Sermon(Lk 19:1-10): Receiving Jesus

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025286495

 

>> 1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make hast and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he made hast and came down, and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it they all murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Lk 19:1-10) <<

 

Do you know what I hate most in the world? A smiling fat Buddhist nun in Buddhist robe with her hair shaved! And there is another I hate most: when a gay in women's clothing, in women's makeup, is speaking in a deep voice. The more I look at such appearances and the more I think about them, the more they look disgusting. However, when I was a teacher of Sunday school, a boy absented himself from the Sunday school, so I called his house. His father was on the phone. He seemed to be a real Buddhist. In a friendly voice I persuaded him to allow his son to attend the church, but he regarded me as a sinister person to avoid. He tried to finish the conversation as soon as possible. I thought then that Buddhist might feel a little disgust at Christians believing in Jesus as Christians feel a little disgust at them. Perhaps Buddhists may feel a lot of grace in the Buddhist nun with her hair shaved.

 

You might not believe, but I'm the (spiritual) father of faith in my household. I'm the first man to believe in Jesus in my family. One day, when the anniversary of my father's death approached, I declared to my family. "I won't bow down to the memorial paper of my father on the day!" (The paper represents the deceased.) But my eldest brother threatened me, saying, "You shall die on that day!" I escaped the death(!) thanks to my mother, who said to him, "Leave him alone. Let him live as he likes!" Perhaps she might have thought it wouldn't be a big deal for the family even if she gave up the youngest. I was born in such an unevangelical family, but Yong Pyo Hong (홍용표, a woman who taught the gospel to teenagers in a church) made me a Christian. (Mrs. Hong, thanks you very much! I loved your bright smile, so I unconditionally believed in Jesus whom you introduced to me.) But the family of my middle school friend living in a neighboring village believed in Jesus. So I often went to his house. I sometimes heard gospel songs coming out of the radio in his house. I was not so much as a devout Christian at that time. Nevertheless one day I went to his house to play with him, and heard a gospel song from the radio. The words of the song were "I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold ..." How I was comfortable and peaceful when I heard the song! But I heard that Mother Teresa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, contrary to our expectation, is living a dark religious life because she hasn't met God inwardly. The anguished face in her picture must represent her heart. How precious is the faith alive in my heart like a mustard seed! On the contrary, how empty is the great religious title of a person who does not have a faith in the salvation of God!

 

My brethren, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the Owner and Lord of the eternal life. He is the One who grants humans blessings. Therefore he who loves him indeed can walk in the right road, understand the truth, receive the power of life, gain the eternal life as a gift and be blessed with all precious blessings. My brethren, can you be a friend of him who hates you? Can you give a precious gift eternal life to him who despises you? No! My brethren, be fond of Jesus like Zacchaeus. Respect him from the bottom of your heart like Zacchaeus. In today's text, of many people, who loved Jesus most? It is Zacchaeus. He is an adult. He could feel ashamed when he, an adult, climbed up a tree to see a famous man like a child. And his prestige could be hurt then. And what an embarrassment, if he made an eye contact with Jesus? An adult climbed a tree, and made an eye contact with Jesus! He might look for even a mouse hole to hide himself.

 

Jesus was too busy to visit every one's house. Then whose house should he visit? He should go to the house of him who loves him most, and bless him. My brethren, of all your family or of all your church members, you should be the one who loves Jesus most. Jesus' love and concern is directed most to him who loves Jesus most. And you should never doubt Jesus. Believe in his goodness, mercy and righteousness. Never doubt his character even if you can't understand him, because there could be something you didn’t know. Jesus' grace is directed to him who 100% trusts in him. In verse 7, you can see some people who always cast a suspicious glance on Jesus. >And when they saw it they all murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” (v. 7)< Looking into their heart, we can read their thought that they are not sinners like Zacchaeus, and that Jesus might be a sinner, for he is Zacchaeus' friend. Perhaps, of them, some people, who had heard the rumors of Jesus and come to him to see if he was a greater religious leader than they, returned to their home in peace, thinking that their expectations were not wrong when they saw Jesus entering a sinner's house. Some people in the world get nervous when other people better than them appear around them. Jesus is never interested in those who try to reaffirm their goodness by finding out the negative side of others. Surely they will do their best to teach Jesus something about a true religion. Why should Jesus, who was so busy, go to the houses of those who would make him so tired? Jesus can be in peace in the houses of those who humbly receive him like Zacchaeus, and can pardon their sins majestically there, and bless them there. Do you want peace? Then do not make Jesus feel tired. When Jesus becomes your head, he is at peace; but when you try to be Jesus' head, he becomes so tired. He who heartily loves and respects Jesus will be honored to receive Jesus like Zacchaeus. "So he (Zacchaeus) made hast and came down, and received him (Jesus) joyfully. (v. 6)"

