From Success to Significance: The Story of Zacchaeus (Mark E. Moore)

The text below is a modified transcript of the sermon audio by Mark E. Moore.

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Okay, pop quiz. What do the following people have in common? Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Princess Di, and Robin Williams. All of them were wildly successful and deeply depressed.

Like, how does that work? When you, when you are that good looking and that wealthy and that popular, how could you have that much mental stress? Well, I, I think, you know, just because someone is successful doesn’t mean that they feel significant that they don’t run on parallel tracks. And then I was researching for this talk.

I ran across a guy by the name of Clay Cockrell. He’s a psychotherapist that works with the Uber wealthy because early in his career, a billionaire came to him for therapy. Like, what would a billionaire need therapy for? Turns out a lot?

He comes to Clay and the billionaire circle is pretty tight. So when a billionaire friend said, hey, uh I need some therapy because, oh, I got a guy and then another billionaire said I got a guy. So before long, all he was doing was therapy for the Uber wealthy. And what he learned is that they have some very consistent and specific problems or you could probably guess part of the problem is that they, they have a mistrust of everyone because when you have that much money, you don’t know who likes you for you or who likes you for what you have.

And so they begin to draw their circles really closely and even they even mistrust their own Children. A dirty little secret of the uber wealthy is they don’t talk about money with their own kids now because our culture is uh growing with mistrust. You can kind of guess what the next problem that they have is isolation. They, they put up fences and walls to protect themselves, insulate themselves.

And that insulation becomes isolation, which leads to a third problem. When you isolate from people, you lose your significance because significance is not building a career, it’s building relationships. And what we find is that people who are trying to go for success, use people to build their career when people who are going after significance, use their career to build people. And if you insulate and isolate from people, you lose that significance.

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And another problem added to the really wealthy is that that money is toxic and you probably have enough money to know that there’s a toxicity, especially with your Children because Children of the Uber wealthy become spoiled and entitled and mean and they spin off track, not always but often enough that it is a consistent problem with the Uber wealthy to have to deal with their kids. And some of you are sitting there, go, well, I don’t have a billion dollars. I got every one of those problems. Yeah, this is kind of a human problem, isn’t it?

It’s not a rich problem. It’s a people problem. So I wanna tell you about an encounter that Jesus had probably the wealthiest person he ever met. His name was Zachaeus is in the Bible in Luke chapter 19.

So I want you to turn in your Bible to Luke chapter nineteen. But before we get there, I just want to lay this question out: How will you measure your life? That’s the title of a book by a Harvard business professor.

He gives class lectures on how you will measure your life to the super smart, potentially super successful future business leaders because he knows that success and significance do not run on a parallel track. I’ve been thinking about that a lot this week because I had a birthday, and it had a zero in it. Unless I live to one hundred and twenty, I am no longer middle-aged, and he gets to thinking about how your life matters. This might surprise you, but I need this message as much as anybody in the room because when I look in the mirror, I don’t see myself as successful.

Now I recognize I’ve accomplished some things. But when I look in the mirror, I don’t see a teaching pastor of a church that I love, and I love this church. You know what I see?

I see someone else who’s an executive pastor or a senior pastor or a better speaker. Maybe someone who’s more educated. I don’t see success in the mirror. I have a book that’s published, but I don’t see my own work.

I see someone else who’s written a book that’s more popular. Someone else that has more likes on social media. Isn’t it strange? I don’t think I’m alone.

It doesn’t matter how much success you have; it doesn’t make you feel significant here, and here’s why: success is not a destination. Success is an aspiration. When you want success, what you really want is more. More what? Well, more money or more likes or more fame, more power.

If what you want is more, you will never reach it because more is not achievable. When success becomes the destination that you’re after, you never get there. We think that if I just get one more zero or one more bedroom or a little more horsepower, then I will have significance, and it doesn’t work that way because what we want is actually an aspiration, not a destination. That’s what this story really talks about: how you can move in your life.

From success to significance in the story is the story of Zacchaeus in chapter nineteen of Luke. Verse one says Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. Now I have to geek out on Jericho for just a second. Jericho is a super cool city. It is an oasis in the desert that has a natural spring underneath it.

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So in the middle of this barren desert, the city pops up with all this fruit, vegetables, and greenery. And at one of the main wells of this ancient city, you can see this mosaic on the ground in front of the well. It’s the lowest place on the earth, 1,300 feet below sea level, and it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Right in front of this well, where this mosaic is, is an archaeological site. You can go through it today, walk up that mound, and walk around the city.

That was the city that Joshua conquered. If you’re familiar with that story in the Bible, walk around the city, seven times the walls fell, you could walk in the archaeological site. The weird thing is when Jesus was there, that was an archaeological site as well because they would destroy the city and then rebuild the city and destroy it again and rebuild it again, destroy it again and rebuild it again. Why?

