28th Mar 26 | 12:21
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LUKE 19 1-10 SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 07 Building bridges
📖 Luke 19:1-10
21Nov2020 - *Building bridges* - _Luke 19:1-10_ - SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 7 – Bible reading: _Matthew 9:36-38_
Zacchaeus was not prepared to meet Jesus. That was not on his agenda at all. He simply wanted to see Jesus from a convenient spot and from a place from where no one else would know that he was watching Jesus.
Jesus had aroused curiosity in him. Zacchaeus had an emptiness that needed to be filled. He somehow knew that Jesus was enjoying that which he did not have. Then the most unexpected and embarrassing event took place for Zacchaeus.
_Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house."_
The Lord was now at the foot of the tree and was looking up at Zacchaeus. The Lord had come to seek and to save the lost. _Luke 19:10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."_ Jesus was about His purpose.
The Lord is the one who comes searching for us. He is always searching for us so that we should come back into the habitat of God, into the breath to breath relationship with Him and that is where we will have the Shalom of God.
_Psalm 139:1-5 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me. (2) You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. (3) You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. (4) For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. (5) You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me._
The religious leaders were not able to understand as to why Jesus was building bridges with sinners. The Lord explained to them that He is the good Shepherd, who goes after the one sheep, which is lost.
_Luke 15:1-7 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. (2) And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." (3) So He spoke this parable to them, saying: (4) “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? (5) And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. (6) And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' (7) I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance._
What must have happened to Zacchaeus, when Jesus stopped at the foot of the tree and looked up at him, sitting on one of the branches, is a matter that we will take up in the next few days.
For the moment let us consider the manner of conversation that Jesus initiated with Zacchaeus.
The conversation with Zacchaeus was a charming, disarming conversation. It was a conversation of two friends meeting after some time. There was no need for formalities and introductions. It was a straight, heart to heart conversation. It was a conversation, which crossed bridges and hurdles.
To Jesus, Zacchaeus was His. He was one whom He had created. Jesus was searching for him. Zacchaeus belonged to Him but had gone away from Him and he, Zacchaeus, needed to be reached, found and restored. This was the perspective with which Jesus began the conversation with Zacchaeus.
There was no fear or inhibition in Jesus’ approach and He was not troubled at all as to how Zacchaeus would respond to Him.
There is much to learn for us in the manner in which we should reach and cross bridges with those who are lost around us and need to be found and restored back to Jesus.
1. A charming, disarming conversation with people
2. A conversation of friends
3. A heart to heart conversation
4. A conversation that is based on knowing that the person is a creation of God
5. Based also on the fact that the Lord longs for this person to be found and to come back into the habitat of God.
Often there are several issues that inhibit us and prevent us from crossing those bridges into the hearts of the people, whom we are reaching.
_Matthew 9:36-38 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (37) Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. (38) Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest."_
The Lord’s heart is to raise up labourers. Labourers, who will have His heart and eyes and see people the way He saw them. The lost are all around us. Will we be labourers, who will continuously build bridges with the lost around us, as Jesus did with Zacchaeus?
*Thought to ponder*
```We have allowed ourselves to be so enamoured with ourselves that we are not fixed that we are here to seek and to save the lost.```