FEBRUARY 21, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US LIVE AT 10 AM ON SUNDAYS!
Gospel Redemption Part 3 - Feb 21, 2021
Transcription
As we continue to look at the big picture of the Gospel Story from Genesis to Revelation, through 6 memorable chapters:
Creation, Rebellion, and Promise
We now turn a corner into the chapter about Jesus’ life called
REDEMPTION and we are looking at moments in Jesus life, like case studies, that give us a glimpse of the radical, redemptive love he put on display during His time on earth!
I mentioned last week that Jesus life with both...
agree with and challenge
your definition and
our cultures definition of love.
Why are we asking this? Why are we doing this exercise? Why is it important?
The fact is, we have been given a sanitized Jesus. He is reimagined in every culture and, at times, co-opted. In our time and place, we have a westernized, American, white-washed Jesus...
a quick google search will give you the visual:
<Jesus pic one>
<Jesus pic two>
Who is this guy? “You’re a fake...you smell like beef and cheese.”
Does that mean we need to get rid of depictions of Jesus...Maybe!
Some of us have this depiction of Jesus as a sweet man who carried lambs everywhere he went. Jesus WAS kind and compassionate but he wasn’t weak!
But then you have a pendulum swing that goes in the other direction:
<Jesus pic three>
He wasn’t a John Wayne figure built out of raw leather wielding guns in a blaze of glory!
In case you just heard me say Jesus was this guy, you also heard wrong! This is ANOTHER false depiction of evangelicalism.
BUT, when you thought of Jesus, did he confront anyone, did do any name calling or flip over any tables? Because Jesus do those things too! There is this other side of Him that engage aggressively with injustice, sin, unrighteousness.
Here’s the shocking thing: when you read the Gospels. Jesus’ honesty and forthrightness is relentless, almost rude.
We need to see, it’s not just his aesthetic that we get wrong. These images and the way Jesus is depicted sinks into our understanding of His personality traits and the values he holds and the way we perceive Jesus shapes our faith:
It shapes the way we relate to Him
It shapes the way we pray to Him
the way we trust Him and
the way we try to IMITATE Him...
...And today, we are going to open the scriptures and look at an example, in one story where Jesus shows redemptive love as he interacts with two very different groups in one story by a unique mixture of compassion AND confrontation. Grace AND Truth!!
Let’s read about this love in John 8:1-11
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman CAUGHT in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was CAUGHT IN THE ACT of adultery.
So they are in the temple, it’s morning, and Jesus is TEACHING. Then a woman, who was caught IN THE ACT of adultery, was presented in the temple.
We don’t know the woman’s situation at all
Patriarchal scenarios at play
...but we know, by Jesus’ later comments, it wasn’t a lie. This woman was, in fact, caught committing adultery.
Have you ever been caught in the act?
I have. I almost lit an entire apartment on fire in 2nd grade.
I had been playing fire and had gotten away with it but this time, it got out of control…
Hid in a storm drain
When I came up, there were fireman, police, ambulances EVERYWHERE!
The firechief just laid into me >
You could have…
juvenile hall
Mom: “Take him to jail, he needs to learn a lesson”
Eventually he said, I’m going to give you a second chance. I think you learned your lesson but, if not,
You know what I did in that moment...at least on the outside?
I held it together. Stone cold
Once they let me go, lots of people were watching the blaze but now they were watching me - anger in their eyes.
They KNEW it was me and I stared right back at every single one of them. I was scared but I couldn’t show it in front of them
Look we’ve all been caught in the act before. Maybe your moment of getting caught involved sneaking a cookie but mine involved a field-fire and the fire chief. AND you have a choice of how you will respond: Fess up or double down. I doubled down in that moment
I’ll come back to this story but let’s go deeper into the situation in John. The woman was caught in the act...
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
Of coarse “stoning” her is the death penalty. It was a brutal punishment that involved throwing large stones at someone until their life ended...beyond that it was the symbol of disgrace because only certain crimes used this type of capital punishment.
