The Message: Luke 19:1-10 (Zacchaeus)
19 1-4 Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.
5-7 When Jesus got to
the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”
8 Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
9-10 Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”
Zacchaeus Tree Orphan and Adoption Ministry
Zacchaeus’ Tree Orphan and Adoption Ministry name came from Luke 19:1-10 when we read in verse 4, “So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.” What I find most amazing about verse 4 is this: Long before Zacchaeus saw Jesus coming, the seed of the tree had already been planted. Meaning, the ‘sycamore tree’ seed had not been planted and grown on the same day that Zacchaeus needed to climb the tree to see Jesus, ‘the seed’ had been planted years before, so when the appointed date and time came for Zacchaeus to climb the tree, it was ready to be used. The mission and goal of Zacchaeus’ Tree Orphan and Adoption Ministry is to help bring attention and awareness to the plight of the orphan by speaking in churches and civic organizations in how one can make a difference in the life of an orphan. Secondly, to help every church start orphan care ministries within their own church to help adopting families defray the costs of adoption within their own congregation by offering adoption grants to their families. Finally, to help families who have decided to pursue adoption with questions about the adoption process. One of the biggest challenges that every adopting family faces when deciding whether or not to pursue adoption is can they afford it? There is no doubt about it, adoption is expensive, it’s costly, and it’s a choice. God thought so much of adoption that he sent his only son, Jesus, to die on a cross, so that we could be become adopted sons and daughters of his (John 3:16). Currently, many churches either don’t have or even offer orphan care and adoption ministries within their church because as I have been personally told by various pastors’, “We don’t have anyone adopting in our church, so we don’t see a need for someone to come speak at our church about orphans and adoption or about orphan care and creating adoption assistance program at this time.” What I want to say every time I hear this from a pastor is, “Really?”
You’ve got to be kidding me? Are you as the pastor of your church not trying to help lead non-believers, the lonely, to Jesus by helping them to become ‘spiritually adopted’ as sons and daughters of God and as brothers and sisters of Christ? There is no difference between the two. God chose to adopt us as orphans and to bring us into his family through the love and death of his only son, Jesus, just as an adopting family physically adopts an orphan into their family, it is done out of love! Adoption is at the heart of the gospel more than any other measure. Statistics tell us that 80% of the tithing in the church comes from 20% of the members; however, pastors still preach about regularly about tithing and even have sermon series about concerning the topic, even though every church member doesn’t tithe. Why is that? It is important to tithe and to give back to the church so that we as Christians are able to financially support pastors, youth pastors, music ministers, and missionaries’, so that we can give back what God has blessed one with financially, so that one can help others in the ministry to go preach the gospel to everyone across all nations, all borders, and all languages. So that the church can help those in need such as the widow or those in need of benevolence fund; yet the church does little or nothing to support the orphan. So, why does the pastor not preach about orphans? First, adoption is not a ‘calling;’ it is a choice that we make, just as we make a ‘choice’ to love our spouse daily. Yes, I understand that not every one will adopt an orphan and that’s perfectly fine but we are all called to do something as believers to support the orphan and one can do this by starting an orphan and adoption ministry with your own church to support those who may choose to adopt one day. Not every member within one’s church family will ever have to request or need to ask for help financially from their church family because they are in a tough situation financially but isn’t wonderful when the church can help meet this financial need for a family? So, why would the church not want to have something in place to financially help and support an adopting family adopt an orphan? Could the reason be why the church hasn’t created and started this type of ministry yet because they don’t know where to begin or feel that they do not have the personnel and resources to manage it or to put something like this into place with their church? If so, we can help meet those needs FREE of charge. Yes, I said, “FREE of charge!” What else could I offer or say that is better than, ‘FREE OF CHARGE!’
Did you know that there are over 45+ scriptures in the bible that explain and talk about God’s heart for the orphan? We as believers are instructed to help take care of the orphan and widow and how we as believers are to be a voice for those with no voice, the orphan. In Psalm 68:5-6, the bible tells us that God is a father to the fatherless and sets the lonely in families. In John 14:18, the bible tells us, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” In John 1:12-13 the bible tells us, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Someone reading this may say or think, “How can I ask someone else to support something that I have not done myself such as adopting or about starting an orphan and adoption care ministry within my own church?” It is easy because all you need to do is to go to your pastor and tell him about your concern of the orphan. It comes back to ‘the concern.’ Yes, you may never choose to adopt but your concern and care for the orphan is just as critical in the entire process. You and your family may never adopt an orphan and that’s okay; however, we are all someone’s mother or father, son or daughter, aunt or uncle, grandmother or grandfather, niece, nephew, cousin, friend, or co-worker and someday someone within your family or someone that you know will choose to adopt and when they do, wouldn’t it be nice to already have something in place such as an orphan care and adoption ministry to help meet their needs, especially being able to help meet a small portion of their financial needs? Yes, it would be a fabulous feeling to have and to know that you were able to financially help support an adopting family. Our family has been on the receiving end of an adoption grant and no matter how big or small it was, it was such a nice blessing to receive to help lighten our financial burden to adopt. No church member should have to go home thinking that they wished that they knew someway that they could help or that they could somehow support that adopting family because one day, it may be a member of your own family that needs that financial and emotional support and prayers from the church. We never know who is sitting in the pews of our churches that are considering adopting a child. Not every message that is preached resonates with every attending person sitting in the pew, but we never fully know the struggles that everyone faces or is thinking about either. There may be a family who has been thinking of having another child and is considering adoption. There may be a family within your church body who cannot biologically have children and are considering adoption. There may be a new family that moves into your city or town and joins your church that is in the adoption process. The scenarios are endless and to have a ministry that is ready to support them is priceless. Zacchaeus’ Tree Orphan and Adoption Ministry was created and started to help any adopting family and any church body with their orphan and adoption care ministry. Just like the ‘sycamore tree’ was not planted on the day of that Zacchaeus needed to climb it to see Jesus, we want to help churches meet the need of the orphan and their adopting family by having some type of orphan and adoption care ministry in place inside the church before the need arises. As an adoptive father of two internationally adopted children from Russia and Poland, my wife and I know and understand the struggles of adopting families, especially their financial burdens and we want to be able to help other adopting families and churches support those who chose to adopt. If Zacchaeus’ Tree Orphan and Adoption Ministry can ever be of assistance to you and your church, please do not hesitate to contact us by email [email protected]. We look forward to meeting and serving your needs the best that we can.
