Sermon Manuscript

What a great morning to be in the house of the Lord! I don’t know about you guys, but I have really needed some good moments of worship. The past few weeks have been nothing short of chaotic for me and my family. A lot of you know this, but my wife Emily just had surgery to get her gallbladder removed which meant she couldn’t lift more than 15 pounds. Well, all 3 of our kids weigh over that so navigating that restriction was nothing short of…interesting.

But when it rains it pours right? In the midst of all of this our garbage disposal went out which usually isn’t that big of a deal, but our dishwasher and sink run right through it and water was just seeping out from under the electrical components. That means no washing dishes, no bottles, no silverware, nothing. So I did what anyone would do and hopped on amazon, got a new one and got it replaced the next day.

Finally things are starting to look up until Emily opens the fridge and questions why it’s 47 degrees in there. Not good. We give it a few hours thinking maybe it’ll cool back down. It doesn’t. The fridge is absolutely not working.

Oh but don’t worry, the bus for my track meet only leaves in 30 minutes. So I pull out my phone call one of my friends and I am just franticly asking “can I use your chest freezer?!” So he comes over and we just start throwing things into bags so we can salvage at least a little bit of it. Then we put the meals people made us while Emily was down in our mini fridge so we can at least have some dinner. Fast forward a few hours and I get a text at my meet saying, “The mini fridge also isn’t working. All the food is bad.” We. Lost. Everything.

Talk about a low point. I seriously felt like the night just couldn’t get any worse. I mean what else could possibly go wrong. I’m trying to think through if we’re gonna need a new fridge, which isn’t cheap, what I’m going to do about dinner because we wouldn’t be back until restaurants closed. I mean this was almost laughable at how many things went wrong all at once. It reaches a point where you’re just waiting for the next thing to go wrong. Like things can’t possible begin to go right any time soon.

Every one of us knows that feeling. When things begin to pile up and it just seems that nothing is going our way. Sometimes you just have to laugh because it’s ridiculous about how wrong things are going, but other times it really isn’t that funny. You’re mad at yourself for letting the situation happen at all, frustrated someone else didn’t stop it, and it just feels like you’ve hit rock bottom.

That’s a rough place to be. Because it’s not always just a fridge going out. Sometimes it’s a crisis of faith, or you’re not sure if anyone really cares about you, or you feel like no matter what you do no matter how much worldly success you achieve, that feeling of emptiness just doesn’t go away. You feel like it just can’t get any worse.

I want us to take a look at someone who hit their spiritual rock bottom. Someone who everyone decided was too far gone to ever be redeemed. We meet him in Luke 19. You can go ahead and turn or click over there now. You see, this guy was the worst possible person these people could have thought of, and he sure lived up to it. He turned his back on his own people, extorted them for money, and he taught plenty of other people how to do the same thing. Yet when he hit rock bottom, everything changed. Let’s pray before we get into God’s word…

He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

Jesus was passing through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem to give His life for our sins. In fact, right before this Jesus actually tells His disciples about His death for the third time. And, after Jericho He will reach His final destination. Jesus knows He’s in His final moments.

Zacchaeus is what we would politely call a scumbag. Not because he’s rich, but because of how he got rich. You may have heard of tax collectors before and these guys got rich off their own people. They would tell you that you owed $1,000 in taxes when in reality you only owed $700 and pocket the difference. No one liked these guys because they viewed them as people who stole their money to help Rome. Essentially extorting their own community for their own gain.

But Zacchaeus was no ordinary tax collector, he was the chief tax collector. He’s been doing this a long time, and he’s had to work his way up to the top. All while training up the tax collectors below him to be just as scummy as him. Zacchaeus was hated, he was corrupt, he was selfish, he was everything they could hate personified. He had built a successful life that probably looked impressive from the outside, but nobody acts the way he did because they’re doing great internally.

