Last night we concluded a wonderful 4 days of VBS at the Wellandport Church here in Ontario, Canada. It’s been my privilege for several years to teach the adult class.
Our theme this year was names of Jesus. We studied 5 of more than 200 names, tittles, designations, and metaphors that describe the “The Lamb of God.” Nazarene. Messiah. Lord. Almighty. And last night was Savior.
Actually all the names point to Jesus as the Savior. My Savior. Your Savior. The Savior of the whole world. Jesus becoming our Savior was God’s plan from the very beginning, and Jesus’ purpose in descending from heaven to earth.
The angelic host proclaimed it at His birth–”For this born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Lk. 2:11).
Jesus’ own pronouncement affirmed it. “I have come to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19:10).
Peter’s profession that only through the name of Jesus can one be saved was the hallmark of apostolic preaching (Ax. 4:8-12).
And Paul, the persecutor turned preacher by conversion preached that Jesus was the prophesied “seed” of David whom “God raised up for Israel a Savior” (Ax. 13:22-23).
I need a Savior. Because, like the apostle Peter, “I am a sinful man.” And so are you. Indeed, “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23) The deceitful, yet desirable nature of sin appeals to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life (I Jn. 2:15-17). I wish it weren’t so, but it’s the reality of the human condition since the fall of Adam and Eve.
Without a Savior I fall prey to sin’s seriously debilitating consequences. Think about what sin does.
- Sin results in shame and guilt (Gen. 3:7-10; Ps38:4).
- Sin enslaves us to Satan’s snare (Jn. 8;34; Rom. 6:16).
- Sin ruptures relationships (Jas. 4:1-2; Prov. 16:28).
- Sin produces physical death (1 Cor. 15:22).
- Sin reaps corruption (Gal. 6:6-9).
- Sin causes spiritual death (Rom. 6:23).
- Sin separates us from God (Isa. 59:1-2).
“Sin will take you father than you want to go. Keep you longer than you want to stay. And cost you more than you want to pay.” You need a Savior.
However, as the late Dee Bowman once wrote, “What man could not do for himself was accomplished at great cost by Jesus Christ.” Dee further offered this tribute to the Savior.
“His provision was an act of supreme love and concern for a degenerate and fallen humanity. In John 10:18, Jesus speaks concerning His giving of His life for a sin-sick world. He says, “No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again.” The most unspeakable gift ever bestowed in any generation and for any circumstance was given when Jesus laid down His life for fallen man.”
Yes, to become our Savior Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins. This sublime and sobering thought is captured in both a simple, yet profound way when Paul penned: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection have provided the means for you and me to enjoy freedom from the bondage, blame and burden of sin. Our Savior empowers us to a transformed life, not conformed to the deeds and desires of a carnal world. He provides hope in a world that often seems helpless and hopeless. My life now reflects His attitude as my light shines in through the gloom and darkness of a sinful culture. Now I can live with an eternal purpose and a Heavenly goal.
Because Jesus is my Savior I know…
- My faith is not in vain.
- My life is not futile.
- My labor is not in vain in the Lord.
- One day, I shall arise from the grave, victorious over sin, death, and the devil.
Oh, what a Savior!
Will you accept Him as your Savior, too?
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
What Jesus the Teacher of Israel did when he saw Zacchaeus a Roman Advocatus out on a limb of an old sycamore tree is a significant act. Ficus sycomorus, called the sycamore fig or the fig-mulberry is a fig species (Luke 17:6 interlinear text)
Now little children may know the nursery song…all around the mulberry bush and think it is just a song. So too they may even learn to sing a song that says Zacchaeus was a wee little man.
But adults should not be too quick to dismiss these little nursery songs. For Jesus the Teacher of Israel saw this little person going out on a limb on the Road to Jericho!
Now most adults back then who knew the Teacher by sight would have realized the significance of meeting a foreigner on the Road to Jericho and would immediately have seen this “little” person as a woman who was a landowner and therefore an advocatus who was responsible for the collection of taxes. Landowners then as now were considered rich!
So on lookers would have been very suspicious when they saw such a renowned Teacher talking with a woman in a mulberry bush…a sycamore-fig bush –all lit up, richly dressed and on fire for him.
And then when he said… “Zacchaeus, hurry down, for I must stay at your house today.” the people looking on would have been shocked. To stay was to go and visit under the cover of darkness with a woman who was not his wife (see also John 3: 1-21; John 3:28-29; John 7: 50-53).
“And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!’”(Luke 19:7).
Don’t get Lost! Females belong to the race called MAN and yet many see only males as “men” and females as the only helpers or defenders of men. More importantly don’t let the patriarchal pronoun “he” trip you up either.
So when the “little” richly dressed woman who was a Roman Advocatus, land owner, stood up and said: “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”…
Pay attention. Fold a piece of paper fourfold and then open it up and LOOK!
Now hear what Jesus the Teacher of Israel says in response in VERSE IX.
“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham.”
And in Verse X:
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Take note: the Hebrew name that Luke gives to the “wee” little person in these X verses (Luke 19: 1-10) is Zacchaeus and in Hebrew this name means “clean or pure”. Coincidently the Italian name for clean or pure is lindo or linda. I discovered this when visiting in Europe when I put my clothes in a washing machine made in Italy. The name on it was LINDO!
LikeLike
Pingback: Weekly Recap: July 14-18 | ThePreachersWord