A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing the Gospel (Part 3): Affirmation

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. He was a sinner. He was short. The crowd viewed Zacchaeus as a thief and a crook. The crowd believes Zacchaeus is unworthy of God’s love and salvation. The crowd seems unable to grasp that Zacchaeus has already experienced God’s love in his heart. What is in his heart is now coming forth in expressions of love and a desire to do good works.  Zacchaeus says:

“I will give to the poor and make restitution for those I have cheated.”

According to the Old Testament book of Leviticus, you had to pay them back four times the amount if you cheated someone. Zacchaeus says, “Jesus, I recognize that I have not done right, but my life is changed, and I want to make things right – I want to show everyone I am taking a new step in life.”

Take note of the timing of this verse. Zacchaeus is already a child of God through faith in Christ. His want to make restoration for his wrongdoing comes from a transformed heart. He is not attempting to earn salvation; that’s already a reality. His faith in Christ has radically changed him. Now, the experience of God’s grace compels Zacchaeus to consider how he might repair the broken pieces of his life.

To use our modern church language, Zacchaeus is trying to take the next step in his journey with Christ. For him, that next step is returning that which he has stolen. His only guide for this brave step was the Levitical law. Jesus responds:

“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:9-10)

Jesus affirms Zacchaeus in his new life and his new steps. He was lost, but Jesus came to save him. And by faith, Zacchaeus is redeemed and desires restoration with those he’s harmed.

I am reminded of a man known as Bishop Berl, an elder with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the Word (PAW). Before entering a relationship with Jesus, he worked as a cargo handler for the railroad. He would “fudge” the books and take home an item of food or other goods.

When he surrendered to Jesus, he confessed his crimes to the railroad boss. Bishop Berl promised to repay everything he stole. The boss was so taken aback by his honesty and change of heart that he forgave him for the debt.

When we share the gospel with people, we should expect them to respond in faith and follow Jesus. When someone comes to faith, we must find ways to affirm their next steps. That’s more than just reading the book of John (although that is a great next step). The shattered pieces of people’s lives seem impossible to repair. Their misdeeds and mistakes have left a wake of brokenness behind them. The new life they’ve found in Jesus has infused them with the hope that Christ, the great restorer, can make all things new. It is possible that the Holy Spirit is prompting them to begin walking down the path of reconciliation.

Our job as seasoned believers is to join them on the journey. To walk alongside them as they seek healing. In a word, we are called to disciple them. We are not called to lead them in the easiest path possible or bypass the necessary work of laying down the weight of sin, shame, and pain.

The real work of sharing the gospel comes after the sinner’s faith-filled response to Christ’s call. The brutal process of healing cannot be done alone. New believers have emerged from a world that has chewed them up and spat them out. Now they stand strong in the newness of salvation but only strong like a baby. You and I must care for them until they can also care for (disciple) others.

Yes, they will make mistakes. Yes, they will stumble. But we cannot go back to being a part of the crowd. Our role is to affirm their progress – even when it seems halted and shaky. We walk with them, nurture them, and help them until they walk and run independently. In the story of Zacchaeus, Jesus is an example of that kind of affirmation.

Jesus commands you and me to proclaim the gospel; we should follow Jesus’s example to seek and save the lost.

But what is the gospel we proclaim? The gospel is not wealth, health, or prosperity. The gospel is not about what God gives me. The gospel is the “good news.

Jesus gave one mission to every single church in the world:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).

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