Praise the Lord for this
First Monday of November. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful day in His
house yesterday. Indeed, better is one day in His house than a thousand
elsewhere. We had a phone call yesterday at 6 AM. It was our oldest
granddaughter, Micah, who turned 8 years old yesterday. Micah told my wife, "It
seems like only yesterday that I was seven." Ada, the youngest took the phone
from her sister to tell me, "Grandpa, today is my birthday. Ada is two. Her
birthday is January. Our nephew Bernard is turning 18 today. He was born a
preemie. When he came to the USA , he did not speak a single word in English.
He is an honor student now. Jessica and Tom are in Tanzania on vacation.
Laureen and some of her friends attended a Syracuse Football game against Wake
Forest at the Carrier Dome Saturday. It was at the Carrier dome a few years ago
that Laureen went forward accept Jesus into her heart at a Billy Graham
Crusade. Sunita and Andy were were spending some time this weekend
making Churches aware of the need for Christian adoptions. Janice and Jeremy
were busy celebrating Micah's birthday. It is all praise and thanksgiving.
We had a pastors' luncheon
last Thursday, at which we had pastors and servant leaders attending
representing Baptists, Assemblies of God, United Methodists, Free Methodists,
Baptists, Roman Catholics, and Charismatic. It was a treat and a blessing.
One of the readings for
yesterday was taken from Luke 19: 1-10 The following is a brief summary of the
sermon that I preached.
A
pastor phoned the home of some recent visitors to the church. A voice on the
other end of the phone answered with a whispered
"Hello."
The pastor asked, "Who is
this?."
The whispered voice said,
"Jimmy."
The pastor asked, "How old
are you, Jimmy?"
The voice said,
"Four."
The pastor then asked,
"Jimmy, can I please speak to your mom?"
Jimmy answered, "She's
busy."
"Then can I please speak to
your dad?"
"He's
busy."
"Are there any other adults
in your home?"
"The
police."
"Then let me speak to one
of the police officers."
"They're
busy."
"Jimmy, who else is
there?"
"Firemen."
"Well, can you put one of
the firemen on the phone?"
"They're
busy."
"Jimmy, what are they all
busy doing?"
"They're all busy looking
for me!"
Just like Jimmy, a lot of
people are hiding. They're hiding from parents and police; they're hiding from
bosses and spouses; maybe even most of the time, they're hiding from God.
In the Garden of Eden,
everything was originally perfect, and Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve were
naked and not ashamed. There was full knowing, full disclosure and complete
intimacy. There was absolutely no concept of "Hiding"! But with the entrance of
sin, that all changed. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, He came looking for
them and called out to them: "Where are you?" Adam whispered "I heard you in
the garden, and I was afraid, and so I hid."
Luke tells us that as Jesus
was on His way to Jerusalem He was passing through the city of Jericho. As He
did so, a very rich tax-collector who lived there named Zacchaeus wanted to see
who Jesus was (Luke
19:1-2).
We have little information on
Zacchaeus other than the fact that he was rich, but when he heard that Jesus,
who had a reputation for being friendly with tax-collectors, prostitutes and the
other ragged and unruly elements of society, was coming through town he wanted
to see Him (Luke
19:3-4).
He was curious and wanted to
see Jesus but he did not want Jesus to see him! Then comes the surprise.
As Jesus walked down the street, He looked up in the tree and said, "Zacchaeus,
hurry and come down because I'm coming over for lunch!"
(Luke
19:5).
Zacchaeus hustled down out
of that tree and received Christ gladly, though many of the people grumblde
because Jesus has gone home with such a notorious sinner
(Luke
19:6-7). It wasn't news to Zacchaeus
that he was widely viewed as a sinner. He knew he was sinful, but I think he
also knew, perhaps at some deep, intuitive level, that he had finally met the
one person who could forgive his sinfulness and help him deal with all the
brokenness that his sin had caused in his life and in the lives of
others.
What was true for Zacchaeus
is equally true for us. Our sin -- every aspect of it and every sin we've ever
committed -- needs to be brought out of the tree of hiding and into the light of
forgiveness. The only One who can forgive our sin and heal us of our brokenness
is Jesus.'God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.'
Some time ago,I heard the
story of Debbie Johnson, a bright and beautiful mom to two young kids and a
great wife to her husband, Dave, a pastor in Denver. In late 1993, Dave and
Debbie got a call to serve a church in Minnesota so they packed up their
belongings and made the long trek in mid-winter to their new ministry and new
home. About six months after they arrived, Debbie was diagnosed with cancer and
less than a year later she died, though she didn't have to die! They caught the
cancer in time and with the proper treatment she could have been cured, but two
months before she was diagnosed, she discovered that she was pregnant with their
third child and in order for the child to live, she had to refuse the
chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She struggled desperately over the next
seven months and finally gave birth to that baby and then, not too long
afterwards, she went to be with the Lord. She died so that her child could
live!
That's exactly what Jesus
did for us! He died so that we might live! Not only has He come to find us but
He also came to forgive us! There is not a person alive who doesn't need the
saving, sacrificial, forgiving love of Jesus in their life. The reason why is
because our sin gets us all tangled up. It binds us and holds us, and if it is
not dealt with, it eventually drags us down to
destruction. Only Jesus can set us free from
the powerful tentacles of sin! That's what He did for Zacchaeus and that is
exactly what He desires to do for each of us.
Zacchaeud receives Jesus in
to his house and served Him and His disciples a big diiner, showing extravagant
Hospitality. As Jesus encountered Zachaeus, something miraculous happened to
Zachaeues, his life changed dramatically. He was born again. Then he proceeded
to make an incredible claim, that he would give one-half of his possessions to
me poor and, if he had defrauded anyone, he would ay back 4 times as much
(Luke
19:8). This was an
incredibly generous act which went beyond the requirements of Old Testament
law. Jesus' response in Luke
19:9-10 helps us to understand as, "Today salvation
has come to this house, because this man too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son
of Man came to seek and to save what was
lost."
Zacchaeus had been lost but
now he was found. He had been in sin but now he has been saved. Ultimately, in
its fullest sense, salvation is freedom from the power of sin. It appears that
the major sin that Zacchaeus was trapped in was
materialism. Only one power in the
universe can liberate us from the power of sin and that's Jesus of Nazareth. He
has come to find us, to forgive us, and to free us, just as He did with
Zacchaeus.
Come to Jesus and
live,
In Him,
Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment