WEBVTT - Jeff Vines - Oct 12 - 8:30 pm 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.600 Let us pray. By Him, therefore, let us offer the 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:09.360 sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:15.680 of our lips giving thanks to His name. Hebrews 13.15 0:00:15.900 --> 0:00:19.989 Dear Lord, through Your sacrifice on the cross, You made 0:00:20.030 --> 0:00:24.029 atonement for my sins and brought me forth into eternal 0:00:24.110 --> 0:00:27.710 life with You. I surrendered my life to the One 0:00:27.750 --> 0:00:31.840 who loves me more than anyone ever will. You have 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.330 given me the honor of serving you in this life 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:39.250 as your ambassador. You have invested me with special gifts 0:00:39.330 --> 0:00:42.930 and talents and positioned me among those who need to 0:00:42.990 --> 0:00:48.170 hear my testimony of love divine. The most holy sacrifice 0:00:48.310 --> 0:00:52.250 I can bring in exchange for your sacrifice is offering 0:00:52.310 --> 0:00:56.150 my thanks. I will render the fruit of my lips 0:00:56.630 --> 0:01:01.120 as my sacrifice of praise. The blessings you have granted 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:05.780 me through Christ are so abundant and inexhaustible that you 0:01:05.810 --> 0:01:10.290 can never be sufficiently praised for them. I will lift 0:01:10.370 --> 0:01:13.490 up your name and honor all that you have done 0:01:13.569 --> 0:01:16.450 for me to all those I meet along the way 0:01:16.750 --> 0:01:21.640 in my life's journey. I was dead in sin, and 0:01:21.700 --> 0:01:25.380 you gave me life through your Son, Jesus Christ, and 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:29.929 drew me with cords of love into your eternal kingdom 0:01:30.209 --> 0:01:34.069 of love. It is your desire that none should perish 0:01:34.650 --> 0:01:36.610 and have made a way of escape for all of 0:01:36.670 --> 0:01:41.300 those who will receive your plan of salvation. Your goodness 0:01:41.819 --> 0:01:45.600 leads us to repentance, and your goodness is what I 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:52.660 praise you for each day of my life. In Jesus' name, amen. 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.750 Thank you for listening to today's daily prayer. For more 0:01:58.790 --> 0:02:02.930 inspiration and an incredible message from our feature pastor, stay 0:02:02.970 --> 0:02:05.150 tuned to Pray.com's Sunday service. 0:02:07.850 --> 0:02:11.130 Are you in pain after walking, running, or even just standing? 0:02:11.610 --> 0:02:15.180 It's not your feet. It's your shoes. This summer, switch 0:02:15.220 --> 0:02:20.080 to G-Defy shoes with patented VersoShock technology, which aligns your body, 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:26.700 provides superior shock absorption, and trampoline-like energy returns. G-Defy offers 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:31.090 soles and styles for any activity, plus two free orthotics. 0:02:31.690 --> 0:02:34.570 Whether you're an athlete, a busy parent, or always on 0:02:34.610 --> 0:02:38.790 the go, G-Defy shoes deliver the comfort and versatility your 0:02:38.830 --> 0:02:43.370 feet crave. Say goodbye to discomfort and hello to unparalleled 0:02:43.410 --> 0:02:48.810 support this summer. Enjoy a special summer offer. Visit G-Defy.com 0:02:49.150 --> 0:02:50.730 and get $ 20 off your order of $ 100 or more 0:02:50.750 --> 0:02:57.100 with code PRAY. Experience the miracle of ultimate comfort with 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.910 G-Defy shoes. Visit G-D-E-F-Y dot com today. 0:03:10.460 --> 0:03:13.480 Don't you love Jesus? Oh, this is cool. He doesn't 0:03:13.500 --> 0:03:16.200 talk to the other rabbis, doesn't talk to the professional 0:03:16.260 --> 0:03:20.900 religious people. Zooms in right on this tax collector outcast 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:22.820 that's sitting up in a tree and he says, we 0:03:22.860 --> 0:03:26.250 all know it. Zacchaeus, you come down for I'm coming 0:03:26.290 --> 0:03:28.570 to your house today. The reason I think the Holy 0:03:28.610 --> 0:03:31.049 Spirit inspires this to be in our text is to 0:03:31.070 --> 0:03:34.589 remind us of how Jesus loves people who are far 0:03:34.669 --> 0:03:36.890 from God much more than we do. 0:03:41.970 --> 0:03:52.020 Hello and welcome. 