March 30, 2010
Luke 19
Pastor Jason Yon
As a full-time pastor, a great majority of my time is spent with Christians. In fact, until recently all of my friends and everyone that I knew in this area attend Grace Covenant Church. As a result, I do not usually have a lot of interaction with unbelievers or “sinners” like Zacchaeus - other than an occasional server at a restaurant or cashier at a grocery store.
Like other tax collectors in Jesus’ time, Zacchaeus took more of people’s money than he should, and kept the extra for himself. People hated tax collectors, which caused them to be disgusted when Jesus said he was going to stay with Zacchaeus. Why would Jesus want to hang out with such a lowlife? His perspective on it was revealed a few chapters earlier when he recruited Levi, a tax collector, to be one of his disciples: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31-32)
I do not normally have opportunities to spend a lot of time with “sinners”. Yet as a Christian commissioned by God to “go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15), I need to spend time with people that do not have a relationship with the Lord so that I might have the opportunity to witness to them about what He has done in my life. Recently I committed to look for opportunities to step outside of my everyday “church bubble” and spend time with people who do not know Jesus and share the love of Christ with them.
In your everyday life, I would challenge you to look for opportunities to share your faith with people who do not know the Lord. Live your life as a positive example for others to follow, and be available to step outside of your comfort zone to share the love of Christ with someone who needs it.
Did you know? Pastor Jason enjoys racing slot cars for a hobby…not only for the fun of racing, but spending time with other guys in the community beyond Grace Covenant.
