Making Room | Chad Lewis | Luke 19:1-10

Thank you for joining us for a sermon from Sojourn North.

Well, it's a fifth Sunday if you haven't figured it out.

We have kids in here, and if you didn't remember it's a fifth Sunday and you walked in and your heart just sank and you're like, oh, what's gonna go on?

We are thankful to have the kids in.

It's just four times a year that this happens.

And I'll say this if you feel like you want to escape with your kid, you can go to the fellowship hall or the toddler room is open as well, and the service is streaming in there.

But there's no worker, so don't just throw them in there and come back.

You have to stay with them in there.

But feel free to do that.

I'm gonna shorten my sermon a little bit so we can make it through this time together.

I got an amen right there.

But I want to recognize the reality of the beauty of Sojourn Kids.

Every week we have volunteers in the back, and these volunteers know the kids, they care for them, they sit with them while they cry, they teach them about Jesus.

And it is an amazing thing that takes place every week.

And without Dory and her leadership and then all the volunteers, it would not happen.

So I would like for us to recognize those servants.

If you've served in Sojourn Kids over the last year at any point, I would like for you to stand up just so we can look around.

Stand up if you've served in Sojourn Kids over the last year.

It's it can be crazy.

So as always, we need more volunteers.

Uh people sign up to volunteer once a month, um, sometimes once every two months.

But if if you're willing to do that, we'd love to talk to you about that.

Well, I want to conclude our Creative for Community sermon series today, and I want to start by thinking with you about the power of intentional small steps.

The power of intentional small steps.

I am a 52-year-old man, but I still love a kid's activity and its Legos.

Anybody like Legos?

Love me some Legos.

If you ever wanted to give me a gift, well, hold on one second on that.

If you ever wanted to give me a gift, I would take a Lego set.

It doesn't have to be the biggest one, but I'll put it together within a day that very day, unless it is massively huge.

But I want you to think about this.

The power of small steps, if you took 10 minutes a day for a year, 10 minutes a day, and every minute you just put seven and a half to eight blocks together, so a total of 75 blocks in 10 minutes.

Over a year's time, just 10 minutes a day at a pace that's really sustainable, this is what you'd be able to put together.

The first one is the Lord of Rings.

This is 8,278 pieces.

It would take you 110 days.

Uh menace tireth?

Alright, I forgot for a second there.

So I actually looked up how to pronounce it.

I love Lord of the Rings, but had forgotten that.

So after 110 days, you'd have that, and then you'd also have this after another 100 days, the Millennium Falcon.

So that is a fan favorite.

That one has 7,541 pieces.

And then you'd have those two after 210 days, and then another 80 days later, you could have this.

This is Hogwarts Castle.

This is 6,020 pieces.

They have many different versions of this one, but this is the big one.

And so in that time, you would have 75 days left in the year.

You would have already put together 21,839 pieces, and you would have those three huge Lego sets, 10 minutes a day.

Small steps, daily steps, can make a huge difference.

That's how most important things in life are.

They're not about huge leaps in growth, they're about small, sustainable things.

I talked to a friend every Saturday on the phone, and we've met once a week over the last 18 years.

And for the first eight years, we did it here in Louisville, and then he moved to Washington, the state of Washington, and we've talked on the phone every Saturday.

Uh and his name's Scott Holman, and that relationship started with me taking a chance 18 years ago with an email saying, Hey buddy, would you like to meet and just talk about life and encourage each other?

And we met at a Panera Bread, and here 18 years later, we said yesterday, as we were just talking through life, it's like, how would our lives be different if we didn't have each other to support each other?

They would be so different.

I remember so many times he talked me off the ledge, I talked him off the ledge, but it's just small, sustainable steps over a long period of time.

We often underestimate what God can do through these small, faithful steps.

And so to review where we've been in this community series, you have an insert in your bulletin.

I'd love for you to take that out and just look at the first half of it.

I'll be having these out next week as well.

But just to review where we've been is that in community, we're called to see each other differently.

So we have three lenses that when you come in touch with a person, come in contact, don't make a snap judgment because every person is a complex human being.

They're broken, they're beloved, and they are burdened.

So we acknowledge that we all still struggle with sin.

We all still do, but that we're loved by God.

And if you are in Christ, you're a Christian, your ultimate identity is that you are the beloved child of God.

That's an eternal, eternal identity.

It's bedrock.

But the final thing, on this fallen world, we are burdened people.

We carry burdens, and we need to remember the people we come in contact with are burdened people.

So as we come into community, we keep all of those things in mind and we have grace for one another.

