The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Bridging Division

Episode Date: September 1, 2019

Jesus came on a rescue mission to save the lost. There is no barrier that His grace cannot bridge.

All right. Amen. Amen. How are we doing, church? Everybody doing good? Good. Good. Welcome. Man, so glad you're here. We are in week four of a teaching series called Bridges as we are preparing for saturated. Who's excited about saturated? Anybody? Yeah. Man, great job. Y'all did way better than 9 o'clock. So it's awesome. Hey, excited about saturated. Man, we've been praying for this and we've been preparing for saturated. Saturated is a time every year in the life of our church where we carve it out, where we, in intentionally and with great intensity, do our best to make as big a deal about Jesus as we possibly can. That's what we are. We're moving for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. This place, all of this is about one person, and his name is Jesus. And saturated is a time where we intentionally prioritizing our calendars to say, Jesus, we want more of you. We want to meet with you.

We want to hear from you. And maybe that's where you're at in life. Maybe you're at a place where, man, things are... stacking up. It's just not going like you planned. There's some hardship, there's some hurt, there's some drama. Maybe you're on the other side of that and there's just unmerited success and you're walking in a season of favor and maybe you're in the middle and it's kind of life's just kind of neutral. You're just like, it's all going okay. Regardless, if you're at the top middle or the bottom of the season of life that you're in, here's what we all need. We all need

to hear from God. That's what we're. we need, man. We need to hear God's voice in our life. We need to know that he's speaking to us, and we need to prioritize and line up our life underneath it and in his direction. That's what saturated is. So if you weren't planning on attending saturated, I have now put the pastoral full court press on you. So you will be there now. Amen? Amen. All right. Good chat. Appreciate you. All right. So as we've been preparing for saturated and we've been in the Bridges series, I've been reading this book that was contributed to or co-authored by some of our saturated favorites, like Matt Chandler, who preached it saturated a few years ago, unbelievable,

Dr. John Piper. Now, let's be honest about Dr. Piper for a second. Dr. Piper has never preached at saturated, but it's not for a lack of triumph. We have asked him every year, Dr. Piper, will you please come and preach it saturated? And every year, he says, no. And so But you know what? I'm not going to let those seeds of rejection get down in my soul. I'm not going to let that hold me down. I am keeping hope alive that one day Dr. John Pfe will be preaching and saturated. Also contributing to this book is a father and son duo, Brian and Crawford-Loritz,

who are both preaching and saturated here this year. Unbelievable preachers can straight preach the paint off the walls, unbelievable men of God. It's going to be awesome. So this book I'm reading is a modern-day commentary on Martin Luther King's, Junior's letters from a Birmingham jail. And this quote jumped out at me in regards to the teaching series bridges that we've been in for the last few weeks.

And this is what Brian Lawrence writes. He says this. Reconciliation and bridge building is messy. Be it organizationally, culturally, or relationally. It is not for the faint of heart. There are tough calls. And it can often feel like three steps forward and two steps back. Perseverance is crucial.

What we have been talking about the last three weeks and will continue to do so today is a call to our church to continue to do whatever it takes, to go wherever we have to go, to give up, whatever we have to give up, to continue to be a movement for all people to discover deep in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a call for us to join Jesus in the ministry of reconciliation, in the bridge building, that he has done. Ultimately, we have spent the series talking about the fact that Jesus Christ is hope when everything else in the world seems hopeless. That he is life when everything else in the world seems like it is headed toward death. That he is truth when everything in the world seems to be full of lies and deception. And so, if it's okay with you guys, we're just going to keep on keeping on today. We're going to keep on preaching the good news of Jesus Christ if that's all right with you.

You good with that? All right, amen. Luke chapter 19, here we go. Verse 1. Luke 19, verse 1. He, this is Jesus, he entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, comma. So, Jericho is a day's walk from Jerusalem and Jesus is passing through. He is headed from point A to point B. He has a planned destination, and that planned destination is Jerusalem.

