I heard it again this week:
“There are people who hear the message at Hebron that they are sinners
and there’s nothing they can do on their own to please God, so they sit on
their hands and do nothing.” Now let’s
assume that’s true. Let’s assume that in
light of hearing the Gospel they are immobilized because they have a profound
sense of their unworthiness. And let’s
assume that the reason they are phlegmatic is because of their sense of sin
rather than their sin itself. If that’s
true, then they have yet to grasp the rest of the Gospel. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus
came to save sinners! After all, that’s
what the name Jesus means (see Mt. 1:21).
The late Jack Miller of World Harvest Mission used to say
that the entire Bible can be summed up in two sentences: (1) “Cheer up, you are a lot worse than you
think you are;” and (2) “Cheer up, the grace of God is a lot bigger than you
think it is.” A friend of mine writes,
“When I first heard Jack say that, I knew it was one of those statements that
changes lives. It changed mine. I got it in a profound way. Over the years…I have found out that I’m a
lot worse than I thought I was then, and
I’m a lot worse than I think I am now.
But I’ve also discovered that the grace of God was not only a lot bigger
than I thought it was then, it’s a lot bigger than I think it is now.” How about you? Have
you come to see the truth of those words in your own life?
It’s those who begin to grasp the depth of their own sin and
the overwhelming supply of God’s grace that are set free. Free of masks. Free of excuses. Free of being “found out.” Free of the fear of not measuring up. Free of living only for themselves! You see, the truth of the full Gospel is that
for those who are in Christ there’s no more coercion. We don’t respond to the Gospel out of duty,
we respond out of freedom.
Recently I read: “In America you are not required to offer
food to the hungry or shelter to the homeless.
There is no ordinance forcing you to visit the lonely or comfort the
infirmed. Nowhere in the Constitution
does it say you have to provide clothing for the poor. In fact, one of the nicest things about
living here is that you really don’t have to do anything for anybody.”
And yet, how do you explain the fact that Americans are
among the most generous people in the world?
The amount of money we give to charity per year dwarfs all other
countries combined. Why? While there may be many reasons for this, but
chief among them is a lack of coercion.
My friend writes, “Do-goodism watered by guilt only goes so
far and lasts so long. Do-gooders grow
weary and go home. After they leave,
though, those who have been loved keep on loving. Those who have been forgiven keep on
forgiving. Those who have been rescued
stay around to rescue others. “Why? Because Jesus always changes hearts.
That’s what we see in the story of Zacchaeus. He’s worn a mask all his adult life. He’s sought to hide true identity in very
common ways. But when Jesus finds him,
forgives him, and frees him, he responds as a man who’s transformed and set
free. I hope we see all of this and hear
all about it this week as we gather around His word and His table.
In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the
following:
- How can authentic ministry be described as a game of hide and seek?
- How is forgiveness foundational to the story of Zacchaeus?
- Why does Luke alone record this story?
- How is Luke 19:1-10 set up by Luke 18:31-43?
- What does Luke mean when he says in verse 1 that Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through?
- Why is Zacchaeus named three times in these 11 verses while the blind beggar outside of town remains unnamed?
- Why does Jesus look up into the tree and address Zacchaeus by name?
- What is the significance of what Jesus says in verse 5?
- What does it mean that Zacchaeus received Jesus joyfully? (verse 6)
- Why does Zacchaeus stand and announce his intentions in verse 8?
- What does Jesus mean when He calls him a son of Abraham? (verse 9)
See you Sunday as we learn more about forgiveness.
