Salvation has come to your House

Sermon November 3, 2013   Today Salvation has Come to Your House

 

Old Testament – Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

If I quizzed you today you may not be able to tell me a lot about Habakkuk, the 8^th century Jewish priest.  His short book is very similar to Nahum’s.  The first chapter raises the whole problem of theodicy. Why does God not respond to the righteous?  Why does he not punish the wicked?  We have all asked those kinds of questions.

The second chapter gives God’s response:  Keep the Faith; I’m going to set things right.

The book of Habakkuk affirms that God can use nonbelievers to carry out His will.  For believers, Habakkuk makes clear that God is not obligated to have our doubts less intense.  We are obligated to “live by [our ] Faith.

Psalm 119: 137-144

Psalm 119 is a sustained reflection on walking in God’s ways, according to torah.  Reminiscent of Psalm 1 and Psalm 19, this psalm is an acrostic that celebrates God’s written law.  The “law” was seen as instruction and teaching, not as a legalistic mandate in a formal sense.

Although the psalm reflects a variety of Old Testament traditions, its main focus is on the Written Scripture.  The overall language of the psalm is personal and intimate.

The psalmist talks to God as one would talk with a friend.  The psalm serves as a teaching for later generations and is best understood, perhaps by those who view life as a journey, with God as a companion on the way.

The church so often functions like the cut man in a prize fight, patching us up so that we can get back out there one more time, but not really challenging us to change the way we think about ourselves. 

The perspective of the psalm is the reverse. Faith is what forms us.  God’s law-teaching-instruction is what tells us who we are.  To live to the rhythm of this psalm is to be shaped by it as a new creation.   This passage closes with: “Give me understanding that I may live” (v.144).

Epistle  2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

What stimulates our Prayers?  Paul starts off by saying: “We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing.

Paul prays for two primary things.  First, he prays that the Thessalonians will be worthy of God’s call.  WHAT Call?  It’s the call to follow Christ, to join God’s family, and to build the kingdom of God.  It’s a call to accept the discipline of Christ.

For these Christians who were suffering, it was a reminder that Christ suffered in order to show himself worthy of the calling God had given him.

Second, Paul prays that God will complete their good intentions and hard work.  This is a problem for all Christians.  Do our good intentions and our work for the Kingdom make a difference?

Paul is praying that God will complete what the Thessalonians desire to do.  Because we all have good intentions that go unfulfilled and hard work that never shows results, this is a prayer that every Christian can pray.

Paul’s favorite phrase is “in Christ.”  So that we live our lives in testimony of the power of Christ to overcome our weaknesses and shortcomings.

As Paul emphasizes, it is the “Grace of our God and the Lord Christ “ (v. 12.) that makes it possible to live the godly life – even in the face of persecution.

Gospel Luke 19:1-10

Jesus comes seeking to save the lost.

Zacchaeus is a tax collector and is very rich.  What does that tell you? He has been stealing for a long time from the people.

He was trying to get a glimpse of this Jesus. Being short he climbed up in a tree so that he could see.

Jesus locked eyes with him and initially invited himself to Zacchaeus house.

When the light shines into the darkness the darkness flees.  The darkness of Zacchaeus life had to flee when the light of Jesus shined into him. 

Zacchaeus said:  Look , half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything. I will pay back four times as much.”

This little man was despised by his fellow Jews. Tax collectors were known for taking advantage of others to make a good profit for themselves.

The Gospel of Luke has harsh things to say to the rich.  Early in the Gospel, Jesus blesses the poor but warns the rich. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6;24). Chapter 12 is the parable about the rich farmer wanting to build bigger barns. A few chapters later  Lazarus is in heaven and the rich man is in hell.  The story of the rich young ruler that walks away from Jesus because he had many possessions.

Jesus is on his way to face death when he faces this little tax collector.  It seems that Jesus is always welcoming the wrong people and confounding the good righteous people.  What a shock for Jesus to stop and give Zacchaeus the honor of staying as his house that night.. A social outcasts despised by all people.

The story of Zacchaeus tells us something about looking for Jesus, even as He is looking for each one of us.   It is comforting to remember the last words Jesus says in this story:  “For the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost” (V.10).

Our salvation is not contingent on our efforts.  This does not mean that we can be totally passive.  We can’t just go through life not thinking about how we can take a step towards Jesus while he walks miles to find us time and again.

As we try to follow Christ in worship, in our work lives, or in the marketplace, we can remember a happy saint of the church: wee little Zacchaeus.

We may not have to climb a tree to see Jesus above the crowd….Jesus will find us anyway.

If you are tired of struggling to see Jesus then look for your tree to climb. Jesus is the way unto salvation.

John 14:5-6 Thomas saith unto him,  Lord we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.

So, if you are still struggling trying to find your way. Climb your tree and see Jesus.  Today is the day of Salvation. Today Salvation is come to Your house.