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“Now in light of all that, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, by loving him, by serving the Lord your God with all your heart and being, and by keeping the Lord’s commandments and his regulations that I’m commanding you right now. It’s for your own good! 

Clearly, the Lord owns the sky, the highest heavens, the earth, and everything in it. But the Lord adored your ancestors, loving them and choosing the descendents that followed them–you!–from all other people. That’s how things still stand now. So circumcise your hearts and stop being so stubborn because the Lord your God is the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who doesn’t play favorites and doesn’t take bribes. 

He enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt. Revere the Lord your God, serve him, cling to him, swear by his name alone! He is your praise, and he is your God–the one who performed these great and awesome acts that you witnessed with your very own eyes. Your ancestors went down to Egypt with a total of seventy people, but now look! The Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the nighttime sky!” 

-Deuteronomy 10:12-22-

 

This is an amazing passage of Gods word! The part that I would like to focus on today is the phrase, “circumcise your hearts and stop being so stubborn because the Lord your God is the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who doesn’t play favorites and doesn’t take bribes.” 

I’m stubborn. Very stubborn. I have an idea in my head of how things should go. As a youth worker when I am planning some event or worship gathering for Fusion Students I have an idea of what I think is the best way for it to happen. 

Can you relate to this feeling? 

I think we all have an idea of how we want our lives to go by. We make plans and set goals, because there are certain things that we believe we are called to do. I believe that I am called to be a pastor, and I have set goals to accomplish this goal. However, the manner in which this goal is achieved is not up to me. The path that I will be traveling is only known by God. 

You see sometimes we forget how far we have come and even more who enabled us to come that far. Without Christ we are nothing. Period. In this life we are distracted by many things, but the one thing that is constant is that God is always present in our lives! The things that seem worthy of our attention distract us from what truly deserves our attention. 

So, circumcise your hearts and get rid of all the junk that distracts us from the one true God and CLING TO CHRIST!! Because He is the only constant in this life. 

“Revere the Lord your God, serve him, cling to him, swear by his name alone!”

(The other day my girlfriend Amy Forsythe gave a sermon on Luke 19:1-10  that inspired me so I thought that I would share.) 

Jesus entered Jericho was passing through town. A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.” So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus. 

Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 

Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.” 

Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham. The Human One came to seek and save the lost.”

Luke 19:1-10

You can almost hear the children’s song as you read this story can’t you? 

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little was he…..

It brings back memories of Vacation Bible School as a kid in Red Oak, TX. Zacchaeus is one of my favorite stories in the bible and it has a theme that we see throughout the bible. The theme of the Underdog. The downtrodden. The least of these. It’s a theme we see throughout Gods word and I think it has to do with a characteristic that is Godly and not really talked about a lot. 

You see in the New Testament Church that the Apostles didn’t expect the people of the world to come to them and ask: 

“Can you tell me where I can find a place to worship?” 

It’s nowhere in the bible. People didn’t check out a church in the scriptures. You see this movement of the church. That the church is not just a place, as it seems to be today. It’s mobile. 

They embraced people where they were, because they learned it that way. That’s the way that Jesus did it. 

We know this is true because of stories like Zacchaeus. In this story Jesus embraces Zacchaeus, but he does more than that doesn’t he? 

He calls him by name. 

“Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.”

Imagine the composure of Zacchaeus in this moment. He’s a tax collector which means he was about the furthest person from being elected, “Mr. Popular.” He was despised by all of his home. He stole and did manipulative things with people’s money. 

Jesus however doesn’t see any of that. He embraces Zacchaeus because Zacchaeus is loved by God. That is the only requirement for being embraced by Christ. Doesn’t matter what he has done or even what he’s going to do. The only thing that matters to Jesus is that Zacchaeus belongs to him. 

Now insert yourself into this story. 

It doesn’t matter what you done or even what you will do. 

The only requirement for Christ to embrace you and call you by name is that you are his child. 

Amazing. Simply Amazing. 

I mean that is so awesome that you can’t describe it with mere words. Words just cheapen that type of love. It’s so……:) 

So, in that fashion embrace the world as Christ embraced you. Don’t decide on whether or not to embrace by who they are. 

Just do it.