Seeing the Mission Through the Gospel (Luke 7:36-50)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.160 And then, as we turn to the preaching of the word, would you 2 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:07.629 join me as we pray our father, what wondrous love it is that you 3 00:00:07.790 --> 00:00:13.990 have for us. You are so good and generous and mercy that you looked 4 00:00:14.070 --> 00:00:21.230 on us in our sin and you gave your son to pursue us, to 5 00:00:21.390 --> 00:00:27.859 rescue us. Thank you for that love. And how amazing it is that 6 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:31.940 Jesus said, as the father has loved me, so have I loved you, 7 00:00:34.380 --> 00:00:37.490 and we rejoice in that love. We were rest in that love that 8 00:00:37.649 --> 00:00:43.969 is fully revealed by our Savior on the cross. And as we look at 9 00:00:44.009 --> 00:00:47.689 your word to night, we pray that we might see something more of Jesus 10 00:00:47.929 --> 00:00:53.240 and his love for us, that we might live in light of that love 11 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:58.520 in our daily lives. As you call us into our ordinary callings. In 12 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:03.950 Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Well, tonight, rather than reading 13 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:08.109 the Scripture to begin, I'm going to read it throughout the message and I 14 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:12.269 want to pick up on both. This morning where I talked about your calling 15 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:17.230 as lizards. If you're new here, you haven't been here this morning and 16 00:01:17.349 --> 00:01:22.500 you heard a reference to lizards up here earlier. You probably thought, what 17 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:26.060 was he talking about? I didn't know we were lizards. Ted said we 18 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:29.019 were all lizards and you have to go back and listen to the morning message 19 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:32.219 to understand that. But I want to pick up on that in our calling 20 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:34.329 as in daily life. And I want to go back to a metaphor I 21 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:38.489 shared with you the first time I was with you about Gospel lies, about 22 00:01:38.530 --> 00:01:45.930 how we see. I've worn glasses and had eye problems since I was about 23 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:49.400 seven years old. I've had five surgeries on my eyes, had all kinds 24 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:56.519 of challenge with my eyes, but I very much appreciate glasses because with the 25 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:00.159 use of a Lens, I am able to see a little better than two 26 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:07.310 thousand and twenty. Lenses bring clarity and without lenses you could be a fuzzy 27 00:02:07.349 --> 00:02:15.110 blur. And we look at life not through glass and plastic lenses that we 28 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:20.139 look at life through other sets of lenses that help us interpret what we see. 29 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:25.300 Last time we talked about how Gospel Lenses Are Gospel lies help us see 30 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:30.370 each other in Christ, and tonight I want to talk about how the Gospel 31 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:36.289 Shapes how we see people who are not in Christ, the people outside of 32 00:02:36.610 --> 00:02:39.889 the church, the People Not United to Christ, and how the Gospel changes 33 00:02:39.969 --> 00:02:44.129 how we see them, and to do that we're going to look at a 34 00:02:44.169 --> 00:02:47.560 particular passage in the book of Luke, Chapter Seven. Now we're going to 35 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:51.400 walk through the section of the time and I'll explain it to you and show 36 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:55.479 how this is all about how we see and how seeing with Gospel Lies Change, 37 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:00.150 is how we go about our daily lives. So Luke Chapter Seven will 38 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:02.990 begin in verse thirty one and we'll walk through it a section at a time 39 00:03:05.789 --> 00:03:09.110 to what then Jesus said. Shall I compare the jet people of this generation, 40 00:03:09.349 --> 00:03:13.620 and what are they like? They are like children, sitting in the 41 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:16.500 market place and calling to one another. We played the flute for you and 42 00:03:16.539 --> 00:03:20.259 you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not weep. 43 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:23.819 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and 44 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:28.810 you say he has a demon and the son of man has come eating and 45 00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:32.090 drinking. Your say, look at him, a glutton and a Drunkard, 46 00:03:32.090 --> 00:03:38.370 a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by all her 47 00:03:38.449 --> 00:03:43.199 children. Now this, this is the paragraph preceding the story we're going to 48 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:49.719 look at, and it's a paragraph about religious people. Surrounding Jesus and not 49 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:54.599 understanding him, the fact they had so little ability to understand who he was 50 00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:59.430 and why he came that they slandered him. In their mind. It was 51 00:03:59.469 --> 00:04:00.990 a slander. You, you, you, you are. You're a friend 52 00:04:01.069 --> 00:04:06.469 of sinners. That's what you are. You eat and drink with sinners. 