through the gospel account that there is a chance that it was written by a Jewish man who just used a Greek pseudonym.

But we don't know for certain.

It doesn't tell us here.

The other thing I want us to point out is in the introduction, the book is addressed to a man by the name or a person by the name of Theophilus.

And that doesn't sound like a Jewish name either.

Theophilus is a Greek name, and so right at the starting gate of the Gospel of Luke, we have it written by someone with a Greek name to a Greek recipient.

The introduction to Luke tells Theophilus that this account is written to help Theophilus have certainty concerning the things that have been taught.

And this word taught could mean like a formal teaching, like in a setting like this, or it could also just mean by word of mouth, as people are telling one another what they've heard happening in their midst.

Regardless, Luke is writing to give an orderly account so that the things that have been shared with Theophilus will make sense.

So that's the intro.

Now I want to very quickly share what I saw developing as a main theme throughout Luke's gospel account.

I see a growing theme of Jesus coming to seek and to save the lost.

The first place I turn to with this is that uh one of the first people that Jesus calls by name to follow him is Levi, a tax collector.

And in this scene, he throws a party, and all the Pharisees and scribes, they scoff at this because Jesus is sitting with tax collectors and sinners, and he's dining with them.

And in this scene, Jesus says, it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

And he said that uh he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

We see an account where Jesus heals a centurion's servant, where the centurion sends some of his friends or his servants to Jesus and says, Can you please come to me because my servant is sick and I know that you can heal him?

And Jesus says, Sure, we'll go that way.

And before they actually reach the centurion's house, the centurion sends some of his servants out to Jesus and says, Don't bother coming to my house because I am not worthy for you to be under my roof.

But I know that if you just say the word, my servant will be made well.

And Jesus says, I haven't seen this type of faith in all Israel.

And here it is in a centurion, a Roman centurion, showing this faith, and he heals his servant on the spot there.

If we flip ahead, we'll see a scene where Jesus is again uh reclining at the table with uh some Pharisees and religious leaders.

And a woman who uh the gospel account tells us lived a sinful life, and they don't fill in the blanks there.

You can use your imagination what that means.

She comes and she brings an alabaster jar of ointment, she pours it on his feet, and she cries over his feet and wipes them off with her with her hair.

And the Pharisees, they scoff at Jesus again and say, if this man was a prophet, surely he would know who is touching his feet right now.

And Jesus says, He knows exactly who she is, and he says that because of her faith, he has forgiven her sins.

And they said, Who is this who can say that he even forgives sins?

And it's this woman who is on the outside that he's saying is forgiven.

We see Jesus using the parable of the good Samaritan, where once again the religious people they walk past this man who's been beaten and left for dead on the side of the road.

They walk around him because they don't want to be seen as unclean and have to uh uh go through the religious ceremonies of being made clean again.

But this Samaritan person who is again outside of the uh the people of Israel, he steps in and he saves this man's life.

We see Jesus teaching and sharing woes to the scribes and the Pharisees, condemning them because they don't see his kingdom coming.

He tells a parable of a great banquet where those who should have been welcomed in, who should have been uh at that feast, alluding to the Jewish people, they weren't invited.

But instead those who were the outcasts were invited in, and those who should have been invited in were sent outside.

We see the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost sons.

We see Jesus uh uh telling the story of a Pharisee and a tax collector both coming to the temple to worship the Lord.

And the Pharisee with his puffed up chest boasts about his holiness before God.

And this tax collector, he stands at a distance and he doesn't even lift up his eyes toward the temple and prays, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

After that, we see Jesus calling the little children to come to him.

We see the story of the rich young ruler saying, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Where he says, I've I've done all the things, I've kept all the commandments.

And Jesus says, You lack one thing.

Go and sell all your own and give it to the poor.

And he walks away from him.

And that leads us to the story of Zacchaeus.

I don't expect you to remember all of these references or to write them all down or to remember all the different components of it, but I want you to see this narrative thread that's being woven through the gospel of Luke.

That we can see that Jesus in his ministry, he's gravitating time and again to people who don't look the part.

That the people who should have been closest to Jesus in his ministry are the ones who are farthest away.

Luke is showing us this downside up and outside in nature of the kingdom of God that he's bringing.

One of his first disciples he calls by name is a tax collector.

People who were notoriously known for stealing money from their fellow Jews.

And in the passage today, we're going to find a chief tax collector being called by name just before Jesus enters into Jerusalem riding on a donkey to the shouts of Hosanna.

The calling of these two men are like bookends to this gospel account riddled with people who are on the outside being called in.

Today, and through this series, we're going to see this theme of Jesus coming to save people who don't look the part.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

This morning we're going to see this theme through this the narrative arc of this story in Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

And in this, we're going to see four main components that I've I've identified.

The setting, the problem, the plot twist, and the climax.

So with that, let's turn our attention to Luke 19, chapter 1.

Or sorry, Luke 19, verse 1.

Luke 19:1

It says, He entered Jericho and was passing through.

How's that for like a riveting life verse?

I was wondering if Hobby Lobby has one of these verses on a canvas that we could get for our living room.

Put it up on the wall there.

Not really, but there's a practical question for us here that as people who are wanting to continue to grow as good readers of the Bible, we should be asking.

So he entered Jericho.

From where?

Like what in the immediate context of the Gospel of Luke would tell us where he is coming from?

He just identified he's coming, uh he's entered into Jericho, but from where?

Well, if we were to turn up just to the paragraph beforehand, to uh verse 35 of chapter 18, we see that Jesus is in that setting, drawing near to Jericho.

So Jesus is on the move.

And a blind man, he hears the commotion that follows Jesus as he's walking through the countryside, and he cries out to him.

He says, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

And what follows is that Jesus heals this man, who in turn decides to just start following Jesus right there on the spot.

And now in verse 1, it says, He entered Jericho.

And the blind man is right there in the mix.

The location of Jericho is significant in the flow of Luke.

It's significant because of its proximity to Jerusalem.

It's one day's walk between the two places.

If we'd been tracking with the Gospel of Luke bit by bit, we would have known that back in chapter 9, turn there now, back in Luke chapter 9, we see this turn in the story that occurs when Jesus resolutely determines that he is going to go to Jerusalem.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

In chapter 9, we're going to see two different accounts where Jesus tells his followers that he's going to be killed on the cross because of the religious rulers.

Look at verses 21 to 22, and then again in 43 to 45.

He tells them, I will be killed in Jerusalem, hung on a cross.

So he tells them that right there.

He also tells his disciples that they too will have to daily pick up their cross and follow him.

Which, I mean, a small plug here.

In a few weeks, we're going to be having some PTM classes, Pathways to Maturity.

We're actually, for one of two of the sessions that I'll be teaching, talking about this theme, about what does it look like for us today to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus?

You can sign up on the hub.

Lastly, in verse 51 of chapter 9, turn there.

It says, When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

This verse echoes a verse back in Isaiah chapter 50, which is a prophecy of the suffering servant.

Isaiah 50 · chapter mention

Isaiah chapter 50, verse 7 says, But the Lord God helps me, therefore I have not been discouraged.

Isaiah 50:7

Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

A flint here refers to a very hard stone that was used in Jesus' day to make many different types of sharp tools, including arrowheads and spears.

And so if we read in Luke chapter 9 that Jesus has resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem and consider the way that it echoes this passage about the suffering servant and his face being set like a flint in pursuit of God's will, we begin to understand what Jesus is about to be doing here.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

In Isaiah 50, we're told how the suffering servant of the Lord, the Messiah, will have to endure beatings.

Says that his beard will be plucked out, that he will be mocked and spit on and worse, but that he would be determined to follow through with it all in obedience to the Lord.