 

What happens when Jesus comes into you, your home, and your church? When a man receives the Devil as a person (or as a personal being), he does Devil's work. But if we receive Jesus, we become members of (the body) of Jesus and begin to do Jesus' work. If you receive Jesus, you begin to do good works as long as you can. Zacchaeus received the good Jesus into his house, and treated Jesus to a sumptuous feast, and said happily, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold. (v. 8)” My brethren, how Jesus might be pleased then! On the contrary, how the hypocritical religioners might be consternated in the pricks of conscience to see the moving scene, those religioners who had been suspicious of the person of Jesus until then! A sinner earnestly repented, and he became 100 times as useful as hypocritical religioners. The good work Zacchaeus could do was to spend the money he had earned for the poor. Zacchaeus gave up half of his fortune for the poor. He promised to pay back four times the amount of the money if there was anyone who had a grudge against him over the money. My brethren, can a man be changed so drastically like this? What was the motive of that transformation that changed Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus was so glad and thanked Jesus so much, because unlike other religioners, Jesus, a very honored and good One, visited his house, ate meal with him, regarded him as a human being, not condemning him as a sinner. Anyone is happy when he is treated as a human being, as a normal human being. If someone acknowledges the value of myself, my self-esteem is consolidated, and I am encouraged to live. In particular, if the noble good Jesus acknowledges the value of yourself, you feel the urge to live a precious and good life. My brethren, Jesus is pleased to be your Lord. Now, like Zacchaeus, you should imitate Jesus' goodness and do what is good as much as you can.

 

And you'd better acknowledge other's goodness as Jesus did. For example, if your wife makes tteokbokki(떡볶이) and brings it to you, but without chopsticks, you'd better not complain to her, but wait until it cools down and eat it with your fingers, or fetch the chopsticks yourself and eat it. How wonderful it is for your wife to cook tteokbokki for you, even though she didn't bring the chopsticks! I think so. If you set the standard for others to serve you, the people around you become very tired. You become tired, too. If you force others to serve you, sometimes making a fuss, all your relationships with others will be destroyed. Haman's house was brought to ruin when he would receive respect from Mordecai. In the 7th chapter of Luke, a Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus, but gave him neither water to wash his feet nor oil to anoint his head, which was against the custom. Jesus didn't call it into question, thinking, 'Perhaps it is a tradition of this house.' But Simon thought that Jesus was not a true prophet, when he saw a woman, who was known as a sinner in the village, pouring ointment on Jesus' feet, shedding tears on his feet, and washing his feet with her hair. But now Jesus, comparing Simon's deed with the woman's deed, pointed out Simon's wrong thought that the woman was behaving inappropriately, and that Jesus was a strange prophet. In my opinion, if it had not been for the episode of the woman, Jesus just would have thanked Simon for the invitation, not having any feelings of displeasure for his non-customary attitude. Jesus does not force an immature person to show the better attitude beyond his ability. Isn't a grandfather infinitely happy even to see his spoilt grandson? Much more would Jesus who created the world love a man of crude character and want to bless him. However a good character makes others happy and is good for you. Therefore we have to help teenagers form the right personality. In particular, you must be careful not to behave yourself immaturely compared to your age so that you hurt the glory of God. Just as Zacchaeus, a sinner, shows an extremely beautiful attitude after he met Jesus and changed naturally, so a somewhat rude man will look so good when he has changed himself to a polite and gentle man. As ignorance is not a sin, so an unwilled rudeness is not wicked. You can find that also a man, though a little impolite, is a good and beautiful one, if you see him with the eyes of love and generosity.

 

Like Zacchaeus, those who have Jesus will change their lives and personality. In short, they resemble Jesus. Jesus, who liked to pardon the sinners and to bless them, was very satisfied with Zacchaeus' invitation and meal. So he is not satisfied if he does not return his favor. "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. (v. 9)" Only those who have been changed will be saved. Even pastors(목사), elders(장로), exhorters(권사) can't be saved if they refuse to be changed like Zacchaeus.

 

Today's biblical text shows us what our worship life should be like. We must have eagerness to meet Jesus whenever we come to the worship like Zacchaeus. As Zacchaeus was very glad to invite Jesus to his house, so we must long to invite Jesus into our heart and into our worship of God. As Zacchaeus turned his life in the direction where Jesus wanted to lead him, so we must adapt our lives to the words proclaimed in worship. Even if the sermon pleases your eyes and ears, do not be satisfied with just the listening but keep the message in your heart and regard it as the word God gives you today. If you live such a religious life, you will receive the same blessings as Zacchaeus received. Everyone who worships God in spirit and truth will become God's child and gain eternal life.

 

I pray that the Holy Spirit may double your love for Jesus, and that Jesus may accept your love and dedication gladly and bless you abundantly.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                     - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -