ZACCHAEUS

(Preached on THANKSGIVING SERVICE conducted by Mr Sunder S.Thapa & family on his youngest son graduation with a B.E ( Electronics) and his appointment with INFOSYS)
ZACCHEUS- (a Greek name from the Hebrew, pronounced zakkay, meaning pure) was a chief publican, or superintendent of customs
Zacchaeus means pure and innocent
Zacchaeus was an innocent person who is out of the way. The best person who knows you is your mother. - she will tell all about you. A MOTHER IS ALWAYS A CHILD IS!
In the Old Testament and in the Jewish culture the name tells about their traits and characteristic.
However, Zacchaeus is the high ranking official, Prince of evil among the people, corrupted. So he is not popular among people
Ø Silence is the only reply he gets.
Ø Everybody avoided him.
Ø “Curse is the day you were born”, Zaccheus.
Ø He was absolutely lost.
Our moral fibre is lost, innocence is lost, our nation is lost.We are lost! The one person who can find us is the one who found Adam , Moses , Elijah, Peter, James & John. In the midst of the story Jesus found Zaccheus on a tree.

Zaccheus was the chief tax collector. He was the Supdt. of Customs. The name Zaccheus means “righteous one” but the tax officer was not living up to his name. He was collecting more tax then required.
Jericho is the city of Palms in the Old Testament.
Zaccheus was short in stature and powerful. Rich- “plousis”- abundance, wealthy person.
There are three things about this person:
1. Chief Tax Collector
2. Short -
3. Not popular

Our life is full of brokenness- broken relationships, broken promises, and broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives
- Thomas Nouwen

Carl Young a Psychologist said “The central neurosis of our time is boredom and emptiness”
Actress Celine Holm said “we live by encouragement and die without it- slowly, sadly and angrily.”
Discouragement affects relationship- A SENSE OF LONELINESS, REJECTION AND ISOLATION GRIPS A PERSON
Zaccheus was curious. John Calvin wrote “Curiosity and simplicity are a sort of preparation for faith.
< SINNER TOO SHORT TO SEE JESUS (vv 1-4)
Short- mikros ( micros)- very short person. So, short little Zacchaeus couldn’t see Jesus in such a crowd; he needed to get higher, someplace higher to see over the crowds. He didn’t have a stepladder but he saw a sycamore tree, right there on the side of the road that Jesus was travelling. Zacchaeus ran ahead and cleverly climbed that sycamore tree. Now a sycamore tree is like a fig tree but taller; some 50 to 75 feet tall and some 50 feet wide. It has large leaves, like a maple or an oak tree. A sycamore tree is a shade tree, and so Zacchaeus climbed up, took out his bag of popcorn or pomegranates, his bottle of pop and waited.
The sycamore tree was meant for shade. It was planted on the road side. Zaccheus wanted height not shade.
How Zaccheus life was changed?

< ZACCHEUS A SINNER TO HIGH IN THE TREE (vs 5)
.Sure enough, here came Jesus. Just like he planned. Zacchaeus could see the donkey and The Man through the leaves, coming up the road. People were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Wow! What a seat. And then the donkey stopped right beneath his branch. What luck. My friends will never believe it. Ringside seat.
Though Zaccheus was too short, Jesus came and stand in front of the tree. Zaccheus was popular in Jericho Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, you come down, for I’m coming to your house this day.” You know the song from childhood. “Zacchaeus, you come down, for I am coming to your house today.”
Zaccheus thought quickly to himself: “How does he know my name? ... How would he know me? ... Why me? ... What does he want with me?” Zacchaeus quickly slid down the tree, the buttons bursting from his shirt with pride. “Jesus, I would be honored to have you come to my home, the loveliest villa in Jericho, right down there overlooking the river.” As Zacchaeus sashayed to his house, everyone was gawking at Jesus and Zacchaeus too, which pleased Zacchaeus immensely.
But the crowds weren’t too pleased with Jesus’ choice of a new found friend. Zacchaeus was the most despised man in Jericho, a crook, a cocky little crook. Not only was he a tax collector at the toll booth; he was the chief tax collector. The big boss. The richest man in town. He worked for the Roman government, collecting their taxes, and Zacchaeus would pad the tax, for his own personal benefit. If there was an immoral skunk in town, Zacchaeus was the man. A thief, a con man, but untouchable because he was protected by the Roman government. What a poor choice Jesus made.

