Day One Left Out

I shared with you recently regarding my failed attempts to secure concert tickets for the December Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert. If you are not acquainted with this young lady then you obviously do not have preadolescent girls running through your house. You also are possibly not blessed (I am using a very loose and possibly sarcastic definition of the word “blessed”) to hear “Nobody’s perfect” blasting from your daughter’s room at precisely 6:45am each school day morning (we make it a rule that all alarms must be turned off on Friday nights to hopefully allow for a quiet Saturday morning). Anyway, if you have missed this recent Disney phenomenon, Hannah Montana is a rock star who wears a wig and disguise on stage, but in real life she is just a normal girl who has a best friend named Lily and goes to regular high school just like everyone else. Even though she is a superstar on stage and in teen magazines, at her school she is just like everyone else going through the same dramas of the teen years.

In one recent episode she was complaining about always being the last one picked to be on sports teams. Her best friend Lily is chosen as captain so Hannah feels sure that her days of being picked last are finally over, she is wrong. When confronted with the prospect of being a good friend as opposed to being a winning captain, friend Lily finds that it is not as easy as thought. Hannah finds that even though she is friends with the captain, as well as being an international rock star and super rich, she still is left out of the group when it comes to sports.

Everyone is left out, or at least feels left out, at some time in their life. Zacchaeus is no different. Read his story in Luke 19:1-4. In what ways is Zacchaeus left out of the crowd?

Which of these reasons for being left out is beyond his control and which reasons are a result of his own choices?

What do you think is Zacchaeus’ greatest desire?

How do you respond to being left out, or the feeling of being excluded?

How does this impact the manner in which you interpret others and your own worth?

How do you allow Christ to get you through these moments?

Day Two Reaching for Acceptance

When our youngest child, Isaiah, was in pre-K we were very surprised at a class Christmas party to find that a female classmate had brought him, and only him, a Christmas gift. It was a toy fire truck which had probably cost his parents a fair amount of money. Andrea and I were not sure what to think of this gift especially as we were not even sure we knew the little girl who had given him the gift. Following the party, as the little girl left with her mother, I overheard the mother question as to why she had not received a gift. It was my assumption that the little girl had told the mother that she was supposed to bring such a gift in an effort to give Isaiah this toy while her mom thought everyone in the class would be giving and receiving such a gift. We felt extremely awkward in regard to this event and proceeded to ask the teacher about it. The teacher explained that this little girl had a crush on Isaiah and had chosen to attempt to get his attention through giving him this gift and that we should not worry about it.

Isaiah had no concerns, he came home and opened up the present and played with it until a better gift came along. Following Christmas break we insisted he make sure and thank the little girl again which he assured us he had done. We were unconvinced and remained uncomfortable; he was totally at ease however.

Gift giving to gain recognition is an ageless practice.

I once had a man frequently bring me gifts when I began working at a new church. They were nice gifts and I was never quite sure why he would give them to me. A fellow staff member loved to tease me about these gifts and would always happen into my office following the visits of this gentleman. It finally occurred to both of us (the other staffer and myself) that this man had a ministry from which he derived his living and that he had been greatly supported by the minister I had replaced. This former minister had not only been a close friend to him but also a strong supporter and that support was greatly needed. Those gifts were actually an attempt to get me to give the same support that he had received from the former minister.

Have you ever known someone who has attempted to “buy” your friendship or support?

Have you ever tried to buy someone’s friendship or support?

What was the outcome? Was it true friendship or support?

Look back at Zacchaeus, Luke 19:1-4, how do you think he attempted to get the friendship or support of others?

Why do you think he was so desperate to see Jesus? Was it an attempt to gain friendship or support?

Why is friendship and/or support so important?

Is your method of relating to people an attempt to “get” something, such as friendship or support, from them?

Day Three Real Response

During our mission trip this past summer, the trip organizers had brought in disaster relief shower trailers for our group to use each day. There were three showers for guys and three for the girls. The showers most usually had a line of shower needing people sitting in the chairs outside of the trailers. One evening as I sat there second in line I became captivated by all the activities going on around me. I was not really focused on just one thing but was keeping track of everything. I finally noticed that the young man sitting next to me was turned toward me and to my horror I realized that he had been speaking to me the entire time. Just as I noticed this and began to apologize the next shower opened up and he got up and left. I looked over at some teens across me who I could tell had figured out what was going on.

“Yes,” they laughingly said without me asking, “He has been talking to you for the whole time you have been sitting here.”

