The Son Of Man Has Come To Seek And To Save That Which Was Lost

Now I want to start this morning by asking, or answering rather, the question, who was Zacchaeus? And if I took out the song, what could you tell me about Zacchaeus? If I took the song away. You can't tell me he's a wee little man. What do you know about him? He is a chief tax collector. That's right. And so we're going to start by figuring out what in the world that is. Okay? What does it mean to be a chief tax collector? And it's significant that he's a chief tax collector and not just a tax collector. There's actually a difference. What it means is that he's in charge of the other tax collectors. He's the boss or a boss. Now, being a tax collector is not the kind of job that one would want. And so it got a certain type of people that worked there. Generally speaking, Tax collectors were hated by their countrymen, okay? So just think of an IRS employee contacting you to audit you. That's what a tax collector was. And why is it that you wouldn't want an IRS guy to audit you? Well, because he's come to take your money, right? Or he's come to say, I don't think you've paid up properly. So let's take a look at it.

and see if you've paid all that you owe. It's not a desirable job because you're not popular. You're the kind of person who's just despised. And it turns out that generally it doesn't pay very well. And so the fact that it didn't, how do we know that it didn't pay well? Well, earlier on in Luke, in verse three, it says that, or chapter three rather, it says that some of the tax collectors also came to be baptized. They come out to John the Baptist. They want to be baptized. And they say to him, teacher, what shall we do? And John's answer to them is, collect no more than what you have been ordered to. So what does that tell you about the tax collectors? What is their habit? They cheat and they steal. They're seen as thieves, taking what's not theirs, not only for the Roman government, but also for themselves. They're crooked. You come in and they say, you owe this much. And you say, no, I don't think I owe that much. I owe this much. And they say, I'm the tax collector. You owe this much. And you're going to pay it.

And so when these tax collectors come to John the Baptist and they come to faith, he says, stop stealing. Only take what's required. And even later on in our text, Zacchaeus acknowledges that this is common, even that he has done it. When he speaks to Jesus, he says, if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give it back four times as much. Now, what's this deal with four times as much? Well, that's the biblical requirement for those who steal. that they're to pay back four times what they stole. If you stole $10, you pay back $40. This is what the law tells them to do. And so he acknowledges, if I've done this, I will repay according to the laws that apply to a thief who's stolen. And so this is a common thing. A tax collector was seen as a thief, and Zacchaeus is the chief of the tax collectors. And so a very unpopular man. Paul says, I'm the chief of sinners, and Zacchaeus says, I'm the chief of the tax collectors.

I'm as bad as they get. And it was understood among the crowds. This is what life was like for Zacchaeus. He was not a well-liked man. And so we know that he was a chief tax collector. What else do we know about him? Well, it tells us that he was rich. And how did he get rich? That's the next question. Jesus was coming into Jericho. He's just... He's just given this man back his sight. He comes into Jericho and Zacchaeus climbs up in a tree because he wants to see Jesus. And we know about this man that he's a chief tax collector and that he's rich. And why does Luke record that he's rich? You get these weird little things. I mean, honestly, what does Zacchaeus being short have to do with anything? Why do we need to know that he's rich? Surely there's a reason.

We're going to answer this question a little more deeply later in our sermon. But for now, I want to just give you a little bit to say that it's likely that Zacchaeus knew about Jesus' interaction with the rich young ruler, which is recorded just the chapter before in Luke 18. When that man came seeking salvation, he asked Jesus, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, well, how do the... how's the law read to you? And he says, it reads like this. Well, how have you done? He says, I've done it all. And he says, there's just one thing you lack. Go and sell all that you own and give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come follow me. And what was the rich young ruler's response? He was very discouraged. He was very sad. Why? Because he was very wealthy. And right after that, right after we read the account, Jesus exclaims, It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And just a few verses later, we're reading about Zacchaeus and Luke says, he's rich. He's a rich man. And we can't help but compare these two men, which is what we'll come to later. Zacchaeus and the rich young ruler both wanted the same thing, but they responded very differently to Jesus when he told them what they had to do.