Jerusalem. Jesus is about to turn his face toward Jerusalem where he is going to go and offer up his life to pay the due penalty for sin. And he's going to sacrifice himself on the cross. This is where Jesus is heading. It's his planned destination. In Jericho, he's just passing through. In the end of Luke chapter 18, Jesus enters through the city gate. And so there's the old Jericho you know about, which is Joshua fought the Battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down. That's right. So that's in the Old Testament. They rebuilt the city, and it's right next to the old city, and there's this huge gate sitting on the side of the hill where everybody had to enter and exit through the city.

And so at this city gate, there's a blind beggar who sits at this gate day in and day out, hoping to get some food or hoping to get some money. And he sees Jesus coming, and he cries out and says, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And all the people with Jesus start to rebuke this man and try to keep him away from Jesus. but Jesus, the guy cries out again, he says, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus hears him, and Jesus says, bring the man to me.

And they bring the man to Jesus, and Jesus puts his hands on his face and gives him sight to see. And this miracle erupts the crowd. Everybody hears about it. This is one of dozens and dozens and dozens of miracles that Jesus had performed up into this point. And so he had a pretty significant crowd following him around. and he's passing through Jericho on his way to his destination.

And here's what jumps out at me about this. Is that often in the kingdom of God, in the way of Jesus, that the greatest opportunities for influence are not in the planned destinations of the day, but they're in the divine interruptions that God puts in front of us on the way. That often in the kingdom of God, the greatest opportunities are influenced, are not in the calendar events.

It's not going from A to B. It's the divine interruptions that God drops in our lives. lap as we're on the go. This is what's happening in Luke 19. seemingly everything that happens in Luke 19 is this divine interruption. It's just something Jesus had eyes to see and God dramatically

changes lives through it. So Jesus is passing through Jericho. And then it says, and behold, almost like, to-da, there was a man named Zachias, verse two. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. Now,

Zacchaeus's name means innocence or pure. This brother was anything but. He was crooked to the core. His title, chief tax collector, this is the only time that title is used in all of scripture. Ultimately,

Zacchaeus was a boss. And his job was to make sure that the Jewish people paid their taxes and gave them to the occupying force which was Rome. Cultural tension in the first century between Rome and the Jewish people. Let's just say,

It was tense. To the Jews, Rome was an occupying army that they were subjugated and oppressed by. And right in between all of this cultural tension was a man named Zacchius and his people. And what he did was to go as a Jew, he would go to the Jews, take their money and then give it to the enemy. But not only would he give Caesar what Caesar said was due Caesar. He would also extort their money. He would defraud their money and he would steal it for himself. and he would keep it and he made himself very, very rich.

Zacchaeus's position as chief tax collector was not something he was elected to. It was something he paid for to have. So let's just say that Zacchaeus was not very well liked. He did not have many Instagram followers. That is Zacchaeus. Nobody was pro-Zachius, verse 3 and 4. So Zacchaeus was seeking to see who Jesus was. Why? Because Jesus was famous.

Everybody had heard about him at this point. And so Zechius wanted to see him. But on account of the crowd, he could not. Because he was small in stature. This is where we get the childhood song. Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. You're welcome.

So for the seven of you who very gently mumbled that, under your breath with me. I will say, I'm sorry to you because I know you like me are ruined on Kool-Aid and butter cookies forever because of vacation Bible school trauma when you were a child. Ultimately, brother was short. That's what's going on. He was short.

So, Zacchaeus is short, and so he ran on ahead, and he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass, for Jesus was about to pass that way. He can't see. Now, Zacchaeus is too proud to ask to be let to the front of the line, and he's too hated to be invited to the front of the line. And so I want you to get this picture in your mind. There's Jesus, the rabbi, the teacher, the cultural reformer, the healer, the miracle worker, the Messiah. And around him is a crowd of people who almost so. certainly had been following him around for quite some time, weeks, months and months and months.

