Zacchaeus

Child Dedication

It is always a special day in the church when we get to dedicate a child and today we get to dedicate two, so, it is that special day.

 So, I would like to invite up two kids today and if they could bring their whole family

Abigail McKenna Wenneker

Heather Gwendolyn Wenneker

Elizabeth and David God parents

Recognize all who come in support

Now Heather has actually been dedicated before so we are not dedicating her but she was a COVID baby which means when she was dedicated, the congregation was not here so when we do the congregational affirmation we will include Heather in with that. 

Let’s get to know Abigail a bit

Abigail, a name of Hebrew origin meaning "father of joy."  In 1 Samuel 25:3 Abigal is called an intelligent and beautiful woman.[1] 

Baby Dedication has a long history in the church:

Two verses that Guide us as parents

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Matthew 7:13-14

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

These verses remind us that our children follow us closely and the path that we go down will be the path that they go down…

Now let’s meet Abigail.  Abigail your mom and Dad have chosen a verse for you that they hope will guide your life: 

Jeremiah Reads

Philippians 2:1-5

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus[2]

Charge / Dedication Questions:

Dear friends, you have brought these children whom God has given you to be dedicated to God and to His service. By this act you testify to your faith in the Jesus Christ, and also your desire that your children shall receive the benefits of consecration to God, and of the prayers of the church, and may early learn to know and follow the will of God; and therefore, may live a Christian life.

In order for this to happen, it will be your duty as parents & Grandparents to teach your children early the fear of the Lord; to watch over their education, that they may not be led astray by false teachings or doctrines, to direct their minds to the Holy Scriptures as expressing the will and authority of God for all people, and to direct their feet to the sanctuary, to restrain them from evil associates and habits; and, as much as you are able, to bring them up in the Lord's discipline and instruction. Will you endeavor to do so, by the help of the Lord?

(Then the parents or guardians shall answer:)

“We will.”

Congregational Response:

We recognize that the church body can have a significant impact on the family Life.  

So church I have a question for you and if you agree, I’d like you to respond with “we will”

Question:

Will you guide and strengthen these parents and children in the way of the Lord?  Will you Encourage, give wisdom, offer support and pray for this family as they grow?

Response:

If so respond with “We Will”

Krysta & Micah As you present Abigail before the Lord today I am going to ask you some more questions. 

* Do you present Abigailfor dedication as a sign of the grace of God which is extended even now to your children through the atoning work of Christ and declares them to be a part of the family of God? And,

* Do you promise with the help of God to bring your children up in the

instruction and discipline of the Lord, to pray with them and for them, and to make every effort to so order your own life that you will not cause these little ones to stumble?

* Do you intend to encourage your children as soon as they are able to

comprehend its significance to acknowledge personally their own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to serve God faithfully in the fellowship of His Church?

If so respond, “We Do”

Pastoral Prayer: Father, we pray that through the power of your spirit, you would be present with Abigail.    That you would set her apart for your kingdom service.  Lord we pray for your protection over Abigail’s life and that her life would not only praise you but bring others to praise you.  Lord would you form Abigail into the kind of person who makes others happy that you made this world and put them in it. 

Abigail on behalf of your parents and of this congregation, I dedicate you unto the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

notes

-David Comes across Abigail as inelegant and Beautiful

-Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus dwell in you (Phil 2:5-11)

-Elizabeth and David are godparents

[1]The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Sa 25:3.

[2]The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Php 2:1–5.

Starting Point

Intro

For a few months we have just been going through biblical accounts of Jesus coming to the one person…

Jesus tells us in parables that he loves people who are lost and wondering

Jesus loves the people who don’t have it all together

Jesus loves the people who have run away from his presence

It’s almost as if the entire ministry of Jesus is to go searching for those people who ran away

Who made bad choices

Who are far from God and in their shame think it is impossible to return

And this is our focus for the year…It is simply the phrase, one matters

One matters to Jesus

And if One matters to Jesus then one should matter to us too

So I saved one of my favorite One Matters stories for last…

But before we do that.

You know those people who are just sort of hard wired to go after lost people?

I have a friend like that and his name is Danny Lopez. Danny worked for me at my former church as the skate park director, now Danny is 25 years older than me. But all he cares about is people who don’t know Jesus…

If you get talking to him for 5 minutes he will invite you to church or share Jesus with you

Luke 19:1–10 NIV

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 because he was short he could not see over 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 the lost.”

