Zacchaeus.
So we're going to talk about this familiar story. If you have your Bible, you can join me in Luke chapter 19 today. Luke 19 as we look at a familiar, timeless truth, the passage on Zacchaeus here today. And so let's dive right into our text. We'll be reading Luke 19, 1 through 10 here today.
It says this. And Jesus entered. And passed through Jericho.
So I'm going to give you some commentary and just some brief thoughts at the end of this.
So we're going to pretty much just be working through the passages where the main content of today's sermon is going to be. But Jesus is passing through Jericho.
Now, one thing to note is that in our Bibles, we have chapters and we have verses. But when the original manuscripts, they weren't written that way. They've added chapters so that we can keep things organized a little bit better. But when it was originally written, it went straight from what we read in 18 to 19. And so in chapter 18, it says that Jesus was coming near to Jericho.
So he's traveling through. And what Jesus would do is he would just travel from place to place and he would attract multitudes. He would attract crowds because the way of his teaching was so countercultural than the way that. You and I live even today. And really, the kingdom of heaven of what he was bringing was so out there.
It was so far-fetched that it brought curiosity from people of all faith backgrounds, all traditions, sinners and also religious folks. Everybody gathered and they followed him because they were watching him and they were curious about his teaching.
Well, in chapter 18, he had just healed a man that couldn't see. His name is, you know, we call him blind Bartimaeus, and he couldn't see. And so Jesus miraculously did that. And this story in chapter 19 is coming off the tail end of that.
So he is coming into Jerusalem. He's passing through. And then in verse 2 of our text, it says, Behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. And in verse 2, it says, He was the chief among the publicans. And he was rich.
And so, a couple of things about Zacchaeus that I'll tell you.
So, Zacchaeus' name means pure. It means clean. It has the idea of being innocent. And here's what I want you to know: he was a man that was. None of those things.
He was a guy that had not lived up to his name in Hebrew. And so he was given this name. He was a Hebrew. We're going to find out that he came from Abraham. Jesus is going to pronounce that here at the end of our text here today.
And so we know that he was a Hebrew. And when he was given this name, it has the idea that our God is pure, our God is clean, our God is innocent, and he was none of those things. And it mentions that he was the chief of publicans, he was the chief of the tax collectors.
Now, the tax collectors in that day, nobody liked them. I mean, let's just be honest. Nobody likes people that track us down and try to take our money from us. Can I get an amen there, right? I don't want to offend any IRS agents that we have here in our audience here today.
But here's what I will tell you: nobody likes tactic collectors, but in this culture, it was way deeper than just not liking somebody because. They're asking for our money. It was one of those things. It was so much deeper than that. And the reason why the culture did not like tax collectors is because many times the tax collectors were Jewish citizens.
And what they would do is they would go and they would take advantage of the Jewish community and because of their greediness, And they would take advantage of them, and it was all to benefit the Roman Empire.
So, many people in Jesus' audience here today in this text is they would see a tax collector and they would think this person is greedy. This person is a traitor to their own people. They're a traitor to our Jewish community. And so, why in the world would we like this person? Why would we support this person?
Because tax collectors were looked upon as really the scum of the earth, the outsiders or outcasts of the society, and nobody liked. The tax collector.
So it says that Zacchaeus, a man with a name that means pure, that means clean, that means innocent, he is anything but those things, and he had not lived up to his name. And not only that, because of his greed, the scripture says that he was rich.
So he was wealthy.
So on the surface he had a great career. He had kind of made it to the top. He was the chief of the tax collectors.
So he had a lot of other tax collectors that worked directly for him.
So in the business world, he would have looked at as man, he's successful and he's making money and so he's rich. And so, for a lot of people, they would look at that and think, man, he's arrived. And then in verse 3, but he sought. To see Jesus who he was. And he could not for the press because he was little of stature.
And so, what you see here is even though on the surface he had money, he had a career, he had people working for him, it looked like he might have had all things together, he still was searching for something.
So he showed up there in the audience that day, and he shows up, and he couldn't see because of the crowds. It says that there in the end of verse three, that he was little of stature. If you look up that phrase, little of stature in the Greek, it can be translated, he was a wee little man. And, okay, there's my dad joke for today. I got to insert it in.
