Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach

wrock and in today's episode we're

asking the question can money fix me

this is prompted by one of the more

interesting articles I've read recently

it was in the Wall Street Journal by

Joshua chaen and it deals with a small

town in the Hamptons in New York now

like if you're like me you think of the

Hamptons as a very affluent exclusive

kind of area and it is in fact this

small town only has about 680 people in

it and the average income is

$255,000 so it is an affluent community

and very exclusive which is why you're

not going to believe when I tell you

what's happening there The Story Goes

like this uh over the holidays uh

allegedly there was a $25 Amazon gift

card that was in the school office for

school purposes when at least According

to some people the school principal

stole it took it home for herself now

she says she didn't they they went to

the surveillance video and already

were're in weird territory they go to

the surveillance video and she is

carrying out an envelope but she says in

that envelope velope was a I can't even

get the story out a $50 Shell Gas gift

card that was in fact a gift to her so

everyone agrees she carried out a gift

card but not which gift card she carried

out you might think who cares well the

people in the Hamptons do because the

investigation over this $25 Amazon gift

card has now led to 1,400 pages of Court

testimony and

$25,000 in legal fees I'm just let that

roll it's a $25 Amazon gift card and now

we've got 1,400 pages of testimony and

$25,000 in legal fees only people happy

about this are the lawyers the principal

has actually been placed on

administrative leave with the

administration arguing this is just

indicative of a culture of corruption

it's a

$25 Amazon gift card now other than

poking a little fun at the good people

in the Hampton the point of this podcast

is this money and education don't change

people we think they do we we think that

education cures everything that if I

just get enough degrees enough knowledge

I won't have all the stupid stuff going

on in my heart and in my head we think

if I just had more money I'd be happier

I wouldn't be so agitated so stressed no

you would just be a more bizarre version

of yourself these these people in this

small community are tearing each other

apart over a gift card because sin is

not ultimately about what's in your bank

account or what degree is on your wall

sin is in the heart Jeremiah 17 says the

heart is desperately wicked Paul in the

Book of Romans says that all of us have

sinned against God Rich Community poor

Community educated Community Blue Collar

Community doesn't matter we're going to

hurt ourselves and hurt each other if we

do not turn to God in fact I would argue

that the more affluent and educated a

community gets actually the harder

things become because after all the

gospel message is a message of grace and

the underpinning of Grace is that God

did for me in Jesus what I could never

do for myself but the more degrees you

get on your wall and the more success

you have professionally the harder it is

for you to believe there's anything that

you can't do for s and if you have spent

your whole life doing things for

yourself receiving zero Grace then how

much grace do you think you have to

extend to other people none that's

what's happening in the Hamptons if I

could preach there tomorrow what I would

say is until you see your own need to be

loved and helped more than you deserve

you'll never extend love and help to

other people uh that's the problem going

on and that's why the gospel must be

preached there and I'll just say this in

my circles Ministry circles it tends to

follow that people who really love Jesus

people who really want to advance the

gospel will go where the poor are go

where the uneducated are and praise God

I'm glad they do but we also need gospel

preaching churches in the Hamptons

clearly before they all kill each other

I'll just add this in a community and

culture obsessed with education I also

think this is indicative of we love

scandals not Justice Justice says this

is a $25 gift card why don't you just

have the principal give $25 to the

school even if she didn't take it and

let's call it even but we want the

Scandal we want the testimony we want

the court case because we're bored we

want something to talk about which again

is indicative of a sinick heart we need

Jesus who Ezekiel tells us in Ezekiel 36

will take out our hearts of stone the

hearts that take gift cards or the

hearts who obsess over whether other

people did and we need hearts that are

soft in God's hands money will not fix

you education will not fix you only

Jesus can come quickly Lord Jesus and

start in the Hamptons hey thanks so much

for watching this episode of wake up

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