Encounters with Jesus: The Sought-out Seeker

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 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."  So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." 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." And Jesus said to him, "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."- 19:1‭-‬10 ESV

The search

Zacchaeus was a short man. He wanted to see this Jesus. Rich, powerful men of this time wore long robes. They did not run, it was deemed undignified. But Zacchaeus did not only that, he climbed a tree. This is an utterly ridiculous scene. This tax collector was utterly despised by the people. Climbing a tree would have been like painting a target on his back. He must've been driven by something strong to endure that embarrassment and ridicule.

We don't know what drove him to go to such lengths. But we can speculate that perhaps he was lonely, felt the emptiness of riches, and heard about this man who befriended sinners. A man who had a former tax collector in his inner circle, a disciple.

Jesus was passing through Jericho. But he did not meet this tax collector by chance. He walked up to that tree and called this man by name. No introductions needed. Jesus knew this man and he knew why he was there. We may see that this tax collector was seeking Jesus. But Jesus was seeking him. Jesus seeks the lost.

The lostness is not being clueless. It doesn't mean that sinners are clueless. It means that they are without a home. They do not have a heavenly home. They are without a restored relationship with their heavenly father. That is what it means that people are lost.

The invitation

Zacchaeus does not invite Jesus. Jesus invites himself over. This is simply not done. What does this mean? To go over to someone's house and eat with them means that you accept them and commit yourself to deep relationship with them.

Why is this important? Zacchaeus was living a despicable life. He was a thief and not even considered human by society. Jesus invites himself into his life before anything has happened before any life change has occurred. We don't need to come to Jesus after we clean up our lives.    This is the gospel.

What does this mean to us? It is understanding who Jesus is and accepting Him joyfully. He is Lord. When we receive Him, we give him the master key to our lives. He now can command us in every area of our lives. We need bring nothing to this.

The church are those who are saved. So if Jesus is about seeking the lost, can we not seek them as well? Alternatively, are we like the crowd? Do we grumble and obstruct those seeking to get a glimpse of Jesus? Church, are we making it hard to see Jesus? Do we force people to climb trees to get a glimpse of Jesus?

How do we make things hard? Here's some possibilities... Do we hide our sin and our weaknesses? How does it affect those who seek Jesus? Two ways, they can feel that they must clean up their lives to meet Jesus. They have to be holy to find God. Or they can see through the act, the hypocrisy, and be repulsed. They want nothing to do with the hypocrites.

The declaration

Zacchaeus was extorting the people. Justice, in that day, would call for restitution of 120%. But he goes above and beyond, he would give back 400%. Why? This man chased riches. So what happened? The explosive effect of new affections... Jesus became his new affection. He found deep satisfaction in Jesus rather than earthly riches. He no longer needed earthly wealth in light of his riches through Jesus.

Encounters with Jesus: the religious reborn

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."John 3:1‭-‬21 ESV

Necessity of new birth

Pharisees were seen as not just spiritual men. They were seen as the pillars of society. Nicodemus came to investigate Jesus. There was many miracles and life changing sermons. He and other teachers came to find out the truth of this man, Jesus. Was he a cult leader? Was a prophet of God? They came to get to the bottom of this affair, but Jesus flips this agenda on its head. Jesus digs to the heart of Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he does not belong to the kingdom of God. This is utterly shocking. The Jews assumed that the kingdom was theirs by right of their birth. Nicodemus was a leader among the religious leaders. He knew the scriptures and taught others how to follow them. Jesus told this man that he had no share in the kingdom of God. Regardless of his knowledge of the law of God, his racial background, and his personal obedience of God's law as he understood them... It did not give him any standing before God. He needed to be born again. To Nicodemus, it was completely inconceivable that he was not in the kingdom of God. So here is the take away, are we in Nicodemus' shoes? Are we naively assuming that we are in the kingdom? This idea if being born again is not new. It was an idea written in the scriptures before Jesus was born.

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." - Ezekiel 36:25‭-‬27 ESV

How does this happen

It happens by the work of the Holy Spirit. Birth is not chosen by the baby. They don't pick their birthdays. Additionally, we are spiritually dead. They cannot bring themselves to life. So God brings us back to life. So how then are we reborn? The Holy Spirit brings our dead hearts to life to see our need for Jesus.

How does it work?

People coming to faith is a mystery. Back in those times, there wasn't a weather man giving meteorological forecasts. They have no idea when and how the winds will blow. So it is how this works in salvation, we cannot force this to happen in our timeline and with our own power. We cannot see the wind, but we can see it's effects.

Those who are born again have two big changes. Self-exposure & desires.

They speak of their own sins the most. They will speak of their own sins rather than the sins of others. They walk into the light and expose their sins, so they can walk rightly before God.

They change not only their actions, but their desires are changed. They are active in serving because they want to please God. The reborn love worship because it shows how they treasure Jesus. They don't love it because it makes them look good, or they can play music, or they like the music... That is the desire of those who are not born again. We see this in Nicodemus after Jesus' death. He demanded the body of Jesus. He wrapped it himself rather than allowing women to do it, as the norm. He did this because Jesus was no longer just some awesome rabbi, He was Nicodemus' treasure.

The first and the last Adam

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.- Romans 5:12‭-‬21 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Our solidarity with Adam

Adam is a real historical person. He is not a metaphorical concept. He was created by God, not evolved. Why a historical Adam? First, all human beings descended from him. This means that all humans are equal; we all are family. There is no racial superiority. It also points to why we need to be saved in the first place. There is this ripple effect. From the sin of one man, there is the spread of death throughout creation. Adam is the representative head of mankind. How does this work? David fights Goliath and defeats him. But Israel won. When Trump and Kim Jong-Un, they meet not as just interesting personalities, but as the leaders of two nations who are armed to the teeth.

Consider the children of infamous people. Larry Nassar has kids. They bear the consequences of his actions. They may not have done anything wong, but they are his children. Osama bin laden has kids. Consider the way people will treat them because of their father's actions.

Not only that, but we are not innocent. We inherit the twisted nature of our fathers. So it is with Adam. His sin comes down into his descendants. It is in our genes.

But there is another representative head. Jesus also plays the same role for all of humanity. There are only two who have a headship role for all of humanity. At the final judgement, we will be represented by Jesus or by Adam.

The Superiority of the last Adam

Even though they played the same role, Jesus is much, much greater. There work of Jesus is much greater than the work of Adam. The saving work of Jesus is not tit for tat. Jesus doesn't just cover Adam's sin. It covers not just the trespass of Adam and all the sins of the saints, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute. It takes us from enemies of God to being princess and princes of God's kingdom.

The Super Abounding grace of God

Jesus' obedience covers the sins of many and justifies the sinner as well. But what about the law? The Jews held the law to high regard. Paul says that the law came to increase sin. The law came so that we could see our sins more clearly. The law of God shows the beauty of God. But this same law shows us how ugly our hearts are. If we judge ourselves by "being a good person", we feel like we are good. But loving our neighbor as ourselves? That's goodness. Then we realize that we are not good. Our hearts are wicked.

But not only that. The law of God incites us to rebel. We push back against authority, not God in particular, but that is our nature. That is our sin nature. But God is not like that. Even though our constant offense and pushing away of God, He desires to pull us close. He is our Father and He wants us to come home. Parents want their black sheep to come home. So it is with God, even more so than any earthly parent.