March 2, 2025 • 31 mins
Jason Sterling March 2, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to the
Gospel of Luke.
So go to your New Testament.
Matthew, mark, luke, we're inLuke 19 this morning.
It'll be on the screen behindme, it's in your bulletin.
If you have a Bible, I want toencourage you to keep it open.
This morning we're going tolook at some context that I
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think is helpful forunderstanding this passage.
So keep your Bible open, if youhave one.
We have been in a series calledMeals with Jesus.
That's the way we've beennavigating the gospel of Luke
and looking at these differentmeals over the past several
weeks where Jesus is eating withpeople.
He is either going to a meal,at a meal, or coming from a meal
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, it seems in the gospel of Luke, and so we've been looking at
these different meals and theyhave been teaching us about
Jesus.
They've been teaching us aboutwho Jesus is, the realities of
his grace, and they've beenteaching us about his mission in
the world.
And this morning we're lookingat another meal where Jesus eats
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and goes to the house of a manby the name of Zacchaeus, and
this is a really significantpassage, and the reason why it's
so significant is because ofits placement in the Gospel of
Luke.
At the end of Luke 19, we havewhat's known as the triumphal
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entry, and that is when Jesusgoes into Jerusalem and begins
the last week of his life.
And so this story is the laststory of Jesus' earthly ministry
that Luke leaves us with.
And I think that's reallysignificant, because it's as if
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Luke is saying because the lastweek of Jesus's life takes up a
lot of the gospel, but it's asif Luke is saying this is the
story that I want burned intoyour heart and into your mind,
because this story, perhaps morethan any other, tells us who
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Jesus is and what he came to doin the world.
And so, with that in mind,follow along with me.
This is Luke 19, 1 through 10.
He entered Jericho and waspassing through and behold,
there was a man named Zacchaeus.
He was a chief tax collectorand was rich, and he was seeking
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to see who Jesus was, but onaccount of the crowd, he could
not, because he was small instature.
Not because he was small instature.
So he ran ahead and climbed upinto a sycamore tree to see him
before he was about to pass thatway, and when Jesus came to the
place, he looked up and said tohim Zacchaeus, hurry and come
down, for I must stay at yourhouse today.
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So he hurried and came down andreceived him joyfully.
And when they saw it they allgrumbled he has gone in to be
the guest of a man who is asinner.
And Zacchaeus stood and said tothe Lord behold, lord, the half
of my goods I give to the poor,and if I have defrauded anyone
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of anything, I restore itfourfold.
And Jesus said to him Todaysalvation has come to this house
, since he also is a son ofAbraham, for the Son of man came
to seek and to save the lost.
This is God's Word.
Let's pray and ask for the HolySpirit to help us.
This morning, father, we docome and ask for your help.
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Holy Spirit, help the one whopreaches.
Fill me with humble boldness,as Martin has already prayed.
Fill, ask for your help.
Holy Spirit, help the one whopreaches.
Fill me with humble boldness,as Martin has already prayed.
Fill me with your spirit.
And, lord, I pray that youwould be the center of
everything that happens in thischurch always, but I'm praying
it specifically this morning,lord, that you would be here and
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that you would be present andthat you would be on the move
and that we would see Jesus inhim only and that every person
here would have an encounterwith the Lord, jesus Christ,
that would not leave them thesame.
That's a big prayer, but I amasking you to do it, and so
please come and do it.
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May we encounter Jesus throughhis spirit.
In Christ's name, amen.
As I was preparing this week, Ifound myself all week week
singing.
Zacchaeus was a wee little manand a wee hey.
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That went way better than Ithought.
Perhaps you grew up in thechurch, you went to vacation,
bible school and you foundyourself learning this passage
through singing that song.
And if you have no idea what'shappening right now, don't ask
and be thankful.
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Seriously, that is a song.
If you're not familiar, thatoftentimes people who grow up in
the church learn as a kid inorder to learn this story in
Luke, chapter 19.
But there's a big problem, isn'tthere?
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The song completely misses thepoint of the passage.
If you're listening to thatsong, the focus is on the fact
that Zacchaeus is verticallychallenged and that he's a wee
little man, that he's short,that he's small in stature, and
the problem is the height ofZacchaeus is the least important
detail in the entire story.
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Now, the point of this story isthat Zacchaeus is lost, that
Zacchaeus is a sinner thatdesperately needs Jesus.
The point of this story is thatJesus loves sinners, and Jesus
loves Zacchaeus and he pursueshim, because lost people like
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Zacchaeus matter to Jesus.
They are of great value to him.
It's why he came into the world.
You see it in verse 10.
Jesus, the son of man, came toseek and save the lost, and so
we're going to walk through thisstory and, by the grace of God,
I'm praying that we see it withnew eyes this morning.
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We're going to look at thisunder three headings, this
passage.
We're going to look and seewhat it teaches us about
ourselves.
Secondly, what it teaches usabout Jesus, and it's really
wonderful.
And lastly, what it teaches usabout faith and what it teaches
us about change Ourselves, jesusfaith.
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So let's look at those threeheadings.
Number one what does it teachus about ourselves?
Look at verse two.
We're introduced as Ikea's andwe learn two things about him.
One, he is rich.
Secondly, he is a tax collector.
Not only is he a tax collector,he's the chief tax collector,
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and in the previous passageagain context here.
