Modern Worship

37:58 Well, today we are concluding our series of sermons connected to our kindness campaign, which is something that we are accustomed to doing here. every other October in alignment with the national election cycles. In this kindness campaign, it's a chance for us to witness our faith and to address the polarization and divide that we all feel this time of year. In this year's kindness campaign theme, it's love one another. In that theme, it comes from Jesus's words to his disciples at the Last Supper, according to the Gospel of John. And to give you context for what these words are and where they come from, I want you to hear them as Jesus says them to us and to his disciples in John 13. Jesus says, I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So when we love one another, what Jesus is telling us is that people will see us differently by our love. They'll grow to see us as disciples of Christ. But in order to love one another the way that Jesus first loves us, we need to change the way that we see the world to better align with how Jesus sees us. And so today, that's what we're going to focus on. We're going to focus in on how love changes how we see the world. We're going to focus in on our eyesight. And as we do, I just want to share with you, I'm so excited to be preaching today because this is my favorite weekend of the year. Not just because of the fall weather, although it is brilliant here in Kansas City. This is my favorite weekend of the year because of Trunk or Treat. This is Trunk or Treat weekend, which means this weekend we welcome more than 4,000 kids and families across all of our locations to gather for like just fun and fellowship at Trunk or Treat.

39:44 What I love about Trunk or Treat, we have some pictures if you've never seen it before, but we have all these kids that gather and they're all happy, dressed up in costume, moving from trunk to trunk all throughout our parking lots, just trick-or-treating, excited to be there because of everything that goes on. And I think what makes this special is not just the kids or the costumes, but it's how it is that we approach this weekend. At Trunk or Treat, you never really know who you're talking to because everybody is dressed up. But everybody, regardless of the costumes, operates with the same basic assumption. Everybody assumes that behind the costumes, behind the mask, beneath all of the outer appearance is something good. That there's some child of God, some great kid who's just excited to be here at church. And it just makes for a great, a special occasion, that basic assumption that everybody operates on. You see that same thing happen on Halloween. I love Halloween too, because for one night, it's like people in neighborhoods all across the city, but really all across the country, they become miraculously unafraid to to open their doors to strangers who come dressed up in costumes, oftentimes scary costumes, knocking on doors. And people open them because they know that somehow behind the costume, behind the mask, there is something good. It's like on Halloween or at Trunk or Treat, we can push past, see past outward appearances or outward experiences, assuming that there's something good there.

41:13 And I just find it to be beautiful. I think it's beautiful because we don't experience that all that often anymore. Instead of assuming that there's something good and somebody that looks different than us, we tend to run the other direction. We tend to avoid people that are different than us. We find that it's increasingly difficult to connect with people who see the world differently than we do. It's like it's messy or we don't want to be associated with people who are different than us because of what it might do to us, negatively harm us or impact us. We'd rather stay with people that we know. Have you ever experienced that before? this feeling of not wanting to connect or avoid, unfollow, mute people who are different than you instead of assuming that something good about them or that there's something good beneath all of those differences that are on the outward appearance? My guess is you have experienced that because you're human. Humans are social beings. The way that we structure the world, the way that we see the world is based on these different kinds of social groups, in groups and out groups, all of us are prone to this, which means all of us are prone to this bias, this bias called intergroup bias. Intergroup bias is a systematic tendency to evaluate one's own group, the in group and its members more favorably than an outside group or the out group and its members. What this is saying is that we all have this intergroup bias. We have this tendency to find our identity in these different kinds of social groups. And then those social groups, they give us a positive concept of who we are. They build our self-esteem. And so we tend to favor our in-group, the groups that we're connected to or affiliated to. And then what that does to us is it begins to shade how it is that we view people who are in other groups, outward groups.

