Luke 19:1-10

God’s Nature towards Sinners

Greeting:

Hello, thank you all for having me here tonight. It is a great ministry that you guys have here, that is, to help young preachers like myself get practice preaching sermons. I always enjoy the opportunity to read and study the word together with a group of interested individuals.

My name is Matt Horne and I am the father of three rowdy boys and husband to my wife Bekah. I am in my third year of four years here at Covenant seminary. Several years ago, at the start of the pandemic, Russ was my first homiletic lab instructor. So if this sermon goes poorly you can blame him. I’m only kidding, he was a good instructor and has continued to help me whenever I reach out him.

The passage for tonight is Luke 19:1-10. I’m going to read the scripture, pray and we’ll dive right in. Please follow along as I read.

Luke 19:1-10 “He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 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.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 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.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

Let’s pray.

Start of the Sermon

Every year before graduation, the seminary hosts a food truck night with all the students, faculty, and their families. It is a glorious time with great food and fellowship. This past school year was not only the last year for many students, but it was the last year for a particular beloved faculty member, Jerram Barrs. Jerram got to them seminary in 1989, predating many if not all of the faculty at the seminary. And everyone loves him dearly. He has meant so much to generations and generations of Covenant students. Many would say that Jerram reflects the character of Jesus better than anyone they know. The same goes for me. Jerram has meant so much to me in my time here at Covenant.

Now at this food truck night, all the faculty and other important people are there. The graduates, their families and the new president. I was standing by the drink table talking with a friend when Jerram comes up to get a drink. I immediately come around the table to say hi to him, and as soon as he sees me, he opens his arms to give me a hug. He begins to say in his British accent, “Matthew, I’ve wanted to see you.” Because of what Jerram meant to me I almost wanted to cry. I asked if we could talk and he said “let’s find seats!” After sitting down, another professor comes by and gives him his food, and Jerram insists that I take half the dish. Upon taking it he gives me a napkin and insists that I put some of the delicious cabbage on my food. The food was amazing, some of the best food I’ve had in Saint Louis. Then he asks me how I am doing. What he didn’t know was that I was going through a challenging season, and for the next 30 minutes he listens intently and counsels me. Keep in mind, there were professors and students there who had spent much more time with Jerram, not to mention they were much more distinguished. I am not a TA, or heavily involved in the seminary, I am just a student, but none of that mattered to Jerram.

What I hoped would be a simple hello or maybe a short conversation turned into so much more. Instead of a short conversation, I got an experience I’ll never forget.

That’s what this passage is like. Zacchaeus was hoping to get a glimpse of Jesus, and instead, he gets something he’ll never forget. He gets an experience that changes his life.

FCF: (Finite) Due to our spiritual state, we do not always get a good picture of Jesus. We put off prioritizing Jesus, and we do not prioritize people and things that bring life.

COR: Like Zacchaeus, we also face limitations on our time. He had a limited time window where he could see Jesus, we do not have an infinite amount of time but instead, we have what can seem like infinite responsibilities and distractions.

Garden Lens: We live in a period of time where we do not have a physical person that is a living manifestation of God, we do not have Jesus here in person with us. In Genesis, it says God walked among Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8). Jesus here walked among these people, he ate with them, and at the end of time we will get to be with Jesus again. But we do not live at that point in time right now.

With that said, I want to bring us to the question we’re going to be asking of the text. That is...

Big Question: What do these characters teach us?

More specifically, we’ll look at the questions, “what does Zacchaeus have to teach us? What does the Crowd have to teach us? And, what does Jesus have to teach us?”

Let’s look together at the first of those questions, what does Zacchaeus have to teach us?

Explanation 1

The gospels often have tax collectors as characters mentioned throughout, except John’s gospel. Mark mentions them twice, Matthew nine times, and Luke mentions them 11 times. Mark doesn’t speak much to the character of Tax Collectors other than mentioning that Jesus ate with them and the Pharisees didn’t approve of it. Matthew speaks of them in a positive and negative manner (5:46, 17:24, 18:17, pos=21:31-32)

Luke on the other hand speaks highly of them. In Luke 3:12 we see repentant Tax Collectors asking John the baptist how they should respond in light John’s sermon. In 5:27 Jesus calls Levi, the Tax Collector, to be one of his apostles. And in several other places Jesus eats with Tax Collectors. These people are drawn to Jesus. In Luke 18 we see the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, the latter recognizes his sin, and the former does not. The latter went away justified from the temple and the former did not. In our passage here today, we see the crescendo of the Tax Collector theme. Zacchaeus does Tax Collectors proud by his model response, but his faithfulness lived out in tangible ways.

From the get-go we see Zacchaeus dealing with his physical limitation and climbing a tree. Not just any tree, but one further up the walking path of Jesus. He wanted more than a brief glance, he wanted to see him walking and maybe watch him interact with the crowd. He probably realized Jesus might not be in Jericho very long, and if he wanted to see him, now was likely the only chance.

