Bring Them Home

Scripture:
Luke 19:1-10 (NIV)

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Devotional:

Matthew 28:18-20 is what we call the “Great Commission.”  It states the following:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

When Jesus stopped at the fig tree to speak to Zacchaeus He changed his life forever.  Jesus came not just for a chosen few people.  He didn’t come to give congratulations to the righteous for being so.  Jesus came to seek out and save the lost.  He showed us that when He stayed with Zacchaeus.  The great commission tells us to go into the world bringing good news of God’s grace.  This wasn’t for just a chosen few but to everyone, to the “lost.”

Who are the lost?  Who do we reach out to?  Simple, the lost includes us all.  Everyone one of us are lost.  Why?  Because every one of us has fallen, we inherited sin from Adam and Eve.  The consequence of the first sin was passed down to all, the separation from God.    Thus each and every one of us is lost.  Christ came to find the lost, to show the way.  He died so that we might be restored.  Who does this include?  We are to reach out to the rich and poor alike.  We are to seek the healthy and sick.  We are to share God’s salvation to everyone regardless of their social standing.  It doesn’t matter what someone has done, or not done.  We are to reach out to them sharing the gospel so that they too may be found.  

Since we are in Christ we are no longer lost.  We have been found, and saved.  Christ reached out to Zacchaeus.  Christ sent the disciples to do to the ends of the earth.  Now He is sending us out to seek the lost and to bring them home…