Saturday, December 6, 2014

December 7, 2014

"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”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 will pay back four times the amount.”Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Luke 19:1-10

Christmas proved the love of God beyond any doubt when God sent His Son, Jesus to be the Savior of the world.

God proved that He is serious about sin because Jesus came to conquer the power of sin and satisfy the penalty it demands. We saw last Sunday that God hates sin because He loves people and sin destroys people.

In this Scripture text, Luke tells you that God loves you because He sent Jesus to seek those who are lost. You were once lost. God is serious about seeking
This story of Zacchaeus is perhaps the classic illustration of Jesus in the role of the seeker. Over the next several posts I want to show you four inspiring insights of the Seeking Savior.
1) Jesus knows what you hope, v. 3
2) Jesus knows where you hide, v. 4
3) Jesus knows where you hurt, vv. 2, 5, 7
4) Jesus knows when to help, v. 9

Zacchaeus was a lonely and miserable little man. So when he heard Jesus was coming to his town hope arose within him. "If this Rabbi was Who they say He is maybe I will have a chance. I need to make sure I meet Him when He comes."

In verse three you can see that once Zacchaeus arrived at the place where Jesus would be passing, he discovered that being diminutive in stature he was unable to see over the crowd. And for the moment his hopes were dashed.

Determination and desperation can inspire creativity and Zacchaeus climbed a nearby sycamore tree to get a better view of the approaching Lord. Where once he had hoped to be seen by the Messiah, now he was just hoping to be able to see Him. And from his lofty perch he was able to get a great view of Jesus.

Much to Zacchaeus' surprise, as Jesus was passing by the sycamore He stopped, looked up at Zacchaeus and calling him by name said, "Come down immediately! I need to go to your house today!"

Zacchaeus couldn't believe his good fortune! This was so much more that he could ever have hoped for! This famous Rabbi wanted to visit with him in his own home! He scurried down the tree!

God understands your hopes and dreams. You want to be a good person. You want to be happy and have significance. You want your life to matter. You want to have the peace of knowing you are right with God. You want the assurance of Heaven when you die. Those things can only be found in a relationship with God.

Whether you realize it or not, God knows that only through Christ can you have those hopes fulfilled. Only through salvation can your fondest hopes be met. That is why He sent His Son to seek and save those who are lost - and those who have lost their hope.

Christmas proves that God's love is serious!