42:57 And so these groups that we're a part of, they build us up, but they do more than just that. They begin to change how it is that we see people who are different. And because of our association with our own group, we begin to devalue people who are part of other groups. We start to think less of people in other groups. We begin to think that they're less capable or less competent, less friendly, less trustworthy until eventually we begin to see that there's nothing good in them because of their affiliation with that group instead of being a part of our group. There's nothing good about those people over there. They're nothing like us. And so we avoid them at all costs. Have you ever experienced that before? Where you won't even associate with somebody if they're a part of a different group? I've been thinking about this own bias in my life and trying to make sense of it and try to feel for it. And I came across this series of commercials from ESPN that had to do with rivalry week for college football. And I think it gives us a picture for our human tendency to have a bias against people from another group, a different group than our group. See if you can relate with this. Let's take a look.

44:04 Oh, have you been on a lot of blind dates? Um, well, this would make one. Oh, me too. What do you do? I'm a vet. I love animals. Really? Yeah. Where are you from? Michigan. Born and raised. Go blue! HAHAHA lenght Go Buckeyes! Now I'm not sure if this relates with you particularly or specifically, but you can see how this works, right? Like you can definitely relate with this idea and maybe what we should have done instead of focused on a commercial about Michigan and Ohio State, we could have had a commercial that described the relationship between Jayhawks and Tigers or Wildcats. Or if we wanted to get political, we could have done a commercial with Republicans and Democrats or elephants and donkeys or Israelis and Palestinians or you can think of anything, right?

45:05 People who are pro this or anti that. It's like we all have these groups that give us this positive self-concept about who we are. And then we begin to think less of people who are in different groups, so much so that we'll avoid them because we can't see anything good in them. And I think this is something that we're experiencing today, perhaps more than ever. this idea of this inner group bias. And what we need to realize is that if we're going to love one another the way that Jesus loves us, we need to change the way it is that we see. It can't continue this way. We can't live with this kind of polarization or divide where we steer clear of people who are different than us, but we need to look at each other, see each other, push past the outward appearance, push past their affiliation in a different group so that we can find something good. And that's what today's passage of scripture is all about.

45:58 It's about how it is that we see others. And it happens in the 19th chapter of Luke. It's the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus only is found in the gospel of Luke. This is the only place that we hear this story. And it happens in the 19th chapter. And Jesus is in the very late stages of his public mission and ministry. He's walking through the city of Jericho. And as he's walking through that city of Jericho, he's doing so the last stop before his last week of life in Jerusalem. And so this is a really important passage of scripture, his last moment before the final week. And to give you a sense for where this was all taking place, I thought it'd be good to look at it on a map. And so here you see Israel, and of course, here's the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilee, and then you have the Dead Sea, the Jordan River connecting the two. Jesus spent most of his public ministry up here in the Galilee region. And as we're preparing for today's scripture, Luke 19, Jesus, he moves his way down through the mountains, about 75 or 80 miles journey, which was, you know, about a week, a little bit more than a week, until he gets to Jericho right here. And Jericho was the lowest point in the region, about 300 feet below sea level. And he was there just for a quick little stop of rest before he goes up to Jerusalem, which is about a 3,000 foot elevation gain difference.

47:20 And this is where that story was taking place. When you go visit Jericho, you'll remember it has a story beyond this passage of scripture. Jericho was like that great walled city that Joshua sees with the children of Israel. It says those walls of Jericho came crumbling down and the Israelites, they moved into the promised land. Jericho was that city. It was a land of milk and honey. And when people go visit Jericho today, you have a chance to go see the walled ruins. You could just see the walls that came tumbling down, but people go there now, not for that. They go there for its richness, its lush landscape. It's like a tropical oasis, you know, near the Dead Sea in Israel. And you can get the best dates there, fresh dates and the best fresh fruit, like such great fruit and vegetables. And there's all these different kinds of resorts where you can just go and relax. And I think about Jesus on his last day before going up to his last week in Jerusalem. Maybe he was going there just to relax a little bit, to enjoy some of those dates or the fresh fruit, except that that's not what he sees this stop as being.