This is one of those accounts that just perfectly summarizes what Jesus is all about and what his mission is on earth.

but since it is just 10 verses I want to break it down for us verse by verse

And there is even a kids song about this, does anyone know it

Zacchaeus Was A Wee Little Man, And A Wee Little Man Was He. He Climbed Up In A Sycamore Tree, For The Lord He Wanted To See. And As The Savior Passed Him By, He Looked Up In The Tree, And He Said, “Zacchaeus, You Come Down From There; For I’m Going To Your House Today, For I’m Going To Your House Today”

Zacchaeus climbed down out of that tree as happy as he could be! He gave the money back to the people and he said, “A better man I’ll be” and he said, “A better man I’ll be.”

This account is fun for kids and it is famous because it is again another story in the long line of Jesus upsetting the status quo

And here is the deal, if you are gong to love others like jesus loves then it is going to ruffle some feathers…so lets get into it today

Luke 19:1 NIV

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

where was Jesus going? He was headed to Jerusalem…Why?

that is where he would have the passover with his disciples

That is where he would be arrested and betrayed

that is where he will hang on the cross and where his body will lay for three days.

It is where he will defeat death itself

It is where the salvation of Jesus would then be available for the whole world

And here is the deal, we already know the story Jesus doesn’t just pass through, he stops to spend time with Zaccheus

Luke wanted the reader to know that Jesus wasn't intending on staying…We will come back to this point!

Luke 19:2 NIV

A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

Okay there is a ton of detail here

Zacchaeus name means “righteous one” so what Luke wants you to see is that you have the one who is supposed to be the righteous one but who is actually the corrupt one

See in the ancient world names mean something. You named your child for your hopes and your expectations…

So clearly, if you are Jewish and a chief tax collector then you are not living up to your parents expectations.

And I have said this before but to be a tax collector was to essentially work for the beast of Babylon

It was to work for Rome which would have been your occupier, the money you paid went to support pagan practices.

Plus tax collectors had to make a living themselves so they would have to collect extra taxes to pay their wage for the day…

It’s not just that these people work for the IRS and have legit jobs they would have been seen as the Benedict Arnold of their towns

Hurting their own people

Luke 19:3–4 NIV

He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

I love this little detail that Zacchaeus was a short man. Obviously he is poked fun of in the children’s song

Zaccheus a wee little man was he…

There is a little play here in that in social status he was the chief of the tax collectors. And he was just physically short.

While Zaccheus was seen by his culture as an outsider, Jesus saw him as valuable

So he is this man who has the least stature in the Jewish community but Jesus sees this man as having the most stature because Jesus go stay with him.

And I just want to pause on this point for a second and think about yourself…

Who am I that the God of heaven and earth should see value in me?

But he does. As you are here today, whether you believe in him now or not yet, the God of all of heaven and earth sees you and when he looks at you he sees value!

He sees his very own creation’

He sees someone worth giving his life for!

So many people struggle with feeling worthy! But you are loved so deeply by your creator!

Do not buy the lies of our society

You are not damaged goods, you are not a throw away person…You are not too far Gone! you are loved and perused by Jesus

Because look at what happens next:

Luke 19:5 NIV

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”

Wait wait wait! Remember how I said that Luke was intent on telling us that Jesus was just passing through?

That he was going to Jerusalem to ultimately pay the price of sin for every single person…So Wait, Jesus stops! And stays with Zaccheus? This is a big deal…

The salvation of Zaccheus was not a detour to the cross, rather it hi-lights the importance of the cross.

Ultimately the cross is about spilling the blood of Jesus for all outsiders to become insiders

For all people like Zaccheus who in the Jewish sense lived outside the covenant therefore they were outsiders!

But when Jesus took the cross there was a long line of people in his followers and just in his ministry that were unclean or sinners or people who were just broken people…

This line of broken people would extend all the way to the cross…

You have a thief on the cross who declares that Jesus is innocent but they all deserve to die!

You have a Roman Guard who when he sees Jesus die, and Jesus prays father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing…When this guard sees the extent of the love of Jesus…Praying for his murderers forgiveness he says surley this man was the son of God

So I love it, Jesus shows the importance of the cross before he ever takes it

He stops so that one more man might find redemption

Jesus is the most famous man in Israel…If you look at the chapters before this in Luke he is healing people, telling parables and there are some grumblings that this man might actually be the messiah…

Jesus is gaining a massive following and he keeps going to the people in society that are considered a lower status of people

In fact the book of Luke is kind of famous for this…there is a cadence to the book of Luke and the way Luke organizes the story

To our untrained 21st century eye the book of Luke just looks like another gospel, but the reality is that women had very little status in the first century, the ordinary woman is not singled out and written about in other works of Antiquity. But in Luke’s gospel just about every other story has a women in it. And the stories of the men are stories of men that are on the outskirts of society

Like I said, 21st century America sees Jesus as a good guy so of course he goes to the sick and the bad people

But to the first century reader of this gospel, we have to understand that Jesus would have seen as in a category of his own…Other people just don’t do what Jesus does.