Martin preached this a few weeksago in Luke, chapter 18.
You'll remember, there's astory right before this of Jesus
and a rich young ruler.
And this rich young ruler,jesus, said sell everything,
give it to the poor.
And remember he couldn't do it.
And he walks away sad.
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And then Jesus looks and sayswhat it's easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needlethan for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God.
And the disciples are shockedand stunned by that statement.
Jesus is not saying that wealthis bad, but what Jesus is
saying is that wealth and richescan be very dangerous.
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Why?
Because you see it all the waythrough the scriptures.
Because they can keep you fromseeing that you're really needy.
They can keep you from seeingthat you're really desperate.
They can make you think thatyou're self-sufficient, that you
need nothing.
They can make you think thatyou're self-sufficient, that you
need nothing.
They can make you and keep you,I should say, from being
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dependent upon God and desperate.
And Luke follows that story ofthe rich ruler with the story of
another rich man, this story ofa man named Zacchaeus.
And as a wealthy city, jerichowas a major trade route.
It was one of the three majorcenters for collecting Israel's
taxes.
And so it's not surprising thatcollecting these taxes made
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Zacchaeus a very wealthy man,and he was the chief tax
collector.
The only time that phrase chieftax collector is used in the
entire New Testament BecauseLuke is trying to get us to see.
This man had great wealth.
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He was the ultimate middleman.
He was skimming off theproceeds of all the customers'
revenues as they made their wayto Rome.
And I love what Kent Hughes, acommentator, says.
No wonder Zacchaeus was so rich.
He was the kingpin of theJericho tax cartel and tax
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collectors in that day.
Not only was he rich, but hewas a tax collector who was
considered in that day the worstof the worst.
They had sold out their ownpeople for their own private
interest.
They were thieves.
They stole and defrauded theirown people.
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People hated them and you seeit in this passage.
Everyone hated them with a deeppassion.
And Zacchaeus knows what he'sdoing is wrong.
You look at it in verse 8, youget hints that he knows what he
has done and who he is and thathe's immoral and wrong.
But here's the point I want youto see in the story immoral and
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wrong, but here's the point Iwant you to see in the story.
What is being displayed here isthat Zacchaeus is the poster
child for the least likelyperson to enter the kingdom of
God and become a Christian.
Because, again, not only is hewealthy but he's a tax collector
and he is the bottom of thebarrel.
They would have looked at therich ruler and said, man, he
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might get in.
They would have never looked atZacchaeus and said that guy is
getting in the kingdom of God.
They would say he's lost, hehas no hope from salvation, it's
impossible for him to be saved.
And what I want us to see isthat we might not have
Zacchaeus' specific sins, butZacchaeus is a picture of all of
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us apart from Jesus.
Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 5,we're dead in our sins.
And then you get the twoperhaps biggest words in all of
Scripture we are dead in oursins, but God, who is rich in
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mercy, when we were dead, madeus alive in Christ Jesus.
It's why Jesus says to the richruler what is impossible with
man is possible with God.
You see, we don't just simplyneed a little knocking off the
rough edges, a little moralimprovement or character
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development or more informationso that we can better ourselves.
We are lost, apart from Jesus,and in need of total rescue.
And the good news that we seein this passage is that Jesus
came for us.
He came for the lost, he cameto seek and save the lost.
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Why is this so important for usto talk about this morning?
Because if you don't get this,you don't get Jesus.
If we don't see this, we missChristianity.
We miss the entire point andreason that Jesus came into the
world.
And in verse 7, the crowd ismumbling Jesus eats with sinners
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.
You see, the crowd does notthink that they need to be
rescued.
They do not think that they arelost.
It is bad friends to be lost.
It's worse to be lost and notknow it.
That's when you're in thegreatest danger.
If you don't see that you'redesperate, then you won't want
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to be found or see your need tobe found.
And it is not an accident.
Again, the Bible is not puttogether haphazardly.
It's not an accident.
That's sandwiched between thestory of the rich ruler in Luke
18 and this story of Zacchaeus.
What do you see?
What story is sandwichedbetween the story of the rich
ruler in Luke 18 and this storyof Zacchaeus?
What do you see?
What story is sandwichedbetween there?
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The story of Jesus and a blindbeggar Luke 18, 35 and following
.
And Jesus is passing by and thebeggar doesn't run up into a
tree to see Jesus.
You know what the beggar does?
He falls down on his face andhe says Lord Jesus, have mercy
on me.
And then, if you look at thepassage, all the people are
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going Shh, be quiet.
What are you doing?
You know what the blind beggardoes.
It says even more loudly, doesit says even more loudly he
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cries out Jesus, have mercy onme.
A sinner, that's it.
That is to be our posture, thatis to be our cry.
We see our need, we see our sinand our desperation and we fall
down and we say Jesus, havemercy on me.
That's the first point.
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We see something in this storyabout ourselves.
Secondly, we see somethingreally beautiful about Jesus.
Look at verses 3 through 4.
Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus.
We're not completely sure why.
Perhaps he'd heard about Jesus.
Perhaps he'd heard that Jesuswas a friend of tax collectors
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and sinners from his friends, orwhatever.
But for whatever reason, hewants to see Jesus and he does
it in what was considered backthen a very undignified way.
First of all, he runs, which agentleman in that day would
never run it again wasconsidered inappropriate and
undignified.
