
At Lakeview, our Ministry Identity is “The Sycamore Tree”.
WHY?
(click here to listen to the sermon)
In Luke’s Gospel Ch. 19 he records for us an encounter with Jesus & Zacchaeus. In this encounter we see 4 characters of noticeable importance:
1: JESUS: the Savior seeking the sinner
Jesus was going through Jericho & comes upon Zacchaeus. In v.10, once salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house, Jesus tells His followers that was the reason why He came–”to seek & to save what was lost”. Praise God we have a Savior who came to us when we cannot go to Him! (Romans 5:8)
2: ZACCHAEUS: the sinner seeking the Savior
Now, the Bible records the onlookers calling Zacchaeus a “sinner” because he was the chief tax collector there in Jericho. According to Romans 3:23, we are all sinners in need of a Savior. Now, Zacchaeus was desiring to see Jesus. How do I know? Because he was willing to climb a tree to see Him! Think about it… Zacchaeus was a type of banker…. how many bankers you know go to work ready to climb a tree?
3: THE CROWD: the distractions keeping the sinner from encountering the Savior
Now, Jesus came that Zacchaeus might be saved, & Zacchaeus was seeking to encounter Jesus, but in between was the crowd–the distraction trying to keep Zacchaesu from encountering Jesus. Well… we have distractions keeping us from encountering Jesus every day, don’t we. BUT, in spite of the crowd, Zacchaeus thought Jesus was worth the effort to climb a tree to get beyond the crowd. We too should Jesus worth the time, energy, & effort to move beyond our distractions to encounter Him.
4: THE SYCAMORE TREE: the earthly element helping the sinner encounter the Savior
The tree was the element that helped this encounter take place. We too, as followers of Jesus, need to be like the Sycamore Tree–we need to help people who are seeking Jesus encounter the One who is seeking after them that they might be saved.
So…. as we do as a ministry & as individuals is to encourage people to be like the Sycamore Tree–what can we do with our lives to help people encounter Jesus?