How many of you know the song? How many of you have thought of the song already here today? Right? Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man. You can finish it with me.
And a wee little man was he.
So he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. All right. I don't know why we didn't include that in the worship set today. I don't know. But so he was this, he was this small guy, and so he couldn't see anything.
And here's what I want you to know: when Zacchaeus showed up that day, and there were crowds, Zacchaeus was the last person that anybody was going to let through. They would see him and be like, Man, this guy, nobody likes him. Stand in front of him. You got to be at the back. Nobody cares or whatever.
Nobody cares about you. They don't want we're the religious crowd. We're the ones who got here early. We got the premier seats here, and we got here because we are actually trying to follow some of Jesus's teachings. And we follow the Judaism and we follow the Mosaic law and all these kinds of things.
And you're the last guy who really needs to be here today because you're an outcast of society.
So in verse 4, it says he ran before. Because remember, Jesus is just passing through.
So he runs before him, and he climbed up into a sycamore tree. to see him for he was to pass that way And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up. And he saw him. And he said unto him, Zacchaeus, Make haste. And come Down.
Now, stop for just a moment.
So, picture this: outcast of society.
Someone that was really the sinner. Everybody knew he was a sinner. He was living in sin. He didn't follow any of the teachings of Jesus. And he wasn't obeying, you know, even the Mosaic law because they had rules about some of the business that Zacchaeus would engage in.
And so he wasn't following that. And so this was the outcast of the outcast here in this situation. And here's what I want you to know: he goes and he notices that there's a crowd, but he wants to see Jesus. And so what he does was he climbs up into the sycamore tree and he climbs up so that he could get a better glimpse of Jesus. And when Jesus comes up and he sees him in the tree, Jesus sees him and he said unto him, he said, Zacchaeus, Come down, it says make haste.
That means immediately. Come down immediately.
Now Picture you in the audience that day. Remember, everybody knows he's an outcast. Everybody knows he's a sinner. Everybody knows if anybody needs the teaching of Jesus, it'd be the guy that's up there in that sycamore tree. I can imagine the crowd, and this is just me reading into the story just a little bit.
So give me just a little bit of grace and liberty here. This is the Josh Evans version, if you would. But here's what I will tell you. I can almost imagine that when Jesus said, come down immediately, the crowd was probably like. Yes.
This is the moment we've been waiting for. Get him, Jesus.
Now's the time that I'm sure the crowd was thinking, this is the moment that Jesus is going to make him a public example in front of everybody. We are going to shame him because of his sin and because of all the wrong that he's done to the rest of us, because of how he's mistreated us. Jesus, get him. This is his moment to be called out and confronted of all the sin. In modern language, here's what this would be like.
Have you ever sat in a church service? And you're sitting there, and the preacher begins preaching, and he mentions what he's preaching on that day, and you immediately look around and say, I hope so-and-so is here.
Okay, just me? All right. And so, but here's what I will tell you: is this. That's exactly probably how the crowd felt when Jesus said, come down immediately. They're thinking he's about to get what he should have had coming to him a long time ago, and here it comes.
But then Jesus changed everything. When he says Today. I must abide. At your house. I must abide at your house.
I must come. To your house. I mean, think about this for just a moment. You know, for us and our culture. What if I just came up to you when we were shaking hands after the service, and I just said, hey, listen, come to your house today.
Like, have you ever thought? What if there was an American up in that tree? They'd be like, oh, no, Jesus, my house isn't ready. I'm not ready for Jesus to come to my house. I mean, could you imagine?
You go tell your spouse, hey, we got. We got a guest coming today. You know, we're not ready. The house isn't clean. The kids have made a mess.
You know, the dishes aren't done or whatever. We got all this stuff. Laundry's out or whatever it is. And here, Jesus said, but in this culture, this was very common. It was not uncommon for them to invite themselves to their house.
And so he tells Zacchaeus, Today I must come to your house. And so in verse number six, it says this. And so he made haste and he came down.
So Zacchaeus, he obeyed. He listened to the message of Jesus and he came down immediately, just as Jesus commanded him to. And it says that he received him. Everybody say the word received with me. Received.
He received him. Joyfully. He received him joyfully. That was his moment of. Salvation.
You see, grace It is a free gift. offered to all of us. And in this moment. Zacchaeus is receiving. The grace gift, the gift of grace that is freely offered to him, and he received him joyfully.
But here's what I'll tell you. Not everyone in the crowd that day. Received him. Joyfully. Not everyone was joyful about what was happening.
Look at verse 7. It says, when they saw it, that's the crowd, it says that they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest. With a man. That is a sinner. In other words, everybody's murmuring, they're complaining, they're frustrated, they're asking questions like: how could he?
How could this man of Nazareth, how could Jesus, the one that calls himself the Messiah, how in the world could he? He go spend the rest of his day with a sinner. How could he go? Does he realize, do we need to go in there and tell him about this man, Zacchaeus? Does he really know about this guy?
Because this guy is the lowest of the low. He's the outcast of the society. How in the world could he go and fellowship With A sinner. They're angry. They're murmuring.
They're frustrated. And by the way, the crowds that had followed him, we don't know if they'd followed him for a long time, but we see throughout the Gospels that Jesus was always confronting this idea of how we are to be with the sinner. Right? I mean, just take the tax collector, for example. You got Matthew, remember, one of the disciples?
When Jesus called Matthew, he was a tax collector as well. And through Matthew's account, when Matthew chooses to leave everything behind and follow him, this was the same question: How in the world could a man like a tax collector ever follow a man like? Like Jesus. Right? Do you remember the story of the prodigal son when Jesus is going through these parables and he mentions that in the crowd that day there were tax collectors and they were sinners and then there was the religious crowd.
The tax collectors were so bad that it's almost like they had their own label for how bad they really were. And now Jesus is spending time with a... With a sinner. It's something so fascinating to me about stories like this of Jesus is because of this. Listen, not everyone chose to follow Jesus in the gospels.
Some people watched him for all the wrong reasons. But here's what's amazing about Jesus and how he lived his life: those that had nothing in common with Jesus. We're still curious about Jesus. Have you ever thought about that? Those who had absolutely nothing in common with Jesus whatsoever.
Still we're curious about him.
So you had a guy like Zacchaeus far from God? A a guy that, you know, doesn't um Doesn't know God. Don't follow him, nothing. And now he's curious about who Jesus is so much to the point where he is there today. And by the way, that's because the teachings of Jesus were so far-fetched from society that they were all curious about it.
Jesus would talk about the kingdom of heaven and how we are to view the world and all this stuff. And it was so contrary to the way that we think that it challenges me to think, like, you know, because of my faith, I'm a Christ follower. That's what a Christian is. If you're a Christian in here today, you are a Christ follower. And if you follow Jesus, your life should make those that are far from God a little bit curious.
The way that you view the world. The way that you interact with society. The way that you view sinners. The way that you view those people that are far from God, the way that you view people that don't have it all together, the way you interact with people at your job or in your school, all of those things, our interactions with the world as Christ's followers should make people curious about us. It doesn't mean that everybody's just going to drop what they do and follow Jesus, but they're curious because the way that we live is so countercultural.
Than the way that our society lives each and every day.
So everyone's upset that he's fellowshipping with a sinner. And here's what it says in verse number eight: Zacchaeus stood. And he said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, for so much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save.
That Which was Lost. What an incredible story. A familiar story that is time, you know, the story, the impact of this is timeless for you and for me. And I want to give you three things about this story that I think make it so incredible, that just speak to me about it. Number one, if you take notes, is this.
Zacchaeus, hearing this story, was searching. He was searching. You know, I mentioned this earlier, but on the outside, Zacchaeus. Was a man that looked like he might have had it all together. For real?
He had people working for him. He was like the highest. Tax collector. there in that in that region there in Jericho. This guy, he kind of looked like man, he's made it to the top.
He was rich. He had all the money that he needed. But yet he was still Empty. He was still lonely. He was still unhappy.
Here's the application that I want you to understand about Zacchaeus. Is that even though he looked like he might have had it all together, he had a career, he had money, he had all those things that our world looks at as: man, you're successful because of those things. He still was empty. And here's what I'll tell you: for you, you might have slipped in here today, and from the outside, you look like you got it all together. You look like your life is put together.
You look like things are good. You look like, from the world's measure of success. You look like, man, you're a successful person in the business world with your life. You got money. You got all this kind of stuff.