53 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:12.860 And we've heard those accusations of about Jesus. If you've read through the Gospels 54 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:17.379 and they're sort of dripping with moral superiority, can you hear the judgment and 55 00:04:17.620 --> 00:04:24.410 contempt towards the son of God present in that accusation which Jesus refers to? 56 00:04:24.529 --> 00:04:30.529 You're a friend of tax collectors and sinners, and maybe you're like me. 57 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:33.889 There times when you have whispered words of contempt or judgment over people. But 58 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:39.800 what's interesting here is Jesus owns the label. He doesn't say no, no, 59 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:43.360 no, I'm not a friend of sinners. He says wisdom is justified 60 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:46.600 by all their children. In other words, my actions bear the fruit that 61 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:51.000 justifies what I'm doing. He affirms that he is indeed a friend of sinners, 62 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.389 and that is how he relates to the lost and Luke. Now turns 63 00:04:56.470 --> 00:05:00.430 and gives us an example of what that means, which is where we're going 64 00:05:00.430 --> 00:05:03.350 to focus the story. Jesus says, yes, I am a friender's and 65 00:05:03.509 --> 00:05:06.980 friend of sinners, and Luke says, let me give you an example, 66 00:05:08.259 --> 00:05:12.220 and that's the story we're going to turn to. It's a story that begins 67 00:05:12.300 --> 00:05:17.100 with a dinner gathering. Verse Thirty Six. One of the Pharisees asked him 68 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:21.370 to eat with him and he went into the Pharisees House and took his place 69 00:05:21.410 --> 00:05:27.329 at the table. So let's look at that simple verse to get a context 70 00:05:27.410 --> 00:05:30.410 of this dinner gathering. It's a it's a Pharisee who is the host. 71 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:36.120 Now Pharisees get a bad rap. I mean not Pharisees get a bad rap. 72 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:43.000 They they were among God's people, the ones committed to live a holy 73 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:47.120 life in the midst of a secular culture. That that was what their orientation 74 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:53.189 was. They lived under Roman role and they were determined to live in Godly 75 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:56.829 yes, to live a life that was pleasing to God, and they developed 76 00:05:56.870 --> 00:06:00.990 a detailed code of what would it what it looked like to please God, 77 00:06:00.069 --> 00:06:05.540 a code of Godliness, and they were very application focused. It was a 78 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:11.579 response to their captivity, a response to living under pagan powers. But they 79 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:15.300 were godly people. Are they were seeking to be godly people and I would 80 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:18.610 guess. I would guess that most of us, if we just got to 81 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:23.810 the motives and desires of a Pharisee, would want to be one. I 82 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:27.730 would guess that most of us would want neighbors who were more like Pharisees. 83 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:32.480 We would want upright moral people around us. This PHARISEE has a name. 84 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:38.759 Will find out a little bit later his name is Simon. That he is 85 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:42.639 a Pharisee is mentioned often and his name is repeated, and we'll see why 86 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:47.550 is the story progresses. He invites Jesus to eat with him. Now this 87 00:06:47.790 --> 00:06:54.029 is not what we would call hanging out over a meal. There's nothing casual 88 00:06:54.029 --> 00:06:57.470 about inviting somebody into your home. In the ancient world it was a place 89 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:00.699 of honor the many cultures of the world. When you have been invited into 90 00:07:00.779 --> 00:07:04.980 someone's home for a meal, a bond is formed. Number of years ago, 91 00:07:05.019 --> 00:07:09.899 when we were in the Philippines visiting missionaries, a Chinese family and the 92 00:07:09.899 --> 00:07:15.060 church invited us to a meal that they hosted and afterwards I said to the 93 00:07:15.139 --> 00:07:18.290 missionary, what's the significance of this. He said, you're in the family 94 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:23.569 now. This is very important that you have eaten in their home. You're 95 00:07:23.649 --> 00:07:27.529 broken bread in their presence. So this is not a casual meal. It's 96 00:07:27.569 --> 00:07:30.959 not hey, let's hang out, have a few beers, eat some broughts. 97 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.639 This is coming to my home and let me honor you. It's in 98 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:39.839 a house, and in those days houses had open courtyards in the middle of 99 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:44.350 them. That this is hard for us to imagine. The meals were taken 100 00:07:44.389 --> 00:07:46.949 in a common room of the house, but there was access to it from 101 00:07:47.149 --> 00:07:53.269 the street and people would come and stand around the table and watch you eat. 102 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:58.350 It's a little weird, but there had different definitions of privacy in those 103 00:07:58.389 --> 00:08:01.060 days. So people would come, neighbors would show up and sit in and 104 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:05.420 listen to the discussion and there were rules about what they couldn't couldn't do. 105 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:09.699 But it was not a private meal as we think of it. And in 106 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:13.569 those days they ate at a low table, so you didn't sit in chairs. 