What was required of them. So Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. He was a rich man. He was also short. What does Zacchaeus' height have to do with anything? Well, generally, height communicates something. What's height mean? What's it communicate? If you're short, what do you lack? All the short people don't want to answer and all the tall people aren't sure because they've never been short. And they don't know. They're like, well, I don't know. I've always just been tall. Yeah, generally speaking, that's right. Generally speaking, height has something to do with power, dignity, strength, authority. You remember when Saul was chosen as king, what did it say about him? He was handsome and that he was tall. And that he stood head and shoulders above everybody else. And it was an indication of him looking like a king. He was big. And here we find Zacchaeus is a little man. Short, little guy. And if you're short, Or if you're worried that when you're done growing, you'll be short, you'll understand that there's a struggle that comes with being short. This man's the chief of the tax collectors. He's rich and he's short. And so he's just a despised man. And if you want to know what it's like to be short, just ask a short person and they'll tell you. John can tell you. He's volunteered himself as the resident short person to tell you that it's no fun.

You worry, when I get married, is my wife going to be taller than me? Because that seems kind of weird. That's John, the other John. And so being short is an uphill struggle. You have to deal with the indignities of your height. And if you've been short, you know that it can become a source of discouragement and even frustration. Now, I want to say to you, though, those of you who are short, who knew they were going to come to church and hear about what it means to be short, what the Bible has to say about being short? Well, here you go. You're to be like Zacchaeus.

The reason he ran up ahead and climbed up in that tree was because he wanted to see the Lord and he was too short to see on his own two feet. And so he went and climbed up a tree to see Jesus. And so if you're short, don't let it be a hindrance to you seeing Jesus. So Zacchaeus, being short, runs up ahead, climbs up in the sycamore tree in order to see him. For he, Jesus, was about to pass through that way. And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and he said to him, Zacchaeus. Hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house. I want to say just a little bit more about Zacchaeus' height. It was a hindrance to him. It's a hindrance to him. He wanted to see Jesus, and he had a problem. And it's one thing for him to want to see Jesus, and it would be very easy for him to say, I'm too short, I can't. It's another thing for him to work to overcome his hindrance, his setback.

Zacchaeus climbs up in a tree to see Jesus. It's very important to him. And so each one of us is going to face obstacles. I thought it would be easier to be a Christian. It would be easier to do what God says. It would be easier to have joy or whatever it is if there wasn't this struggle. I could be a better Christian if I didn't have this problem. That's one thing to want to be a better Christian. It's another thing to seek it, to go after it. And that's what Zacchaeus does. He's short, so he climbs up in a tree. Now, why was it so important to Zacchaeus to see Jesus? Why was that important to him? Well, it's because God had already been at work in him. And what you'll find is different people will respond to the same message in different ways. You ever written an email or received an email and something got lost in translation? You meant it one way, someone took it another way.

Or you received an email and you took it some way, got all upset, and then you're like, hey, read this. Another person's like, you're crazy. That's not what they meant at all. No. They meant something entirely different. So why was it so important for Zacchaeus to see Jesus? Well, because God was already at work in him. The message, the things that he had heard resonated with him, made sense to him. It piqued his interest. There was something that he desired. And when he comes down out of the tree and he speaks to Jesus, what do the crowds do? Having heard all the same stuff, having known the same Jesus, Zacchaeus is ready and willing to see Jesus, to receive him into his house. And what do the crowds do? They grumble and they complain. Heard the same things, seen the same things, responded very differently.

The reason it was so important to Zacchaeus for him to see Jesus was because God was already at work in him. And Jesus tells us at the end of our text that the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. And we have to conclude that the thing that's lost in this text is Zacchaeus. He's the lost one. And Jesus came to seek him and to save him. In John 6, 37, Jesus says, All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. So Zacchaeus had need of something, just like the rich young ruler had need of something. For the rich young ruler, his money became a stumbling block to him, but not to Zacchaeus. So Jesus comes by, Zacchaeus is up in the tree, and he says to him, hurry and come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house. Now, this is very similar to Jesus calling a lot of his other disciples when he says, stop what you're doing and follow me. Do it quickly.

It's a call to obedience. It's a call to repentance. It's a call to faith. Come now and do this. Right now. Hurry and come down. If you have children, you may use the phrase in your house, slow obedience is no obedience. Because there are times when it's urgent that what they've been told to do, that they do it right now. There were other responses to Jesus saying this sort of thing to people. The rich young ruler, he tells them, sell all that you have. give it to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven. And do what? Follow me. Come now. Right now. Stop what you're doing and follow me. When he comes to another of his disciples and he says, I want to follow you, but let me bury my father. And what does Jesus say to him? The dead. Yeah. Let the dead bury the dead. You come now or not at all. You come right now. And he came. And in our call to confession this morning,

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Now, it would be fine if it just said, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. And there's just this time, like whenever you happen to hear his voice. But scripture says today. Which means that there's some expectation that people will change today. That they actually will choose today to listen to Jesus. All of these passages aim at immediate repentance. There's no time today. Come down quickly. For today, I have to stay at your house. You ever have someone want to stay at your house last minute? Want to come over last minute? You ever get frustrated? Oh, we didn't have time to prepare. Here's Zacchaeus, this rich man out running around, climbing up in trees to try to see Jesus. And what did he expect of Jesus? What do you think he expected of Jesus? I don't think he expected anything of Jesus. I think he expected to see him. That's what he wanted. He simply wanted to see who he was.

