Every Person is Valuable | Uncommon Culture Series

Well, this morning we're gonna continue a series we started a couple weeks ago called Uncommon Kingdom where we are looking at the four values that we hold as a faith family here at New Beginnings. And we started a couple of weeks ago with value number one, which is the Bible is true. And so we believe the Bible is to be the foundation of our life, our faith, all that we do as a faith family is driven by the fact that we can trust the Bible, that it is true, it is God's word for us. Then last week, we talked about the value that every believer is called, which is a way for us to say is that when a person comes into faith in Jesus Christ, he calls them into gospel ministry. It doesn't make you a pastor or a preacher or someone who works at a church, but where you live, work, and play, there is a calling that God has in your life and on your life to make much of him and to bring others into faith relationship with him through your life, and so you are called. And then this week, we're gonna look at this third value that is every person is valuable. Every person is valuable. If there's ever a value that we need to be talking about in the current climate of our culture today, it is this, it is every person is valuable. We're living in a day and age where the broken, fallen kingdom of this world is dividing us on every subject under the sun.

Like we are divided politically, we are divided racially, we are divided socioeconomically, we are divided in our views on sexuality and gender. We just can go on and on and on about this division that we have, which oftentimes, this broken ideology of the division that we have in our world around us, it changes the way that we see people. And it causes us to become cold and indifferent and calloused and treat people around us as if they have less value than what God has given them. And at New Beginnings, we wanna have a different culture. We wanna have a kingdom culture. Let me show you the difference between the fallen kingdom's view of humanity and Jesus's kingdom view of humanity. So it's a fallen kingdom. Here's the way that the world sees value. The value of a person's life is determined by the value they add to my life. This is the way that the world operates. And so the moment that a person no longer adds value or maybe affirms the life that I wanna live or the choices that I wanna make or benefits me, then what happens is is that we devalue that person in the way that we look and treat them, right? So you see this in our world today. You see the devaluing of each other based upon our political perspective. If you're from a different side of the aisle politically,

then you're not championing my value system, then I don't have as much value for you as I do someone who shares my perspectives politically. When it comes to the issue of life, like we devalue life in the womb as a lower value than someone outside the womb simply because we go, and what value does that baby add to my life? In fact, if it's an inconvenience, now the value is being subtracted from my life, therefore I devalue the life of the baby. Does that make sense? When it comes to issues of sexuality, we have a world perspective that if you don't hold to ideologies in regards to sexuality then you're the problem with culture and your life is devalued. And at the same time, you have those who might have a biblical perspective, so a healthy perspective of sexuality, but that perspective has led you to devalue those who might be struggling in an area that you're not struggling, and therefore you devalue their worth based upon the difference of ideology. Does that make sense? And so what the world does is it divides us and causes us to have a devaluing of the people around you based upon the value they add to my life. But here is what Jesus' kingdom says.

Jesus' kingdom, the value of a person's life is determined by the image they are created in. The Bible tells us that we're all created in the image of God, both men and women. We're created to bear the image of God, and this is where we get our value, not in what we do, not in what race we are, not in our political perspective, not in our social position. Our value is determined by whose image we are created in. And here's what that does. Not only does that say that I have value, it also calls me to acknowledge that you have value even if we have differences in the way that we see life. Does that make sense? So the dignity that every person deserves is not dependent upon the value they add to my life, but the image that they've been created in. And this would change the perspective. So as a church. Here's what that means for us. We want to be a church, a body of Christ that has this shared value that every person is valuable and has value because every person has been created in the image of God. So this brings some expression. So for us, this is why we wanna stand against injustice. We wanna fight against human trafficking and some of the injustices of our world. This is why we wanna stand against racism.

It's because racism is an assault on the imago Dei. It devalues a person's life based on their race or ethnicity. This is why we wanna fight for life in the womb. Why? Because every person is valuable, even those who are still in the womb. This is why we don't wanna become a church for the rich or the church of the poor. We wanna be a church that says, regardless of what socioeconomic class you come from, we wanna be a faith family who loves one another and values because everybody is important because we're all created in the image of God. And I can go on and on and on in the application of this, but we wanna be a church that's driven by this. So this theological conviction that we have is expressed in the way that we interact with the world around us. So when it comes to issues of sexuality and gender confusion, what do we do? Because we value every person, we teach what the Bible says on those issues, but because every person is valuable, listen, not only will we tell the truth, but we will do so in love. And we will walk with people who are struggling and who are hurting and give dignity and recognize that, watch this, most of the sinful expression

that we find in the world around us is driven by internal spiritual pain and the need and the heart issue of this is a need for Christ. And the church, when we begin to see different expressions in our culture on other subjects, we've gotta recognize if it doesn't align with God's word, it doesn't make the people the enemy. Their value doesn't change. It actually should cause a compassion in our heart that says, because they're valuable, I wanna meet them where they are so they can find Christ. Amen? So this affects the way that we do church. So like the reason there is a welcome team that tries to the best of their ability to make you comfortable when you come to church, we have greeters out there, we have parking lot team who choose to stand out there in 105 degree weather. Praise God for that. And if you're on the team, you should say amen to that, right, for sure? And look, and here's what we acknowledge. Why is that team out there? They're out there because when you leave this place, there's many of you that come in here and you lift your hands to Jesus and sing how much you love Jesus and you will follow him anywhere,

but you will not turn right when you exit from the West parking lot. And the person out there that's melting in the heat, they're your problem, right? We lift hands to Jesus, but certain fingers to them, right? They're out there and here's why they stand out there and sometimes you're not as loving as you need to be, because you're valuable. They wanna help you find a parking spot. They wanna make sure that we're exiting as fast as possible and everyone is safe. We have greeters. This is why we go above and beyond for our preschool ministry and our kids. This is why we have a special needs ministry and we minister to families, especially this is why we are big proponents of fostering and adoption, have an entire ministry devoted for walking with families who are fostering in the process of adoption. This is why we do it, why? Because every person is valuable. This is why we are launching a new beginnings in Espanol. You know why? Because the Spanish speaking community, they're valuable to us. So we're gonna invest resources and time and energy and create space and have a campus devoted so they can hear the gospel

and grow in Christ in their own language. This is why we wanna become a congregation that is as diverse ethnically as our community is. Because every person is valuable. And so this informs what we do and how we live. And so what I wanna do this morning is I want us to look at Jesus, just a moment in his life. I want you to get your Bibles and go to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, and I'm gonna do a flyover, two stories that kind of work hand in hand. Luke 18, the last few verses, and then the first few verses of Luke 19. Because here's what we're gonna see is that Jesus shows us very clearly that every person is valuable in these stories. And what it looks like for us to live with this posture and how we engage the world around us. Jesus. exemplifies this and we're gonna see a beautiful picture. So here's the backdrop of the passage we're gonna look at. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus is going to Jerusalem. Everything for three years has been building up to this climactic moment where Jesus will go to Jerusalem, he will be betrayed, he will be arrested, he will be beaten, he will be mocked, he will have a cat of nine tails rip his back apart, he will have a crown of thorns placed on his head, he will be nailed to a Roman cross

and he will die for the sins of the world. Everything in Jesus's ministry has been moving to this redemptive moment where he's gonna go to Jerusalem and lay his life down for the world. Now, why is that important to understand Luke 18 and 19? It's because on the way to do this work, Jesus stops in Jericho. And Jesus is gonna encounter two individuals. He's gonna encounter a man we know in the Bible by the name of Bartimaeus. We call him Blind Bartimaeus. And then we see another man, Zacchaeus, who had a great children's song written about him years ago. And Zacchaeus and Bartimaeus, they're gonna have their life transformed by Jesus. Now, why is this so important? Both Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus are from two different worlds in regards to their socioeconomic status. They live in different financial worlds. They have different abilities and giftings. They're men who are a lot of difference, but they also have something in common. Both of them are broken and in need of Jesus. Both of them have been rejected by the crowds and by society. Both of them have been labeled as rejected by God. So watch this, even though they are worlds apart, their fundamental problem is the same. They need a touch from Jesus. And so why is this so important?

These men who are so insignificant, rejected by society, rejected by God. Listen, Jesus on his way, this is the frame of the entire story. Jesus on his way to do the most significant work, stops for two of the most insignificant people. Their life is gonna intersect Jesus' life. You know why? And this is why. All people are valuable. Every person is valuable. It's easy for us to say, it's almost like when we quote John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever would believe in him. Now, those statements are true. He died for the world and whoever would believe in him. But here's what Jesus is gonna show us. Oftentimes, when we say every person is valuable, it gets watered down because we don't really see people, we just kinda see faces. That make sense? What Jesus is gonna show us in this passage is that I didn't just come to die for the world, I came to die for Bartimaeus. I didn't just come to give my life for people in general, I came to give my life for Zacchaeus. Why? Because while every person is valuable, he's making a statement, Bartimaeus is valuable.

Zacchaeus is valuable, so valuable that on my way to the most significant work I'm gonna do, I'm gonna stop for the most insignificant people to show you who I came for. That make sense? So we're gonna do a flyover of this story, give you four truths about Jesus, four ways Jesus shows us how to live a life that communicates that every person is valuable. Here's number one, write this down if you're taking notes. We see, first of all, that Jesus hears the hurting. Jesus hears the hurting. That's how the story opens up. Look what happens in Luke 18. If you're there, say the Bible is true. All right, here we go. Luke 18, verse 35. As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. So he's there at the gate as Jesus is entering in. And hearing the crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. Now, so he hears all the commotion. He's like, something's going on. Remember, he's blind, he can't see anything. So he's wondering what in the world is happening. So he asks, what's going on? Listen to their answer. They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Now, listen to the statement.

And he cried out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now, pause for a moment, because I want you to see something in the story that's powerful. When he asked, hey, what's going on? They said, hey, Jesus of Nazareth is coming by. And so no doubt, Bartimaeus had heard about the miracle working man from Nazareth. And the people acknowledged that Jesus is coming by by identifying not only Jesus, but where he's from. He's from Nazareth. So it's the Jesus that came from Nazareth. But notice Bartimaeus' response. He immediately cries out and he says, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now, why is that significant? He doesn't say, Jesus from Nazareth, have mercy on me. Here's why, though Bartimaeus is physically blind, God is giving him spiritual sight. You see, the people don't acknowledge, even though they have eyes to see, they don't see spiritually. So when they look at Jesus, oh, he's the miracle worker from Nazareth, but whenever Bartimaeus hears about Jesus, he says, no, no, no, that's the son of David, that's the Messiah, he is the one that God has promised. So even though he doesn't see, he sees, and even though those who see, they don't see. And you're gonna see this gospel transforming work

in his life because Jesus is doing a miracle of salvation. Look what happens in verse 39. And those who were in front of him rebuked him, telling him to be silent. Now notice the response. This insignificant beggar who's crying in desperation, hurting because of the condition of his life. Now watch this. He is being silenced by the crowd around him. You know why? Because he's not valuable to them. This is the man that they walk by with frustration every time they wanna go to Jericho. There he is, begging for money. There he is, this guy who has nothing and he's been rejected by God, he's a nobody. And every day, if they're really feeling religious that day, they'll throw some coins at him and throw some change at him. But other than that, we just want you to be quiet, leave us alone, you add no value to our life, therefore you have no value to us. That's the way he is perceived by the crowd. But I love this, he's not deterred. So they told him to be quiet, shut up, you're not important, he doesn't have time for you. But he cried out, all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. Verse 40, listen to this. And Jesus stopped and he commanded him to be brought to him and he came near and he asked him,

now pause here for a moment. Now, so what happens here, don't miss this, this man is annoying the crowd, but Jesus is interested in him. This man yelling is being ignored by the crowd, even though they hear him, they don't hear him. But Jesus hears his heart. And Jesus says, I wanna know who this man is. Now, notice what happens next, this is a beautiful part of the story, this is where we really see Jesus and his value. So Jesus stops, he says, bring him to me. Now, here's a question. Does Jesus need to be in proximity to Bartimaeus for Bartimaeus to be healed? What's the answer to that? You can heal someone's sight, you don't need to be in their presence to do it. But rather than healing him at a distance, he brings him near and then he engages in conversation. What do you want me to do for you? Now, a show of hands, how many of you believe that Jesus already knows what this man needs? Raise your hand. So what is Jesus doing in this moment? He wants everyone and Bartimaeus to know, I hear your hurt. So it's not as if Jesus goes, hey, bring him to me, Bartimaeus is over there, okay, Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you?

Like, why have you stopped me? That's not the posture of Jesus. Get this picture in your mind, Bartimaeus, this beggar, comes before, he understands who Jesus is, so he falls at his feet. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Here's the mental image I want us to get. Jesus kneels down. No one else cares about this man, no one else cares about this man. No one else hears the hurt and the pain. Jesus, maybe he gets on his knees, maybe he takes his hands, or maybe he takes him by the face, and Bartimaeus can't see him, but Jesus turns his head. And with compassion, Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you? Jesus knows what he needs. You know what Jesus is doing in this moment? He's entering into his pain. He doesn't just hear his cry, Jesus wants to hear his heart. You know what Jesus is saying? How can I serve you? Tell me what's going on in your heart and life, and I love this, he gave the space for him to say, maybe with embarrassment. Jesus, I just wanna see. I don't want wealth, I don't want fame, I don't wanna be accepted, I just want to be able to see. And two miracles take place in this moment.

The miracle that's obvious, verse 42, is that Jesus is able to see. And Jesus said to him, recover your sight, He's able to see the truth. your faith has made you well. He's able to see the truth. Jesus gave him the answer to his prayer. He's able to see the truth. He hears his hurting cry and he responds by healing him. He's able to see the truth. And that miracle is amazing, but it's not as half important as the second miracle. Look at verse 43. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people when they saw it, they gave praise to God. So what was the second miracle in his life is that because the Holy Spirit gave him spiritual eyes to see before his physical eyes could see. Bartimaeus doesn't believe in Jesus because he received his sight. He believed in Jesus because supernaturally the Holy Spirit revealed who Christ was and opened his eyes. How do we know that his life was saved and transformed? Because when he recovered his sight, he followed him. He's like, now I'm gonna pursue you the rest of my life because this is what the gospel does. It transforms us and makes us wanna follow the one who has redeemed us.

He believes before he is healed. That's why he had the faith to ask for healing. Now listen, Jesus does not always give sight to the blind, but sometimes he does. But I want you to understand this this morning in this room. I don't care who you are, where you're from, or what you've done, or what conditions you're in. Some of you, some of you have come in this place and you feel like Jesus doesn't hear you. And so what you do is you lob prayers from a distance, hoping somehow you can convince him and say it just right to hear. And some of you have given up altogether. And I want you to know this morning, you are so valuable to Jesus that he hears your hurt. And some of you, he wants to ask you the question this morning, what do you want me to do for you? What do you need from me? And he wants to meet you where you are. Listen, it doesn't mean you're gonna receive whatever it is that you're wanting from him, but here's what I can promise you, whether he gives you your eyesight back or not, he will meet you where you are. And whatever he gives you is gonna be more than enough for what you need. That make sense? So this is the way in which we should engage the world around us. This is what it looks like for us.

So how many of us have people in our life that we're just trying to avoid and we think they're insignificant and they're hurting. And that's what I said a moment ago is that most of the expressions that are sinful in the world around us that cause us to be like, I don't wanna have anything to do with you. Most of those sinful expressions are coming from deep wounds and hurts in their life. And rather than pressing in and saying, hey, what can I do for you? Like, how can I be the hands and feet of Jesus in your life? How can I draw near to you to just show you that God loves you? What we do is we turn from them because we don't hear their hurt. We just reject their behavior. And if we're gonna value people the way Jesus values people, we have to get to the place where we recognize and we hear their hurt and love them like Jesus loved them. Here's number two. Number two is this. We have to not only hear the hurting, we have to, Jesus sees the unseen. Jesus sees the unseen. Now, he does this with Bartimaeus, but you see this very clearly in his encounter with Zacchaeus. So jump into chapter 19, verse one. He entered Jericho and passing through, and behold, there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus,

and he was a chief tax collector and was rich. Now, there's a whole lot being said about Zacchaeus that we've gotta understand. So Zacchaeus being a rich tax collector meant a couple of things. Number one, he was a chief tax collector, which means he was not just a tax collector, he was kind of in a superior role. And in this particular day, if you were a tax collector, here's what that meant. He was a Jewish man who was working for the Roman government who were then taxing the people to build Rome's wealth, but one of the things that they were able to do as chief tax collectors is they could actually raise the taxes to whatever they wanted and cheat and defraud people through extortion. So he's taking more than what people should pay, and now we know he's really good at it because he's rich. So what you have here is this awful human being. Like, he is legitimately a bad dude. He betrayed his own people, he has turned his back on the covenant community of God, the Jewish people. He is a thief, he is a cheat, and he's working with the enemy of God in order to take money off of his own people, and he's building great wealth and a great, comfortable life and he has no problem with this whatsoever. This is not a good man. But something is missing in his life, and you see this in the story, look at verse three.

