Charles Spurgeon, the famed preacher of Victorian London who preached to a standing room only congregation of 5,000 both Sunday morning and evening, and the Charles Spurgeon to which Pastor Dave is enthralled with – one of His Mentors he’s never met, Spurgeon established a Pastor’s College that exists to this day. A famous feature of the college experience was something called “the question oak,” a large tree on Spurgeon’s estate where, students would gather on Friday afternoons, to ask questions of Mr. Spurgeon and then deliver spontaneous sermons – without any preparation. On one memorable occasion, Spurgeon called on a student to give a message on Zacchaeus. The student rose and said: “Zacchaeus was of little stature, so am I. Zacchaeus was up a tree, so am I. Zacchaeus came down, so will I.” And the student sat down, all the students, led by Spurgeon, applauded.

Zacchaeus’ escapade makes for a fun story. The idea of a wee man perched like a bird in a tree (and being found out) is the stuff of humour and children’s songs. You know we have to sing it right??

Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he.
He climbed way up in a sycamore tree,
For the Lord he wanted to see.…

We can have fun with this, but we must remember that the story occupies a very serious place in Luke’s account of Jesus’ life because it is Jesus’ last personal encounter before His arrival in Jerusalem and the events leading to His death. All that remains is His telling of the Parable of the Ten Minas and then the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Now, don’t miss this, the final line in the Zacchaeus story contains the summary line of the purpose of Jesus’ ministry: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (v. 10). Saving the lost is what Jesus is all about.

Obviously, this is the start of a new year for us as First Baptist Church in Kingsville – and what a strange and different time this is. Could we actually be in the third year of a worldwide pandemic? In the different circles of the ministry and church that we associate there has been a strong feeling that all of this turmoil is being used by God to do something new and at the same time, its getting tiresome isn’t it???

Have you heard this phrase – the great resignation?

One journal describes it as this:

The Great Resignation is a phenomenon that describes record numbers of people leaving their jobs after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Companies now have to navigate the ripple effects of the pandemic.

This is not a phenomenon that the Church has escaped …

Barna Group polled pastors twice in 2021.

In January, 29% of pastors said they had seriously thought about leaving ministry in the last year.

In October, that number jumped to 38%.

Dig a little deeper, and almost half of all pastors under 45 are thinking of quitting ministry. Women also have a higher incidence of thinking about quitting than male pastors.

Now, before any of you think that our first message of 2022 is going to be our last – we are definitely not thinking of quitting or anything remotely like that. We are wondering how you’re doing though?

We think it’s really fair to acknowledge the fact that in all of what’s gone on in the past 2 years, you’re likely and rightly asking:

So, What Do We Do?

In light of all the tension and the messy moment we’re in, what are we supposed to do? How do we do this?

Divine Overture (vv. 1–7)

And that brings us back to Zacchaeus and Jesus. If I had been casting for Zacchaeus, the Movie today, I would have chosen Danny DeVito as the “Z-Man.” Those shifty eyes, his swagger—the perfect little big man.

From a tax-collecting perspective, Zacchaeus had it made. Taxes were collected at three places inland—Capernaum, Jericho, and Jerusalem—and he had one of the big three. Jericho had a commanding position at the crossing of the Jordan River and one of the prime approaches to Jerusalem. And Jericho was rich due to its great palm forests and balsam groves. As chief tax collector Zacchaeus was head of a tax-farming corporation with collectors who extorted the people, then paid him before he paid the Romans. He was the kingpin of the Jericho tax cartel and had the scruples of a modern-day drug dealer. He was filthy rich in the fullest sense of the term. Not a likely candidate for the kingdom!

And, of course, he was hated. In the eyes of his countrymen, his littleness was more than physical. He was a despised nobody. 

No one would ever have guessed on that spring day that Zacchaeus would want to see Jesus. But as Luke says, “He wanted to see who Jesus was” (v. 3a). Why? Perhaps he had heard of the conversion of Levi the tax collector, Matthew as we call him, who was now one of Jesus’ followers (cf. 5:27–32). Perhaps he had even known Levi. Palestine was a small place, and tax collectors would have naturally hung out together. Because Jesus had ministered to Levi and others of his crowd, he had irked the religious establishment and was known as a friend of “tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus evidently had a soft spot for people like Zacchaeus.

It is also very likely that Zacchaeus had found his wealth and lifestyle unsatisfying. A sense of unease made every pleasure unfulfilling. Nothing lasted. 

Also, it is very probable that Zacchaeus was weary of being hated by his people. When people hassled him, he gave as good as he got, but you have to know he was miserable. The relentless contempt of his people left him desolate and alone.

Tired of his sad life, the restless little man determined to see Jesus, “but being a short man, he could not, because of the crowd” (v. 3b). The crowd probably enjoyed boxing the little man out. “Sorry about the elbow, Zacchaeus, you’re hard to see. Oh, is that your foot?”

How about you: are you weary? We know you are. Restless, alone, maybe even miserable – these are the words that don’t just describe Zacchaeus. We’ve heard you use them over these past months now, but in and amongst the weariness, we’ve heard something else too.

Short or not, Zacchaeus had legs, and he used them: “So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way” (v. 4). To be specific, it was a ficus sycomorus, a sturdy tree, some forty feet high, with a short trunk and wide branches. Very easy to climb. The picture of the tiny, rejected man sitting alone, hidden in order to get a glimpse of Jesus, is very touching. He certainly did not want the crowd to know he was there. He had his dignity! He would get a private view of Jesus. The crowd would pass, and he would remain unseen, like an orphan peering through a lighted window on a dark cold night.

But the interior-driven initiative of Zacchaeus was matched by the exterior initiative of Jesus: “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So, he came down at once and welcomed him gladly” (vv. 5, 6). As the song goes: Sing with me again?

