Jesus Came: To Seek and Save the Lost

Luke 19:1–10 “1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

You know, there are really only two kinds of people in this world:

People who admit they are lost

People who don’t admit they are lost

I’ve been both kinds of people in my life

I was about 10 years old and I was with my family at Ontario Place

a concert and entertainment venue in Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario

And we were there for a classical music concert—a guy named Victor Borge who does comedy

It was an outdoor amphitheater and we are sitting on the grass and the concert is in full swing and we are laughing and having a good time

when suddenly, as happens to little boys, I needed to find “the facilities”. Like NOW

The problem was, that once they let you out of this amphitheater, you couldn’t get back in

But...priorities, right? I figured I’d go out, use the bathroom, and then just wait by the gate until my family came out

But somehow that didn’t happen.

The end result was that I got separated from my family, it was dark, there was a huge crowd of people, and I was terrified

I KNEW I was lost!

Now, obviously it turned out alright because I’m here and not still wandering around Ontario Place somewhere. (I’ve actually never been back there)

But the point is that I was lost and I KNEW it

Another story is one that I’ve told you already

we were in the Belleville, PA area for pastor’s conference

and we were staying with friends, and we were all going to go from where we were staying over the mountain to somewhere else

And Darren Peachy gave me directions: “Take this road down to such and such a place, turn left, so forth and so on..”

But me, I just half payed attention and thought, “I’ll just type it into Google maps and I’ll be fine”

So, I did and lo and behold, there was a short cut! Good grief, I didn’t have to go all the way around the mountain! I could just cut across!

Which, of course, is what I proceeded to do

But, as we went, I started to get this bad feeling about it, as the road narrowed down, and started to become covered with patches of snow and ice, and it was pitch dark, and the few houses along the road all looked dark and abandoned.

And I should have just admitted defeat and turned around, but you know that stereotype of men not asking for help or directions?

yeah, I think I just played my part in making that stereotype a reality, and I just pushed on

Now, again, fortunately, everything worked out alright. I mean, nobody is going to find a white minivan with the bones of the Hertzler family on the top of a mountain in Belleville

But, point is, I was lost, and I didn’t want to admit it

You know, as I think about it, it seems that there are two kinds of people in this world

Rule-keepers, and rule-breakers

I hope that isn’t too simplistic. I don’t mean to put people in a shoe box.

But this is generally speaking

On one hand, You have people who like to follow the rules,

They live by the rules. The rules are their friends. The rules help them keep their lives in order which is the way they like it

And these folks tend to look down on the rule breakers because these folks are disruptive and life would just be much better if everyone followed the rules

If I was to put myself on this line, I would have to put myself toward the rule-keeper end of things

I like things in order, and I get stressed out if things aren’t in order

For me, for the most part, rules are comforting

And on the other hand, you have people who tend to kick against the rules

For them, the rules are too constricting. Life is meant to be lived! They enjoy breaking with tradition and following their

And they tend to look down on the rule-keepers because they think they are sticks in the mud and

And everyone in between

In most churches, these two groups of people exist because most churches have humans in them

And in many cases, it sort of creates some tension

We were part of a church once, and were trying hard to be rule-keepers

And we had good friends who were also rule-keepers

And the church was going through some tension because there was a group of people who were seen as being rule-breakers

And I remember one time being at our friends house, and we were discussing what was happening in church

And the remark was made, “Why can’t they just follow the rules?”

But here’s the thing about rule breakers and rule keepers. Both of them are lost without Jesus

No matter where you find yourself, if you keep the rules all the time, or you’re a part-time rule keeper, or you are a complete rule-breaker,

The Bible teaches us that outside of Jesus, apart from Him, we are lost

You may know it and admit it, or you might not realize it or not admit it

But it doesn’t change the situation that millions of people around the world find themselves in.

They are lost

let’s look at our story this morning

On one hand you have Zacchaeus

He is a tax collector

The tax collectors, or publicans, were Jewish men who were in charge of collecting the increasingly harsh taxes that the Roman overlords imposed on the people

They put the Jewish rulers in charge of collecting these taxes, and, of course, the Jewish rulers employed their own people to do this unsavory job.

And they were hated by the Jewish population

They were viewed by the Jews as being traitors, crooks, less than desirable to socialize with

The money that these tax collectors had was seen as being “dirty money”.

they were not allowed to donate to charity, for example.

The Jews simply did not want their money

And it was a dangerous job because the tax collectors even ran the danger of getting lynched as they tried to do their job

and in many cases they were crooks....extorting more than the going tax rate from people and keeping the extra for themselves.

Zacchaeus was “rich”. Verse 1

The tax collectors were rule breakers.

whether they tried to be honest or not, they certainly did not live by the rules that the rest of the Jews did

And that is where Zaccheus finds himself

On the other hand, you have all the other people

the Jewish population who knew well who Zac was.

They knew what kind of a person he was, and how he had broken all the rules

They despised him

Because they were the rule-keepers.

they obeyed the law the best that they knew how

they hadn’t sold themselves to the pagan Romans

They were the true Jews!