And he was seeking to see who. Jesus was, so something about Jesus, maybe the stories he's heard about Jesus being a friend of sinners. Maybe he's heard the story of how Matthew's life was transformed and wondering, could that happen in my life as well? Matthew was a tax collector and a disciple. Maybe he just heard about the miracles and he's wondering if he gets to catch a miracle. We don't know, but all we know is he's looking for Jesus. It says he was seeking to see Jesus, who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not because he was small in stature. Verse four, he found a solution. So he ran ahead and he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he, Jesus, was about to pass that way. So notice this, there's this great desperation. The crowds don't like Zacchaeus. They're not letting him through. You would think they let him in the front of the line. They can see over him because he's a shorter guy, but no, they're crowding him out. They don't want to give him access to Jesus. Like, what do you have to do with Jesus? So what he does is he comes around, climbs a tree, and there he is. He's waiting, waiting for Jesus to come by, and verse five says it all.

Look at this. And when Jesus came to the place, what place? To the sycamore tree where Zacchaeus was. When he came to the place, he looked up and he said to Zacchaeus, hurry, come down, for I'm going to your house today. Well, listen to the language. So listen, Jesus sees the unseen. Up until this moment, Zacchaeus has been overlooked. He has been rejected. No one wants to have anything to do with him. He is on the outside of everyone's life, socially and religiously. But notice what happens here is that he thinks he's looking for Jesus, but what he's gonna discover is that Jesus is looking for him. And notice what he says here. And when Jesus came to the place, the picture is this, is that when Jesus goes into Jericho, he already knows he's gonna encounter Zacchaeus. So notice this, Jesus' crowd's pressing around and maybe he's in conversation, and all of a sudden, he gets to that place and it's like the spirit of God said, this is the moment. And then look at the language. When he got to that place that he was sent to go to, he looked up. His eyes locked with Zacchaeus' eyes. He stops and is tracking. Maybe the crowd's like, what in the world is happening here?

And there's this gaze that happens. He looked up. Up until this moment, everyone looked down to Zacchaeus. Everyone looked past Zacchaeus. Everyone looked away from Zacchaeus. But maybe for the first time in a long time, someone actually looked up at Zacchaeus, and he looks at him, and there's this eyes of compassion. And here is what Jesus is doing in the moment. I see you. I've come for you. Let me ask you this question. Do you ever feel like at times in your life that Jesus doesn't see you? You ever feel like at times in your life, you're like, man, I just feel like that, I mean, that God just doesn't see me. Here's what I want you to know. He does see you. You are not insignificant to him. You are not insignificant to him. Sometimes we have to stop long enough to get quiet and alone with the Lord so that we can have the gaze that we're looking for. If you're in this place this morning, you might be unseen by your spouse. You might be unseen by your friends. You might be unseen by your teammates. You may be unseen by students in your classroom. You may feel unseen at church,

but here's what I want you to know. You are not unseen by Jesus. He sees you. He knows right where you are, and he knows just what you need. So here's a hard question for you. Who in your life do you look past? Who in your life do you say, they're not valuable enough for me to stop and give them any of my attention? Who is it in your life that you try to avoid at work, in your neighborhood, in your family? Whatever reason, they become so much of an inconvenience or an irritant to you that you have lowered their value. They're not even worth my eye contact. I just wanna look past, look away, move on. Who in your life is unseen? It could be that that's who Jesus has sent you to. Which leads us to number three. Number three, we see this beautiful, Jesus receives the rejected. Jesus receives the rejected. This is the third way he shows us how to put value on every person's life. Jesus receives, look what he says in verse five. And when he came to the place, he looked up and he said, Zacchaeus, hurry, so this is urgent, come down and give me your hand. for I must stay at your house today. This is beautiful here.

Now notice this, that Jesus is looking for him. How do we know that? Because he came to the place. Now listen to the language, for I must stay at your place or stay at your house today. The phrase I must is the implication, according to Luke, is a divine necessity. Whenever you see, say Jesus says I must do this, what he's saying is that I am compelled by the Spirit of God to do this. Like this is a divine moment. Jesus is saying I have been sent by God to you. This is a man who everyone believed that God has rejected, and yet here it is, Jesus saying no, no, no, God has sent me here to you to receive you. How do we know Jesus is receiving him? Notice what happens in the story. Jesus says for I must go to your house today. Now verse six, so he hurried and he came down and received him joyfully, so he is ecstatic. Verse seven, and when they saw it, so who are they? When the crowds who had rejected Zacchaeus, when the religious leaders who said there's no hope for him, when they said God would never want a relationship with someone like that, when they saw Jesus going to his house, notice this, when they saw it, they grumbled, he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. Now something culturally you gotta understand.