Many of them just traveled as a pack with Jesus. Jesus in the middle and he is surrounded in this crowd and then on the outside of that is a man named Zachias. Now let's talk about this picture. Get it in your head. And I want you to think about the crowd. And if you think about this picture of what's going on in Luke 19 and then you fast forward, throughout history, it actually paints a pretty good picture of how things have played out. And here's what I mean. It is often the people who have straight line of sight into Jesus.

It is often the people who seemingly in proximity are closest to the teachings of Jesus and the way of Jesus, the insiders, if you will. It is often the insiders who have done a pretty good job at blocking the people. the way for those outside to see Jesus. Historically, this has played out to be pretty true that it's often the people that you would think are closest to the way of Jesus that make it very, very difficult for those who are on the outside to see and experience Jesus.

Now, there's two parts of this crowd. Part one, I think, is the people who are unintentionally blocking the way. It's not like they woke up in the morning and said, you know what, let's all get together and lock arms, and go red or over, red or over, Zachius, you can't come over. No, I mean, they didn't do that.

They didn't wake up and like, you know what? I hate Zacchaeus. I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure that Zakias doesn't have an experience with Jesus. No, they didn't do that. They did not do that. They're unintentionally blocking the way. What's going on? Well, ultimately, they just don't have eyes to see Zechius.

They figured out just how to live with him and how to kind of tolerate his presence. They know he's there in theory, but they don't have eyes to see, and they certainly don't have a heart to care. It's not like they're trying to keep Zacchaeus out. They just don't want to give up their place in line so that Zacchaeus can get in. That's what's going on. It's not even on their radar that Zacchaeus could, would, and should have an experience with Jesus. Now, I don't know what your experience is in church, but I've been in church for a long time.

A long time. I bet if we went pound for pound in hours in church, I got you. I got you. I've been doing this a long time. I'm a pastor's kid. I've been around it my entire life. I know I've had some really good experiences in church and I've had some really not so good experiences in church. One time when I was a teenager, I had basketball practice on a Sunday afternoon. And the way church worked where I grew up was you had Sunday morning church and then you had Sunday night church. These were two different things. On Tuesday night, we had visitation. On Wednesday night, we had something. On Sunday morning, we did church. And then on Sunday night, on Sunday morning, we did church. And then on Sunday night, on Sunday night, we did church. And then on Sunday night, on Sunday night, Sunday night. We did a different kind of church. And so every Sunday night I would go to church. Why? Because I wanted to stay in the family will. And so I would go back. And so I had basketball practice one Sunday afternoon. And I'm leaving basketball practice. And one of my best friends growing up. He says, where are you headed? And I'm like, yeah, man, I'm going to church. And he says, can I go with you? And I thought, well, yeah. Come on. Now, I wish I could stand here and tell you that I had been a really. really good Christian that I had been working on this guy and I had invited him many times to church, but done of that's true. It was literally like a divine interruption. This brother, my friend, who I had been friends with for many, many years, he had never been to church, any church, ever. And in this moment, he's like, can I come to church with you? And I'm like, yeah, man. Now, this was before,

like, text messages and stuff. And so I couldn't, like, text my dad and be like, hey, dad, tell everybody there not to screw it up. My friend's coming to church. You know, I couldn't. So we go to church And remember, keep in mind, we're dressed in basketball clothes because we just got done practicing basketball. I know you're looking at me thinking, I know he's a baller. But I'm just saying, why are you laughing? We're dressed in basketball clothes. And so we walk into the lobby of the church. And this man walks over to me and he says, can I help you, boys?

Think about this for a second. I'm one of the preacher's kids. everybody in the church knows who I am. I have almost burned the place down three times at this point. I am infamous. And I'm standing there, and this guy acts like he doesn't know me. And then he's like, can I help you, boys? And I'm like, no, man, we're good.

We're going to go on into the service. And this is what he says. Dress like that. And then immediately, my friend's head, this is what his head does. He goes, why? Because he felt shame. He didn't know. He didn't know the rules.

He didn't know the made-up rules, by the way. He didn't, all he felt was shame. And so I looked back at this man and I'm like, yeah, man, we're good. We're going to go in and do church. And then he says this to me. He says, well, okay, I guess it'll be fine for this time. And then he goes to open the door and let us in, and I grabbed the door and I slammed it in his face. I didn't.

