Sinners Need Jesus

Sermon from CCM Fallowfield

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LISTEN

This sermon was preached by Andy Wisdom at the Fallowfield site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 6th October 2019.

SERIES

 

This message was part of the ‘How to Pray’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Fallowfield in early 2018. The full series included the following sermons:

 

BIBLE VERSES

This sermon was based on Luke 19:1-10.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

KEY POINTS

Profile of Zaccheus, the ‘Chief Tax Collector’:

  • People in society hated him, because of his job.
  • He’s described as ‘small/boy-like’.
  • Although unpopular, he’s in a position of power in the community.
  • Yet he’s willing to surrender his dignity by climbing a tree.
  • Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”.

Controversy

  • When a person encounters Jesus, controversy often follows (examples of Justin Bieber and Kanye West).
  • It’s easy to view people with murkier pasts than our own as less credible Christians. But Romans 3:23 says otherwise, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
  • Who am I to question God’s saving grace in transforming someone’s life?
  • The Pharisees wanted Jesus to eat with ‘non-sinners’ (like themselves), to ignore Zaccheus and write him off as a ‘sinner’.
  • But instead Jesus saves and restores Zaccheus.

Change

  • In the Bible, people don’t encounter Jesus and remain the same afterwards.
  • Zaccheus comes to faith — a presumed part of the story which actually isn’t in the text! But Luke tells another story about a tax collector being saved in Luke 18:9-14, so we can presume that’s what happens here too.
  • Jesus also recognises Zaccheus’ profession of faith (v. 9a).
  • Then Zaccheus evidences his faith. Faith produces a change of heart, and a change of action.
  • The fruit of faith in Jesus Christ is more than a feeling of ‘obligation’. It’s a deep desire to want to glorify God with our actions. That’s what we see in Zaccheus (v. 8).

MORE SERMONS

 

To see more sermons from Christ Church Manchester, you can visit our sermons page, or why not consider subscribing on iTunes.