When the men ask Jesus about this woman, two things are made clear:
1. First, we know that the men do not care about this woman’s situation, the law of Moses, or righteousness:
Verse 6 reveals they have an agenda! They want to use this woman’s situation to accuse Jesus. She is merely a pawn in their plot to take him down.
BTW, who is missing from this story? The man involved in this adulterous situation is just as guilty according to the law (Lev. 20:10).
Their condemnation is unjustly selective since her partner is absent.
2. Second, this is a trap is this:
If Jesus doesn’t condemn the woman, they have caught him in a violation of the Law of Moses, and he is not a good Jew.
If Jesus condemns he, he violates Roman law which says Jews cannot cary out the death penalty.
It would seem that Jesus is caught up without a right answer at his disposal to give. Let’s keep reading and see what Jesus does...
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
What a WEIRD thing to do...Jesus doesn’t answer them, instead, He starts writing on the ground. You could imagine the people in the room are confused, “up here rabbi!!” but as he does this, there is a window of time - a moment of silence…we don’t know how long but, it’s enough that they question him again. VERSE 7...
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
Did you catch that? Jesus actually GAVE them PERMISSION to stone the woman...with one caveat: they must be able to declare they are without sin themselves...which they COULD NOT DO!
However, if you’re the woman in this moment, you can’t trust these people, and you’re probably going to close your eyes, cover up, and prepare for the first stone to hit here. She is thinking, “This is it. This is where it all ends.”
Something in the moment allowed Jesus to say that with confidence that their response would change:
Perhaps what he wrote in the dirt caused them to change their minds? I mean, what DID he write?
Some say:
The 10 commandments
He wrote down the sins of the accusers showing he KNEW their darkness
Referring to an obscure OTverse
Jesus could have been doodling for all we know...
BUT PERHAPS it was the pause of silence that allowed them to think about what they were doing?
One commentator says this… “Jesus gives them space and time so his words can pierce their hearts. He wants them to judge their own hearts first in order to let the air out of their self-righteousness. The only way to be honest without being judgmental is not by learning a principle, but by going through a process where you reflect, How do I do the same thing?”
Maybe they were CONVICTED as they thought about what they were doing!!
Maybe this was an act of Grace on the accusers and Jesus’ next line is the TRUTH: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” as he resumes writing on the ground.
Jesus’ move is brilliant. Instead of living WITHIN the framework of the scenario these men have presented, he reframes the context and moves in a completely different direction that neither agrees nor disagrees with them.
In fact, he shifts the focus of the entire moment from the woman towards them.
The Jewish New Testament Commentary points out: “Yeshua’s response showed four things:
he was not against the Torah,
he was merciful toward the woman,
he opposed her sin (Exodus 20:13(14)), and
he could silence hecklers & put them to shame (compare Mt 22:46).”
Whatever it is, it seems to have captured them in their own trap or genuinely convicted them to reconsider what they were doing. This is how the men respond to Jesus...verse 9:
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
“The older ones” - Perhaps in their seasons of life, seem to have the wisdom to know they are:
Unable to throw do their understanding they aren’t sinless or
They know they are caught in Jesus’ counter response
Notice: Jesus doesn’t leave the room because he IS without sin but listen to what he says next...
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
INCREDIBLE!
There is profound grace
There is profound truth
Jesus, the only one who is ACTUALLY sinless, the only one who is ACTUALLY able to condemn her…does not do it!
...In an act of profound act of Grace but he also doesn’t leave her to continue in her self-destructive pattern of life...He still speaks the TRUTH.
Holding grace and truth together is so much more difficult than we initially think.
It’s often stated like THIS:
TRUTH without GRACE is LEGALISM and resorts to the law, and capital punishment for correction.
GRACE without TRUTH is LICENSE...eventually it delights in sin.
Jesus was committed to TRUTH and never sacrificed it on the altar of compassion.
MARK READINGS??
