I don't know about you, but I love that one of
my favorite things, and maybe I'm just getting
old, but I love that life has purpose. You ever
wonder or ever sit and go, man, I can't imagine
not knowing what my purpose in life is. Maybe
you're sitting here today and you go, I don't
know. Well, I hope that by the end of the day,
you're able to connect the dots of, hey, here
is why Jesus has saved me. This is what it's
for. Because the reality is Jesus could save
you and just go, you're out of here, right? But
he didn't. And he also knows that this isn't
a great place to be because this isn't what he
created it to be. That there's a lot of pain
down here, right? There's a lot of pain as we
walk this life. And so the reality is we get
to step into, we get to step into purpose. And
so part of this Christmas and part of what we're
building towards and part of what we're moving
towards as a church family is where is God's
kingdom mission and how do I join him on kingdom
mission? And so if you were here week one, you
heard Pastor Todd give a phenomenal message on
this idea. If I could pick this up, who's in
your circle? And you got one of these little
newspaper things, right? And the idea was, who
is God naturally placed in your life? And if
you did your homework, you began to go, God,
who is around me that needs some good news? Now,
here's what I love about good news, right? Good
news doesn't mean they don't know. It's not a
category of, well, it's only if you don't know
Jesus, right? Because you might have people in
your life that they're just in a really tough
season of life and they need to be reminded of
the goodness of God. And so they need some good
news. And so the idea was that you look around
and you go, who in my life is hurting? Who in
my life is far away from God? Who is in my life
has got brokenness going on? Who in my life could
use some good news? And then the goal was that
you write it down. You write them by name. You
write them by name on this little piece of paper.
And the goal was that this little piece of paper
ends up on your fridge. You know why? Because
I know you eat. Right. And every time you go
to eat, what happens? You see their names. Or
you drive a car because you got to get to work,
right? And every time you drive your car, go
drop the kids off, whatever it happens to be,
you see those names. The idea was that this is
carried with you from week one all the way through
that you are carrying the names of people that
need some good news. Week two, if you were here
last week, you heard Pastor Ben give a phenomenal
message on prayer. All right, give it up for
Pastor Ben. Amazing. And what I loved about Pastor
Ben's was, okay, now. Pray by name, right? Like
it's a privilege to take somebody's name before
the throne of God. There is power in prayer.
So you are taking both privilege and power and
by name, because it may be the first time that
person's ever been prayed for by name by another
human being. You get to take them before God
and pray by name. And this week, we're going
to kind of wrap all this together and bring it
to the next step this week as we move towards
our Christmas gatherings. But before we do that,
I got to tell you a story about October this
past year. So my kids decided they, and very
important you understand, my kids decided they
were going to run a marathon and a half marathon.
This guy did not decide that. I am not running
no half marathon unless something's chasing me,
right? So they decided they're going to run a
half marathon. So within that, We can stop the
video. I'll come back to it. So my daughter's
out in California. Sierra's out in California.
She's going to do the half. Pastor Noah, you
guys know Noah. Noah decided that he was going
to drive out there and run the full marathon.
So we go out there as a family. We're going to
cheer them on. Well, there's two ways that you
can, I understood this went on. There's two ways
you can cheer them on. You can go to the halfway
point. Right. And the halfway point was a couple
of blocks from where we were staying. You walk
down to the beach. And when you got to the beach,
you you hold signs. My kids made signs. Young
kids made signs for them as they're going by
all that good stuff. And then your only job was
to make sure that whatever they needed to refuel,
you know, that sludge that they take, you know,
is there they're running the gels and all that
kind of stuff. Right. And make sure they hydrate.
So you're just there to kind of hand them stuff
and go. I didn't understand at the time that
when you do that, there is very few people around
and it's an enjoyable experience because you
got to walk from where you were down to the beach.
It's sunny. OK, so that's that's one version.
The second version was you can go to the finish
line. Now, my daughter, Rylan, and our grandson,
Beckham, they were going to the finish line.
So I said, well, I'll go with I'll go with her.