Let me ask this rhetorical question first. Could Jesus have saved Zacchaeus while he's in the sycamore tree? What's the answer? Just like Bartimaeus did not need to be brought to Jesus, Zacchaeus does not have to come down to experience life transformation. So notice Jesus' language. I must, divine necessity, I must go to your home today then all of a sudden when the crowd sees Jesus in the home, they're all grumbling, like who does he think he is going to the home, why? Because culturally, if you went to someone's home to dine with them, to stay at their house, you are embracing them like family. You are not just receiving them cordially, you are receiving them into a relationship. They are recognizing that Jesus is welcoming Zacchaeus into his life. This is a man who people believe, there's no way God would ever wanna have a relationship with someone like Zacchaeus, and then Jesus comes on the scene proclaiming to be God in the flesh and says, no, no, actually I have come for people just like Zacchaeus. I have come for the broken, I have come for the hurt, I have come for those who are distanced, I have come for those who everyone says religiously they are unacceptable, but I have come. In fact, Jesus is showing us,

I'm gonna go to Jerusalem, and I'm gonna give my life as a ransom so that I could receive men and women just like Zacchaeus into my life. Every person is valuable. And we see Jesus showing us that he receives the rejected. So I want you to know in this room, there's some of you, you feel so distant from God, you feel like he doesn't hear you, he doesn't see you, and that he has rejected you because of decisions you are making or you have made in your past. Now I want you to hear me say this, listen to me. Jesus wants to receive you into relationship and restore fellowship with God regardless of what you've done and regardless of who you are, because you're valuable to him. See, what's the fundamental reason for all of this? Why does he hear the hurting? Why does he see the unseen? Why does he receive the rejected? And here's the last expression of Jesus's value on humanity because Jesus came to seek sinners. Jesus seeks the sinner. So where do you get that from? And this is gonna be a powerful moment where you're gonna see transformation take place. Look what happens here. 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. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham. Now verse 10, listen to this. This is Jesus's statement about his mission in life. Jesus's statement about his mission in life. I don't think Jesus is talking to Zacchaeus when he makes this statement. I think he's looking at the crowds who have missed it. They have devalued Zacchaeus because of his saltfaced promises. his sin, because of his brokenness, because of the decisions that he has made, he is rejected by God and Jesus says, And they are hoping that the heavens will open up for them let me set the set record straight, the Son of Man, which by the way, if they can find some help. is a title given to the Messiah in Daniel of the Old Testament. So when Jesus says the Son of Man, talking about himself, he's saying, the Messiah, God's messenger, God in the flesh, he has come for one purpose, and that is to seek and to save the lost. That means there's no one too far gone,

there is no one who has lost their value, no matter who they are, what they've done. And here's what I love about this, is that you see life transformation taking place. Because people oftentimes will read this passage of scripture and they'll misunderstand it as, okay, Jesus hears the hurting, Jesus sees the unseen, Jesus receives the rejected, and oftentimes in our culture, the secular mindset will say, you see, Jesus loves all people, regardless of what condition they're in. And that is true. But then the follow-up statement by secular culture is, then we can't expect people to change who they are. We just gotta embrace them, you gotta love them, Jesus loved everyone. But listen, notice this, whenever someone's life intersects the love of Jesus, truly intersects the love of Jesus, Jesus meets them where they are, but he does not leave them there. Look at the story. Notice what he says here in verse number eight, and Zacchaeus stood and he said to the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods, I give to the poor, and if I've defrauded anyone of anything,

