New Hope Notes

Zacchaeus: Everyone Needs A Reject
The Ohana Factor

Pastor Jon Burgess
July 8, 2018 - W1827

In our Ohana Factor series, we have been discussing the fact that we can’t choose the family we’re born into, but we can choose the people we surround ourselves with. Last week, we saw our need for counselors, true friends, and people who will edit our lives.

This week’s subject is one that you didn’t even know you needed, and may think I’m crazy to say it but—Everyone Needs A Reject! Whether it’s a homeless man probably strung out and has a mental disability or a domestic violence situation—all are indicative of what we’re talking about.

God was telling me that He put New Hope Oahu in this spot for us to minister to those we probably would not want to hang out and spend time with—the rejects! All of us (no matter how cool we are) have been rejected at one time or another. And we should have someone in our lives who has been rejected by society, church or culture because it reminds us that our Lord Jesus was rejected, despised and died for us—even while we rejected His offer of love!

I’m praying that by the end of this message you would know that Jesus came for the rejects, outcasts, and outlaws who have no place or home (square pegs in round holes) that He happens to spend time with:

Zacchaeus was not a friendly or a loved man. He was a rejected man because he was not just a tax collector, but chief tax collector! He worked for Rome (the very enemy of the Jews) not just partly—but all the way. He swindled God’s people on behalf of their enemy! He was hated and despised, and yet Jesus would change his world!

Leading up to this incident in chapter 18, we see Jesus on His way to Jerusalem to die for the rejects and spent time with them. What Jesus was living for was what He was dying for…

Luke 19:1-6 NIV says, “1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus (means the righteous one); he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ [There’s urgency in Jesus' voice and timeliness to his invitation. It's very important that we spend time with Him today!] 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.”

Jesus was saying, “I see you, Zacchaeus. I know you and want to be your friend. I want to hang out with you today.”  When did you last talk to somebody you really disliked that way? You may be thinking that that doesn't make any sense.  We don't treat our enemies and those that are mean to us that way. We must decide here and now to…

1. Refuse To Reject The Rejected.

It’s easy to go with the crowd like when your family turns their back on a certain family member because of things they’ve said and done. But just because your family has turned their back on them, does it mean you should? Does it mean Jesus did?

Luke 19:7-10 NIV says, “7All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ 8But 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.’ 9Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost [to save the seeker; the destroyed ones].”

Jesus is showing us exactly what He was dying for in that moment: Zacchaeus goes from zero to hero in the eyes of Jesus! But in the eyes of the crowd, they despised him even more. Some people say they know Jesus, but no change is seen in their life. But, right in the middle of a crowd, Zacchaeus, the one who was hated, is being changed! Those who are forgiven much love much!

For those who have done a litany of wrong and made everybody in their lives hate their guts, your God does not hate you. He’s coming after you right now. That’s the Lord who we love and serve. I pray that we would have that heart.

There are three really easy things that we need to keep in mind when trying to love, care, and build a relationship with the reject:

*Identify: I see and recognize that you are worth having a relationship with.

 

*Identity: I know you’re a righteous one.

 

*Invitation:I want to be your friend.

 

Your identity is not in what you've done, but in what God is calling you to do—the future that Christ has provided for you! We can identify with the fact that the sin that we see in others is at some level or another also been in our own life; and only by the grace of God have we been set free! 

2. See The Message In The Mess

 

In the book of Acts, we learned how Barnabas saw Saul, who was now converted and his name was changed to Paul. The Christians naturally rejected Paul as he was killing them, dividing their families, and throwing believers into jail. Who would want to hang out with him?  Everyone wanted to hang him, not hang out with him!  And yet, Barnabas, being the prophetic encourager that he was, could see a treasure in this cracked vessel! 

I wonder if Paul was thinking about the time Barnabas had encouraged him even though every one else wanted to throw him out, when in 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 NIV he says, “5For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

When Jesus left the glories and perfection of heaven to come down to earth, the angels showed up in all of their glory and majesty and announced to a bunch of stinky, lowest?on?the?totem?pole shepherds (common people that no one paid any attention to) that Jesus, the Messiah, was born! Jesus was born - to an exhausted mother Mary, a concerned father Joseph - a crying baby in a stinky and dirty manger!

And if we're not careful in our American culture, we just might take those dirty situations where Christ was born and make it beautiful, perfect, and put it on a pedestal, and actually miss the beauty of the incarnation—that it wasn't perfect. Jesus did cry and it was a very difficult situation to have a baby born in a barn!

And yet, it's not about the pristine, the perfect, the prepackaged or the prepped; it’s the perfection of Jesus Christ born in a very imperfect scenario! That's the beauty of this concept; I'm praying it will help inform us on how we can find God's glory in the mundane.

One of these days, we will come face to face with our Savior in heaven. We will be in our perfect, resurrected bodies, living eternally with Jesus! But there will be one person in all of heaven with scars—Jesus—bearing those scars on His hands and feet. He doesn’t hide them. He will not put his hands in his pockets. He’s the only one that for all of eternity will be scarred… 

Luke 26:39 NASB says, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Because of Jesus’ scars and the wounds He endured, we can be healed from our wounds; that even though we may be cracked, hit, and in pain, we can know that one day because of His scars in heaven, we will no longer be ashamed!

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

God is literally filling in our broken places (cracks, sins, and shame) with beauty and grace. Where we see something that should be hidden, He sees something that should be displayed! He removes our sin, but He doesn't remove the scars because behind every scar is a story that tells of redemption!

Even when Paul cried out and said, “God, remove these weaknesses from me,” He said, “No, Paul. See, My strength is made perfect in your weakness. In other words, through your weakness, people will see Me.” 

Maybe you walked in with head low because of something you said or did. Maybe during worship you weren't even sure that you could mean the words that you said because you felt a sense of rejection.  And yet, there's a Savior that's coming to you with holes in his hands and feet, saying, “I see absolutely everything in you and I love you anyway!” 

Here’s what I want to encourage you with: Don’t be ashamed of your scars. If Jesus Himself is not ashamed of His scars in heaven (even to the point of having them for eternity), not one of you should be ashamed of the scars that you have. Jesus is holding you up and saying, “Out of your mess comes the message of redemption!” I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty incredible and very encouraging to me. We could take that to a broken world and say, “God is not done with you yet!”

 

Questions:

 

  • How will you see the good in others, especially those being rejected?

  • What are some ways you could help someone feel wanted and loved?

  • How do you cope with rejection?

  • How do you stay positive with those who are rejected by others?