And not only that, he doessomething even more undignified
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he climbs up in a tree becausehe wants to see Jesus.
Verse 5,.
When Jesus comes to the place,he looks up and says Zacchaeus,
hurry, come down, for thinkabout how strong this word is,
for I must come to your house.
Jesus saw his visit withZacchaeus as part of his divine
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mission.
Again, it's part of why he cameinto the world is to go and
spend time with people likeZacchaeus.
And he says I'm going to yourhouse.
Notice who goes first in thispassage.
Who takes the initiative?
Jesus takes the initiative.
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Zacchaeus doesn't stop forJesus the initiative.
Zacchaeus doesn't stop forJesus.
Jesus stops for Zacchaeus andhe calls Zacchaeus by name.
Why?
Because he had known Zacchaeus'name from all eternity.
And the point is that the lostdo not find Jesus, he finds them
.
You don't go looking for Jesus.
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Jesus comes looking for you.
Verse 6,.
He hurries down, he receivesJesus joyfully.
And then look at what it saysthe crowds and those that were
there and it seems to be a lotof people here.
It says, not just some of themgrumbled, not just a few people
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or one person, they all grumbled.
Jesus is going to be the guestof a man who is a sinner, this
community that shuts outZacchaeus so that he can't see
Jesus and so he has to run andclimb a tree.
But notice the dramatic climaxof the story.
Jesus shifts the crowd'shostility against Zacchaeus to
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himself and Zacchaeus becomesthe recipient.
In this story, the chief of taxcollectors becomes the recipient
of unexpected love.
Jesus extends grace and love tothe oppressor, to the chief of
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all the tax collectors, a mannamed Zacchaeus.
Does he endorse what he's doing?
Absolutely not, but he doeslove him.
He's doing?
Absolutely not, but he doeslove him.
And I want us to stop, and Iwant you to get into this story
for just a moment.
Can you imagine I mean thinkabout this All the people now
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again, not just one.
They have all turned toZacchaeus, who they hate Because
of who he is.
He's completely exposed.
You know what it's like whenyou have everybody looking at
you and you've done somethingreally shameful.
Think about what that's like.
That's what Zacchaeus, that'swhere he is.
He most certainly felt shame.
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If it were you or I, I wouldrun and hide and wouldn't come
out for a very long time.
And so Zacchaeus is bracing forimpact, as you might imagine.
And here Jesus, who knows hisname and knows everything he's
ever done, he's got to be sayingwhat does Jesus possibly want
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with me?
What does he want to meet withme for?
Why is he calling my name?
What is he going to say to meand do to me?
Will he shame me too in frontof all of these people?
And you know what Jesus does,and you know what Jesus does.
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He looks at Zacchaeus and hesays, out of all the people in
this village, zacchaeus, I loveyou and I want to hang out.
Let's go back to your house andlet's have dinner together.
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A friend of mine he's a pastor.
He had a very prominent personin his church fall into sin and
my friend walked with himthrough this and he was restored
and the Spirit did a great workin this man's life and changed
him.
And then the guy moved.
He was going for a job transferand so he moved his entire
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family away and had settled on achurch.
And so he calls my friend thepastor and he says, hey, would
you call the pastor of this newchurch that we're going to.
And would you?
I want him to know all of thisbefore he meets me.
But just tell him everything,tell him my story, tell him
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about my sin and what I've done.
And my friend, the pastor, hewas taken back by the openness
and the vulnerability and heasked when did you really change
?
When did you go from being aperson who had this secret life
to this person who now is openand transparent and vulnerable
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and wants to be known?
You know what the man said.
He said it's when you broughtme before the church leaders to
confess my sin and all thethings that I was deeply ashamed
of.
Confess my sin and all thethings that I was deeply ashamed
of.
He said I walked into thatmeeting and I thought I was
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going to be scorned and yelledat.
And he said, instead, those menwept with me and they prayed
for me.
And he said, after the prayer,I was expecting coldness and
shunning and instead they cameover and, one by one, they gave
me a hug.
And he said those hugs, theychanged me.
He said, and in the midst of myshame, I realized for the very
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first time that Jesus was notashamed of me, and that changed
me and friends.
It changed Zacchaeus too.
One of the scariest things inthe world, is it not?
Is to be known all the way tothe bottom, because we are so
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afraid that if someone knew usall the way to the bottom that
their eyes would fall and thatthey would turn and run the
other way.
That's our fear.
Friends, jesus knows your name,he knows everything that you've
ever done, he knows you to thebottom and he doesn't run.
He enters in and he loves youand he wants to have dinner with
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you and to be with you.
He knows those who are hidingin pornography, in substance
abuse.
He knows those who are floodedwith anxiety and depression and
crippled by shame and busynessand self-righteousness.
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And fill in the blank and Jesuscalls you by name and says come
down, I know and I love you andI want to go, hang out and be
with you and be your friend.
Do you believe that thismorning, friends, Jesus is so
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much better and so much morebeautiful and wonderful than we
think he is?
Lastly, change tells ussomething about change,
something about ourselves.
Something about ourselves,something about Jesus, something
about change.
What happens when youexperience love like this, when
you're loved by Jesus.
Well, if we come down and wereceive Jesus, it will change
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your life and you will never bethe same.
That's what happens withZacchaeus.