It was Jesus who saw Zaccheus; it was Jesus who talked to Zaccheus. Jesus will initiate the conversation.
“Come down……………… go to your home”- Zaccheus never anticipated. Jesus knew his problem.
Vs 6………………. Received Jesus joyfully
i.e.
ü Heart joyfully
ü Life joyfully
ü Home joyfully
Matt 11:28,29
We don’t need an Mt Everest of old newspaper to know the feelings of being trapped under the crush of our work and the burden of overwhelming spiritual demands. Jesus invites the weary to come to Him.
Stay- lodge, I must be guest in your house, comfortable in your life.


< ZACCHEUS TOO CONVINCED TO CONTINUE IN SIN (vs 8)
Zacchaeus was a repentant sinner. He was sorry for the bad things he had done. He told the Lord that he would give half of his possessions to the poor, and if he had cheated anybody out of anything, he would give back four times that amount.
Zacchaeus was dramatically and seriously touched by Jesus
Lev 6:5………… 1/5 i.e. 20%
Exodus 22:4, 7, 9
Zacchaeus came out of the front door by himself and addressed the large crowd who finally quiet down. He said, “I apologize to you folks. I have been cheating you for years now at the tollbooth. You know it and so do I. I have been a cad, taking advantage of my position. I’ve gotten richer at your expense. I apologize. To make it right, I will pay back each one of you from whom I have stolen. I will repay you back four times the amount I cheated you. Yes, each and every one of you. Also, I am giving half of my goods to the poor of our city.”
The crowd was shell-shocked. Their cynical selves couldn’t believe it. One man piped up: “Sure Zacchaeus, we’ll believe it when we see it. The Old Testament law is clear; you need to repay us what you stole from us plus 20%; but you say you are going to repay 400%? What’s the gimmick, Zacchaeus? What’s the trick?”
Another suspicious person chimed in: “Half your goods to the poor? You never cared a rip for the poor. You never dropped a dollar into the alms plate. When they rang bells for the poor at Hanukkah, you walked right on by the bucket. You often said: ‘let the poor go to work and not live off handouts.’ We’ll believe it when we see it, Zacchaeus.”
About that time, Jesus walked out, stood beside the white picket fence, put his arm around Zacchaeus, and quieted the crowds. “Today, salvation has come to Zacchaeus’s house. He has become a true son of Abraham. I have come to seek and save the lost. Zacchaeus has been found.”
Thus ends one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible, about a short little man who climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, a story about a man who was transformed from greedy to generous, from selfish to selfless, from a thieving heart to a thanksgiving heart. We ask ourselves: “What did Jesus say to him there in that house?” If only we knew what Jesus said, then perhaps we could say similar things to each other, and we too would be changed and become equally generous.

After salvation the same way is not there in Zaccheus.

There is a dramatic change in your life.
Vs 9-10…………… It is a theological truth. Jesus came to seek and save you. Jesus came to die, seek (seek to find) accomplish salvation. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.

When a day begins, you never know how it will end. For Zaccheus, that day ended in joyful fellowship with the Son of God, for he was now a changed man with a new life. Jesus is still seeking the lost and yearning to save them. Has he found you?
God is not looking for perfect people but people whose heart is right. God does not look what you are but you can be.
John 6:12- You can come to God with broken pieces.
The house of the Lord is the only way you can be found. Broken can be mended, shelter in the storm.
There are many things that are lost:-
8 Marriage lost their song.
8 Heart lost their joy.
8 Relationships that is lost.

When you look to Jesus you will find a comforter, a friend, cleansing fountain. Light of the world, heaven’s hope. Turn to Jesus; he alone can save you... By the time you see him he has already seen you.

What is the glory of God?

Let's begin to answer that question by looking at the first time the glory of the Lord appears in scripture. In Exodus 16 we read that the children of Israel are complaining because they do not have any food. Moses and Aaron their complaint and call them to draw near before the Lord.
"Now speak to them that the Lord has heard it came to pass as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they look toward the wilderness, and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." (Exodus 16:9)

Moses asked God to show him his glory. God replied, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But He said, "You cannot see my face; for no man shall see me, and live." And the Lord said, "Here is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:19-23)

God explained to Moses that no one could see his face and live and offered to hide Moses as his glory passed by. God also equated his glory with his goodness.
According to Strong's Concordance the Hebrew word for goodness is tuwb which means good in the widest sense. It also carries with it the idea of beauty, gladness and welfare. God also proclaimed the name of Jehovah before Moses. Jehovah is the Jewish national name for God and means self-existent and eternal.