And Jesus comes and says, I'll see you and raise you. You wanted to see me. I'm going to come to your house. Are you ready? And it says that Zacchaeus welcomed him gladly, received him gladly. He did exactly what Jesus told him to do. And so all of this happens in public and the crowds grumble. And they are upset because Jesus has taken time and made notice of this sinner. Why would Jesus choose to spend time with and save sinners? Any respectable man should have shared the crowd's hatred for Zacchaeus. None of them liked him. And here Jesus does. He stops and says, you come down here and I'm going to come to your house, which is actually a blessing. He's receiving preferential treatment and the crowds are going, why doesn't he stay at our house? Why would he choose him over me? Because Jesus is the son of man and he came to save sinners.

And to do that, he had to live among them so that he could save them. So he wanted to be with the sinners, with Zacchaeus. And it's a difficult thing to want to be with sinners. It's a very difficult thing to want to be with sinners. And one of the reasons it's difficult is that if you actually spend time with the people that you think are sinners, you know what you're going to find out? They're not all that different than you. They face the same sort of temptations and the same sort of struggles and they have the same sort of thoughts. And spending time with them often is, It's humbling, but it's often helpful. Because what you realize is, except for the grace of God, you would be without hope in this world. And so it's a humbling and a helpful thing to spend time with sinners. Yes, it is also helpful to them. How else are you going? You should have been in Sunday school. We talked about this in Sunday school. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. There's a big temptation amongst Christians to...

to no longer view themselves as sinners and then therefore not to want to spend any time with sinners. And what a sad state of affairs. And when it comes to your children, it's even worse. Cannot have your kids with sinners. Why not? Why not? Are they different? You live in the house with them. You listen to them. You see how they treat their brothers and sisters. You see how they talk. You see how they keep their room. Are they so different, made of something else? Not in their original state, they're not. And so Jesus wants to spend time with the sinners that he might save them. This is why he calls out to Zacchaeus, hey, there's the biggest sinner. I need to go to your house today so that he could be saved. And now we come to sort of the high point of the passage, the crux of the passage, which is Zacchaeus' response to Jesus' command. It says, Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, now you realize he's been called down out of the tree. And what you think is,

What I want to think is Zacchaeus and Jesus just kind of scurried off quietly over to Jesus' house, and then they talked. But here it says Zacchaeus stopped, and he said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I've defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. And so what I want you to see here is that before Zacchaeus went off into his house to be with Jesus, he said publicly, that he would give away half of his wealth for the needs of the poor, and that if he'd done any of them wrong, he'd repay them fourfold. So he professes his faith, and he confesses his sins in public. He doesn't hide. He stops and says, Lord, hold on. I have something I need to say, and I want you to know. Now, you remember earlier I said that there's a lot of similarity between Zacchaeus and the rich young ruler. Both rich men, both wanting,

to receive eternal life. The rich young ruler comes and says, Lord, what must I do? And Jesus answers him. At the end of it, the rich young ruler goes away, very discouraged because he's very rich. And it's clear that that man loves his money more than he loves Jesus. Or he's not willing to give up his money. He doesn't love Jesus. And so Zacchaeus, in contrast, stops in public and says, Lord, I'll give half of my money. money away for the care of and the support of the poor. Now, why did he do that? Do you think he just had a bad conscience and was just like, I'm such a thief and I've stolen so much and I just need to earn my, I need to do this right thing. There's no indication Jesus said anything to him about his money. And he comes after that and says, and if I've defrauded anything, anyone, there's two parts to this. The first is I'm going to give half my money away to support the poor. The other half is if I've done any wrong,

