Generosity in Power
Sermon Notes
Introduction:
Hey everybody my name’s Louis I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening, it’s great to gather with you both onsite and online. At this time we can dismiss the children to children’s church. If you didn’t get to check your child in, please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back and they’d be more than happy to assist you with that...A few weeks ago we started a 4 wk teaching series called Outward, which is about developing a culture of generosity. We’re taking a short break from The Story series to teach on generosity. In the 1st week we talked about being generous with hospitality and forgiveness in relationships. In the 2nd week we talked about being generous toward serving others. This 3rd week we’re talking about being generous with the use of our power, because we all have roles that put us in positions of power and influence over others.
For example some of you have power and influence in your family as a parent, an older sibling, an older relative like an Aunt or Uncle. Some of you have power and influence in your job as a business owner, a manager, a lead employee. Some of you have power and influence in society based on your salary, especially compared to the homeless in our city. See the question isn’t do you have roles that put you in positions of power and influence, it’s are you being generouswith the power and influence you have? Are you using your power and influence to help others? That’s what we’re talking about today, so let’s turn to Luke 19 and get into it. If you open the bible to the middle, keep turning right, you’ll find Luke. We’ll be in Luke 19:1-10, and title of today’s message is Generosity in Power. The big idea is generosity includes using your power and influence to help others...Generosity includes using your power and influence to help others.
Context:
Here’s your context. Jesus and his disciples have been preaching the gospel and serving others as they’re traveling to Jerusalem. As they’re passing through Jericho, Jesus meets a guy who’s been abusing his power and influence to get rich off others. But in ch 19 we’ll see this guy go from abusing his power and influence, to generously using his power and influence to help others. We’ll see him do what we talked about last week. He grows in generosity by stepping toward Jesus, stepping away from himself, and stepping outward toward others. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Luke 19:1-10 states, “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.” So Zacchaeus is a rich guy who has power and influence in society being a chief tax collector. During this time the Roman Empire was in control of this region, and to fund the empire they’d heavily tax all nations under their control. The Jews opposed these taxes, but the Romans forced them to pay it. Tax collectors were Jews who chose to work for the Romans, so other Jews hated them, they viewed them as traitors for working for the Romans. They also hated them because tax collectors became rich by ripping off other Jews, charging higher tax rates than the Romans required, then pocketing the extra money for themselves. The Romans didn’t care as long as Rome received its cut. So they’d charge an extra percentage, give Rome their cut, and then pocket the rest for themselves getting rich off their own people. It was a shady job, a shady abuse of power, and Zacchaeus is one of them. The text tells us he was a tax collector who abused his power, to make himself rich.
Again vs. 2, “There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. 4 So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since Jesus was about to pass that way.” Notice it says two times that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, which gives us a glimpse into his motivation for coming to Jesus. He isn’t coming to Jesus because he’s in a crisis or because he desperately needs something from Jesus. He’s simply coming to see who Jesus was. The bible often records people coming to Jesus to get something from him. They want him to heal them, heal their family member, meet their needs. But in this case it doesn’t mention a single thing Zacchaeus is coming to Jesus for, he just wants to see who Jesus was. He’s having a hard time seeing Jesus over the crowd because he’s short, and because the crowd isn’t making any room for him. They hate him and they’re probably boxing him out like somebody boxing out Labron James. So he has to climb a tree, and the fact that he climbs a tree is evidence his desire to see Jesus is genuine. I mean I’ve never seen a rich guy climbing a tree to see somebody, and you definitely wouldn’t have seen it in a Jewish culture like this! They would’ve considered it undignified for a rich guy to climb a tree like this. They would’ve mocked him for it, especially with him being a despised tax collector. So the fact he’s a rich prominent man willing to climb the tree despite all the heckling and humiliation, is evidence his desire to see Jesus is genuine.
