Foot In The Door

Nearly every Sunday for a decade, our younger son, the lone extrovert in a family of introverts, came into worship after Sunday school with one friend or another in tow, asking if he could come over after church. Has your friend asked his parents? No? Then we’ll make a plan for another time. End of discussion. On the way home, we regularly reminded him that he needed our permission first before inviting someone over. Every Sunday he forgot.

As a child, I was taught that it’s considered rude to invite yourself, whether it’s in on someone else’s plans or into their home. You needed to be asked before you just drop in on anyone other than grandparents, and still we would let them know if we wanted to walk over. I know as a parent and now a grandparent, some of the hard and fast rules in our home come from the trespasses of others in our past, but some are just being considerate or purely out of respect.

Call or text when you’re traveling alone, especially with small children in tow, and again when you arrive home safely. It only takes a second and you know that someone is watching out for you on both ends of your journey. I drove two hours one way to attend college in Spartanburg long before cell phones. My grandparents were a little over half way so I regularly stopped at their house to break up my trip. Most of the time the phone in my dorm room would be ringing by the time I lugged my things up the two flights of stairs. I already knew it was my granny. “I was about to send your papa down the road if you hadn’t answered.” Back then I was annoyed but I know how much she loves me and how hard it was for her not to imagine every horrible thing that could happen to me alone on the road.

Maybe this is part of what Jesus had in mind when he said we must come to him as a little child if we want to enter his kingdom. (Mark 10:15) We will need to lay aside a lot of our adult reasoning and the thought processes that bog us down and keep us from instant obedience to the Holy Spirit’s prompting.

“Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.

There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.

He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name.

“Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.

But the people were displeased.

“He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.””

Luke 19:1-10 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.19.2-10.NLT

Zacchaeus knew what the religious people thought of him. Sometimes tax collectors were Jews, like Matthew, who betrayed their own people to collect taxes for Rome, growing wealthy in the process. He would never have dreamed of inviting Jesus to his house. Why bother? He wouldn’t come anyway. Zacchaeus was content to see Jesus passing by, maybe hoping to witness some miracle or other and have a story to tell at work on Monday. That’s probably all he dared to hope for but Jesus, never one to stand on ceremony or tradition, had other plans.

Jesus says, “Look! I stand at the door and knock.

If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”

Revelation 3:20 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.3.20.NLT

That day, the day when Jesus invited Himself to dinner at a tax collector’s house, upset a lot of people. I doubt they were displeased by His rudeness however. They openly grumbled about Jesus choosing to be the guest of a notorious sinner. I guess they didn’t have the Romans Road yet.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Romans 3:23 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.3.23.NLT

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.6.23.NLT

Zacchaeus wasn’t the only winner that day either. When he stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” more than half of Jericho stood to benefit. Zacchaeus didn’t think twice about over-drafting his accounts. His joy and excitement may have gotten the best of him in the moment but God got the rest of him for all eternity. I wonder if he ever met the rich young ruler? I would love to have overheard their conversation if he did.

“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.

What’s more, you are his holy priests.

Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”

1 Peter 2:5 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.2.5.NLT

“But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?

You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

1 Corinthians 6:17, 19-20 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.6.17-20.NLT

Once you have received Jesus as Lord of your life through faith, you are a part of His body on earth, part of His church. We are living stones that God uses to build His spiritual house, His temple. Christ is still knocking on hearts’ doors and as His temple, His Holy priests, we are charged with welcoming in all who will answer His knock. And as the priests of old, we must keep His light shining bright at all times. We must be sure we are receiving our daily bread from His Word so there is food for all who come. We represent Jesus in the world. We just need to learn to get out of our own way!

We’ve all either had that neighbor or been that neighbor who doesn’t recognize boundaries. They seem to be totally unaware that the world is not on their particular schedule. Unfortunately, most are usually early morning people. They’re cutting their grass predawn or their teen is rehearsing with their garage band late into the night. (We once briefly lived next to a college campus.) Their dogs bark incessantly while your babies are napping or they need to borrow something but it’s never quick.

“One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people.

A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’

The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy.

I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge.

Even he rendered a just decision in the end.

So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night?

Will he keep putting them off?

I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!

But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?””

Luke 18:1-8 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.18.1-8.NLT

““When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.

In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.

People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away.

That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.

You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

Matthew 24:37-39, 44 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.24.37-44.NLT

““Look! I stand at the door and knock.

If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”

Revelation 3:20 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.3.20.NLT

Even if I have to invite Myself!