But I didn't. I should have. But I didn't. And we go on in and I apologize to my friend many times. Do you know how many times my friend came back to that church with me? Zero. Now, do I think that man, do I think that man woke up in the morning and thought to himself, you know what I want to do today?

I want to intentionally create emotional and mental barriers in a young man's life that will hinder him from having experiences with God. Do I think that's what he set out to do that day? Nope, I don't. But here's what I know, that in that moment, that brother was way more interested in his personal preferences than he was in my friend's experience with Jesus. He was way more interested in his personal preferences

than he was in my friend's experience with God. He didn't set out to do it intentionally, but nonetheless, here we are. And I would say to you, if you're here, And you hear this story of what happened with me and my friend. Let me just say this. If you're hearing you've ever been hurt by religious people, by people who you think are in spiritual authority or religious leaders,

I would just say to you, man, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Look, here, we're not a perfect people, man. We're not. We're going to mess it up. We're not going to do everything right every time for sure. But I genuinely believe that if you were to crack open the chest of this church, what you would see beating inside is love for you.

That we love you and we care for you and we want more for you than we would ever want from you. And specifically what we want for you is for you to have authentic and intimate experiences in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Maybe you're here and your defenses are high, man. And you are done with religion. You're over it. The religious game, you are out. I have good news for you this morning and you can take a deep deep.

breath here we are not peddling religion we are pointing to a relationship with jesus christ that is what we're doing and though we may fail you and though others may fail you of time and time again jesus christ he will not fail he always delivers on his promises so block in the way i will say this here that this historically has not been the story for this church and i pray that it never is. This church has done a pretty good way, a pretty good job at not blocking the way for others to have experiences and to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.

I mean, one of the things that I love about this movement is the deeper you get into the guts of it, actually the more miraculous it is. One of the things I love about this place is that, did you know that historically we have spent like $0 marketing? Like $0 and you're like, well, that's not true. I got a bow the bumper stickers everywhere. That's how I ended up here.

Okay, fine. We bought some bumper stickers. But other than that, we've spent almost no money historically on marketing. Why does that matter? Why does that matter? Well, let's just say, let's just look at it like this. In a couple of weeks, we'll be seven years old. Happy birthday, church.

In a couple weeks, we'll be seven years old. Currently, we worship in six campuses around the city. Last weekend, more than 11,000 people worshipped Jesus as a part of the movement of 1122. More than 5,000 people have surrendered. More than 6,000 compassion kids have been sponsored. Thousands of those who've surrendered their life to Jesus have been baptized, and every week more than 3,000 adults gather around the city in disciple groups washing in God's word.

How does that happen? If we don't have billboards up and neon signs and, you know, how does that happen? A, it's completely a move of God, so let's just get that out there. But how does God choose to move? Through you. Through you, church. That's how it happens. Because we have a church filled with people who are committed to the way of Jesus

that are doing their best not to block the way, but they genuinely want people to have experiences with Jesus Christ. They invite their friends. They invite their family members. They invite their coworkers. You have done a good job making the way for people to grow and discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Good job, church. Good job. Amen.

Amen. You can feel good for it like, you'd be like, I did all right. You can pass your neighbor on the back, even if they didn't do anything. Just encourage them anyway. But here's what I would say. Don't get comfortable. Don't get comfortable. The older we get as a church, the more we will be pulled into desiring our personal preferences,

more than we desire for people to have experiences with Jesus. Something just happens with time and age that over time, you just get pulled more and more into your personal preferences, your parking spot, your preferred service time, your preferred seat, your preferred way of doing things, your preferred songs, and you get focused on your preferences at the expense of other people having experience with Jesus Christ. May it ever be so here. Amen. Amen. I said two parts to the crowd. Part one was the unintentional. And part two, we're going to get there in a second. Verse five and six. And when Jesus came to the place, this is the tree. He looked up and said to him,

Zechius, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. So, he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. What Jesus does right here is that he steps directly into Zacchaeus' world. I love that Jesus just straight up invited himself to Zechius' house. He says, Zechius, I'm coming to your house today. I love that. This is called incarnational living. There's some rich theological goodness in that for sure.

