"People or Programs?"

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (Luke 19:1-6 NIV).

I never want to write anything that might be offensive to anyone, however, yesterday’s devotional Adapt to Change must have touched the nerve of at least one reader as they wrote and wanted to know where I found any example of Jesus “changing” the way things were done in His earthly ministry? Well, I can think of many, but our reading today is one of those examples. And, while I only received one negative response to the thought, I wondered if it might not do us all a little good to look a little closer at the need to refocus our priority on people rather than program.

I once asked a group of pastors, in their opinion, what was the number one weakness in today's church? One of the quick witted and humorous pastors said, "Apathy, but who cares?" We all got a good chuckle from that, but I went a little further with them since I was leading a session in strategies for church growth. I said, “The real issue deals with the root of that apathy.” In many instances we have become program centered rather than people centered. In our relationship to God we need to be Christ-centered. In our doctrinal teaching and manner of living we need to be Scripture centered, but when ministering to people we need to be people-centered, whether it's from the pulpit or in our one-on-one relationships to others.

The majority of religious leaders in Jesus' day were doctrine centered. That is, they loved their doctrinal teachings more than they loved people. In fact, they used their teachings to control and condemn people. Some religious leaders still do this today. Other leaders love their programs and use people to support and work their programs. Not good. Instead of loving people and using programs, they love programs and use people. In ministry Jesus was never program-centered, but rather, was always people centered. That is, he started with people's needs and applied his message and what he did to meet those needs.

To Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector, the little fellow who climbed a tree to get a good look at Jesus when he came to town. Jesus, sensing his need for acceptance, didn't preach at him or quote Bible verses to him. He simply said, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." Upon entering his home, Zacchaeus began confessing his sins. Amazing. When Jesus met his presenting need for acceptance which was a social and emotional need, Zacchaeus then became aware of his deeper spiritual need. To the blind man, and other needy people, Jesus' basic question was, "What do you want me to do for you?"

If our churches and you and I are to be as Christ to others, whether we are leaders, teachers, or lay persons, we, too, need to be aware of people's presenting needs and seek, in Christ's name, to minister to those needs. There’s really little point in preaching the gospel to homeless, hungry people without trying to first feed them and find them shelter. Furthermore, there's little point of telling hurting, lonely, disappointed people, that God loves them if we do little or nothing to help meet their present need. True, there is a need to tell the gospel, but before we tell it, we need to live it and demonstrate it in what we do much more than in what we say. When we change from being people centered to becoming program centered, we begin to lose our effectiveness and begin to die.