107 00:08:13.610 --> 00:08:18.850 You're actually laid down leaning on cushions, eating with one hand as you 108 00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:22.089 leaned on the other arm and your feeding. Your legs were stretched out behind 109 00:08:22.209 --> 00:08:26.129 you. So so get a picture here. This is a meal in the 110 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:31.799 house of a religious leader, a Pharisee of significance in this community, and 111 00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:39.200 this scene is thick with proper behavior, etiquette, cultural rules. If it 112 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:43.629 was an our world, it might be a formal dinner, of black tie 113 00:08:43.669 --> 00:08:46.110 dinner, or at least a dinner with a very well set table. You 114 00:08:46.190 --> 00:08:48.669 know the kind of dinner. You sit down and you look at your plate 115 00:08:48.750 --> 00:08:54.309 and you see knives, forks and spoons in great number and you have no 116 00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:56.940 idea what to do with them. This is this is a proper occasion here, 117 00:08:58.340 --> 00:09:05.580 and it's followed by a very awkward moment, verse Thirty Seven, and 118 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:11.929 behold, notice how luke introduces it. Behold, look a woman, a 119 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:16.129 woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he, 120 00:09:16.409 --> 00:09:20.529 Jesus, was reclining at table in the Pharisees House when, we now will 121 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:28.159 find out his named Simon, brought an alabaster flask of winkments perfume and, 122 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:33.759 standing behind him, at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his 123 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:37.519 feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head and kissed 124 00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:46.669 his feet and anointed them with the wow she were told a couple things about 125 00:09:46.669 --> 00:09:52.389 her. She is a sinner. It's a term of derision. It's repeated 126 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:58.259 in the story multiple time. She was unclean. To touch her would be 127 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:05.820 to give religious pollution. She has no name, not here, not anywhere 128 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:11.210 in the story, and it's interesting how luke sets this up, because when 129 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:18.690 we despise somebody they have no name. Their name is unmentionable. And you 130 00:10:18.889 --> 00:10:24.440 put this picture together and most commentaries think that this woman was probably one of 131 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:30.840 the town prostitutes. She represents the total opposite end of the social ladder from 132 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:35.110 the PHARISEE, probably someone sold out to immorality in some way, and she 133 00:10:35.350 --> 00:10:41.070 is nameless throughout the story, while Simon will be named and she is a 134 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:46.149 sinner, someone at the bottom of the moral social ladder. Well, Simon 135 00:10:46.269 --> 00:10:50.740 is at the top. He is a Pharisee, a highly respected religious and 136 00:10:50.940 --> 00:10:54.940 moral man. She is not the kind of person who would have been invited 137 00:10:56.019 --> 00:11:00.740 to the dinner and she is where a line doing what she's about to do 138 00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:07.409 now no notice. In verse thirty seven and Thirty Eight her purposefulness. She 139 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:15.409 takes very deliberate and determined steps to honor Jesus. She learns that he's there, 140 00:11:16.889 --> 00:11:22.720 she picks out an alabaster flask of ointment. She looks for what she 141 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.840 wants in order to show him honor. She walks there in the town. 142 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:35.870 She pushes through the onlookers who would have been looking around this table. She 143 00:11:37.110 --> 00:11:41.629 walks not to the edge of the circle observing, but into the very circle 144 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:50.139 of intimate relationship at the table and she begins to annoint his feet. Luke. 145 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:54.340 Actually, if you translated this more literally, it would say she wept 146 00:11:54.379 --> 00:12:00.779 profusely, she kept wiping his feet with her hair and she kept kissing his 147 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:07.570 feet. This was not a one off action. She was sobbing and as 148 00:12:07.649 --> 00:12:13.090 she sobbed, the tears would fall on his feet and she would wipe his 149 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:16.600 feet with her tears. That kept coming and she kept kissing his feet. 150 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:26.679 One commentator says she comes with a precious jar of anointing perfume fit for the 151 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:31.950 head of a King and standing there in silence, she weeps and her tears 152 00:12:31.990 --> 00:12:37.029 of sorrow are suffused with the warmth of grateful affection. Certainly not by intention. 