Well, we spent 30 minutes just trying to find
a parking spot. Right. So we get down there and
I come to realize there was 10 ,000 runners in
the half marathon runners. There was 6 ,000 in
the full marathon. That is 16 ,000 runners. On
top of that, you had a bike race. And I don't
know how many people were in that. So when we
get down to the finish line, I'm sent with a
mission. And the mission was given to me by my
wife. Make sure you get a video. of our daughter
crossing the finish line. Yes, ma 'am, I can
do this. What I didn't anticipate is if you have
16 ,000 runners, that's a whole lot of people
that showed up to see them finish. And the way
this thing was set up, you could only be on one
side. You couldn't get to the other side. So
you are standing on this side and they're coming
by here. Noah finishes first, and Rylan's like,
she's like, will you take care of Beckham? I'm
like, that's the easiest job on the planet. Give
him here, right? So I'm playing grandpa. Noah's
finishing. Rylan goes to record Noah finishing,
and wouldn't you know, people are so kind. Here,
you can come just right to the front of the fence.
So she gets right up next to the fence, captures
Noah running. Well, now it's my turn. We track
the GPS. Sierra's coming, and I'm like, okay,
she's finishing. So I'm now standing, and I realize
there's no way I'm making it to the fence. No
one is letting me through. I'm eight to ten people
deep. And remember, my mission is what? Get her
finishing the race. So I got a video. Now, she
is wearing red shorts. You see anybody with red
shorts? I'm standing, holding my phone. We're
going, we're going. Still no red shorts. Still
no red shorts. Still no red shorts, but hang
on, hang on, hang on. The finish line. And there
she is. Yes. Got her crossing the finish line.
Now, if you were to grade my video and did I
accomplish my mission? Kind of. You did. That's
a guy if I ever heard it. My wife did not think
the same. Some of you have been bugged by this
ladder the whole time, huh? Why'd they leave
a ladder on stage? I can't worship. You see,
what's interesting is in that moment, what if
somebody came along and gave me a ladder? What
a gift. What a gift a ladder would have been.
What was I there to do? I was there to see and
experience. My ability to see and experience
because somebody was kind enough to give me a
ladder would have changed everything. Would have
changed the video because I wouldn't have the
sun on my screen so I couldn't see what I was
getting. It would have been right here. And I
would have been able to video and I would have
been able to experience instead of panicking
the whole time. What a gift the ladder would
have been. I know you're good church folks, and
I know you got your Bible and you're ready to
go. I need you to not turn to this passage, okay?
I need you to hear this with as fresh of ears
as you can possibly hear, okay? The words of
Jesus, he says this, Jesus said to him, today
salvation has come to this house because this
man too is a son of Abraham. For the son of man,
for Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.
For Jesus came to seek and what you were just
given in this moment is the purpose and the why
of everything that Jesus has just done before
this. What we are filled in on that Jesus, the
purpose of Jesus coming and the purpose of Jesus
having the intentional actions that he did is
because he was on mission. You might say the
same as me driving around for 30 minutes, hauling
stuff down to this spot, standing with a camera.
Why? Because I had a purpose and I had a why.
When Jesus talks about his purpose and his why,
he says, I am here to seek and to save the lost.
So everything that happens before this, we can
look through the lens of going, Jesus had extreme
intentionality to why he moved, how he moved,
and what he was moving towards. And so now if
you jump in at Luke chapter 19 in verse one,
you go, oh, that's the story. Jesus entered Jericho
and was passing through. Remember, he's doing
what? He's on mission to seek and to save who?
The lost. So he is passing through. Why? Because
he's on his way to Jerusalem. This is right before
he's about to get on a donkey and be ushered
into Jerusalem as king during the last week of
his life. So the intentionality of Jesus at this
moment is he is moving towards Jerusalem. Why?
Because he has come to seek and to save a humanity
that is lost. And so he intentionally moves.
Then we're introduced to a character in verse
two. A man was there. So as Jesus is passing
through, a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus.
He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
Isn't it interesting that just by you hearing
Zacchaeus, you're like, oh, I know this story.
I know what this guy does. And yet when you take
a slightly different look at something, it can.