And all of this sets the stage for why Jericho is so important, because Jericho is one of the last places that Jesus visits before we see him entering into in obedience to God's will.

And Jesus, like an arrow that's been released, is set on the target, which is Jerusalem, where he's already told his disciples, it is in Jerusalem where the scribes and the Pharisees they will have him arrested and condemn him to death on a cross.

Let's continue in chapter 19, verse 2.

Says, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector and was rich, and he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

I'm calling this section of the story the problem.

Here we're introduced to a man named Zacchaeus.

And Zacchaeus is a chief tax collector.

When the first readers read that line, they would have had this reflex of like absolute repulsion kick in.

Tax collectors were notorious for taking advantage of people in their line of work, often overcharging and directly benefiting from that excess.

It was essentially theft.

So in our context here, it's tax season, isn't it?

So hopefully you've all submitted your taxes, or at least are working on it diligently, or have someone working on it for you.

I know for me it is not my forte at all.

When like taxes and financial planning and income, it is not my strongest suit.

And so, especially this year, with us having to file taxes in both Canada and America, we made sure that we hired someone to help us with that because we were told by someone, you will 100% be audited.

But imagine this setting.

Imagine you've you've filed your taxes.

Let's pretend you submitted them early, even.

Everything's squared away, and in six months, you get a phone call from the IRS saying, uh, we open your file and you owe us five grand with no explanation.

It's on the phone, like, hey, yeah, uh, we just we need$5,000 more dollars from you.

Okay, bye.

Can you imagine how that would feel?

And there's nothing that you can do about it.

You just have to hand it over.

That's similar to how the tax collectors treated the people, but it's worse because it was their neighbors.

These tax collectors lived in the same community.

Everyone knew that they were overcharging for taxes, and that they the tax collectors directly benefited from the increase.

And this increase allowed them to live lavish lifestyles in the community, fully funded by the taxpayers.

Sound familiar?

One commentary I read said tax collectors were Jews who were contracted to collect Roman taxes and were were regarded as traitors and outcasts.

They could not serve as witnesses or as judges in Jewish courts and were expelled from the synagogue.

They weren't allowed in the synagogue.

But Luke tells us, but Luke lets us know that he isn't only a tax collector, but he's a chief tax collector, probably with other tax collectors working under him.

And he's rich.

Luke makes a point to let us know that he is rich.

He's slimy, he's crooked, he's corrupt.

He's the villain in the story.

When we read this, that's what we should be thinking.

Oh, he's a tax collector.

Oh those guys.

But we also read that for whatever reason, Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus is.

It reminds me of back in Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

We were there just a little while ago thinking about some things, where we read that about King Herod, and that he was perplexed about who Jesus is, and he sought out, or he sought him out because he wanted to see him.

Remember that we we read previously in the previous chapter that Luke has just healed a blind man outside of the city gates of Jericho, and now the crowds following him, they're praising God as they're following him, this blind man being one of them who's following.

What's sobering to consider is that in just a few days' time, perhaps these same people that are gathered in this crowd shouting praises are shouting out, crucify him.

Praise God one day, crucify him the next.

We don't know where the shouts of Zacchaeus would have fallen, or if he would have been more likely to shout praises or condemnation.

We don't know if Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus' miracles he'd performed previously, or heard his teachings.

We don't know.

But we know that he was curious and that he wanted to see what all of the fuss about Jesus was.

But he's too small.

Aw, little guy.

It reminds me of when you go to a theme park with your kids, and as you're approaching every ride, there's that yardstick, right?

That says you must be this tall to go on the ride.

And they always try to make it cute, like they'll have like a little turtle holding the yardstick, right?

And as your child approaches, you remind them stand up straight.

Maybe you take their hat, their hat off, and you fluff it up a little bit so it gets a little few more inches there.

And as they're approaching the yardstick, you can see, oh, they're not gonna measure up.

And as they as they turn and they look up at you, you're like, Am I am I tall enough?