153 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:41.149 Her tears wet the feet of Jesus and the woman is precipitated into a 154 00:12:41.230 --> 00:12:46.659 new line of action. There is no towel at hand and so with her 155 00:12:46.779 --> 00:12:52.860 hair she removes the offending tears. But this brings her into intimate contact with 156 00:12:52.019 --> 00:13:00.250 Jesus and leads to a release of affectionate gratitude expressed and kissing those feet which 157 00:13:00.330 --> 00:13:05.169 have been cleared from the dust of the journey in this most unconventional manner. 158 00:13:05.210 --> 00:13:11.809 It's a very moving scene. In other words, she loses her she is 159 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:18.240 undone with emotion. The force of shame as she enters into the home of 160 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:24.440 the Pharisee is mixed up with her deep gratitude for Jesus, the friend of 161 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:30.590 sinners, and putting them together, she erupts in tears and emotion and gratitude. 162 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:35.590 Now I like, I think it's okay that little sacred imagination here. 163 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:41.139 I would guess that everyone at the table tried to carry on their conversation and 164 00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:46.899 avoid this awkwardness. That's because that's what we do. Or perhaps turn to 165 00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:52.139 the people next to him and roll their eyes and then glanced back like can 166 00:13:52.179 --> 00:14:00.090 you believe that? or maybe raise their eyebrows in contempt. But the question 167 00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:05.250 you ask in this situation is what would have compelled her to do this? 168 00:14:05.610 --> 00:14:13.679 What drove her to endure the shaming glances of the people in the home of 169 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.559 the Pharisee, to absorb their contempt in order to show this kind of gratitude 170 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:24.950 to Jesus. Well, it's likely, piecing together the cultural narrative at the 171 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:26.830 time, it's likely that she was a woman who lived in shame and guilt 172 00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:31.070 for her manner of life. And in those days, a someone who was 173 00:14:31.110 --> 00:14:35.070 a prostitute would have met with cold shoulders and indifference and hostility in public places, 174 00:14:35.110 --> 00:14:39.419 much like the woman in John Chapter Four who could only go and get 175 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:41.820 her water in the heat of the day because when everyone else went, she 176 00:14:41.860 --> 00:14:48.299 would not be welcome. Perhaps this woman became a prostitute defeat her children. 177 00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:52.529 Perhaps she'd been abandoned by her husband, perhaps he had died and she had 178 00:14:52.610 --> 00:14:58.129 no other means of supporting her and though she did what was unthinkable in order 179 00:14:58.129 --> 00:15:01.169 to get money to take care of her children, as is often the case, 180 00:15:01.210 --> 00:15:05.009 and what she heard for years from the religious leaders in the community was 181 00:15:05.090 --> 00:15:11.480 a message of clean yourself up, get your act together. But try as 182 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:18.960 she might, she couldn't. And then she heard Jesus say something like come 183 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:22.590 on to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will 184 00:15:22.590 --> 00:15:28.629 give you rest. And she believed his word and she came and found cleansing 185 00:15:28.750 --> 00:15:35.269 and rest and forgiveness before God, not by trying, not by law keeping 186 00:15:35.139 --> 00:15:41.899 the purely by God's unmerited grace. And so she came for the first time 187 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:48.340 in her life, finding peace with God through God's grace to her, through 188 00:15:48.899 --> 00:15:54.210 the savior that God has sin. And when you look at the scene again, 189 00:15:54.610 --> 00:15:58.129 you realize that Jesus just lets it happen. This is this is not 190 00:15:58.289 --> 00:16:03.730 a three second situation. This is a minute, two minutes, and the 191 00:16:03.809 --> 00:16:07.960 longer it goes, the more awkward it becomes. But Jesus receives her tears 192 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:14.639 of gratitude, allows her to touch him and clean his feet with her tears 193 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:21.750 and wipe them with her hair and says nothing by way of disapproval. Now 194 00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:27.470 that's a remarkable scene, this dinner. But what follows is where we get 195 00:16:27.509 --> 00:16:32.860 the lesson about how we see. Because when the PHARISEE verse Thirty Nine, 196 00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:37.019 who invited him, saw this, he said to himself. Now, when 197 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:38.740 the pharisee would invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this 198 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:45.940 man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman 199 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:48.809 this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And let 200 00:16:48.850 --> 00:16:55.250 me paraphrase with the man says. Simon says, I look over there and 201 00:16:55.330 --> 00:17:00.600 I see a sinner. If Jesus saw the way I see, he would 202 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:06.039 see a sinner and he would not allow this. There must be something wrong 203 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:14.240 with Jesus. He doesn't see clearly. Jesus has always responds with a perfect 204 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:18.750 story to get to the heart of the