I'm going to fix that too. So there's two separate things going on here. And he deals with his sinfulness or his propensity. If I've sinned, I've done something wrong with my money. If I've been greedy, if I've stolen, all of that. That comes with if I have done anything. But before that, he says, I'm going to give half my wealth away. Now, how do you explain that? It's a curious question, isn't it? Why would you do that? If you're like me, you go, I don't know that I want to know the answer to that question because I don't want that. I don't want anything like that getting too close to me and me having to question whether anything like that is something I should do. So why does Zacchaeus say, I'll give away half my wealth? He's a rich man. Let me ask you this. Do rich men need all of their wealth for themselves? They don't. If someone was worth, and I'm just making up numbers here, if someone was worth $10 million and they decided,

I'm going to, and they become a Christian and they say, you know what? I'm going to give away half of my wealth. So I'm going to be worth $5 million. Will that change the way that he lives? No, it really won't. When you accrue, when you become rich and you accrue wealth that you don't actually live on the vast majority of your money, your money's over there working 24 hours a day, making more money and you don't live on it. You don't need it. Not for your daily provision. Then you've got the account of the rich man who has the barns full to capacity with the grain stores. And what's he decide to do with his wealth? Build bigger barns. I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my barn and build bigger barns. And that way I'll be provided for well into the future. I'll have nothing to worry about. And scripture says that that man is a fool because that night his soul was going to be required of him and he had not prepared it. He'd loved money. So can you see here at a very basic level that Zacchaeus doesn't love his money?

He doesn't love his money. He has it, but he doesn't love it. And he's willing, he holds it openly and freely, and he understands the blessing of the wealth that he has. That it's been a gift given to him by God. And that there are many people, the poor, who don't enjoy this blessing. And he's happy and volunteers to give away half of his wealth for their support. He does it freely simply because he has found Jesus and he loves God. And he wants to see the poor are taken care of. And so at the very least for you and me, there's a principle to be taken away. Whether you're poor or whether you're rich, what I'll tell you is you're American. And so maybe we're poor by American standards, but we're not the kind of poor people that were around then. And so at the very least, I want you to take away the principle that those who love God care for the poor in the ways that they're able.

This man had more than enough money. So he gave a good bit of it away. In the Old Testament, the custom was, you know, if it's like, well, was it extravagant? Was it too much? In the Old Testament, it was common. It was considered enough to give away 20% of your income. You had what was required of you. You could give more. And there was, you know, as there always is when it comes to money and things like this, there's always an expectation of what's reasonable generosity, right? When you go out to a restaurant, There's an expectation of minimum generosity, reasonable generosity, extravagant generosity, and then no one expects you to give any more than that. Because it's just, why would you? You go out, you go out on a nice date, and you decide, you know what, really good service, I've got money, I want to be a blessing. You decide, you know what, I'm going to give a 30% tip. 35% tip. And some of us are like, what do you mean 35% tip? I calculate out, and I do 12%.

And if it's really good, maybe 15. But there's some upper end that says, this is enough. And it's probably somewhere around 30 or 35% if you're being really generous. And at the time of the Jews, 20% of your possession given to the Lord was sort of the upper end limit that was like, he's a generous man. And so Zacchaeus comes and says, no, I'm giving 50% because he loves God and because he has it. because God's given it to him. And he sees a need and he goes, I can meet a lot of need. So I'm going to. So that's his profession of faith. He's going to give half of his money away. Half of the gifts that he's received, the blessing that he has, he's going to give away. And then he says in his confession, if I've defrauded anyone, and you remember the tax collectors, it was common for them to steal. And here Zacchaeus says, I'm going to examine my records. It doesn't have to be that you're going to come to me and check up and say, I think you taxed me too much.

He says, if I've done anything wrong, I'm going to make it right. How many of us have things in our lives where we say, I've done wrong financially? And there's a lot of ways to process this. One is, I hope I don't get caught. Another way of processing it is, well, if I get caught, then I'll do this. I'll pay what's owed to me. But Zacchaeus doesn't do either of these things. He says, if I've defrauded anyone of anything, He actually cares to know if he's defrauded anyone of anything. It means he's going to go back, he's going to look and see if he's failed as a tax collector. And if he has, he's going to make it right. And you realize that being the chief tax collector, it means that there are people working underneath him and that if they've defrauded under his watch, he's going to repay. If he's missed it, if he's let it go. So is he going above and beyond? Is he doing too much? I don't think he is.

