Good morning, brothers and sisters.
Our verse for today comes from Acts 10:33, “So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
Our pastor was out of town last week, and I was given the opportunity to preach in his stead this past Sunday. And since he has been going through the book of Luke, I continued that series, with my lot falling on the passage concerning Zacchaeus. It’s no stretch to say that most everyone is familiar with the short tax collector who climbed up a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He passed by. There is a children’s tune about the encounter at the tree that probably popped in your heard when you read his unusual name, and sketches of Jesus looking up at Zacchaeus in the tree are commonplace in church nurseries. So, certainly my listeners were not going to be strangers to the conversion of the rich Jewish official from a sinner who made his fortune cheating his countrymen and serving the Roman oppressors to the generous follower of Jesus who gave away half of his goods to the poor and repaid fourfold what he had procured falsely. Yet, there they were, in the presence of God to hear all that the Lord had commanded me regarding this well-known story. A buddy asked me about my preparation earlier in the week, and I told him the toughest part is choosing what to leave out and how to get the sermon down to a manageable length of time. The more you read and study, the more you have to share. But his thought was that he’d be struggling to come up with things to say to fill the allotted time.
Oddly enough, one of the notable aspects of the time Jesus spent with Zacchaeus is that we are not told what Jesus said and did that led Zacchaeus to place his trust in Jesus. Jesus called him down from the tree to go with him to his house, and sometime later, Zacchaeus declared his intention to give away his belongings and money. We don’t know how much Jesus said or what He left out. All we know is that Zacchaeus was changed for eternity, and it was evident to everyone. And that’s all that really matters. You can say a lot or a little. You can do much or just a bit. But are you doing all that you have been commanded by the Lord?
As we seek Him today, do the familiar or the unfamiliar, but let it be obvious who you serve while you’re doing it.
Have a terrific Monday.
#4 Rich Holt
Dad of Ripken, Koy, TrishaJean, Samantha, Kakie Holiday and Raleigh
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
