Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Host: You're listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast. Travis Rutland is a spirit filled pastor and ministry leader who has been featured on International Christian Television. He serves as lead pastor of Liberty Square Church in Cartersville, Georgia and as president of Global Servants. His sermons focus on clear biblical teaching, practical truth and encouragement for everyday life. Each message is designed to strengthen your faith and draw you deeper into God's word. This podcast is brought to you you by Global Servants. For more information about Global servants, please visit globalservants.org now here's Travis Rutland.
[00:00:43] Travis Rutland: Well, good morning again. It's great to see each and every one of you and I'm excited to continue this series on different jobs in the Bible. So this morning we are, we're talking about tax collector. So if you want, you can begin to turn New Testament. We're going to be in Luke chapter 19.
I want to put a caveat on this message. When I was in the eighth grade, I went to a small Christian school and they required everybody I'd start it was a new school and they required all students to have a new King James Bible. And so my parents went and bought me a student edition of a new King James Bible. It was a paperback Bible and so I used it for that at that school and then just kept it with me as we continued to move. And so since I was in the eighth grade, that has been the Bible that I have used for devotional time. And I have preached out of that Bible for the last 20 years.
Over the last six months or so, that Bible has completely and totally disintegrated on me and fallen apart. And we have bought glue and tape and everything in the world to hold that Bible together. I know which side of the page certain verses are on. You look at the same book for 30 years, you're going to know where everything is.
So against every fiber of my being because of my ocdness, I bought a new Bible yesterday and we're going to try and preach from it today. So
[00:02:07] Travis Rutland: I'm just going to tell you
[00:02:08] Travis Rutland: I make no guarantees about this message at all because nothing on this page looks right to me.
[00:02:13] Travis Rutland: So I just, it's new King James,
[00:02:15] Travis Rutland: so I'm still there. That's the translation I like.
The good news is, the good news is the word of God never changes.
So that's a good one. Bad news is it doesn't look exactly, exactly like it's looked for the last 20 years. So we'll see.
[00:02:29] Travis Rutland: May have to.
[00:02:30] Travis Rutland: I kept the receipt. We'll see how this one preaches And I'm just warning you, if it doesn't preach right, take it back tomorrow, find another. So anyway, I think we'll be fine. Turn, if you will, to Luke chapter 19. I'm going to be in reading with verse one this morning. We talk about these different jobs in the Bible. This morning is tax collector. This morning is tax collector. Of course, that's a New Testament job and you got a couple of different ways you can go with that. But we're going to do maybe the one that you probably have thought of but don't hear a lot of messages on, to be honest with you. So tax collector, Luke 19, beginning with verse one, then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for Jesus was going to pass that way. Let's pray. God, I ask in the next few moments that you will speak to each of us, all of us. We want to hear from you. We want to hear your word for us this morning. Be with us in this place. Let your spirit speak to us. Deep unto deep spirit unto spirit. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Now, normally I give a little introduction, but I don't want to give too much away on this. I have a video that I want you to watch in just a second. It's going to have instructions on it. It's going to tell you exactly what to do. I just want you to watch the video carefully and then we're going to talk about it when it's over. But I don't want to give too much away of this video of what's going to happen. So basically, I just want you to watch this video, do what the video tells you to do. It's going to ask you to count the number of people wearing white T shirts how many times they pass a basketball. So all you need to do is count the number of passes that the people in white T shirts make. It's going to tell you that on the video. That's all you got to do. Please show that video if you will.
So I was so task oriented when I saw that video the first time that I was like 15. I got it. It's great. We're good. Everything like that. And then it said gorilla. And even when they played the video back, I refused to believe that it was the same Video. So I watched the video again from the beginning.
[00:04:43] Travis Rutland: So my question is, how many of
[00:04:45] Travis Rutland: you did not see that gorilla at all? Because I did. Not the first time. Yes, that's a bunch of hands. That's exactly right, because your task oriented.
[00:04:52] Travis Rutland: All right, now, that video is called
[00:04:54] Travis Rutland: a selective attention test.
[00:04:57] Travis Rutland: What it means is it tells you
[00:04:59] Travis Rutland: to focus on one thing and one thing only. And the problem is then you miss all the other stuff that's happening at the same time.
[00:05:07] Travis Rutland: So that is what so much of
[00:05:10] Travis Rutland: the story of Zacchaeus is about.
[00:05:13] Travis Rutland: I promise you.
[00:05:14] Travis Rutland: You have probably not heard a lot of messages on Zacchaeus.
[00:05:17] Travis Rutland: And if you know him at all,
[00:05:18] Travis Rutland: it's because you know him from the old VBS song.
[00:05:21] Travis Rutland: Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man was he.
[00:05:25] Travis Rutland: And so our selective attention focuses on
[00:05:28] Travis Rutland: how short Zacchaeus was.
[00:05:30] Travis Rutland: If you know the story of Zacchaeus
[00:05:31] Travis Rutland: at all, you know that he was short. You know that he climbed up in
[00:05:34] Travis Rutland: a tree to see Jesus.
[00:05:35] Travis Rutland: And then, I'll be honest, you probably
[00:05:37] Travis Rutland: don't know what happened after that much.
[00:05:39] Travis Rutland: You probably haven't read those verses a lot, because we have selective attention.
[00:05:43] Travis Rutland: The same thing is true with the story of Jonah.
[00:05:45] Travis Rutland: There's all kinds of important and theologically
[00:05:49] Travis Rutland: important things that are happening in the story of Jonah.
[00:05:51] Travis Rutland: But all we ever talk about is Jonah was swallowed by the whale. But there's things that God is trying to show us in that story of
[00:05:57] Travis Rutland: Jonah, and there's things that Jesus is illustrating to us about who he is
[00:06:02] Travis Rutland: and who we are in him, in
[00:06:05] Travis Rutland: this encounter with Zacchaeus.
[00:06:07] Travis Rutland: But if all we think of is
[00:06:10] Travis Rutland: Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a
[00:06:13] Travis Rutland: wee little man, was he?
[00:06:14] Travis Rutland: Then we miss out on what God is trying to show us in a more. In a deeper and more meaningful way. So that's what we want to talk about this morning. So turn, if you will, back to Luke, chapter 19. We're going to start right where we left off. He climbs up in a sycamore tree. He wants to see Jesus.
[00:06:29] Travis Rutland: Remember this? It doesn't say, he wants to talk to Jesus.
[00:06:32] Travis Rutland: He doesn't want to encounter Jesus.
[00:06:34] Travis Rutland: He doesn't want to have relationship with.
It's not like one of the people
[00:06:40] Travis Rutland: that is crying out to Jesus to be healed. There's no indication that Zacchaeus wants anything from Jesus. Remember the guys that followed Jesus around
[00:06:47] Travis Rutland: Jesus, please heal me, please, I have leprosy.
[00:06:50] Travis Rutland: I'm blind.
[00:06:51] Travis Rutland: Whatever it is, all Zacchaeus wants to
[00:06:53] Travis Rutland: do is just see him. But he can't because he's too short. So he climbs up in a tree, and that's all that is happening in this moment. Look at verse 5.
[00:07:01] Travis Rutland: And when Jesus came to the place
[00:07:03] Travis Rutland: that is the place of the sycamore tree.
[00:07:05] Travis Rutland: When Jesus came to the place, he
[00:07:07] Travis Rutland: looked up and saw him and said to him, zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.
[00:07:16] Travis Rutland: So he made haste and came down
[00:07:18] Travis Rutland: and received Jesus joyfully.
That's the first thing that happens.
[00:07:25] Travis Rutland: Now, I want you to remind yourself of where we know about Zacchaeus. He's a chief tax collector, and it says, and he was very rich. But as we've talked about before, when it comes to the idea of how the Romans collected taxes, I just want
[00:07:38] Travis Rutland: to remind you of this.
[00:07:39] Travis Rutland: The tax collectors made money on the
[00:07:41] Travis Rutland: backs of their countrymen.
[00:07:43] Travis Rutland: It is not how.
[00:07:45] Travis Rutland: As we enter tax season right now, you may or may not be super frustrated with the irs, but it is not how the IRS collects taxes. Is not how Rome collect taxes.
[00:07:55] Travis Rutland: Rome said to the tax collector, let's
[00:07:59] Travis Rutland: say I'm the tax collector and Matthew is a guy that's paying taxes.
[00:08:02] Travis Rutland: And Rome tells me Matthew owes 10 denarii. All right? So I know that I have to give Rome 10 denarii and say it was for Matthew, but Rome does not tell me how much I can collect from Matthew. So if I can collect 30 denarii from him, I keep 20.
[00:08:20] Travis Rutland: And all Rome cares about is the
[00:08:22] Travis Rutland: 10 that they are owed, and that
[00:08:24] Travis Rutland: is how taxes are paid.
[00:08:26] Travis Rutland: So they are telling you exactly what
[00:08:27] Travis Rutland: you need to know about Zacchaeus's character
[00:08:30] Travis Rutland: and who he was as a person. It says, and he was very rich.
[00:08:35] Travis Rutland: Meaning what?
[00:08:36] Travis Rutland: He was over taxing his own countrymen. And he could do it because he was supported by the might of Rome. If you don't pay your taxes, I
[00:08:44] Travis Rutland: send a centurion to kill you and burn your house to the ground.
[00:08:47] Travis Rutland: So you owe 10, I collect 30 from you, and I become very rich
[00:08:52] Travis Rutland: on the backs of his own people.
[00:08:55] Travis Rutland: That is who Zacchaeus was.
[00:08:56] Travis Rutland: And Jesus says, I'm coming to your house.
And the next verse says, and Zacchaeus received him joyfully.
[00:09:05] Travis Rutland: Zacchaeus received him joyfully. There is a switch in this moment, in this encounter with Jesus, in this time where Jesus says to him, I'm coming to your house. Zacchaeus has a complete flip. Before, I don't believe that there was many opportunities where. Where Zacchaeus was joyful. Maybe the only time he was joyful was when he was counting his money, like Scrooge McDuck.
Do you remember Scrooge McDuck who would swim in his own money?
That's what I think. The only thing that made Zacchaeus joyful. But he says, Jesus says, I'm coming to your house. And Zacchaeus is immediately joyful because in the presence of Jesus, the first thing is we receive healing. We receive healing in the presence of Jesus.
[00:09:50] Travis Rutland: And it is not just a physical healing.
[00:09:53] Travis Rutland: It is not just the people that cried out to Jesus, I have leprosy, I'm blind, I'm deaf.
Whatever the problems that they had, yes, those people needed healing. But that's not the problem that Zacchaeus had. Zacchaeus had all that he could ever want or imagine. He had everything. He had money, he had a nice house, he had a great job. He had everything he wanted. And yet he still needed healing. He had no joy in his life. He had no peace. He had none of the things that Jesus provides in the presence of Jesus, we receive healing, healing for whatever it is that we are currently struggling with.
Jesus over and over again.
It says, not only that, the people
[00:10:38] Travis Rutland: that Jesus healed, they were not just
[00:10:40] Travis Rutland: healed, they were made whole. There is numerous, numerous
[00:10:48] Travis Rutland: miracles where it
[00:10:50] Travis Rutland: says, and they were made whole.
They were made whole. They are healed. Body, mind, spirit. They have emotional healing, pain from their past. They are healed. They are healed of the spirit of avarice, the spirit of greed. That's what Zacchaeus had. How many of you remember the old short story?
[00:11:13] Travis Rutland: You would, of course, have seen it. A Christmas Carol. And it's about talking about Scrooge McDuck. It's Ebenezer Scrooge. That's where the cartoon character got the name from Ebenezer Scrooge and his worker, Bob Cratchit. And Scrooge is selfish and only cares about money and all those things. And he's visited by a number of ghosts on Christmas Eve, showing him Christmas past, Christmas present, and what Christmas future could look like.
[00:11:40] Travis Rutland: There is a scene, however, where the
[00:11:42] Travis Rutland: three ghosts of the Christmas before they show up, Scrooge himself is visited by his old business partner, Jacob Marley.
[00:11:50] Travis Rutland: I don't know how many of you
[00:11:51] Travis Rutland: remember the story or seen a movie. They've made it into a movie a million different times.
The best version is with the Muppets, I think. But regardless, watch whatever version you want.
[00:12:01] Travis Rutland: But there is a scene where his business partner, Jacob Marley, shows up and he's covered in chains and he's carrying all these lock boxes.
And Jacob Marley tells Ebenezer Scrooge, he says, this is my punishment. This is how I spend eternity. Because I was obsessed with money in the, in my life, because I was obsessed with riches and all of that. Now I am being chained to those things in the afterlife.
I'm not saying that that's an accurate,
[00:12:32] Travis Rutland: you know, prediction or an accurate representation of what heaven and hell looks like,
[00:12:37] Travis Rutland: but there is something of that that we need to understand.
Zacchaeus was obsessed with anything other than joy. He was obsessed with taking, with earning, with riches, with the job, with money. And it's not. This is not some anti money sermon. It is, do you have joy?
Do you have joy? Because the only place that real joy comes from is in the presence of Jesus.
There is no relationship. There's as. As. As much as I love spending time with Courtney, she is my person. She is my favorite person. We've been together for all. Married for almost 30 years. I love her. I love everything about her. I love spending time with her. All of those things are great but true, authentic, lasting joy. It's not. It doesn't come from her. It can't come from a relationship. You can't get it from your kids or your grandkids. You can't have it from a job or a, or any of those things. A possession. No matter how passionate you are about owning that vehicle, that car, that boat, that rv, whatever it is, it's not really going to give you lasting joy.
It's not really going to change your life. We receive joy in the presence of Jesus. Jesus sees the little guy in the tree and he says, zacchaeus, come down and go to your house and make ready, because I'm coming to your house.
And he made haste and came down and received Jesus joyfully.
Joyfully.
That Jesus changes everything. That moment, that encounter with Jesus changes.
Now I want to.
[00:14:16] Travis Rutland: I want to contrast this with another
[00:14:18] Travis Rutland: dinner that Jesus attends with, with also with tax collectors.
[00:14:23] Travis Rutland: But there's Pharisees there. So turn, if you will, to Matthew chapter 9. We're going to go back and forth between Luke 19 and Matthew chapter 9.
[00:14:31] Travis Rutland: Look at Matthew, chapter 9
[00:14:34] Travis Rutland: and verse 11, Matthew 9, 11.
[00:14:38] Travis Rutland: And when the Pharisees saw it, saw
[00:14:40] Travis Rutland: that Jesus was having dinner with tax collectors, a different dinner.
[00:14:44] Travis Rutland: And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your
[00:14:48] Travis Rutland: teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician. But those who are sick, do you see that?
[00:15:01] Travis Rutland: That's a direct connection to what happened in the life of Zacchaeus, the people. If you're. If you're sick, who you need is Jesus. He is the great physician. And it's not just because he makes. He makes it clear. He's not just talking about physical ailments. He's not just talking about disease. He's not just talking about physical problems. He is saying, anyone who is sick, they need a physician. And I am the great physician. As the prophecy tells us, by his stripes, we are healed. Healed not just of physical ailments, but healed of emotional, healed of spiritual problems, all of these things.
So the same healing that Zacchaeus receives when he comes down from the sycamore tree is the same one that Jesus promises to anyone who wants to enter into relationship with him.
He says, look, they say, why are you hanging out with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus says, because they're sick and they need to see a doctor.
He says, that's why I'm hanging out with them, because they need a doctor, not just for physical, but for anything that is happening in their life. They need healing.
And Jesus gives healing.
[00:16:13] Travis Rutland: It is in his presence that we receive healing, no matter what that might be. Now back, if you will, to Luke. As I said, back and forth. Now, Luke 19.
Right where we were. And now in verse seven, pages are sticking together. This Bible's in trouble already.
[00:16:31] Travis Rutland: All right,
[00:16:34] Travis Rutland: so he made haste and received Jesus joyfully.
[00:16:37] Travis Rutland: And when they saw it, they all complained, saying, he has gone to be
[00:16:42] Travis Rutland: a guest with a man who is a sinner.
[00:16:44] Travis Rutland: The same complaint that the Pharisees had in Matthew. When Jesus is having dinner, having lunch with. With sinners and tax collectors. I can't believe he's eating with this guy. I can't believe he's going to Zacchaeus house. Right? Verse 8.
Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, look, Lord, if I give half
[00:17:04] Travis Rutland: of my goods to the poor, and
[00:17:06] Travis Rutland: if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.
Now, in this moment, Zacchaeus continues his transformation. He receives Jesus joyfully. He's excited. He's full of joy. Jesus has begun the healing process inside of Zacchaeus, and now it continues. But now the healing that started on the inside, that manifested itself in joy, now it begins to come out on the outside. And Zacchaeus says to Jesus, he says, jesus, I'm so glad you're at my house. I'm in your presence. I'm in relationship with you. And we don't know what All Jesus taught him. We don't know what they talked about. It's a short story, but something must have happened. But there is no dialogue recorded. There is nothing that Jesus told him recorded. But in the midst of this dinner, where he says, come to my. I'm coming to your house. In the midst of that, Zacchaeus, because of the influence of Christ, Zacchaeus stands up and says, I haven't always done the right thing. I have stolen, I've taken by false accusation. What do we talk about? Taking more taxes than he should have taken, he said. So I. I'm returning it. I'm giving it away. I'm helping my fellow people.
So he. We receive healing, but the next part of that is we extend mercy. Now that flows out of us to the people around us. We extend mercy. We. We receive that healing internally, and then the internal change necessarily manifests itself outwardly.
Again, I want you to see what
[00:18:44] Travis Rutland: Jesus was talking about in Matthew chapter 9.
Matthew, chapter 9. Look at the beginning of verse 13.
He says to them that the people that are sick are the ones that need a doctor. And then he says, but go and learn what this means.
I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Stop right there. I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
[00:19:10] Travis Rutland: By the way, that's an Old Testament
[00:19:11] Travis Rutland: verse that Jesus is quoting. It's Hosea 6 and 6, Hosea 6 and 6.
[00:19:17] Travis Rutland: The only old Testament verse that Jesus
[00:19:20] Travis Rutland: is recorded quoting twice in the book
[00:19:23] Travis Rutland: of Matthew, the only one that he
[00:19:25] Travis Rutland: quotes twice in the book of Matthew, Hosea 6, 6.
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
[00:19:37] Travis Rutland: You see, there's a change that happens. I love what Jesus is illustrating here through this encounter with Zacchaeus.
Imagine if Zacchaeus had said, all the people they're watching, there's some of them have come in the house.
[00:19:53] Travis Rutland: They're looking through the window.
[00:19:55] Travis Rutland: Jesus is the most famous man in the Galilee. At that time, everybody wants to meet Jesus. Everybody wants to see him. They're all gathered around.
Zacchaeus is joyful. He encounters Jesus. He's changed. Jesus is transforming him. And he stands up and he says, lord, I haven't always done the right thing. So here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to give a magnificent offering, sacrifice at the temple to show how you've transformed me. I'm going to buy the best lambs and doves and bulls, and I'm going to give the most extravagant sacrifice you've ever seen at the temple to prove
[00:20:34] Travis Rutland: that my life has change changed everybody. Around the table would have been like golf clap, right?
[00:20:42] Travis Rutland: Because that doesn't help them at all. But what does Zacchaeus say instead? Look again at verse 19. He says, Lord, I give half of everything I have to the poor, and if I've taken anything through lying, I will restore it fourfold. And I promise you, the people at the table didn't get to give a golf clap.
Zacchaeus gets a standing ovation in that moment. Why? Because he has done what God commanded us to do in Hosea and what Jesus reiterates twice in Matthew. He has extended mercy and not sacrifice.
God says Jesus repeats what he wants us to be about. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. If we bring extravagant sacrifices to the temple and refuse to extend mercy to our neighbor, we have failed in what God wants us to be about.
Do you see that? That is a direct indictment of us.
It's a challenge to us. It should be a conviction to us.
Or it's not about.
[00:21:47] Travis Rutland: It's not about in here necessarily.
[00:21:51] Travis Rutland: It's about out there.
Out there.
Are you willing to extend mercy?
Are you willing to extend mercy to the people that don't necessarily deserve it?
The difficult people in your life, the difficult co worker, the frustrating family member, the people that drive you crazy?
[00:22:17] Travis Rutland: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Now here's the thing.
Extending mercy to people that drive us crazy is a form of sacrifice, right? It is sacrifice.
[00:22:30] Travis Rutland: It is a sacrifice for me to extend mercy to someone that I don't like that much. That drives me crazy, that frustrates me, that. That ridicules me, that believes exact opposite of what I believe, that makes fun of my belief system, of how I live my life, of how I behave, of how I talk. That insults me, my church, my family. That's really difficult to extend mercy. But if you can extend mercy to that person, you are actually practicing sacrifice because you are humb healing yourself and extending mercy to someone who doesn't really deserve it.
Kind of sounds like what Jesus did for all of us on the cross.
You see what I'm saying? So when we receive healing, the healing is not just internal for us out of our receiving healing, and Zacchaeus received him joyfully out of the internal healing, it then must manifest itself externally through the extension of mercy.
That I desire mercy and not sacrifice, that we're generous, that we're willing to forgive, that we're willing to.
It's the human condition and it's never easy. I'm not standing up here and pretending like it's simple.
Like just last week I Think it
[00:23:51] Travis Rutland: was last Sunday after church.
I wasn't at church. That's probably why this happened.
Me and Courtney had a little argument, little tiny argument.
[00:24:04] Travis Rutland: And then I had.
[00:24:06] Travis Rutland: I have to walk every single day so that I don't die. So
[00:24:12] Travis Rutland: I went and took my walk
[00:24:13] Travis Rutland: around the neighborhood, and I was just
[00:24:15] Travis Rutland: like, you ever seen somebody walk really mad?
[00:24:19] Travis Rutland: I was just going. And I was like.
[00:24:21] Travis Rutland: I was like, adam, in the Garden of Eden, this woman whom thou gavest me right. And I was just like.
I would just go in. I was like, I'm not.
[00:24:32] Travis Rutland: I could only see my point of view on that.
[00:24:34] Travis Rutland: It was a little bitty argument.
Then I came back and was trying
[00:24:39] Travis Rutland: to explain my point of view.
[00:24:43] Travis Rutland: She explained her point of view, and I realized that hers was just as valid as mine.
[00:24:50] Travis Rutland: That's what happens.
[00:24:51] Travis Rutland: And so what you can do is you can spend the next day or week or month mad at each other
[00:24:56] Travis Rutland: over that, or you can extend mercy to the person that you love.
[00:25:02] Travis Rutland: It's simpler to do because I've been married to her for almost 30 years,
[00:25:05] Travis Rutland: and she's my favorite person.
But what I'm saying is, I understand it's not simple.
[00:25:11] Travis Rutland: I'm not just standing up here saying,
[00:25:14] Travis Rutland: oh, this is such an easy thing to do.
[00:25:16] Travis Rutland: Zacchaeus had a certain quality of life.
He has just promised in front of Jesus that he's going to give away half of everything. He's got half the 401k, half the retirement funds halved, the bank account, half.
[00:25:31] Travis Rutland: It's halved.
[00:25:31] Travis Rutland: And then he says, anything that I stole, I'm giving that back four. So if I stole 10 from Matthew, I'm not giving him 10 back. I'm giving him 40 back.
He's not going to be very rich for very long.
Do you understand? But he is willing to make that sacrifice because he wants to extend mercy. And in extending mercy, it does require sacrifice. Humbling yourself, extending mercy to someone who frustrates you, It's a form of sacrifice. And that's the type of sacrifice that Jesus is calling us to be about. We are healed, and we extend mercy.
Finally.
[00:26:07] Travis Rutland: Then look at the end. He says, I'm giving half my money away. I'm going to restore fourfold if I stole anything. Verse 9, Matthew 19, 9.
[00:26:18] Travis Rutland: And Jesus said to him, today, salvation
[00:26:21] Travis Rutland: has come to this house because he also is a son of Abraham.
[00:26:25] Travis Rutland: For the Son of man has come
[00:26:27] Travis Rutland: to seek and to save that which was lost.
Look again at the beginning of verse 9.
Today, salvation has come to this house.
[00:26:40] Travis Rutland: All right.
[00:26:41] Travis Rutland: Now this is interesting and I think
[00:26:42] Travis Rutland: that we misunderstand it or we just
[00:26:44] Travis Rutland: talk about Zacchaeus being short and climbing up in a sycamore tree and we move on.
[00:26:49] Travis Rutland: He does not say today salvation has been earned.
He does not say today Zacchaeus has done enough to get salvation, to earn salvation that he has made himself saveable. He says, today salvation has come to this house.
Who showed up at the house that day?
Jesus. Jesus is not referencing an idea of works righteousness. So many times we misunderstand what happening in the story. Zacchaeus is healed. He becomes joyful. He extends mercy. He's going to give half of his money to the poor. He's going to restore anything he sold for fold. And what it sounds like if we misread it or misunderstand it, is that Jesus is saying now because of what he has done, salvation is here. But that's not how salvation by grace works. He says salvation has come to this house. Jesus has shown up and salvation is available.
And he says that Zacchaeus is going to be able to access the salvation because he's entered into what relationship with Jesus?
He allowed Jesus to heal him. Jesus healed him and so he extended mercy to the people around him. And Jesus says, now Zacchaeus has inherited salvation.
[00:28:11] Travis Rutland: We receive healing, we extend mercy, we inherit salvation.
By the way, I want to make clear I did that for a reason.
[00:28:21] Travis Rutland: We did not earn salvation. We don't use earned there. We didn't create our own salvation. We inherit salvation, a free gift from a merciful Father who extends grace through the shed blood of his Son on the cross so that we can inherit salvation.
Salvation in the form of Jesus has come to this house today.
But remember what James tells us.
Faith without works is dead.
He says, you have entered into relationship. Jesus has come into his house and he's been transformed and he's helping others.
But the salvation comes from Jesus and Jesus alone. The salvation doesn't come from the works that Zacchaeus has done. Salvation has come, has arrived, has shown up at this house today in the form of the Son of God. Look at what he says in Matthew
[00:29:12] Travis Rutland: now, the last time we'll go back to Matthew 9.
Look at the end of verse 13.
[00:29:18] Travis Rutland: For I did not come to call
[00:29:20] Travis Rutland: the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
[00:29:24] Travis Rutland: I did not come to call the
[00:29:25] Travis Rutland: righteous, but sinners to repentance.
[00:29:29] Travis Rutland: So who is repentance for repentance is for the sinners.
Who is repentance not for the righteous.
[00:29:38] Travis Rutland: Do you see what Jesus is doing? Though he's remember, because the Pharisees are the ones that complained about this in Matthew.
[00:29:44] Travis Rutland: So Jesus is putting them under indictment. What Pastor Chris talked about last week with the Pharisees, he says, the only people that don't need salvation are the people that have no need to repent, and the people that have no need to repent are the righteous. But they were fooling themselves about being righteous. They were sinners, just like the sinners and tax collectors that Jesus was having dinner with. The only way that we can't inherit salvation is if we convince ourselves that we don't need it.
There is no one righteous. The Bible tells us there is no one righteous. No, not one.
Jesus says, I didn't come to call the righteous, but he is basically insulting the Pharisees to their face because he's playing off of their own idea of their own inherent righteousness.
He's saying, you guys think you're righteous, but you're not. Therefore, you can't hear my call to repentance because you think you're too good for my repentance. So he said, you're insulting the sinners, but you actually should be sitting at the table with the sinners and tax collectors because all of you need the grace that I'm offering. Because we are all sinners saved by grace.
You see, we inherit salvation. We don't earn it. We don't create it. We don't make it. We don't do enough good stuff. We inherit salvation, but we have to inherit it. We have to take ownership of what we've done. Zacchaeus does. Zacchaeus admits it. I have stolen. I have lied. I have taken what isn't mine. I'm returning it. I'm transformed. I'm healed. I'm extending mercy.
Why is he doing that? He is not doing that to get salvation. He is doing that because he has been saved, because salvation in the form of Jesus has come to his house. So he is changed. He's transformed.
Jesus changes us.
He. That's.
That's how it's supposed to look.
I would.
I would challenge you this morning.
What. What does your.
What does your life after your encounter
[00:31:49] Travis Rutland: with Jesus look like?
[00:31:53] Travis Rutland: Are you doing the same stuff you were doing before?
Or have you allowed him his presence to transform you? Have you allowed him to help you
[00:32:03] Travis Rutland: extend mercy to people that frustrate you?
[00:32:06] Travis Rutland: Are you more generous? Are you practicing the gifts, the fruit of the spirit?
Love, joy, peace, patience.
What do you look like?
Who are you?
Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see a Famous man, that guy came to his
[00:32:22] Travis Rutland: house and Zacchaeus, his entire life changed.
He was healed, he was transformed. He extended mercy, and he inherited salvation through the Son of God.
Everything was different.
Let me close with this.
There is worldwide mythology that there are certain things that are unique to a specific place, a legend or a folklore that is specific to a certain place.
For example, the idea of Paul Bunyan, that's an American mythology, the huge lumberjack.
There's not a Paul Bunyan equivalent in England or the Sudan. There's not a Paul Bunyan equivalent.
Every place has its own mythology.
Every place has its own legend. But there are some mythological things that transcend international borders. They're worldwide.
[00:33:27] Travis Rutland: One of those ideas is something that is referred to, called by different names,
[00:33:32] Travis Rutland: but it's basically the elixir of life.
[00:33:35] Travis Rutland: This idea that there's some potion that you can drink that will make you
[00:33:39] Travis Rutland: live forever, that will give you immortality.
The older I get, why anyone would want that, I have no idea. Who wants to live for a thousand years? My goodness.
[00:33:49] Travis Rutland: But that idea, that elixir of life, it's a worldwide phenomenon.
In one of the oldest recorded writings
[00:33:59] Travis Rutland: in human history is from the Middle East.
[00:34:02] Travis Rutland: It's called the Epic of Gilgamesh. And in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one
[00:34:06] Travis Rutland: of the things that Gilgamesh, the hero,
[00:34:08] Travis Rutland: is doing is actually searching for the elixir of life.
In ancient Chinese writing, there's numerous ingredient lists to try and make this potion.
They had the idea that you could grind up jade and mix it with gold and a mineral called cinnabar and
[00:34:28] Travis Rutland: you could make this elixir of life.
They were radically mistaken, by the way, because cinnabar contains mercury. And drink a little mercury and see how that works out for you.
So their elixir of life ingredient list was tragically flawed.
[00:34:48] Travis Rutland: In. In. In ancient Indian writing, the subcontinent of India, there's Sanskrit, and in the Sanskrit, there's a word amarita, and it means
[00:34:59] Travis Rutland: immortality or elixir of life.
[00:35:01] Travis Rutland: And they're looking for that. So this ancient Sanskrit has this idea of the elixir of life. Europe has it as well.
The alchemy that came out of Europe, that they were trying to turn things into gold.
Well, there's also one of the.
There's an ancient fable in Europe called
[00:35:17] Travis Rutland: the Philosopher's Stone, and the Philosopher's Stone was supposed to give you immortality.
[00:35:22] Travis Rutland: An idea, by the way, an ancient legend that the writer J.K. rowling used
[00:35:27] Travis Rutland: in the first Harry Potter book was
[00:35:30] Travis Rutland: this idea of the Philosopher's stone. That would give you immortality, that you would live forever.
Even in the New World. It's found the Spanish explore. Ponce de Leon spent the last part of his life trekking all over the
[00:35:45] Travis Rutland: American Southeast looking for the fountain of youth.
[00:35:49] Travis Rutland: The fountain of youth. Ponce de Leon spent all of the rest of his life died in the New World trying to find what the indigenous people had claimed was the fountain of youth.
[00:36:03] Travis Rutland: The whole world looking for an elixir of life.
And they missed it.
Because there is an elixir of life.
His name is Jesus.
[00:36:15] Travis Rutland: His name is Jesus. There is an elixir of life.
Not only does it renew us in the moment, not only does it heal us. Not only are we made joyful in his presence. Not only do we understand that we are called to extend mercy to the people around us, it transforms us here.
But also Jesus promises this day, salvation has come to this place. It is eternal life, not immortal life on earth. Who in the world would want that? It is eternal life with the Father in heaven.
Jesus Christ is the elixir of life. He is what we have looked for since the beginning of the dawn of humanity.
Since the beginning of time, we have looked for the elixir of life. And it is found in this man, Jesus.
Today, salvation has come to this place that is his promise to us.
So here's how we're going to close.
[00:37:18] Travis Rutland: Very simple.
[00:37:20] Travis Rutland: Just a moment, Matthew. And the band is going to return.
[00:37:23] Travis Rutland: We're just going to have a time
[00:37:25] Travis Rutland: here at the front.
This is not necessarily a call for salvation. However, if you need to be saved, if you'd like to be saved, if you want to enter into relationship with Jesus, you can do that. The prayer team will be available if you want to come up and pray with somebody. But it's not just that.
Others may say, I need to be healed like Zacchaeus.
Some of it might be a physical healing, others might be an emotional or spiritual healing.
That's available too. But it's not just that.
Some of others of us may say, I'm not extending mercy to the people around me. I am not being transformed like Zacchaeus was transformed. I need to do that.
But it's not just an altar call for that.
Do you see? Because no matter what it is that all of us are going through in this place, the answer is Jesus.
He is the elixir of life that we have searched for.
If you need healing, call out his name.
If you need to be transformed and extend mercy, call out his name. If you need to inherit salvation, not because of what you do. But because of his grace, his blood on the mercy seat, you call out his name. Whatever it is that you're looking for, the answer is not found in legend and drinking potions. The answer is found in Jesus.
Zacchaeus gives us one of the clearest understandings of how Jesus transforms us.
Now in this moment, transformed and transformed yet to come.
[00:39:00] Travis Rutland: Today, salvation has come to this place.
[00:39:04] Travis Rutland: Jesus is here.
Whatever your need, whatever the problem, whatever the issue, he is the answer.
Come to the front and call out his name.
[00:39:16] Travis Rutland: Let's pray.
[00:39:18] Travis Rutland: God ask that you finish this message
[00:39:20] Travis Rutland: in the hearts of every person here.
[00:39:23] Travis Rutland: God asks you would move in this place.
We need you.
We need God. We need your son.
We need the presence of Jesus. We need the power of Jesus. We need the transformational healing of Jesus.
So when I say amen to this prayer, whatever it is that you need, whatever the problem, the issue, I encourage you. Come to the front, call out his name.
He transforms. He heals. He changes. He is salvation. He is everlasting life. He is eternity.
He has come not for the righteous, of course, there are none.
He has come. That sinners might inherit salvation, that sinners might be transformed and healed.
[00:40:13] Travis Rutland: We can all access the power that is Jesus.
Just come to the front, call out his name.
[00:40:21] Travis Rutland: In Jesus name, we pray.
[00:40:23] Travis Rutland: The strong son of God.
[00:40:25] Travis Rutland: Amen. And amen.
[00:40:28] Host: Thank you for listening to the Travis Rutland Podcast.
If you enjoyed this message and you're in the Cartersville, Georgia area, we invite you to join us at Liberty Square Church. You can also watch online and connect with us on Facebook and YouTube. We'll see you next week for another message from Travis Rutland.