This is important because some people don’t seek Jesus for who he is, they seek Jesus for what he can do. They don’t seek Jesus because they want to have a genuine relationship with him, they seek Jesus only for what he can do for them. There’s nothing wrong with asking Jesus to meet your needs, but it’s a superficial relationship if the only reason you’re seeking Jesus is for him to meet your needs. I mean what happens if he doesn’t meet your needs?...What happens if he doesn’t do what you want?...You’ll just dip out on your superficial relationship with him. It’s because seeking him for what he can do, is more important to you than seeking him for who he is. It happens a lot in East Orlando because we have a lot of nominal Christians, we have a lot of people who have superficial relationships with Jesus. They say they love Jesus, but as soon as he doesn’t do what they want, or as soon as something bad happens in their life, they dip out on him. But the issue isn’t Jesus, it’s that they had a superficial relationship with Jesus. The issue is they didn’t really want Jesus for who he is, they just wanted Jesus for what he can do. So if you want to have a genuine relationship with Jesus, then seek him for who he is like Zacchaeus, instead of only seeking him for what he can do. Zacchaeus just wants to see who Jesus was.
Again vs. 3, “He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. 4 So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since Jesus was about to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, because today it’s necessary for me to stay at your house.’ 6 So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. 7 All who saw it began to complain, ‘He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.’” When Jesus says I’ll stay at your house, it means so much more in their culture than it does in ours. In their culture when somebody invites you into their house, it’s a sign of friendship, a sign they’re inviting you into their life. So when Jesus says I’ll stay at your house, what he’s doing is offering Zacchaeus friendship, which is why the crowd complains! They can’t believe Jesus is willing to offer friendship and stay in the house of a sinful tax collector. But Jesus doesn’t follow the crowd, he doesn’t say “Zacchaeus I’ll come into your house, I’ll become friends with you, but only after you clean up your life.” Instead he says “I’ll come into your house, I’ll become friends with you, even though you haven’t cleaned up your life.” This means you don’t ever have to hesitate or flinch coming to Jesus, even when you sin. Sometimes when we sin we hesitate, we flinch coming to Jesus. We think we’re too sinful, too shameful to approach him, and we have to first clean up our lives. But Jesus comes to Zacchaeus before he cleans up his life! Jesus doesn’t love you for who you are, he loves you despite who we are! He doesn’t love you for what you’ve done, he loves you despite what you’ve done! So don’t hesitate or flinch, instead open up your house, open up your life to him like Zacchaeus. But there’s something even greater than friendship that Jesus is offering Zacchaeus. What Jesus is really offering Zacchaeus is salvation, which Jesus says in vs 9-10.
Vs. 9, “‘Today salvation has come to this house,’ Jesus told him, ‘because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.’” Jesus says salvation has come into this house, meaning Jesus is that salvation. The reason salvation came into that house, is because Jesus came into that house. So when Jesus gives Zacchaeus an invitation to come into his house, to have friendship with him, it’s really an invitation to save and redeem his life. It’s an invitation to save and transform his life from the rich, powerful, sinful life he’s been living. He’s been living a sinful life abusing his power, and Jesus wants to save, redeem, transform him from that sinful life. But was he saved?...Was his life saved, redeemed, transformed by Jesus?...Yes it was, and we realize this when we study what happens to his life after he meets Jesus in vs 5-9.
Again vs. 5, “When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, because today it’s necessary for me to stay at your house.’ 6 So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully.”Notice Zacchaeus welcomed him joyfully, meaning he welcomed the invitation, he accepted the invitation to have friendship and salvation with Jesus. His heart’s filled with so much joy, because he knows Jesus cares for him even though everyone else despises him. He knows Jesus cares for him, even though Jesus is sacrificing his reputation to stay in the house of a despised tax collector like him. Zacchaeus welcomes friendship and salvation with Jesus joyfully, and that friendship starts transforming his life! It’s what happens when you have not a superficial relationship, but a genuine relationship, a genuine friendship with Jesus. It’ll start transforming your life! C.S. Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity, that Jesus didn’t come to make you nice, he came to make you new. He didn’t come to make you a nicer person, a better moral person, he came to transform you into an entirely new person.
Lewis states, “Niceness...is an excellent thing...But we shouldn’t suppose that even if we succeeded in making everyone nice, we have saved their souls…For mere improvement isn’t redemption...God became human...not simply to produce better humans of the old kind, but to produce a new kind of human.” His point is Jesus came to transform us into entirely new human beings. Jesus doesn’t just want to inspire and motivate you, he wants to give you something far greater than that! It’s a transformed heart that leads to a transformed life. Inspiration is a great thing, but it’s short lived. Transformation is better than inspiration, because it lasts a lifetime. Jesus doesn’t just offer you inspiration for today, he offers you transformation in ways that’ll carry you through tomorrow. What Zacchaeus experiences is far greater than inspiration, it’s real life transformation that turns him into an entirely new person. Check out what happens next.