situation. Verse Forty he begins to 205 00:17:18.829 --> 00:17:26.269 give Simon a lesson in seeing Jesus answering said to him. Now, notice 206 00:17:26.430 --> 00:17:30.900 Simon hasn't said anything. He said it to himself, and Jesus knew his 207 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:33.099 thoughts and said to him, Simon, he's named for the first time. 208 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:37.740 I've something to say to you. And he answered. Say a teacher, 209 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:38.940 and it wore a note of respect, and he said a certain one. 210 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:44.410 Lender had two debtors, one out five hundred denary and the other fifty, 211 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:48.329 and when they could not pay, cancel the debt of both. Pretty simple 212 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:52.450 story. Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, not 213 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:56.410 the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. and 214 00:17:56.529 --> 00:18:02.319 Jesus said to him, you have judged rightly. And then, turning to 215 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:04.799 the woman, finally, he turns and acknowledges the woman. He says to 216 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:07.480 Simon, do you see this woman? See it's all that's seeing. Do 217 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:14.069 you see this woman, Simon, I entered your house, you gave me 218 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:18.390 no water for my feet, but she has wept my feet with her tears 219 00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:22.829 and wipe them with her hair. You gave me no kiss to bring common 220 00:18:22.910 --> 00:18:25.589 greeting, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to 221 00:18:25.589 --> 00:18:27.859 kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she 222 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:33.460 has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you her sins, 223 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:38.500 which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but here is 224 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:45.130 forgiven little, loves little. And he said to her, your sins are 225 00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:48.569 forgiven. Then those who were at the table with them began to say among 226 00:18:48.569 --> 00:18:52.890 themselves, who is this who even forgive sins? When he said to the 227 00:18:52.930 --> 00:19:00.079 woman, your faith has saved, you go in peace. Wow, but 228 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.359 you see what Jesus did to quote another author, to a woman who three 229 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:07.880 times is openly declared to be a sinner. In this past message, and 230 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:12.829 let us remember that sin was taken far more seriously in Jesus Day than it 231 00:19:12.990 --> 00:19:18.230 is in ours. To that woman, Jesus breathes not a word of judgment, 232 00:19:21.549 --> 00:19:25.339 and to Simon, who has not violated one jot or tittle of the 233 00:19:25.460 --> 00:19:33.819 Torah. In this narrative, Jesus delivers a blistering denunciation. It's all about 234 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:37.930 what you see. This says just shocking story. One of my favorite authors 235 00:19:38.009 --> 00:19:41.369 says the problem we read the New Testament is we don't feel it the way 236 00:19:41.369 --> 00:19:47.289 the original people felt, that this was this was deeply offensive to that culture. 237 00:19:48.089 --> 00:19:52.599 Well, what is Jesus saying? Well, washing, feed and the 238 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.920 kiss of welcome and anointing. We're not obligations. The woman's behavior shows Simon 239 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:06.640 to be a coldhearted man, indifferent to the one he is hosting. Jesus, 240 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:08.950 on the other hand, turns the woman. He doesn't excuse or minimize 241 00:20:08.990 --> 00:20:11.230 her sin. He doesn't say, well, you know, we all say 242 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:15.630 and it's okay now. He deals with that is sin. It is a 243 00:20:15.710 --> 00:20:22.059 serious offense against God and he forgives. He releases her from debt. He 244 00:20:22.259 --> 00:20:26.099 points out her great love, because she knew she was a great center. 245 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:30.700 Now forgiven and he pronounces peace to her. I love that. Go in 246 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:36.210 peace. No one else at the table to saying that to the woman. 247 00:20:37.009 --> 00:20:41.690 Only Jesus says. Go in peace. They're offended, their trouble. Jesus 248 00:20:41.730 --> 00:20:47.369 says, don't worry about them, dear go in peace. Well, what 249 00:20:47.609 --> 00:20:49.920 is he saying when he says, Simon, to who much? As you 250 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.799 know, whoever is forgiven much loves much. Whoever's forgiven love little lug. 251 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:57.720 People have read this over the years and they've said, well, I guess 252 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:00.400 that means that, unless you're a great sinner, you don't love Jesus a 253 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.390 lot. And I, you know, I've never done a lot of bad 254 00:21:03.470 --> 00:21:07.829 stuff, so I'm I guess I'm kind of doomed to not love Jesus much. 255 00:21:07.710 --> 00:21:11.109 Well, is that really what he's saying now? I don't think that's 256 00:21:11.150 --> 00:21:14.230 what he's saying at all. I think he's I don't think he's saying, 257 00:21:14.269 --> 00:21:17.190 Simon, you haven't seen much, so you don't appreciate your forgiveness. I 258 00:21:17.230 --> 00:21:19.539 think he's saying, Simon, the problem is you think you haven't seen much. 259 00:21:21.859 --> 00:21:26.299 The problem is you think you're different than she is. Simon, you 260 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:33.529 think sin is manageable. Simon, you think that your righteousness is because you're 261 00:21:33.609 --> 00:21:37.849 so self disciplined. You think that means that you're a cut above this woman. 