But ultimately, Jesus knows all the tensions. He knows all the cultural climate. He knows all the divisions. He knows how everybody feels about Zacchus, and he knows how everybody's going to share their opinion joyfully about the decisions that Jesus is making. He knows what the crowd's going to say. He knows what the religious people think,

and Jesus does it anyway. He steps right into Zacchius' mess. Now, this is a beautiful, beautiful picture of what Christ has done for us. That Jesus, knowing exactly what it was going to cost him, which was his life, he stepped out of the glory of heaven right into our mess. It's what he did. It's what he does.

He steps right into Zacchaeus's world. You see, Jesus, he doesn't care what the crowd thinks. He cares about Zacchaeus. He cares about the one more. He cares about the person that. that everyone thinks is the last person that would ever change. I bet if we were to interview the crowd that day and they were to be honest with us,

they didn't even really care if Zacchaeus changed. See, here's the thing. It's one thing, and a good thing, mind you. But it is one thing to want your friends and your family to have experiences with Jesus Christ, but it is a whole different level of commitment and it comes at a whole different level of personal cost to want that same thing for your enemy. It is one thing and a good thing

to want your friends and family to have an experience with Jesus Christ, but it is an entirely different level of commitment. And it comes at an entirely different level of personal cost to want that same thing for your enemy. Jesus steps right into enemy territory. Here's what Jesus is showing us here. He's showing us that in the kingdom of God,

kindness is the country. currency of change. Kindness is the currency of change. Jesus is the cause of change and kindness is the means by which he chooses to bring about that change. In Romans chapter 2 verse 4, it says that it is God's kindness toward us that leads us to repentance. It is God's kindness toward us that changes us. It doesn't say that it's God's omnipotence or God's omnipresence or God's omniscience or God's holiness or God's justice or God's wrath. It doesn't say any of those things. It says that even though all of those things are true

and they are reflected in the character and nature of God, that even though all that's true, he is still kind toward us who is undeserving, that it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. A few weeks ago, Pastor Jobi preached on John chapter 1, verse 1, and it says this, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We know that the word in John 1 is the Lagos, the spoken word, the son.

Jesus is the word of God. I want you to hear this today, church. If you don't hear anything else, hear this. Jesus, he is not only God's voice to us. He is God's tone of voice toward us. Jesus is not only God's voice to us. He is God's tone of voice toward us. I don't know how you roll in your life, but for me, when I feel stressed or I feel frustrated or I feel impatient or I feel that internal angst, that pressure rise up in me, I'm not awesome.

I'm not awesome ever, but I'm definitely not awesome when I'm feeling the pressure. And one of the things that happens to me is I get this specifically in my family. I get this like really sharp tone. It's just, it's not loud. I don't yell. I'm not that. It's just sharp. It's just piercing.

It's just aggressive. It's unkind. It's a sharp tone of voice. So that's what happens to me when I feel the pressure. And the other day, a couple of weeks ago, I'm riding down the road in my nine-year-old daughter sitting in the back of my truck. Which today, her name's Anna Catherine. Today is Anna Catherine's birthday. So happy birthday, Anna Catherine.

Yeah, all right. Yeah, thank you. You never met her, but she's awesome. Wednesday was my six-year-old daughter Abigail's birthday. So it's been birthday week at the Brit House. If you think about that too long, you realize that the week between Christmas and New Year's every year, me and my wife like to make babies. But, and you're welcome. Where was that?

Oh, yeah. In the truck. All right. So me and my 9-year-old daughter, we're in the truck. And we pull up on slowing traffic. and this is what I hear. My daughter says, come on, man, move, what's wrong with you?

Who should learn that from? Yeah, I was pretty convicted. So I started paying attention. And what I realized is that my nine-year-old, she's developed a pretty sharp tone when she's frustrated. And I take my job as dad, my job, my appointed office as father in my children of my life. I take it pretty seriously.

