Different Story Same Need

Luke 18:35-19:10

Luke 18:35–19:10 NLT

35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. 36 When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was going by. 38 So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!” 42 And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.” 43 Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too. 1 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. 3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” 6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. 8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” 9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

At First there seems to be no real connection between these events…The blind beggar was poor and had been a fixture for years. Everyone knew he was blind, they probably assumed that he had sinned somehow to deserve what he was going through but they felt sorry for him and even though they would not associate with him they didn’t want him to starve…so they threw him some food money, it helped him and it helped them to feel like they were doing some sort of good work that might help them with their own salvation.

In contrast Zacchaeus was a wealthy man. He had everything that he could ever want. Probably a nice home, plenty of food, the best wine and a group of friends and a generally nice life. Even though he had friends they were not his own people. His people the Jews hated Zacchaeus for his job. He took their money and gave it to the Romans and to make things worse Zacchaeus added his collection fee’s which made him persona non grata. Unacceptable to associate with and definitely un-welcomed to worship with them.

The only things these two had in common with each other as we look at this passage was they were both outcast.

While one was poor and the other was rich they were both excluded from the Jewish community…seen as unclean one becuase of blindness and the other becuase of association with gentiles.

Both needed restoration to God....Much like you and I did before we allowed Jesus to do His work in us.

Even though they were outcast Jesus took time with and restored them not just physically (healing) or even spiritually (salvation for a Tax collector)

Jesus restored them both to worship…He made them clean, and they were finally able to be whole.

God still wants to Restore people to wholeness with Saving Grace.

A lot of people believe that Gods Saving grace is only a way to punch their ticket for heaven. And to be honest I understand why.

This world is a mess…and our everyday lives are often influenced by the actions or non actions of others…I could list issue after issue where this is true but that would be redundant and not helpful.

This is however what makes the idea of a Utopia away from this world…well comforting. The biggest problems with this understanding of salvation is it makes salvation transactional instead of a transformational.

We must reject the belief that if we accept Jesus as Saviour, go to church and embrace a moral life God rewards us with heaven as the central focus of Salvation. This is what Brian Zarhan calls heaven and hell minimalism. God’s saving Grace is more than this.

God’s Grace is with us before we Know Jesus, it is with us when we accept Jesus it sustains and sanctifies us and it empowers us to win the world.

Salvation is not an escape to another world it is a gift that helps us win the world we are in as we wait for the restoration of the world by God at the ressurection.

Grace awakens us, changes us and gets us into right relationship with others. --David Busic--

Mike Helms Story of salvation

You may remember the name Mike Helms from the dynamic story of my dad. Mike is a fantastic example of how the grace of God totally transforms the worst of people into a the best of people. Mike was a local business man that my dad ran around with. He and my dad drank together and to some measure dad aspired to Mike’s status at least as having money. However Mike made his money not by sound business practice but by any way necessary. He cheated people, mislead people and even stole from them. In fact Mike actually hijacked Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of his competitors lumber shipments and sold them from his lumber yard.

I don’t know the circumstance of his salvation but what I do remember is that Mike went from a notorious cheat to a sold out transformed follower of Jesus. Just like Zacchaeus Mike made hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution to all those he had cheated, apologized to those he had hurt told all his friends about Jesus (including my dad) and eventually went on to Pastor in the CON.

Mike found the way, embraced the truth and lived the Life of Saving Grace and in the process not only helped himself but influenced countless others to accept and participate in the transforming saving Grace of God.

What if Mike had stopped at Heaven? How many would still be languishing in less than Gods best for them? We all have stories of people who did not stop at heaven in our lives. What if they stopped at Heaven?

Communion reminds us not to stop at heaven. In fact it encourages us to remember Jesus give of Grace on the Cross, live everyday in thankfulness of the Gift, and look forward in the Saving Grace of Jesus when He returns to restore us and the world to God’s orginal plan.

The only thing we will be asked on that day is what did we do with Grace?

Silence

Communion/Benediction/Dismissal