48:23 This isn't a rest and relax stop. The moment that Jesus makes it to Jericho, the first thing he does, he encounters a blind man who is begging for mercy and Jesus gives him recovery of sight. He makes it possible for him to see in this miracle. It captures everybody's imagination and the crowds begin to follow Jesus. And this man who now has recovery of sight through Jericho. And as the crowds press in around him and Jesus continues walking. This is what we read in Luke 19. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through a town. A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but being a short man, he couldn't see because of the crowd. So we meet Zacchaeus, and knowing that Jesus was coming, Zacchaeus is described as a ruler of the tax collectors. He was both rich and he was short, and he now shows up on the scene. He hears that Jesus is walking through town and he wants to go see him. But what we find really quickly is that he struggles to see. Just like the blind man that Jesus healed right before this story, now we have Zacchaeus, this rich man, a tax collector, who can't see Jesus. He's not blind, he's short. But what we should realize is that we should empathize with Zacchaeus, who longs to see Jesus the same way that we empathize with the blind man, but we don't empathize with Zacchaeus because he's also described as being rich and he's described as being the ruler of the tax collectors. And so we don't have the same empathy or sympathy for him. We don't see him in the same kind of way.

49:59 And there's good reason for that because tax collectors in Jesus's day and age, they weren't considered to be a value by most people. Nobody considered tax collectors to be a part of their in-group. Nobody saw them as being a part of the group. They were always on the outside. They were outcasts and everybody saw them that way. In Jesus's day, Romans, the authorities, they would give away tax collecting authority to entrepreneurs. And these entrepreneurs, if they wanted to gain tax collecting authority, they would have to advance money to the Roman authority so that they could earn the ability to have tax collecting authority over a certain region in the Roman Empire. And so Zacchaeus was one of these entrepreneurs. He had to front money so that he could have tax collecting authority over this region in Jericho. And once he advanced the money, then he could collect taxes as he saw fit. And if he wanted to make a profit, he would collect more taxes than what was owed, knowing that everything above what was owed would go directly into his wealth into his pockets. And this happened not at the expense of Rome. This happened at the expense of the people that he knew that he lived with in and around Jericho. And so he would take advantage of the people that were near him in order to become rich based on the tax collecting authority that he had. And so most of the Jews and Pharisees, they didn't like Zacchaeus. They didn't like tax collectors because they were seen as being greedy or they were seen as being dishonest or shifty.

51:27 They were seen as being people who are complicit with the Roman empire and their oppressing authority. But the Romans didn't like tax collectors either. The Romans didn't like tax collectors because they weren't Romans. They were entrepreneurs, mostly Jewish. And so they solved some problems that they caused way more than they solved. And so Romans didn't consider tax collectors to be a part of their fold, which means tax collectors were not included with the Jews or the Pharisees. They were not valued by the Romans. They were just kind of a group unto themselves. Somebody that nobody values. And the gospel writer Luke describes Zacchaeus in a way that is only described in this one particular instance. Zacchaeus is described by Luke as being the chief tax collector. This is the only mention of a chief tax collector in all of scripture, which means Jesus at his last stop before his final week encounters the chief outcast. the person in charge of all of the other outcasts.

52:26 This is who Jesus meets. And Jesus wants us to see him the way that he sees them. But everybody else just sees Zacchaeus as a tax collector, as worth nothing. What we need to realize about this story is that Jesus is pushing us to understand how it is that we see the world in the hopes that we might decide to change how we see things. And so as Jesus is walking through Jericho, there's a big crowd around him. Zacchaeus sees this big crowd walking toward him, but he can't see anything. So what does he do? This tax collector, he sets aside his dignity and he works tirelessly just to find a way to meet Jesus. And this is what we read next. Zacchaeus ran ahead and then he climbed up a sycamore tree so that he could see Jesus who was about to pass that way. Now this seems like such a small little bit of detail in this passage of scripture, but you need to know that in that day and age, it was considered to be undignified for a grown man to run in public. That was something that men didn't do. That was something that kids do. It would have been a humbling act. It would have been humiliating. It was undignified for a grown man to run. And here is Zacchaeus, this rich man running through town ahead of the crowd. But what's more is that he doesn't just run. Then he goes and he finds a tree to climb up in, which was also considered to be unacceptable, undignified, something that only kids would do, that men would never be caught doing in public. And so here's Zacchaeus doing both of these things. He's setting aside his reputation. He's setting aside his dignity. He's humbling himself. He's becoming like a kid simply so that he can catch a glimpse of Jesus face to face. Zacchaeus is humbling himself like a child so that he can see Jesus.