And here's what I believe. I believe that how my daughters hear and respond to the voice of God throughout the course of their life will be indicative on how they hear and respond to my voice right now. The way they feel like God's tone is toward them is going to be representative of my tone toward them. And so I felt the weight of it. I feel pretty convicted. And so I sit down with Anna Catherine and I'm like, babe, we just got to talk. First, Daddy just needs to tell you,

he's sorry and I go through all the things why I'm sorry and and I say you know daddy needs your help daddy needs you to hold him accountable so if you ever hear me getting sharp or speaking unkindly I want you to hold me accountable and what I want you to do is just to get my attention you don't have to make a big thing about it I just want you to get my attention and I want you to just say the letters kT which just means kind tone just say kT and she's like okay daddy I'll help you And I'm like, well, and if it's okay with you, I'll help you too. Is that okay? And she's like, she's like, yeah, yeah, it's okay.

And so sure enough, over the last couple of weeks, my daughter, every now and then, my daughter's like, like I'm feeling the pressure and I'm doing my thing. And she's like, Katie, Daddy, Katie, you know, she's waving in the corner. And she's trying to be helpful. Here's what I've, here's what I'm learning, man. In the context of my family, in the context of relationships, I think. in the context of any relationship is that often how we say something

is as important as what we say. How we say something is as important as what we say. And that's not just good life advice from Pastor Britt. It actually is the Word of God in Proverbs chapter 15, verse 1. It says that a soft answer turns away wrath. But a harsh word stirs up anger. I said there were two parts to the crowd. Here's part two, verse 7.

And when they, they, them, the they, you have a they in your life, a them, the them, the the underwhelming minority who seemingly has the loudest voice, and when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. Who are they? The self-righteous. The self-righteous, the Pharisee. Ultimately, they're grumbling because of who and where Jesus was prioritizing his time. They were grumbling because of where Jesus was making his priority.

It had displaced them. They had a preferred social structure. They had a preferred pecking order, and they were at the top of it. And any time that Jesus would step into the life of a sinner, it displaced them in the pecking order of their mind, and they didn't like it, so they would come. complain about it. They would have loved it. They, the

self-righteous, would have loved it if Jesus had publicly rebuked Zacchus. If he had just warned Zachius out in front of everybody, the self-righteous they would have loved it. They'd have jumped on Facebook and they'd have been like, oh, Jesus tore Zachius anew and really got him. This time, go, Jesus.

They'd have loved it. But Jesus didn't do that. He did not publicly condemn Zachius. It's important to note that he also did not publicly condone Zacchaeus' lifestyle, that Zacchaeus' lifestyle choices of stealing and extorting and defrauding, that those things are against God's law, and they're wrong.

Jesus does not condone those things, but neither does he publicly criticize or condemn Zechius. Jesus just steps right on in. What Jesus does is he looks at Zacchaeus, eyeballed eyeball, and he says, Zacchaeus, let's eat. Let's have a conversation. Let's get into relationship. This is what Jesus does.

In the New Testament, Jesus is always quick to publicly rebuke the self-righteous and even quicker to be a friend to the sinner. Jesus is always quick to publicly rebuke the self-righteous and even quicker to be a friend to the sinner. Here's the thing about self-righteousness, and I've got a bit of experience with it. It's really hard to see,

and of yourself without outside help. Why? Because what is inherent to the nature of self-righteousness is that you think in and of yourself, you're always right. That is what it means to be self-righteous. Jesus is quick to publicly rebuke to self-righteous, but even quicker to be a friend to the sinner. Verse 8.

So Jesus steps into Zacchaeus' home. They enter into relationships. ship and then it says, and Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it for full. Jesus goes to his house and does what he does, which is to usher in the kingdom of God, which is to declare and to demonstrate the goodness of God and the grand plan of God. Jesus ushers in the kingdom of God. and then what happens to Zacchaeus?

