Introduction

This morning I want to focus your attention on evangelism, the activity of Christians announcing the message of good news of the gospel of Christ to save mankind from sin – Isaiah 52:7.
Before Jesus ascend to heaven, He gave us a great job to perform, we call it the great commission, teaching the world how the power of God can save man from his sins through the sacrifice of Christ - Matthew 28:19-20.

BEFORE ZACCHAEUS WAS SAVED, JESUS INTERACTED WITH HIM (19:5)

Christians must understand, that association, interaction, and communication with sinner’s is necessary to bring them the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 9:9-13, Jesus tells his opponents his purpose for eating with publicans & sinner’s was to call sinners to repentance.
We sometimes have to overcome the fear of having close proximity or interactions with the undesirables of our society such as drug users, prostitutes, murderers, or sexual predators – II Timothy 1:7.
In Luke 19:7, when the Jews, saw Jesus went to be a guest with a man that was a sinner, they murmured, made compliant. But they didn’t understand that Jesus was not associating with him to be likened to the character of the sinful practice of many publicans of the day, but He was trying to save Zacchaeus and his house - Luke 19:10. Furthermore, the Bible teach us we are not to be united with unbelievers and their sins - II Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 5:11.

It’s implied in our scriptural text, while Jesus was a guest in Zacchaeus house that he taught him he must repent of his sins to obtain salvation, which is consistent with the preaching ministry of Jesus – Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14-15.
Repentance is being sorrowful of your sins which brings about a change of action in regard to sin – II Corinthians 7:9-10. In Luke 19:8, Zacchaeus expresses his penitent heart over his sins by giving half his goods to the poor, and restoring anyone he wronged in his profession fourfold – Luke 13:3.
Therefore, you and I must focus our goals in our lives at finding ways and avenues that will effectively communicate in the spirit of love the saving gospel message of Jesus Christ – Proverbs 11:30.

-- Harry D. Anderson, Jr., Preached at Gahanna-Jefferson Church of Christ, August 2008 --