Different Stories, Same Need
Notes
Transcript
We have spent the last couple of week we started to talk about this journey of grace. The journey that we go on with God that is only possible by his free gift of grace. It starts with “come and see,” turns to a decision to the question of “follow me,” and then becomes “go and do.”
We started out talking about how this journey starts with “come and see” and then becomes a decision point of “follow me” and then as transformation continues in our lives turns into “go and do.”
Last week, we talked about God’s prevenient grace, or the grace that goes before. We talked about how God is pursuing us and how he wants to restore us in relationship to himself, even before we might realize that he is.
Today, we are going to look at two different men who had an encounter with Jesus. One while Jesus was traveling along a road and another who wanted to see Jesus as he entered the town.
As we dig into these two stories this morning, I want us to consider something. All too often, whether we realize it or not, many have been shaped by a transactional theology when it comes to salvation. They understand the cross solely in terms of a debt paid and a ticket to a destination purchased. Though we will never deny the efficacy of Jesus on the cross for the sins of the world or the eternity of life with Christ, we must also understand and help others along the journey of grace understand that salvation means so much more than just a transaction. Salvation is about present liberation from sin and making us whole. As we think about this in light of our two encounters this morning, I want us to imagine a salvation that transforms (and continuously transforms) us thoroughly.
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.
37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,
41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”
43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
1 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.
3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
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.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
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.”
As we look into these encounters and understand more about God’s saving grace this morning, we first need to spend of few moments on this idea of sin.
We are all born depraved, separated from God due to the acts of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We are born with a sin nature, that has a natural tendency to rebel against God. However, there is also personal sin. In the Church of the Nazarene, we believe that:
Manual 5.3 - We believe that actual or personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person. It is therefore not to be confused with involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the Fall. However, such innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary to the spirit of Christ, which may properly be called sins of the spirit. We believe that personal sin is primarily and essentially a violation of the law of love; and that in relation to Christ sin may be defined as unbelief.
Sin levels the playing field. Sin is the reminder that in our brokenness, no matter our material condition, we are all one.
Sin is destructive. Sin is opting for a life less than what we were created for.
Sin is rebelliousness. Sin is a breach of trust. Sin is a break in relationship.
Sin is rebellion against God and his plans for us and for his Kingdom.
Sin is enslavement - whether to someone or something else.
Sin is estrangement.
Sin can show up in vastly different ways in our stories. Sin could be found in one’s life in the environment that nurtured, abused, dismissed, and demeaned him. However, sin was also found in the moments when mere survival or an attempt to cope led him to steal, lash out against others, become physically violent, or abuse substances. Sin was also found in the system that shuffled him through their doors, constantly demeaning his dignity and failing to recognize the image of God in his life. Sin could be found everywhere.
For another, sin was manifest in his ego about his success, his domineering control of his subordinates, his dismissiveness of his wife’s needs, his promiscuity and deceit. Though dressed to impress and cloaked in the exterior of a morally upright person, sin could be found everywhere.
No matter the situation, sin leaves people wrecked and wounded. Though people’s stories will be different, the problem was similar, and the need was the same.
Walk through both stories in the text:
Blind beggar and then Zacchaeus
Condition - social situation, perceptions are different (theirs and others of them)
How they are similar
how their brokenness damaged sense of self, relationships, and perception of others
When grace show up, everything changes.
In both stories, let’s look at what happens when Jesus enters the men’s stories. Jesus is the answer to the needs of each man, even though their needs are radically different.
One man throws off his cloak; the other is found cowering in a tree.
Jesus makes time for both of these men.
Both of these men are completely dependent on the grace of Jesus.
Both of these men hear the same word for salvation.
Salvation is to be understood holistically.
Pick three or four of the ways in which salvation is recognized in the lives of the men in the stories.
Saving grace lifts us from our misery.
Saving grace removes the blinders.
Saving grace restores us to our community.
Saving grace calls us out of hiding and slips into our homes.
Saving grace convicts and liberates.
Saving grace restores and commissions.
Pastor Jillian story
Share Casey Diaz Story from Christianity Today - https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/may/casey-diaz-shot-caller-marked-people-death-gang-leader.html
God’s saving grace is about so much more than just “getting saved.” We have talked about getting people saved as some abstract concept for years in the church. However, it is about more than just getting saved, but what it looks like when that happens in our lives, what it looks like when God gets control of us. When we accept Jesus’s call to “follow me” it starts a journey of transformation that is one of the most exciting journey’s I can imagine. It is certainly scary and uncertain at times, but it has been by far the best journey I have been on in my life.
ALTAR CALL during I SURRENDER ALL