Change. Change happens. Now, I'm about to drop this theologically robust, brain-busting divine revelation on you. You're ready? You're going to want to write this down. Jesus changes stuff, period.

It's just what he does. He changes stuff. When Jesus shows up everywhere he goes, change is sure to follow. No question about. it. Radical change in the case of Zechius. And radical change, I believe in the testimony of many of our lives. You see, religious people are very, very worried about others' habits. Jesus goes right for hearts. Religious people are very worried about other people's habits. Jesus goes right for hearts because Jesus knows this. If he can captivate your heart, then your habits will surely follow. If he can captivate your heart, then your habits will surely follow. You see, the religious, they see. see God is useful, the follower of Jesus sees him as beautiful. Religious people see God as a means to an end, primarily just useful to them in their own life. But the Christian, they see

God as beautiful. Zachius had this idol in his life, and his idol was power. And this idol of power manifested itself in money. And Jesus steps in, and all of Zacchaeus' idols, they just begin to fall. Because this is what Jesus does. Jesus tears down idols in people's lives so that he can replace them with something better, namely himself. That's just what Jesus does. And so Zacchaeus, in this radical change,

he gives half his money to the poor. By any definition, this is radical generosity. He gives half his money to the poor. Why? Because God cares about the poor. Because God loves the poor. Blessed are the poor and spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. He gives half his money to the poor and then everybody that he'd been stealing from,

everybody that he'd been robbing and extorting and defrauded. He goes to them, his neighbors, who he had been oppressing for years, and gives them back everything he stole times four. This is a picture of the inside outwork of repentance. Ultimately, what had happened is that Zacchaeus had changed kingdoms. You see, Zacchaeus had been living for the kingdom of himself. He had been living for self-glorification. and self-gratification and self-pleasure.

He was just trying to get his and get by. And then he has this divine encounter with Jesus the Christ. And ultimately what has happened to Zacchaeus is that he's no longer a slave to the kingdom of self. He has now been set free to a new and a better kingdom. Zechius has a new kingdom because he now has a new king. In verse 9, it says this. Zakias makes this 180 turn and Jesus says to him,

today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham. Jesus celebrates. He says, Zakias, good news. You have come alive to the kingdom of God. You have come alive to the grand story that God has been telling since by faith God declared Abraham righteous from that point to this point, God has been up to something.

He is putting everything broken back together. And Zacchaeus, you have now come alive to the work of God. You have now come alive to the kingdom of God, and you found your place in it. You found your part to play in the story that God is telling about himself. Zacchius, you have a part to play. Jesus celebrates Zechius finding his purpose in the kingdom of God. Now, I would ask you this question. if you're here today and you have surrendered your life to Jesus as a part of the movement of 1122,

that you have, I'm not trying to be confusing, I'm just asking it this way, if since becoming a part of this movement, you have willfully and intentionally surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, which just means that you are trying to put your life under his lordship and under his leadership first, that that has been a change you have made in your life as a part of this movement. Would you just raise your hand if that's your life? you, if that's your testimony? Come on, man. Look around. Praise God, man. Amen. Let's celebrate that church. That's good news, man. Praise God. We celebrate the work of God in your life. We celebrate that you have

come alive to the kingdom of God. Anytime one more comes home, it is worthy of celebration. Amen. Amen. Verse 10. Jesus celebrates and then he makes a declaration. For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. This is it. This is the point. The bottom line, Jesus came on a rescue mission to seek and save the lost. There is no barrier that His grace cannot bridge. This is the mission of Jesus on the earth.

