17/7/09 Mantle Youth Ministries Ps. Clinton
Luke 19:1-10
We are going to teach you how you can have an encounter with God as often as you desire!
Before we get started there's a few things we have to understand. Zacchaeus was THE Chief tax collector. He was also a man of short stature. small height, big money!
My friends what makes this story extraordinary is not him being short or him climbing the tree. It is extraordinary because he did one thing that turned the eyes of God onto him and turns the eyes of God onto us even today. It says in vv.3 he sought to see Jesus. He wanted to have an encounter with God. He wanted to know who Jesus was. He wanted to know God more! When we set our hearts on God like that, God sets his heart on us in a greater more tangible way.
Zacchaeus had a problem though. He was short and there was a crowd surrounding Jesus. He couldn't see Jesus because of his short stature and because of the crowd. The crowd represents all those things in our life that stop us from seeing God, from knowing who He is. The things of the World and Worldliness. Cares and worries, bills that need to be paid and deadlines that need to be met. Sickness and illness, hurts and pain. We, like Zacchaeus are sometimes short of stature, unable to rise above the things of the world that crowd our hearts and minds. Sometimes we just lack the strength to break through and see God.
But I'm going to give you what you must do in your life to not only see God but have an encounter with Him. Zac knew his problem so his desire to know Jesus, to see God, led him to a solution. Its the solution for us all.
In vv.4 it says he ran ahead to a place he knew Jesus would pass by and climbed up a sycamore tree. O' the magnificence of this verse! Firstly he had a desire to see Jesus. Secondly he knew the ways of God! He knew where God was going. He intercepted God. He went to a place where he knew Jesus would pass by. There he climbed a tree, he rose above the crowd in a place where he knew he would be able to see God and hopefully know who He is in greater way. My friends, to climb the tree is to rise up to God in prayer. It lifts us above the crowd.. above the world and its cares and obstructing view.
So to follow Zacchaeus we must run ahead of the crowd, we must set a time and place to pray, that we may encounter God. If you do not set a time and a place you will not be able to even get the opportunity to climb your tree because the Lord is hidden amidst the crowd. Time with Him is but one more thing on the list. He is hidden in the crowd. Your day will be filled with the crowd of cares and worries and the need to pray and encounter God is but one among the crowd. If you don't run ahead of the crowd, the time and place for your encounter will fall into obscurity and you will miss it. God will pass by and you will miss Him. Zacchaeus did not let God pass by. He may have been a short man but I say he was a great man! He ran after God. He scrambled, he pined, he climbed. Anything that was necessary to encounter Him and not let Him pass by. Is that your heart?
Zacchaeus made a time and a place to encounter God. That's what we must do. Make a time and a place to be able able to get ahead of the crowd. Then begin to rise above the crowds, that we may glimpse our Love by climbing toward Him in prayer.
In vv.5 it says "when Jesus came to that place". Jesus came to the place Zacchaeus had made. God will come to your time and place you have set aside for Him. My friends, when He does, you will behold Him and He will behold you. The very eyes of God will be upon you as you look upon Him. Draw near to Him and He draws near to you!
Jesus then calls him down and says "today I must stay at your house". Oh the great Glory of God!! This man who could hardly see the Lord, who only had a desire to know who Jesus was, Jesus is now staying in his very house! If you so desire to encounter God, to know Him more He will not let that desire go unanswered.
Hear! the house is symbolic of our bodies. We are the temple of His Spirit. God will behold you as you behold Him and he will come into your house and fill it with His presence. He will come in and dine with you. He will fill your body, His temple with His presence! Glory!
Be like Zacchaeus, don't let God pass you by, desire to know Him more, to see Him. Don't let the world and its crowd of cares stop you from seeing Him. Make a time and a place to rise to Him in prayer. Climb that tree. Fix your eyes on Him. He is passing by! It mentions in Matt. 6:6 that it's "The Father who sees you in secret...". He is looking for you. When you look for Him you will find Him and He will call you to himself and make a way for you through the very same crowd that blocked your encounter with Him. He will come to you and fill your house with His presence.
HALLELUJAH!!!!
When Jesus came to his house everything was made right. So it will be for you if you accept the Lord in a greater way into your heart and life and restore fourfold all the wrongs you have done.
So my friends, follow Zacchaeus' example and you too will have an encounter with Him as often as you desire.
AMEN!
