Why else is it so important to build your self-esteem on what God says about you?
#2. NO MATTER WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY, JESUS AFFIRMS ME.
No matter what other people say about me or to me, Jesus affirms me. All of his life Zacchaeus had been ridiculed and rejected. First, by his appearance. He was short of stature. He was a little person. He was handicapped. Second, by his actions. He was dishonest. He was corrupt. So nobody liked either the way he looked or the way he acted. We can only imagine the kind of gossip that was spread about this guy, the most hated man in town – the cruel remarks, the criticism behind his back, the evil things that were said about him. So there’s no doubt he had low self-esteem because he received all these other things from people that were said about him.
But Jesus did something else. He had another surprise for Zacchaeus. He not only stopped at his tree and looked up at him but notice what happened, “Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. ‘ Zacchaeus,’ He said.” Imagine the shock of Zacchaeus. “He not only stopped. He not only looked up at me in front of all these other people. He knows my name. I didn’t hear anybody tell Him my name. I didn’t hear Him ask anybody what my name is. He just knows it. How does He know my name?”
God not only knows where you are He knows who you are. He knows everything about you. He is personally intimately acquainted with every area of your life. He’s not just some impersonal force that sits up there in the sky and says, “Yeah, I see all of humanity.” He cares about you personally. He cares about you as an individual. And He knows your name. He knows everything about you.
When Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus in front of this huge crowd and He called him by name, that shocked everybody. For two reasons: one, the fact that Jesus knew the name of the biggest scoundrel in town. And two, because of what his name meant. Zacchaeus means “pure one.” Pure one!?! Zacchaeus was anything but pure. He was the biggest crook in Jericho. He was deceptive. He was a despised scoundrel. This was probably the first time in many, many years that Zacchaeus was called by his real name. He was probably called by all other derogatory remarks and comments. I doubt any one called him Pure One. He was anything but pure.
But in spite of Zacchaeus’ sin, Jesus affirms him. Like when God tells Jacob, “You’re not going to be Jacob the manipulator any more. You’re going to be Israel, prince with God. We’re going to just look at your other identity.” God says, “I look beneath all that emotional hurt, all that pain, all that other people have said about you and beneath all that I see a pure one. Zacchaeus, I made you to be pure. I didn’t make you to be a crook. I made you to be pure.” He’s lifting him up. He’s affirming him while everybody else in the world is putting him down.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” Before you were born God planned the good things He wanted you to do with your life. God has a purpose and a plan and He has good things lined up for you to do. But most people never do them because God gives you the choice to reject His plan and most people do. They don’t live; they just exist. God made you for a reason and a purpose. And it wasn’t for a bad purpose. It wasn’t to blow your life, to waste your life, to fill your life with guilt and shame. It was to do good things with your life. That’s what you were put on earth for. Before you were born God had that plan. But you have to choose God and you have to choose His plan.
Jesus says, “You are God’s masterpiece.” Many of you have this idea that God creates human beings on an assembly line. Because there’s so many of us, millions and millions of us, you think God must mass produce human beings, kind of stamps them out, and while God must love all of humanity, He certainly doesn’t care or pay attention to the details of every individual. How could He? (He could because He’s God.) But many of you think it was an assembly line and you are on that assembly line and by the luck of the draw you got blond hair or brown hair or black hair or green hair or whatever. And God loves you as a human being but He doesn’t really know the details. Wrong! The Bible says, “You are God’s masterpiece.” Masterpieces are not mass-produced. Masterpieces are not produced on an assembly line. Masterpieces are custom creation and you are God’s custom creation.
I heard a guy say one time, “God has your picture in His wallet. That’s how much God loves you.” God doesn’t have your picture in His wallet. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 49:16 that God says “I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.” When Jesus Christ looks at the scars in His hands where He was nailed to the cross, when He looks at those scars, what do you think He’s thinking of? You! Because He died for your sins. God says, “No, I don’t just carry your picture in My wallet. This is how much I love you – this much. I died for you. I have tattooed you on My body. That’s how much you matter to Me. That’s how personally acquainted I am with every detail of your life. That's how much you matter to Me.
It really doesn’t matter what other people say. Jesus Christ affirms you.
Some of you have had some really mean things said to you over the years – things to you, and things about you. You keep playing those tapes over and over in your mind. Tapes like “You’ll never amount to anything... I'm embarrassed to call you my child… You’re a failure… You’re an embarrassment to me… You amount to nothing!… You’re going to be a failure in life.” And you believed those things. And they were lies! There are people in your life, even family members, who have lied to you. And you have to decide “Am I going to believe what other people have said about me or am I going to believe what God says about me?” When a person in anger – a parent, a brother, a person in the schoolyard, an ex spouse – am I going to believe what other people said about me or am I going to believe what God says about me? That will determine whether you’re happy in life or not.
Believe what God says about. I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!
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