Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Good morning, Jeff.

Jeff:
Good morning, Chris.

Chris:
Good morning. Good morning.

Jeff:
You got to get one of those in every week. Good morning.

Chris:
Good morning to you. Yep. That was the request of a person, a friend of mine. There you go. So there it is.

Jeff:
Once a week. Great. Now people are going to start calling in requests.

Chris:
Oh, no. Oh, no, do you know living on a prayer? All right, so today we’re starting our segment right free bird, yeah That’s the big one. Yes. Do you remember cars the movie cars? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah He’s about to give the speech for rusties. Yep. Yep, and the lights go out and then all of a sudden it’s real quiet and he goes free bird It’s really funny. Okay. So, we’re starting a segment, Stump the Pastor. I’m reading, this is what Tammy D says, I’m reading in Numbers, the book of Numbers currently, and I just got to chapter 22 and the story of Balaam’s donkey. And I was wondering, can animals sense things we can’t spiritually? Wow. That’s what Tammy’s asking.

Jeff:
Well, first of all, good job, Tammy, for reading the Bible. Yes. And being in numbers. I mean, you pushed past a whole bunch of lists and all kinds of stuff.

Chris:
Yeah, for sure.

Jeff:
That’s fantastic. Yeah.

Chris:
But the answer is, we don’t know. We don’t know. Yep. All right. All right. So let’s go on. Let’s move on. That’s it. Wrap it up. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff:
For sure. So if you don’t know the story, the story here is, um, Balaam is a prophet in Israel, but he’s kind of on the take a little bit. And so the, who was it? The Moabites? Is that who was coming to fight them?

Chris:
I don’t know. I can’t remember. I just let you look it up. Hang on a minute.

Jeff:
Let me find it here.

Chris:
It’s been a while since I’ve actually taught on this. I bet you, I’m not even kidding when I say, I bet you it’s been 20 years.

Jeff:
So he covers a lot of ground here anyways. Yeah. So yeah, it’s the Moabites. So the king of the Moabites wanted to hire Balaam to curse Israel. And so he was a prophet of God, clearly had power and the power of God. And so this other king was like, dude, I want to pay you. I’m going to pay you a fortune. And so Balaam committed that he would curse the people, the king of Israel, as they’re getting ready to go to battle. And he’s riding his donkey and his donkey starts acting up and keeps stopping. And the reason was, the Bible says the donkey could see this angel in front of him. Balaam couldn’t see the angel, but the donkey could.

Chris:
Right. And that’s where the question probably comes from.

Jeff:
Right. Right. That’s right. And so Balaam keeps getting more and more angry and starts beating his donkey. Right. Right. Which I think we do a lot of times when we’re frustrated and angry, we beat the people around us. Right. Yeah. Maybe verbally, not physically, but you know what I mean? So he starts beating the donkey and finally the donkey turns around and what does the donkey say? Yeah.

Chris:
So as you’re looking for that, God gives Balaam’s donkey the ability to speak. And so the donkey replies back to Balaam.

Jeff:
Yeah. So then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. What have I done to you that deserves you beating me three times? That is Balaam. And Balaam doesn’t freak out as donkey is talking to him. Balaam now starts arguing with his donkey, which is one of the funniest, funniest phrases. He says, you made me look like a fool. Balaam shouted. If I’d had a sword with me, I would kill you. But I’m the same donkey you’ve ridden all your life, the donkey answered. Have I ever done anything like this before? No, Balaam admitted. Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing there. He argues with his donkey, which is so funny. So this is the only time in the Bible where we see that God gives a supernatural ability for an animal to talk. We know that Satan used a serpent in the garden, but this is the time the angel uses this donkey to speak to Balaam. So, the Bible says that the donkey could see this angel, but I don’t know what that means, and I don’t know if that means it was just this donkey. Because angels are around us and we don’t see them, and then suddenly they let us see them. So, are angels around donkeys too? And in this situation, he let the donkey see him before he let Balaam see him? It could have been that. So I don’t know that animals always can see angels, but only sometimes people can. Right. It might be that even donkeys can only sometimes see angels.

Chris:
So do you remember, I was trying to think of animals. Remember Daniel and the lion’s den, where it said God sent angels to shut the lion’s mouth. Yeah. Is there evidence there that it says that Daniel could see the angels?

Jeff:
I don’t know. It doesn’t mention, does it? He said he knew that it happened because he’s the one who said it.

Chris:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we don’t know if he just assumed it or… Right.

Jeff:
Yeah. But there’s many times in the Bible where people see angels, right? And that kind of thing. So in this situation, the question is, do animals have the ability to see the supernatural better than we can? Right. And I don’t know that we have any proof. Only that this donkey could see this angel before Balaam did, but they both eventually saw the angel.

Chris:
Right. So there’s no biblical reason why we would lean that way other than this story, but this is pretty unique. And there’s really probably, I would say, I mean, think about it. I mean, I’m just going off of, you know, what I’ve heard and read in my lifetime. I don’t think that there’s evidence that suggests that animals are in tune to the spiritual Now, there’s definitely evidence, you know, that animals can sense things that humans can’t. Sure. For a certain, right? Especially dogs, right? So we definitely know that, right? Dogs, wolves, all these different things. Animals, you know, sense things that humans can’t all the time. But in terms of the spiritual, I don’t think that there’s a lot of things I’ve read that have said that.

Jeff:
Yeah, I don’t either. I don’t know. So, great question. I think it’s interesting. To finish the story, if you don’t know the story, Balaam, the angel confronts him and says, hey, listen, the donkey did that three times where he would refuse to go forward and whatever, lay down, because I was blocking you and because you’re not going to go and curse Israel. And Balaam then confesses his sins, said, I was doing an evil thing. And instead of going out and cursing Israel, he goes out and blesses the King of Israel. They go on to win the war. So that’s what happens in that story. But what’s encouraging to me is that God can use a donkey to get his message across, which means he can even use the Bible, guys.

Chris:
Right. That’s right. That’s right.

Jeff:
You knew that joke was coming.

Chris:
Yes.

Jeff:
If he can use a donkey, he can use us. That’s the way we feel about it.

Chris:
So you can’t help. You absolutely cannot avoid. It’s impossible to avoid. We all know that the King James Version calls the donkey something else. Yes. Yes. Right. So as a youth pastor, I love teaching this story because it gave me permission to call the donkey something else. And then just say it publicly. Right. And it’s like, Hey, don’t yell at me. All right. I’m not, I’m not cussing. I’m just reading the Bible.

Jeff:
Well, that was the old English way of referring to a donkey, right?

Chris:
Right, right, right. Did you ever say that in public? Oh yeah, yeah. All the time.

Jeff:
Well, if you read it, it’s in the Bible. It’s not a bad word. So the word is ass, right? That’s the word. It means different things now than it did then, but that was the thing. So it was always funny when, you know, because it would say… I get you to say it. It would say Balaam’s ass spoke to him. Right. And all the kids would start laughing. The kids would start laughing. So yeah, that’s how it goes. Yeah. So, yeah. If God can use a donkey, he can use us.

Chris:
Samson killed people. The Philistines were the job owners. Yeah.

Jeff:
All that stuff.

Chris:
So there you go. Hey, by the way, if you want to write in a question, you can, the easiest way to do it probably is to email us. Yes. And email us at info at thebibleguys.com. And we would love to answer your question or consider it for a future podcast.

Jeff:
Okay. So now we are moving on to Matthew. Is that right? Nope. Luke.

Chris:
Luke chapter 19 verses 1 through 10.

Jeff:
What page are you on, dude?

Chris:
I’m on 1426.

Jeff:
Well, that’s why I couldn’t find it.

Chris:
Yes. And this is Jesus brings salvation to Zacchaeus’ home. Zacchaeus, you come down from going to your house today. I’m going to your house. Okay.

Jeff:
We know all the Sunday school songs. Okay, so Luke chapter 19, 1 through 10 says, Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead, climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus, called him by name. Zacchaeus, he said, quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today. Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy, but the people were displeased. No, he has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner. They grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor Lord. And if I’ve cheated people on their taxes, I’ll give them back four times as much. Jesus responded, salvation has come to this home today for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost.

Chris:
I’ve seen this before, but it jumped out to me especially. He calls him a true son of Abraham, right? And that is a great honor because he’s connecting Abraham to his Jewish heritage, right? And so people who hated tax collectors, which was everybody, they didn’t like them because they were Jewish people. who were, you know, abusing their own people. Right? Right. And so what he’s really saying is he’s saying he’s a true son of Abraham. Hey, he’s just as much of an honored Jewish man as anybody else here.

Jeff:
Right. That’s significant. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and he ties salvation into the same conversation. Right. Right. So, uh, the note in the life application study Bible says when Jesus said Zacchaeus was the son of Abraham and yet was lost, he must have shocked his hearers in at least two ways. First of all, they would not have liked to acknowledge that this unpopular tax collector was a fellow son of Abraham, and they would not have wished to admit that the sons of Abraham could be lost. But a person is not saved because of good heritage or condemned by a bad one. Faith is more important than genealogy. Jesus came to save all the loss, regardless of their background or previous way of life. Through faith, the loss can be forgiven and made new. We have to understand that all of us, apart from Christ, are lost. There’s the down and outers, and we all recognize the down and outers. A guy like Zacchaeus, oh man, he’s a bum. But there’s also the up and outers, right? The ones who have the good genealogy, the ones who have a good background. mom and dad were, you know, were committed Christians and they were altar boys and they did all the right things. And you still are lost until you are found by Christ, until you come to faith in Christ, right? Until your repentance comes. And so you can be down and out or up and out. And that’s kind of the shocking part of this story here is it’s both.

Chris:
Yeah. And, uh, and I love how, you know, we, we, we, we focus on the fact that just because G or just because that Kias couldn’t see over the crowd. Yeah. I love how they, uh, in all of our flannel graphs as kids in Sunday school, they made him like this super short, Danny DeVito, five feet tall, even in some cases way shorter than that. Right. People have them as like, you know, Danny DeVito, I think it’s like four or nine or something. Oh yeah. Crazy short, right? And, uh, and that’s sort of what they, what they have a mass, uh, most of the time, just cause he couldn’t see over the crowd. And usually it’s like a short, like, like kind of like a large kind of a guy, right? He’s not skinny.

Jeff:
And then he comes up in a sycamore tree.

Chris:
He had to be agile to climb up above the crowd. That’s pretty good right there. But let’s really dive into the story and let’s understand that he’s climbing because he wants to see Jesus pass this way. And Jesus says he’s walking. Try to imagine how many people are around Jesus on either side of the road. There’s so many that Zacchaeus couldn’t see over the crowd. Right. So you’re talking about so many people and yet Jesus probably, you know, sees this tax collector in a tree and he knows his heart, right? He knows that the reason why he’s in a tree is because he’s curious. He probably accepts the fact that he’s a dirty rotten sinner. Right. Right. He probably doesn’t, he feels unworthy.

Jeff:
Most sinners, most real sinners don’t have to be convinced of it. Right. We all know. We don’t want to admit it usually, but you have to be convinced of it. We’re all sinners. And I say it all the time when I’m on stage, you know, we have great big giant screens on either side of the stage and people don’t like to admit that they’re sinners. And a lot of people sit there really hard hearted about if we’re talking about being a sinner. We had a lady recently complain that we mentioned the fact that people are sinners that need a savior. Right. She complained.

Chris:
Yeah, that’s right.

Jeff:
Um, people don’t like it. Uh, but the only way I can be saved is if I recognize there’s something I need to be saved from, right? I need a savior. That’s what Jesus came. He came into the world to be the savior of the world.

Chris:
You have to be lost before you’re found.

Jeff:
That’s right. Yeah. You need a savior before you, you need to recognize you need a savior before you have a savior. Because if I, uh, there, there was a story of a guy here in Michigan who, whose boat capsize, you know, we have great lakes all around us and it’s 20% of all the world’s fresh water is in these five great lakes. And so they’re huge, they look like oceans, you know, you can’t see the other side, it’s just fresh water. And a guy’s fishing boat capsized, and another family was coming from the bottom part of Michigan, they’re going to the top up to Mackinac, and the wife heard a guy yelling. And so they, they pulled their yacht around and they turned back and they found this guy floating. He’d been out there for 24 hours, just treading water and floating miles and miles and miles from, from the thing. And I remember thinking at that time, so they said that she took one of those ring, uh, you know, things that hangs, a life preserver, a ring life preserver. It was on a rope. She threw it to him. Then the family pulled him in. I remember thinking if that guy didn’t think he needed to be saved, he would have, no, no, I’m fine. I’m just out for a swim for the last 24 hours. So he was hypothermic. The water in the great lakes is cold. He was on the verge of death. If he had rejected that, if he hadn’t realized he was drowning, he would have never taken the life preserver. So when we talk about sin, Sinners hate it when we talk about sin, right? Unless you pivot and learn to hate your sin more and begin to realize how bad you need a Savior, right? That’s the only reason we’re talking about it. It’s not to go shame on you. We’re all sinners. We all need a Savior, right? And so what would happen if there were two guys out there floating? And the one guy goes, I don’t need it. And the other guy goes, oh, I need it. He would feel compelled to go, dude, you’re going to die if you don’t take this. Right. That’s all. We’re all sinners. We’re all sinners in need of a savior. So that’s what happens here. But this guy, he was a notorious sinner. That’s one of the things I love about this passage is it calls him. So he was the chief of the tax collectors. Right. So they hate the tax collectors, but you know who, which tax collector they hate the most?

Chris:
Right, Zacchaeus.

Jeff:
And then it says, they were displeased. He has gone to be, Jesus has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner. This is the worst of sinners. Well, the worst of sinners needs the biggest saviors. Right. Right. That’s what they need. Yeah.

Chris:
Yeah, I remember when I was in high school and I was transferring high schools because we had moved from the west side of our city to the south side. And I did not want to transfer schools because it went from one school that was pretty decent to the other, which was not good. We had like metal detectors and things. I mean, it was just not good. Trust me. And so, uh, but I didn’t want to go. And so what I was going to do is I was going to lie. I was going to actually put my dad’s address, who was divorced from my mom, who lived in Austin town. And, and all I had to do is just write down a bogus address and I can still continue to go to Cheney high school. And then I remember, uh, my pastor finding me after one of the sermons and on the way out of church, he goes, Hey, I’m really excited that you’re going to go to this other high school because we don’t have any representation from our church in that high school. And that, that, that, that school probably needs a really strong Christian.” And I was like, oh, I was like, well, actually, I’m going to continue to go here because I’m going to put my, and he says, you’re going to lie. And I said, yes, I’m going to lie. And I said, that other school is so, you know, and I started mentioning all the bad things about it. And he said, Chris, he said, when it’s darkest, all you need is a single light and it will shine brightest, right? He said it differently. He said a single light shines brightest in the darkest of places. That’s what he said. Right. And it’s like, wow, that is just an amazing thought. Yeah. And I remember it was actually that comment that actually changed my entire perspective. you know, to go in there. And it’s that idea of like the one who’s the most notorious needs rescued the most, right? Where it’s darkest, that’s where you need the light the most.

Jeff:
Absolutely.

Chris:
Yeah. And so, you know, people who are in their cubicle and they say, Oh my goodness, like it’s really hard to live as a Christian because nobody around me is a Christian. You know, it’s just, it’s so dark. Everybody’s just, It’s just awful. You know, I wish I had more Christian support. Just know this. Hey, just the smallest things that you can do can shine the brightest. Yeah. Right. So don’t back away. Don’t shy away. Don’t be afraid of the gospel. Don’t be ashamed. Just continue to let your light shine because, hey, the smallest light shines brightest in the darkest of places.

Jeff:
I’ve had young adult Christians and teenage Christians oftentimes, and even some newer, older Christians, use Jesus’ behaviors like this, where he goes to this notorious sinner’s home, or he goes to Matthew’s house, or they accuse him of being a partier and all that kind of stuff, as an excuse to go, well, I’m just hanging around all these wicked people all the time, because Jesus did. And I would say that the gospel writers include these stories because they’re surprising stories, because that wasn’t his norm, right? He didn’t go from Zacchaeus’s house. He moved into Zacchaeus’s house, lived with Zacchaeus for a while, and then moved on to Matthew’s house, lived with Matthew for a while, and then moved on. It’s not what he did, but what we see is Jesus leaves these places and goes and cleans up, right? He spends time with the Father. He’d go up, as was his custom early in the morning, to go up in the mountains to pray or out in the wilderness to pray. So Jesus would invade places like Zacchaeus’ home, specifically for the last sentence, for the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. It didn’t say the Son of Man came to party with those who are lost.

Chris:
Right.

Jeff:
Right? He was on a rescue mission in that place, which means he was speaking up. He was sharing the gospel. He wasn’t just out there dancing and drinking and having fun and hoping they could see his little light shining. He was on an invasive rescue mission. And the result was Zacchaeus repented of his sin. Right? So this is what you see. You don’t see Jesus just partying for the sake of partying. You see Jesus where sinners are because he’s seeking to save them and he’s confronting them. And so I think that it would be our job as well as Christians that if we’re going to be in the presence of lost people in negative circumstances or situations, that we’re speaking up in them for the purpose of bringing people to faith in Christ. Not in a judgmental way, but in a salvific way, in a way that brings them to Christ. Otherwise, Jesus spends most of his time with his disciples, walking from town to town, not in parties.