But here's what I will tell you. None of those can satisfy the deepest longing of your heart. You can be all of those things and still be left empty. You can attend church every single day, but if you've never trusted in Jesus as your only way to salvation, let me tell you this: you can attend church every single day or every week and still. Feel empty.
You can still feel lost. You can still feel lonely. You can still feel like there's a void in your heart that you're searching to fill with something and you can't. Dude, here's the thing: wealth and success, it can't satisfy the deepest need in your life. It can't satisfy the deepest need in your life.
And so Zacchaeus learned this. And so even though he seemed like he had a lot of things together when it came to his wealth, when it came to his success, But he continued to search.
So he shows up that day. And he overcame, as in his search, he overcame all the obstacles. His height? The crowd? The embarrassment of just climbing a A tree?
Especially how You know, men in that first century dressed. I mean, this was not an easy task. He overcame everything in front of him because he believed. That the man, the one who claimed to be the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, he believed that what his heart has been searching for. He could satisfy.
You see, the truth is, is this, every human heart is searching for something only Christ can satisfy. Every human heart is searching. I mean, look at our world. They're searching for something.
Now, they might not always know what they're searching for. But what they're doing is, there's an emptiness inside of our world, and so what they're doing is they think, Man, I can fill this with a new relationship, I can fill this with a new identity, I can fill this with sex, I can fill this with a better career, I can fill this with a better promotion, I can fill this void in my heart if I can get more money or if I can, you know, do whatever, move away, and all this kind of stuff. And what our world is looking for is they are searching for something and they don't know that Jesus is the only one that can fill it in their life. And so, what you say is Zacchaeus, he was searching. You can have all of the success, all of the possessions, all of the money, all of the fame, all of the fortune.
And still be empty. In your life, Zacchaeus was searching, but number two, the Savior was pursuing.
So here's Zacchaeus. He's climbing up in a sycamore tree. For the Lord he wanted to see. And and he he's looking at Jesus to search for him. He's looking for that.
And little did he know. that Jesus was the one pursuing him. What's interesting about this story, and yes, Jesus is omniscient. He knows all things, but he calls Zacchaeus by name before Zacchaeus even had a chance to introduce himself. Jesus intentionally pursued the man that everyone else in the crowd that day avoided.
Jesus offered grace When everyone else grumbled and pushed the man away. You see, Zacchaeus was searching for something, but what he learned here in this moment is that Jesus was the one initiating The conversation. You see, Jesus is the one initiating grace. Grace. to the one searching.
And then number three. Grays was prevailing.
So, what's awesome about this story to me is this: that you got Zacchaeus, he was searching. You got Jesus who was pursuing. But ultimately you have grace. that is prevailing. You see, here's what I want you to understand.
Grays Changes. Everything. Grays Changes. Everything. That's what Zacchaeus realized today, or in this story.
He realized that grace, just a simple act of God's grace, it changed everything for him. You say, What is grace? Grace and mercy are very close together, but they're different. Mercy is God withholding what you do deserve.
So, the scripture says about you and me, the scripture says that we were all born into this world as sinners. You were born into sin, right? You're not a sinner because you sin. You're a sinner because you were born into it. It's something that you just had in you.
I mean, think about it. All you got to do to really prove that fact is to have kids, right? And if you don't have children, go downstairs, spend a couple of weeks serving in our nursery, and you'll find out really quick that at birth, everybody is born with a sin nature. We are born into sin. And the worst thing about it is this: the scripture says we were born into it and we couldn't save ourselves from it.
In other words, we couldn't get back to a relationship where we were created for a relationship with God. Our sin broke all fellowship and all communion with God. And now we can't get to God. We can't restore that relationship on our own because there's not enough good works in us. On my very best day, I still fall short.
On your very best day, you still fall short because he's perfect, he's righteous, he's holy, and I'm a broken sinner.
So, what God did was, God noticed that, and God said, because of my sin, there has to be punishment for it, right? A holy God has to also be just. We don't like to talk about God's justice, but here's what I want you to know: a holy God has to be just. In other words, he has to punish wrongdoing, he has to punish sin. And because of my sin, my punishment should have been death.
Now not just physical death, it goes deeper than that. Spiritual death. Eternal separation from God. In a place called hell. And here's the thing.
God. withheld that punishment from me? And that's mercy. And he gave us in return grace. You say, what's grace?