And you have to say, No, that turtle says you're not allowed to go on the ride.

Well, well, Zacchaeus isn't measuring up.

Not physically, not socially, and definitely not spiritually.

He's small in stature, but he's also small in his social position because of his sinful acquisition of wealth.

But he's crafty.

He's not gonna let some cute little turtle holding a yardstick tell him that he can't go on the ride.

So he runs on ahead to climb up a tree to get a good look at Jesus.

He he wants to see who he is, but but there's problems in his way.

And he's a what he's willing to address the problem of his height, but we're still unsure as to whether or not he's gonna address his other shortcomings.

I wonder if any of us can relate to Zacchaeus in this situation.

We're wanting to know Jesus, we're wanting to see him, but there's problems in the way.

Maybe you're too busy to spend time in the Bible.

The very book that says that it reveals who Jesus is to us.

Maybe your life, your calendar is too committed to become part of the life of the church, which is his body with him being the head.

Or maybe you're not a Christian.

But like Zacchaeus, you're equal parts curious and yet cautious, worried about what it might cost you.

There's probably something in your life that could be considered a problem that's preventing you from seeing Jesus.

And Zacchaeus, he chose to.

Do something about his.

This brings us to the next portion of the story that I'm calling the plot twist.

So picture the scene in your mind.

Close your eyes if you think that'll be helpful to you.

You're in an ancient city.

You're in Jericho.

Probably stone buildings all around you, dirt streets.

The streets are crowded, and the people are praising God as they crowd around this man.

Maybe the disciples are acting like the secret service.

You know, there's their circle up, making sure that people aren't able to get too close to Jesus.

As a crowd moves through the streets, you notice there's a guy in a tree up there.

What is he doing?

There's one random man just sitting in a tree as the crowd passes by.

He's just watching.

In your imagination, what's the expression on his face?

Does he look like he's fitting the crowd's expression of joy, of praising God for this miracle that they've just witnessed?

Is he annoyed?

Is he confused?

Is he frustrated?

Luke doesn't tell us, but this is what he does tell us.

It says, and when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and he said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.

What's his expression now?

Me?

Zacchaeus?

Why did he call me?

Am I in trouble?

Perhaps that was his initial response, but it's not the response that he climbed down the tree with.

In verse 6, it says, So he hurried down, or he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Remember what we had said before.

Zacchaeus had absolutely no reason to think he'd be the one that'd be called out of the crowd.

He was too short to be seen and too sinful to be worthy.

He was on the outside.

And yet, this rabbi that the crowds were following, likely still talking about the healing of the blind man just moments before, he calls him.

And his response is perfect.

It's just joy.

When you think of this scenario, are you able to place yourself in Zacchaeus's sandals?

You know the things that are in your life that, from your point of view, are problems that would prohibit you from ever being seen or called by Jesus.

You know that secret thing that no one else is aware of?

That's just eating away at you.

When Jesus calls Zacchaeus, he responds quickly and with joy.

And I want to pause here and say that in a room of this size, I know that there's people in here who are either ignoring Jesus calling you to come to him, or who are absolutely terrified at what it might look like if Jesus did call you to follow him.

If you aren't following Jesus, think about how Zacchaeus responded and think about if you too could do the same.

This is the first part of the plot twist.

Jesus calls the person who is on the outside and invites himself into their life.

Jesus says, I need to go to your home today, Zacchaeus.

But there's a second plot twist in the mix, too.

Verse 7.

It says, and when they saw it, they all grumbled.

He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.

We don't know exactly who the they is from this passage.

Was it the crowds who were following Jesus, offering praises to God?

Maybe.

Perhaps it's the scribes and the Pharisees.

After all, throughout the gospel, there's been this growing opposition and tension between Jesus and those groups.

But Luke doesn't clear it up for us.

But it doesn't really matter at this point.

But what stood out to me from this verse is one word in particular.

Grumbled.

Ooh, they grumbled.