To Zacchaeus’ surprise, Jesus stops and looks up at him and commands him to come down so he can stay at his house. Zacchaeus doesn’t say, “no thanks, I’m not interested.” The texts says he hurried down and recieved Jesus joyfully. Jesus invited Zacchaeus into an experience with him, not just an glimpse but an experience.

Imagine how you would feel if Jesus were here tonight and wanted to stay at your house for the night? What an honor that would be, and Zacchaeus saw it as that, an honor.

Luke is does not give many details and one could ask a lot of questions here, such as, where did Zacchaeus make his declaration in verse 8? At his house? Right after coming down from the tree? While those might be fun questions to consider, they take us away from our focus. It is likely that his declaration in verse 8 is in a public setting, the disciples were there, and probably some people from the crowd.

The declaration is an incredible one. In Numbers 5:7 it discusses what a person is to do when they are convicted on defrauding someone else. They are supposed to give back the full some and add a fifth to it, that is, 20% on top of the principle. And that was the common law of the day in Jesus’ time. But Zacchaeus goes beyond that. In Exodus 22:1 Moses instructs the Israelites that if anyone steels another’s sheep, they sell or kill it, then their repayment to the victim will be fourfold. They must provide in return 4 sheep for the one sheep stolen. Zacchaeus chooses the second of those two options, he says he’ll repay any one he’s defrauded fourfold. And in our English Bibles the text says “if” but the implication was that he had defrauded others. Given his line of business, that was also the assumption.

Answer #1

What does Zacchaeus have to teach us? He teaches us resourcefulness and tangible faith.

Illustration

Last year I was talking with my brother, and he was telling me about a when he and his wife were in the process of buying a house. It was a small house on the lake in Texas with two, old, homosexual men living it. The house was disgusting with dogs and a cat living in it. The smell was terrible, one of the men was on oxygen, it was a rough situation all around. This is in rural Texas so these men likely did not have any friends in the area, and were considered outcasts with no one to help if they needed anything.

Sometime before my brother and his wife were looking at the house, these two men attended a church, and they a woman all but ran them out of church. They were curious about Jesus and wanted to know more. Then when my brother was at the house looking, these men invited him to be a guest. That is, they invited him to sit down and visit with them. They talked about Jesus with my brother. The next time my brother was back at the house, he was gathering estimates with contractors. Again, they invited him in to visit, they wanted to talk more about Jesus. So, my brother went, sat on the couch and visited with them. My brother offered to pray with them, and as he did, he prompted the man on oxygen to pray, and he made a beautiful profession of faith. He confessed his sin, his need of Jesus, and his complete inability. This man wanted to know Jesus, but had no one to tell him, until God sent my brother. He knew he might not have another opportunity to learn about Jesus, so he took the opportunity with my brother. A few days later that man died.

He likely knew he did not have much time left, and he did not waste his opportunity of knowing Jesus. He prioritized knowing Jesus. And his faith was made tangible through his beautiful profession of faith.

Application 1

What does Zacchaeus have to teach us for how we should live? He teaches us resourcefulness and tangible faith.

Zacchaeus knew his limits on time. Do you know yours?

I’ve mentioned earlier that we are endlessly distracted and it seems like we have infinite responsibilities. Today in our culture this is true for many.

So, do you give Jesus any time in the day? Do you give Jesus the firstfruits of your day? That is, the part of your day when you’re the most refreshed. When your mind is clear, when your mental capacity is at its best. Does any of this time or any time at all go towards abiding in Christ?

Again, you might reply to me, “you don’t know how busy my life is, how many hours I work each week.” I do not, but I know Jesus gave his life for you, are you giving it back or simply letting the business of life take over?

Are you resourceful so that you can give the firstfruits of your day in devotion to Jesus? Are you resourceful so that you can get a glimpse of Jesus? Zacchaeus was, this lonely rich man from Jericho did not give up but sought to get a glimpse of Jesus.

And secondly with Zacchaeus, we see tangible faith. Zacchaeus models for us giving that stretches us. He gives half of his goods, and then pledges to repay those he’s defrauded, which in his business is many. Do we give of our resources to the point of stretching us? Do you give to the point of being stretched? For some of us, that might be our financial resources, for others they might not have much to give financially, but they can give their time to people and causes that carry eternal weight. Spending time in the presence of Jesus should lead you to express your faith in tangible ways.

Explanation 2

The next point or question I want to consider is, “what does the crowd teach us?

What we know from the gospels is that crowd or crowds generally like Jesus. They love being healed and fed by Jesus, but they often miss the core of his teaching. They glorify God when Jesus heals, but when he keeps company with the chief Tax Collector, they grumble just like the Scribes and Pharisees. They like the parts of Jesus that fits their mold of divinity, but when Jesus breaks that mold, they don’t like him anymore. They are more interested in what Jesus can give them instead of following him. They are interested in the gift instead of the giver.