Because it’s an oasis in the desert. And what that means is if you have a city that is in the desert across all of these highways, of commerce. It has a lot of money. Think Chicago, think New York and one of the guys in the city that had a lot of money was this Zachaeus.

Here’s this bio, in verse two, a man was there by the name of Zachaeus. He was the chief tax collector and was wealthy. And yes, I read that correctly. Wealthy.

Here’s why tax collectors, of course, they were Jews and they were collecting taxes from the Jews, but they weren’t paying taxes to the Jews. They were paying taxes to the Romans who were in control. I don’t know what has to happen in your childhood where you get so hurt that you start being a, a traitor to your country. And if you’ve watched the chosen, you kind of see how they portray Matthew.

He was a tax collector that Jesus had called and they depict him as kind of a, the on the spectrum guy who is, uh at odds with his parents, at odds with his community. He’s just, you know, doing his thing to make money and Jesus called him. You should have been there if they had a con connection when Jesus called Matthew, because why would you wanna hang around with someone like that? Well, Zachaeus was not a Matthew, he would be Matthew’s boss’s boss’s boss.

He’s the chief tax collector.

And these dudes would go directly to the Roman government and they actually would bid for an area of commerce and say, I, I can get you so much taxes. And another one said, well, I can get you more taxes and I can get you more taxes. So, taxes were naturally the highest they could possibly be, by the way.

It is. April 15th is coming soon. Do you, you feel me now that we hate paying taxes? But imagine paying taxes, not to your government, but to a foreign government that conquered yours?

Oh, they were despised. And so Zacchaeus would bid for this area, and then he would have other tax collectors under him, and every tax collector got paid when they collected more taxes than they promised the Roman government. So you can imagine they got taxes by extortion, by violence, by cheating, by stealing. The Jewish Talmud, in fact, categorizes tax collectors along with murderers and thieves.

And for good reason, you might like this since April 15th is coming. But the ancient Jewish rabbi said it is ethical to lie to a tax collector because they’re cheating you. How about now? I’m not advocating that just for the record.

So, Matthew is this guy that nobody likes. He’s got a lot of power, a lot of success but no significance. Verse three, he wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. Now, I, I can relate to this.

I don’t know why Zachaeus wanted to see Jesus because there are a lot of people that you go. I, I can’t imagine that they would ever be interested in Jesus but they are. Zachaeus was one of those like, I don’t know what was in his head or his past or his background that made him wanna see Jesus, but no one, no one ever would have guessed that he would want to see Jesus. But man, he was desperate to see Jesus but he couldn’t because he was short.

No, this may be in the category of irrelevant. But when I go and visit our campuses, the most common comment that I get is not. We love your sermons. Most common comment is we thought you were taller.

Well, I love you too. For the record, I’m 5 ft eight and, and 5 ft eight, the average male in the world is 5 ft six. So I’m actually tall. You abnormal Gargan?

I feel sorry for you on an airplane. So there actually if you go to the record, the, the burial records of skeletons in ancient Jewish cemeteries, the average Jewish man was 5 ft six. So I’m gonna put Zachaeus at maybe 52 and he wants to see Jesus and Jesus coming through the city. It was a major parade.

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Everyone is going nuts because not only were they going up to Jerusalem 13 miles away, but Jesus has just healed. Two blind guys on the outskirts of Jericho. It was a party that broke out. And so everyone’s trying to see Jesus Zachaeus desperately wants to see him.

But when he tries to weasel his way to the front of the parade line, everyone’s going. Look, buddy, you can bully us in the IRS office but out here no way. And they elbowed him right in the forehead. What can he do?

He runs up the street and finds a sycamore fig tree. It says in verse four that he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way. Now, if you actually look at a picture of a sycamore fig tree, they’ve got low-lying limbs and big old leaves. So it’s a great place to climb up in a tree and hide, and I’m pretty sure, well, I know Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but I’m pretty sure Zacchaeus did not want Jesus to see him and some of you are here right now.

Maybe a friend invited you. And you’re just thinking, man, I don’t want anybody to actually see me because they’re gonna know, they’re gonna know about my past. They’re gonna know about my pain. They’re gonna know what I’ve done if we do.

We don’t care because like Zacchaeus, you are welcome here, Jesus accepts you and so do we. But what a sight here’s this guy in like a three-piece suit up in a tree. He’s going out on a limb for Jesus. He’s way up there way beneath his dignity.

I know. I know. It’s a dad joke. Hey, I just had a birthday, give me a break.

He’s way beneath his dignity up in the tree.

And there are people around you right now that you would assume would have no interest in Jesus. But they do. I mean, you take one look at him and you think there’s no way they’re interested in Jesus.

Let me just show you a picture. This is Lou Steele. Would you ever guess that Lou has any interest in Jesus? You probably judge him like the crowd.

Judge Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was an up-and-outer; Lou was a down-and-outer. Lou’s biography: He grew up in a Christian home but like many people, he lost his way and for a season was just a black sheep running around with women and drugs and drinking and violence. And Lou tells his story that at some point, Jesus gave him a second chance.

And so Lou said to Jesus, like, what can I do for you? Lou would always like motorcycles, like speed, and that is the speed of a motor. He probably liked speed too because he did a lot of drugs. But Lou decided that he was gonna buy a motorcycle, buys this Harley, and everywhere he went, it just opened up conversations for him about the Harley. And he’s like, now wait a second, if I can have conversations around Harley, maybe I could use that to tell people about Jesus.

So he just started evangelizing through his Harley. And then, then he said, Jesus, I want you to stretch me. I want you to take me beyond what I think is possible. And long story short, Lou began a ministry to outlaw biker groups.

Now, if you don’t understand that culture, like the outlaw biker group, they call themselves the one percenters. What they mean by that is 1 percent of the time they’re going to follow the law and follow culture. The other 99 percent the rebels. These are the most dangerous biker groups in the country and Lou somehow just gets them and they can see Jesus through Lou.

It’s extraordinary. If you want to hear more of Lou’s story, we’re gonna drop his story this Wednesday morning on our CCV missions podcast. You may not even know that we do that, but every other week we tell another story of one of our mission partners and this Wednesday in go 360 wherever you get your podcast, just look up, go 360 you could subscribe Lou’s story is gonna drop and you can hear how God is using a guy that you would never guess like he’s Zacchaeus. You would never guess God would use him.

You would never guess he would have any interest in Jesus and you might not even guess that Jesus would have interest in him. And if you were there this day, you would be off-put by Jesus’ interest in Zacchaeus. In fact, verse five says, when Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus come down immediately, I must stay at your house today. I want you to focus on two words, Zacchaeus and must Zacchaeus.

Jesus actually knew his name.

And there Zacchaeus is out on a limb trying to hide and Jesus just outs him, Zacchaeus. I see you and not only do I see you, I know you and not only do I know you, I really, really like you and I want you to feel the moment because Jesus knows you too. If you’re on one of our campuses, you’re sitting in a seat, there’s a crowd around you, they don’t know you. Jesus knows you.

He knows your name or maybe you’re watching online or watching on demand and there you are on a treadmill and Jesus knows he knows what you’re doing right now. In fact, he has known you not from the day you were born from the moment you were conceived. Jesus knew you. The Bible says in Psalm one hundred thirty-nine that he knit you together in your mother’s womb.

He knows you at the molecular level. In fact, he knows you at the synaptic level in your brain, all those synapses firing, he knows your fears, your dreams, your hopes, your loves, and he doesn’t just love you. He really likes you. And he’s saying to you today today, I need to come to your house.

I must, it’s an imperative I must come to your house because I need you and I know what you’re thinking. Why would Jesus need me? I mean, seriously, come on. Why would Jesus need me? The day Jesus met Zacchaeus was a Friday.

It was exactly one week to the day before he was crucified in Jerusalem. He needs Zachaeus because after he dies, he’s gonna send his disciples to go tell the world about him. And there are some people that Matthew that John, that James will never meet, but they’re in Zachaeus house and there’s some of you that you think there’s no way Jesus would love me. Oh, he loves you.

OK? But there’s no way Jesus would like me. I know he likes you. Yeah.

But there’s no way Jesus would need me. Oh, he needs you. Why? Because there are some people that you know that if you know Jesus that that would be their only chance to meet him before it’s too late.

He has to go to Zach’s house.

So verse six and seven say he came down at once and welcomed him gladly and all the people saw this and began to mutter. He’s gone to be the guest of a sinner. That word mutter is interesting.

It’s only used twice in the entire New Testament. Both times in this book once here and once in chapter 15 verse two where it’s exactly the same situation, Jesus was having dinner with a sinner and the religious people. They just muttered like, why, why would you fear you? Birds of a feather?

Flock together? Listen, there are gonna be some people that mutter about you. Not here, I hope but there be like if you bring someone here, this is the place that we, you all are welcome wherever you are in your spiritual journey, you are welcome here because we believe that Jesus doesn’t just love you. He needs you.

And there’s a place for you. Like what like what Lou found part of his past became his platform for making Jesus famous about people that no one else is interested in or talking to or feel safe with. And there are some people in your circle right now desperate to see Jesus and they can’t imagine that Jesus would want to see them, but you could be the bridge to bring them to the knowledge of the one who knows them. So Matthew invites Jesus to the house.