54:17 Can you imagine what the rest of the crowd was thinking? But there Zacchaeus is, a grown man, a tax collector, the chief tax collector, rich as he was, climbing up in a tree, waiting to see Jesus. And Jesus sees him and he sees something in him. And this is what we read next. When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and he said, Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today. So Zacchaeus came down at once. He was happy to welcome Jesus. And everybody who saw this grumbled, saying he has gone to be the guest of a sinner. Now, when everybody saw that Jesus wanted to go with Zacchaeus, this tax collector, they couldn't believe it. They didn't see what Jesus was seeing. All they saw was this tax collector putting on a show, faking an act or a performance, doing whatever he could to curry some favor of Jesus.

55:17 But they thought it was so fake, so disingenuous. They thought he was putting on a show because he was nothing more than a tax collector. He was shifty. He was worth nothing. There was nothing good in him. But Jesus saw something altogether different. He saw something redemptive. He saw this grown man humbling himself, becoming like a child simply so that he might experience the grace of Jesus Christ. He saw something more. And this isn't the first time that Jesus sees something more in a Pharisee. When you're thinking about this story of Zacchaeus, you should be thinking about what happens one chapter before this in Luke 18. Jesus there was setting aside his disciples and he was telling them a parable, a story about a tax collector and a Pharisee. and he describes this story.

56:55 Zacchaeus is this tax collector. Like not literally, but look, he is this tax collector who has the willingness to humble himself, to become like a child simply so that he might see Jesus. Zacchaeus is humbling himself like a child so that Jesus might exalt him, so that Jesus might offer him his life, his love, his grace, his mercy, his repentance, so that he might be healed, so that he might experience salvation. And that's exactly what Jesus does when he sees this grown man humbled to become like a child in front of him. Jesus exalts him. He offers him salvation and it changes everything in Zacchaeus' life. This is what we read next. Zacchaeus stopped and he said to the Lord, look, I give half of my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.

57:49 And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this household because he too, meaning Zacchaeus too, is a child of Abraham. this rich man this this tax collector he he humbles himself and he meets Jesus face to faith face and everything changes for the better not just in Zacchaeus's life I mean he has this change of heart which means for a change of mind which leads to a change of action but but that change of action his generosity his willingness to repay everybody by giving away half of what he has and and repaying those who he cheated four times the amount that they owed he changes everything for everybody socially and economically and physically. Everybody upon seeing this encounter between Jesus and this tax club, they should have been rejoicing because their life was made better because of this, because of this transformation, because of this act of faithfulness.

58:45 But they didn't see it that way. They continued to grumble in the dark because all they could see was this Wolverine, nothing good in it, or this Buckeye or this Republican or this Democrat or this pro this or this pro or anti that, all they could see was a tax collector and they weren't worth anything. So I wonder like, where are you in this story?

59:19 Like, are you like the crowd, you know, grumbling, unwilling, unable to see what Jesus sees? Are you more like Jesus, willing to see people beyond what they appear to be? Do you see them as good? I wonder who your Zacchaeus is. Do you have a Zacchaeus in your life that you're unwilling to see past? His outward appearance or her outward appearance to see anything good or redemptive? Like who's in your out group? And you have room in your heart, in your mind, to see them the way that God sees them. You know, this is the challenge of this story. In this story, what we're intended to see is like the power and presence of Christ and how all things are possible with God. You know, a person that nobody thought was good isn't outside of God's reach, which means God sees things differently than we see things.