When I read this verse and specifically look at that one word grumbled, I don't initially think that much of it.

It reminds me of sitting around the dinner table to the old refrain of, do I have to eat the meat?

Or vegetables if that's your family's complaint.

So you like you hear this grumbling and you're like, ah, and you negotiate as you do and you work your way through it and you get through the rest of supper.

It doesn't seem like it makes that big uh, it's not that big of a deal.

But in the biblical story, this theme of God's people grumbling shows up all too often.

We see it in the Exodus account, when the people grumbled to the Lord because they wanted something to eat.

And so he sends down manna and quail to provide for them.

And then they grumbled because they wanted some water.

And so he provided water for them.

And then they grumbled because they were in the wilderness, and they made a plan of how they would return to Egypt to continue to live as slaves.

If you have your Bible, I mean, take one of the Pew ones.

Turn it to the book of Numbers, which is toward the beginning.

Numbers chapter 14.

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

And just a comment here, too.

If you don't have a Bible and you'd like one, take the Pew Bible home with you.

We would love for you to have a copy of God's word to read through the week.

But uh Numbers chapter 14, starting at verse 26.

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

I'll give you a moment to turn there.

Numbers 14, 26 says, And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me?

I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.

Say to them, as I live, declares the Lord, what you've said in my hearing, I will do.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb, the son of Jephanah, and Joshua, the son of nun.

Yikes.

That's how God feels about grumbling and complaining.

Just keep that in mind.

Going forward, um, the Israelites, they were on the way to the promised land and they were grumbling and complaining to God.

And when we fast forward to Luke, we find God's people still grumbling at the work that He is doing in their midst.

Their hearts are hard to the ministry of Jesus, and they're grumbling because Jesus is doing his work of calling those who are on the outside and welcoming them in.

Time and time and again.

And this is why I want us to pause again, because I don't think that we are immune to the threat of grumbling.

I'm not going to tell you specifically what grumbling might look like in your life, but I do want to invite us to do a personal survey of how we respond to God in the present day.

The people in Luke 19 grumbled because Jesus called someone who was unworthy to be his host.

So don't raise your hand, but have you ever seen someone who was on the outside begin starting to make those steps of faith and you kind of scoff, like that person?

Are there people in your mind that you have decided are outside of God's kingdom?

They're the lost causes.

Maybe it's that bad neighbor that you have, or an annoying coworker.

Maybe you hear a story of a celebrity who comes to faith and you're like, yeah, right.

Perhaps it's someone who you used to go to church with who, by all appearances, has walked away from the faith.

Have you decided their fate in your heart?

Friends, I think this is something that we have to continue to be mindful about.

And not that I'm suggesting that I've experienced this at Parkside, quite the opposite, actually.

But as I was reading it this week, I felt challenged by this verse, and I wanted to check my own heart to see if I would have stood with the crowd who grumbled that day, or if I would have distanced myself and said, whoa, guys, you're off course here.

We have to make sure that we're constantly trying to see how we can help to welcome people into God's kingdom.

Otherwise, we'll end up looking like the Israelites and religious leaders who thought that they were called to act as a filter for God and deciding who gets into God's kingdom and who doesn't.

And this leads us to what I've been calling the climax of the story.

Jesus is calling the people who are on the outside, people are grumbling, and suddenly we see this radical repentance lived out in real time.

Verse 8 says, And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.

One question I have at this point of the story is about location.

Are they still standing on the street in Jericho, or is this taking place in Zacchaeus' house?

It mentions that Zacchaeus stood, and in the verses prior, I assumed he climbed down off the tree and stood before Jesus, where he received him joyfully.

If they're at Zacchaeus' house, which is what I think is happening, then I wonder what else has happened between them being in the street and this declaration of Jesus?

If we look back at verse 6, it says, So he heard and came down and received him joyfully.

I think that at this point of the story, Zacchaeus leads Jesus and his disciples to his house, and the grumblers stand grumbling in the street.

