Amen. Yes. Good morning, church. It's a pleasure to be here. Like Jordan said, my name is Taylor. I'm new here still. I just started as family ministry leader just a month ago, so I'm still looking forward to get to know many of you more. My family and I are so blessed to be a part of this church now. My family includes my wife Michaela, which will be married of six years tomorrow. Let's go. I don't know how she put up with me so long, but we have two beautiful children. We have a three year old named Adeline and then eight month old coming up on nine months, a boy named Solomon. So it's a blessing to be a part of this church and just getting to know your families, your kids, all the way. Birth up to 12th graders. And that leads me to my next thing. Hey, 6th through 12th graders, I really want to hang out with you guys at the youth overnight on August 16 through 17th. I want you to invite your friends. I've got these sweet cards over here back at info Central for you to grab and take to your friends. But I'm excited about this time because of four f's. Ready? Food, friends, fun, and then faith. Those four things, we're going to get after those four things on August 16 and 17th. So come hang out with us for that. But as we continue in this encounters with Jesus series, as we open up God's word this morning, I want to start us off with a quick question. When was the last time you felt lost? When was the last time you felt lost? I know the worst time that I felt lost ever in my entire life was actually the summer of my freshman year of college. And it's not necessarily for the reasons you might be wondering, but freshman year, summer of college, I was visiting a city with a group of friends. We were at a night market. We were hanging out, looking for different stuff. And all of a sudden it starts pouring down, raining like torrential downpour. Cats and dogs. It was wild. And next thing I know, my friends are running back to our hotel, sprint fashion, and I'm kind of left in the dust. Like, I don't know what's going on here. Why did they leave me behind? But I wasn't too worried because I've got a good, strong directional sense. I know that when Jordan pointed back over here, it's southeast, right? So I was like. I was pretty confident that I could make my way back to the hotel. I knew that I would leave the night market. I'd take a left, walked down so many streets. And then I'd eventually turn left again and end back up at my hotel. And so I tried it. So I left. I went the direction I wanted to go, walked for a while, went down a side street, was like, wait, nope, that's not my hotel. Okay, let's go back to the main street. Try again. You get the picture, right? I try this over and over again, and ten to 15 minutes later, I realized that I'm lost and I'm not where I want to be. And I'm a bit confused. So what added to my lostness was that I was actually in Beijing, China, for a mission trip. I did not have an international phone that I could call anyone with, and I didn't have Google maps to use to get me back to my hotel, so I was really, really lost. And I also thought at a moment I was going to get mugged. And then I go and I find a map, and I tried to get some help to use the map to get back to my hotel. It was hopeless. And I just. I've never felt so lost. You get that feeling, and it's just you feel uncomfortable. You want to get back to where you want to be, and you just don't know how to. And long story short, I was saved by a sweet little old chinese lady who didn't speak a lick of English, who was able to taxi me back to my hotel on the back of her scooter based on just my hotel key card. So praise God for that sweet relief of getting back to my hotel and seeing that sign. I was at home. I was good. But we hate feeling lost, right? We hate it. Whether it's on a road trip and you take a wrong turn and for whatever reason, you weren't using Google Maps and you decided to try it on your own, or you're a kid and you get lost in the grocery store, separated from your parents. It's not a good feeling to feel lost. But here's the question. Have you ever felt that way in life? Have you ever felt just lost in life where you're wandering about aimlessly, heading in a direction, but not ending up in the location that you want to, whether it's your career, whether it's with your community, the friends that you surround yourself with, whether it's your parenting. I'll be totally honest, I feel a bit lost parenting a three nager right now. Like, what am I doing here? But most importantly, have you ever felt lost in your relationship with God? Where you're coming to realize you've been wandering. And you wonder, how did I get here? How do I get back on track? How do I find my way? And this morning's text gives us an example of Jesus. He's going to encounter a powerful man. But what this text reveals to us later is that he's not just powerful, he's lost. He's