Last week we looked at there's three movements, and we looked at Hebrews 10, and we saw that this is the movement for each of us as we treat each other well in community, is that we see people, we we truly see them, and we have to slow down to intentionally see them.

And we talked about the power of truly being seen, and it does take the time of slowing down and for me to ask questions and for you to ask questions and for us to be in each other's lives.

So we see, but then we move toward.

It's really easy to move away from people, but to move toward them, and the last one is sometimes the toughest, is that we seek to remain.

We seek to remain with others, and we we just go for the long haul.

And then finally, today we have three invitations, and we're gonna talk about being welcomed, restored, and making room.

And so all of these things Jesus has done for us, and we want to do them with each other.

And then at the end of the sermon, I'm gonna give you a challenge to be praying through what is your next intentional step in community here at Sojourn Church North.

Um let's keep that before us.

We're looking at a famous story.

It's probably the most uh my the dearest gospel story for me.

If you've been here long, you've heard me talk about Zacchaeus and how powerful it is.

But what I want to do today is just briefly look at the account of Jesus with Zacchaeus and look at a little different way than we've looked at it in the past, and then parallel that briefly with Romans 12, and I have Romans 12 in your bulletin as well, for us to see how that works itself out in community.

And so this is part of what you can reflect on this week.

So, y'all ready to read about a we little man?

If you wish, you may stand for the reading of God's word.

We'll look at Luke 19, 1 through 10.

The doctor Luke writes this.

He, Jesus, entered Jericho when he was passing through.

There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man.

So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way.

When Jesus came to that place, he looked up at him and said, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.

So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully.

All who saw it began to complain.

He's gone to stay with a sinful man.

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, Look, I'll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord, and if I've extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.

And this is what Jesus declares.

Today salvation has come to this house, Jesus told him, because he too is a son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.

This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

So this is at the end of Luke.

This is Jesus is marching towards Jerusalem, marching to be arrested and crucified.

Why does Luke, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, give us this story when he could give us so many stories?

Well, it's a very, very important story.

And it has to do with so much of how we see ourselves and how we're called to see others.

So the first thing we want to see in this is what Jesus does, and what we're called to do is to welcome.

We are to welcome, to be a welcoming people, a people with open arms.

And this story is amazing, and the people grumble, and you can read the grumbling and think, well, I wouldn't grumble, but if we were in that day and age, we would have grumbled too because of what was going on.

So Zacchaeus, let's talk just a little bit about him.

He wasn't just a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector.

He was a chief tax collector.

So he was over other tax collectors.

He was in charge of a lot.

And so it also says in the text, Luke points out, he was rich.

Now the people despised Zacchaeus because this was a Jewish man who was working for the Roman government to collect taxes for Rome, which they didn't even want to pay.

But here's the problem is not only was he doing that, what tax collectors did is they would say, This is how much you owe, and it'd be above what Rome declared what they wanted, and they would take what was over and just stuff their pockets, kind of like a mob mentality.

So they had, they were despised by the people because they were stealing from their very own people.

They were getting rich while people were struggling to eat.

Now that's despicable, isn't it?

It is.

This is from historical records.

One historical record said that in that day and age, tax collectors were set alongside murders and robbers in people's minds because they were robbing people.

The rabbis taught that tax collectors were disqualified witnesses in court, they were societal outcasts, and uttered disgraces to their own family.

The rabbis excommunicated tax collectors from the synagogue.

They couldn't go to church, they couldn't testify in court, they were outcasts from their families, they were rich, and especially Zacchaeus, but they were hated, and for good reason.

Why would Jesus welcome Zacchaeus?

And that very question reveals to us is why would Jesus welcome us?

I'll just speak for myself and let you speak for yourself.

Why would Jesus welcome and draw Chad to him?

I know the sickness in my heart.

I know my thoughts.

I know the darkness that that can crop up.

I I know what it's what it's like to just live life and see your own depravity.

And when the apostle Paul starts his ministry and he says he's the least of the apostles, and at the end of his ministry, he says he's the chief of sinners.

We say it's not because he sinned more, he just saw himself more clearly.

He's like, ah, I'm the chief of sinners.

Why would God welcome me?

Why would Jesus welcome me?

Why did Zacchaeus run to see Jesus?

Well, he probably heard the unbelievable news that there was this friend of sinners out there, and he just wanted to see him.

But what was he?

He was a wee little man.

A wee little man was he.

If you if you know the kid's song, that's what it is.

He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.