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.700 Thanks for joining us on Today with Jeff Fiennes. We're 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.890 kicking off a series called Generosity Today. Pastor Jeff will 0:03:59.930 --> 0:04:03.550 explore the power of giving of our time and resources 0:04:04.090 --> 0:04:07.270 and the impact it can have on our communities. Let's 0:04:07.310 --> 0:04:11.200 get into it now. Here's Pastor Jeff to begin today's message. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.500 Luke chapter 19, Luke chapter 19, the famous passage, verse 1. 0:04:26.500 --> 0:04:29.270 You know, the thing about pastors is they all have 0:04:29.290 --> 0:04:31.589 their favorite stories and favorite illustrations, and you've got to 0:04:31.610 --> 0:04:35.130 really watch yourself. Because as you get older, you forget 0:04:35.950 --> 0:04:39.159 whether you've told that story or illustration or not. And 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.200 then you get a little older and you don't care 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.060 whether you've told that story illustration because you like it. 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.870 But there are some stories, illustrations, books that have impact 0:04:49.050 --> 0:04:51.150 on your life as a pastor and you just never 0:04:51.190 --> 0:04:53.570 forget it. So it's always coming back. And one of 0:04:53.610 --> 0:04:57.890 my favorite, just little examples. And I think it represents 0:04:58.450 --> 0:05:00.940 our condition in the West is that little story about 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.860 the Indian father and mother from India. And the little 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.000 boy watches his father get up every morning. This is 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.839 so crucial, guys, and where we are right now. He 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.099 watches his father get up every morning and his father 0:05:13.220 --> 0:05:17.089 kneels before this mantle. And there are these two little statues. And, 0:05:17.100 --> 0:05:18.839 you know, if you know anything about Hinduism, you usually 0:05:18.900 --> 0:05:23.000 have the statues are usually a mixture between between a 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.680 god and a man or a man and an animal. OK, 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:28.860 so that's usually represents I think there are three hundred 0:05:28.900 --> 0:05:32.229 and thirty million gods in Hinduism alone. So it's hard 0:05:32.250 --> 0:05:34.610 to keep up with them. But this this little boy 0:05:34.670 --> 0:05:36.810 sees his father every day, get up in the early 0:05:36.830 --> 0:05:39.050 in the morning and he kneels down and he he 0:05:39.150 --> 0:05:41.910 prays and he speaks to these idols. And then he 0:05:41.930 --> 0:05:44.690 goes off to work. And on one occasion, before the 0:05:44.730 --> 0:05:46.590 father was going on a long business trip, the boy 0:05:46.630 --> 0:05:49.250 went to his father and said, Dad, why do you 0:05:49.290 --> 0:05:51.750 kneel down and talk to these statues and pray to these? 0:05:51.770 --> 0:05:55.510 They're just statues. They're nothing. They can't see anything. They 0:05:55.570 --> 0:05:57.729 can't hear anything. And they definitely don't have a sense 0:05:57.770 --> 0:06:01.330 of volition to where they can actually accomplish anything. Of course, 0:06:01.380 --> 0:06:03.900 the father smacks the boy on the head and says, 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.420 that's blasphemy. Don't you ever speak those words again in 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.640 this house. His father goes away and then his father returns. 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.380 And when his father returns, he looks at the statues 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:14.580 on the mantle and one of them has been crushed. 