If that's what happened, I wonder, has Jesus been teaching them along the way to Zacchaeus' home, or while they're in the home and things are being prepared?

Were they just like talking about the weather?

I don't know.

And Luke doesn't tell us.

But if we skip ahead to verse 11, it says, as they heard these things, he, meaning Jesus, proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem.

It sounds like they're at Zacchaeus' house and Jesus is teaching them.

And in that setting, Zacchaeus, for whatever reason, is cut to the heart.

And he realizes that he has got to make a change right then and there.

I wish I knew if it was something specific that Jesus has said, or if the Holy Spirit was just like, Zacchaeus, you're going to make a change and it's going to happen right now.

We don't know, and no matter how much fun it is for us to speculate.

But look at what he does.

He says half of his goods he's going to distribute to the poor.

I'm not sure how he did that, but he said that's what he's going to do.

And he's going to pay back four times whatever he had stolen.

This rich man is about to be brought low.

He's going to somehow give away half of his goods, pay back four times what he stole.

I'm no financial planning whiz.

I already said that early in the sermon, but I don't think he's going to have much left to his name at the end of this day.

Or will he?

Verses 9 and 10 say, And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Zacchaeus, he responded by giving it all away.

And Jesus declares that salvation had come to his house.

He went from being physically wealthy to poor, and from utterly poor spiritually to eternally taken care of.

This amazing scene should make us think of the story of the rich young ruler, which happens just back in chapter 18, just before this.

And in the scene, a man who is very wealthy and is listed as a ruler, he asks Jesus, What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus tells him a bunch of things, which essentially means keep the commandments.

And he puffs up his chest and says, check.

I've done that since my youth.

And Jesus tells him, Well, there's one thing you lack in verse 22 of chapter 18, one thing you lack.

Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor.

Then you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

This ruler, he counted the cost of following Jesus, and the price was too high for him.

And so he walked away.

And in stark contrast, we find Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector.

He's not a ruler.

He's the scum of society.

He's not someone of a prominent position in society, like this ruler probably was.

And he gives it all away to follow Jesus.

And Jesus declares that Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham, not because of his lineage or through circumcision, but through his faith lived out in action.

We should be hearing the book of Romans here.

Zacchaeus recognized his sin and he chose to stop and do something about it right then and there.

And so I again ask all of us to consider our lives.

What might God be calling us to give away to follow him?

And I'm not interested in the conversation about money here.

This isn't like a trick to get you to give more.

That's not the point of this.

But is there something in your life that is hindering you from being able to become fully devoted to Jesus?

Maybe it's an addiction to your phone.

Or maybe you've got an app on this thing that in your free time it's spent here instead of in God's word.

And maybe God's calling you to toss that thing away or to delete an app or something like that.

Is it worth it for you to keep that?

Like the rich ring ruler who counted the cost and said, No, I'm gonna hold on to this one.

Maybe it's a relationship that you're in that distracts you in unhealthy ways, especially if you're not married and you're pursuing a relationship and ignoring what Jesus might be calling you to.

Maybe you're so focused on your own intellect and trying to find ways to disprove the existence of God that you won't humble yourself to actually open the book that we say is his word to read it to see if he might actually reveal himself to you.

We could go on and on.

And I'm not trying to nail it all down here, but what I'm asking us to do is just consider whether or not God is inviting us to give something away so that we might be able to become fully devoted to him.

Jesus closes this scene by saying that he has come to seek and to save the lost.

Back in Luke chapter 15, he told the parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost sons.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

If you haven't read that before, please write it down.

Go home and read it today.

In each one of these parables, the main takeaway is that Jesus is on a rescue mission to save that which is lost.

And if you're not a Christian, I want you to hear Jesus this morning saying, I came to seek and to save the lost.

Not to seek and destroy, not to seek and condemn, but to seek and to save.

But I also want to be honest with you and tell you that the Bible tells us that there's another day that is coming when he will be coming on a mission with a different agenda.

