30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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LUKE 19 1-10 SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 19 Bearing the fruits of repentance
📖 Luke 19:1-10
03Dec2020 - *Bearing the fruits of repentance* - _Luke 19:1-10_ - SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 19 – Bible reading: _Luke 3:7-13_
_Luke 19:9-10 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; (10) for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."_
Zacchaeus had now come into the household of God. Salvation had come to his house.
The Lord was now giving him and all of us another fresh realisation. Zacchaeus was also a son of Abraham. _” because he also is a son of Abraham;”_
This affirmation was important for Zacchaeus, for the Jewish community had put him aside as a sinner and away from the household of God, which was an exclusive membership for the Jews, in their thinking.
The Jews considered themselves as the children of Abraham and this was a pivotal understanding for them in the way they conducted themselves and also in how they viewed the non-Jew. The general public and the religious leaders, in particular, considered tax collectors as sinners and outside of the family of Abraham.
Jesus was now integrating Zacchaeus back into the Jewish community, which had rejected him. The Lord was bridging Zacchaeus with his own people and at the same time, the Lord was wanting the people to understand what it meant to be, children of Abraham.
John the Baptist, pointed this out that unless people bear fruits of repentance, they are not the children of Abraham.
People came to be baptised by John but he was making it clear to them that being baptised by him was not another ritual that they should follow. He, therefore, chastised them with strong words and called people as, _” brood of vipers”_
_Luke 3:7-10 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. (9) And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
John made it clear to the people that there need to be fruits worthy of repentance for people to consider themselves as children of Abraham. He made this clear to the religious leaders too, who were of the opinion that they did not need to repent since they were measuring up to God’s expectations of them.
_Matthew 3:7-10 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, (9) and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. (10) And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire._
Jesus affirmed Zacchaeus that he too was a son of Abraham. What made Zacchaeus a son of Abraham? Was it because he was a Jew by birth? No. Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham because he was bearing the fruit of repentance.
People asked John what they needed to do, in order to repent. _Luke 3:10 So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?"_ John responded by presenting various, specific, actionable steps that needed to be taken by them, to bear the fruits of repentance.
John offered certain specifics for the tax collectors to do. _Luke 3:12-13 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" (13) And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you."_
Zacchaeus was bearing the fruits of repentance both in terms of having an attitude of repentance as well as taking specific actionable steps that evidenced that he was bearing the fruits of repentance. This was the first reason for Zacchaeus to be affirmed as a son of Abraham.
Repentance is an aspect of the Christian doctrine that is being pushed aside, today.
In any relationship, such as in the husband-wife relationship, we love each other and have forgiven and continue to forgive each other. Since we have experienced forgiveness from each other, do we or can we take each other for granted? We do hurt each other, even now, don’t we? When we do so, aren’t we sorry and regretful?
Do we not ask forgiveness from each other? We do.
We not only have an attitude of repentance, but we also make amends in the particular matter in which we have hurt each. Restitution takes place on a regular basis in our human relationship of marriage.
If we understand this so easily from our marriage experience, how is it that we hesitate in being repentant before God and make restitution, on a regular basis, after coming into the family of God?
Though we have been born into the family of God, we do disobey and we do go away from His ways. Just because we have experienced the forgiveness of God, of our past, present and future sins, does it make it unnecessary for us to be sorry before God and make restitution in our areas of disobedience?
By being repentant and seeking His forgiveness now, are we questioning the fact that He has forgiven our past, present and future sins?
*Thought to ponder*
```May we always remain in the loving habitat of God.```