lost, and he knows he's lost. And spoiler alert, he finds his way. And the way he finds his way shows us our only way to find ours. And the results of him finding his way are just absolutely amazing. So with me, would you turn in your bibles to Luke in your New Testament? Luke, chapter 19. That's where our text is this morning. And this encounter with Jesus follows very soon after the encounter from last week, when Jesus encountered the rich young ruler and told the rich young ruler, hey, yeah, one thing you lack, you need to sell your possessions, sell your goods, give those to the poor, and then you inherit eternal life. And the rich young ruler turns away and is like, yeah, no, I like my stuff more. So this comes just after that. Just soon after that. So read with me. Luke 19, starting in verse one, he, Jesus. Oh, and this is important. Tried to resist the urge to sing. You'll know what I'm talking about. He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was. But on account of the crowd, he could not because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. Okay, so, familiar story. You probably had that Sunday school song running through your heads. Achaeus was a wee little man. A wee little man, was he? But don't tune out. This is a familiar story, but it's critical. It's critical. Understanding this moment is essential to our understanding of Jesus and what it means to follow him. So let's catch up with what's going on here. Jesus has left Galilee. He's been walking with a crowd of people. And this crowd of people, they enter Jericho here, and they're about to go into Jerusalem, but they pass through Jericho and they run into this guy named Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus, he wants to meet Jesus. He wants to see Jesus. But Zacchaeus is a tax collector, which means he takes money from his friends and family, if he has any friends, from his fellow Jews, and gives it to the oppressive roman empire. So he's short, not just in stature, but in morals, like, no one is thinking highly of Zacchaeus here. And he's gotten rich. He's gotten rich because he's just taking more money than he needs to from those around him. You can imagine how his neighbors feel about him, right? You can imagine. This would be as if your neighbor Joe down the street worked for the IR's, but he was paid based on commission from what he brought in from your neighborhood. And he knocks on your door, and he's like, hey, April 15. I need $10,000. Like, what I've been paying quarterly. What are you talking about? I don't owe that. What are you talking about? You have to give him the money, or he sends you to prison. Right? Do you like Joe? No. No. You don't like Joe. Nobody likes Joe. Joe's the worst. And this is the same case for Zacchaeus. Nobody likes Zacchaeus. And it leaves you wondering, okay, why would Zacchaeus do this to his community? Why would he choose this position? It's because he wanted to be successful, right? Like, he knew he could be wealthy through this trade. Maybe he didn't realize how much of an impact at first it would make, but his priority was to become rich, and so he was in a practice of doing whatever it took to become rich, basically stealing from his neighbors. It was this misplaced priority that led to these broken practices. So he's gotten rich by ripping off his neighbors. He's successful, but he's lost. He has influence, but he's searching, and we see that in verse three. He was seeking to see who Jesus was. There's this striving to look. There's this desperation that we see in Zacchaeus here, and he's so desperate that he doesn't care to humiliate himself with the people around him. He's running through the crowd to climb up a tree. Like, that's childish. That's ridiculous. We don't climb trees unless we still have de Racho cleanup to do, or we're hanging a deer stand. Right, like, you don't just climb up a tree just for the heck of it. And that's the same for jewish men. They didn't climb up trees or run. It was foolish. It was childish. And this crowd has every reason to dislike Zacchaeus already and make fun of him, but he doesn't care. He's desperate. He knows he's missing something. He recognizes he's lost, and he has to see Jesus. He has to see Jesus. So have you felt this desperate to see Jesus in your life? Has that been a feeling of yours before? Or have you seen how a misplaced priority led to a broken practice? And now you're in a place that you didn't think you'd end up. You're feeling lost. Maybe you relate with Zacchaeus this morning. Maybe you have a past that you're ashamed of that's caused tension and friction with your community and people around you. And you're feeling lost. You're feeling out of place. And maybe you've climbed a tree, in a sense, this morning by walking into this school building to gather with this church to see what is Jesus all about. Maybe you feel a bit out of place. Maybe you wonder, if certain people knew you were here, what would they think? That I'm here? And maybe you wonder if Jesus were here, if Jesus were here in person to look me in the face and talk to me, what would he say? So let's see what happens next to get a glimpse of that. To first part of verse five. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus. Jesus calls out to Zacchaeus. This is interesting that Jesus intentionally goes right up to where Zacchaeus is. And the first thing I'm wondering, honestly, is how does jesus know his name? Like, honestly, is this Jesus is showing off his God moment by just, like, he can read his mind and knows his name? Or is this the case that the whole crowd around Jesus is laughing and mocking Zacchaeus, this dude that, this tax collector that climbed up a tree? And so that's how Jesus hears his name. I don't know which it is, but whatever way it is, Jesus pursues Zacchaeus. He goes up to Zacchaeus, he speaks to Zacchaeus, and he calls out his name. What does he say next? Rest of verse five into seven. Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw the crowd around Jesus, they all grumbled, he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. The crowd does not like this at all. But Jesus doesn't care. He goes straight to Zacchaeus and say, I must stay at your house today. Today. And this is the only time in the gospels that Jesus invites himself over, that he comes up to someone and says, hey, I need to come over. I need to come over to your house now. And the reason the crowd is frustrated by this is because they don't get why Jesus would hang out with a guy whose life revolves around sin, whose life is just totally wrapped up, controlled priorities and practices wrapped up in sin. But Jesus could care less what they think. He doesn't care. And so this reveals to us the heart of Jesus, doesn't it? Zacchaeus didn't do anything to earn Jesus attention. Zacchaeus made terrible choices in his life, but that doesn't prevent Jesus from inviting himself into Zacchaeus life. So if you are feeling out of place this morning, recognizing your loss, searching for something, see the heart of Jesus to pursue you, calling out to you from the scriptures this morning. And so what happens to Zacchaeus when he encounters Jesus? We see it in verse six, joy. We see this joy just come out of Zacchaeus. He follows Jesus every single word. He hurries up, he comes down, and he has Jesus over. And some commentators say this is the moment when Zacchaeus is saved, when he finds his way. Jesus. Now, this isn't because of his obedience to Jesus, but it's shown by his obedience to Jesus. He's receiving Jesus with faith and joy. Now, christians in the room, I imagine you can look back at a time in your life, a season in your life, when this news about Jesus became sweet to you, that it brought you joyous, that you heard that Jesus came, he died on the cross for your sins. He rose again victoriously over sin, death, and the grave to bring you into new life, and it overwhelmed you with joy that God would do this for you. Are you still receiving that good news about Jesus with joy? Do you still see that that is the best news that this world has ever heard and ever will hear? Or have you gotten used to the gospel? Have we gotten used to it? And what's going on when we aren't experiencing the same joy in Jesus that we used to? Is it possible that we've gotten a bit lost? Is it possible that we've drifted a bit and we've gotten lost in some priorities and practices that have made us wander from Jesus? And maybe that's why we're lacking in joy in the gospel. Maybe that's what's going on here. So if that's the case, what do we do? What do we need to do to find our way back to this joy? Find this way back to this joy in Jesus? Look at what happens next. This is incredible. This is actually the best part of the story. And it's, of course, the part that the Sunday school song leaves out. But what's amazing is what Jesus says and then what Zacchaeus and how that explains what Zacchaeus does. Let me say that again. What's amazing is what Jesus says, which explains what and why Jesus, Zacchaeus does what he does. So read with me verses eight through ten. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, so he had Jesus over. Maybe they sat down for a meal at his house in behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham, for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. Okay, this is awesome. Maybe the first thing you're wondering is, does Zacchaeus have any money after this? Because if he gives away half of his, that's including half of his goods, half of his salary, what's left? If he also gives people back four times what he owed them, stole from them. But what Zacchaeus here demonstrates is a total change in priorities, a total change in priorities and practices. And Jesus affirms this as evidence of him finding his way, of him being saved, of him having faith, being a son of Abraham. And Jesus also used this moment as an opportunity to clarify his mission as Messiah, as the anointed one, the jewish savior, the one that would free the jewish people from the roman tyranny. Now, you don't see the word messiah in this text, but that wording in verse ten, son of man, that's an Old Testament reference of Messiah. And it's Jesus favorite name to use to himself to point to his messiahship. He came to seek and save the lost. Get this. The savior of the Jews that was thought to be free them from the roman government, came to seek and save the lost. Not the cleaned up, not the tidy, not the people that had it all figured out, the lost. This statement totally reframes Zacchaeus meeting with Jesus, doesn't it? Because it can be tempting for us to look at what Zacchaeus did. You know, he ran ahead of the crowd, he climbed up the tree. He was looking for Jesus as him preparing himself and working towards being received by Jesus, being accepted by Jesus, like Zacchaeus did the work to find his way. But that's not the case. Jesus found Zacchaeus. Do you see that? Jesus found Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus just happened to be in a tree. Jesus called his name. Salvation has come to Zacchaeus house because Jesus has come. Jesus came to seek, find, and save the lost, like Zacchaeus. This is amazing. So how do we find our way? When we feel lost in life, how do we find our way, friends, we find our way by being found by Jesus. We find our way by being found by Jesus. Salvation comes in our life. The way to life appears because Jesus has sought and saved us. Jesus has found us. Now, what Jesus says explains what Zacchaeus does. Zacchaeus actions demonstrate he's been found by the Lord demonstrate that he's been found by Lord Jesus and is now living for Lord Jesus. Because Zacchaeus was lost, money was his priority. His priorities motivated his practices. But when he encounters Jesus, when he sees Jesus for who he really is, as lord, as master, as authority, as the one he must follow, he knows his priorities and practices. They've got to change. They don't just have to change, they get to change. He gets to follow this good Lord Jesus that came to save him, to seek him, and they change for his good, and they changed radically. This is wild, how he graciously gives away half his goods. Zacchaeus takes half of his possessions, half of his salary, and gives it away to the poor, and then, in a ridiculous manner, restores what he stole from people. Now, a good jew would have known that the Old Testament law said, if you go and you steal someone's goat, you got to give them two goats back. That was the deal. But Zacchaeus goes and he doubles the double, he doubles the restoration. He gives back what he owes and stole so much more. Zacchaeus here is clearly demonstrating repentance. Repentance is this, this thing of turning away from sin and turning to follow Jesus, turning to worship Jesus. And so what we see here in the text this morning is that repentance is the fruit of being found. Repentance is the fruit of being found. It's how you live after Jesus has found you. And it's both a practical thing and it's a heart level thing, because it's practical in the sense that Zacchaeus gave away his money, he gave away his goods, but it came out of the heart. His priorities has changed. He loves God now, he loves Jesus now, and he doesn't love money in the same way he loves God, and then his actions follow. And maybe he's dirt poor by the end of this. And even if that's the case, isn't he richer than the rich young ruler from last week? Doesn't he walk away with the treasure of the gospel being found in Jesus, being able to live for Jesus? Absolutely. Zacchaeus is a picture of radical repentance. And this is so important for all of us to hear this morning, because repentance is what we do when we notice we lost. Repentance is what we do when we notice we are lost. When we've drifted from living for Jesus, and that's led to a lack of joy in Jesus, because none of us want to live lost. Nobody wants that. But we all tend to wander, don't we? We tend to wander from living for Jesus. And it's all sin, but it can surface in the priority of control, having things your way, which leads to practices of manipulation, anxiety, coercion, intimidation. Or it's the priority of comfort, which is fed by practices of overindulging, greed, laziness. Or it's the priority of image and identity, which is fueled by practices of gossiping, judging, overworking, people pleasing, or lying. Whatever the shell is, the core is the same, its sin and its lostness. And before Jesus found me, before I was saved, my lostness looked like a priority of image and identity. And my practices were judging, people pleasing, girl chasing, basketball striving, and just being a straight up chameleon of a teenager. I just