And as the Savior passed his way,
He looked up in the tree.
And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I’m going to your house today,
For I’m going to your house today.”

When Jesus stopped by the sycamore-fig tree, hidden Zacchaeus would have naturally tensed, maybe even experienced a quick sweat. And then sheer terror gripped his soul as Jesus (and the crowd) lifted His eyes. Zacchaeus braced himself to be a further spectacle of ridicule—especially when Jesus called him by name. But in Jesus’ use of his personal name there was a hint of grace.

There’s something powerful about knowing and remembering a person’s name. When someone knows your name, it makes you feel loved, noticed, and seen.

When someone knows and remembers your name it gives you worth, it gives you value.

And a name represents a person’s story:

• • Who they are… 
  • Their past… good and bad…
  • Their successes… and screw ups…
  • Their background, upbringing, occupation… who their parents are…
  • A person’s name… and their story… it matters.

Now I’m guessing there were times when Zacchaeus didn’t want his name to be known—probably by the very people whose money he had taken. But not today, Zacchaeus was over-the-moon excited that Jesus knew his name. He was so excited.

“And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they (the crowd) saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’”

But the crowd, on the other hand, was ticked. Why is Jesus going to the house of the jerk who’s stealing everyone’s money? Shorty’s house? How could He?

You can bet that if Jesus knows the name of a guy like Zacchaeus, He knows the names of the people in our lives too. To get more direct, Jesus knows the name…

• • of our ex.
  • Of the people… who’ve hurt us.
  • Of our co-worker… who thinks differently than us about vaccines.
  • Of our neighbor… who’s kind.
  • And of our neighbor who’s kinda strange.
  • Of our spouse.
  • The spam callers.
  • The know-it-alls on social media. 
  • The random strangers we cross paths with.

This was supernatural knowledge given to Jesus for that moment by the Father! And then, as Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ home, He did not say, “I would like to stay at your house,” but “I must stay.” Jesus regarded his encounter with Zacchaeus as a divine mission. His seeking Zacchaeus was a work of sovereign grace.

What we begin to see at this point in the story is that Zacchaeus’ seeking of Jesus and Jesus’ seeking of Zacchaeus were both sovereign works of God. The crossing of their lives at the sycamore was a work of divine providence. This meeting was ordained before the foundation of the world (cf. Ephesians 1:4–6).

“So, he came down at once and welcomed him gladly” (v. 6).

The glad leap with which Zacchaeus left the tree, twigs and leaves flying, may have revealed to Zacchaeus himself, as it no doubt did to the bystanders, what it was that he had been dimly wishing for. From here on, apart from the crowd’s muttering, “He has gone to be a guest of a ‘sinner’” (v. 7), there was only joy—Zacchaeus’ and Jesus’.

We asked you a question earlier in this message: So, What Do We Do? As First Baptist Church enters the new year. How is this gonna work??

Like Zacchaeus, we too are weary – as the Church, even the tide of the culture seems to be turning against us. Jesus followers aren’t the good guys and girls in the eyes of much of the world today. In fact I suspect some people might use the same adjectives to describe Christians today as they would have a tax collector in the first century.

So, What Do We Do?

FBK, that’s a question we have to wrestle with together. What is God calling us to do in this new year? What is our purpose in the Kingdom in this new and uncertain time ? We have some ideas to share, as you might expect.

Make A Decision

I think the first thing we all need to do is to decide, like Zacchaeus did. If we want to climb the tree and see what the opportunity is. It’s easy to waffle back and forth daily (or hourly) about whether you’re staying or going. What the rules mean in the context of trying to grow the Kingdom.

Instead, make a decision. Either we’re re in, or we’re out.

And if you are in (and the indications you have given us is 95%+ of you are in), then take giving up or retracting in anyway off the table for now – Why?

Our indecision will make future planning difficult, and any doublemindedness will weaken a much-needed sense of purpose. Even if you don’t say a word, people will sense something is off. You yourself will know that you’re not all in.

Ambivalence and effectiveness rarely coexist in harmony.

So, decide to commit and then climb that tree and see what happens.

Vs 8…To the crowd’s amazement, off strode Jesus as the half-pint kingpin of the Jericho tax machine hurried alongside on his short legs. Jesus and His disciples would spend the night there according to Palestinian custom. And sometime during that stay, probably after much discussion and prayer, a little big man would formally stand and declare for all Jericho to hear, “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” (v. 8). WOW – talk about commitment!!

For starters, Zacchaeus gave 50 percent of everything he had to the poor. This went far beyond the normal requirement of 20 percent of one’s income. And then, from the remaining 50 percent he pledged to make restitution to the tune of four times the amount of what he had extorted. He had cheated many people, and now he placed his entire fortune in jeopardy to make things right. In effect, he lived out the command that had earlier caused the rich ruler so much grief:

“Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (18:22). 

The little man had become a big one! Acceptance by Jesus had given the tax collector what he had vainly sought through the accumulation of wealth—wholeness and satisfaction. The compulsive drive to make money was gone. He no longer needed his wealth. Instead of the passion to get, he now had a passion to give. He went into his house the littlest man in Jericho. He left the biggest man in town. All because of Jesus.

A Declaration to Zacchaeus

“Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham’ ” (v. 9).

Zacchaeus had been saved, and the liberating joy of salvation was coursing through his soul. Zacchaeus was a new man. That is why he gave away his fortune.

Nonbelievers are quick to criticize the gospel as sentimental and unpractical. But I think, if it is impractical, it is our fault, not the gospel’s. The demands of the gospel are intensely practical, and they include a reorientation to one’s material possessions and that is most counter cultural to our Amazon oriented culture today. One’s grip on things is dramatically loosened when we commit to Kingdom building.