Morning Message Texts: Luke 18: 9-14 & Luke 19: 1-10
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
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 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.”
Morning Message:
What does Jesus mean to you? This should be a very personal question. What Jesus means to each of us is probably different but special in many ways. It really depends on the depth of your relationship with him. To some he is simply their Savior, but that’s not really simple, there is deep meaning in recognizing Jesus as your Savior and you must do that in order to start your relationship with him. There are much deeper places that your relationship with Jesus can go. He can become a friend. Friend is a little more personal and maybe less formal. To think of Jesus as a friend would mean to share your life with him and trust him with your deepest, darkest secrets. I know that sounds a little silly when you think about it; after all, Jesus already knows all of your secrets, but it is different when you acknowledge them to him and talk to him about them.
I have spoken to you many times about the need for us to humble ourselves before God. This might be the closest that we can draw to Jesus: the act of humbling ourselves, pouring ourselves out before God and confessing Jesus as Lord of our lives. Complete surrender to Jesus and obedience to God’s word. Are any of you there yet? Please raise your hand if you have come to the place in your faith where you are totally and completely devoted to Jesus. I can’t raise my hand either. That is a very rare achievement in our walk of faith, and unfortunately, it is very fleeting. Our human nature pulls us back and our devotion weakens. If we are true followers of Jesus, our hearts yearn for those moments of devotion and a closer walk with our Savior. That is one of the things that draw us to worship. We come here, or at least we should come here, seeking to draw close to our Lord. He is always seeking us, and we should always be seeking him. You say, “I found him.” Where does your relationship stand?
Our relationship with Jesus is not dependent upon our standing in society or our ability to speak eloquently in prayer. The parable that Jesus told about the two men who went up to the temple to pray tells us a lot about what God is looking for in our relationship with him. First notice that they went up to the temple to pray. You can pray anywhere, and you should, but the temple, the church has always been the place where it seems that God is very present. I have spent time in church alone and I have felt God’s presence. It’s not just me; I have spoken to others that have come to church by themselves and felt that connection with God. Read your Bible and you will find that God is very present in places that are dedicated to Him. People will say, “I can worship at home.” Yes, you can, but it’s not the same.
Next, pay attention to the prayer that gets God’s attention: the prayer of the humble, the one who cries out for mercy, the one that confesses his sinfulness and seeks a real, true relationship with God. “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Listen, we will answer for all our actions and inactions when we stand before Jesus. He will tell us how humble we have been. Jesus doesn’t take worship attendance, but he does recognize when we are too busy and full of ourselves to make time and humbly come to worship.
As Christians we should have the same zeal and passion to see and meet with Jesus as Zacchaeus had. He ran ahead, climbed up a tree, and waited for Jesus to come by. Okay, maybe we can dismiss that because he was anxious to meet Jesus for the first time, but I wonder if any of us would go to that kind of trouble to see and meet Jesus. To many people coming to church once a week seems to be a major inconvenience. When Zacchaeus meets Jesus, he is completely transformed from a tax collector that cheated people out of their money, into a follower that was now willing to give away half of his worth and repay everyone that he had cheated four times the amount. Jesus pronounced him saved. Why? Not because of his offering or his willingness to repay everyone, but because he was clearly changed, and that change manifested itself in praise and worship. Yes, what he gave was an act of worship. It was total and complete submission to Jesus and a humbling of everything that he once was. “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Coming to worship is no guarantee that you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but not coming is a sure sign that something is wrong in your spiritual life. Jesus is still seeking you because your absence from here suggests you may be lost.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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