Vs. 8, “Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look I’ll give half my possessions to the poor. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.’ 9 ‘Today salvation has come to this house,’ Jesus told him.’” When Jesus says salvation’s come into this house, he isn’t saying Zacchaeus is saved because he gave away his wealth. Instead he’s affirming Zacchaeus has genuinely accepted friendship and salvation with him. He’s affirming Zacchaeus has been saved and transformed. I mean Zacchaeus goes from being a rich, powerful, tax collector abusing his power, to being generous with his wealth and power. He gives up 50% of his salary, 50% of his possessions, and pays back 4 times the amount of those he cheated. Can you imagine giving up 50% of your salary and possessions? Generosity like that doesn’t happen, unless your heart’s been radically transformed like his. But he isn’t just giving up his wealth, he’s also giving up the rich and powerful life he’s been living. His entire standard of living is shifting, which means no more Crystal, no more Pappy, no more Filet Mignon, first class flights and first class life. When you give away 50% of your salary and possessions like this, it’ll affect your entire standard of living, which is why nobody does it...unless their heart’s been radically transformed like Zacchaeus. He’s giving up the rich and powerful life he’s been living, and it says he’s doing it joyfully, which shows just how much the love of Jesus has worked its way deep in his heart. Generosity for Christians shouldn’t flow from reluctance or guilt, it should flow joyfully from the love of Jesus working its way deep in our hearts. The point of the text isn’t to hate on rich people or to give up half our possessions. The point is Jesus offers us salvation and friendship with him. If we welcome that invitation, it’ll transform our entire lives.
Now like I said before, everybody has power and influence over somebody. The question isn’t do you have power and influence, it’s are you being generous with the power and influence you have?...Has Jesus saved and transformed your heart, to the point where you’re using your power and influence to help others like Zacchaeus?...How can you be more generous with your power and influence in your family?...How can you be more generous with your power and influence in your job?...How can you be more generous with your power and influence in our city?...
One of the things we’re doing as a church is something called Winter Fest. It’s an event we’re doing to help raise money for people still facing hardships from Hurricane Ian, and now hurricane Nicole too. See while most of us are living comfortable in our homes with wealth and power, there’s still people in our city literally having to take boats to get home...A member in our church has a neighbor who not only lost his house, he also lost his wife! His wife died the same week as hurricane Ian...A student I taught in this school, his father came from Egypt to raise his family here, but their house was flooded and they lost nearly everything...One of the coaches on the Pop Warner team I coached is married with 4 kids, and he’s still moving his family around to different VRBO’s, because their house isn’t livable anymore. I went to his house to help him salvage what little they had left, and there was literally black mold everywhere. It was so bad I could smell the black mold through my N95 mask...This is why we’re doing Winter Fest...We’re doing Winter Fest to help people in our city facing hardships like this. Most of us aren’t facing hardships like this, which means we’re in a position of power and influence to help them. Winter Fest is about helping them, because all the money we’ll raise is going to people in our city facing hardships from hurricane Ian. We’ll also be giving people invitations to come to our church on Christmas Eve, so they can hear the life transforming message Zacchaeus received. Jesus gave an invitation to come into Zacchaeus’ house, and we want to give an invitation for people to come into our church house. We want to create awareness that our church cares about the people in our city, because Jesus cares about the people in our city. It’s a great event, with a great cause, and a great chance to use your wealth, power, and influence to help care for others in our city. So don’t take the Winter Fest flyer on your seat and toss it, instead take it, sign up, and help support it.
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is that generosity includes using your power and influence to help others...Our generosity should flow from knowing our sinful souls were in a position of eternal poverty, but Jesus generously offers us salvation from his position of eternal power. Our hearts have way more reason to be filled with joy than Zacchaeus knowing Jesus didn’t just sacrifice his reputation for us, he sacrificed his entire life for us! But the same invitation he gave to Zacchaeus is the same invitation he gives to us. It’s invitation to come into our homes, to come into our lives, so we can have friendship and salvation with him. He’s inviting us into a relational friendship that’ll save us, redeem us, transform our entire lives. So let’s welcome his invitation joyfully, and respond generously like Zacchaeus