Sometimes rock bottom doesn’t look like losing everything, it’s gaining everything and still being empty. Realizing that you’ve wasted your life chasing “success” only to become the embodiment of loneliness. But here’s the thing, Jesus meets us in our emptiness. You might be Zacchaeus today. Empty, lonely, “successful”, alone in your shame, but Jesus is willing to stop for you. Watch what Zacchaeus does…

3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

Zacchaeus completely humiliates himself just to have a chance to encounter Jesus. Rich people didn’t run like this, especially in public. If you had power you got to walk slow because everyone would wait on you. You didn’t have to hurry to a single thing. Let alone climb a tree! That’s not something any adult ever did. I mean, when was the last time anyone in here climbed a tree? It’s been a minute. Yet that’s what he does! He climbs a sycamore tree which aren’t very tall trees and their branches just sprawl out barely above your head.

Zacchaeus is not hidden in this tree. He’s clearly visible. Everyone sees his desperation. And yet he doesn’t really seem to care. This man of incredibly high status, whose image was everything to him, has essentially humiliated himself just to get a glimpse of Jesus. The man who had anything anyone could ever want was still seeking.

The crowd was content with watching Jesus from a distance. Curious, interested, maybe even entertained by what He might do next, but they weren’t seeking to encounter Him. Zacchaeus didn’t let his reputation, his past, or the opinions of the crowd stop him from pursuing Jesus. The crowd stayed comfortable. Zacchaeus climbed a tree.

Don’t watch Jesus from a distance. Don’t be content with just staying back and being near Him. Your reputation, past decisions, current struggles, none of it prevents you from encountering Jesus this morning. The first step toward transformation is often simple desperation. The willingness to humble ourselves before Jesus and admit, “Maybe I don’t have this.” Maybe the salary I thought would fix things isn’t really the solution I thought it was. Maybe I’ve gotten really good at looking okay while quietly falling apart. Maybe achievement isn’t the same thing as fulfillment. Maybe I’m exhausted because I keep trying to carry things Jesus never asked me to carry. Maybe I need Jesus.

And if you’ve ever been in a moment where you didn’t expect anything good to happen anymore pay attention to what happens next…

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Before Zacchaeus ever climbed that tree, Jesus was already moving toward him. And Luke has been building toward this moment the entire time. Right before Jesus enters Jericho, He tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector. The most outwardly righteous person the Jews could imagine compared to one of the most hated. Yet in the end, it’s the tax collector who walks away justified before God.

Then Luke gives us the story of the rich young ruler. A man who wanted eternal life but loved his wealth too much to surrender it to Jesus. Now Luke brings those two stories together in Zacchaeus. A wealthy chief tax collector. A man consumed by money, status, and reputation. Someone the crowd had completely written off. The kind of person everyone assumed was too far gone for redemption. And yet Jesus stops beneath his tree.

Jesus wants to stay in your house. Not as a guest, but as a friend. He has stopped for you and extended the invitation. Will you hurry to receive Him like Zacchaeus? Will you set aside your pride, your image, your reputation, everything for Him? The crowd believed Zacchaeus was beyond restoration, but Jesus sees someone worth saving. Jesus thinks your worth saving too.

But the crowd doesn’t understand His grace,

7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

The “good” people. The righteous people. The ones everyone would look at and assume they’re doing the right thing see Jesus’s grace in action. They see Him stop for this evil man. Watch the process of His restoration begin. Witness His unconditional love. And they’re upset. They don’t feel Zacchaeus deserves to be saved. After all, look at his past! He’s bad so good things shouldn’t happen to Him! They’re offended.

They’re offended because Jesus going into his house means He is fully accepting Zacchaeus as a person. Righteous Jews didn’t associate with sinners like this. They didn’t go into their house and share a meal! That would mean you’re willing to say this person is your friend. That you’re okay with them being associated with you. It’s offensive to them that the supposed Christ is willing to be associated with sinners.

Grace feels offensive when given to people we don’t think deserve it. You can be near Jesus and still resist His heart. You can be in this room surrounded by people crying out to Jesus, but if you’re unwilling to relent to His grace you’ll struggle to adopt His heart. When we begin limiting God in any capacity, especially in His ability to distribute His grace, we’ve forgotten who He is. Jesus’s grace, His redemption, and His transformation is for everyone. Not the “good” people, but everyone. The people we would never want to be seen with. The people we would like to see punished. The ones we believe to suffer. His grace is for them too. No one is too far gone for Jesus to restore.

