Dinner with a Sinner! | Colossians 3:12-13, Luke 19:1-10

Okay, let’s just say life is a closet. God is about to show us the kind of clothes He wants us to wear, as you and I continue to see and to study what kindness looks like from God’s perspective. Join me in Colossians chapter three!

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Transcription:

Okay, let’s just say life is a closet. God is about to show us the kind of clothes he wants us to wear. Welcome to the Bible for Busy People. We continue to see and to study what kindness looks like from God’s perspective. Join me in Colossians chapter three, beginning in verse 12, the Apostle Paul writing now.

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves,

We’re chosen!

…you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

What if every morning you and I put on the shoes of humility, the sweater of kindness, the shirt of tenderhearted mercy, the jeans of gentleness, the socks of patience? Wouldn’t it be beautiful if we wore those things every single day? It’s not easy, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s possible to be kind to others, even the sandpaper people in our lives. Even possible to love them. It’s easy, isn’t it, to love the people who are easy to love? But so often Jesus in the Bible reaches out to the unloved and even the unlovable. Today, you and I are going to have dinner with a sinner. Are you ready? Join me in the gospel of Luke chapter 19, beginning in verse one.

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. 2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.

Little note here, the people in this time period could not stand the tax collectors. As a matter of fact, I don’t think it’s too strong to say they hated them. They took their money. Often they took more than their share as we’re about to hear, but you watch and see how Jesus invites a tax collector, a hated man in the city of Jericho to dinner. Verse three now.

He,

Zacchaeus

…tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” 6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. 8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” 9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man[a] came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Zacchaeus was lost, but then he was found. Isn’t it interesting? He must have heard stories about the Lord, and then he heard that Jesus was coming to Jericho and he had to find a way to see this man. He had no expectation of interacting with him, but he must have had a seed of hope in his heart, and it must have grown. He climbed that tree just to get a glimpse of hope in the flesh. The Bible says that our God is the God of hope, and there he was tangible hope walking toward that sycamore fig tree, not past it. I am sure that many times hope passed by Zacchaeus. He was clearly convicted of his sins. He knew that he was doing wrong. Something in his heart was crying out for forgiveness. He wanted to be found. He climbed that tree to see Jesus, but Jesus would’ve seen him had he just been in the crowd amongst the people, because Jesus came to seek and save those who were lost. When the people of Jericho looked at Zacchaeus, they saw a thief. They saw an irredeemable man, a man whose heart was filled with greed. When Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in that tree, he saw a son he could love, and I want you to know this morning whether you are hiding from God because you feel like you’ve done so much wrong, or whether you are up in the tree of hope, praying that maybe there’s just a glimpse of hope for you walking by, I promise you that Jesus came for you. He came not for the healthy, but for the sick. That’s what the Bible tells us. So, today I pray that you would climb down and embrace the Lord. He’s inviting you into a relationship with him. No, he’s not going to take you to dinner, but he is going to take you to a place called Hope, and he will stay there with you and live with you all of your days. If you are lost, you can be found. If you are sick, you can be healthy. If your heart is filled with sin, Jesus can wash that sin away. It’s why he came and why he died on the cross for us, and then rose again defeating death, hell, and the grave. He came to save you. He came to seek you out and save you. That is just how kind our God is and how loved you are. Till next time, yes, you are so loved.

Thank you so much for listening to the Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or you’re ready to go a little deeper in your faith, we’ve posted some resources for you in our show notes. We’d love for you to share this podcast with a friend and leave us a review. It helps us reach even more people with the hope of Jesus. This podcast is part of Purposely, a podcast network designed with practical podcasts to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life.

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