Title: Great Decision (Luke 19:1-10)
When a person makes a great decision at the right time, it is the outcome that determines the fate of that person for the rest of his or her life. Abraham's decision to leave his hometown and his hometown after receiving God's instructions and to leave his home without knowing where he was going, or to sacrifice his son at the age of 100 as a burnt offering, is thought to be a superhuman decision.
All of Jesus' disciples were people who made great decisions. The fact that the fishermen who made a living by catching fish left their nets and followed Jesus (Mark 1:16-20), after being called by Jesus and leaving their father's laborers in a boat to pursue Jesus, is not a great decision. can't
The incident where Matthew immediately followed Jesus while sitting at the customs office is also a great decision (Mark 2:14). However, I think that a person like Judas Iscariot may have become a traitor because he followed Jesus without such determination. In Matthew 26, Jesus thought a lot about whether to take up the cross or not, but he was determined to follow God's will and became the savior of mankind. In today's text, Zacchaeus made a great decision.
1. Zacchaeus before making a decision
The historian A. Yoynbee called the unhappiness of modern people the severance of humans from urban civilization. What can be used to cure the modern people who have to feel the loneliness in the crowd and poverty in the midst of the crowd, the break of trust, the break of academics, the break of morality? The loneliness does not go away even if they wake up, and the crazy teenagers are wandering around the nightlife, smelling the smell of bond or stimulants and trying to get drunk. It's not like I'm poor and I don't have parents. Perhaps this is a byproduct of the contradictory social absurdity of modern people. What was Zacchaeus like before he made his decision?
(1) It was called a tax collector. Jericho was a wealthy city. And he had many subordinate tax collectors. Therefore, he could have forgotten the years and lived as a hobby to earn money. But he could not escape loneliness and conflict.
(2) He was rich We do not know how much wealth he accumulated, but the Bible calls him rich. At a time when famines are frequent, a rich person would be in power.
But even with the wealth, they had nowhere to go. If you make friends with authority, when the authority leaves, the person leaves as well. Even if you make friends with money, if money runs out, people will follow you.
(3) He was treated as a sinner (verse 7) In verse 7, "there were many people murmuring, saying, He went into a sinner's house to stay." Several people treated him as a sinner. This could be said to be the point that tormented Zacchaeus.
2. The decision to meet Jesus (verse 3)
“I wanted to see who Jesus was.” It can be seen that there was a lot of trouble before he decided that he had to meet Jesus. He is a carpenter by his worldly status and is not in a position to deal with poor Jesus. Because he was a tax collector and a rich man. He could have asked his subordinates to visit him, or he could have called Jesus out loud like Bartimaeus or the Canaanite woman and focused his attention. Zacchaeus went up to the sycamore tree silently and alone, ahead of Jesus. It was because he was short and there were a lot of people. When Jesus knew Zacchaeus's name, he said, "Zacchaeus, come down, and I must stay at your house today." Verse 6 says, “He came down in haste and welcomed him with joy.”
3. The decision to use the wealth right away (verse 8)
Zacchaeus was determined to return the wealth he had collected from the people for the people. He gave up half his fortune for the poor and promised to pay back four times what he extorted. Ordinary theft only needs to be compensated twice (Exodus 22:4,7). It is thought that half was set aside for compensation.
4. The reward of determination (verses 9-10)
(1) forgiveness of sins (2) salvation (3) children of Abraham (4) joy in Jesus
Making great decisions can be tough, but when you do, joy and blessings come. I made a great decision to meet, accept, and receive Jesus.
We too will need great decisions for good works.