I restore it fourfold. Notice what happened here, there is a transformation, he is a new creation in Christ, why? Up until this point, there is nothing Zacchaeus loved more than his money. There was nothing that meant more to him than his money. And he devalued everyone that got in the way between he and his money. And so everything for him was about getting more and taking more, and I have no value or use for people other than what I get from them. The only value he placed on a person's life is the value they added to his. But now everything has changed, how do we know that? He says, Lord, I wanna give half of my goods away to the poor. See what's happened here? There is a value shift for him. All of a sudden Zacchaeus begins to hear the hurting. He begins to see the unseen. He begins to receive the rejected. He all of a sudden now says, I used to look past the poor and take from them, now I just wanna give to them, why? Because if I'm valuable to you, that means that they're valuable to you. And if they're valuable to you,

that means they gotta be valuable to me. So I wanna take half of my possessions, why? Because now I love people more than my money. Which by the way, one of the reasons we should live generous lives as believers and invest in gospel ministry in the local church is because people are valuable and therefore I love people more than my finances and so I will live off less so that I can give more, why? Because people are valuable and because Christ has been generous toward me, now I wanna be generous toward others. And that's the transformation you have. Jesus is not preaching to him, nowhere does Jesus say, you need to give your money away. What happens is the Holy Spirit, the gospel at work in his life now says, hey, see the unseen, place value in people's life, love them more than you love your money and you also see it in his repentance and he says, and if I have defrauded anyone, anything, I will restore it fourfold. In other words, I'm not just gonna give what I took back, I'm gonna give four times what I took back, why? Because nothing matters to me more than Jesus. Notice the transformation, he used to only be about taking and now he's saying, if I've cheated anyone, I just don't wanna make it right, I wanna show them how valuable they are to me and how valuable they are to Jesus

by giving back four times what I took. You see, when Jesus steps in the equation, he transforms everything in our life. And I really feel like what I feel led to do this morning is have a different type of invitation. And it's gonna look more like Wednesday nights look like for us, we've got some bandwidth to do it, so I don't wanna get in a hurry, we've got some time for this. I'm gonna ask our prayer partners, our decision encouragers to get in place and be available and here's what we're gonna do. On Wednesday nights, we have what we call minister-led prayer, where those of you with burdens and needs, you can have someone who's an advocate for you who wants to pray with you and encourage you. And I want our prayer team to be available and here's what I want us to do, I want us to just have a time of worship and I want us to think about the message in a couple of ways. One, I want you to receive it personally. Say, what do you mean by that? I want you to know, listen to this, I want you to know that I'm gonna be there for you. some of you feel like no one hears you're hurting. I want you to know that I'm gonna be there for you. No one hears the hurts of your life. And I want you to be reminded today that Jesus hears and you can come to Him.

And sometimes for Jesus, like for us to trust that, I want you to know that you got other people, they wanna hear your hurt and pray for you as well. So if you've got pain in your life, brokenness in your life, struggles in your life, I want you to be heard today by people who love you and by more importantly, Jesus Himself. And you can come for prayer. Some of you feel like you're just unseen, that you just aren't valuable enough to be seen by the people around you. I want you to know this morning that Jesus sees you and you can come into this altar and kneel and be in His presence and just enjoy His company because He hasn't looked over you today. In fact, it could be that you're in the room right now because Jesus came by today. And some of you, He is stopping, even kind of in your mind at your seat, and He's saying, hey, let's spend some time together. So this altar is gonna be open, prayer people are gonna be available. If you're saying, I just feel unseen, I want you to know that you are seen by Jesus. And listen, He wants to engage with you this morning relationally. Some of you feel rejected. And I want you to know this morning, Jesus wants to receive you. For some of you, it might be confession of sin

that you've committed as a Christian, or it could be becoming a Christian for the first time. And here's why, the fourth response is because Jesus came to seek sinners. If you're uncertain of a relationship with Jesus, you can come forward and tell one of these volunteers or come and find me, I'll be standing right here. I need a relationship with Jesus or maybe you need to be baptized, like the story a few moments ago into His name. And you're just like, man, I have missed an opportunity and I need to be saved and baptized or be baptized because I have been saved. And so what we're gonna do is if you have a burden, if you have a need, if you, since God is wanting you to spend time with Him, these prayer partners are gonna be available. This altar is gonna be available. And here's my challenge for you. Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Engage with Him and commune with Him in whatever He says do, do. If He says can be prayed for, come. If He says to come be saved, come be saved. If He says be baptized, be baptized. If He says to grab the hand of a friend and come to the altar and pray, whatever it is. Listen, I want you to know that you are seen, you are heard, you are received. Jesus is looking for you.

I'm gonna ask you to stand. Father, I'm asking in the name of Jesus, Lord, that you would move in this place. God, that you would draw us near into your presence. Lord, give freedom in this room for those who feel broken and hurting and distant, that they might find life in you and may be heard by you and seen by you, God, and received by you. Lord, let us experience you in this way. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. As we worship.