The Seeking that Leads to Salvation

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:1-10).

The Spirit inspired Luke to record the next piece of Christ’s journey toward Jerusalem and His appointment with Calvary. Luke notes here that Jesus was passing through Jericho when one particular member of the ever-increasing crowd of followers caught the Master’s attention. It wasn’t Zacchaeus’ reputation, position, or wealth that arrested the heart of the Savior. It was this man’s heart! The Holy Spirit is very sensitive and responsive to the longings of the human heart… “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). In His incarnation, Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit… “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Evidence and confirmation that we are truly born again disciples of Jesus Christ is that we are anointed with the same Holy Spirit. Therefore, Jesus wants true disciples to imitate His response to the seeking that leads to salvation.

The seeking heart is concealed to man’s eye. No one in the crowd called attention to the inquisitive little man who… “climbed up into a sycamore tree… because he was seeking to see who Jesus was”. It was the Holy Spirit that revealed the seeking heart of Zacchaeus to Jesus. Jesus reminded the crowd here that He came into the world seeking the lost… “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost”. He was compelled and empowered in His mission by the relentlessly pursuing Spirit of God that is so powerfully portrayed by the inspired hand of David in the Psalms… “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). Jesus called us to imitate His passion for the lost and He anoints us with the same Holy Spirit power we see operating in today’s scripture… “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Are you expecting the Spirit to reveal the hurting and seeking hearts of the lost to you today?

The seeking heart is compelling to Christ’s heart. He was just passing through Jericho, But the Spirit changed Jesus’ agenda. He invited himself to dinner in the home of a sinner. Evidence of our new birth and growing faith is a calendar and a checkbook that is increasingly conquered by a heart that is controlled by Christ’s love for the lost… “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Is Christ’s love compelling your heart so you can respond to seeking hearts today?

The seeking heart is captured by Christ’s love. The accepting love of Christ changed Zacchaeus’ seeking heart. Truly transformed disciples have a growing ability to love the unlovely with the transforming love of Christ… “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Can you see, touch, and love the lost like Jesus would if He was… “passing through” their life through you today?

As we grow up into Christ, we learn to imitate His loving and transforming response to…

The Seeking that Leads to Salvation.