Jesus accepts Zacchaeus wherehe is, but he does not leave
Zacchaeus where he is.
Romans 2, verse 4, one of myfavorite verses in all of
Scripture.
It does not say it is the scornof God that leads to repentance
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.
Do you know what it says?
It's the kindness and the mercyand the love and the grace of
God that leads a person torepentance.
You know what it says?
It's the kindness and the mercyand the love and the grace of
God that leads a person torepentance.
I say this a lot.
I'm going to keep saying it,because if we don't get this and
we miss this, you get religionand you miss the gospel.
But please notice in this story,the order of grace.
Jesus goes first.
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We love because Jesus firstloved us.
Zacchaeus is in a tree.
Jesus doesn't say come down,clean up your life and then I'll
have lunch with you.
Jesus does not say, hey, stopcheating and I'll be your friend
.
Or hey, zacchaeus, pull yourlife together and then maybe we
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can be friends.
No, he doesn't do that.
That's not the gospel.
You see, his love precedes ourrepentance, his love causes our
repentance.
Listen to Ralph Davis here.
What a quote he says.
The thing that changed Zacchaeuslisten to this was not Jesus'
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decision to stay overnight.
Rather, it was Jesus'deliberate act of becoming
Zacchaeus' substitute byshifting the town's hostility
away from Zacchaeus to himself.
Zacchaeus doesn't stop cheatingand then get the love of God.
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No, zacchaeus gets the love ofGod and then he stops cheating.
That's the order of grace,verse 8,.
We could spend a whole sermonon this.
But Zacchaeus gives away 50% ofhis assets, then he gives back
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fourfold of anyone who'sdefrauded him, and so he gets
the love of Jesus and all of asudden, money and possessions.
They start to loosen their gripon Zacchaeus and they're no
longer a god or an idol.
Now, instead of white knucklingand being selfish, zacchaeus is
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open-handed and giving A son ofAbraham, a member of the family
of God.
Today, salvation has come tohis house and it radically
changed his life, especiallywhen it comes to the way he
related to his possessions andto his stuff and to his money.
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Don't get caught up in thepercentages.
That's the temptation in thispassage.
Now, the point of the passageis what happens in a person's
life when they experience thegoodness and the love of Jesus.
Like Zacchaeus, when weexperience the forgiveness and
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the mercy of Jesus, it shapesand changes us forever.
When you, deliberately, whenyou see Jesus becoming your
substitute and taking uponhimself the hostility and wrath
of God for our sins, likeZacchaeus, we all of a sudden
start moving to a person that'sfree, have you experienced the
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love of God in such a way thatit has changed you and set you
free?
I'll close with this story.
Marianne Bird was from Brooklyn,new York.
She was born in 1928 and shehas a memoir called Whisper Test
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and in this is her story.
She talks about growing up as ayoung girl with multiple birth
defects.
She had a cleft palate, acrooked nose, disfigured face,
lopsided feet, all sorts ofphysical things going on that
caused her tons of pain, but itwas nowhere close to the
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psychological pain that sheexperienced.
No one wanted to be her friend.
The kids in her school made funof her and then she went to
second grade and she had ateacher named Miss Leonard, and
Miss Leonard would give everyyear again we're talking 1930s
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here would give a hearing testto the students and the way she
would do the hearing test isthat the students would come up
to her door and they'd have toput their ear up to the door and
she would sit in her desk in achair and she would whisper
something like the sky is blue,or the sun is out, or you have
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new shoes.
And if they could hear what shewas saying and repeated it back
to her, they would pass thehearing test.
And then here comes Mary AnnBird and she says in her memoir
I waited for those words.
I put my ear to the door andwaited for those words that God
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must have put in her mouth,those seven words that changed
my life forever.
Mary Ann Bird puts her ear tothe door and Miss Leonard
doesn't say the sky is blue, youhave wonderful shoes.
Mary Ann Bird hears the teachersay Miss Leonard say I wish you
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were my little girl, and shesays it changed her forever.
Into her shame came a whisper oflove and affection that changed
her.
That's the story of Zacchaeusand friends.
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I want to tell you the thingthis morning that you're most
ashamed of.
I want you to hear Jesuswhispering your name and calling
you his beloved.
I want you to hear Jesus sayingcome down, come and live, come
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and be free.
Whatever it is that you broughtinto this room, friends, jesus
is not ashamed of you.
Jesus doesn't meet you withshame.
He meets you with love andaffection.
And if you experience that, itwill change your life, will you
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come to Jesus?
This morning let's pray, Father, thank you, thank you for
loving us, thank you for yourmercy and grace.
Would you forgive us for ourpride For not thinking that we
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are needy?
And, lord, I pray that youwould come, holy Spirit, and
that you would help us to seeourselves as we really are, but
we would also see you for whoyou really are, and that we
would come and experiencetransformation in life and
freedom.
We ask these things in Jesus'name, amen.
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to the
Gospel of Luke.
So go to your New Testament.
Matthew, mark, luke, we're inLuke 19 this morning.
It'll be on the screen behindme, it's in your bulletin.
If you have a Bible, I want toencourage you to keep it open.
This morning we're going tolook at some context that I
(00:21):
think is helpful forunderstanding this passage.
So keep your Bible open, if youhave one.
We have been in a series calledMeals with Jesus.
