“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the Lost.” Luke 19:10 ESV1
Read Luke 19:1-10
Only heartless Christians don’t care about lost souls. Only narcissistic Christ-followers want to keep the Good News to themselves. Only selfish Believers don’t want to create welcoming opportunities for those desiring to get closer to Jesus. But gearing church services and activities to reach those who don’t yet know Christ is easier said than done. Contemporary music can initiate intimate times of worship, but it can also become pure performance. Casual attire can promote humility as easily as it can unholiness. Sermons intended to be relevant can meet people where they are but often don’t lift up them to where they should be. Limiting religious decor can remove distraction or it can take the focus entirely off of Christ. Seeker-friendly services can become fabulous shows of what man can do instead of what God can do–if they are missing one crucial ingredient. Looking more closely at a familiar Scriptural account can help us discover what that often-lacking element is.
“When the days drew near for Him to [complete His mission], [Jesus] set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). Jesus’ eyes were fixed on Jerusalem where He would spend the last week of His earthly life before “giving His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45b). On the way to Jerusalem, “He entered Jericho and was passing through” (Luke 19:1). Jericho was about 10 miles east of Jerusalem. Because Jericho wasn’t His final destination, I don’t think He was planning on spending much time there but the Father had other plans.
“And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich” (Luke 19:2). “Tax collectors were the most despised people in Israel … [They] were men who had bought tax franchises from the Roman emperor and then extorted money from the people of Israel to feed the Roman coffers and to pad their own pockets … [When a Jewish man] chose to be a tax collector, he … effectively cut himself off not only from his own people but also from his God … He was banned from the synagogue and forbidden to sacrifice and worship in the temple, he was in essence worse off religiously than a Gentile.”2
Though Zacchaeus had made some serious personal sacrifices to become a tax collector, he was good at his job and he became extremely successful in his chosen career. One would think that the wealth he had gained and the accolades he likely received from his employers would make up for his loss and would soothe some of the stings of disdain he felt from his fellow Jews. But as it turned out, all the money in the world couldn’t satisfy Zacchaeus’ deepest desire.
“And [Zacchaeus] was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not, because he was small in stature” (Luke 19:3). His lack of satisfaction piqued his interest in something, or should I say, Someone, different. But his money couldn’t get him to Jesus. And his physical abilities, or lack thereof, wouldn’t allow him the audience he desired.
“So, he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see [Jesus], for He was about to pass that way” (Luke 19:4). The sycamore-fig tree of the Middle East is different from the American sycamore tree. The sycamore-fig tree has a wide, knobby trunk and low, sturdy branches. The branches of the tree Zacchaeus chose would likely have spread out over the roadway. Thus, he would have been able to get quite close to Jesus without having to enter the crowd. I believe all Zacchaeus intended to do was get a good look at Jesus.
But “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’” (Luke 19:4-5). Zacchaeus couldn’t get to Jesus, so Jesus came to Him. “So, [Zacchaeus] hurried and came down and received Him joyfully” (Luke 19:6). Something happened in his short but surprising interaction with Jesus which changed Zacchaeus’ life forever.
The crowd who had been blessed with the opportunity to be near Jesus and to walk with Him missed what was happening. “When they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner’” (Luke 19:7). But Zacchaeus wasn’t the same man he had been before he met Jesus. He was ready to leave his old way of life and be identified with Jesus.
“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’” (Luke 19:8). Half of all Zacchaeus owned would have been a great deal. And depending on the number of people he had defrauded, Zacchaeus could have promised to give away nearly everything he owned. Zacchaeus wasn’t saved because he gave; he gave because he was saved. This sacrifice was evidence of his changed life. This act of charity would prove to be more satisfying than all of the sacrifices he made to gain these worldly goods in the first place, but what Zacchaeus received spiritually was greater still.
“And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). Zacchaeus wasn’t saved merely because he was a natural descendant of Abraham. Jesus said to others who were just as related to Abraham, “‘I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill Me because My word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have heard from your father … You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him’” (John 8:37-38 & 44). Sharing DNA with Abraham wasn’t the important factor; Jesus referred to Zacchaeus as a child of Abraham because of his faith. “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7).
Jesus continued, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the Lost” (Luke 19:10). The LORD had pledged, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Jesus had earlier promised, “‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened’” (Matthew 7:7-8). Zacchaeus sought something greater than he could achieve on his own and found Jesus. Jesus sought someone humble enough to know he needed something he couldn’t provide for himself and found Zacchaeus.
Jesus’ eyes were fixed on Jerusalem and the completion of His mission, but His heart was fixed on pleasing His Father. This attitude provided the basis for a successful ministry. On what are our hearts fixed? Is it specific programs or models that have worked for others? Or our hearts fixed on pleasing God? God has placed us each exactly where we are and has given us all that we need to reach those He has placed around us (see Acts 17:26). Are we following the specific plan He is showing us or are we coming up with our own ideas? The only way to reach the Lost with whom we rub shoulders is to be in Christ, having constant communication with the Father, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Anything less will keep all of our good intentions from being fruitful.
Jesus is undoubtedly seeker-friendly. The difference between the way He reached the Lost and how we often attempt to do it is that He never sacrificed truth and holiness. The Lost aren’t looking for more of the same thing they can get in the World with a little Jesus sprinkled on top. They are looking for something radically different, namely a truth that satisfies. Those who come to the point of seeking Jesus have already tried what the World has to offer and have come up wanting. We are doing them a disservice by trying to attract them in a way that mimics the World. What Jesus offers is completely unlike that which the World is proposing. He doesn’t placate the popular culture. If He did, He wouldn’t have been reaching out to Zacchaeus and those like him. Jesus is often diametrically opposed to the views of the masses. For our attempts to reach the Lost to be successful, we must offer them something the World cannot.
When we attempt to attract the unchurched by providing them with cleaned-up versions of what they already know, we are, in effect, preaching an incomplete and false Gospel. The Good News is not that Jesus polishes up people to make the best of who they are and what they already have to offer. The Gospel is that Jesus came and sacrificed His perfect life so that we could have whole new powerful and holy lives. The true Gospel message shares the necessity of giving up all of oneself and exchanging all he or she is for all of who Jesus is. The Good News is that no one has been too big of a screw-up to receive the new life Jesus bought for him or her and no one is so amazing that he or she doesn’t need what Jesus has to offer. We don’t have to be controlled anymore by the World, the flesh, and the devil, so why would we want our outreaches to mirror them?
Our seeker-friendly opportunities are futile when our plans overshadow God’s. They lack potency when they are not in contrast to the World. And they are pointless when the whole Gospel is not presented. But they are absolutely useless and an insult to God when they miss the most important component!
You see, Zacchaeus wasn’t the only seeker in this passage. And the curious unsaved aren’t the only ones searching at our outreach activities and services. Jesus is the Ultimate Seeker. He came to save the separated, the wandering, and those who feel useless. He came to advocate for the loser, the defeated, the destroyed, and the distracted. He is the deep desire of the distraught, the desperate, and the hopeless. It is only through glorifying Jesus that seekers’ eyes are opened and the Lost are turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they can find forgiveness for their sins and a place among those who are being sanctified in Jesus Christ (see Acts 26:18). Magnifying Jesus is what introduces the Lost to their Savior.
Our seeker-friendly opportunities are unfruitful and unholy when they do not honor Jesus above all. When our focus is on the seeker with a lower-case “s”, instead of the Seeker with the capital “S”, we are missing the most important ingredient. Without this element, everyone loses.
1 Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.