I know he's not. What you're seeing here is what happens when someone becomes a Christian. Everything in their life is open season on it all. You can ask them questions about whatever is going on, whatever has gone on, and they'll tell you, and they'll, what should I do? Zacchaeus is not trying to hide anything. Can you imagine being the chief tax collector and saying this in public? If I've defrauded anyone of anything, could you imagine the uproar from the people? Where the rich young ruler went away sad because he wouldn't part with his wealth. And we learn from that that he was not saved. Maybe he was saved some point later in his life, we don't know. But at that interaction with Jesus, he was not saved. Jesus' response to Zacchaeus was, today salvation has come to this house.

Because he too is a son of Abraham. And it's a weird thing. Why does he say for he too is a son of Abraham? Well, because the crowds are listening. And because what they believe about Zacchaeus is that he has abandoned them. He's a traitor. He's committed treason. He is no longer a son of Abraham. That's their claim. You remember when Jesus is talking to them and they say, we have Abraham as our father. Jesus says in public, I tell you, this man, he's a son of Abraham. Because he believed like Abraham believed. Galatians 3.7 says, Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Zacchaeus had faith. He was a sinner who had stolen from his countrymen. He'd been greedy with his money. And when he found Jesus, he reconciled all that he could. Jesus sought him, and he found him, and he changed him. And that's what it means to become a Christian. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. A new creature.

Entirely different. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. A man who loves God more than his money and is willing to use his money for the furthering of God's kingdom. This is what it means to be a Christian. To use whatever gift, whatever talent, whatever the Lord has given you for the building up of his kingdom. It's not for you to store and to sit on and to keep for yourself. You say, I don't have anything. And I say, that's not true. You don't have money. You say, I don't have money. And I say, okay, well, if you actually, really actually don't have money, then I'm not saying to you that you have to go from poor to worse to love Jesus. What I'm saying is each one of us has been given wealth, gifts, talents. Will we give them back to the Lord? That's what it means to be a Christian. That's what repentance is. Repentance says this thing you've given to me, this thing that I have is for you, Lord.

Not me. Use it how you will. The salvation of his soul, of Zacchaeus' soul, is the goal of this whole passage. Zacchaeus climbs up in a tree because he's concerned about seeing Jesus. Jesus comes to him and says, come down here. And he does. Gladly. And he repents publicly. And Jesus says, the end of this is salvation has come to this house. So was his salvation only for him? Was it a blessing only for him? Or what did it have consequence for those in his house? Of course it had consequence for those in his house. How can you not say that when you read this passage? It doesn't say today salvation has come to you. It says salvation has come to your house. Now how big is a rich man's house? Big. Or how many people are in a rich man's house? A bunch. All of those people benefit from Zacchaeus' faith. Can you imagine seeing a rich man do what Zacchaeus does?

I mean, what else can you conclude other than there must be something to this Jesus. There must be something to him because here it is, our master, our husband, our father has given half of his wealth away. There must be something to this. I'd like to know more. Because he was a greedy man. And he's not anymore. And so I want you to see that repentance has consequence not just for you, but for those around you, those who see it. And it's an evangelistic consequence. It's a good thing for people to see repentance. It really is good to see people repent and to see what it cost them and to see what they gave up and what they were willing to give up because they love Jesus. It really is a sweet thing. You remember last week when the blind man received his sight and he went along with Jesus and he was praising Jesus. What did the crowds do? They joined in.

Because they saw the work of God in his life. They saw the blessing and they were brought to praise because they saw God's mercy to another person. This is our place as Christians. This is our work. This is our calling. This is what it means to live as a Christian in this world. It's to show other people what it means to be a Christian. That you love him and that you love him more than all the stuff in your life. And I really do mean all the stuff in your life. What's more dear to a rich man than his wealth? You don't have money. What's the most dear thing to you? Do you love Jesus more than that? Or do you think of salvation in terms of the conditions? I'll be a Christian as long as I can keep this. You aren't going to take that away. You won't upset this apple cart. This is what it means to love Jesus. Take all that you have and lay it at his feet and leave it to him to use and to give and to provide and to take away and to bless. And when people see you,

love God and live your life in dependence on him, it will be evangelistic. It will be encouraging. It will be strengthening to them. The people of your household, the people of your workplace, your neighbors and your community, whoever it is you interact with. The other thing you can say is, they'll see if you don't. They'll see if you love money. What did everyone who listened to the rich young ruler know about the rich young ruler? He loved his money more than Jesus. It was plain as day. And so to be a Christian is to be, there's no way to be a private Christian. You will show what you love. So be like Zacchaeus and love Jesus and lay whatever it is you have at his feet. Let's pray.