That's the way we've beennavigating the gospel of Luke
and looking at these differentmeals over the past several
weeks where Jesus is eating withpeople.
He is either going to a meal,at a meal, or coming from a meal
(00:45):
, it seems in the gospel of Luke, and so we've been looking at
these different meals and theyhave been teaching us about
Jesus.
They've been teaching us aboutwho Jesus is, the realities of
his grace, and they've beenteaching us about his mission in
the world.
And this morning we're lookingat another meal where Jesus eats
(01:06):
and goes to the house of a manby the name of Zacchaeus, and
this is a really significantpassage, and the reason why it's
so significant is because ofits placement in the Gospel of
Luke.
At the end of Luke 19, we havewhat's known as the triumphal
(01:28):
entry, and that is when Jesusgoes into Jerusalem and begins
the last week of his life.
And so this story is the laststory of Jesus' earthly ministry
that Luke leaves us with.
And I think that's reallysignificant, because it's as if
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Luke is saying because the lastweek of Jesus's life takes up a
lot of the gospel, but it's asif Luke is saying this is the
story that I want burned intoyour heart and into your mind,
because this story, perhaps morethan any other, tells us who
(02:15):
Jesus is and what he came to doin the world.
And so, with that in mind,follow along with me.
This is Luke 19, 1 through 10.
He entered Jericho and waspassing through and behold,
there was a man named Zacchaeus.
He was a chief tax collectorand was rich, and he was seeking
(02:36):
to see who Jesus was, but onaccount of the crowd, he could
not, because he was small instature.
Not because he was small instature.
So he ran ahead and climbed upinto a sycamore tree to see him
before he was about to pass thatway, and when Jesus came to the
place, he looked up and said tohim Zacchaeus, hurry and come
down, for I must stay at yourhouse today.
(02:58):
So he hurried and came down andreceived him joyfully.
And when they saw it they allgrumbled he has gone in to be
the guest of a man who is asinner.
And Zacchaeus stood and said tothe Lord behold, lord, the half
of my goods I give to the poor,and if I have defrauded anyone
(03:19):
of anything, I restore itfourfold.
And Jesus said to him Todaysalvation has come to this house
, since he also is a son ofAbraham, for the Son of man came
to seek and to save the lost.
This is God's Word.
Let's pray and ask for the HolySpirit to help us.
This morning, father, we docome and ask for your help.
(03:41):
Holy Spirit, help the one whopreaches.
Fill me with humble boldness,as Martin has already prayed.
Fill, ask for your help.
Holy Spirit, help the one whopreaches.
Fill me with humble boldness,as Martin has already prayed.
Fill me with your spirit.
And, lord, I pray that youwould be the center of
everything that happens in thischurch always, but I'm praying
it specifically this morning,lord, that you would be here and
(04:04):
that you would be present andthat you would be on the move
and that we would see Jesus inhim only and that every person
here would have an encounterwith the Lord, jesus Christ,
that would not leave them thesame.
That's a big prayer, but I amasking you to do it, and so
please come and do it.
(04:25):
May we encounter Jesus throughhis spirit.
In Christ's name, amen.
As I was preparing this week, Ifound myself all week week
singing.
Zacchaeus was a wee little manand a wee hey.
(04:49):
That went way better than Ithought.
Perhaps you grew up in thechurch, you went to vacation,
bible school and you foundyourself learning this passage
through singing that song.
And if you have no idea what'shappening right now, don't ask
and be thankful.
(05:09):
Seriously, that is a song.
If you're not familiar, thatoftentimes people who grow up in
the church learn as a kid inorder to learn this story in
Luke, chapter 19.
But there's a big problem, isn'tthere?
(05:31):
The song completely misses thepoint of the passage.
If you're listening to thatsong, the focus is on the fact
that Zacchaeus is verticallychallenged and that he's a wee
little man, that he's short,that he's small in stature, and
the problem is the height ofZacchaeus is the least important
detail in the entire story.
(05:52):
Now, the point of this story isthat Zacchaeus is lost, that
Zacchaeus is a sinner thatdesperately needs Jesus.
The point of this story is thatJesus loves sinners, and Jesus
loves Zacchaeus and he pursueshim, because lost people like
(06:17):
Zacchaeus matter to Jesus.
They are of great value to him.
It's why he came into the world.
You see it in verse 10.
Jesus, the son of man, came toseek and save the lost, and so
we're going to walk through thisstory and, by the grace of God,
I'm praying that we see it withnew eyes this morning.
(06:39):
We're going to look at thisunder three headings, this
passage.
We're going to look and seewhat it teaches us about
ourselves.
Secondly, what it teaches usabout Jesus, and it's really
wonderful.
And lastly, what it teaches usabout faith and what it teaches
us about change Ourselves, jesusfaith.
(07:01):
So let's look at those threeheadings.
Number one what does it teachus about ourselves?
Look at verse two.
We're introduced as Ikea's andwe learn two things about him.
One, he is rich.
Secondly, he is a tax collector.
Not only is he a tax collector,he's the chief tax collector,
(07:23):
and in the previous passageagain context here.
Martin preached this a few weeksago in Luke, chapter 18.
You'll remember, there's astory right before this of Jesus
and a rich young ruler.
And this rich young ruler,jesus, said sell everything,
give it to the poor.
And remember he couldn't do it.
And he walks away sad.
(07:44):
And then Jesus looks and sayswhat it's easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needlethan for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God.