Chris:
And by the way, just to be clear to our listeners, we say lost people.

Jeff:
Like Jesus did.

Chris:
Like Jesus did, because he refers to anybody who doesn’t know him as lost. Those who are found know that Jesus is the way to heaven. Right. Those who are lost don’t know such things.

Jeff:
He would refer, sometimes you say we’re walking in darkness. and we need his light. Book of John says that he came into the darkness and he was the light. We’re lost in our sins. We don’t know where to go. That’s what it’s talking about. We don’t know how to get to God unless Jesus shows us.

Chris:
Hey, and by the way, another little sermon that’s hidden inside this story is that notice how Zacchaeus responded with great joy and excitement after he was accepted by Jesus. Yeah, I love that. He was loved and accepted first, right? So, you know, if he says, I’m going to be a guest in your home today, think about who Zacchaeus was and who Jesus was. So to have somebody in your home is a great honor, right? Now for us, we’re just like, Hey, come on over and have a slice of pizza. That doesn’t mean much. Hey, come, come by and have some dinner. Would you like to stay for dinner? There’s no custom there that says it’s a great honor. But in that day, it meant something. And so for Jesus to say, I’m going to be a guest in your home, it meant a lot.

Jeff:
Well, a rabbi would consider his appointments and try to determine whether or not he should be even at his home. Right. Right. So I have an opportunity, a typical rabbi would go, well, Simon, the rabbi across town, he probably would have me for dinner too. So am I going to go to this notorious sinner’s home or am I going to go to the other rabbi in town? Well, of course you go to the other rabbi in town because it elevates your stature being accepted by other rabbis. So Zacchaeus had no expectation at all. That’s why he doesn’t, I think it’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t push through the crowd to get to Jesus. He had no reason to expect Jesus would have anything to do with him. And so it’s kind of a sad thing that he climbs up in the tree. He’s very interested in Jesus.

Chris:
But he’s off in a distance.

Jeff:
But he doesn’t feel like he has any right to push in to be with Jesus.

Chris:
He’s curious enough because he absolutely has to see Jesus.

Jeff:
So then when Jesus goes, hey, I have an appointment with you today at your house, they go, what?

Chris:
You chose me. Yeah, and so it’s a great lesson for all of us Christians, right? Before we pass on judgment, you know, understand that, like, it is possible to understand and know what sin is and yet still pass on love and love the sinner, right? Yeah. So, you know, and that’s a famous saying, you know, God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. And so, if every Christian would just do the same, you know, to hate, of course, hate the sin, but to love the person and to show, you know, grace, acceptance, and when it’s appropriate and everything else, you know, it goes a long way. And there’s, as exampled right here by Zacchaeus.

Jeff:
I have a friend that is a chaplain for one of the NBA basketball teams. And he mentioned one time that one of the other local pastors in the community was kind of coming after him because he had a kind of a prominent friendship with one of the stars on the team who was not known for being a godly man. Now, my pastor friend didn’t indulge with any of those things and they were never at the places that that guy would go, but they would go to dinner together. He was often at his home. those kinds of things. And he said, he mentioned this, and this is in the New Living Translation, he’s gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner, they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I’ll give half my wealth, right? And what my friend says, they had no idea what was happening in this guy’s life. So the guy had, because of his indulgence, the wicked lifestyle was right on the verge of losing his wife, right on the verge of losing his children. His life was coming apart. His career was coming to an end, all these things. And it was in that context that he was like, I need Jesus. And so the friendship struck up just because he was in a locker room all the time for basketball games. But then, and they’re horsing around, cutting up all that kind of stuff. They like the same kind of music. But the next thing you know, it was the meanwhile moment. Right. Right. Those people on the outside complaining about Jesus being with Zacchaeus didn’t know that meanwhile Zacchaeus was coming to Jesus. Right. Right. So we need to be less judgmental. Yep. About, you know, people walking in through the doors of the church or people having access to conversation, spiritual conversations. We need to be less judgmental about the person across the cubicle next to us. Understand that meanwhile, Jesus is doing something special.

Chris:
Yeah, that’s right. Well, that’s a great place to end and that’s our time. So we will see you hopefully tomorrow on The Bible Guys.