How Hungry are you? Sermon by Doug Davis
March 20, 2009
(Read LUKE 19:1-6)
LUKE 19:1 And He entered and was passing through Jericho.
2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.
3 And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.
4 And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.
Remember when some of us went through the God Chasers book?
I haven't ever stopped being a God Chaser.
At times, I have even managed to be a God Catcher, but not nearly enough!
Tonight, we are looking at a true God Chaser.
He probably wasn't a believer, at least not a confessing one, yet there was something in him, that made him want to see Jesus.
If he had just been a short guy wanting to see what the big fuss was about, Jesus wouldn't have singled him out, like He did.
Jesus knew Zaccheus' heart, and knew what he was thinking, and feeling.
Have you ever had the Holy Spirit prompt you like this?
You see someone, or maybe meet them, and right away, you know something about them.
You haven't ever met them before, but the Spirit reveals something to you about them.
It isn't for us to feel cool, or special.
It is for a purpose.
Maybe we are to say something to them, speak life, or love into their life, meet a need, or maybe for us to know how to pray for them.
If this happens to you, and you aren't sure why you are getting this information, quickly ask the Lord what you are to do with it.
He will tell you, He isn't going to leave you swinging in the breeze.
Zaccheus wasn't a nice guy.
In fact, he was kind of a mobster, a gangster.
He was a tax collector, in other words, a licensed thief.
Not somebody you wanted to get to know, or hang out with.
Unless you were a crumb yourself.
Remember, whenever I think of Zaccheus, I picture George Jefferson.
So Jesus is coming to town, and George, I mean Zaccheus, wants to see Him.
He wants to see Him bad!
I believe that Zaccheus' heart was troubled.
The Spirit of God was working on him.
He wasn't happy about how he'd been ripping people off.
He was under conviction, as we used to call it.
God was working on him.
When the Spirit gets hold of you, especially if you haven't given your heart to Jesus, and been forgiven of your sins, you are pretty miserable.
Something has to change, and you probably don't know what, or how.
Then Jesus comes to town.
Suddenly, you know what you have to do.
However, Zaccheus wasn't that lucky.
He was a short man, and there was a big crowd.
Plus, nobody liked him, so there wasn't any way he was going to push through the crowd, and get close to Christ.
But George, I mean Zaccheus, knew what he had to do.
He had to see Jesus close up.
So, in desperation, he climbs up into this tree.
I wouldn't imagine that tree climbing was a normal pastime for a tax collector, or any adult for that matter.
I haven't climbed a tree in 40 years at least.
However, Zaccheus was desperate.
He just had to see Jesus.
He climbs up this tree, and sure enough, here comes the crowd, with Jesus in the middle of it.
Now, why would Jesus look up into that tree at that very moment?
Because the Holy Spirit prompted Him to.
He has all these people pressing in on Him, and His Disciples, and yet, He pauses, and looks up into the tree.
There's Zaccheus looking down at him.
“Oh, um, hi.”
I would have laughed, seeing a grown man up in a tree overhead looking down at me.
Like the crazed people wanting to see a star.
They go to just about any length, to get close to them.
But something happens.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
All these people, begging for His attention, and He wants to go to the little squirt, the crooks house?
This tells us something about Christ as well.
MATTHEW 18:12 "What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?
13 "If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
Jesus was out searching for the lost lamb, and that lamb was Zaccheus.
Zaccheus heart was ready to accept the Lord, for his sins to be forgiven, and to change his evil ways.
Jesus knew this, and called him out.
Zaccheus wasn't just star searching.
He wasn't after an autograph, he wanted to change his life.
Are we hungry enough to climb a tree?
Are we hungry enough to cry out to the Lord, even in a church service?
Are we willing to lay aside our pride, and do what it takes to Catch God?
We have to be, if we truly, and honestly, are pursuing God.
Look at the promise we have about this.
MAT 7:8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Are we knocking, or just standing on the porch, hoping that God will happen to open the door?
Perhaps we are sneaking around the yard, looking in the windows.
Knock on the door, and God will open it, and meet with you, that's a promise!
Let's pray.