Church Requel
Pure Hearted Initiative
We study the story of Zacchaeus - a wealthy entrepreneur, hated by those who loved Jesus. What opportunities do we miss when we only look for those who look like us? What initiatives do we miss when we think we have our mission all figured out? Jesus came to seek and save the lost. We are reminded the lost includes “us” as well as “them.”
Locations & Times
Church Requel
2 Marion Ave, Mansfield, OH 44903, USA
Sunday 11:00 AM
Free Gift For Our Guests
If you are visiting with us today, WELCOME! We’re glad you’re here. If you will stop by the piano on the north side of our sanctuary after this morning’s worship, and drop off your connection card, we have a FREE Christian book to share with you. We promise no one will show up at your door. But we will include you in our weekly Friday email newsletter and tell you about the good things happening at Church Requel. Thanks for being our guest!
Food Pantry
We continue to need non-perishable foods. When you come to church Sunday mornings bring some food to share with others, who may be sitting in the pew next to you. The Food Pantry is downstairs and will be open for 15 minutes after each Sunday service. You are welcome to receive food if you have a need. We are looking for volunteers to work in the food pantry 15 minutes each Sunday. Please see Sheri if you are able to help.
School Supplies For Our Children
We will accept school supplies so that we may assist our students in going back to school next month. Watch for bargains! Clip those coupons! Shop for deals! Then bring your school goodies with you each week to Church Requel. We will assist our own students first and then donate to the public if we receive more than what we can use. We thank Amy Watson for her leadership in this endeavor. If you are willing to assist in organizing the school resources, please let Amy know.
Picnic & Pool Party
On Saturday, August 12th from 6:00-8:00pm we will get together <br>for one last Church Requel Hoo-Rah before the school year begins! Come to Shelly Acres, 1002 Twins Lane, for games, swimming free food and our annual CR group picture. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. CR will provide the meat, lemonade and paper goods. Please let us know you will be coming by signing the sign-up sheet in the foyer. Fun for all!!
Reserve Your Indians Tickets!
It’s hard to believe we would begin registration for a Sept. 8th event. However, ticket prices will be $21 a ticket and will include fireworks and $1 hot dogs, so we anticipate this night will be sold out quickly. Church Requel will not be able to pay for tickets this year. So if you and yours want to go, we must ask you to sign up and pay up early. Please see Brandi. You can also pay online by going to give.churchrequel.org.
Donate To Church Requel
Use the link below to make a one time donation to Church Requel using your debit or credit card. We want to make sure you know that we provide this as a convenience for those who use the debit or credit card responsibly in their financial lives. It is not our intent for you to go into or add to credit card debt to give to CR. We appreciate your ongoing financial support of our ministry!
https://churchrequel.ccbchurch.com/trx_submit.php?type=public_gift
Intro - Context in Bible is key. Let’s review where we are.
(1) Judge v. Widow - Power in God’s kingdom is about persistent prayer.
(2) Pharisee v. Tax Collector - Righteous is a matter of the heart.
(3) Rich young ruler - Heaven cannot be purchased; Almost impossible for the rich!
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:24, 27 NIV
(4) Blind from birth beggar receives impossible gift - His sight back!
(5) Today the case of the powerful, wealthy, tax collector becoming saved!
“Today salvation has come to this house… for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9-10 NIV
(6) Combined with the rest - a new era is beginning. Jesus tells them plainly he is about to be killed. They will live as exiles. With new people. And new opportunities for the church.
4 Lessons For Church People!
#1 - Pure ____________
- New people bring new opportunity to God’s kingdom.
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.” Luke 19:1-4 NIV
This story much more than a song!
(a) Zacchaeus means “pure.”
(b) Chief tax collector - tax farming for Romans.
(c) Wealthy - even more so than rich young ruler.
(d) Like rich young ruler and others, wanted to see Jesus! Wanted to know that there was more to life than making money.
(e) Aware of own weaknesses (short) & able to strategize (find a tree.)
Today’s lesson: purity not a matter of checking off boxes of right things accomplished or right theology memorized, but purity comes from heart:
“God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the LORD looks into the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b GWT
For millennia the church has to be reminded of this truth. Still today!
#2 - Pure __________
- Jesus extends grace to all people.
“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.” Luke 19:5-6 NIV
Nothing Jesus had done could have been more unfathomable than this. Soft-hearted may be able to forgive accepting & forgiving prostitutes, but traitors to the Hebrews? Extortionist? Collaborator? Thief? Thug? Zacchaeus had mob abilities to take money and hurt people and he did! Yet Jesus was going to have dinner with this guy? Our children’s song takes away the revulsion, abomination, horror of this moment. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing and the impact it would have. All need grace!
“Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.” Romans 3:23-24 MSG
Grace is not something earned or deserved. None of us are any better than an extortionist, traitor, thief compared to God’s righteousness. We receive God’s grace as a gift. “Sheer generosity.” Yet after a while we begin a pretense of being better than other people.
#3 - Pure ________________
- We respond to different people with ignorance.
“All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’” Luke 19:7 NIV
Given who Zacchaeus really was, muttering was understandable but unacceptable in God’s kingdom. Why?
3 misunderstandings…
* We misunderstand God’s ____________ .
Christ did not come to this earth, sacrifice his life, rise again on the 3rd day, begin his church so that bad people would be made good. Jesus came so that dead people would be made alive!
* We misunderstand our ____________ .
We could begin to think that we are good because of our actions, but it’s entire because of what Jesus has done for us. Consequently we forget the nature of good and bad in the world. Because of our freedom of will we have the opportunity of evil. Bad things happen here. God is an expert at turning bad into good, turning crucifixions into resurrections, changing the hearts of tax-collecting, extortionist, thieving traitors into pure-hearted Christians.
* We misunderstand others’ ____________ .
We tend to look at current status quo as the way it will always be. But God can bring in a new person, with raw abilities that His kingdom needs. God changes hearts and uses pure hearted to accomplish new initiatives…
#4 - Pure ____________
- God brings new opportunities with a changed initiative.
“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’” Luke 19:8 NIV
Zacchaeus didn’t need to have Jesus spell it out for him (like Jesus did for the rich young ruler.) His life was already changed. His heart was as pure as his name! He volunteered to give half of all he had to the poor and offered to pay back 4x any cheating. Add it all up and it might have been even more than what he owned! Zacchaeus was a new creature!
“If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone. Everything is made new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NCV
Tradition tells us that Zacchaeus became Matthias’ right hand. A powerful, influential, wealthy member of Jesus’ new church, ultimately becoming bishop himself in Caesarea.
Conclusion - when it comes to seeing new people in the church, do you see them only in the light of what they have done up until this moment? Last week we talked about imagination and faith. Sometimes we need to imagine what God could do with a life that is changed from the inside!
Church Requel's Website
Here is your online link to everything Church Requel on the Internet. Here you will find all of our sermons, in video and audio. Each week our pastor writes in his online blog and publishes an audio podcast. You'll find all of our pictures, our Facebook page and our Twitter feed. You can even connect with other Church Requel folks in our online community!
http://www.ChurchRequel.org/