And the disciples are shockedand stunned by that statement.
Jesus is not saying that wealthis bad, but what Jesus is
saying is that wealth and richescan be very dangerous.
(08:09):
Why?
Because you see it all the waythrough the scriptures.
Because they can keep you fromseeing that you're really needy.
They can keep you from seeingthat you're really desperate.
They can make you think thatyou're self-sufficient, that you
need nothing.
They can make you think thatyou're self-sufficient, that you
need nothing.
They can make you and keep you,I should say, from being
(08:35):
dependent upon God and desperate.
And Luke follows that story ofthe rich ruler with the story of
another rich man, this story ofa man named Zacchaeus.
And as a wealthy city, jerichowas a major trade route.
It was one of the three majorcenters for collecting Israel's
taxes.
And so it's not surprising thatcollecting these taxes made
(08:59):
Zacchaeus a very wealthy man,and he was the chief tax
collector.
The only time that phrase chieftax collector is used in the
entire New Testament BecauseLuke is trying to get us to see.
This man had great wealth.
(09:19):
He was the ultimate middleman.
He was skimming off theproceeds of all the customers'
revenues as they made their wayto Rome.
And I love what Kent Hughes, acommentator, says.
No wonder Zacchaeus was so rich.
He was the kingpin of theJericho tax cartel and tax
(09:40):
collectors in that day.
Not only was he rich, but hewas a tax collector who was
considered in that day the worstof the worst.
They had sold out their ownpeople for their own private
interest.
They were thieves.
They stole and defrauded theirown people.
(10:01):
People hated them and you seeit in this passage.
Everyone hated them with a deeppassion.
And Zacchaeus knows what he'sdoing is wrong.
You look at it in verse 8, youget hints that he knows what he
has done and who he is and thathe's immoral and wrong.
But here's the point I want youto see in the story immoral and
(10:26):
wrong, but here's the point Iwant you to see in the story.
What is being displayed here isthat Zacchaeus is the poster
child for the least likelyperson to enter the kingdom of
God and become a Christian.
Because, again, not only is hewealthy but he's a tax collector
and he is the bottom of thebarrel.
They would have looked at therich ruler and said, man, he
(10:50):
might get in.
They would have never looked atZacchaeus and said that guy is
getting in the kingdom of God.
They would say he's lost, hehas no hope from salvation, it's
impossible for him to be saved.
And what I want us to see isthat we might not have
Zacchaeus' specific sins, butZacchaeus is a picture of all of
(11:13):
us apart from Jesus.
Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 5,we're dead in our sins.
And then you get the twoperhaps biggest words in all of
Scripture we are dead in oursins, but God, who is rich in
(11:39):
mercy, when we were dead, madeus alive in Christ Jesus.
It's why Jesus says to the richruler what is impossible with
man is possible with God.
You see, we don't just simplyneed a little knocking off the
rough edges, a little moralimprovement or character
(11:59):
development or more informationso that we can better ourselves.
We are lost, apart from Jesus,and in need of total rescue.
And the good news that we seein this passage is that Jesus
came for us.
He came for the lost, he cameto seek and save the lost.
(12:21):
Why is this so important for usto talk about this morning?
Because if you don't get this,you don't get Jesus.
If we don't see this, we missChristianity.
We miss the entire point andreason that Jesus came into the
world.
And in verse 7, the crowd ismumbling Jesus eats with sinners
(12:43):
.
You see, the crowd does notthink that they need to be
rescued.
They do not think that they arelost.
It is bad friends to be lost.
It's worse to be lost and notknow it.
That's when you're in thegreatest danger.
If you don't see that you'redesperate, then you won't want
(13:04):
to be found or see your need tobe found.
And it is not an accident.
Again, the Bible is not puttogether haphazardly.
It's not an accident.
That's sandwiched between thestory of the rich ruler in Luke
18 and this story of Zacchaeus.
What do you see?
What story is sandwichedbetween the story of the rich
ruler in Luke 18 and this storyof Zacchaeus?
What do you see?
What story is sandwichedbetween there?
(13:28):
The story of Jesus and a blindbeggar Luke 18, 35 and following
.
And Jesus is passing by and thebeggar doesn't run up into a
tree to see Jesus.
You know what the beggar does?
He falls down on his face andhe says Lord Jesus, have mercy
on me.
And then, if you look at thepassage, all the people are
(13:51):
going Shh, be quiet.
What are you doing?
You know what the blind beggardoes.
It says even more loudly, doesit says even more loudly he
(14:11):
cries out Jesus, have mercy onme.
A sinner, that's it.
That is to be our posture, thatis to be our cry.
We see our need, we see our sinand our desperation and we fall
down and we say Jesus, havemercy on me.
That's the first point.
(14:32):
We see something in this storyabout ourselves.
Secondly, we see somethingreally beautiful about Jesus.
Look at verses 3 through 4.
Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus.
We're not completely sure why.
Perhaps he'd heard about Jesus.
Perhaps he'd heard that Jesuswas a friend of tax collectors
(14:53):
and sinners from his friends, orwhatever.
But for whatever reason, hewants to see Jesus and he does
it in what was considered backthen a very undignified way.
First of all, he runs, which agentleman in that day would
never run it again wasconsidered inappropriate and
undignified.
