The Way of Jesus: Become Like Jesus

Intro.

(SP NOTE: share a story of a time where you were growing in something and it was a struggle… don’t make it about how you overcame the struggle, but setup the tension with the reality of the struggle.)

How is your first week of school going? Are you through all the classes where you are going over the syllabus?

College essays 5 pages minimum with 2-4 a week

Need a college tutor which was a freshman, the same age as me. Humbling, and just a struggle for 2 whole semesters.

Turn.

When you’re in the middle of a struggle it can be hard to know how to move forward.

Struggling in a class → leaves you feeling less than

Like someone that doesn’t like you back → leaves you feeling rejected

Struggling in your relationship with your parents → leaves you feeling like they don’t trust you

Struggling in a sport → leaves you wondering if you should quit

Tension.

What about in our faith? Maybe you just had an experience with God at CAMP a few weeks ago or maybe you’ve been following Jesus for years. What do you do when you feel like you’re in a struggle in your faith?

What do you do when you’ve been going in the same direction and nothing is getting better?

What we talked about last week is that there is a natural pattern of next steps that anyone who wants to follow Jesus does after having an encounter with him. Here it is:

Be With Jesus → Become Like Jesus → Bring Others to Jesus

This pattern is what everyone follows, but what happens when you’re struggling with a specific step in this pattern. Like you just can’t figure out how to be with Jesus consistently, or you try and you try and you try to become like him but your sibling just makes you mad… again! Or you want to bring your friends to Jesus, but you don’t want to be pushy… you feel like you’re in the middle of a struggle…

Tonight, we’re going to learn from someone who was struggling in every area of life… except for financially, and we’re going to notice the steps he takes and see if we can reproduce them in our life. The focus will be on the Become Like Jesus part.

Some of you in here this is a whole new idea. Now I’m sure there might be some of you in here that think… I’ve been coming to Wednesdays a long time. You might think that you’ve graduated beyond this part. Like yeah yeah, Zach, I know I should become like Jesus. But when are we going to get deeper. When are you going to talk to me about the real stuff…

I cannot stress this enough, Becoming like Jesus is the natural next step. If we’re going to be with Jesus, the natural next step is that we would become like him. And if you took me up on my challenge from last week and have been reading in the book of John, I hope you’re seeing that this happens to everyone who truly desires to follow Jesus!

To show you more evidence I want to show you a story of someone who had one of the most radical examples of becoming like Jesus.

We’re going to read from Luke 19:

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 

Zacchaeus is the main character of our story today and I think you’re going to be able to identify with some different parts of his story.

The first is that he was the chief tax collector which meant that he was in charge of the taxes in the day, and their taxes worked differently than ours, in this day if your job was tax collector you would be the person in charge of making the people pay their taxes, and if you wanted to get paid, it would be up to you to charge them whatever YOU wanted. So when the Bible says chief tax collector and that he was wealthy, it’s saying Zacchaeus has been basically stealing money from people for years trying to accumulate wealth.

Zacchaeus has been chasing wealth his whole life. Watch what happens next:

3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 

How can the Bible just call him out like that, where my short kings at? Just know you’re represented in the Bible!

Which is funny, but you know what it makes me realize… Zacchaeus has been chasing approval his whole life. He’s been insecure about his height, his job, and looking for something that would bring him satisfaction. So he wants to see Jesus, but he has to get creative so this is what he does:

4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

Do you know how embarrassing it would be to have to climb a tree just to see someone? But more than that, how compelled would you have to be to do that? I get it 6th grade boys you’d climb a tree to do anything. But for me, it would have to be something pretty important to do that.

I want you to notice something though… he’s been chasing things his whole life and isn’t feeling satisfied. He realizes he needs to get out of his comfort zone, because what he’s tried isn’t working.

So I’m curious: what trees do you need to climb in your life? Is there something in between you and God? Is there something that’s keeping you in your comfort zone, that isn’t helping you the way you think it should.

