Sarah Jakes Roberts - The Uncomfortable Advantage (01/17/2026)
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Drawing from Luke 19 and the story of Zacchaeus, the preacher shares how embracing discomfort—like climbing a sycamore tree to see Jesus despite being short and an outcast—gave Zacchaeus an advantage that led to a personal encounter with Christ. The core message is that God strategically places blessings just outside our comfort zones to draw us closer to Him, turning perceived shortcomings into opportunities for elevation and transformation. By being willing to get uncomfortable, risk rejection, and change perspective, we position ourselves for Jesus not only to see us but to dwell with us, revealing our true identity and destiny.
Gratitude and Personal Reflection
I’m so grateful for all of the support from the book last night. We had such an incredible time at Barnes & Noble. They had me—those of you who are regulars on Wednesday nights know that I’m a thug—they had me crying thug tears last night, like just one eye thug tears. But it was so beautiful. Um, man, the more that I’ve chosen to not settle for safe, the more I’ve seen God just show me who I am. And I’ve really begun to recognize that everything that God desires for us is outside of our comfort zone. And that’s so strategic because if it’s not outside of our comfort zone, then it’s within our reach.
So he places it right on the edge of our comfort zone so that we would have a need to call on him and ask him for help like never before. And um, that’s what I want to talk about tonight. I want to talk about the uncomfortable advantage.
Airport Story: Skipping the Line
So um, recently I went to Dallas with uh, all of our children for spring break. And we got to the airport late with six children and um, a stroller and a car seat. And they let us check the bags. There’s like a cutoff time at 45 minutes; we got there at like 42 minutes.
And so we had to um, do a little bargaining. They let us check the bags, and then we got up to security. And the line at LAX—come on somebody—like, is every day a bad day at LAX? Like, is there ever a good time to fly? We’ve got six kids, strollers, milk, snacks—like all of these things. And we’re about to get in the back of the line. And we’ve got kids of all ages and stages who pack like the pantry when it’s time to go somewhere. So when we go through security, it’s like a thing. Like, is it poison or are they fruit snacks? Like, we don’t know.
And so I just… I just… I love my children, but going through security can be a bit of a hassle. But there was this man—this um, he looked like maybe just like a character from a Tyler Perry play—like your favorite uncle who comes up to us. He works security, and he’s like, «Y’all want to skip to the front of the line?» And I was like, you know… And I struggle a little—a little bit—because I realized that there were people who had been in line long before me. And there’s like that awkward moment when you’re bypassing the people who’ve already been standing in line. So my daughter thinks she’s like a superstar, so she put on her sunglasses. She’s like, «Let’s go.»
So she’s having her moment while we cut through people. And I’m like apologizing, like, «I’m so sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Look at the baby; she’s cute. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. God bless you. Yes, sorry.» You know, «He loves you. Sorry. Sorry.» Right? And so we finally get to the front of the line. And I realized that I had to be willing to get uncomfortable in order to make my destination. And I had to be willing to risk people not understanding what was my deadline in order for me to take advantage of what God had called me to do. I had to be willing to get uncomfortable and to risk making other people uncomfortable. And there was an advantage to that. It meant that I had to skip the line, that I didn’t have to wait as long as other people waited, because I was willing to get uncomfortable to get to what God had for me.
Introducing Zacchaeus
I want to tell you about a man in the Bible who was willing to get uncomfortable. I’m going to start in Luke 19:2. And his name is Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is a tax collector, which made him an outcast in society because—well, do you love Uncle Sam? I mean, he was the IRS of the time. And so he was considered an outcast, a sinner. Nobody wanted to fool with him, but they still had to work with him because his position didn’t allow them to bypass him. But he had come to a place where he knew how to be invisible. He knew that not everyone would accept him, not everyone would get him.
So he learned to function in his culture and within his community invisible, because what he was doing separated him from what everyone else was used to. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. Luke wanted us to know it was working for him.
Zacchaeus Seeks Jesus
Verse 3 continues: It says, «And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.» I want to stop right there because Zacchaeus—he’s learned how to function in society. He’s learned how to function in culture, and he was doing well. He was successful. But he did not allow what was working for him to blind him from what he still needed to see. Yeah, you see, because when things are working for us, sometimes we can just rest in the fact that something is working for us. And that feels comfortable—that we’re getting things right on the job, that maybe things are going well in our relationships.
Mind you, we may not have spoken to our father in 10 years. We may not know exactly who our friends are. We may have to drink ourselves to sleep. But we’re not focused on that; we’re focused on what’s working for us. But Zacchaeus—he decided that he wanted to see Jesus. For some reason, in spite of the fact that no one ever wanted to see Zacchaeus, he decided to get in the crowd with the people and try to see Jesus.
One of the things I want to leave you with tonight is that it’s very, very important that you pay attention to what you want to see—or better yet, what God allows you to see. And I don’t mean things that you just look at in the day-to-day happenstances of life. I mean the things that you see or want to see that stick with you. Like, maybe God has you in a position where you’re not exactly the highest man in the room, but you’re in the room. And sometimes you can feel like you’re not supposed to be there, but God is exposing you for a reason. He wanted to see Jesus, and he didn’t mind doing the work to see him. He didn’t mind being in rooms of people who he wasn’t comfortable with in order to see him. He wanted to see Jesus.
Have you ever just wanted to see Jesus? It didn’t matter what you had to go through—that you were going to be at church on a Wednesday night at 8:00, no matter how long the drive was. You wanted to see Jesus. You wanted to see destiny. You wanted to see healing. You wanted to see wholeness for your family. You wanted to see generational curses be broken. You wanted to see miracles take place. You wanted to see Jesus. You wanted to see Jesus. But it’s hard to see Jesus in a crowd. You’ve got to pay attention to what you want to see, because what you want to see is a clue to who God wants you to be.
What you see—the success you see on other people, the inspiration you see when you hear certain voices—you’re not just seeing that to see it, where you walk away and feel like, «That’s good for them, but not for me.» When you see something, it is a sign to what’s down on the inside of you. You’ve got to pay attention to what you want to see. For some reason that he did not fully understand, a tax collector wanted to see Jesus. What do you want to see in your life? What have you seen in your life? And are you allowing your insecurities and your fears to talk you out of manifesting it? Or are you daring to believe that God exposed you to it because he has it for you, and you just have to grow into the person who’s ready to manifest it?
Coming Up Short and Climbing the Tree
The only problem with him wanting to see Jesus was that he was short, and a crowd full of people who were taller than him. He wanted to see Jesus, but there were things obstructing his view. He was too short. Has life ever had you come up short? Like, maybe you know exactly what you want to see, but for some reason, you keep coming up short. Almost there, but not quite. On the border of having everything I need, but I just keep coming up short. Every time it seems like I’m in the right room, I end up getting… I just keep coming up short. I keep coming up short. I take one step forward and two steps backwards.
How do I keep coming up short? And the difficult thing about coming up short is that everyone else can see it. Everyone else can see Jesus but him. Everyone else is thriving. Everyone else has their purpose. Everyone seems like they’re fitting in. But for some reason, Zacchaeus has kept coming up short. And yes, sure, sure, some things were working for him, but he wasn’t exactly where he wanted to be. He kept coming up short. And verse 4 continues: It says, «So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.»
I love the aggressiveness of this tax collector. You see, what made him an outcast in society was that he was a tax collector—that he was so aggressive that people had to pay him their money. But it turns out the very thing that made him an outcast actually helped him to manifest the opportunity to see Jesus, because he wouldn’t accept no for an answer.
There’s somebody in the room who needs to understand that you don’t have to accept no for an answer. He realized that just because he was short didn’t mean he was going to always come up short. He was willing to climb trees if he had to. He was willing to get into the right environments if he had to. He said, «I don’t care how hard it is for everyone else to climb this tree. I need to see my Jesus. I’ve got to see this destiny be manifest in my life. I don’t mind if I’ve got to climb trees and get cuts and bruises along the way. It’s that important to me that I see Jesus.»
He didn’t mind climbing a tree. Do I have any tree climbers in this room who won’t accept coming up short as an answer? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I may have come up short in this situation, but I do not have a destiny of coming up short. I know who my God is, and I know what he told me, and I know what I saw. And I have to see it come manifest by any means necessary.
So even if it looks like I’m being set back, it’s only so I can find a tree. Because when I find that tree, I’m going to climb it like no one else can. I’m going to change the perspective. I’m going to make my situation meet my perspective. I’m going to make my situation meet my standards. You see, because the problem is that I was too short in one location, so I had to be willing to go to a tree to really see the proper perspective. I had to be willing to get a new job. I had to be willing to go to another state. I had to be willing to look like I was too short in one environment so that I could find a tree in another environment.
God takes us out of some rooms so that he can show us our growth in another room. I had to be willing to come up short. I feel like somebody needs to thank God for coming up short. Because you came up short in a relationship, because you came up short in one situation, you had to relocate. And when you relocated, you found a tree. When you relocated, there were no obstructions anymore. I got focused when I got that tree. There were no distractions when I found that tree.
I want to thank every person who ever let me come up short in your life. I want to thank you for letting me go and cutting me off, because when I came up short for you, I came up perfectly for God. He showed me exactly where I needed to be. He placed my feet on trees where I could see who he needed me to be. I want to thank you. I want to thank you that I came up short—that I was too small for some people, that I wasn’t good enough. I want to thank you for making me an outcast so that no one would put me up on their shoulders. I want to thank you for making me an outcast, because there was something about being in that tree that helped me see Jesus from a perspective that no one else could see him.
There was something about that isolation, because when the tax collector finally saw Jesus, he saw him in a way that no one else could. Everyone else was looking this way at Jesus, but he found a way to look down on Jesus—to see him moving. He said that he had to get in the way of Jesus—that he had to strategically place himself in the path that Jesus would be on. He was willing to get in the way of Jesus. Sometimes we have to be willing to get in the way. And we have to recognize that we have an option of getting in the way or continuing to come up short.
So we have to pull ourselves into church even when we don’t feel like it. We have to force ourselves to worship even when life isn’t going very well. We have to get in the way of Jesus. I’ve got to get in the path. I’ve got to get in the path.
Jesus Sees Zacchaeus
And verse 5 continues: It says, «And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him.» Because he came up short and had to find his way to a tree, he found his way to the tree in the path of Jesus. And Jesus, who was focused—he was so focused that he should have never been looking up—for some reason, he looked up at this crazy person who was willing to do anything to be in his way. And he said to him, «Zacchaeus"—how do you know my name?
Jesus knew him immediately. He said, «Make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.» So hold on—the person who came up short, the person who was the outcast, the person who had to work harder than anyone else to see Jesus, the person who had to risk scars and bruises to see Jesus—ended up elevated above everyone else. And then Jesus looks up at him. Zacchaeus just wanted to see Jesus. He didn’t say, «I wanted to touch the hem of his garments.»
He didn’t understand why; he just had this pulling down on the inside of him. He didn’t know that Jesus wanted to see him. God’s been searching for someone who would be willing to just come and take a look at him, because the moment he got in the path, Jesus started looking at him. You were looking for Jesus, but Jesus was looking for you. I said, you were looking for Jesus, but Jesus was looking for you. And he had to isolate you and put you on a tree so that when he passed your way, he could look up and see you on that tree by yourself. You wanted to be in the crowd. You wanted to see him from one perspective, but he needed you on the tree by yourself so he didn’t have to point through anyone in the crowd.
He could just look right up and say, «You right there. You. You, Sarah, by yourself on the tree, desperately searching to see me. You the one who was willing to look high and look low. You the one on the tree. I’ve been looking for you. I need you to come down from the tree cuz I want to stay at your house. I want to dwell where you dwell. I want to come to your level. I want to go to the place where no one else would go because you were an outcast, because you didn’t fit in. I’m going to break that off of you, because I’m going to come into your house and I’m going to sit with you. Because I know you wanted to see me, but I’ve been wanting to talk to you about what I see in you. And I needed you strategically placed on this tree.»
Verse 6 continues: It says, «So he made haste"—all right, Jesus, here I come, child—"and received him joyfully.» And verse 7 continues: It says, «But when they saw it"—the DJs in the building—they always have a problem when you start seeing Jesus and Jesus starts seeing you. They always have a problem when favor begins to hover over your life. They—the people who couldn’t even see you when you were coming up short. They—the people who wouldn’t move out of the way so that you could see Jesus. See, if you would have made a way, Jesus would have never saw me. But now that Jesus has seen me, they—they—they complaining. They. «But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, 'He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.'» Because no matter how deep the encounter was with Jesus, they still couldn’t change the way they saw Zacchaeus.
