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Introduction:
When Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house, His opponents berated Him
for being the guest of a sinner. When Zacchaeus repented, Jesus
responded, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he
also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to
save the lost” (Luke
19:9-10, ESV). Why did Jesus come to earth? To seek and
save the lost. Jesus has passed that mission on to His disciples (Luke
24:46-47; Mark 16:15-16). But what does that mission
really mean. If we want to be like Jesus, and not like His
opponents, we need to give some thought to what that statement
means for our lives. Discussion: I.
The object of our efforts is the lost. A.
We are not seeking the saved. We are seeking the lost. Have
you ever thought about what that means? Who are the lost? No doubt
they are religious people who practice error and have never obeyed
the gospel but still look pretty much like us morally. But that is
a minority of them. Consider the lost of I
Corinthians 6:9-11 who were saved by Christ’s grace.
They were fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, idolaters,
thieves, covetous, drunks, etc. These are the people we are
supposed to be looking for. B.
But let’s face it. In general, these are the people that
we typically try to stay away from. We shudder to think that our
children might ever be around anyone like that. We often ask the
question about a Christian walking into a bar. I’ve heard people
say we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Maybe the Christian had a
flat and that was the nearest phone. Or maybe he is going to get a
family member who is drunk and carry him home. But I have never
once heard anyone say, “Maybe he is going there to seek and save
the lost.” Why? Because we don’t think like that. C.
We each need to ask ourselves who we are more like in this
story. Are we like the Pharisees who are so concerned with being
defiled by sinners that we forget we too are sinners and forget we
are supposed to be saving sinners? Or are we like Jesus, so
concerned about seeking and saving the lost that we do not worry
so much about our reputation among those who aren’t out there
saving people? D.
We need to understand, our efforts are toward the lost.
They won’t look like us. They won’t act like us. They won’t
talk like us. Many times, they won’t even like us. They might be
our enemies and their sins might even have been against us. But we
need to remember, no matter how their sins compare to our sins, we
were just like them before we met Christ. Perhaps we should post Ephesians
2:1-3 somewhere we can see it every day. Jesus died for us
while we were still sinners (Romans
5:6-8). If Jesus would die for us while we were still
sinners, the least we can do is carry the gospel message to others
while they are still sinners. II.
We are to seek
the lost. A.
Have we ever thought about all the implications of this
concept? We are actually supposed to go looking for lost people.
Too often, we waste our time waiting for the lost people to find
us. Sure, we will put out a sign, put ads in the paper,
commercials on the tv and radio. I think all of these are good
things and we should do them. But we must not think when we have
done these things we have fulfilled Jesus’ mission. He didn’t
hang out a shingle and wait for the lost to come to Him. He went
to them. He went to Zacchaeus’ house. B.
First, this means keeping our eyes open to the lost who are
around us. In John
4, the apostles were sent into Sychar to get food for
Jesus. They came back with food but no followers. The woman at the
well went back into the town and very shortly many of the
townsfolk were coming to meet Jesus (John
4:30). What was the difference? The apostles eyes were not
open to the people they met who needed Jesus. This woman’s were.
How many lost people do we talk to every day? Have we ever
remotely done anything to talk to them about Jesus? C.
Second, this means actively seeking the lost. We are
supposed to go looking for them. Think about this, Jesus called
the disciples to be fishers of men (Matthew
4:19). If you want to catch some fish, where do you have
to go? You have to go where the fish are. I can’t cast a net off
my back porch and expect to retrieve any fish. I have to go to the
lake, river, ocean, etc. Even then, I know I can’t just go
anywhere. I search for a good spot where the fish feed or rest. We
want to go where the fish are biting. If we are going to fulfill
Jesus’ mission, we have to go to where the lost people are. That
means going into their homes. That means finding them on the
street corners, maybe even in the bars. It may mean going to that
block party filled with sinners, because that is who is there. D.
We all have to ask ourselves, are we really seeking the
lost or are we hoping the lost will start seeking us? III.
We are to save
the lost. A.
It is not good enough just to find the lost. We must
actively work to save them. However, let’s keep in mind that
this is the part of Jesus’ mission that we can’t really
fulfill. In the strictest sense, only God can save people. We
cannot. Remember I
Corinthians 3:5-7. God is the one who gives the growth.
However, He gave that growth through the work of Paul and Apollos
who planted and watered. Thus, people can’t be saved apart from
the workers planting and watering (cf. Romans
10:13-15). B.
We must work to save the lost. There is only one way to do
that. We have to teach them the gospel. Obviously, there all kinds
of ways we can do that. We can invite them to our assemblies and
classes and they can be taught here. We can have home studies and
invite them. We can have personal one on one studies. We can have
conversations. We can all have our different ways to approach
people. We might just ask them what they know about Jesus. We may
try to turn physical conversations into spiritual ones. We may try
to drop in comments that demonstrate we are Christians and try to
open the door. We may ask if they read their Bibles. I don’t
really care what approach you take (so long as it is scriptural),
but we must make some approach. C.
We have to ask ourselves, what are we doing to try to save
the lost? What are we doing to open doors with others? What are we
doing to have conversation with sinners? If we want to fulfill the
mission of Jesus, we have to plant and water so God can give the
increase. I guarantee, if we plant and water, God will give
increase. Conclusion: Jesus went into Zacchaeus’ house. He went to eat with a sinner, but He left the house of a saved man. We may have thought a man like Zacchaeus was beyond hope. But Jesus knew His job to seek and save the lost and He simply did it. He did not prejudge; He just sought, taught and saved. We need to carry on His mission. Who are we seeking? Who are we saving?
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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