When You Feel Disqualified, Jesus Does This (Luke 19)

Hello, 242.

How are you doing this morning?

Um, I know you woke up, you had your coffee.

Let's try that one more time.

How are you doing this morning, 242?

Yeah.

That's what I'm talking about right there.

Well, if you don't know who I am, my name's Elisha Poole.

Uh, I've been a church planter resident here at 242 for quite a while now.

Uh, wow, it's been over two years.

And now, the lead planter for Evergrove Church 242 is sending us out.

This is something that uh is in keeping with the 242 vision of church planting and things like that.

And I'm so grateful to be able to share with you this morning.

Um, but if there's anything that I've been learning lately, is uh quite frankly, working a job and planting a church and still trying to be a family man and still trying to do projects around the house and spend time with my kids and take them to the park and still be a great employee and still do all the things that are necessary.

I'm starting to feel more and more disqualified.

Can I just be real?

Is that okay?

I'm starting to feel more and more inadequate.

I'm starting to feel more and more like I need the power and the strength that Jesus provides because there's just really stark reality that I absolutely can't do it on my own.

And that's what I want to talk to you today, not to be a Debbie Downer, but have you ever felt like you were disqualified?

Men in the room disqualified to be the husband that God is calling you to be, the father that He's calling you to be, the man that He's called you to be?

Have you ever felt like you were disqualified?

Women in the room, have it you ever felt like you're just not measuring up?

Have you ever felt like when you compare yourselves to the people that you see on social media and the other women in the workplace and the other moms in the groups that you just not measuring up and you feel disqualified?

I know I'm not the only one in the room, I'm not the only one watching right now that in this moment feels disqualified.

But one of the beautiful things about Jesus is that Jesus goes out of his way to embrace those who think they're disqualified.

I want you to really think about that.

The reality is that Jesus goes out of his way to embrace those who think they're disqualified.

That means you.

That means me.

And in the text that we're gonna look at today, that was a man that none of us at first glance would think is disqualified.

But see, before I go into the text, I gotta give you a little context.

You know, that's what good preachers do.

They give you a little bit of context so you know what you're looking at.

And Jesus, before he embraces this man, before he talks to this man, he's found with his disciples around a group of people, he's teaching parables like a good rabbi should, and he's telling them something that is very hard for them to hear.

He's in the midst of Pharisees and Sadducees and uh tax collectors and sinners of all types.

And he gives this parable where he talks about the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, in which there's a Pharisee and a tax collector in a temple and they're praying.

And the Pharisee literally says, He said, God, I thank you.

I'm not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector right here.

Like, even like this guy in the room.

I'm glad that I'm not like the person sitting next to me right now.

Because they all messed up, but Lord, I'm doing pretty good.

And then the tax collector stood at a distance and said, He wouldn't even look up to heaven, but he beat his breast and said, God have mercy on me, a sinner.

See, he recognized who he was, he recognized that he was disqualified.

That's why he was at a distance.

But Jesus said, I tell you that this man rather than the other, this man being the tax collector rather than the other being the Pharisee, he went home justified before God.

For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Then Jesus gave another parable.

Well, actually, not even a parable.

This was just a story.

A young man came up, this is like the rich in the kingdom of God.

And this individual came up, he had wealth, he had status, he had everything that you would think that you'd ever want.

I mean, I like a couple dollars in a bank account, too, okay?

Just saying.

But this man had everything seemingly, but there was still something that he did not have, and what he did not have was the freedom from the things that he had secured, from the wealth that he had accumulated, from the status that he was living off of.

And Jesus told him, There's still one thing for you to be able to be considered righteous and receive eternal life.

For that individual, it was sell all your possessions and then come follow me.

That man walked away sad, and Jesus said, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And then these businessmen that are with Jesus, right?

You got women who got tons of money funding his ministry.

You've got Peter and the guys who made money off of fishing.

They're like, How in the world, if that man can't make it, if the rich can't make it, how in the world can anybody make it to heaven?

And Jesus says, with man, this is impossible, but with God anything is possible.

And this just tees up as Luke, a not just historian, but a physician, he writes an orderly account, meaning he wrote it in order.

He pieced these together very strategically.

He then brings us into chapter 19 where we meet our man who is disqualified in the eyes of the people, our man who is the exact personification, if you will, fits the description of the gentleman that we see in chapter 18.