I can't ever remember the rest of the song, but Jesus says, Come on down, I'm going to your house today.

So here's the rejected one.

Jesus is surrounded by thousands of people.

And he goes to the one, maybe the most hated one of all of them.

Can we sit with it for a moment?

If you're in a crowd of thousands of people and you're in charge and you're going to show love, and you're looking around and you see the most despicable person you've ever heard of, would you go to that person and say, hey, come on, let's go?

That's what Jesus did.

Jesus looks up in the tree and he says, Zacchaeus, hurry.

There's an urgency here.

He's like, hurry and come down.

Because today, today it's necessary for me to stay at your house.

There's a welcoming.

In Romans 12, the welcome sounds like this, and I'd love for you to reflect on the passage this week.

Practice hospitality.

That's it, that's that's inviting people into our homes, yes, but it's inviting people into our lives.

It's about practicing hospitality here, saying, Welcome, you're welcome.

Come.

Paul says in Romans 12 also, associate with the humble, those who are downcast, those who don't have much.

James warns us in his letter to not lift up the rich and give them the seat of honor.

He's like, treat everyone equally because we're all equal before the throne of God.

And then he says in Romans 12, honor one another, every one of them, every one of you.

Honor one another.

So Jesus doesn't just welcome Zacchaeus, he restores Zacchaeus.

And I love this point.

Being wanted by Jesus changes Zacchaeus' heart.

Verse 8.

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, Look, I'll give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I've extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.

Now here's a guy who was ostracized by everyone, who lived his life to be rich.

That's all he had.

And he looks at Jesus and Jesus' acceptance, and he immediately turns and says, Jesus, I'll give half my possessions to the poor, and if I've ripped anybody off, I'll pay back four times as much.

Now, does his action earn him salvation or anything?

No, no, no, no, no, no.

But it shows us a powerful, powerful image of a changed heart.

Being wanted by Jesus changed Zacchaeus' heart.

Jesus wants you.

Jesus says this to Zacchaeus.

I can just imagine sometimes we read scripture flatly, but can you imagine the joy of Jesus with a smile?

That's how I imagine this.

Today's salvation has come to this house.

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

Now I've overlooked this part until thinking and praying about it this week is that Jesus welcomes and restores, and it's the Father who restores us.

But think about this.

Zacchaeus, who's rejected by everyone.

Jesus says, I'm going to your house.

So he goes with Zacchaeus to Zacchaeus' house.

Who comes with him?

All of his followers.

So people are starting to follow Jesus with Zacchaeus to Zacchaeus' house.

He probably had a pretty nice pad because he was rich.

And so everyone who had ostracized him, a lot of these people are now following, and they go into his house.

This is against the direct teaching of their religious leaders.

Why do you think the people start to grumble?

They say, He's going to be in the house of a sinner.

We shouldn't associate that he's doing wrong.

But Jesus is showing us the Father's heart.

Remember, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, he is God.

And so as we see Jesus' heart, we see God's heart.

And this opens up Zacchaeus to community for the first time.

Zacchaeus is restored to community.

And so we here at Sojourn North, we've been restored to, all believers have been restored to God's community, but we here at Sojourn North have an opportunity to continue to welcome people in and give them a taste of community that's different than they've seen in this world, different than what they've experienced in other churches.

Where you can come and be, where you can come and hurt, where you can come and have joy, where you don't have to have everything figured out, where you can hold things in mystery, and then say, these things I'm certain about.

Jesus restores Zacchaeus not only to God, but to community, and that's a blessing because we are created for community.

Paul in Romans 12 puts it like this.

I'll say it again.

He said, honor one another.

How does the world honor one another?

They don't do a great job.

I know I haven't done a great job a lot of times in my life.

But to seek to honor the other, and this is what is so amazing about the kingdom of God, what Jesus ushers in, it flips the world's narrative on its head.

And it says, This is what the world does.

It doesn't bring life, this is what I created you for.

Do this, and you will have life.

In Romans 12, Paul says this about in community.

He says, Bless each other.

How often does the word world give you a blessing?

How can You bless someone with your presence, with your attention.

Taking somebody out for a coffee, just saying, Tell me about your life, tell me about what's going on.

That is blessing someone.

Intentional steps.

Over a year, you will have a lot of Lego sets.

It's amazing.

Rejoice with those who rejoice.

How often does the world do that?

A lot of times the world doesn't because, and a lot of times we don't, because it's like someone has something good happen, and it's like, man, nothing good's happening for me.

And we put on a fake smile, but you know, it's like, Lord, help me rejoice with them.

Awesome.

