A deeper dive into Luke 19:1-10 - a little more snow for Ohio!

 


Sunday morning brought a couple more inches of snow just prior to our Sunday morning gathering.  If in December, we would have all loved it but now that it is February, we had other comments about it.  50's promised for a couple days this week so we will see what we have left.

I order one of these batons for each church that I work with.  It is a symbol to the new pastor that he is joining the team at WCC.  Just like in the relay race, the team members take a turn at carrying the baton while the others cheer him or her on.  

It is a learning point for us all to see the church body as a unit rather than a top down structure.  The 3 circles of WCC are elders, teams, and members.  Each circle is of the same size in necessity even though each circle is not of the same size numerically.  The circles overlap each other and the more they overlap the larger the common area becomes which is the mission of the church.  You could see this as a 3 relay team member race and sometimes the members have the baton while the elders and teams cheer them on; sometimes the elders have the baton while the teams and members cheer them on; and sometimes the teams have the baton while the elders and members cheer them on.  

One last point about the sermon this Sunday would be that nobody saw this coming with Jesus' interaction with rich, chief tax collector and highly despised by the public, Zaccheus, a known sinner who was devoted to sin.  Just like no one went to the grave on that Resurrection Sunday thinking they would experience a live man.  The words coming out of Jesus' mouth about "salvation" and elevating Zaccheus to the status of being a "son of Abraham" would have made them do a double take.  

Our seeking God gives us an example of how far His love goes in retrieving His lost.  The unloved Zaccheus by the public was loved and called out to by God.  The calling and commanding of Jesus to one of His lost was followed by the response of submission and praise of Jesus as Lord, his Master, the one whom he belongs to, by Zaccheus.  

Until Jesus returns this action will happen over and over again and we, the church, have been given the commission to make disciples by baptizing, teaching, and obeying what Jesus has commanded to us all and with His presence with us while we do this.  May we keep our eyes open and words of Jesus ready for the Zaccheus(es) up in the nearby sycamore trees.

Adam




A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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