0:06:15.540 --> 0:06:17.630 And there's a stick in the hand of the other one. 0:06:19.130 --> 0:06:21.510 And the father comes to the son and says, what's 0:06:21.550 --> 0:06:26.990 going on? Who has desecrated our mantle, our idols in 0:06:27.050 --> 0:06:30.760 our home, our gods? And the little boy said, well, 0:06:30.820 --> 0:06:33.680 it's obvious, isn't it? The one statue got mad at 0:06:33.700 --> 0:06:37.080 the other statue and smashed it. And the father, of course, says, 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.630 don't be silly. That statue can't see, can't hear, can't 0:06:40.670 --> 0:06:42.969 do anything. And the little boy said, that's what I've 0:06:42.990 --> 0:06:45.980 been trying to tell you. Okay, so it's one of 0:06:46.020 --> 0:06:50.020 my favorite illustrations because it reminds us that we all 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.380 have idols. You know, a book that really convicted me 0:06:53.500 --> 0:06:56.500 was a book written by Tim Keller called Counterfeit Gods. 0:06:56.540 --> 0:06:59.700 And I'd never, I'd never thought that I had any idols. 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.390 I mean, I'm not, I don't live in a country 0:07:02.430 --> 0:07:04.810 like India. You know, I'm not, I don't have these 0:07:04.990 --> 0:07:08.930 mantles and idols in my house. And yet he reminds 0:07:08.990 --> 0:07:13.430 you that, oh yeah. Man, we all have idols. It's something. 0:07:13.470 --> 0:07:16.770 We worship something. And then I like to, the reference 0:07:16.850 --> 0:07:18.930 I often make is to Ernest Becker's book, which has 0:07:18.970 --> 0:07:22.150 had a huge impact on me, primarily because, well, he 0:07:22.170 --> 0:07:24.920 won a Pulitzer Prize, but he also was a secular atheist. 0:07:25.570 --> 0:07:28.860 And as a secular atheist, he tells us that America's 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.820 in danger. This is back in the 70s, because it's 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.480 God is quickly becoming sex, money, and power. And he 0:07:35.540 --> 0:07:39.020 says in the book that man has to trust, serve, 0:07:39.060 --> 0:07:42.400 and worship something. Of course, when I was in seminary, 0:07:42.620 --> 0:07:44.600 you have to take a lot of classes in philosophy 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.320 to understand how thinking over time has evolved and then 0:07:48.370 --> 0:07:51.410 how to contextualize the Christian message of the gospel into 0:07:51.450 --> 0:07:55.030 that kind of philosophical thinking. And one of the men 0:07:55.070 --> 0:07:57.630 we're forced to read is a guy named Frederick Nietzsche. 0:07:58.390 --> 0:08:01.030 And he wrote a long time ago that with the 0:08:01.110 --> 0:08:05.830 absence of God, growing in Western culture, that we would 0:08:05.870 --> 0:08:09.400 replace God. He didn't. Guess what? Out of the three, 0:08:09.420 --> 0:08:12.420 Nietzsche said the day would come when we would replace God, 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.740 not with sex or power, but with money. Let me 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:20.440 read a quote. What induces one man to use false weights, 0:08:20.980 --> 0:08:23.290 another to set his house on fire after having insured 0:08:23.310 --> 0:08:26.030 it for more than its value, while three-fourths of our 0:08:26.090 --> 0:08:30.010 upper class indulge in legalized fraud? What gives rise to 0:08:30.030 --> 0:08:33.449 all of this? It is not real want for their 0:08:33.490 --> 0:08:36.930 existence is by no mean precarious, but they are urged 0:08:37.050 --> 0:08:39.510 on day and night by a terrible impatience at seeing 0:08:39.550 --> 0:08:42.650 their wealth pile up so slowly and by an equally 0:08:42.710 --> 0:08:46.170 terrible longing and love for these heaps of gold. What 0:08:46.210 --> 0:08:48.630 was once done for the love of God is now 0:08:48.700 --> 0:08:50.959 done for the love of money, for the love of 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.500 that which at present affords us the highest feeling of 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:57.400 power and a good conscience. And so there have been 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:01.900 innumerable writers in our culture today who continue to point 0:09:02.020 --> 0:09:06.179 out that the culture of greed has been eating away 0:09:06.300 --> 0:09:10.030 at our souls and our country, so that now we're 0:09:10.070 --> 0:09:12.730 on the verge of economic collapse. You know, that's been 0:09:12.750 --> 0:09:16.089 a message for like 30 years now, that what would 0:09:16.170 --> 0:09:19.800 ruin us would actually not be sex or power, but 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:25.849 ultimately would be greed. And so now... We're accused of 0:09:25.910 --> 0:09:31.250 being thieves and gluttonous. Target and Walmart lose half a 0:09:31.290 --> 0:09:35.530 billion dollars every year to theft. Stay with me here 0:09:35.550 --> 0:09:37.240 for a moment because I think you'll have your eyes 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.340 open the way I did this week in some of 0:09:39.380 --> 0:09:44.120 my research. Retailers in America lose $ 100 billion a year 0:09:44.820 --> 0:09:48.500 due to theft. And this is often referred to as 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:53.120 blue collar crime. But that's not where the big crime is. 0:09:54.300 --> 0:09:57.610 The big crime in this country is white-collar criminal activity. 0:09:58.990 --> 0:10:02.910 People who already have what blue-collar people think they want 0:10:02.970 --> 0:10:08.970 will make them happy. Still more than blue-collar theft. There's 0:10:08.990 --> 0:10:13.280 still even more. As a matter of fact, according to Forbes, 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:21.370 white-collar theft happens When it happens, it's committed by, 7% 0:10:21.370 --> 0:10:23.870 of it's committed by women. Now I say that to 0:10:23.910 --> 0:10:26.490 show you how pure and righteous women really are. Because 0:10:26.510 --> 0:10:32.330 that's such a small percentage. They're the smallest. Women usually 0:10:32.370 --> 0:10:35.770 don't do this. And there's a reason for that. When 0:10:35.790 --> 0:10:40.250 it comes to white collar theft, big theft, three-fourths are 0:10:40.350 --> 0:10:46.650 white males. 62% own their own homes and have a 0:10:46.690 --> 0:10:51.640 college degree. 94% are unique to their families. In other words, 0:10:51.660 --> 0:10:54.760 there's no criminal activities in their family. They've chosen. So 0:10:54.780 --> 0:10:56.890 you can't say, well, it's hereditary. They were taught that. No, 0:10:57.270 --> 0:11:00.550 they did it in and of their own volition. One 0:11:00.610 --> 0:11:04.290 third of white collar crime is from CEOs and executives 0:11:04.309 --> 0:11:08.000 who have the highest salaries. So they have the big 0:11:08.030 --> 0:11:10.179 house and the big neighborhood and the big, and they still, 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.920 it's not enough. One half of all corporate fraud is 0:11:14.980 --> 0:11:18.430 from executive level positions. The guys are in charge of 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.559 making the biggest bucks. Now, here's the question I have 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.679 for you. What do you think you would do if 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.960 you were your CEO of a major corporation? You got money. 0:11:27.020 --> 0:11:29.819 You kids go to private school. You're in the best communities. 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.160 You drive the best cars. Most of us think, oh, 0:11:33.220 --> 0:11:35.800 if I got there, I would make, I've arrived and 0:11:35.860 --> 0:11:40.850 I would be happy and content. No, you wouldn't. Chances 0:11:40.900 --> 0:11:43.689 are high that you would not say that. You would 0:11:43.710 --> 0:11:46.150 be thinking like this. How can I get even more? 0:11:48.610 --> 0:11:50.750 We in the West are addicted to money and we 0:11:50.850 --> 0:11:54.520 can't see it because greed is almost impossible to see 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:59.140 in your own life because there are powerful psychological, sociological 0:12:00.100 --> 0:12:03.000 dynamics at work. And one of those is everybody lives 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:05.160 in some kind of an economic bracket. Everybody in the room, 0:12:05.179 --> 0:12:07.420 you're in some kind of bracket. Here's the thing, though. 0:12:07.780 --> 0:12:10.450 You always want to graduate to the bracket above yours. 0:12:11.429 --> 0:12:13.730 You're never content, whatever the bracket is, to stay where 0:12:13.770 --> 0:12:16.809 you are. You want more. So once you can afford 0:12:16.850 --> 0:12:19.870 to live in these particular neighborhoods and drive this car 0:12:19.950 --> 0:12:22.949 and your kids go to this particular school and participate 0:12:22.970 --> 0:12:26.089 in this kind of social life, you find yourself surrounded 0:12:26.130 --> 0:12:28.150 by quite a number of people who have more money 0:12:28.210 --> 0:12:31.970 and stuff than you do. So you no longer compare 0:12:32.030 --> 0:12:34.729 yourself to the rest of the world because if you did, 0:12:34.750 --> 0:12:37.390 you'd realize how rich you are. You compare yourself to 0:12:37.429 --> 0:12:40.070 those in your bracket and you always want to get 0:12:40.130 --> 0:12:44.090 to the bracket above. And you can reason about And 0:12:44.150 --> 0:12:46.470 think like that, no matter how much or how little 0:12:46.530 --> 0:12:50.030 you live or have. And as a result, they tell 0:12:50.050 --> 0:12:53.069 us that most Americans define themselves as lower to middle class. 