And not only that, he doessomething even more undignified
(15:15):
he climbs up in a tree becausehe wants to see Jesus.
Verse 5,.
When Jesus comes to the place,he looks up and says Zacchaeus,
hurry, come down, for thinkabout how strong this word is,
for I must come to your house.
Jesus saw his visit withZacchaeus as part of his divine
(15:37):
mission.
Again, it's part of why he cameinto the world is to go and
spend time with people likeZacchaeus.
And he says I'm going to yourhouse.
Notice who goes first in thispassage.
Who takes the initiative?
Jesus takes the initiative.
(15:57):
Zacchaeus doesn't stop forJesus the initiative.
Zacchaeus doesn't stop forJesus.
Jesus stops for Zacchaeus andhe calls Zacchaeus by name.
Why?
Because he had known Zacchaeus'name from all eternity.
And the point is that the lostdo not find Jesus, he finds them
.
You don't go looking for Jesus.
(16:20):
Jesus comes looking for you.
Verse 6,.
He hurries down, he receivesJesus joyfully.
And then look at what it saysthe crowds and those that were
there and it seems to be a lotof people here.
It says, not just some of themgrumbled, not just a few people
(16:46):
or one person, they all grumbled.
Jesus is going to be the guestof a man who is a sinner, this
community that shuts outZacchaeus so that he can't see
Jesus and so he has to run andclimb a tree.
But notice the dramatic climaxof the story.
Jesus shifts the crowd'shostility against Zacchaeus to
(17:12):
himself and Zacchaeus becomesthe recipient.
In this story, the chief of taxcollectors becomes the recipient
of unexpected love.
Jesus extends grace and love tothe oppressor, to the chief of
(17:33):
all the tax collectors, a mannamed Zacchaeus.
Does he endorse what he's doing?
Absolutely not, but he doeslove him.
He's doing?
Absolutely not, but he doeslove him.
And I want us to stop, and Iwant you to get into this story
for just a moment.
Can you imagine I mean thinkabout this All the people now
(17:57):
again, not just one.
They have all turned toZacchaeus, who they hate Because
of who he is.
He's completely exposed.
You know what it's like whenyou have everybody looking at
you and you've done somethingreally shameful.
Think about what that's like.
That's what Zacchaeus, that'swhere he is.
He most certainly felt shame.
(18:19):
If it were you or I, I wouldrun and hide and wouldn't come
out for a very long time.
And so Zacchaeus is bracing forimpact, as you might imagine.
And here Jesus, who knows hisname and knows everything he's
ever done, he's got to be sayingwhat does Jesus possibly want
(18:42):
with me?
What does he want to meet withme for?
Why is he calling my name?
What is he going to say to meand do to me?
Will he shame me too in frontof all of these people?
And you know what Jesus does,and you know what Jesus does.
(19:02):
He looks at Zacchaeus and hesays, out of all the people in
this village, zacchaeus, I loveyou and I want to hang out.
Let's go back to your house andlet's have dinner together.
(19:25):
A friend of mine he's a pastor.
He had a very prominent personin his church fall into sin and
my friend walked with himthrough this and he was restored
and the Spirit did a great workin this man's life and changed
him.
And then the guy moved.
He was going for a job transferand so he moved his entire
(19:47):
family away and had settled on achurch.
And so he calls my friend thepastor and he says, hey, would
you call the pastor of this newchurch that we're going to.
And would you?
I want him to know all of thisbefore he meets me.
But just tell him everything,tell him my story, tell him
(20:10):
about my sin and what I've done.
And my friend, the pastor, hewas taken back by the openness
and the vulnerability and heasked when did you really change
?
When did you go from being aperson who had this secret life
to this person who now is openand transparent and vulnerable
(20:30):
and wants to be known?
You know what the man said.
He said it's when you broughtme before the church leaders to
confess my sin and all thethings that I was deeply ashamed
of.
Confess my sin and all thethings that I was deeply ashamed
of.
He said I walked into thatmeeting and I thought I was
(20:52):
going to be scorned and yelledat.
And he said, instead, those menwept with me and they prayed
for me.
And he said, after the prayer,I was expecting coldness and
shunning and instead they cameover and, one by one, they gave
me a hug.
And he said those hugs, theychanged me.
He said, and in the midst of myshame, I realized for the very
(21:15):
first time that Jesus was notashamed of me, and that changed
me and friends.
It changed Zacchaeus too.
One of the scariest things inthe world, is it not?
Is to be known all the way tothe bottom, because we are so
(21:37):
afraid that if someone knew usall the way to the bottom that
their eyes would fall and thatthey would turn and run the
other way.
That's our fear.
Friends, jesus knows your name,he knows everything that you've
ever done, he knows you to thebottom and he doesn't run.
He enters in and he loves youand he wants to have dinner with
(22:03):
you and to be with you.
He knows those who are hidingin pornography, in substance
abuse.
He knows those who are floodedwith anxiety and depression and
crippled by shame and busynessand self-righteousness.
(22:24):
And fill in the blank and Jesuscalls you by name and says come
down, I know and I love you andI want to go, hang out and be
with you and be your friend.
Do you believe that thismorning, friends, Jesus is so
(22:48):
much better and so much morebeautiful and wonderful than we
think he is?
Lastly, change tells ussomething about change,
something about ourselves.
Something about ourselves,something about Jesus, something
about change.