Instead of blessing Jesus for transforming the Tax Collector they grumble at him for going into his house. Jesus breaks the mold and they are discontent. That’s pretty easy to relate to isn’t it? I think we all have a hard time when Jesus blesses others. Especially if its a blessing you were wanting. The crowds show us by a negative example what to do when others are blessed.

What does the crowd teach us?

The crowd teaches us contentment. Or the need for contentment.

Illustration

A great example of contentment comes from Joseph in Genesis. In human terms Joseph had every reason to grumble against God. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers, falsely accused of rape, illegitimately thrown into prison, yet he did not grumble. In fact the opposite, he was diligent in his work and the LORD blessed him and gave him success wherever he went. And twice in Genesis 39 we see the secret to Joseph’s contentment, that is, the LORD was with him. You see, true contentment only comes through the Lord. Only when we are eternally content will we be content in our lot in life. True contentment only comes when the Lord is with us. And the crowd was not content because they did not truly know Jesus.

Application 2

With that said, I want to ask some questions about our own contentment.

Do you grumble when God chooses to bless others instead of you?

Do you grumble when someone else buys their dream house in this market instead of you? Do you grumble when someone else buys the car that you’ve been looking for. Do you grumble when God does not give you a spouse on your timeline, if at all? Do you grumble when God blesses others with children or grandchildren, or can you be happy for them?

Can we be happy for others when God blesses them instead of us? Or is grumbling our only response?

Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

I think a great way for the crowd to respond would’ve been to joy for Zacchaeus, instead of grumbling. Similarly, I think when God blesses others, we should respond with joy and gladness. We should be happy when God blesses others with a possession or an experience that we also desire. We shouldn’t only look to our own interests when others receive a blessing, but we can look to theirs also and be glad God is blessing them.

We can only consider others better than ourselves when we are content in Jesus. When we prioritize Jesus.

The opening question to the WCF shorter catechism is “What is the chief end of man?” and the answer is “man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” When we glorify God and enjoy him fully, it is only then when we can shed the weight of discontentment.

Explanation 3

The last question I want to ask is, “what does Jesus teach us?”

We see in verse 5 that Jesus initiates with Zacchaeus. He stops, looks up, and calls Zacchaeus down out of the tree. Jesus invites him into a tangible experience, that is, a stay at his house. We also see in verse 9 Jesus announces that Salvation has arrived to Zacchaeus’ house. But if you notice it wasn’t Zacchaeus who brought that salvation with him, it was Jesus. We know this well because in the next verse Jesus says something very important. He says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” This not only states that Jesus was the one taking imitative in seeking out Zacchaeus, but also that he is the one who saves him. 19:10 gives one of the several mission statements found in the canonical gospels.

I’ll ask again, what does Jesus teach us?

He teaches us God’s divine initiative.

Illustration

One place we see this clearly played out in Scripture is in the second half of Acts 8. We see the Angel of the Lord tell Philip to travel southwards. Philip goes and “stumbles” into an Ethiopian Eunuch. He was reading Isaiah and Philip heard him reading, then Philip inquired if he knew what he was reading. What unfolds is a divinely initiated conversion. That is, the Spirit of the Lord directed Philip so as to initiate a relationship with this Ethiopian Eunuch. This is one of the many places we see God’s divine initiative at work.

Application 3

Do you believe Jesus initiates with us? Not only in our salvation but also our sanctification.

In this passage Jesus tell us that he came to seek and save the lost. In that he is referencing Ezek. 34:16 and it says, “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”

Here we get a picture of God’s nature towards repentant sinners. God with the Messiah’s help seeks the lost, he strengthens the weak, and brings back the strayed. Do we believe this about the nature and character of God?

I think one way we can counteract our disbelief is by resting in Jesus. We rest in Jesus by pouring out our hearts daily before him. That is the ugliness of our hearts and the parts of us where we’ve sinned and where we’ve sinned against. Jesus desires to spend time with us. He desires to renew us and he desires that we rest in him.

And as we daily pour out our hearts before him, we need to be filled up by his word. That is, we need to be reminded of God’s promises and their fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We do this by studying God’s work, meditating on it, and learning about it. But at the same time realizing it is God the Father who initiates with us through Jesus Christ, and it is Jesus who gives us the his Spirit.

Big Question: So to return to our question we sought to answer, “what do these characters teach us?”

Big Answer: Through the characters in this passage we are taught firsthand God’s nature towards sinners in Jesus Christ.

If you are other than Christian, Jesus desires to give himself to you through the Holy Spirit. Zacchaeus was continually reminded by his culture of his sin, he was well aware of it. For those that see their sin, and see their need for a savior, Jesus freely gives salvation. Those who put their trust in Jesus will receive his salvation.