OK Boomer
The Outsiders - Zaccheus and the Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 27:27
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Boomerang Meme
Boomerang Meme
OK Boomer
Chloe Swarbrick
My kids
The “N” word of ageism
Only appropriate response? OK Boomer.
Avocado on toast
Avocado on toast
Lines that divide.
Walls in between us
Walls in between us
Not just generational
Political
Geographical
Sporting
Familial
All of these divisions build walls in between us, and separate us from the way that God intends for us to live our fullest potential as members of the human community
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
This is what it means to be fully human. To be joined together in God’s family, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The barriers that divide us are the enemy of this hope.
How then can we come together?
Jericho
Jericho
What do we know about Jericho?
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.
Answers to Prayer
Answers to Prayer
Characters in the story
Jesus - doing Jesus things.
Zacchaeus?
LEft out
Isolated
Aware of his own brokenness
Ready to make amends
But also a real jerk!
The Grumbling Crowd?
They’re a bit on the self-righteous side
Don’t understand the Kingdom
Also living under the weight of oppression, with that oppression symbolised by one of their own - Zacchaeus.
There’s a wall in between.
A wall that Jesus breaks down in a succession of miracles.
The Four Miracles
The Four Miracles
That Zacchaeus was there
That he made a fool of himself
That he repented and made restitution
That the people were freed from oppression
Cheap Grace
Cheap Grace
Tempting for us to think that all we have to do is say “sorry” and move on.
How would that have worked for the people of Jericho?
How would that have worked for Zacchaeus?
There is no such thing as cheap grace.
Jesus spent his time on earth leading others towards grace, knowing the price that he must pay on our behalf.
Jesus calls us to follow him in pursuing costly grace.
It’s waht we call following Jesus
It’s what we call discipleship.
It’s what we call living in the light.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.
10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.
11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
To prepare for change, we need to be prepared to change.
To prepare for change, we need to be prepared to change.
Miraculous change in our own lives - doesn’t come like a bolt from the blue, comes from participating in what God is doing in our lives.
Why DOES Jesus dine with sinners?
Why DOES Jesus dine with sinners?
So many of Jesus’ miracles end up with outcasts being restored to their community.
So many of Jesus miracles put into practice that Kingdom hope of a restored humanity, with all walls broken down.
What about us?
Often I try to leave a sermon with some practical ways that we can apply the message to our own lives.
But Jesus turn our lives upside down. He doesn’t leave us with safe answers, but calls us into costly questions. So I want to leave you with two questions, two questions that will take miracles to answer. Two questions that can lead us into a restored humaniity, the household of Christ. Two questions that can destroy the wall that divides, and make us one. Two questions that can become answers to prayer - prayers of our own, and prayers of others who are, at the end of the day, just like us.
Like the people of Jericho, who do we need to forgive?
Like Zacchaeus, how do we need to pay the price of grace?