What happens when youexperience love like this, when
you're loved by Jesus.
Well, if we come down and wereceive Jesus, it will change
(23:14):
your life and you will never bethe same.
That's what happens withZacchaeus.
Jesus accepts Zacchaeus wherehe is, but he does not leave
Zacchaeus where he is.
Romans 2, verse 4, one of myfavorite verses in all of
Scripture.
It does not say it is the scornof God that leads to repentance
(23:38):
.
Do you know what it says?
It's the kindness and the mercyand the love and the grace of
God that leads a person torepentance.
You know what it says?
It's the kindness and the mercyand the love and the grace of
God that leads a person torepentance.
I say this a lot.
I'm going to keep saying it,because if we don't get this and
we miss this, you get religionand you miss the gospel.
But please notice in this story,the order of grace.
Jesus goes first.
(24:00):
We love because Jesus firstloved us.
Zacchaeus is in a tree.
Jesus doesn't say come down,clean up your life and then I'll
have lunch with you.
Jesus does not say, hey, stopcheating and I'll be your friend
.
Or hey, zacchaeus, pull yourlife together and then maybe we
(24:21):
can be friends.
No, he doesn't do that.
That's not the gospel.
You see, his love precedes ourrepentance, his love causes our
repentance.
Listen to Ralph Davis here.
What a quote he says.
The thing that changed Zacchaeuslisten to this was not Jesus'
(24:43):
decision to stay overnight.
Rather, it was Jesus'deliberate act of becoming
Zacchaeus' substitute byshifting the town's hostility
away from Zacchaeus to himself.
Zacchaeus doesn't stop cheatingand then get the love of God.
(25:04):
No, zacchaeus gets the love ofGod and then he stops cheating.
That's the order of grace,verse 8,.
We could spend a whole sermonon this.
But Zacchaeus gives away 50% ofhis assets, then he gives back
(25:24):
fourfold of anyone who'sdefrauded him, and so he gets
the love of Jesus and all of asudden, money and possessions.
They start to loosen their gripon Zacchaeus and they're no
longer a god or an idol.
Now, instead of white knucklingand being selfish, zacchaeus is
(25:46):
open-handed and giving A son ofAbraham, a member of the family
of God.
Today, salvation has come tohis house and it radically
changed his life, especiallywhen it comes to the way he
related to his possessions andto his stuff and to his money.
(26:06):
Don't get caught up in thepercentages.
That's the temptation in thispassage.
Now, the point of the passageis what happens in a person's
life when they experience thegoodness and the love of Jesus.
Like Zacchaeus, when weexperience the forgiveness and
(26:27):
the mercy of Jesus, it shapesand changes us forever.
When you, deliberately, whenyou see Jesus becoming your
substitute and taking uponhimself the hostility and wrath
of God for our sins, likeZacchaeus, we all of a sudden
start moving to a person that'sfree, have you experienced the
(26:54):
love of God in such a way thatit has changed you and set you
free?
I'll close with this story.
Marianne Bird was from Brooklyn,new York.
She was born in 1928 and shehas a memoir called Whisper Test
(27:19):
and in this is her story.
She talks about growing up as ayoung girl with multiple birth
defects.
She had a cleft palate, acrooked nose, disfigured face,
lopsided feet, all sorts ofphysical things going on that
caused her tons of pain, but itwas nowhere close to the
(27:41):
psychological pain that sheexperienced.
No one wanted to be her friend.
The kids in her school made funof her and then she went to
second grade and she had ateacher named Miss Leonard, and
Miss Leonard would give everyyear again we're talking 1930s
(28:05):
here would give a hearing testto the students and the way she
would do the hearing test isthat the students would come up
to her door and they'd have toput their ear up to the door and
she would sit in her desk in achair and she would whisper
something like the sky is blue,or the sun is out, or you have
(28:27):
new shoes.
And if they could hear what shewas saying and repeated it back
to her, they would pass thehearing test.
And then here comes Mary AnnBird and she says in her memoir
I waited for those words.
I put my ear to the door andwaited for those words that God
(28:49):
must have put in her mouth,those seven words that changed
my life forever.
Mary Ann Bird puts her ear tothe door and Miss Leonard
doesn't say the sky is blue, youhave wonderful shoes.
Mary Ann Bird hears the teachersay Miss Leonard say I wish you
(29:15):
were my little girl, and shesays it changed her forever.
Into her shame came a whisper oflove and affection that changed
her.
That's the story of Zacchaeusand friends.
(29:36):
I want to tell you the thingthis morning that you're most
ashamed of.
I want you to hear Jesuswhispering your name and calling
you his beloved.
I want you to hear Jesus sayingcome down, come and live, come
(30:02):
and be free.
Whatever it is that you broughtinto this room, friends, jesus
is not ashamed of you.
Jesus doesn't meet you withshame.
He meets you with love andaffection.
And if you experience that, itwill change your life, will you
(30:23):
come to Jesus?
This morning let's pray, Father, thank you, thank you for
loving us, thank you for yourmercy and grace.
Would you forgive us for ourpride For not thinking that we
(30:46):
are needy?
And, lord, I pray that youwould come, holy Spirit, and
that you would help us to seeourselves as we really are, but
we would also see you for whoyou really are, and that we
would come and experiencetransformation in life and
freedom.
We ask these things in Jesus'name, amen.
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