And when Jesus dared to stop and talk to Zacchaeus, they grumbled and and were resentful

Because, after all, they were the rule keepers and Jesus had chosen to go eat with a rule breakers

I imagine that all of us here can locate ourselves somewhere in this picture

We either admit that we are lost

Or, we don’t admit that we are lost

We either kick against the rules,

Or we strive to follow the rules

But, here’s the thing. No matter where we find ourselves,

We, every single one of us, outside of Christ are all lost

Whether we admit it or not

Whether we keep the rules or don’t

It doesn’t matter

We are all lost

In our story from Luke, the people who were standing around feeling self-righteous and grumbling about the attention that Zac was getting were just as lost as Zac himself

But there seemed to be a difference between them

They all were trying to catch a glimpse of Jesus

The Bible tells us that Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was. He was curious

But, I imagine, so were the crowds

They all were curious about Him

But it was Zacchaeus to whom Jesus stopped and spoke.

The tax collector. The outcast. The traitor.

And, we aren’t given any sort of lead up to this story, but it seems that Zacchaeus, for what ever reason, had a heart that was desperate for the life changing love of Jesus

He seems to be fully aware that he was lost, or at least had a heart that was seeking for something

And again, we aren’t told what Jesus and Zac. talked about as they ate together, but when they are done, the heart of Zacchaeus seems to have done a 180.

His wealth suddenly seemed completely unimportant to Him

“Lord, there are people poor and needy people out there, and I’m going to give away half of my good to the poor!

If you gave away half of what you own, how much would that be?

“And If I’ve defrauded anyone”

(that means to blackmail or extort). And there is a good chance that he had extorted money from people

“I’m going to pay them back 4 times more than what I took from them!”

Do you think that he had all that cash lying about

I think that it could have taken him the rest of his life to pay folks back!

And I think that the heart of Jesus is overjoyed!

And I can imagine Him coming out of Zacchaeus’ house, maybe with his arm around Zac’s shoulder

And looking out at the crowd that had followed them to see what kind of trouble Zac was going to get himself into

He exclaims, “Today salvation has come to this house!”

And He goes on to say, not only to Zac, but to all those standing around,

“THIS is why the Son of Man came!

He came to seek and save the lost!”

That message was for Zac and for everyone around him because it included every single person

Rule breakers and rule keepers

Those who knew they were lost, and those who didn’t realize it.

And it includes every single person here today. The message of Christmas is this: Jesus came to seek and save the lost

For those of us rule-keepers (me included) who grew up in church, I think it is hard for us to imagine what it would be like to feel completely lost and without hope

And it’s hard for us to admit sometimes that outside of Christ and His mercy, that is exactly where we are

I remember as a young person, still in high school on the mission field in Canada

I was a good kid, a rule keeper

And my friends were good kids, rule keepers

And I remember one time we were together and a lady driving a taxi pulled up along side of us...she was trying to find whomever had called for a ride

And this lady clearly had been ravaged by sin.

Her face was hard, her cheeks were sunken, her skin was leathery, she had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and a baseball cap pulled down on her head

And I remember as she pulled away

Much to my shame, I snickered at how “crazy” she looked. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I snickered.

But one of the girls who was with us, as this taxi was pulling away, said, “Oh, that poor lady!”, her voice just full of compassion

And I was struck to the heart. (It didn’t help that I had a mad crush on this girl)

But she saw something that I in my cockiness and self righteousness did not see.

This lady was LOST and she needed to be found by Jesus

But she was not any more lost than I would have been if I had not been found by Jesus

And it was a humbling moment for me

Jesus came to seek and save rule keepers like me

And rule breakers like her, and everyone in between (if there is such a thing)

He came to seek

have you ever just stopped and thought about being sought by Jesus?

There are very few things more precious in human relationships than to have someone choose you

To choose to have a relationship with you because...well, just because

When someone calls me up and says, “Hey, let’s go out to coffee, or let’s do something together”, just because they are interested in getting to know me

That’s such a wonderful feeling

But it’s just a small taste of what Jesus did for us

This word seek can be translated as

seek

to look for

desire

You know sometimes when we look for something, we do it with obligation and irritation

after church, you tell your child to stay by your side because you’ll be leaving soon

But when it’s time to go, your child isn’t anywhere to be found

Uggh! I have to go look for my child!

But that’s not how Jesus came. He came because God The Father desires His people

His heart is for reconciliation and relationship with us, His people

He came to save

It might be hard for some folks to admit they need to be found

But it might be even harder for us to admit that we need to be saved

because that reaches right into the heart of our pride and self-sufficiency, doesn’t it

it is really hard for us to admit that we might be in a jam that we simply can’t get out of

And that we need someone to come and pull us out of that jam

I remember in our van up on that mountain in PA. I felt that I was somewhat lost, yes.

But there was no way that I was going to admit that I was in a predicament that I couldn’t get out of

Now, honestly, I don’ think that I was in that bad of shape, but the point is, it would have taken me A LOT to admit that someone needed to come and save us

And that’s the way it is for us folks.

Most of the time, we wait until we are absolutely rock bottom to admit that we need to be saved

And even then, when exactly is rock bottom? Maybe I can still pull myself out of whatever jam I am in.

But whether we realize it or not, that is where we are outside of Jesus

In Ephesians 2, Paul paints kind of a bleak picture of what life away from Jesus is like

Ephesians 2:12 He says, “Remember that you Gentiles (that’s us) 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Wow! That’s lost, folks! Outside of Christ, we are alienated (strangers to Him), Strangers to His promises, and absolutely without hope, and without God

And it’s for us that Jesus came. He came to save us!

Save us from eternity apart from Him

Save us from bondage and slavery to sin