262 00:21:37.970 --> 00:21:45.690 You deserve better than her. You don't see clearly, Simon. You 263 00:21:45.809 --> 00:21:51.440 have a problem with your sight, Simon. So how does this strike us? 264 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:55.720 I mut telling us we're Pharisees, but I think there's a temptation here, 265 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:00.589 and the longer where Christians and the longer where part of the church, 266 00:22:00.750 --> 00:22:06.470 the more of a temptation it is. See, Simon had an eye problem. 267 00:22:06.589 --> 00:22:14.150 He didn't see accurately. He didn't see God in His Holiness accurately and 268 00:22:14.309 --> 00:22:18.220 therefore he didn't see himself accurately and he didn't see the goodness in grace of 269 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:22.500 God accurately. See, Simon believe God was holy, but he also thought 270 00:22:22.539 --> 00:22:29.619 God grated on a curve. He'd reduce the absolute nature of God's Law to 271 00:22:30.089 --> 00:22:33.490 grating on a curve. Simon thought that by trying harder he was good before 272 00:22:33.609 --> 00:22:37.609 God and therefore he looked at himself and thought, you know, I'm they're 273 00:22:37.690 --> 00:22:41.970 doing pretty well compared to this woman and that, compared to her, I 274 00:22:41.049 --> 00:22:47.799 must be in a special relationship with God, and God just doesn't like people 275 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:52.599 like her. God's primarily interested in judging people like her, just like he's 276 00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:57.589 interested in blessing people like me. And Simon had no sense of a God 277 00:22:57.630 --> 00:23:03.029 who seeks the lost. He just thought God's attitude to a woman like that 278 00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:06.430 as if she shaped up, he'd show her mercy. The other words, 279 00:23:06.470 --> 00:23:11.789 Simon lived by the theme that God helps those that help themselves, and because 280 00:23:11.869 --> 00:23:15.339 he has helped himself so well, God is helping him, Simon, if 281 00:23:15.420 --> 00:23:18.380 that woman would just do her part, God would show her grace. It's 282 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:22.420 a problem of eyes, isn't that? He saw God differently. He saw 283 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:27.369 himself wrongly, he saw this woman wrongly. So I use this description to 284 00:23:27.490 --> 00:23:33.049 describe what's going on here. You have moral eyes or law eyes, and 285 00:23:33.170 --> 00:23:38.009 here, of Gospelize, I have Simon, who looks at life through the 286 00:23:38.130 --> 00:23:45.440 eyes of morality and law. God Is Holy. I'm pretty good compared to 287 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:48.400 other people. You don't measure up. You're not as good as I am. 288 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:53.400 You need to fix yourself, try harder. I avoid people like you. 289 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.910 I don't invite you into my life or my home. My fact I 290 00:23:56.950 --> 00:24:00.549 don't really care that much about you. I'm not going to show compassion to 291 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:06.269 you. And the essence of somebody who sees the world with moralize is self, 292 00:24:06.430 --> 00:24:11.059 salvation, self help, trying harder, being good, pulling themselves up 293 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:15.859 by the bootstraps. And moralize always lead to judgment, distance and anger. 294 00:24:17.619 --> 00:24:22.180 And that's what you have in Simon. Judgment, distance and anger. And, 295 00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:26.289 by the way, moralize. I have nothing to offer to real sinners. 296 00:24:27.650 --> 00:24:33.089 Real sinners know that by trying they will not get better. They need 297 00:24:33.490 --> 00:24:37.970 someone to rescue them, not a way to make themselves a better person. 298 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:45.279 Gospelize is Jesus, for God is holy and all of sinned and come short 299 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:48.559 of the glory of God. There is no distinction. But God is generous 300 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:53.910 and mercy, rich and love, and God tricks. No delight in judgment, 301 00:24:53.990 --> 00:24:57.589 but gave his son to save the world, not to condemn the world. 302 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:02.630 and Jesus, the son who is given, comes to seek and to 303 00:25:02.710 --> 00:25:04.910 save those who are lost. He goes after the one lost sheep and leaves 304 00:25:04.910 --> 00:25:08.700 the ninety nine behind. It doesn't wait for them to come, he goes 305 00:25:08.819 --> 00:25:12.859 after them. He opens the gate so that we may enter, and he 306 00:25:14.019 --> 00:25:19.339 welcomes any and all. No one can send themselves beyond the welcome of Jesus. 307 00:25:21.650 --> 00:25:26.609 You can never sin yourself beyond the reach of his lavish grace if you 308 00:25:26.769 --> 00:25:32.410 come, and that is amazing news to the last and the least in the 309 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:41.240 lost. And that's what that woman heard. Get moralizes. Moralizes thinking that 310 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:44.079 people should be better and if they simply tried harder, they could be. 311 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:49.869 Yeah, Gospel, but you need to be moral to really appreciate the Gospel. 