0:12:53.130 --> 0:12:55.810 Only 2% of the entire population consider themselves to be 0:12:55.890 --> 0:12:58.910 upper class. But the rest of the world is not fooled. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.540 When somebody visits here from another part of the world, 0:13:03.100 --> 0:13:06.760 they are staggered to see the level of materialistic comfort 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.040 you and I, the majority of Americans, have come to 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:13.000 view as a necessity. Gotta have it. Can't live without it. 0:13:14.110 --> 0:13:19.400 So the bottom line, the social analyzers of our day 0:13:20.300 --> 0:13:26.200 tell us that Americans are just downright greedy. That's our idol. 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.340 And Jesus talked much more about money than he did 0:13:30.380 --> 0:13:32.950 about sex. You say, well, I'd never know that. You 0:13:32.990 --> 0:13:35.130 talk about the other more than you talk about money. Well, 0:13:35.150 --> 0:13:38.610 that's because I'm scared of you. Everyone should begin with 0:13:38.670 --> 0:13:42.210 a hypothesis. Everyone in America should begin with this hypothesis today. 0:13:43.210 --> 0:13:47.260 And that is this, greed could be a problem for me. Now, 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:49.700 I'm going to jump right to the end as if 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:51.440 we were ending this message, and I want to tell 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.580 you the conclusion at which I've arrived in my ministry years, 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:59.410 and that's this. Greed surrenders to generosity at the point 0:13:59.450 --> 0:14:05.479 of true conversion. Greed surrenders to generosity at the point 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.120 of true conversion. Now, go back to Luke 19. Let's 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:10.660 let the Bible do the talking here. We're introduced to 0:14:10.700 --> 0:14:12.920 a man by the name of Zacchaeus. And let's say 0:14:12.940 --> 0:14:17.949 it together. Zacchaeus was a wee little man. And he's 0:14:17.990 --> 0:14:20.320 a tax collector. He's actually, according to the text, a 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:25.080 managing director of the IRS. In Luke 19.1, Jesus entered Jericho, 0:14:25.100 --> 0:14:28.080 was passing through, and a man by the name of Zacchaeus, 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:32.530 he was chief tax collector and was wealthy. He's climbed 0:14:32.550 --> 0:14:35.590 the ladder. I don't know if you heard about the guy, again, 0:14:35.650 --> 0:14:37.750 one of my favorite illustrations. He had a guilty conscience 0:14:37.790 --> 0:14:39.810 because he had cheated on his taxes the year before. 0:14:40.170 --> 0:14:43.290 So he writes a letter to the RRS and he says, quote, 0:14:43.570 --> 0:14:45.510 I have not been able to sleep because last year 0:14:45.550 --> 0:14:47.970 when I filled out my tax return, I misrepresented my 0:14:48.050 --> 0:14:51.170 income and closed this $ 500. If I still can't sleep, 0:14:51.230 --> 0:14:55.830 I'll send you the rest. So Zacchaeus is the chief 0:14:55.870 --> 0:14:58.960 tax collector. He's the guy, the RRS. He receives the letters. 