The Uncomfortable Advantage
And this is a word for those of you who need to campaign for approval before you come down your tree—that there are going to be moments when Jesus calls you closer to him, but they aren’t going to understand in that process that he’s called you closer so that he can change you and transform you. You see, this story continues because Zacchaeus sits down and he has dinner with Jesus, and he rebukes some of the things that have been on his life. And he transforms him, and Zacchaeus begins to have a revelation of who Jesus is. And he asks for forgiveness for who he’s been in the past, and makes some decisions about his life—some decisions that could have never happened had he seen Jesus from the perspective that he wanted to see him.
I only say that because there are times when we want to see things happen in our life the way it happens for everyone else. And because it happened that way for everyone else, we’re only comfortable if it happens that way for us. So when life requires that we get uncomfortable—that we become outcasts, that we have to climb a few trees and get it different ways than other people got it—it makes us feel forsaken. But there was an advantage to Zacchaeus being uncomfortable, and that was that he went from being someone who just saw Jesus to someone who Jesus saw—that he was able to have an intimate encounter with Jesus that no one else could have.
There’s people in this room who have gone to church all of their lives but never had intimate encounters with Jesus. They found themselves constantly coming up short. But because they got somewhere in a room by themselves—in a situation by themselves—they started to know the Lord in a fresh new way. They started to have an encounter with him that no one else could fully understand. Jesus began to see them. Jesus is putting the spotlight on you in this season—not because you’ve done things the right way, not because you did everything so well, but because he’s always seen something in you that you didn’t always see in yourself. And he strategically placed you in situations where he would be passing by—where he would be passing by in areas, in arenas, and situations where you’ve often felt like an outcast—so that he could elevate you with an audience.
You see, Zacchaeus got elevated in front of the very people who he was an outcast to—the very people who wanted nothing to do with him, who even said, «Jesus, how could Jesus…» The Pharisees couldn’t believe that Jesus was dining with tax collectors and sinners. For some reason, he found a way to have an intimate connection with Zacchaeus. But it was only because Zacchaeus was willing to be uncomfortable. I want to talk about the uncomfortable advantage and the advantage that is available to all of us when we’re willing to come out of our comfort zone and not care that people have always done us one particular way and dare to redefine our lives in new ways and not care who we lose in the process.
So when we talk about not settling for safe and embracing the uncomfortable, it is a commitment that we are willing to do whatever is necessary to become whoever God has called us to be—that we’re willing to come up short a few times so that we could come higher the next time, that we’re willing to find the Zacchaeus down on the inside of us that doesn’t allow disappointment and not fitting in to dictate our future. Instead, we allow it to motivate us and create a momentum down on the inside of us that we start to use the very aggressive nature that may have gotten us in bad situations in the past and point it in the direction of Jesus so that others can be drawn to him.
Prayer and Altar Call
We want to have a moment of prayer with people who want to be seen by Jesus—with people who have been struggling to find themselves in the proper locations and the proper seasons, and they’re wondering, «Am I always going to keep coming up short?» Because I believe that God has a destiny word for us in this season. And I believe that the word that he has for us in this time is to keep trying—that I’m stretching you. Don’t allow that you came up short in one area to make you believe that you’re going to come up short forever.
I was just teaching you a lesson, because I needed you to come up short until you found a tree. I needed you to come up short until I could place you where I needed you to be. I needed you to come up short so that I could accelerate what was on your life. I needed you to come up short so that I could know you—when you could know me. I need you to stop resenting the fact that you came up short and start seeing it as a blessing, because all Zacchaeus did was change his perspective. His perspective was one of eyesight, but when that wasn’t working, he knew that he had to make his perspective higher—higher than distractions, higher than worries, higher than concerns, higher than opinions, higher than people who didn’t get him, higher than people who didn’t understand him. He had to elevate his perspective so that he could see Jesus again.
