The Savior of the Lost

We exist to make disciples from the four corners of the block to the four corners of the world. If we are not going to go to our neighbors with the good news, then we don’t need to be in the neighborhood where God has placed us. If we wish to reduce Christianity to a preaching point one morning a week, then we may as well locate ourselves in the most convenient place and be sure to drive traffic to our website. If we do not want to risk anything in meeting our neighbors and building relationships, then let’s move to the suburbs and enjoy manicured lawns. No, God has placed us where we are to make real life contact with people made in the image of God to tell them how to get home. We must do this, and it’s our privilege to do it.

On justice. A converted man is a just man. We see two forms of justice in verse 8. First, there is justice in the form of redistribution of wealth. Zacchaeus gives half his goods to the poor. This deed is free and voluntary. It’s the opposite of the rich man in Luke 18. Not everyone everywhere is commanded to do exactly as Zacchaeus does here. But it’s a mighty fine example. Some people somewhere sometimes ought to do this because it’s how God cares for the poor—through the just redistribution of wealth that we call giving, charity, or alms. Genuine conversion produces generosity in the converted.

There’s another kind of justice here too. It’s restitution to the victim. When Zacchaeus says he will give fourfold to anyone he has defrauded, he goes from lawbreaker to lawkeeper. He seeks to do justice for those he has wronged. Repentance isn’t complete until there is justice given to those we’ve sinned against. We cannot say we are repentant and following Christ if we intend to leave unaddressed and unchanged the wrongs we have committed against others. Repentance includes restitution and reconciliation.

We talk a lot about justice in our day, but the surest way to see justice among men is to see men converted and to teach them to live as God requires. In the words of Micah 6:8,

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good

and what it is the Lord requires of you:

to act justly,

to love faithfulness,

and to walk humbly with your God.

Zacchaeus does everything he can to see Jesus. When he meets with the Lord, he actually becomes a brand-new man, born again through faith in Jesus Christ.

Luke 19:11-27

Verse 11 tells us that the people “were listening to this.” When they heard these things they made two mistakes in their thinking. (1) It seems they forgot they were on the way to Jerusalem. (2) All the talk of salvation coming to Zacchaeus’s house on that day had them thinking “the kingdom of God was going to appear right away.”

They were ready to skip the cross and go straight to the kingdom. That’s a mistake people make all the time, but the truth is, there is no kingdom unless there is first the cross. First comes suffering, then comes glory. That’s why Jesus tells them this parable. He’s trying to fix the two mistakes they’re making in their thinking.

The parable has three sets of characters in it. There is the nobleman who goes into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return (v. 12). That nobleman represents Jesus. He goes to Jerusalem where he would be killed. He would rise three days later and then ascend into heaven. That’s the far country where the Lord receives his kingdom. He’s going away for a time.

Then there are the ten servants in verse 13. Those are Jesus’s followers or disciples. They receive ten minas or coins. They’re supposed to engage in business until the nobleman returns. In other words, the servants or disciples are to be good stewards for the Lord, serving him until he returns.

Finally, there are the citizens in verse 14. They “hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’” These citizens represent the lost sinners who reject Jesus Christ. In their sin they attempt to be their own lords.

Verse 15 flashes forward to when the nobleman returns from the far country and has “received the authority to be king.” So Jesus is looking down the tunnel of time to his second coming. Despite the servants’ protests, the nobleman does in fact return with his kingdom intact. So, too, will Jesus. The first thing the nobleman does is call his servants to him to give an account for how they conducted his business. The parable illustrates what 1 Peter 4:17 says: “The time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household.” The first people called before King Jesus are those of us who follow him.

We all must give an account for what we do with our “minas” or coins, which symbolize our whole selves. In what way are we stewarding all that we have to complete our Master’s business of seeking and saving the lost?

We get a report on three of the ten servants. The first servant (vv. 16-17) turned his one mina into eleven, and because of that he rules over ten cities. The second servant (vv. 18-19) turns his mina into six and rules over five cities. Ruling over cities represents our reign with Christ in his kingdom. The reward is proportional to the return on investment. A life of serving Christ is an eternally rewarded life!