‘Glory’ (Hb)- heavy with weight, tangible- It simply means manifestation

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1. The original meaning of glory has to do with weightiness. The glory of God summarizes the seriousness, the perfection, and the infinite significance of all of the attributes of God. It sums up who He is, in the awesome brightness and weightiness of all His perfections.
2. God's glory is everything that makes up God; his authority, power, and sovereignty. Psalmists wrote that “the heavens declare the glory of God and that his glory is above the heavens and earth. “(Psalm 19:1; 113:4; 148:13) His glory is much more than we can comprehend; the depth of his goodness exceeds our grasp.
   
   “Therefore, also, God did highly exalt him, and gave to him a name that {is} above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee may bow--of heavenlies, and earthlies, and what are under the earth--and every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ {is} Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
   Philippians 2:9-11
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3. God's glory is the goal in all of His plans for mankind. The glory of God is all that we, his creation, are about. In fact, all that God orchestrates, all that God wills, all that God determines and purposes, all that God causes to occur in and through His creation in this life is for God's glory.
   
4. God's glory is synonymous with God's magnificence, God's splendor, His beauty, His perfection. Glory speaks to God's dignity, God's honor, God's wisdom, God's majesty, and His unquestionable justice in all His dealings with His creation. All is to the glory of our God. All credit for all things is to be given to our God. To Him alone belongs all glory! At least, you'd think so...
   
   ü God's Glory Revealed
   It is one thing to understand the concept of God's glory, but Ezekiel was able to see it and feel it and taste it and hear it. (Ezek 1:25-28). He experienced God's glory! It is hard for us to walk each day with having only heard and read of His glory. Yet God has given us a very special way to experience His glory at any time we choose. The Psalmist David reveals that "the heavens are telling of the glory of God" (19:1). The Seraphim seen by Isaiah confirm that "the whole earth is full of His glory" (6:3). When we need a glimpse of God's glory, we need only to walk outside and lift up our heads!
   v On a bright, sunny day, the radiance of the sun reminds us of the light of God's radiance. This suggests to us that God is powerful, omniscient, omnipresent, in control.
   v In the sound of thunder we hear the power of His voice. In the storm we recall that He is a holy God who will demand justice.
   v In the rain we remember His righteousness: "Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness" (Is. 45:8).
   v In the rainbow we focus on His mercy in judgment and His covenant-keeping nature. Even on hazy, cloudless days we can sense His peace and comfort. He is a God who delights to reveal Himself to us. We need only seek Him. "So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. As surely as the sun rises He will appear, and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth" (Hosea 6:3).
   ü God's Glory Acknowledged
   We are not only to see God's glory, we are to acknowledge it. All of the men who recorded visions of God's glory also recorded the profound impact it had upon them. God's glory should impact us, too. A beautiful song relating to our response to God's glory has been written by Chris Rice and sung by Kathy Troccoli:
   A purple sky to close the day,I wade the surf where dolphins play.The taste of salt, the dance of waves,And my soul wells up with, "Hallelujah!"
   A lightening flash, my pounding heart,A breaching whale, a shooting star,Give testimony that You areAnd my soul wells up with, "Hallelujah!"
   O cratered moon and sparrow's wingsO thunder's boom and Saturn's ringsUnveil our Father as you singAnd my soul wells up with, "Hallelujah!"
   The pulse of life within my wrist,A fallen snow, a rising mist,There is no higher praise than this;And my soul wells up with, "Hallelujah!"
   O praise Him, all His mighty works.There is no language where You can't be heard;Your song goes out to all the earth.Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
   When our souls wells up with "Hallelujah" then we are giving the glory to God. To give the glory to God does not mean that we add anything to His glory; we merely acknowledge His glory.
   
   
   ü God's Glory Applied
   [Ezekiel] lived and wrought in the light and power of [this vision of God's glory]. We, too, need to live and work in the light and power of this vision, or we shall faint at the discouragements of the times. Servant of Jesus, stand with Ezekiel again: get the sound of the wings and the chariot wheels in your ears again. ... This is the ... vision which turns fear to hope, and sighs to songs. May it be ever before our eyes! (J. Sidlow Baxter 35)
   Please, don't allow yourself to begin a day this week without a vision of the likeness of the glory of God!
   The church is desperate for the glory of the Lord to once again fill the temple. When his glory comes, his manifest presence, people change. Once we have experienced the wonder of his glory we will be ruined to everything we have known as church. In the presence of his majesty man's agendas disintegrate. Only in a place where self has died can God take up habitation. Let us clear our schedules and make a place for the God of glory to call home.