1:00:19 God sees us differently than we see ourselves. And that's good news because what God sees in Zacchaeus isn't something bad. He sees a child of God the same way that he sees that blind man as a child of God, the same way that he sees all of the people that he shows mercy to, all of the outcasts and the sinners and the tax collectors and the ne'er-dwells, the people of the land. He sees everybody as a child of God and seeks to love them without condition. and he longs for us to have the courage to be able to see people the same way, to love one another the same way, but we cannot do that unless we change the way that we see the people around us. And I think this is really important as we get to the end of October and move into the first week of November because now more than ever, it would feel like everybody is pushing us to have everybody on the outside be cemented as worthless.

1:01:22 I don't know about you, but it seems like the closer and closer we get to election day, the more challenging and scary and divisive the messaging has become. It's like everybody is trying to cement everybody who is on the outside of their group as bad or as worth nothing, as a villain or as shifty or as greedy. and what Jesus is trying to tell us in this story where he encounters Zacchaeus the week before he's gonna sacrifice everything for us is that we cannot see each other that way. We cannot live this way. We cannot give in to this intergroup bias. We cannot dehumanize people on the out group. We need to find a way to see the world the way that Jesus sees us. we need to learn how to love one another the way that Jesus first loves us this is our call this is what those signs mean this is what our charge to keep is that we have Jesus gives us this commandment at the last supper before he's going to give himself up for us and die he says I give you this new commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you.

1:02:40 You also should love one another. And by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. We can only do this if we humble ourselves, if we become like kids and have the courage to see beyond the outward appearance in order to believe that behind the mask or the costume or the title or the out-group affiliation is something good, is a child of God.

1:03:16 One of the greatest impediments to the progress of the kingdom of heaven is this enslaving prejudice that we all carry, that we all feel, that says that we believe that we know everything about the other person and we know that they can never change. But that's just not true. R. Allen Culpepper writes this. In the wisdom of his years, a sophomore in high school writes off a person who has disappointed him and let him down. And a pastor will give up on a dead congregation and a coach assumes that a player cannot make the team in spite of her desire to play or an employer pigeonholes an employee on their first meeting. Over and over again, we hear the whisper of the crowd, but he's a rich tax collector. but Jesus says, I see so much more.

1:04:13 I believe that God is still at work bringing the kingdom of heaven here on earth just as it is in heaven. And he's doing so through us, through people who have the courage to seek to live like he did, to love the way that he first loves us, to see the world as he sees it. I think the kingdom of heaven is still being built here on earth. Through all people, Republicans and Democrats, Wolverines and Buckeyes, people who are anti this or pro that. and it happens when we have the courage to push past outward appearance, to see something more in each other, to see each other the way that God sees us first, to change so that we can see each other as children of God, worthy of redemption.

1:05:11 And when we see each other that way, when we love each other that way, what we'll experience is the kingdom of heaven here on earth. And my prayer is that we would change to see the world that way. In Jesus' name, let's pray. Gracious God, we pause and we thank you for today, for making us into the people that we are, for drawing us together in this group that bears your name.

1:05:46 Help us to become your disciples. help us to live into the new commandment. Help us to love one another the way that you first love us and give us the courage to change the way that we see the world and live in it. guide us to that end, that we can be one with you, one with each other, and one in mission and ministry to the entire world. In Jesus' name, amen. it's been a joy to worship God with you today thank you so much for joining us we want to encourage you to be back next week invite your friends and now if you would receive this benediction if you just bow your heads and now oh God as we leave this place of worship our time of worship send us forth with your blessings and help us to be your presence in the world around us in Jesus name amen Well, once again, we want to thank you for joining us today.

1:06:48 And our hope is that you were inspired and challenged by today's message. And as you think about how God might be inviting you to take next steps in your life of faith, we would love for you to visit core.org slash anywhere. When you visit that site, you'll always be able to find ways to get involved here at Resurrection Online. You can sign up to receive a weekly newsletter. You can find out about upcoming events. You can connect with a pastor. You can connect with a group. You can fill out a prayer request or even make an offering. But visiting core.org slash anywhere, we lay out specific ways for you to engage and grow in your life of faith. And we would love to walk with you on that journey. So again, I wanna thank you for joining us in worship. And please know that we are so grateful for you. And we can't wait to see you again next week. Go in peace.