One of these teens was a sibling to the young man who had been talking to me and I quickly asked that they convey my heartfelt apology for being so rude. They laughed and commented that he talks all the time and probably did not even notice that I was not listening.

Nevertheless, I felt horrible.

When someone is speaking to us we politely listen and respond. Frequently, however, we are not listening, or are guilty of listening to everything else, and we fail to hear what is being said to us.

That often happens when Christ is speaking to us. We are listening to other things and do not, or cannot, or possibly will not, hear what He is saying to us. What things keep you from hearing Christ?

Why?

Continue to read about Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-6, why do you think he heard the voice of Christ?

Why do you think Christ spoke specifically to him?

Hearing the voice of Christ internally is often more difficult than even hearing the voice of another person, not because of its verbal absence but because we usually are prone to listen to many other voices. Listening to the voice of Christ is often a low priority to us. But, to Zacchaeus it became a high priority, he physically climbed up a tree to make it possible. He found a way and made it a reality. What can you do to better hear the voice of Christ?

Day Four Responding

My seventh grade son, Caleb, recently pulled out his books and project supplies and spread them out on the kitchen table at 11:00pm on evening. “I have to have this autobiography for class tomorrow,” he informed me, “could you go find me these pictures?” Without waiting for a response he quickly handed me the list and obviously thought that I would spring to action. He was wrong.

“Why are we just now doing this,” I began to ask, “at bedtime?”

“It is due tomorrow dad,” he disgustedly answered.

“Was it assigned at 10:00pm tonight,” I sarcastically continued, “did the teacher just now call, or text message, or email this last minute assignment to you?”

“Please dad,” he continued, thinking that I would give up that early, “just get me the pictures, I really need them.”

As I continued to probe I found out that his teacher was not actually making late night assignments but that she had actually had the audacity to make the assignment three days earlier. She had been so cruel as to give them an assignment four days prior to the due date with the thought that they might work on it before “D” day.

“I have been working on it all week,” Caleb explained, “See here are my note cards.” He handed me a stack of stick it notes with indiscernible scribbling on it. At this Andrea gave me a look telling me to give up and go get the pictures.

I went and got the pictures and then went to bed leaving him to finish the assignment.

The next morning Caleb’s friend Billy came to the house to go with us to school. I figured this would be an opportunity to teach Caleb a lesson.

“So, Billy,” I began, “when did you do your assignment?” Knowing that Billy was going to say that he had begun work on the autobiography on the day it was assigned I felt this would be a slam dunk at teaching responsible work ethics and homework principles.

“My folks woke me up at 5:00 this morning,” his response was devastating. Caleb flashed me his “told ya’” look and I proceeded to give up.

Caleb, and all my kids, frequently argue with me in regard to when they need to respond to certain given assignments. Usually they come out smelling like a rose but sometimes a delayed response ends up haunting them in the end.

We have been looking at Zacchaeus’ encounter with Christ. We saw how he had attempted to gain the acceptance of others and how he had strained to reach Christ, today we see his response when Christ reached out to him. Read Luke 19:1-6 and see how Zacchaeus responded when Christ called out to him.

How do you respond to Christ in a like manner of Zacchaeus?

What tree do you have to climb down from in order to be with Christ?

Day Five Regardless of Others

I have shared before of my youngest daughter’s, Lily, experience in playing football. Her younger brother, Isaiah, had decided to play and so Lily expressed an interest that it would be fun to learn and play this game. We had seen other girls involved in the optimist football league before so we felt certain that Lily would not be the only one. We were wrong. Not only was she the only girl on her team but she was the only girl in her age group and as far as we could tell she was the only girl playing in any age group. We became known as the parents of the “girl playing football.” This did not really bother us and we were in fact proud of the fact that she had decided to make a choice on her own such as this.

It did bother her a little though that there were some of her peers that gave her a hard time about her choice. We had to talk through the fact that there may be some that disagreed but that should not stop her from making a “right” choice. She ended the season and had a positive experience.

We often allow others negative opinions to keep us from making “right” choices. We find this to be true in the story of Zacchaeus as well. Read the rest of the story in Luke 19:1-10. What were the opinions of those in the crowd?

Why do you think they responded to Zacchaeus in this manner?

How much of their response was due to personal jealousy and how much was due to their personal experience and opinions’ regarding Zacchaeus?

What was the final impact on Zacchaeus and his family?

Why do you think those in the crowds either chose to approve or disapprove of this course of events?

How do you often react to the opinions of others and keep you from responding in the “right” way?

Do you think your opinions ever keep others from making “right” choices?

What was the transformation of Zacchaeus?

What can you gain from his transformation?