0:14:59.950 --> 0:15:01.790 And we're told that he lives in the high rent 0:15:01.830 --> 0:15:04.190 district of Jericho. By the way, that's where the wealthy 0:15:04.250 --> 0:15:07.450 lived during Jesus' time. A couple other things you need 0:15:07.470 --> 0:15:10.090 to know. He's viewed as a traitor to his people 0:15:10.690 --> 0:15:15.860 because the Romans levied oppressive taxes to transfer the wealth 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.540 from the Jews to the Romans. That's how they got you. 0:15:18.580 --> 0:15:21.040 They just taxed you to death until everything you own, 0:15:21.460 --> 0:15:24.360 they own, and then they kept you uneducated and in 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:29.000 poverty to rule over you. It's the Marxist way. Now, 0:15:29.100 --> 0:15:31.080 what's interesting is this is the history of the Jewish 0:15:31.140 --> 0:15:34.160 people almost from day one. The Jews have had a 0:15:34.220 --> 0:15:39.260 way of accruing wealth only to have it stolen. In 1938, 0:15:39.260 --> 0:15:44.020 the Jews were forced to register their wealth so that 0:15:44.070 --> 0:15:48.810 the Nazis could systematically steal it. In fact, non-Jewish historians 0:15:48.850 --> 0:15:53.350 tell us that the Jews, unintentionally of course, funded one-third 0:15:53.410 --> 0:16:02.640 to one-half of the Holocaust. $ 25 billion stolen from the Jews. 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:08.390 That would equal $ 525 billion in today's currency. Now in 0:16:08.410 --> 0:16:10.590 the days of Jesus, the only wealthy people that lived 0:16:10.630 --> 0:16:15.570 in Palestine were the Romans and their collaborators. So Zacchaeus 0:16:15.710 --> 0:16:19.710 is a collaborator. He actually helps the Romans to steal 0:16:19.750 --> 0:16:22.979 the money from his own people. So the way it 0:16:23.020 --> 0:16:26.640 worked in those days is you would bid on tax collecting. 0:16:26.740 --> 0:16:28.560 As a Jewish person, you would go to the Romans 0:16:28.620 --> 0:16:31.370 and say, I think I can get $ 5, 000 a month 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.830 for Rome out of this, out of my people. And 0:16:33.870 --> 0:16:36.070 they would say, okay, you're the highest bidder. Anything you 0:16:36.090 --> 0:16:39.080 get above and beyond, you get to keep. So Zacchaeus 0:16:39.100 --> 0:16:42.560 could go and try to collect 10,000, 5,000 belongs to him. 0:16:42.820 --> 0:16:46.420 These guys get wealthy very quickly. In fact, I go back, 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:48.900 we read stories now. One of the things I did 0:16:48.940 --> 0:16:50.580 when I was in Israel the last time was I 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:53.859 got to attend the Holocaust Museum, which is a museum 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.920 like no other museum in the world when it comes 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:01.150 to genocide. Six levels, six stories. And as you go 0:17:01.170 --> 0:17:03.210 through there, you start to realize that there were many 0:17:03.310 --> 0:17:06.870 Jews who collaborated with the Germans, right? Did you know 0:17:06.910 --> 0:17:09.850 that during the Holocaust? To turn in their own people 0:17:09.890 --> 0:17:13.330 and report business owners for the sake of staying alive 0:17:13.390 --> 0:17:16.730 and getting wealthy, getting rich. Books, volumes are written about 0:17:16.780 --> 0:17:18.820 the lives of these people. Of course, then you have 0:17:18.859 --> 0:17:21.199 a guy like Oskar Schindler who puts his life on 0:17:21.220 --> 0:17:23.060 the line to save people who don't even belong to 0:17:23.100 --> 0:17:26.240 his own tribe. Zacchaeus was one of those people, which 0:17:26.300 --> 0:17:29.300 explains in verse 3, he wanted to see who Jesus was, 0:17:29.780 --> 0:17:31.600 but because he was short, he could not see over 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.220 the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.750 fig tree. Now, here's my question to Zacchaeus. Why is 0:17:38.790 --> 0:17:41.129 it necessary to climb a tree? Just go through the 0:17:41.170 --> 0:17:44.190 crowd to the front, kneel down, and you can see everything. Well, 0:17:44.210 --> 0:17:46.930 you know the reason why, right? They would have knocked 0:17:46.970 --> 0:17:49.250 him around like a metal ball in a pinball machine. 0:17:49.350 --> 0:17:51.510 If they saw him, oh, they're not going to let 0:17:51.530 --> 0:17:54.500 him take front row position. In order to contextualize, think 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:56.840 about this. Think about the Dodgers winning the World Series, 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:58.929 and there's a parade, and you go to see it, 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.619 and a Giants fan comes all the way through and 0:18:01.660 --> 0:18:03.459 tries to take front row position. What are they going 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.040 to do to him? He's going to get punished. And 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:10.280 so that's how they felt about Zacchaeus. So what does 0:18:10.300 --> 0:18:12.780 he do? The Bible tells us he climbs a tree. Now, 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.040 this is a pretty big deal in traditional cultures because 0:18:16.100 --> 0:18:19.320 in traditional cultures, it was not about freedom and rights. 