The fact that he cares about these people who are deemed throwaway people by society is just earth shattering

There is a reason why Christianity spreads so fast around the ancient world

And Zaccheus was a bit lost. He was defrauding his own people…

There is another question that is brought up in this text.

How does Jesus know Zaccheus’s name, is it just because he is the son of God? Is it supernatural knowledge?

Were people in the crowd saying his name?

We dont know but what we do know but what we do know is that it was an ultra personal interaction. Jesus calls him by name!

What I love about this is that Jesus is interruptible. He stays with Zaccheus even though he was planning on just going through

In this culture hosting a famous teacher would have immensely raised your status.

So lets see what happens next

Luke 19:6–7 NIV

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.”

So Zaccheus is thrilled that Jesus wants to be his guest, a very high honor and

It says here…All the people muttered…

That word mutter is the same a grumbled or complain…It’s not like whispering in amazement.

Jesus was not afraid to ruffle feathers! He was on a mission and that mission was to lost people. When you spend time with lost or broken people you will have people in your life who grumble!

Congratulations, thats how you know you’re on the right track!

And the next two things that happen are just amazing bits of the Bible

Luke 19:8 NIV

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.”

I am not sure if Zaccheus recognizes that he is about to have dinner with God. But he knows that something significant is happening with the Lord

so what he does is he repents

He fully repents and fully gives himself over to the lord

Zaccheus is a picture of what it looks like to repent

He gives away half of his possessions and claims that if he cheated anyone he will pay back 4 times the amount

This is significant because in the Old Testament if you are willfully defrauding your neighbor then you had to pay back the amount plus 20%

People who were rustlers or livestock thieves had to pay back for their crime threefold

and people who stole from another person and showed no remorse had to pay back 4 times the amount.

Now why is this significant…

Look if you were to read the book of Leviticus you would find all of these laws and the reality is that Zaccheus was in a profession where you might think, why would he care what God thinks, he is already living in outright rebellion to God…

But Apparently Zaccheus was a student of the Torah. He knew the exact crime he was committing and thats why he punished himself in the appropriate way

This is what happens when we are confronted by the living God by the way

When you are confronted with the kind of Goodness that is the living God, the desire to shed all evil that is prevalent within you is huge…Lord I want to be clean before you

When you are confronted with jesus, with such goodness its like all of the junk that is in your life just has to go.

And so he fully repents…and he does even more than he has today, and because of that here is what Jesus said…

Luke 19:9–10 NIV

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 the lost.”

All through the book of Luke there has been a group of people, the Pharisees who were against Jesus’ ministry. They constantly critiqued Jesus for going after outsiders

So as Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house” there are a few amazing things that are happening

One: Jesus in Hebrew is Yeshua which is also the word for salvation…So there is this amazing word play happening

but for the jews Salvation is all about being in the covenant of Abraham and here is what Jesus says…

Upon seeing his repentance, seeing his heart. He says, This man too is a son of Abraham! He is no longer an outsider, he is an insider!

And then Jesus says a line that will become like his tagline:

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

You want to know the mission of Jesus? Its that?

Do you want to be on mission with Jesus? Its that!

What we might not realize right now but what nearly everyone would have realized about Jesus is that he was quoting Ezekiel 34…

In the first 10 verses of Ezekiel 34 God says to the shepherds of Israel…In other words the spiritual leaders of Israel…

Hey you are only taking care of yourselves…You literally don’t even care about your flock.

Your flock is wandering aimlessly, they need you to watch after them and guide them but you refuse

So look what God says in Ezekiel 34:8-10

Ezekiel 34:8–10 NIV

As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

It is impotrant to see that Jesus doesn’t just care for the lost sheep in a vacuum.

Jesus is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34

God told his people what he would do! He would come and find the lost people!

Jesus, every step of his ministry is doing Ezekiel 34…

Maybe you’re here today and you are like Zaccheus…You want God but you feel the sin barrier!

You feel like there is something between you and the Lord…

Jesus came to break that barrier…

In a simple act of repentance and a relationship with God that can all change.

It is Jesus desire to take all who are far and bring them near!

And that is what communion is.

It is a physical representation of what jesus did for us on the cross

That he gave his own body

spilled his own blood

Communion