If grace isn't mercy, grace is unearned, it is unmerited favor. It is undeserved. And what grace is, is grace is the righteousness of Jesus that he gave us.
So, in other words, the life that you couldn't live apart from God because you're a sinner. He gave you Jesus' righteousness. He gave you the righteousness of the very Son of God in your life to be able to live out in your life. That's grace. The Bible says that when we die here, to be absent from the body is to be eternally present with the Lord, when I stand before God, I just say, I don't know how all that's going to happen, but when I stand before God one day, which the scripture tells us we're going to do, we're not going to stand there based on anything that I've done.
Hey, God, I'm here because I went to church every Sunday. Hey, God, I'm here because I gave money to the poor. Hey, God, I'm here because I went to a Sunday school class. Hey, God, I'm here because I tried to have the standards that my church wanted me to have in my life. Hey, God, I'm here because I had a good career and I tried to do right and I was faithful and all this kind of stuff.
We're not going to be in heaven for anything that we have done whatsoever. The only reason any of us get the opportunity to stand before God and stay in his presence one day is because of one word, grace. It's because of the amazing grace of Almighty God that He has given us that one day we can forever be in His presence. That's what grace is. It's unearned.
It's undeserved. It's receiving something that we Don't. deserve. You see, what you see in this story is that Zacchaeus, when he hears God calling out to him, He receives him. He receives him, and when he comes down and he interacts with the Lord, and they have this experience after he received grace.
It says that his whole life changed. He's like, Hey, half of my stuff? I'm going to now give to the poor. All those that I've wronged. I'm going to give them back fourfold.
Which, if you look in Numbers chapter number six, we don't have time to turn there, but in Numbers chapter six, it said: if you ever are caught stealing from somebody, the Mosaic law, which he would have had to abide by because he was a Jew, based on Mosaic law, was you had to go back to that person, give them everything you stole, and then add an additional 20% onto it.
So, what he's saying here, when he's like, Man, I'm going to restore fourfold to everybody that I've wronged, he's going above and beyond. And here's what I want you to know: only grace does that.
Someone that has experienced the grace of Almighty God, now he is demonstrating that grace to other people. People. You see, salvation is a free gift. All you have to do is receive it. And what happens when you receive the free gift of salvation, the free gift of grace that is freely offered every one of us, what it does is it produces real transformation.
So when I received grays as a kid. And I recognize God's grace is the only thing that can save me. When I received his grace. What happens is Is he comes to live inside of me, the Holy Spirit? We call it that the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us, and now He leads us to a new life.
You see, at the inside of me, my inside changed. My heart radically changed. And so now I don't do good works, I don't give to the poor, I don't give to the church, I don't do all that in order for me to be accepted by God. I do those things because I'm already accepted by Him. I've already received his grace.
And so, therefore, because of what I've received in Jesus, now I'm living out. You see, Zacchaeus, he didn't, his generosity and his restitution. They were the fruit of his salvation, not the root of it. It was the fruit of a changed life, not the root of his changed life. You see, salvation is heart transformation, it's not behavior modification.
And so, what happens is when you've experienced grace. Your whole life changes. The way I view my life changes. The way I view my community changes. The way I view our world changes.
The way I view lost people and sinners. It changes. Because what we recognize is just like Zacchaeus. We were the one, at one point in our life, we were the one climbing the sycamore tree. We were the outcast.
We were the one nobody would let through. We were the one undeserving. We were the one searching. We were the one lost and on the outside looking in. And one day, Jesus got a hold of our heart and we learned that he'd been pursuing us all along.
And the moment that you received his free gift of salvation, your life radically changes to where now we can live a grace. Field. Life. You can demonstrate the same grace that you've received.
So maybe today you've kind of come in here and you're searching like Zacchaeus. Maybe, and I don't know every story in this place, but maybe you're in here today and you say, Pastor, I've been looking for money, I've been looking for popularity, I've been looking at my career, I've been looking for relationships, I've been looking for all of this kind of stuff to fill that empty void in my life. And what I'm finding is that the more money I make and the more advancement I get in my career, and the more, or the different relationship that I find myself in, what happens is a lot of times is we find that we just it leads to more and more brokenness. When we try to fill our void with ourselves and with anything that we can do, it leads to more and more brokenness.