Take on a different feel. You can learn something
different. I've taught this, I think I was telling
somebody, I've taught this at least twice at
Heights, this story, and I could not be more
excited to teach it to you today because there
is something here that I personally have never
seen. And what I love is it tells us that here
is this guy, tells us by name, his name is Zacchaeus,
and he was a chief. Tax collector. Okay, just
for sake of understanding kind of in our context,
think mafia boss. Okay, that's what this guy
is. This guy is the mafia boss. Now, how many
mafia bosses do you know? Well, you probably
don't know any, but at least maybe if you do,
let me know. But the idea of a mafia boss, right?
Like one of the things that they are unsettled
with is they struggle to trust. Why? Because
somebody is always coming for their seat. So
we can project into this story that within his
role, he was hated. People did not like him,
but he held a role of prestige. So he has a need
in his life that he is hated. Now, people that
are hated normally aren't the people that you
hang out with. So there's probably a connection
there that we go, man, Zacchaeus was probably
lonely. He was probably isolated. That one of
the realities of being hated, one of the realities
of his job is that people didn't want to be around
him because he was the one making their life
harder. And so there was probably isolation.
But if you were to see him because of his role,
what we know about him is he would have had stature
and status. He would have been somebody that
was... notable within the community that have
notoriety. And so there's this outside perspective
of him, but there's this internal needs that
begin to arise. Another one is that we learned
that he's wealthy. Now, my understanding of this
area and what Jericho was is it was extremely
pivotal in the collecting of taxes because of
the amount of trade that went through Jericho.
So the toll in that area was extremely high.
So when it says that he was wealthy, it is emphasizing
that where he is doing his job, it is also very
lucrative and he is doing very well at it. Well,
wealth brings its own issues, right? That then
if you're hated and you're isolated, then anybody
who's around you is probably around you and putting
up with you. Why? Because of what they can get
from you. So we could say that there's a relational,
deficit in who Zacchaeus is. He has some real,
real needs. Church, I wonder, let's not even
go outside the church because that would be,
that's easy pickings. I wonder how many of you
front that everything is good and the person
next to you doesn't even know it's not. I wonder
how many of you front, buy your clothes, Buy
your cars, buy your house, buy your life, buy
your job, buy your spouse, buy your family, buy
your Christmas card. You ever see Christmas cards
and you wonder what the story is behind the Christmas
cards? You ever see those? You're like, hmm.
They look happy. Was the picture actually happy?
If you don't smile right now, you know, one of
those. But isn't it interesting that we can be
around people and not know the needs of the people?
And I just wonder how many people in your life,
just in this room, now extend that to your circle.
How many people have real needs that we don't
even see because we're not moving at a pace to
see them? And he carries on. We're introduced
to another need. He wanted to see who Jesus was,
but because he was short, he could not see over
the crowd. Because he was short. We're introduced
that he has something that is a lack in his life.
This is a very tangible need that if you were
there, you could tell, hey, this short guy at
the back can't see over the crowd. It continues
on into verse four. It says, so he ran ahead
and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him. since
Jesus was coming his way. So he ran ahead. The
idea of running in those days, and if you've
been around stories from Scripture and men running,
you know that there was this shame to it, right?
Like you had to pick up your skirt to be able
to run, or your robe would be a better way to
say it. but you had to pick it up to be able
to run. And when you ran, it was awkward. The
only people that ran was not grown men, it was
kids. And so there's just this shame that is
instantly bought into the story that not only
is this guy have other needs, but he also now
is in shame and he's undignified and it's in
a public setting. Then he climbs a tree. Now
the sycamore fig tree, my understanding from...
looking at some stuff, is it could grow up to
60 feet. So it could be large. We don't know
the size of the tree that he climbed. But here's
what's interesting about it being a sycamore
fig tree, that the only people that climbed that
tree would have been children because it was
childish, which again is him just being undignified,
shameful. But it was also the workers that went
to collect the figs. So what you have in this
moment is you have him lowering his status, climbing
in his fancy clothes, doing something that what
was perceived was he'd hit hard times. He was
in trouble because now he was doing the role
of a worker. You have all of this happening just
in these few verses. That's the context we're
given. But it says that we're given his why.
