More Than Words

To show love you must be personal

Luke 19:1–10 NKJV

1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” 8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 19:

what made this so personal?

He calls him by name

out of all the people, Jesus made it a point to go to his house, where he was comfortable so Zacchaeus would get the full benefit of Jesus.

What made this special?

Zacchaeus was one of the worst…tax collector, cheater, very much disliked in his community for various reasons

Jesus wanted him to know how much he was loved. He didn’t just say it. He didn’t just look up and say I see you there. He called him by name and had dinner with him!

How did the religious group see this meeting?

They were opposed to it!

They couldn’t believe that Jesus, who claimed to be the son of God, the perfect on would have anything to do with such a human being as Zacchaeus!

What’s this say about the way we as Christians perceive others today?

Are we showing a personal interest in the souls of others?

Are we showing a personal interest in the well being of others?

Do you personally get to know someone who is different than you?

Do you judge people who are different than you?

Do you judge someone because they are talking to someone who isn’t a Christian, or do you simply get upset because you know you should be doing the same thing but don’t

I love what Jesus says to Zacchaeus: today salvation has came to your house. Why? Jesus simply says because he came to save that which is lost!

When we get to know someone on a personal level we very much can show the same love and concern for their soul as Jesus did for him that day.

To show love you must be intentional

John 4:3 NKJV

3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

John 4:3–4 NKJV

3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

John 4:

John 4:

How many times have you been in a store and seen someone you didn’t want to talk to? Maybe because you just didn’t have time and you know they would talk your ear off or maybe because you just didn’t want to speak to them. Either way you intentionally avoid them. You will go through the lawn and garden center to check out just to avoid running into them. That’s kinda the way it was for the Jews who went from the north to the south and vice versa. They would go all the way around Samaria to avoid it. They intentionally bypassed it so they wouldn’t have to deal with the people.

But on this occasion Jesus said I must need go there.

He knew there was a need and intentionally led the apostles there so they could see that others need to be saved as well.

He personally talked to the woman at the well and intentionally told her he was the Messiah

This example shows exactly how Christ intentionally went out of his way to reach the lost! More than words were shown here!

Intention love was given to the people in this city. A love that transcends race and gender, customs and traditions. Jesus did things intentionally to show the love that God has for his children.

According to the scriptures not only did he go there just for a drink, but he stayed there 2 days!

What changes can you make in your life that will show people love? Be intentional. Go out of your way to speak to someone, go out of your way to love someone.

Show them the love of God and how he loves us by doing and not just saying!

To show love you must be sincere

Luke 10:38

Luke 10:38–42 NKJV

38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

What makes this account special to me is in the previous two points we show how Jesus shows us examples of being personal and intentional in how we can show love to others. This example shows how one of His disciples showed sincere love for Him.

In the movie “Remember the Titans” Denzel Washington plays the head coach of the first integrated High School football team in Virginia in 1971. He took his team to Gettysburg College for two weeks of Camp and paired them up intentionally with a person from another race. In this two weeks he gave the boys an assignment to get to know something personal about the other player they were roommates with. After about a week of practice the two main defensive captains still hadn’t learned anything about each other. So one says to the other, lets just get this over with, you tell me some particulars about you and I’ll tell you some about me so we can get the coach off our back. Does this sound like he was being sincere in getting to know his teammate? Unfortunately this is us many times when we must talk to someone we don’t know. We aren’t sincere.

What makes Mary’s example so sincere and what can we learn from it?

She just wanted to spend time with Jesus.

Everything around the house was chaotic

There was a minimum of 13 guests probably more that come to house that day and Martha was about at her wits end trying to cook and serve food, make sure everything was in order and everyone had everything they needed and here’s Mary sitting down listening to Jesus.

Poor Martha. Many of you have been there. You would love to sit down and visit but you are just so busy trying to make sure your guests are comfortable that you get frustrated and short with the ones you love

What does she do? Jesus tell her to get up and help me! She had forgotten who she was taking to! Jesus, the same man that fed the 5,000 with food to spare.

His response was so spot on, only on thing is needed and Mary has chosen right. How does this show sincere love for the person?

On Mary’s part, she showed a sincere interest in what Jesus was saying and doing. He was her guest and wanted Him to know that He had her full attention.

On Jesus’ part because when he said this Mary knew that he was sincere in his love for her.

For us as Christians we need to understand that we will always be busy. We all lead hectic lives. Jesus told Martha you are worried and troubled by many things. In other word she was distracted!

We allow ourselves to become distracted by events and people around us.

Even when we do take the time to speak to someone and try to get to know them intentionally and personally, we forget about this last piece of the puzzle and we are not sincere. We allow other thoughts to come into our heads.

How many of you when you see someone say “how are you doing”? How many of you actually want a long response?

Listen a lost person or someone who is on the fence about coming to worship with you can tell if you are sincere or not. If you are sincere about your love for Christ, just as Mary is here in this account, it will carry over into your sincerity for others.

They want to know if you actually care that they will come to worship with you and they want to see you there when they do come!

Conclusion: Be personal, be intentional, be sincere when your outside these walls. Jesus was all three. He was personal when he said I came to save that which was lost: that’s you. he was intentionall when he died on the cross: for you. and he is sincere when he said I’ll come back. We should show all three characteristics in our lives if we are to show what the church is “for”. If you are missing one of these ingredients with your walk with Christ; if you don’t know hi personally, if you aren’t seeking him intentionally, and if you are sincerely asking him to work in your life and lead you then you are failing and you need to get some things right between you and Hi today. Once that relationship is healed then you can start showing others what it means to love.