Sermon Tone Analysis

/When you get lost, it’s really good to know somebody’s looking for you.

/

After their ship sunk, two men swam to shore on a desert island.

Lying on the beach, almost out of breath, one of them says, “We’re lost at sea! Nobody’s ever going to find us!”

The other man replies, “Oh yes, we’ll be found.

I give it about 7 days.”

“7 days?

How can you be so sure?”

     “Well, first of all, I’m a Christian, and I’m going to pray and ask the Lord to rescue us.”

“You think just because you pray, God’s going to send a rescue team?”

     “Well, I’m also a rather wealthy man and I am a big believer in tithing.”

“OK, so you think God’s going to rescue you because you put a lot money in the offering plate?”

     “Well, maybe not.

But I have a feeling if my check isn’t in the offering plate this week, my pastor will come and find me!”

            /Every now and then you hear about somebody who gets lost climbing a mountain or gets trapped in a cave, or who just turns up missing.

Behind the news story, behind the official search and rescue team effort is somebody desperate to locate and rescue a person they love.

At some point, that person looks into the camera and say something like, “We will never give up until we find them.”/

/             If you were lost, who’d come looking for you?

/

*            */Probably somebody who cares a lot about you, somebody who loves you, somebody who couldn’t and wouldn’t rest until you’d been not only found, but brought back home safe and sound.

/

/             What would you think if I told you God feels this way about you? /

/            It’s true.

In fact, Jesus Christ says one of the main reasons He came to earth was to launch a search and rescue mission for you and for me.

In the story we’re going to read this morning about a lost man named Zacchaeus.

Turn with me to *Luke 19:1-10* and let’s learn a little more about God’s search and rescue mission./

*PRAYER*

/            /Zacchaeus doesn’t really look lost does he?

*V.

2* tells us Zach lives in Jericho—a very prosperous city about 20 miles from Jerusalem.

It’s a bustling metropolis, a crossroads of business and trade.

If you live in Jericho and you aren’t a beggar, you’ve got a good job that pays pretty well.

Zach is a government employee—a chief tax collector for the Roman government.

It takes a lot of money to keep the Roman Empire running, and most of that money comes out of the pockets of the people they conquers---people like the Jews living in Palestine.

The Empire hires locals to collect the taxes on their own people, which of course doesn’t sit well with the locals.

Tax collectors are considered the worst kind of traitors, because they not only collected the tax required, but line their pockets by milking the people for a little more.

Which explains why Zach is wealthy.

His job does more than paid the bills—it puts him in the lap of luxury.

Zach and his family enjoy the best life has to offer living in Jericho.

He wears Armani suits to work; his wife shops at Tiffany’s; while most people live on bread and fish, Zach and his family enjoy gourmet dinners in town.

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, doesn’t it?

Power, prestige, money, the good life.

Yet something is missing—something Rome or riches cannot give Zacchaeus.

He’s longing for something else.

How do I know that?

Because when Jesus comes to Jericho, Zach  drops all he’s doing.

He tells his secretary /hold all my calls, tell everybody they’ll have to pay their bill tomorrow/.

He runs out to the road to get a glimpse of Jesus as He passes by.

Zacchaeus runs into a problem: there’s a big crowd of tall people lining the street to see Christ, and Zach is a vertically challenged person.

He’s short---too short to see Jesus for all the taller people standing there.

Many some in this crowd know Zach, and maybe they intentionally block his view.

Imagine Zach turning this way and that, standing on tiptoe, hopping up and down trying to get just a peep at Jesus as He passes by, people snickering as they stand closer together, doing everything to keep this short, despised man from seeing Jesus.

Allow me to insert two important warnings here.

First of all, don’t ever get in the way of people who need to see Jesus.

Be careful that you never stand in anybody’s way with a self-righteous or self-centered attitude.

Sometimes a lot more people could see Jesus more clearly if we just got out of their way.

Secondly, don’t let anybody stand between you and Jesus.

Don’t ever let any mere human being blind you to the love and the grace and greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes you have to be willing to look past the crowd to see Christ.

Which is just what Zach does.

He runs ahead of the crowd, finds a tree, and shimmies up it like some carefree schoolboy.

*/Now/*/ let’s see them stop me from seeing Him! /

            Tell me: what motivates a busy, prosperous, powerful man to scamper up a tree just to get a glimpse of a poor, penniless Rabbi?

/Zacchaeus, why are you so determined to see Jesus? /

            I think I know why: /Zacchaeus feels lost.

/

            He’s got plenty of money, yet he his money can’t buy him a friend.

Despised by his own countrymen, despised by the Romans, maybe even alienated from God. /How can I find my way back to Somebody Who loves me?/

            He’s made his own way in life, but he’s having some doubts about the road he’s traveling.

/Is this really where I want to be?

Is this really the direction I want to go?

Is it too late to turn around?

/

/            /Zacchaeus lives in a wilderness of loneliness.

He can’t find his way out.

He’s stranded on an island of pride, selfishness, and sin.

He needs to be rescued from.

He is lost.

/Do you know the feeling?

Have you experienced the frustration of realizing that you’ve been traveling down the wrong road, and wondering how you can ever get back on the right track?

Do you know what it’s like to feel like a castaway, longing and hoping for somebody to go looking for you, somebody to find you before it’s too late?

/

/            Then you know what it means to be lost.

The tragedy is many people are lost in life, and they don’t even know it.

/

A teenage girl got caught in her car in a snow storm.

She remembered her dad once told her:  “If you ever get stuck in a snow storm, wait for a snow plow and follow it.”

Pretty soon a snow plow came by, and she started to follow it.

She followed the plow for about forty five minutes.

Finally the driver of the truck got out and asked her what she was doing.

She explained her dad

had told her if she ever got stuck in the snow, to follow a plow.

The driver nodded and said, “Well, if you want to keep following me, that’s OK by me.

I’m done with the Wal-Mart parking lot, now you can follow me over to K-Mart.”

/The first step to being found is realizing you are lost.

That’s not easy, but it is essential if you’re going to find your way home.

You can have a good job, nice home, big family, expensive cars and hobbies---in one sense, like Zacchaeus, you can be rich and feel important, and yet still be lost.

/

/You’ve got to know you’re lost, before you can find your way home.

Only then are you ready to discover the same thing Zacchaeus found ou : Somebody Who loves you has been looking for you./

/            /Why is Jesus traveling through Jericho?

He’s on His way to Jerusalem, where He’ll be arrested, tried, and condemned to die.

But He has to pass through Jericho, because He’s looking for somebody.

I know He’s looking because He’s not surprised to see this little man sitting in the tree.

It’s almost as if He says /Oh! *There* you are! /He calls Zack’s name as if they were old friends and invites Himself and his 12 disciples to stay at Zacchaeus’ home that evening!

Zacchaeus is overwhelmed with joy./

He knows my name!

He wants to come to *my *house!