And his why is that he wants to see. Jesus. Now
we hear the word see and we're like, oh, you
just want to lay eyes on him. Just kind of see
who he is. The idea of the word in the original
is that he wants to perceive who this Jesus is.
He wants to. have perception that goes beyond
sight to knowledge of. He wants to learn everything
he possibly can about this individual because
he's that desperate and that in need that he
is willing now to climb a tree, look like a worker,
be undignified. Why? Because he wants to see
Jesus' church. What a gift. If somebody came
along and went, hey, Zach, I see your needs.
Here's a ladder. You can remain dignified. You
don't have to shame yourself. But I would love
to help you see and experience the person of
Jesus today. I mean, what a gift. Just a ladder
would have been to Zacchaeus, right? And it carries
on. Verse five, when Jesus reached the spot.
He looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come
down immediately. I must stay at your house today.
When Jesus reached the spot. What do we know
about Jesus? He's doing what? Passing through.
He's heading towards Jerusalem. When he reaches
the spot, like was there an X on the ground?
Right? But when he reaches the spot. Isn't that
fascinating? Why? Because what we were told at
the end of this, that Jesus's mission was what?
To seek and to save the lost. He's on mission
for people. And he's aware that as he's going,
he's aware. Why? Because it says that he reaches
the spot and he looked up. You can put it this
way. Jesus was present. Jesus was present. He's
in the midst of what? He's on mission, kingdom
mission, seek and save the lost. He is going,
and as he is going, he is fully present inside
of the mission that he's on. I wonder, church,
are we fully present in the mission that God
has us on? Like I wonder, are our eyes on us?
Are our eyes on the things around us? Are our
eyes already on Christmas and presents and everything
else? And in the meantime, we are missing everybody
that is around us. And Jesus, throughout your
day, I love this, right? Like Jesus has been
going along going, X, X, X. And you're just like,
and you don't see one of them because you're
not present to the mission that God has us on.
I wonder how many X marks the spots God's put
in your life this last week. And I'm not preaching
at you. Don't mishear this. It's me too. I can
get so busy with, I got a sermon coming. We got
Christmas coming. I got this meeting to that
meeting to the other meeting. And it can be really
easy to miss the moments. He looked up and said
to him, Zacchaeus, come down. immediately. Zacchaeus
come down immediately. Jesus was urgent. Okay,
not only is he present, but he is urgent. Why?
Because he knows that he has come to seek and
save the lost, and he's heading towards the last
week of his life. He's conscious of time. I wonder,
for us, are we conscious of time? Like we live
like time is just this thing that we have an
extension of. You don't have an extension of
time. Neither does your neighbor. Neither does
the person you work with. You don't know. I opened
Instagram this morning. It's a mistake. But I
opened it. You know, the very first thing I saw?
Somebody I recognize that had passed away. And
somebody else mourning that person passing away.
Here's the point. Jesus was urgent. Why? Because
he knew his mission and he knew how time worked
and he knew what he was there to do. And so in
the midst of being present, he's also urgent
to go, hey, I can't wait, Zach. You got to come
down. We got to go to your house, dog. I like
there was an urgency to it. Like we got to go.
And I wonder, church, when we're going to wake
up and go, there's an urgency to the mission
that God has called us to. There's an urgency
when we talk about the 1 % and giving. Like I'm
sitting here going, God, the mission field is
so much bigger than my 1%. And God goes, unite
it with a whole bunch of others in the kingdom.
Do we have the urgency to go, hey, we're on mission
in every aspect because Jesus came to seek and
to save the lost and he was on mission. And he
was urgent. I must. is the next two words, I
must. That word must is required by obligation
in the original. I am required by obligation
to what? The next word is stay at your house
today. I must, I'm required by obligation. Wait,
what was he obligated to? To seek and to save
the lost. Everything he did was moved with intentionality
because he knew his why. He knew his why was
to seek and save the lost. So guess what that
meant? I am obligated to what? The mission, and
the mission is to seek and save the lost. Zach,
I am obligated to come to your house today. I
must, I can't do anything else. I wonder, I wonder,
do we see ourselves when Jesus saves us, he rescues
us, gives us a new identity, sets us completely
free. Puts us into this whole new life. And he
goes, now you're on mission with me. I wonder,
are we obligated to our mission or his mission?
