[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/deserved_rejection-got_accepted.mp3[/podcast] Sin has been defeated in your life. There is One in you who is greater than all your inadequacy. You are going to be blessed with new life. You will never walk in darkness when you follow Jesus Christ because He is the light of the world, and you will have the light of life (v12). Its good seeing everybody this morning. It is Palm Sunday. If you dont know what Palm Sunday is or what it signifies, or perhaps you forgot, let me remind you what the significance is. It is actually a feast commemorating Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As Jesus entered Jerusalem to face his death on Good Friday, he rode in on a donkey with people in the city proclaiming, Hosanna, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. As they shouted those words, they laid down Palm branches symbolizing goodness and victory in the ancient middle east. It is an amazing time that we should celebrate joyously and gladly because our savior is indeed coming back again and there should be celebration in the streets about it. This is the time you should allow your faith be worn on your sleeves and enjoy our king. This morning we will be looking at a piece of scripture that occurred right before the events of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I want to say that it happened a day before his home coming. Lets go to Luke 19:1-10. 1He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 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. 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. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. 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. 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. (Luke 19:1-10) One of the worst feelings is to be rejected, left out, over looked. Like have you ever been picked last for the team? Or, have you ever been left out of the power table? Or been excluded from lunch or dinner or a party? I remember, back when I was like in 10th grade I was left out of joining a group of friends because I didnt get into the schools they were at. Like, I wasnt invited to their parties, their dinners, didnt get their beeper messages. I want to ask, on a scale of 1-10, how big of a deal is rejection for you? What kinds of rejection bothers you most? The reason I am asking is because Im sure the only way you can empathize is to take your own personal rejection and see that Zacchaeus is as human as you and me and feels the same way you do on an everyday basis in his rejection. He was wrestling like you and me. Nobody likes being rejected, especially if you feel you dont deserve it. But now lets look at verse 1 and 2 of this passage. There was a wee little man named Zacchaeus, we know he was a wee little man because there is a Sunday school song about it. But the Bible says that he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. Heres the translation of those two sentences that many of you have heard before. Zacchaeus was hated. He had to bribe an official to get the job, and then he would take taxes that were owed and added some on the top for his own. He was a Jewish man who worked for Rome and as a result, he wasnt allowed in the synagogue because he was unclean from working with the pagans. From the perspective of the story, this is exactly the type of person that deserved rejection. If you need a modern day example: Edward Snowden, or a Chelsea Manning type person who goes and betrays their nation and the people they serve with. I get that they wanted to expose corruption, but the way they do was wrong. I dont know about you, but Zacchaeus, he was tired of being hated. He was tired of feeling alone. He was tired of feeling guilty. He was tired of feeling disconnected from God. He wasnt allowed to practice what he believed because of what his occupation, he was rejected spiritually as well. Do you know people who are bad at church? Maybe, they were divorced, or they were caught doing something stupid. They made a mistake. And then to make it worse, the church who was supposed to be their family rejects them. This is Zacchaeus rejection. He was rejected by the people who needed to accept him. Maybe youre like Zacchaeus and you look like you got it all. Youre rich, you have a house, you have nice shoes, you have a nice TV, a nice car, and people look at you and they dont know where you hurt. You have lots of followers on Instagram and Facebook, but youre really all alone. You may even be a strong Christian but youre hitting a spiritual crisis. You may be well-liked but you dont like yourself. Whatever it is, this feeling of rejection doesnt seem to fade away and you cant shake it. I am sure this is the reason Zachaeus does what he does. I want you to see and understand why the things in this story unfold the way they do. Lets go to verse 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. I dont know if Luke did this on purpose, but a lot of readers miss this on any given day because weve read the story so oftenLuke points out Zacchaeus climbed a tree for Jesus; Jesus would climb onto the tree for Zacchaeus and me. Zacchaeus was short, and we constantly fall short. Did you see that? Im sure the reason he wanted to seek