was trying to fit in. I just wanted to be liked. That's all I wanted. I was so incredibly lost. And I praised God that Jesus found me, and he changed me. And I wish that it was like Zacchaeus, you know, instantaneous, this huge heart change and huge practice change, but it so wasn't like, man, am I a work in progress. But it was steady and over time. But I can still tend back to those broken practices and priorities. I can still wander back. And then you add in kids, and you have a whole new set of ways that you can sin, right? Like, my goodness, trying to control a teenager or a toddler, it's not a good look, but it feels like the right thing to do. It's so not, though. It's sin. See, I've been lost, and I am found and content to wander. I've been lost, and I am found and content to wander. And everyone in this room this morning can fit into one of those two categories. We are either lost this morning, or we are found intending to wander, lost in the room. You aren't following Jesus. Some of you know that. Some of you don't. You are trying to find your way, but you're searching for life in other things in the world. And that surfaces, that comes about in these priorities that are not the way of Jesus and these practices that are not the way of Jesus. And you end up just being more lost. The more you search as you go, trying to be satisfied by the ways of this world and christians, followers of Jesus here this morning. We tend to wander, don't we? It's a normal feeling. And this is something that the author of Hebrews warns us strongly against. In Hebrews 312 14, he says this. Take care, brothers, brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. You can hear the call. Take care. Don't let sin make you wander. Don't be hardened. Share in Christ. And maybe you aren't experiencing joy in Jesus like you have before, because you're wandering. No matter which group you fall into this morning, friends, hear me now. Jesus came to seek and save you. Whether you are lost or you're found and you tend to wander, Jesus came to seek and save you. And you don't have to work to be seen by Jesus. You don't have to clean up your act to be found by Jesus, because he did the work for you. He did the work of seeking, finding and saving for you. But how? You see, after this meeting with Zacchaeus, Jesus would continue to walk with this crowd of people through Jericho and into Jerusalem and into Jerusalem. It was an epic affair. They praised him. They shouted for joyous people, took their cloaks off and set them at Jesus feet, cheering for him as the messiah, the king that would come to save the Jews. And that same crowd was the crowd that would cheer for his crucifixion. A week later, Jesus walked into Jerusalem knowing this, knowing that those whom he came to seek and to save would celebrate his torture on the cross, the death that we all deserve. To die for our lostness, for our waveriness, for our sin, Jesus gladly took so that we could be sought after and saved, so that he could raise from the grave, ushering in a new life for us to live, not for our sin, but to live for him, so that we could, in repentance, die to our sin. As Jesus died on the cross and rise to life in Jesus. Through turning to live and worship God, Jesus did the work to find us and to give us this new life. How great of a savior is he? Isn't he wonderful to do this, to die and to raise? How do we live in response to this? How do we live out of this? What do we do now? First, we need to recognize our lostness. We need to recognize where we can be lost. Whether you are lost or you are found intent to wander, because the key is he was seeking to see Jesus. He understood I am lost. He was searching, and he was on the hunt. So ask ourselves this morning, how are you lost if you're lacking joy in Jesus, how have you drifted? How have you veered? And if you don't know, this is the purpose of the family of God. The family of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, exist as a gift from God to call us out, to point out where we've drifted, to exhort each other every day so that we can recognize our sin and not be led away from the living God. As Hebrews 312 14 so clearly spoke, so we need to recognize our lostness, and then we need to repent radically and joyfully. Repent radically and joyfully. Zacchaeus repentance looked like a rich man stripping himself of his wealth. He saw the problem in his misplaced priorities and sinful practices, and he took practical action to change. Christians, hear me, repentance is the fruit of being found. It needs to be a normal rhythm of our lives for us to have joy in Jesus. When was the last time you confessed your sin to a brother or sister? When was the last time you confessed your sin with the intent to turn and live for Jesus worship? Jesus, have joy in Jesus. Repentance might not look as extreme as Zacchaeus. Maybe it's not about money, but maybe it