In verse eight, Zakia stood up and said, “Lord, look here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor.” Wow, because the dude was loaded, right? So he’s got 10,000 acres of property. He cuts it down to five.

He’s got $50 million in the bank. He cuts it down to 25. He’s got like he didn’t have vehicles, but he’s got like a bunch of donkeys. He cuts those in half.

Well, not literally, but you know what I mean? He’s giving half to the poor. And then he says this is extraordinary: “If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Why? Because that was the law; it was the law of Moses going back to Exodus chapter twenty-two. Let me just read that for you. Exodus 22.

Verse one: Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. So why does Zakia just say, well, I’m gonna get back four times because you could have paid back four times or five times. Why did he pick four times instead of five times? Was he being cheap?

No, no, he just gave half his wealth away. He’s not cheap. He understands that if he’s robbed anyone, he’s not robbed an ox that’s going to a slaughter. He’s robbed a sheep that belongs to God.

He sees people differently. When you go after success, you see people, you use people to build your career. But when you, when you’re going after significance, you use your career to build people. Success gives the illusion that we are gods over others; significance gives the opportunity to see others as gods, and what you do with your time, your talent, and your treasure will tell whether you’re really after significance or success.

Because when you really want significance in your life, then your resources are tools. It’s not, it’s not a destination; it’s a tool to get to a destination of significance. And in verse nine, Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham.” Now to be a son of Abraham, that means you belong like that’s as kosher as a dill pickle. Like you, Zacheaus, you’re in. But the reason Zachaeus was in was not because of what he had done.

It’s not like his deeds led to his salvation. It was his salvation that led to his deeds. And when you, when you grab a hold of Jesus, and you really see Jesus for who he is, you begin to see yourself in a different light because you see others in a different light. And Jesus finishes the story with a purpose statement in life.

Now, if you go to a life coach, they’re gonna tell you all, you should write a purpose statement for your life. What is your life really all about? Jesus is about to give you the purpose statement for his life. This is in his own words.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

That’s why he came. Let me ask you, what is your purpose in life? Because when your purpose statement aligns with Jesus’ purpose statement.

If you adopt his purpose statement to seek and save the lost, that will change how you see Jesus, it will change what you see in the mirror, and it will change what you see in your neighbor. Now, I realize just that idea that like Jesus’ purpose statement would be my purpose statement. Like he’s too big for me actually. No. Now if you adopt the purpose statement of Jesus in your life, it’s, it’s easier than you think to see people as God’s children, not as, not as tools to get what you want, but as children of God that God has given you something to help them find Jesus.

Now, I don’t wanna be super practical with it. How could you seek and save the lost? Don’t, don’t overcomplicate it because it’s, it, it’s not easy but it’s not complicated. It’s when you refuse to miss an opportunity to speak Jesus to someone.

Even when you can’t imagine they would have any interest. Would you invite people to be part of what God is doing with this community or whatever community you’re part of? One week from today, Zacchaeus will witness Jesus crucified and one week from this weekend, we’re gonna celebrate that event here.

What are you going to do in the next seven days to prepare for the easiest invite of the year? We’re actually gonna give you three opportunities to invite someone when, when it’s Friday night at the Good Friday Service if that works for you and your schedule and if you, if you want to bring someone who man, they, they may be interested in Jesus and you don’t suspect it, but, but would they be interested in hearing what Jesus did for them on the cross? That’s Good Friday. On Sunday morning, sunrise every campus, your campus pastor on every campus is going to give a message designed for you and the community where you are celebrating the resurrection event. And at our regular schedule services, our senior pastor is gonna talk about how the resurrection changes everything.

And if you know anyone who needs something to change, this is the event for you. And I’m just thinking, Zacchaeus went out on a limb to see Jesus and Jesus went out on a limb for him. Are you willing to go out on a limb for someone who’s already out on a limb? They’re looking for hope, they’re looking for help.

They’re looking for significance beyond success. Whether they’re an up-and-outer like Zacchaeus or a down-and-outer like Lou, there are people who will never hear the good news of Jesus Christ unless they hear it from you. So I just want to ask you, would you be willing to invite someone to one of our three Easter events? Would you be willing to go out on a limb for someone who is out on a limb so that you could adopt the purpose of Jesus to seek and to save the lost?

Because if you do, the people that you see will be able to see Jesus. And when someone that you see sees Jesus, you will see yourself in a whole new light. You can probably predict what I’m about to say. But this week it’s time to go make Jesus famous, holy Father.

There is no comparable person to Jesus Christ. There is no greater hope in this world to find significance than that we are your children, that you see us, you know us, you love us, and unbelievably, you need us to reach people around us for your glory and honor. So we just commit. And this week, we will share our faith in a way that will help someone see Jesus and perhaps for us to see ourselves through your eyes.

We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. We’ll see you next week for Easter.

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