Are we obligated to, do I wake up going, man,
I got a purpose. And my purpose is to build the
kingdom of God. And in that purpose, I'm going
to have urgency because I don't know if I got
tomorrow. So I'm not going to waste today. So
I got today. We're going to move towards this
kingdom mission that God has us on. Why? Because
I'm obligated. I have an obligation. When I said
yes to Jesus, I laid down my life. When I said
yes to Jesus, I laid down my kingdom. When I
said yes to Jesus, I laid down my choice to go
across the store, across the aisle, across the
whatever. And he says that I must stay. That
word stay is interesting. It means detached.
That Jesus detached from passing through. Because
he was obligated and he, I must stay at your
house. So he gladly, verse six, so he gladly
came down at once. So Zacchaeus comes down and
listen to this, and welcomed him gladly. He welcomed
him gladly. That gladly means with joy. Let me
just ask you something. When you made that list
of people, or you get that like Holy Spirit buzz,
you know what I'm saying? Right? Like you're
sitting somewhere and you're like, the Holy Spirit's
like, go talk to them. And you're like, I don't
know if I want to. And it starts buzzing inside
to where you're like, okay, it's getting obvious
to everybody at this point. When you walk towards
them, do you think they will receive it gladly
or not? Why do you think there'll be joy? I would
probably say that the disposition of most believers,
most Christians, most followers of Jesus, is
that they are cynical that the person is going
to reject what's about to come out of your mouth.
However, if you go back to week one of this,
one of the stats that I thought Pastor Todd said
that I just can't get out of my head is that
eight out of 10 people, eight out of 10 people
are waiting for somebody to give them a personal
invite to church. Can I tell you something else?
Christmas, we already know that the Christmas
season is the easiest time to get somebody to
come to church. So your eight out of 10, your
80 % just jumped. I don't have the numbers for
that, but it's higher than 80 % because 80 %
is all year. Imagine what Christmas is. Whatever
that number is, I'll take that on any test I
take in my entire life. And so now what happens
is, do we have the holy belief that when I move
with urgency and I move towards you, that what's
going to actually happen is they're going to
receive it gladly? Because that's what happened
here. When you look at Zach from the outside,
when you look at Zach, he is from the outside.
Everything about him said he's going to reject
this. But remember, what had God already done
in him? I want to see. I want to see this Jesus.
All the people saw this and began to mutter.
He has gone to be the guest of a sinner. I love
the word mutter. Mutter is that I'm talking to
this person, but I'm talking loud enough so you
can hear it. You know, like I'm muttering to
this person. I'm complaining, but what I'm really
doing is I'm having a conversation with you,
but I don't want to have the conversation with
you because that would be weird. So I just talked
to this person about that loud enough that you
can hear. I wonder how many times God is sitting
here going, I can hear you guys. Isn't it interesting
that this was more than likely the church people?
This is the people that should have known the
mission of Jesus to seek and save the lost. This
is the people that should have known that. And
what are they doing? They're on the side muttering.
Why? Because they're not on the mission that
God's on. They're on their own mission. And I
wonder how many times church people, we are on
our mission. We are on a different mission instead
of being on the mission of almighty God. To seek
and save what is lost. We don't talk about it
enough and we're going to in the new year. Heaven
and hell are real. The new heavens and the new
earth, it is real. And time is coming when this
will be called short. And either we decide that
we're gonna take what we have and we're gonna
go full in on the mission of God because that's
the only thing that matters. Or we're gonna continue
to sleep in a slumber. But Zacchaeus, so as they're
muttering, loud enough that everybody can hear.
Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look,
Lord, here and now I give half my possessions
to the poor. And if I've cheated anybody out
of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.
What this was that if you go to the Old Testament,
this was the works of repentance. What he is
displaying is the works of repentance that were
required by law. He's actually above and beyond
them, but this was the works of repentance. He'd
gone, hey, something shifted on the inside and
it's changing my outside. Jesus said to him today.
Today, salvation. What did Jesus come to do?
Seek and save who? The lost. Okay, celebration.
