The ministry of Jesus lasted
approximately three years. The first year was of introduction and proclamation.
From a human standpoint, it was very successful. Thousands came out to see Him.
The second year was the year of resistance and opposition. By human standards
it was unsuccessful. Jesus was preaching a hard message, and the religious
leaders marshaled resistance against Him everywhere. At the same time His disciples
grumbled and feuded among themselves. Things got so bad that he even asked His
disciples if they were going to leave him, too. He was forced out of Judea and
Galilees, and went into the wilderness on the eastern side of the Sea of
Galilee.
The third year of Jesus’
ministry was spent in teaching and preparation. He slowly traveled down on the east
bank of the Jordan River, preaching, teaching and performing miracles. Finally,
in the month before the final Passover when Jesus was crucified, He approached
Jericho, which was the gateway city for Judea and Jerusalem. As He did, the
expectation of the crowd swelled again. Once again, the people began to look at
Him as possibly the Messiah. Jericho is a large city east of Jerusalem, at the
end of a mountain road. The road rises from Jericho and winds for forty miles
before you reach Jerusalem.
It would have been a good
place for Jesus to stop and preach, teach and heal. It was the last time Jesus
would be in a major city before Palm Sunday. Crowds of pilgrims were passing through
on their way to the Passover. Jesus could have stopped there and done some
amazing ministry. But instead of stopping, He just passed through.
Imagine the scene--hundreds,
maybe thousands of pilgrims and citizens lining the road to see Jesus! The dignitaries from the synagogues would
have been in front. Beggars and sick people crowding the thoroughfares,
pleading with Him to heal them. Spiritual seekers waited to hear Him preach. Pharisees
and Scribes wanted to debate him. What
would he do in the short time He was with them? Would he preach, teach, heal, or
debate—what would he make of those precious few hours?
Here’s what he did. He saw one
little man in a tree and spent the whole day with him. A town full of sinners
and sick people, and he spent all his time with just one man—a chief tax collector who was the most hated man in town.
It made no sense-no sense at all! Why did He waste such an opportunity?
Zacchaeus as chief tax collector
was universally despised. He was so hated that people wouldn’t even get out of
the way and let him pass. He couldn’t even find anyone to give him a boost into
the tree. He had to climb it all by himself.
Now, why should we care today what
Jesus did that day in Jericho? Does it
make any difference to us where Jesus spent that afternoon? It does make a
difference. It makes a life changing difference—at least, it does to me
personally. Jesus’ actions exposes and
rebukes my greatest sin in ministry.
Today, I want to speak to you not as pastor, but as a
sinner. I want to confess my greatest sin
in ministry. It is pride. I love the limelight too much, and the praise
of others.
I started my career as a youth director in a church with
about seven hundred members. We had about a hundred and twenty young people. When
I was twenty-three, our senior pastor had a heart attack, and I had to function
as pastor for several months. I got good reviews. I was even asked to preach at
Synod twice in my twenties. It was a great feeling. I loved the praise and attention. I began to
think of myself as “God’s man of faith and power.” The pastor was retiring in a year or to, and
he even suggested that I should stay and apply to be senior pastor.
But the church wasn’t enough for me. It was too traditional,
too stuck in the past. I wasn’t doing enough in the community. I wanted to see it
bigger and livelier. Most of all, I wanted to have an influence far beyond the
local church. My thoughts were to have a national, not just a local impact.
An opportunity came
up to plant my own church, and I took it. I thought in a year or two surely I
would have a church of several hundred. But after four years, I had built it up
to only about fifty. Looking for better opportunities, I left and took a church
in Florida. I had a successful ministry there, adding about a hundred and
twenty over seven years, but it wasn’t enough. I missed the acclaim that comes
when you preach to hundreds.
I accepted a call to a church of more than five hundred. But
it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. I wanted to see exciting, soul stirring
revival. I became dissatisfied. My dissatisfaction turned inward, and I fell
into depression. Finally, I walked away.
I thought I would be called to a bigger church, or some
soul-stirring ministry, but dozens of churches turned me down. God opened only
one door for me, to the last place I ever wanted to go, a small church so far
out in the country that there was little or no chance for growth. For a long
time, I was bitter and resentful towards God that he seemed to have abandoned
me.