Earlier in this sermon, I mentioned that in December we were in the book of Malachi.

And that the main theme through the book of Malachi is that the Lord of hosts will be feared among the nations.

If you turn back to Malachi chapter four, it's the last section just before the New Testament begins.

Malachi chapter four, starting at verse one, says, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.

The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that they will it will leave them neither root nor branch.

But for you who fear my name, the Son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings, you shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Malachi is showing us two distinct groups of people, and both of them have reasons to fear.

The first group are those who do not have a reverent fear of God, a fear that understands what it means to worship the God of the universe.

They have reason to fear because God promises that a day is coming when they will experience the wrath that God has against sin.

The second group are those who fear the Lord and choose to humble themselves and worship him, and the Lord will bless them.

Friends, I'm asking you to take a minute to consider God's word.

If it's true, and you have to be convicted of that, if it's true, then you have a decision to make.

And if it's false, then we're the ones to be pitied.

But consider what it says in Romans 2, verse 4.

Romans 2:4

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

See, God's word promises that there is a day coming when his divine forbearance, his patience with sin is going to be exchanged with judgment.

And his word promises that for those whose faith is in Christ Jesus, they will be saved.

What this means is that for those who trust in what the Bible says is true, that Jesus, the Son of God, lived a perfect, sinless life, that he was killed on the cross and was buried in the grave, but that he didn't stay there, was raised to life on the third day and ascended into heaven.

If you believe in that, if you turn away from your sin, if you put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and your Savior, you, just like Zacchaeus, will be saved.

If you're hearing my voice today and you haven't received the salvation that Jesus wants to extend to you, please heed his word today.

Repent and believe.

And if you're here this morning and you have already responded to Jesus' call to follow him, I have a word of encouragement for you too.

To ask you, who is it in your life who is outside of God's kingdom?

Have you determined that they're a hopeless case?

Are they like Zacchaeus on the fringes of society making all the wrong decisions?

Zacchaeus' life changed like that.

The guy was he was filthy rich and was made utterly poor.

And he was utterly poor spiritually and became immensely wealthy in an instant.

Friends, don't decide for God who's in and who's out.

Rather, be faithful and obedient to go into the world, making disciples, calling people to repentance, and to turn to Jesus that they might be saved.

Allow God to work out in his divine wisdom who's in and who's out.

And this upcoming weekend, we heard it this morning.

We have a family Easter celebration happening Saturday afternoon at the elementary school gym.

We don't push this on social media, it's not announced on the radio.

It's for us to invite the people that we know who are far from God to give them a glimpse of what church life could look like, to give them an easy on-ramp to just say, hey, just come and see.

We're not weird.

We're pretty normal people.

We just worship the God of the universe.

And this event might be an on-ramp for that friend who you maybe have decided is too far from God.

And they might just need that one call to say, Hey, come and see.

And for them, their life might change in an instant through your act of obedience.

We're gonna see throughout this Easter season that when Jesus came, he came on a rescue mission in unexpected ways.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Let's follow the Lord's example on his rescue mission.

Let's pray.

Lord, we're so thankful that you came to seek and save the lost because each and every one of us in this room was lost on our own.

And none of us were worthy to be called your friends, to receive your salvation, but we're all guilty of sin, receiving of judgment.

God, we are so thankful that you didn't leave it that way, but that you came down, that you saved us, and that while you were here on earth, Jesus, you called those who were lost to follow you.

That you left the 99 in pursuit of that one to call them to obedience.

We thank you for the life of Zacchaeus, for his story, for the testimony.

And you pray, we pray, Lord, now that as we go into our day, as we go into our week, would you give us eyes to see the Zacchaeus in our life?

And would you soften their heart that they might become obedient to the gospel, that their life might be changed?

You pray this all in Jesus' name.

Amen.

In a few minutes here, we're gonna have an opportunity to respond to the gospel as we take communion.