Somebody shout, Zacchaeus.

First off, does anybody know who Zacchaeus is?

Like literally nobody.

Well, you're gonna learn the day, okay?

You're gonna learn the day.

Well, Zacchaeus is a tax collector.

And he's rich.

But he's not rich in a way that us in modern society may have gotten rich, where we've provided a service, we provided a product that has value that people actually use and need.

He got rich from cheating people and being greedy as a tax collector.

So we read right here, verse 19, uh verse, chapter 19, verse 1, it says, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus.

Somebody shout, Zacchaeus.

Don't worry, I'm gonna wake you up this morning.

I'm gonna wake you up.

He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

Somebody shout chief.

Chief means he's like the head tax collector.

Like, like, I'm not gonna say the three-letter word, but I will say iris.

It's like the one supervising all of that.

He was the chief and he was wealthy.

Now, why would Luke, a physician, one who's very orderly, one who uh needs to make sure all the details are in the right spot, who wants to make sure you really understand and grasp the full picture, why would he include this particular detail?

Well, it helps you to understand the context that we just went through, the fact that tax collectors are hated.

Tax collectors actually equal sinners in this context.

Tax collectors were traitors.

See, what would happen was Rome is who tax collectors would work for, and they were collecting taxes against their own people, and the way that they would get rich, the way that they would get wealthy is through greed.

They would overtax their own people, and they had all the authority to do so.

And so the chief tax collector, supervising this, not only had he turned on his people, but he was collecting taxes in the form of coins that were idolatrous.

Chief tax collector, and the eyes of the people disqualified.

And he says here, he wanted to see who Jesus was.

But because he was short, come on, my shorty's in the room, all the shortties in the room, it's okay.

You can do this.

That's why we have a stage up high, you can see, right?

He says he wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he couldn't see over the crowd, so he ran ahead and climbed the sycamore tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

So watch this.

Interesting enough, interesting enough.

We see that he runs ahead.

We know that there's a crowd.

Why didn't he run to the front of the crowd?

Why did he, if he was short, you know how when you take photos, right?

Come on, shorty's in the room, raise your hand.

Don't raise your hand, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.

Right?

You know when you take photos, they always put you in the front.

Why didn't he go to the front?

Almost as if he wanted to see Jesus, but he didn't want to be seen by Jesus.

So he climbs this sycamore fig tree, and here's what scripture says next.

It says, when Jesus reached the spot, the place where he was trying to go, the place where he knew he was gonna end up, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, I never met this man in my life.

How does he know my name?

I wanted to, I wanted to see who Jesus was.

Obviously, I don't know who he is, but apparently he knows who I am.

Zacchaeus.

Come on down immediately.

I must stay at your house today.

This word must is day, meaning that it's an event, it's a divine appointment.

He reached that spot, he looked up and he saw him, and he said, I have to spend time with you today, it's utterly important.

And here's the point I want to make really quickly is that Jesus sees what others overlook.

See, because everybody else would have overlooked Zacchaeus, everybody else would have looked at him and despised him and cast him aside because he's a sinner, he's a tax collector, he's not one of us, he's a traitor, he's greedy, he's turned on his people.

He ain't like us.

They would have overlooked him, they would have overlooked you.

Have you ever been overlooked?

Disqualified.

But Jesus says, I must spend time with you, I must stay at your house today.

And here's what we find.

He says in verse 6, so he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

And watch this, just like the people who see you changing your life.

You you finally got back to posting on social after that hiatus, after that thing that went on, and you got people talking and murmuring and saying things about you.

You finally starting to get your life together, you're starting starting to turn the corner, you're starting to turn over a new leaf, and here's what happens.

Verse 7 all the people saw this and began to mutter, mutter, he's going to be a guest of a sinner.

Oh my gosh.

Did you did you hear?

Susie finally changed her life.

I don't believe her though.

Did you hear after the breakup?

She got a new man.

They began to mutter.

I can't believe this.

I can't believe that Jesus will go spend time, this rabbi, this righteous one, this one healing people, this one uh healing the sick, this one giving sight to blind eyes, this one that's teaching with all authority and power.

I can't believe he would go spend time when a sinner like that, the chief.

Come on, not the chief tax collector.

Come on, not John, who just got out of jail, not Justin, who just divorced, not Joe who just lost his job.

No way he would be spending time, no way he'd be doing anything with him.