That's why he came. In John, chapter 3, verse 17, it says that God did not send the sun into the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved. 1 John chapter 3 verse 8 says that the reason Jesus appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Think about this. Everything that is alive in our world as a result of sin. Every division that is inside the human heart,

that the human heart would be divided against itself, everything that is alive inside of us as a result of sin and not just inside of us, but everything that is alive in the human race that exists because of the result of sin. division, every chasm, every inch of brokenness, every bit of oppression and injustice, that all of it, that Jesus showed up to destroy those things. And when he died on the cross, and then he rose again three days later, he claimed victory over it all. That's what Jesus did. That he showed up to

destroy the works of the devil. So every inch of brokenness, every division, Jesus is the bridge reconciling all things unto God and for God's glory. He is making all things new. But it's not just his mission. It's the mission he invited us into as his church. This bridge building, this ministry of reconciliation. It's the call that God has put on us. In Matthew chapter 28 versus 19 and 20,

it says that go and make disciples. and what it means is that as you were on the go, as you were going through the planned destinations of your life, as you were going from point A to point B, as you go, make disciples, and here's what it means. Make disciples means to have eyes to see Zakias. Have eyes to see Zakias. Have a heart to love him.

The way of Jesus is the way of empathy. It's to see Zakius and to care for Zakias. and to have the will, the intentionality to get into a relationship with them, to see those who are far from God and to pursue them, so that they may have an experience with Jesus Christ like you have. You see, church, we stand at the crossroads of a broken culture and the kingdom of God, and we stand right at the middle of these things with the cure. So as you're on the go, make disciples.

Of all nations, from Jericho to Jacksonville, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all the things that Jesus commanded, not teaching them our opinions, but teaching them what Jesus has said and what Jesus has done. Teaching them to obey all the commandments of Jesus Christ. And then Jesus makes a promise. And lo, I will be with you even until the end of the age. In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus tells us. us what this promise is. And it says this. It says, when you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive power. It says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. So if you have placed your life under

the Lordship of Jesus Christ and you have put the weight of trust of your life on him, what happens in that moment of surrender is that God breathes his presence into you, and this is known as the rule of life. It is the power and the presence of God Almighty in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, and the Holy Spirit comes with an immense amount of power. And the Church of God, the Kingdom of God, the family of God, we are empowered with the Holy Spirit. And you may say, well, what kind of power, pastor? Well, it's the kind of power that conquers death. It's the kind of power that defeated hell and sin.

It's the kind of power that makes the lame to walk and the blind to see. It's the kind of power that sets free the oppressed, that breaks the prisoner out of the power. of its cell and sets them free. It's the kind of power that brings dead things to life. It is the kind of power that is everywhere and ever present in the kingdom of God.

All that God is and all that God has in his power he has given to his church and it, this power, is an unstoppable force. And it is in the ministry of reconciliation. It is in the bridge building as Jesus is bringing everything back. Everything was made for him

and through him and to him and by God, Everything is coming back to him for his glory. Everything will be new and it will be a work of Jesus Christ. In the church, we're the kingdom carriers. We're the kingdom carriers that we usher in the presence of God in this world that so desperately needs it. You'll receive power. Maybe you're here today and you feel powerless. You feel defeated or deflated.

You feel hopeless. Here's the word. You have power by the holy spirit. spirit. The victory that Jesus secured in his resurrection, he has breathed it into you. May we forever, church, be a people who are radically committed to the way of Jesus Christ. May we forever, church, by God's grace, continue to be a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. Would you stand with me? And let's pray. God, your good and we thank you. We just ask that you would give us eyes to see. Zachias, you give us a heart to love

them, that you would use us at whatever cost to ourself, Father, would you use us as your people so that other people can experience and have an intimate and personal relationship with you? Father, we thank you that you love us so much that you adopted us into your family, that you've breathed life into us and power into us. Father, would we walk with our, walk with our eyes of faith to see and to believe that everywhere it seems hopeless, Father, we know that in you there is hope. Father, I pray courage and faithfulness over us as a church. God, that we would never grow comfortable, that we would never grow satisfied, that we would never grow slave to our own personal preferences and miss out on helping others have experiences with you. Father, would you

use us wherever it would call us to go? Father, I pray that we would put our yes on the table and let you put it on the map. We love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. And all God's people said, amen. Amen. We're going to respond to him together. Invite you to come and pray however you see fit. We're going to sing and we're going to worship. We're going to declare that we want to be a people that God echoes his kingdom through throughout all of the world so we pray we worship and we give let's respond to him together