A Higher Point of View
Notes
Transcript
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through.
2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.
3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.
4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
God is not surprised by the mess we have made of our life. We are imperfect and broken, but God offers reconciliation and transformation for those who chose to follow him. He is actively seeking us out and calling out for us. But God is also not going to force us to return. When Jesus spoke with the rich young ruler, he did not force him to sell all of His things and follow after Him. Jesus, loving the young man, gave him a choice and ultimately he chose to walk away because he could not part with his wealth.
Today, in many churches, the tension of transformation and change has disappeared. The Gospel has been repackaged as something smoother, safer, easier to accept. Messages have been curated towards personal affirmation rather than personal transformation. Truth hasn’t disappeared, but it has been rebranded.
Instead of being convicted by the word, people are pampered by it. We are not challenged to change. We are told that we are already enough. This is the Gospel of Affirmation: a version of Christianity that uses biblical language to promote personal confidence of spiritual surrender. This shift is quietly redefining the faith of millions.
Grace is not about pretending everything is fine. It is about saving people who aren’t fine. If your version of the Gospel never offends your flesh, it probably isn’t the gospel. Yes, the gospel can restore our dignity. But not by inflating pride—it restores our dignity through redemption. By taking what is a broken, sinful life and making it new again.
There is a centuries old Japanese art called Kintsugi where a broken piece of pottery is repaired and mended by using urushi lacquer mixed with powdered gold. The philosophy behind this practice is that the broken and scared pieces of the pottery are a part of the history of an object. In their book, Suffer Strong, Katherine and Jay Wolf describe Kintsugi this way:
“The story of kintsugi—this style of pottery—may be the most perfect embodiment of all our trauma-shattered lives... Instead of throwing away the broken beloved pottery, we’ll fix it in a way that doesn’t pretend it hasn’t been broken but honors the breaking—and more so, the surviving—by highlighting those repaired seams with gold lacquer. Now the object is functional once again and dignified, not discarded. It’s stronger and even more valuable because of its reinforced, golden scars.”
This is an incredible practice and shows how something that is broken can still be mended and made whole. This practice closely mirrors what the modern church is presenting to its members. To embrace their brokenness and to wear it as a badge of honor that should be shown and expressed. The problem with this is that God isn’t simply interested in mending your brokenness; He is interested in making you new.
The Gospel doesn’t say, “You are already perfect, lets put you together and through some glitter on you so that you are presentable.” It tells us, “You aren’t perfect but you are being perfected by the Holy Spirit—not by yourself.”
The perfection process that is described in scripture is that of refinement. Instead to picking up the pieces and mending them God uses struggles and trials to remove any impurities that are present.
“You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.”—Psalm 66:10 NLT
“I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”—Zechariah 13:9 NLT
Ancient gold and silver refining used a method called cupellation. The gold or silver would be heated up to a temperature of over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. This would melt down the material and allow for the contaminants to be removed. The process was capable of creating a 99.98% pure gold deposit.
The refining process of God seeks to address our sins, our failures, and our short comings so that we can overcome and move past those things that are holding us back and keeping us from pursuing Him.
God desires to transform your life. To refine you and to make you new. He has no desire to leave you where you are.
Transformation in community/connection.