And we’re in a season where if we do not elevate our perspective, we will think that we will always come up short. We must elevate our perspective on what we’ve gone through, on who we’re going to be, on where we come from, and what’s possible for us. We must elevate our perspective, because the only thing keeping you from seeing Jesus is your perspective right now. And when you elevate your perspective, you no longer come up short, because you recognize that you’re looking at things from the perspective that God sees—that he’s coming this way. He may not be there when I want him to be, but I’m going to stay right where I am, because I know I’m in the way. I know that I’m in the flow.
I know what he’s called me to do. I know that he’s placed my feet on solid ground. I know he wouldn’t bring me this far to leave me. I have to be willing to stay in my tree until he passes me by and points at me. And when he points me out, I’ve got to be willing to get uncomfortable, because I recognize that it is in that discomfort that Zacchaeus was introduced to a new version of who he is. So the question really is, «God, who am I?» And when you become so desperate for that—that you don’t care what you have to go through—that’s where we see change like never before. Zacchaeus knew himself. He was a tax collector, and he was rich. That’s the very first thing they tell us about him.
Before this story has ended, Zacchaeus has said that, «I’m going to go and make amends with everyone I’ve robbed. I’m going to change my ways. I want to live for you like never before. You showed me something. I thought I had to be who everyone thought I was, but now I realize that I can be exactly who you see. And I’m comfortable with that. And I don’t care what boundaries I break or what friendships I lose as a result of that, because it’s more important to me that I stay connected to you than they stay connected to the old version of who I am.»
Can you stand with me as we prepare to pray? If you don’t have to go, please don’t go, because somebody’s going to get on a tree—a sycamore tree. Somebody’s going to realize that they need to be in the path of Jesus—that they’ve been trying to see him from one perspective, but he desires to elevate our perspective. And the only way that he can elevate our perspective is if we’re willing to move.
If this message has been speaking to you and you found yourself trying to figure out who you are in this season, and you want God to show you—you want God to point at you, you want to be in a position where he looks up and he says, «Hey you in LA trying to find your way. Hey you visiting this city and unsure of who you are. Hey you trying to change the definition of things in your family—trying to change the definition. Hey you trying to do something that’s never been done. Hey you up there in that tree trying to see Jesus—trying to clear the distractions, trying to clear your mind so that you can see things clearly. Hey you.»
I want you to know that I see you. I believe that Jesus has sent a message for you that, «I see you striving to find me in this season. That I see you searching for me. And I recognize that it required that you get uncomfortable. And I recognize that you had to stretch yourself a bit. But I want you to know that I see you. And not only do I see you, I want to come and dwell with you. I don’t want it to just be this relationship where you see me working in other people’s lives. I want to have the kind of relationship where I go and I live and I dwell down on the inside of you.»
I’m talking about taking it to another dimension, because there are things that only Jesus can reveal to you about you. It won’t come from other people. It won’t come from opinions. It won’t come from your past mistakes or your past experiences. It has nothing to do with who Zacchaeus was in the past and everything to do with who he was willing to become. And the same is true for us. When we finally get to a place where we recognize that we’ve got to change—and that this change must not be by our own doing and with our own hands—this change must come from above. That we want to know what you see in heaven that’s true about us.
What do you see in this earth that is true about me? And it all exists outside of your comfort zone. You have to recognize that for some people, even coming down to the altar is them trying to climb up on the sycamore tree. Because some people have so much pride, and they don’t want people to judge them. And they came with someone, and they don’t want to be an outcast. So they were willing to stay in a place where they came up short—like Zacchaeus—allowing the thoughts and fears of other people to keep them from really getting what they needed. But someone came down to the altar because they decided to step out of that.
And I want to offer just another opportunity for those of you—whether you’re with someone or you’re unsure—if you just have one small clue, one small something down on the inside of you that says, «I think she could be talking to me, but I’m not really sure.» I’m willing to bet that I’m actually talking directly to you—that God sent this word for you specifically. And I dare you to come down to this altar and begin to step out of your comfort zone and to really begin to ask God like never before, «Who am I? And who do you need me to be? I need to get uncomfortable cuz I’m used to always doing things my way. I’m used to settling for this safe definition of who I am.»
But there is an advantage to getting uncomfortable, and that advantage is that you discover dimensions and layers. There’s layers down on the inside of you. You’re more than what you think you are. There’s more down in you than you even recognize. And the only way it can be revealed is in seasons like this—where you step out of your comfort zone and into destiny.