Then you get to “another” servant in verse 20. That servant came with excuses rather than profit. He had put the money in a handkerchief and buried it. Verse 21 says this servant did that because he was afraid of the nobleman. He thought the nobleman was “harsh.” The servant thought the nobleman reaped or received where he did not sow or work. This servant thought hard thoughts toward his lord, and in his fear he thought his excuse might be enough to justify his failure to use what the nobleman had given him.

The problem is, he didn’t act on what he knew about the nobleman. In verses 22-23 the nobleman uses his own words against him. He says, basically, if you knew those things about me, then you should have used what I gave you to make more. The nobleman points out that this man does not live by his theology. He confesses something about his lord but does not live in light of the confession. Even with his partial knowledge, the servant should have acted. Why didn’t he even make a safe investment, like depositing the money in the bank to earn interest?

God expects us to use what he gives us to make more for his kingdom. God expects us to use our theology to motivate our actions. We should act on what we know about God. There’s no acceptable excuse for not acting on the truth we know about God. That very truth will condemn us. It’s not that we are responsible for the truths we don’t know. It’s what we do with what we do know.

Someone once said, “I am not troubled by the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand. I am troubled by the parts of the Bible I do understand.” That person knew some things were very clear in the Bible. It is the clear things of the Scriptures that make us accountable to God. Whatever truth we know about God, we are responsible for that truth before God. Even if we—like this servant—don’t like the truth or it seems unpleasant to us, we must steward it by acting on it to make a profit for the kingdom.

Instead of inheriting cities to rule, the third servant loses the cities and he loses his stewardship. He himself is not lost, but all that he could have had as a reward in the new kingdom is taken away. Live for the reward of heaven. Live for the promise of glory. God calls us to live for a reward we cannot imagine. What will it be like to rule with Christ, to sit on thrones ruling over cities? How sublime will it be to share in the glory of Christ when he is eternally enthroned? We should serve Jesus until we see Jesus, when we hear the “well done” and share his reward.

Do you need a reason to get out of bed tomorrow? How about the promise of an eternal kingdom with Christ?

In his kingdom God rewards faithfulness. That’s what the Lord means by “everyone who has” (19:26). Each of the servants had one mina, but one was unfaithful; he didn’t multiply it. So his share was given to the faithful who had a one thousand percent return on his stewardship.

We often refer to the poor as the “have nots.” But that’s not what Jesus has in mind in verse 26. The “one who does not have” refers to the unfaithful. Though he had a mina, he didn’t steward it well. So when he buried it, it’s as if he didn’t have it.

The faithful are rewarded.

The wicked are condemned. Verse 27 comes back to the citizens. Do you remember them? They were those who hated the nobleman and protested against his rule.

They are not forgotten. When the judgment of his servants is complete, then the judgment of the haters begins. Haters gon’ hate. But haters gon’ be judged too. They are slaughtered before the king. That is a violent image, but it does not even compare to the condemnation of the wicked in hell. The Lord reaches for a graphic image to help us understand how terrible the consequence of lostness is. Those in hell wish they could be slaughtered and have it over with. However, they have sinned against an infinite God and pay an infinite penalty. If nothing else, the constant reminder of Jesus’s kingship and rule will be agony to their souls.

There is no good reason to rebel against Jesus. Can you think of a good reason to rebel against a God who loves you and gave his life to save you from hell and to love you forever? I can’t. Rebellion only ends in destruction.

There is every reason to believe in him and to follow him and to serve him. Faith ends in eternal life and ruling with Christ in an everlasting kingdom.

Be like Zacchaeus: repent of sin. Believe in Christ as your Lord. Be faithful to serve Christ all your life. Then receive glory and honor as you reign with him. That’s the philosophy of this chapter. That’s the philosophy of the Christian life. There’s no better way to live. This is the only way that can properly be called “living.” Everything else is a kind of death. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will live.