Because of His irresistible grace, Zacchaeus’s life was changed forever…

8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

Transformation flows out of Christ’s grace. It’s not about fixing yourself first, it’s about stepping into His grace. Zacchaeus, transformed by grace, stands up and publicly declares his faith. There’s no hiding, no secrecy, and no image to manage anymore. All he cares about is that people know Jesus has completely changed his heart. It’s no longer about his outward appearance or about what others think. It’s about living like Jesus. The man who once built his identity around taking from people is now overflowing with generosity.

His rock bottom moment has turned into he greatest moment of his life. His willingness to humble himself before Jesus led to his transformation. Humility positions us to receive what pride keeps us from seeing. Receiving Christ’s salvation radically transforms our hearts. Nothing remains the same. We are no longer who we were, but are now transformed in Him. Encountering Jesus changes everything.

Which is why Jesus says,

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus stopped specifically for Zacchaeus. This wasn’t an interruption, it was His mission: to seek and save the lost. And Zacchaeus was lost. He was at his lowest point. You don’t abandon everything you’ve built up in your life if you’re not desperate for something more. Something meaningful. He was seeking Jesus, and Jesus found him. On the way to His death, Jesus chose to stop. To stop for a man everyone deemed evil, too far gone, yet this is the guy Jesus chose to spend some of His final days with.

We have a God who stops. Who’s mission is to seek and save the lost. He will stop for you. You are worth stopping for. No matter what you’ve done, how you feel, what others say, you

are worth stopping for. As followers of Jesus, we don’t want to become the crowd. We don’t want to stand near Jesus while resisting His heart. We want to encounter Him personally.

Encountering Jesus happens when we seek Him consistently. The crowd wanted to see what Jesus would do next, but Zacchaeus wanted to get close enough to actually encounter Him. There’s a difference between seeing Jesus and seeking Him. Seeing keeps Him at a safe distance. Seeking moves toward Him personally.

Pull out phone. A lot of people approach Jesus the same way they scroll through social media. Interested for a moment. Curious about what might happen next. Maybe even inspired briefly, but never actually pursuing Him personally. We consume spiritual things without ever truly stepping toward Jesus ourselves.

But seeking Jesus requires movement. It means stepping out of comfort, letting go of appearances, and leaning into what He’s doing. The crowd stayed comfortable in the background. Zacchaeus climbed a tree.

The crowd missed an opportunity to encounter Jesus because they didn’t like what He was doing. Jesus extended grace to someone they believed didn’t deserve it, so instead of celebrating, they grumbled. And we will miss opportunities to encounter Jesus when we become more focused on criticizing what He’s doing than celebrating the grace He’s giving. We must cease to grumble about the incredible things He’s doing.

Instead, we celebrate His grace. No one here is perfect. Every one of us has struggled with selfishness, pride, sin, and brokenness. And yet Jesus still stopped for us. So when we see Him redeem someone, we celebrate. We don’t grumble when grace reaches messy people because grace reached us first. We praise Him for the mercy He continues to pour out day after day.

But maybe as we’ve talked through Zacchaeus’s story, you don’t relate to the crowd at all. Maybe you relate to Zacchaeus. You know what it feels like to carry shame, emptiness, regret, or the sense that you’ve gone too far. And if that’s you this morning, Luke 19 is such good news because Jesus still stops for people everyone else has written off.

Zacchaeus pursued Jesus personally, and when Jesus changed his life, he let everyone know about it. And maybe that’s where some of us are this morning. You are not too far gone to encounter Jesus. Your shame is not too great. Your past is not too messy. Jesus still stops for people. He stops for people carrying regret. People exhausted from pretending. People who feel empty even after chasing everything the world promised would satisfy them.

Zacchaeus climbed a tree hoping to get a glimpse of Jesus, but instead, he encountered the grace that changed his life forever. Don’t just settle for being near Him, seek Him!

Copyright 2025 by Fountaintown Christian Church. All materials presented by Joshua Hahn are copyrighted material. No material may be copied, reproduced, epublished, uploaded, posted, or distributed in any way, without the express written approval of Fountaintown Christian Church. One copy may be downloaded for your personal, noncommercial home use provided that you 1) retain all copyright, trademark, and proprietary notices, 2) you make no modifications to the materials. For any other use, written permission is required. (Fountaintown Christian Church; c/o Joshua Hahn; P.O. Box 87, Fountaintown, IN 46130).