312 00:25:51.829 --> 00:25:56.990 Gospelizes people are all very far gone there. There is nothing but sinners 313 00:25:56.150 --> 00:26:00.549 and no one can fix themselves, and our only hope is in Christ. 314 00:26:02.589 --> 00:26:06.740 Simon is one of many in the gospels, especially in Lucu, reject cheese 315 00:26:06.779 --> 00:26:10.500 as, not because they're too bad to receive them, but because they're too 316 00:26:10.579 --> 00:26:15.539 good to need him. was after remember that the most moral religious people in 317 00:26:15.619 --> 00:26:22.369 the face of the earth in Jesus Day murdered him. It was not outright 318 00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:26.609 sinners who sought his death, it was the selfrighteous who put the son of 319 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:33.279 God to death. As one the logen put it, people like Simon the 320 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:37.400 selfrighteous. Our problem is not our evil deeds, but are damnable good works, 321 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:41.720 which is true now. What I want you to see as well here 322 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:48.029 is that Jesus doesn't write Simon off that's what's so amazing. He doesn't write 323 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:51.829 Simon off, he doesn't say out of here, Simon, you'll never get 324 00:26:51.869 --> 00:26:56.750 this. No, he's rebuking him in order to save him. He wants 325 00:26:56.789 --> 00:27:02.500 Simon to walk away saying he who is forgiven a little loves little. He 326 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:06.700 was forgiven much, lost much, he was forgiven. He wants him to 327 00:27:06.740 --> 00:27:11.339 walk away playing with that and saying, Oh, does that mean? I 328 00:27:11.420 --> 00:27:18.250 think I've sent little. He's trying to rescue him. Jesus loves the SELFRIGHTEOUS 329 00:27:18.609 --> 00:27:23.769 TOO. So I'm sort of coming at the story from a couple of angles. 330 00:27:23.849 --> 00:27:29.329 But the story is about two ways of seeing. MORALIZE gospelize. MORALIZE 331 00:27:29.369 --> 00:27:33.480 law abiding, law keeping. Gospelize we are all very far gone on. 332 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:37.680 Our only hope is in the mercy of Christ. moralize keeps distance from sinners. 333 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:41.799 Gospelize as a friend of sinners. moralized people are improvable, teachable, 334 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:47.670 changeable. They just need instruction and encouragement. Gospelized people are dead. They 335 00:27:47.750 --> 00:27:53.509 need resurrection. moralized careful who you offer the Gospel to, careful who you 336 00:27:53.630 --> 00:27:57.150 hang out with and share the gospel with. Gospelize, go out into the 337 00:27:57.430 --> 00:28:04.579 I ways and compel them to come in so, as you go about your 338 00:28:04.579 --> 00:28:11.700 daily life as lizards in your callings, look at the people around you with 339 00:28:11.859 --> 00:28:18.410 Gospel Eyes. See them as people came to seek. Jesus came to seek 340 00:28:18.809 --> 00:28:22.730 and to say. I want to end with a brief story because this is 341 00:28:23.170 --> 00:28:32.960 something I've reflected on for over forty years and God has work this into my 342 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:37.599 life slowly to see differently. I came to faith in high school. I 343 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.950 grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and they're in my senior year, through 344 00:28:41.069 --> 00:28:45.789 some friends, God rescued me from a life of self righteousness. I was 345 00:28:45.950 --> 00:28:49.910 the nicest kid in the school, but I needed a savior. I was 346 00:28:49.950 --> 00:28:53.390 nice and proud of it, but niceness was only in the outside. and 347 00:28:53.470 --> 00:28:57.259 Christ used a friend to share the Gospel with me and I saw that I 348 00:28:57.380 --> 00:29:00.539 needed a savior. Well, right away. I began to grow and God 349 00:29:00.579 --> 00:29:04.539 began to change me. I graduated the next year I began university studies. 350 00:29:06.180 --> 00:29:10.410 I immersed myself as I got to the university in Christian activities. I spent 351 00:29:10.730 --> 00:29:14.089 all my time with Christians. In short order I was with Christians all the 352 00:29:14.170 --> 00:29:17.130 time. Now I didn't plant that way. I'm just hungry to grow, 353 00:29:18.289 --> 00:29:19.609 but there are. was within a few months of being at one of the 354 00:29:19.650 --> 00:29:26.920 leading American universities among secular people, surrounded by the lost, and I ever 355 00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:32.720 spent any time with them. I remember with Christians, eight with Christian studied 356 00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:37.000 with Christians at in class with Christians. I was suspicious of Christians who didn't 357 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:42.910 do those things. Wait, a man in the college fellowship who is co 358 00:29:44.069 --> 00:29:47.309 captain of the football team. We thought there was something wrong with him, 359 00:29:47.789 --> 00:29:51.309 that he was not committed to Jesus, so that he wasn't at prayer meeting 360 00:29:51.390 --> 00:29:53.579 six days a week, Bible study twice a week, in Church twice on 361 00:29:53.740 --> 00:29:57.980 Sunday. That was me. I was part of that and I I was 362 00:29:59.259 --> 00:30:04.140 I was certain that that man was somehow being polluted by hanging out with sinners. 