Today, celebration. Salvation has come to this
house. That word house is household because this
man too, this man too is a son of Abraham. Those
people muttering, they're sons of Abraham, just
so we're clear. And they would be proud that
they were sons of Abraham. This guy, he's a sinner.
And what does Jesus do? When the lost are found,
they're transformed. And what is he called? The
same identity as the ones who were muttering.
Can you imagine how mad they got then? I mean,
it's kind of like when you're in church and you
see that person come in. Right. And that person's
like, yeah, I did all this bad stuff and I did
this and did this and did this and did this and
did this. And you're like, oh, you need Jesus.
Then they find Jesus. And then you realize they
have the same identity and they have the same
standing with you in heaven that they're they're
no further behind than you. And you're like,
wait a minute. I've been here a while. You just
got here and you got all kinds of stuff. Right.
That's what's happening here. Jesus shows up
and he saves. And he transforms because that's
what he does for the son of man. Verse 10 for
the son of man came. to seek and to save the
lost. It's beautiful. I love what happens in
verse five. Because we could end there and the
story's done, but jump back to verse five, humor
me for a sec. When Jesus reached the spot, he
looked up and said to him, what's the next word?
This isn't a trick question, by the way. It's
on screen. Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus. Huh. What is
Zacchaeus? What were we told at the beginning?
There was a man who was what? Named Zacchaeus.
What is Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus is his name. Jesus
comes along and calls him by name. He invites
him by name. It's this beautiful moment where
Jesus is so intentional. But notice what he does
next. He calls him by name. He says, Zacchaeus,
come down immediately. I, I must stay at your
house. He calls him by name. And then, and then.
He goes, Zacchaeus, join me for dinner. You catch
that? He calls him by name. It's personal, but
he doesn't leave it there. He doesn't go, Zacchaeus,
you should go to church. He goes, Zacchaeus,
I gotta have dinner with you. I, I, Jesus, still
personal. Zacchaeus, by name, will you join me
and will you go to dinner with me? He didn't
say, Zacchaeus, come down. You gotta go home.
It's dinner time. This church? This little piece
of paper right here, where this piece of paper
comes in, is it's blank on this side. Guess why
it's blank? Because this is your invite to everybody
who has been on your list. What is this invite?
This invite is not, hey, we got some services.
This invite is you writing them by name. Hey,
Jerry, will you? This is important. Will you
join me this Christmas to hear some good news?
Jerry, will you come with me? This is not a,
hey, Jerry, you need Jesus and here you go. This
is Jerry, I've been praying for you, man. This
is Jerry, I've been having you before the throne
of God this week. Jerry, I need you to join me.
Because there's good news that I believe you
need because I see the needs in your life. I
think you could use some good news, man. But
Jerry, will you, will you come with me? It's
personal. It's a personal invite. Please do not
hand these out. Please do not take this and go,
oh, good. I need to know what the service time
was and put it on your fridge. Don't take one
if you're going to do that because that's not
what this is for. What this is for is for you
to take the people that God has put in your circle
that you've been praying over and for you to
go, hey, by name, by name, Sally Sue. I don't
know if there's a Sally Sue in the church, but
Sally Sue, will you come to church? Or not church,
will you come to hear some good news with me?
I've got this dream, okay? And it might be dumb,
but I'm gonna share it with you anyways. I can
imagine nothing better than you have to attend
every single Christmas service this year. All
six of them. I'll be there. You can be there.
But what do I mean by that? This is not a group
invitation. This is not, hey, I'm going to invite
everybody on my list to the same service so we
can sit together. Not a group invitation. This
is a personal invitation. Will you come? And
if you've got six people, try and line them up.
Will you come at the 4 p .m. with me? Will you
come at the 6 p .m. with me? Why? Because Christmas
services are not about you, church. They're not
for you. I hope you come. I hope you're encouraged.
I hope you feel like you got to celebrate the
birth of Jesus. But it's not inherently for you.