No way he'd be doing anything with somebody so disqualified as that.

But here's the reality is that Jesus interrupts his schedule for people.

See, Jesus was on the way somewhere, but when he got to that spot, he saw Zacchaeus and he said, I must stay there, and he interrupted his schedule for this man.

What's interesting is what we find next.

It says, even though the people were saying what they were saying about Zacchaeus, he says, But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look, Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay back four times the amount.

I give it all back, and then some with interest.

Because normally I would be cheating them out of something.

Normally I would be taking much more than what was due.

Normally, I would be helping myself to whatever I wanted to help myself to.

I'd be doing whatever I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, because I'm the chief tax collector.

I'm above all of them.

I'm doing everything I want to do.

I'm wealthy.

I got it all.

But since my life has been changed, since someone who I didn't think would ever pay me any mind, someone who I didn't feel qualified enough to be even close to, someone who I would never think would pay me any attention.

You came to stay in my house, meaning that though I felt like I was disqualified, I'm learning the truth that even in my mess, although I was a sinner, you would still be willing to save me.

Although I'm disqualified, you still help me get to my destiny.

Although I've been causing pain, there's still yet a purpose for me.

He spends time with them.

And it changes him.

And Jesus said to him, Today, salvation has come to this house.

Why?

Because this man too is a son of Abraham.

While those who would have shunned him and cast him aside and counted him out and called him done and would have talked about him and hated on him and never would have allowed him in the space because he's so cast away, so disqualified, he gives Zacchaeus a new identity and says, Oh, yeah, you part of the family too.

This is a son of Abraham.

You are one of us.

Do you understand what this would have meant for Zacchaeus?

Hated.

His own people disowned him.

This moment turned his whole life around.

It was all because Jesus was willing to embrace him.

And here's the thing: is that when Zacchaeus got close to Jesus, he recognized how loved he truly was.

See, there's so many of us who we want to be seen by Jesus or we want to see Jesus for who he truly is, but we're not willing to get close enough.

We think that if we settle for distance, if we settle for climbing the sycamore tree, maybe we can see him a little better, but that doesn't mean just because you see him that you are seen.

It doesn't mean just because you see him from a distance that you're actually going to get to your destiny.

You gotta be willing to come down and get close.

And that's why closeness with Jesus produces change.

See, it's not the seeing Jesus, it's the closeness with Jesus that produces the change.

It's spending the time with him, it's having relationship with him, it's allowing him in your personal space.

He said, I must stay at your house.

Is he at your house today?

Is he at your house today?

Is he at your house today?

Like when you left your home, what you did last week is that a representation of him being in your house, being the master of your house, being the Lord of your life.

I can tell you with full transparency, there are times where you can't tell that he's the Lord of my house because sometimes I fall into pride, into anger.

Sometimes, even though we want to be seen by Jesus, we decide to settle to be at a distance, but it's the closeness.

Why?

Because the reality is this Jesus wants to be close because of what it produces.

Jesus wants to be close because of what his mission was.

And it's right here in this last verse of our passage that it says, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Oh, but Zacchaeus don't seem like he was lost, though.

He had a high position, he was wealthy, he had money.

Like he had everything.

He had everything.

But yet he was still lost.

Yet there was still something missing.

Jesus was seeking him, and what we see here is that Zacchaeus was seeking something too.

But Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

Those who are disqualified.

In all respects.

Those who think, keep the key word, you think you're disqualified.

But see, while you were yet an enemy, he still died for you.

While we were sinners, he was still willing to save.

While they mocked him, while they punched him, kicked him, spit on him, slandered his name.

All enemies, all disqualified.

He gets to the cross, he's laying on the cross, hanging there.

He says, forgive them because they don't even know what they're doing.

Yes, they're disqualified.

But I'll embrace them still.

And this picture of the cross is a picture of how open his arms are.

Not only to you here today, but how open his arms were to Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus, let Zacchaeus be our example of how closeness can change us, of how Jesus overlooks what others don't, and how he'll interrupt his schedule for us.

I urge you to come down from your sycamore tree, wherever that is, whatever that is, whatever the habit is, whatever the thought process, whatever the mindset, whatever the pain that you're still holding to, that's keeping you at a distance and stopping you from walking into your destiny with Jesus.

I urge you to come down.

The life you truly desire depends on it.

Come down.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so.