363 00:30:04.220 --> 00:30:10.849 To share the Gospel with him. Oh, I did evangelism Thursday nights 364 00:30:10.890 --> 00:30:15.490 between seven and nine and my senior year, as I neared the end of 365 00:30:15.569 --> 00:30:21.130 my classes and my senior thesis, I was Reading The Gospel one morning and 366 00:30:21.369 --> 00:30:23.759 I saw that Jesus was called a friend of sinners and the Holy Spirit took 367 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:29.519 that text and awakened me with it and I realized no one would ever call 368 00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:36.430 me that not. They're not. At three years, eight months into a 369 00:30:36.549 --> 00:30:40.509 four year education, I looked at my life and my friends and the people 370 00:30:40.549 --> 00:30:45.549 I knew by name and they were all Christian, every last one of them. 371 00:30:45.990 --> 00:30:49.299 I was not a friend of sinners. Jesus eight with sinners. I 372 00:30:49.339 --> 00:30:53.099 didn't. He welcomed them into his life. I didn't. They wanted to 373 00:30:53.140 --> 00:30:57.220 be with him to hear the good news of the Kingdom. My classmates wanted 374 00:30:57.380 --> 00:31:03.059 nothing to do with me. Not only had I put myself in a Christian 375 00:31:03.099 --> 00:31:07.329 bubble, I had developed a wrong way of seeing and I began to call 376 00:31:07.410 --> 00:31:11.170 it moral eyes. I didn't have gospelizes, I had moralized. I had 377 00:31:11.210 --> 00:31:15.650 an eye problem. Well, as a result, there I was surrounded by 378 00:31:15.730 --> 00:31:21.200 thousands of nonbelieving people with six weeks, six weeks left in my four years 379 00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:30.799 of college and I had not had one lengthy personal conversation or relationship with anyone 380 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:38.190 outside of Christ in for years. And I began to change me and I 381 00:31:38.269 --> 00:31:42.150 couldn't reverse the four years, but I decided in the weeks that were left 382 00:31:42.150 --> 00:31:45.950 to be a friend, be a friend of sinners, to be on Gospel 383 00:31:45.029 --> 00:31:48.500 mission. So I sat about every day when I go to the Commons to 384 00:31:48.619 --> 00:31:53.099 eat my meals, to sit with people I didn't know, most of whom 385 00:31:53.099 --> 00:31:57.819 were not believers. I had to eat. They were there, I was 386 00:31:57.940 --> 00:32:01.529 there. It was just a question of who I ate with. And in 387 00:32:01.650 --> 00:32:06.009 the next few weeks, as I sat with people who were not Christians in 388 00:32:06.049 --> 00:32:10.809 the dining room, I'd say hi and begin a conversation and without trying, 389 00:32:12.769 --> 00:32:15.839 without a whole lot of labor, just by rubbing shoulders with them. In 390 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:22.160 those lunch and dinner room conversations I had more opportunities to talk about the Gospel 391 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:29.599 in six weeks and I'd had the previous four years. I was learning to 392 00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:35.509 see with gospelies and to live with gospelizes and still learning and that has affected 393 00:32:35.829 --> 00:32:38.869 my wife and me to this day, the people we've known and loved and 394 00:32:39.069 --> 00:32:45.539 shared with in neighborhood and her work and my work and other contexts. God 395 00:32:45.619 --> 00:32:50.380 has always called us to be in relationship with people outside the church, close 396 00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:54.740 relationship, to see them with Gospel lies and to engage with them in Gospel 397 00:32:54.819 --> 00:33:00.650 Mission, to share the Gospel with them through friendship relationship. It's because of 398 00:33:00.730 --> 00:33:05.369 that in this story that I think the Gospel changes how we see it's getting 399 00:33:05.450 --> 00:33:12.690 worked into us. So ask your questions. How is the Gospel changed how 400 00:33:12.769 --> 00:33:16.279 you see? How do you see people on the other side of your political 401 00:33:16.359 --> 00:33:22.279 position? Have you been caught up in the cultural narrative of politics today, 402 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:27.349 or do you see all this with Gospel eyes and the people on the other 403 00:33:27.430 --> 00:33:32.670 side with Gospelizese? How do you see your pro abortion coworker, fellow student? 404 00:33:34.630 --> 00:33:39.630 How do you see your Social Justice Warrior boss? How did you respond 405 00:33:39.710 --> 00:33:43.900 when your new neighbors moved in and you found out they were she and she 406 00:33:44.099 --> 00:33:50.819 and they were married? Do you see with Gospelize or moralize? Do you 407 00:33:50.900 --> 00:33:54.890 believe God's called you're in a mission of helping people be morally better? Our 408 00:33:54.970 --> 00:34:00.329 God's called you in a mission of helping him raise the dead through the hearing 409 00:34:00.369 --> 00:34:06.410 of the Gospel. When we see differently, we join Jesus in his redemptive 410 00:34:06.450 --> 00:34:13.480 mission. We become friends of sinners. Our dinner guest list changes, the 411 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:17.639 people we hang out with over a beer is modified, the ones we play 412 00:34:17.719 --> 00:34:22.679 tennis or golf with, or whatever our particular interest is is altered from what 413 00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:29.429 it once was. And all of this happens as we reflect on the fact 414 00:34:29.510 --> 00:34:37.070 that Jesus looked on me with Gospelize. Jesus looked on me as selfrighteous, 415 00:34:37.230 --> 00:34:45.340 moral, proud sixteen year old boy, and he did not show contempt for 416 00:34:45.460 --> 00:34:51.460 me in my pride and self righteousness. Now he sought me and he sent 417 00:34:51.619 --> 00:34:53.929 one of his own children, a man named Jeff, to me to share 418 00:34:54.170 --> 00:34:58.929 the Gospel and show me that I was not good, that I needed a 419 00:34:59.010 --> 00:35:04.050 savior. And through Jeff Jesus working through and he sought and found me. 420 00:35:05.809 --> 00:35:08.360 He saw me with Gospelies, and when I see that, then I'm able 421 00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:15.039 to turn and see others with Gospel lies in all those daily, ordinary callings 422 00:35:15.119 --> 00:35:17.480 in which he places us. Would you pray with me?