is. It's no coincidence that this happens right after the story of the rich, young ruler. This guy, rich, young ruler. He was probably a pretty well to do man, a pretty upright man, but he loved money. And so you get this ultimate contrast was Zacchaeus, who was not an upright man, who was a corrupt scoundrel of a dude. But his life is radically changed when he meets Jesus. He repents, he turns away from his sin, and then he freely and joyfully gives away his wealth. It wasn't something that made him turn away sad. It was a joy in response to who Jesus was. And repentance is what brings us back to the joy we have in Jesus. It's a gift from Jesus to aid us in course correcting and staying on path in our day to day lives. So what needs to change in our priorities? What practices in our life need to change to demonstrate those changed priorities? If you are serious about living for Jesus and finding joy in Jesus like Zacchaeus did, you will take whatever God is putting on your heart this morning to a brother or sister and take action to see your priorities and practices change. See, what Jesus did in Zacchaeus is just absolutely amazing. You can just imagine what his neighbors were thinking after this event. Right after he cuts his stuff and salary in half and gives stuff away, and then he's paying people back. And you can imagine that first dude that gets paid back fourfold from Zacchaeus. He's like, what are you doing? Why are you giving me four goats? This is wild. And he's like, oh, this is just. I gotta do this. I gotta do this. People would be like, what's gotten into Zacchaeus? What's going on here? Zacchaeus was the worst. Like, I was so annoyed at him and frustrated, and I hated him because of how he took all this money from me. And now he's giving money to the poor. He's paying people back quadruple. What's got an end to Zacchaeus? They would have just been dumbfounded and amazed. And after the apostle Paul was converted on the way to Damascus, people had the exact same reaction. You know, the apostle Paul, he killed christians. He was murderous. He is hateful to the way of Jesus. And then he meets Jesus, and he's transformed. And later he goes, and he starts speaking in the synagogue, saying, jesus is the son of God. And read this in acts 921. This is how people respond. And all who heard him just there in verse 21, and all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon his name? In other words, isn't the guy who was just killing christians, like, just last week? Wasn't he at Stephen's stoning? Now he's preaching about Jesus being the son of God. How has he changed? Like, what's gotten into Paul? What if our communities, Urbana, coggan, Vincent Shellsburg, Hiawatha, palo. What if our neighborhood said that about us? What if they were amazed by what Jesus had done in us, and they were asking, what's gotten into them? Isn't that the guy who was controlling, manipulative, and anxious, and now he's caring, he's compassionate, he's joyful? Isn't that the gal who was just gossiping and telling about everybody else's business and trying to make herself look better? And now she's slow to speak, quick to listen, just desires to serve people without getting anything out of it? Isn't that the judgmental guy who just always thinks he's right. Always thinks that his life is the way that everyone should follow. And he makes everyone else feel bad if they don't have come up to it. And now he's like honest about his shortcomings and sees that there's freedom and not just like acting. Freedom and being real. What's gotten into them? And people would just know that it's Jesus. People would just know that it's because we've been found. We don't cite our own effort or our own abilities. We just point to the work of God in our lives. Like what a testimony to the power of Jesus that would be of this ultimate savior, this wonderful God, this wonderful lord and savior. Let's pray that that would be what's true of us this morning as we worship more through song and as we leave this place. Let's pray. Father Goddess, we praise you for your plan of salvation. We praise you that it was always your plan for Jesus to come and to ransom the lost like me and like others. And to save us from our sins. Save us from the ways that we've just made life all about us. Thank you for freeing us from those empty cisterns, those places that just leave us dry and wanting. Thank you for giving us true life. And thank you for the gift of repentance. Because we're going to fail again and we're going to end up wandering again. But we can look to you. We can turn away from our sin and live for you. Because Jesus died to sin once for all, to free us from its power so that we could live to God. Thank you for that. Thank you for that, Father. And as we transition now to take communion, would we just reflect on what Jesus has done? We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.