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Who is Your Zacchaeus? You
Need a Reject11 Indispensable Relationships You Can’t Be Without!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Rev. Taft Q. Heatley
Ray of Hope Christian Church
“If tax collectors were bad, the chief tax collector was the
baddest of the bad, the chief of sinners, the sinner supreme, the ultimate social
outcast”
Jesus’ lineage was full of skeletons
Noah – Genesis 9:21 Abraham – Genesis 12:10-16 Jacob – Genesis 27 Rahab – Joshua 2:1 Ruth the Moabitess – Ruth
Jesus was known as a friend of sinners
Peter Mary Magdalene Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4 The Thief on the Cross
Most of all the 11 (indispensable
relationships) have something to give you;
Zacchaeus requires something from you.
Five (5) Aspects of Zacchaeus that Invite Your Response-Ability:
1. Remember that a Zacchaeus is someone who is “up a tree”
a. Misplaced, disgraced, isolated and ashamed either socially, mentally, physically or economically
b. They are people you would not normally want around
c. We are all messed up and mess up d. Romans 6:23; Romans 7:14-23
“Jesus didn’t relate to men as men and women as women, or to rejects
as rejects, but to everyone he encountered
as a person in need of love.”
“ With Jesus there are no ‘outsiders’ because no one is outside the reach of God…The one another connection
cannot be broken, only denied. We’re all up the tree,
in the creek, out to lunch, and looking for love”
Five (5) Aspects of Zacchaeus that Invite Your Response-Ability:
2. Don’t forget that a Zacchaeus is a one-of-a-kind iconoclast
Iconoclast is a person who destroys religious
images or opposes their veneration; a person who attacks settled
beliefs or institutions.
In a world full of the “me-too” and “mini-
me” mentalities, one-of-a-kind people—those
who break mass habits are of thinking—are
rare.
“A copycat Christianity filled with quivering
knee-jerk, butt-kissing, sound-the-same look-
alikes is the exact opposite of authentic
discipleship.”
Five (5) Aspects of Zacchaeus that Invite Your Response-Ability:
3. Be mindful that Zacchaeus is “out there”
We have to go looking for Zacchaeus…because they
normally do not fit in a church culture (they are in
a smoking sections (cipher), bar, or gutter…)
“There is no contact with Zacchaues and the other ‘outsiders’ unless you’re ‘out
there’ and start ‘living out’ not ‘living
in’ the faith.”
Five (5) Aspects of Zacchaeus that Invite Your Response-Ability:
4. Be aware that a Zacchaeus is Trouble!
A test of whether or not you have a Zacchaeus is
whether you are now taking criticism for
making room in your life for one of these
unperfumed personalities.
The truth is a Zacchaeus doesn’t just disturb you others, they rub you the
wrong way too sometimes…they are
unpredictable.
Five (5) Aspects of Zacchaeus that Invite Your Response-Ability:
5. Don’t overlook the reality that a Zacchaeus is inefficient. But his/her inefficiency can reshape you in the image of Christ.
You need a person who is mocked by others, but to
whom you stretch a healing, helping hand
partly because only their hand can deliver you from worshipping at the foot of
the god of efficiency.
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