Sermon Tone Analysis

August 1, 2021 - An Unexpected Experience Of Grace

Good to see all of you this morning... both here in-person and to those of you joining us online.

Here at the Vineyard, we are pretty into the Bible.

We teach from the Bible each Sunday, our small groups and VKids dig into the Bible together each week & we challenge you to read the Bible on your own each day.

In particular, we encourage people to study the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke & John: these books of the Bible that detail the life, message & ministry of Jesus.

Now, when you dive into the Gospels, here is something that you discover:

● Jesus often does and says things we don't expect!

There are so many surprising elements to the story of Jesus.

He came to earth in such an unexpected way - God, born in a manger.

The people of Jesus' day were hoping for a military Messiah to save them from the Romans... and yet Jesus came as a humble servant - to save the people from their sins.

When Jesus died, it looked like his influence had expired too.

But then, the Scriptures declare that Jesus was raised from the dead - in the ultimate turn of events.

I'm excited to kick off a new sermon series today that picks up on this idea of the unexpected.

Over the next 7-8 weeks, we'll be looking at a string of intriguing things Jesus said and did - all centered on the theme of Unexpected Grace and Generosity.

Each week, we'll dive into a different passage from the Gospel of Luke, and ask two ongoing questions:

1) What does it look like to experience God's grace & goodness in our own lives?

2) How can we express that same gracious generosity in the way we treat others

and in how we live day to day?

I think a number of the things we'll see and hear from Jesus will surprise us...

And I'm eager to explore this together.

Our Bible passage for this morning comes from Luke chapter 19.

If you want to grab a Bible in front of you - we'll be reading from page 717 in the ones here in the auditorium.

Or you can pull up Luke 19 on your favorite electronic device.

While you are turning there, let me pray for us and our time today.

PRAY

Luke 19:1-10 (NIV) 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 Now, 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."

Okay... this is a pretty famous Bible story, especially if you spent any time at all in Sunday School or VBS as a kid.

I am imagining a number of you with the "Zacchaeus was a wee little man" song in your heads already.

And, if it wasn't in your head before... it is now!

You can thank me later.

But beyond the cute kids church song, there is so much depth to this story.

Let's begin with digging into a bit of Zacchaeus' background.

Who was Zacchaeus?

There's really only one sentence of detail in this passage, but it tells us a lot.

Verse 2 says: Zacchaeus...was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

That's a simple statement... so we could think: Zacchaeus had a job with the 1st century version of the IRS and had worked there long enough to get a few raises.

Nope... here's the context to that verse.

● Zacchaeus was a Jewish man, working for the Roman government, collecting taxes from his fellow Jews.

That, in itself, was suspect.

○ Beyond that, it was common for these tax collectors to engage in shady practices: They would overcharge on taxes whenever they had the opportunity - pocketing the difference for themselves.

○ And, at times, they would spread rumors & advance false charges in hopes of extorting hush money.

○ Tax collectors were viewed as heathens, crooks and traitors working for an oppressive occupying empire.

They were in a category all by themselves - as despised humans in 1st century Judea.

○ And Zacchaeus wasn't just a "run of the mill" tax collector.

He was a chief tax collector.

He was high up the ladder of dirty, rotten scoundrels.

○ He was likely immersed in this dishonest work for a length of time - accumulating a significant amount of wealth in the process.

We don't get any further details to Zacchaeus' backstory, but I can't help but wonder to myself... how did he get in so deep?

Was it simply the allure of wealth?

Were there circumstances that initially forced him in that direction?

Or was he simply an awful human being that willingly took advantage of others?

● The truth is... we don't know what led Zacchaeus down this path.

● But what we do know is this: ultimately, he was unsatisfied... & he started to investigate if this man Jesus might have something better for him.

We'll get that part of the passage in a moment... and talk about how Zacchaeus became the unlikely recipient of grace.

But let's pause for a few moments and consider how our stories intersect with Zacchaeus'.

I immediately think of a probing question that Jesus asked back in Mark 8:36.

What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

What happened to Zacchaeus can happen to us.

Maybe you don't sell your soul to an evil empire.

But it can be easy to "sell out" in so many other ways.

● Our "sell out" could also be in the pursuit of security or possessions - where we buy into the lie that "if I just have a little bit more, then I'll be happy" And so we work ourselves into the ground; we sacrifice our health, our families, & our spiritual lives in search of the almighty dollar.

● Or our "sell out" could be in seeking the praise and approval of others.

● And so we give in to compromise in different areas of our lives.

● Some of those pursuits might feel out of our reach... and so our 'sell out" could look different.

We might fantasize at a distance about the lives of celebrities; the powerful and the beautiful.

○ Is it perhaps prophetic... that if we want to learn more about these people on social media, that we click a button that says "follow"?

○ Or that there is a category of people called "influencers."

○ Or we can slip into envy with the people right around us... getting angry because that other person has the family or friendships that I want, the health or the body that I want.... the ____________________ that I want.

Sadly, in the end, these pursuits don't satisfy.

Anytime we make secondary items first place in our lives, our souls become sick.

● That's where Zacchaeus was, but he didn't stay there.

Even with Zacchaeus' riches, he couldn't buy a private meeting with Jesus, or even a good seat at the "Jesus parade."

And so he took an unexpected step.

Zacchaeus was willing to do something humble (even humiliating) in his pursuit of peace for his soul.

Climbing up a tree is pretty foolish looking, but it reflects how serious Zacchaeus was in his search for something he could not obtain with his wealth or influence.

● And that led to an experience that would change his entire life.

An Unexpected Experience Of Grace (SLIDE)

Let's look again at the middle part of today's passage.

As we read these verses, I want to invite you into a bit of an exercise: to put yourself into this story.

● You could imagine yourself as Zacchaeus and consider what it would be like to encounter Jesus in the way he did.

● Or maybe picture yourself as someone else in the crowd - watching this scene unfold.

You might even close your eyes, if that helps (we'll go slow)

● I think this will be a fun way for us to engage with this Scripture today, and it's something you can do on your own as you read the Bible for yourself.

Okay... again, here's the scene.

Zacchaeus wants to get a look at Jesus, but he can't see over the crowd.

So he runs ahead, finds a tree and climbs up a limb.

● What his life was about previously wasn't working, and so he was willing to look incredibly foolish, in hopes that Jesus had something better for him.

V. 5 - When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately.

I must stay at your house today."

Jesus looked up and called out to Zacchaeus by name.

● Jesus didn't say "hey you... up there in the tree... what are you doing?"