This is beautiful.

Praise God for this.

Weep with those who weep.

It's huge.

Weeping takes time to sit with somebody and just be with them.

One of the hardest parts of uh being a pastor has been funerals, of course.

And um, you know, you just go and sit and be with the family, and you hear stories about the family, and you learn the less you say sometimes the better.

But your presence matters.

But to mourn with those who mourn, and let people be where they are and not try to get them out of it too quick.

Paul in Romans 12 also says this live in harmony, live with humility.

Once again, these are countercultural.

To be humble.

People tell me, yeah, I'm humble, pretty humble.

See what I did there.

As we welcome and as we seek to restore, finally we make room.

Jesus makes room for in community because he welcomes him with joy.

Again, verse 6.

Zacchaeus, he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully.

Meals mattered in that day and age, just like they do in our day and age.

In the kingdom of God, meals matter.

The final meal or the beginning meal of the rest of eternity for us is the marriage supper of the Lamb.

It's gonna be a feast and it's gonna be awesome.

And the resurrected body of Jesus.

We see as he comes to his disciples, he eats and drinks, and it's like, yeah, we still get to eat and drink in the new heavens and new earth.

I'm fired up about that because then you won't have to worry about, I guess, I'm this is inference for me, but putting on pounds, maybe.

I don't know.

But the crowd grumbles, but Jesus celebrates.

And so in Romans 12, Paul says this making room means refusing retaliation.

When someone sins against you, you don't try to get them back.

You pursue peace, you create space where others can flourish.

You associate with the humble again, contribute to the needs of others.

We practice hospitality, we love genuinely.

And so making room once again for our community, what's it look like for us?

Well, first we look at Jesus on this day in this story, and if you look throughout all the gospels, this is what Jesus was constantly doing.

He made room in his day amidst all of the pressures that were on him.

That's what's so fascinating about Jesus, too, when he retreats from everyone to be with the Father, and he just did what he needed to do, what he was called to do, but he makes room in his day to go to Zacchaeus.

He made room at his table.

He took him to Zacchaeus' own table, but he made room for others to come and be.

A lot of different things.

I didn't even list everything out.

I noticed that I didn't put the Sunday morning Bible study on the sheet, which is one of our best things in this church.

It's awesome.

So I'll put it on the next time.

But it would it be joining a community group or hosting or leading a community group?

Would it be jumping into the women's Bible study?

Men, we had an amazing night the other night, but we're gonna have monthly events and we're gonna start doing some uh some breakfast on once a month on Saturdays where we do a devotional and some table time and just do life together.

Serving on a ministry team.

Maybe it's you just longing for spiritual friendship and you want to invite someone personally and say, I want to invite a friend to start meeting together just to do life together.

What about outreach, inviting someone to join an event for us or to come on a Sunday, or maybe to reconnect with someone you've drifted?

Maybe it's not on this list, but the Lord will guide you as you seek his face.

So my encouragement in my assignment is this 10 minutes a day, take this, take your bulletin, it's got questions for reflection, it's got Romans 12 on there.

You can reflect on Zacchaeus as well.

There's a small practice, but sit with the Lord and think.

And if that time's sweet and you have more time, sit in that time.

But think about the Legos.

Ten minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes.

At least that.

Because God is inviting all of us.

And the movement, even as we sat as elders on this past Thursday night, is like God is doing something new here.

And that's our desire to capture it.

And I don't know exactly what it's gonna look like.

It's gonna take a lot of conversations and just being together, but it starts with prayer.

So let's pray together and remember.

And we remember each week that Jesus made room for us at his table by giving his life, bearing the weight of the sin of the world so that we could have his righteousness.

He died for you and for me.

And when we've embraced him to be our Savior, we are forgiven and free.

And if you're a Christian here today, after I prayed, invite you to come forward, even if you're a visitor, and you can take some juice and some bread back to your seat and hold it there, and I'll come back up in a few moments and lead us into participating in communion all together.

Reflect and ask God to speak to your heart during this time.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the beauty of this story of the one who was rejected, which is all of our stories, Lord.

We've been rejected, we've been set to the side, but you came and you welcomed us.

You have come to restore us, and you come.

You've made room for us to be with you now and forevermore.

And it's your great delight to do so.

I pray as we continue this time in communion, Lord, that we would hear the challenge to be able to sit with you daily, even if it's a small time, and reflect on what you are calling us to do.

And Lord, lead us, give us direction as a church to know what the next steps are, Lord.

We will seek to follow faithfully.

Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice and your love for us.

It's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.