It is for the lost to be found. It is for the
good news of Jesus to go out to those that need
it. It's a bunch of shepherds on a hill. And
if you come. And you have to attend all six services
because Sally Sue came to that one and Jerry
came to that one. And that's the mission God's
got you on this Christmas. On your way out, you
can take as many of these as you're going to
invite, but please don't take more. Because this
is not a blanket. Can I tell you what your invite
is? Your invite is a ladder. And you are creating
a ladder for people to see and experience Jesus.
That's what this invite is. You're creating a
ladder because they can't see right now. You're
creating a ladder. Come hear some good news.
Come see this Jesus that changes everything.
Your invitation, your invitation is a ladder.
For people who need Jesus to come and see this
Christmas. There's another table. And it's by
invitation only. Because there's a table that
we call communion, right? There's a table we
call the Lord's table, the Lord's supper. And
you realize you only sit at it because you were
invited by name. to the table. Oh, what do I
mean by that? That when Jesus was going to seek
and save the lost, he saw you and he saw your
name and the cross is your invitation that is
stained red with the blood of Jesus. And the
empty tomb is your invitation to new life. And
what is new life? That we gather around the table
with him because you have been invited. Who have
you been invited by? Almighty God. You've been
invited by the same Jesus that invites Zacchaeus
down. You think about that early table. Everybody
that sat at that table was there. Why? Because
they were called by name. And so you're invited
to come sit at a table. And what do you do when
you get to that table? You remember that you
were invited. How were you invited? By Jesus
giving his life. It cost him his life for you
to sit at this table, which is why the reminder
of his body and the reminder of his blood. It's
a reminder of how you were invited, that he loved
you enough, that he urgently showed up when you
couldn't, that he chose to take up the cross.
He chose to let his own creation put him to death.
He chose to go into a tomb. And God the Father
raised him to life. Why? So that you could be
invited. And so the next moments are yours just
to remember that you are invited by name. That
he walks with you to this moment. That he's here
present. And he wants to have dinner with you.
So the next moments are yours and then we'll
take it all together. The imagery of that meal
table and Jesus pre -crucified, even with all
the urgency, slows down to still love them enough
to go, hey, you're going to need this when I'm
gone. You're going to need the reminder of why
you sit at the table in the first place. See,
I won't reach an invitation out to somebody else
until I realize I've been invited. Until you
realize that the bread that you hold is your
invitation to remember your invitation. That
it says that as Jesus sat there, he told them,
this is my body and it is given. No one is taking
it. I am giving it. Why? Because I'm here to
seek and to save the lost. And I give it. And
when you get together and you share this meal,
remind yourselves that I was here. Remind yourselves
that I died. Remind yourselves that I gave my
body. And so he said, take, eat, do this in remembrance
of me. You hold one of the things, and this cup
of juice represents it, that the world is craving.
You know what it is? Complete forgiveness. And
when Jesus took the cup, he connected the idea
of forgiveness to his blood. That when his blood
was shed, when his blood ran the cross red, that
what was happening is the forgiveness of you
and me was being purchased for all of eternity.
You hold a story to invite people to that they're
craving. And we get to sit and be reminded you
are completely forgiven today because of the
blood of Jesus. And he said, take, drink, do
this in remembrance of me. God, we come before
you and God is with gratitude. Thank you for
the invite to the table. God, thank you that
we get to sit, that we get to remember, that
we get to worship, that we get to, God, see you
and experience you, God, because we've been invited.
And so, God, would you, this week, would you
put on our hearts and our souls and our lives
Would you give us eyes to see? And as we see,
would it move deep within us that we're compelled
to action, that we're compelled to live on mission
with you? God, would you, would you, would you
lead us to those that need you today? Would you
lead us to those that need to hear some good
news? God, would you give us the courage to personally
invite? Would you give us the willingness to
get out of our comfort zone? And God, maybe that
means we attend more services than we would like.
But God, would you put us on mission this Christmas?
And would we respond with our lives? And so God,
we are grateful people. We are the people who
choose to build our life on you and you alone.
We declare to remind ourselves, we declare before
you and others, I will build my life today on
you. And so God, we just say, thank you. Thank
you for loving us. Thank you for inviting us.
Thank you for being here present at this moment.
Holy Spirit, would you continue to speak as we
sing? It's in your name we pray, everybody said.
Amen.