0:18:19.380 --> 0:18:22.880 It was about honor and dignity. A grown man would 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.639 never climb a tree, ever. This story doesn't do it 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.720 for you and me because we don't get that. But Jesus' audience... Man, 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:33.160 they get it. They understand this story. You would never 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:35.540 do that. Folks, let me contextualize it again for you. 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.640 That's like Donald Trump coming to town and Hillary Clinton 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:44.109 climbing a tree to see him. Okay, that's pretty good contextualization, 0:18:44.150 --> 0:18:48.250 isn't it? That's just not gonna... So whatever's happening in Zacchaeus' life, 0:18:49.090 --> 0:18:54.369 whatever's happening in his life, there's desperation. Now, why is 0:18:54.390 --> 0:18:57.950 he desperate? Well, let's go again. I wouldn't want anybody 0:18:57.990 --> 0:19:01.189 to sing a song about me and say... Jeff Vines 0:19:01.230 --> 0:19:03.170 was a wee little man and a wee little man 0:19:03.210 --> 0:19:05.879 was he. I don't think any man would want a 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:10.100 song written about them with those words. You wonder what 0:19:10.140 --> 0:19:15.740 kind of life Zacchaeus had. He was short, small. Did 0:19:15.770 --> 0:19:18.230 people look down on him? Were they condescending to him? 0:19:18.750 --> 0:19:21.310 Was he ridiculed, belittled, bullied for most of his life? 0:19:21.670 --> 0:19:24.450 And did this drive him to prove that he mattered, 0:19:24.890 --> 0:19:25.830 that he was a big man? 0:19:25.850 --> 0:19:25.909 No. 0:19:26.540 --> 0:19:29.240 That he would show the townspeople that he has power? 0:19:29.300 --> 0:19:32.680 Because man, if you want to show the hometown crowd 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.439 that you have power, being a tax collector would definitely 0:19:35.510 --> 0:19:38.109 do it. Because when you go to their door, you 0:19:38.150 --> 0:19:40.550 can say, you owe me what I say you owe me. 0:19:40.590 --> 0:19:43.469 And if you don't deliver, the Roman guards will be 0:19:43.530 --> 0:19:48.470 here within the hour and they'll punish you. I have 0:19:48.530 --> 0:19:50.750 control over you. See how big I am? I control 0:19:50.790 --> 0:19:57.380 whether you live or die. The terrible hatred and jealousy 0:19:57.410 --> 0:20:00.480 and envy that's in all of us is probably only 0:20:00.940 --> 0:20:02.869 matched by the greed that is in all of us. 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.479 Something happened to Zacchaeus and he felt like he was 0:20:07.540 --> 0:20:13.660 getting the ultimate retribution The problem is money had become 0:20:13.700 --> 0:20:16.990 his idol and it gives him that sense of power 0:20:17.430 --> 0:20:20.790 and his significance and he worships it because of what 0:20:20.830 --> 0:20:22.510 it can do for him. But if you take away 0:20:22.550 --> 0:20:25.210 that position and you take away that money and power, 0:20:25.290 --> 0:20:28.070 he knows all he is is a wee little man 0:20:29.190 --> 0:20:32.360 who's a scared little boy on the inside that is 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.479 afraid that if he doesn't have his money, he won't matter, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.679 that there's no power, there's no significance, there's no reason 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:42.250 for living. So I'm suggesting to you that Jesus tells 0:20:42.310 --> 0:20:45.050 this story because of the context, because it's just not 0:20:45.090 --> 0:20:47.790 working for Zacchaeus. Even though he has all the money 0:20:47.810 --> 0:20:50.810 and the power, it's not working. It never does. The 0:20:50.850 --> 0:20:53.530 death cloud still hangs over him. He