Slowly, God showed me the error of my ways. Pride was driving me, not the Spirit. That
little church at first seemed unimportant, but God’s Spirit was there. It was a
place where I learned the importance of small things, and seemingly unimportant
people.
I have told you my story for
one reason, because we are all
ministers. You are a minister of the Lord, the same as I. The only difference between
us is that I have the responsibility of ministering within the institutional
church, while you minister in the world. The vast majority of us will never minister
to a lot of people, or in a way that will call a lot of praise or acclamation. Most
of us minister to just a few or even one. You all shepherd someone. Your “flock”
may be a youth group, a Bible study, a group of friends, acquaintances or your
family. At some time, most of us will have a flock of one or two people like a
baby, an aging parent, a sick husband or wife. You may spend years caring for
only one person. You may think there are things more important that you are supposed
to do, but there isn’t. This is a truth that escapes the career-bent--that loving one or two people completely is
sometimes more important than the whole world.
Many famous ministers have
committed themselves to preaching and teaching the Gospel. But in the process
they have forsaken their true flock, that one person God sent to them, that
only they can love. I have known many preachers who have been faithful in the
pulpit, but who have neglected or been unfaithful to their wives. Many have
loved their congregations but lost their children. Dr. R. A Torrey was one of the most influential
preachers of his generation, yet none of his children stayed with the Lord. Francis
Schaeffer was one of the great teachers of my generation, but his son stands
today against everything he taught. Rick
Warren is one of the greatest preachers of today, yet his son committed
suicide. We cannot know why these children chose the paths that they did, but
we cannot help but wonder if we, in saving the world, often miss the little
people around us. If we ignore the importance of persons in our quest to change
the world, then we will have missed the true purpose of God.
Jesus could have stood in that
crowd in Jericho and delivered one of his great sermons. He could have healed a
bunch of people, and received praise from the crowd. But instead He turned his
attention to one lonely little man, He was not interested in reputation or acclaim,
but in helping people one by one.
Think of the stories you
remember about Jesus. Most of those stories center not on crowds, but
individuals like Mary Magdalene, Peter, Nicodemus, Lazarus, the woman at the
well, and so many others. These were private, not public ministry. Other people
told the stories later, but most of it was totally invisible to the crowd. They
were ministry opportunities taken by the prompting of the Spirit to a congregation
of just one person. Jesus’ ministry style was to put the individual ahead of
the crowd, to let changed lives be the witness to the world.
Billy Graham was once asked if
he could live his ministry over, what would he change. He replied that he would
devote himself to two men, whom would devote themselves to two men, who would
devote themselves to two others, and so forth. He calculated that if he did, he
would reach more of the world than all his books, crusades and television shows
combined. The world is won one person at
a time. A city full of people demanded
Jesus’ attention, but Jesus gave it to one little man in a tree.
It’s not the big crowds that
should interest us, but the little man in the tree. Ninety-nine sheep were in
the fold, but the shepherd left to seek one.
Zacchaeus’ story doesn’t end
on that day. An afternoon with this man
had a vast impact on the city of Jericho. Zacchaeus gave away half his income
to feed the poor. Imagine what would happen if the richest man in our city made
a pledge like that! He became an honest
tax collector, and as chief tax collector, he would have demanded that all the
tax collectors under him did the same. Unfair taxation was the biggest gripe
against the government. Jesus ended that practice in Jericho in a single
afternoon!
We don’t know how far our
influence will reach when we adopt a congregation of one. It may not go any
farther than that one person, but that is all right. We need to be reminded that God’s greatest
works are done through networks of people being changed, and then changing
others. Righteousness is from one person to another, by individuals meeting
individuals.
I’d still like to preach to
hundreds of people, and to see the world touched through me. But I have no
power make that happen. That is up to God. The only thing I have to do is to be
the best pastor, the best father, the best son, the best husband and the best
friend I can be to one person at a time. We all must look for that one person
who is our flock, and give our lives for them, and to do that all our lives,
one person at a time.
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