What’s beautiful about the truth of Jesus, is that he comes to us. Sure climbing the tree put Zaccheus in a better position, but Jesus came to him.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

Jesus calls him by name. I don’t know this for sure, but I imagine he was used to getting called all sorts of other names by people. And someone he’s never met before, knows his name and calls out to him. Because Jesus knows the importance of a name.

It says this in John 10:3 “…He calls his own sheep by name.” This is such a profound moment for Zacchaeus.

But could you imagine how it would feel if the worst person you know, who gets away with stealing from you, who you avoid at all costs, if the bully that always gets away with it… is suddenly welcomed gladly by God? Well the people don’t like that.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

Jesus didn’t care what the people thought, he came for Zacchaeus.

8 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.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Zacchaeus had his whole life changed from this encounter with Jesus. Remember our process.

Be With Jesus → Become Like Jesus → Bring Others to Jesus

He was with Jesus, and after spending a little bit of time with him… he gave half of his possessions to the poor, AND if he cheated someone out of anything, he was going to pay it back four times the amount. That sounds like he is becoming like Jesus to me. More than that, when he did that… how do you imagine those conversations went?

“Hey, so I know I stole $100 from you… but I actually feel compelled to give you back $400.”

I’ve seen it in people when they’re receiving generosity like that, they can’t help but wonder… Why would you do that? A question like that opens you up to bringing people to Jesus. Showing them the exact reason, you would do what you’re doing.

So Zacchaeus has seen it. He knows that this is what happens when someone decides to follow Jesus.

Because did you notice what Jesus said after he gave everything away? Only after he gave everything away?

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

He experienced salvation, after he changed direction. The Bible uses this word to describe that type of moment as repent. The definition for repent is to turn from sin, kind of like doing a 180’ turn. You were going down this way and instead you’re turning away from doing things that way, from living your life like that and you’re going a different direction.

That’s the moment that Jesus noted that he had been saved. Truly living like what Jesus says is true and deciding to become like him.

Application

What do you do when you’ve been going in the same direction and nothing is getting better?

Something that we saw in Zaccheus’ experience with Jesus is you can’t keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result. He had tried for years to find approval in his life and it wasn’t working. He had gotten to the end of his rope, and decided he couldn’t keep going in the same direction.

He realized, that he had to repent. Which means change direction. Move away from the things you’ve been doing that aren’t working.

Here’s our answer to the question: Change direction and surrender the results.

Some of you feel stuck because you’ve been trying the same thing over and over, some of you feel stuck because you’re trying new things but are obsessed with controlling the results.

When Zaccheus gave back everything he had stole and then some, did you notice… he didn’t do that expecting anything from Jesus. He didn’t do that thinking it would mean that God would now bless his tax collecting. He didn’t do that because he thought he could control how God would treat him with his surrender. (pause.)

He surrendered the results, he had no expectation that God would do anything for him. Where are you thinking that God should bless you? Or give you something because you have been serving. Or give you a great life with no struggles.

If you’re realizing that you’ve been going in the same direction for a while and you’re not getting different results… If you want a different result, you have to do different things.

If you’re doing different things but you’re trying to control the results that you’ll get… surrender the results.

(SP NOTE: share a story of where God is pressing you in this idea recently. Have you been doing the same thing expecting a different result? Have you been trying to control the results and need to surrender them? Share appropriately with your students about that.)

Lately I’ve realized I’ve been doing the same thing expecting a different result. I’ve been doing the same thing with my time with God as I’ve been doing for years. And recently I’ve realized I want to do something different, like wake up earlier.. man it’s so easy to sleep a little bit longer. But I’m waking up 30 minutes earlier than I’ve been doing. Which isn’t a lot but it’s making the difference for me to spend time with God in a newer fresher way because it’s something different.

I want to give you a moment to just sit with God and see if there might be something that he would tell you, to try differently or surrender the results to him.

(Allow a minute for a pad to play in the background.)

Now let’s head to our groups to discuss what God is telling you.