knows that he's 0:20:53.570 --> 0:20:54.629 not going to be able to take it with him. 0:20:54.670 --> 0:20:57.470 And he's strongly Jewish. So he would have a passion 0:20:57.510 --> 0:21:00.570 for the rabbis and for their teaching and their explanation 0:21:00.730 --> 0:21:03.310 of what happens after we die. He probably has no 0:21:03.390 --> 0:21:06.710 friends because he's betrayed everyone. They hate him. His own 0:21:06.790 --> 0:21:10.040 family would have rejected him. His own family would have said, 0:21:10.060 --> 0:21:12.320 you're a traitor to us. You're not welcome in this 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.440 home anymore. If you ever watch The Chosen, you'll notice 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.080 that Matthew's relationship with his father is very estranged because 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:22.040 he's a tax collector. He's betrayed his father and the 0:21:22.100 --> 0:21:25.980 people of his nation. And so we're told, think about this, 0:21:26.900 --> 0:21:30.200 He hears about this rabbi named Jesus, and the word 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:32.620 on the street about Jesus is he's a pretty big deal. 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:37.149 He might be the most important rabbi ever. And this rabbi, 0:21:37.990 --> 0:21:40.250 word on the street again is that he loves everybody, 0:21:40.330 --> 0:21:44.350 prostitutes and tax collectors, that he's actually kind to strangers, 0:21:44.710 --> 0:21:47.530 that he loves the unlovable, and that he actually eats 0:21:47.570 --> 0:21:53.010 and has meals with sinners. So the drama, Jesus comes along, 0:21:53.070 --> 0:21:55.170 he's coming to town and there's a crowd of mainly 0:21:55.430 --> 0:21:59.659 respectable religious people, all of whom will feel superior to 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:04.500 prostitutes and tax collectors. But instead of addressing them, giving 0:22:04.540 --> 0:22:08.830 them his attention, this rabbi singles out the most notorious 0:22:08.910 --> 0:22:12.310 center in the crowd. Don't you love Jesus? Oh, this 0:22:12.390 --> 0:22:15.390 is cool. He doesn't talk to the other rabbis, doesn't 0:22:15.410 --> 0:22:18.909 talk to the professional religious people, zooms in right on 0:22:18.930 --> 0:22:22.290 this tax collector, outcast that's sitting up in a tree 0:22:22.330 --> 0:22:25.040 and he says, we all know it. Zacchaeus, you come 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:27.780 down for I'm coming to your house today, right? We 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:33.810 sang that song. What would that have done to Zacchaeus? Suddenly, 0:22:33.830 --> 0:22:39.210 I think the reason Jesus tells this story is because Zacchaeus, 0:22:40.290 --> 0:22:42.429 and this is not a parable, by the way, this 0:22:42.450 --> 0:22:46.010 is an actual historical happening, but the way, the reason 0:22:46.070 --> 0:22:48.280 I think the Holy Spirit inspires this to be in 0:22:48.340 --> 0:22:53.500 our text is to remind us of how Jesus loves 0:22:53.580 --> 0:22:57.360 people who are far from God much more than we do. 0:22:59.070 --> 0:23:02.940 And how Jesus was willing to choose the least virtuous 0:23:03.050 --> 0:23:06.810 person to enter into a relationship and to come to 0:23:06.869 --> 0:23:11.919 his house in order to teach Zacchaeus that there's an 0:23:11.980 --> 0:23:16.340 acceptance and a belonging that comes by grace, not through money, power, 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:21.270 or positions. Whatever happens in between the lines, it works. 0:23:21.710 --> 0:23:24.270 Because verse 8 says, Zacchaeus stood up and said to 0:23:24.310 --> 0:23:27.270 the Lord, Look, Lord, here and now I give half 0:23:27.290 --> 0:23:29.500 of my possessions to the poor, and if I've cheated 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:32.100 anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times 0:23:32.140 --> 0:23:34.580 the amount. Every time I read that, I think, why 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:37.179 would he do that? I mean, seriously, why would he 0:23:37.220 --> 0:23:39.679 do that? We're not given the details, but what we 0:23:39.720 --> 0:23:43.389 do know is to give 50% to the poor is 0:23:43.470 --> 0:23:48.340 far beyond the 10% required by the Mosaic Law. He's 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:51.580