We have been sent by Jesus to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to a relationship with Jesus to experience Jesus with us...

This week we have been looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. In this event from history as Jesus passed through the city of Jericho towards Jerusalem, large crowds came to meet and greet Jesus. And one of the members of the crowd was a man named Zaccheus. Zaccheus was a Jewish man who was a chief tax collector that worked for the Roman Government.

As Jesus was passing through the city of Jericho, Zaccheus tried to get close to Jesus. However, because of the large crowds that had also come to meet and greet Jesus, Zaccheus was unable to get close enough to Jesus. Zaccheus was an outsider who had no status or stature in the eyes of the community. Zaccheus was small in stature physically and in the eyes of the community who viewed him as a traitor who was far from God and was an outsider when it came to how God viewed him. Luke then explains that Zaccheus responded to his small stature by running ahead of Jesus and the crowds so that he could climb a sycamore tree.

You see, Zaccheus climbed the tree because Zaccheus had already been watching Jesus from a distance. And now Zaccheus wanted to be in a position where he could see Jesus more clearly. Zaccheus viewed the crowd as an obstacle to him getting to know Jesus at a deeper level. So Zaccheus was willing to do whatever it took to get a closer look at Jesus.

Jesus responded to seeing Zaccheus in the tree by asking to stay at Zaccheus house. By doing so, Jesus was communicating to Zaccheus that He desired to develop a relationship with him. Zaccheus responded to Jesus offer to hang out with Him by scurrying down the tree and warmly welcoming the opportunity to extend hospitality to Jesus. However, the crowds, upon witnessing this conversation between Jesus and Zaccheus began to loudly and publicly express their disapproval.

Luke tells us that the crowd’s accusations against Jesus for wanting to hang out with such an outsider like him provoked Zaccheus to stop in his tracks as he walked with Jesus toward his house. Zaccheus then responded not to the crowds, but to Jesus with a powerful statement: "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much."

You see, Jesus pursuit of Zaccheus; Jesus desire to hang out with and develop a relationship with Zaccheus had changed Zaccheus heart. Instead of being driven to be greedy, Zaccheus was now driven to be generous. Instead of being driven to extort money from others, Zaccheus was driven to restore what he had taken by extortion to others. And to demonstrate his sorrow for wronging others, Zaccheus was willing to pay restitution equal to four times what he had extorted from others.

Now the big fancy church mumbo jumbo talk word for what happened to Zaccheus here is the word repentance. The word repent literally means to feel remorse that results in a change of one’s mind and heart. To repent is to change the trajectory of your life that is moving away from God back to God. Zaccheus had been watching and hearing about Jesus.

Zaccheus had heard about the message and teachings of Jesus, either first hand or through his tax collector friends. And what Zaccheus had seen and heard about Jesus as he watched Jesus led Zaccheus to want to get closer to Jesus. Zaccheus heart was changed as a result of Jesus offer to hang out and enter into relationship with him. And Zaccheus change of heart resulted in a change of the trajectory of his life that was moving away from God back to God. And that change of trajectory resulted in a change of behavior that lined up with the message and teachings of Jesus. Today, we will look on as Luke then records Jesus response to Zaccheus in Luke 19:9:

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham."For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Now when Jesus says that salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham, He is not saying that Zaccheus experienced salvation as a result of what he had done for Jesus. Salvation had come to this house because Zaccheus responded to Jesus pursuit and desire to hang out and have relationship with Him by believing, trusting, and following Jesus; Zaccheus actions were the proof of what was produced as a result of his changing the trajectory of his life that was moving away from God back towards God by placing Jesus as large and in charge of his life so as to strive to follow His message and teachings.

Jesus then explains that this deliverance from a life separated from God as a result of selfishness and rebellion through Him was due to the fact that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Now, I don’t know about you, but a natural question that arises here is “why is Jesus talking in the third person here? Why is Jesus referring to Himself as the Son of Man? What is that all about? W

hen Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man, Jesus is using the phrase to identify Himself with the promised Messiah that was predicted and proclaimed by a prophet named Daniel in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Daniel, in Daniel 7:13. While those listening were very familiar with Daniel what 7:13 said, many of us today are not familiar with what Daniel 7:13 says. So here is what Daniel, over 500 years before the birth of Jesus, said about the Messiah:

"I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

So when Jesus says that He is the Son of Man, He is identifying Himself as the Messiah that had come from God as God in a bod to usher in the kingdom of God here on earth. Jesus here is revealing the reality that as the Son of Man, Jesus came to seek and bring back to relationship with God those who were outsiders that were far from God and had been lost as a result of their selfishness and rebellion.

As the Son of Man, Jesus came on a mission to rescue from eternal separation from God and bring back to God those who were outsiders that were far from God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. Jesus came on a mission to provide all humanity the opportunity to experience the forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for, but had been separated from as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, through His life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

And it is here, in this event from history, that we see God reveal for us the timeless answer to the question “Who have we been sent to?” And that timeless answer is this: We have been sent by Jesus to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to a relationship with Jesus to experience Jesus with us. Just as it was for early followers of Jesus; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, we have been sent by Jesus to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to a relationship with Jesus  to experience Jesus with us.

If you do not buy the whole, Jesus Bible, church thing, this is why followers of Jesus seem to be so committed and so persistent when it comes to inviting you to church. This is why followers of Jesus seem to be so committed and persistent about inviting you to their community group or to an event involving other followers of Jesus.

 

The reason why followers of Jesus seem to be so committed and so persistent in their invitation to you is because they are following the example of Jesus. And just as Jesus was sent to invite Zaccheus, who was an outsider who was small in stature physically and in the eyes of the community, to experience life with Jesus, as followers of Jesus we have been sent to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to being in community with Jesus and His followers to experience life with Jesus and His followers.

 

You see, Jesus never asks us to do something that He has not already done. We have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to be the vehicle that God uses to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to God to experience Jesus as we live life in community with Jesus and one another. We have been sent by Jesus to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to Jesus to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus. 

And as followers of Jesus we must create space for those who are outsiders when it comes to having a relationship with Jesus to hang out with us as we live our day to day lives so that they can experience Jesus as we experience Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we are to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to having a relationship with Jesus to experience genuine and authentic community with us as we experience genuine and authentic community. As followers of Jesus, we are to invite those who are outsiders when it comes to having a relationship with Jesus to explore faith during corporate gatherings and community group gatherings so that they can experience Jesus as we experience Jesus. Because, when it comes to who we have been sent to, we have been sent by Jesus, to invite those who are outsiders to experience Jesus with us.

So here are some questions to consider. Are those around you who are outsiders when it comes to Jesus comfortable enough with you to hang out with you? Are you inviting those who are outsiders when it comes to having a relationship with Jesus to experience Jesus with you?

What barriers, whether it involves our time, our attitude, or our personal relationship with Jesus, are keeping us from inviting others who are outsiders when it comes to a relationship with Jesus to experience Jesus with us?