Jesus in the first place was not because he was interested in the religious teachings or the historical significance of this man named Jesus. After all, Zacchaeus was excommunicated from the temple. He probably heard that Jesus accepted another tax collector, most likely an associate of Zacchaeus named Matthew. He wanted to see for himself. Its interesting to see that even though Matthew and Zacchaeus travelled in the same circles, Matthew never bothered inviting Zacchaeus out to meet Jesus. was probably disliked and banned from the temple for the same treachery as Zacchaeus. It always blows my mind that we, knowing the rejection we endure and live with for people like us, do little in the way of trying to make others who are like us feel less rejected. We dont invite them with welcome arms. There are people out there, who I always tell you that are your responsibility to reach because only you can reach them, only you can understand what they are going through. Only you understand their rejection, you are the only one that can accept them. These people are your calling. They are the reason you live and have life in Jesus. Zacchaeus just couldnt help himself from seeing who Jesus is, this man that accepts people who are rejected by all. But there was a barrier, it was the people. He couldnt get around the people. Did you know that whenever we try to find something, some place, some people who we think will accept us, we hit a roadblock? We hit a sea of people keeping us from getting to where we need to go, and more often than not, the thing that we do is stop trying to be accepted by the only person who can accept us. We give up. But there is a lesson we need to learn here: there is no such thing as dignified when trying to find acceptance. What Im saying is that there is no such thing as sexy in acceptance, it is do whatever and whenever to accept. We need to do whatever it is that we need to do, even if it is embarrassing or unbecoming. We need to run through the streets, we need to sing out loud, we need to climb trees, we need to do what people will talk about the next day at the water cool and stop caring what people think and say. This is the mindset of Jesus in verse 5; accept that you will be rejected everywhere else and be okay with it. 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. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. (Luke 19:5-7) I want to point out that Jesus called Zacchaeus by name. In fact, Jesus doesnt only call Zacchaeus by name, Jesus freaks everybody out by inviting himself to a party that he decided Zacchaeus will throw that every night. Are you kidding me? Can you imagine that? God self invites himself to your house and says that there is a party that youre suddenly hosting? Jesus doesnt explain anything. Jesus doesnt give any reason except that Zacchaeus has no time to be up on a tree, it was time to be accepted right now. This is what some of dont realize, when Jesus first entered our lives, He called us out by name and invited himself into your life. You had a choice as far as much as to accept Jesus because Jesus was ready to be rejected by everybody else for you, and for me. We are accepted and we should be acting like Zacchaeus acts in verse 8. We need to respond according to how much we are acceptedmoved in the same type of love and enthusiasm Jesus accepts us and our shortcomings. Zacchaeus gives half of what he has and then pays back 400%. I want you to think about how outrageous this is. Most of us could barely do 10%. The pious Jews in the first century did about 20% as a practice. Zacchaeus straight us said he was going to do 50% to the people who needed it. Thats overwhelming generosity. Could we ever give like that? Then there is so much love he feels for being accepted by Jesus that he is paying back his debts 400%. The law in the first century traditionally held that you pay back 100% and then give 20% interest. This guy is giving 400% back. Just think about it. It is an uncommon response. But this is exactly the kind of response you would expect having been rejected for so long and suddenly and for no reason to be accepted by the God. This Sunday, we are being accepted right now. Even if we are rejected by the world, the king who comes triumphantly into our lives, our Christ, the savior of our lives, accepts us. Jesus accepts us with his arms wide open. It doesnt matter if youre coming from a massive failure and shortcoming; or if you are coming from a minor indiscretion, Jesus accepts you for who you are and for what you are and all your OCD. We may believe that we deserve rejection because we are rejected, but Jesus accepts us into his kingdom by the blood he sheds for us. The reason Jesus came to Earth in the first place was so that he could find the rejected and unaccepted and accept them and give them a place to belong (v10). Salvation is here. God knows your name. He loves you. God accepts you through Christ. Palm Sunday, we celebrate the return of the king who accepts us into our lives. Come and celebrate this acceptance in extravagant response. We are loved beyond our imagination, its time for you to see it and experience and do whatever it is you need to come and seek Jesus. Lets pray.
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