Jesus was committed to truth, there is a reason why!!
Truth and Grace must be held together as inseparable b/c either one without the other is dangerous, even deadly!!
JESUS WAS BOTH of these things...in perfect harmony, with perfect motivation, and without even a hint of sin…
In fact, I think they juxtapose each other providing defining characteristics of the other. Pastor Rich Villedos says:
“Grace without truth often perpetuates injustice. Grace without truth often winks at sin. As a matter of fact, when you have grace without truth, you no longer have grace...grace is contingent upon truth. You only understand grace to the degree that you live in truth. Here is the truth, you’re a sinner. Here is the truth, I am a sinner. If you don’t recognize that truth, you can’t receive grace.”
Make sure you realize that Jesus confronts the Pharisees with TRUTH but, if it’s true they came to a sense of conviction, then he displayed GRACE to them as well.
Once again,
profound grace AND
profound truth
Working in tandem together…
1. You need to be a truth-teller because the world needs TRUTH right now! There are times when loving someone means confronting them and truth-telling when they don’t want to hear it.
Not without grace because truth should be driven by love, the hope of redemption, and restoration.
I read a book called Caring Enough to Confront and it said, if there is a confrontation needed, and you can’t wait to be the person who delivers that truth, you are likely not the one who should be doing it.
2. You need TRUTH-TELLERS in your life! Without them in place, you will not grow, you will not progress in you faith, you will be susceptible to your own blind spots, unhealthy cravings, and you are opened up to demonic attack.
Paul Miller says,
“Jesus knows we need to be both compassionate and honest in our relationships. He told his followers to have an honesty that moves toward people. “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you” (Matthew 18:15). Without that honesty, our relationships get weird.”
In the least, your spiritual life is static and you are dead in the water (stopped rowing, no wind, you will spiritually die) but
you may be heading toward a waterfall without a voice in the world to warn you of the danger ahead.
3. You need to receive TRUTH in your life well. We see the different responses in the text:
Pharisees
Adulteress woman
The position of the heart is everything here.
One knows their brokenness and RECEIVES the grace coupled with confrontation.
The others just got caught in their own snare. They came with a dark agenda, no love, no grace, no compassion is present, and Jesus’ confrontation
One of the interesting things about this story is we don’t know what happens next. We have a trajectory but we don’t know for sure:
Did the woman change her ways?
Did the pharisees learn their lesson?
Did they both go back to the ways of life they were walking?
We hope for redemption though, right?
Don’t we? Do we want both parties restored?
That’s a challenge right? I KIND OF want to the accusers to get what’s coming to them!!
I want some poetic justice. To see a scribe trip on his own rock on the way out the door. Look back at Jesus, “did you just...naw?”
I THINK Jesus wanted both parties to be redeemed. I think Jesus BELIEVED:
everyone here COULD change
Not everyone here did:
The people didn’t
The law didn’t
Anytime you resort to the death penalty, you have given up hope that restoration is possible
But I think JESUS believes everyone:
can be restored
Can change their path
Can become a new creation
Can be redeemed
Let me tell what happened to me the second after I got to my apartment from the incident with the fire chief yelling at me. I walked back into my bedroom, leaned back on my door and crumpled to the floor. There was no strength or will left in me to hold it together and cried hard:
I was scared, terrified!
I knew it was stupid,
I was exhausted by the event,
I WAS sorry,
I DIDN’T want all those people to lose their homes and their stuff
I believed I could have gone to jail
I knew I almost died in the storm-drain
...and it all finally came out in one tear soaked, messy moment.
But if I hadn’t gotten caught, if the firechief hadn’t spoken truth and extended grace to me, I probably would have done it again!!
I woke up the next day, not in Jail and knew my days of playing with fire done.
Part of my point is this:
If you had seen me walking back, you wouldn’t have seen repentance, you would have seen a hardened heart and thought, this kid is never going to change.
the environment didn’t give me the opportunity to feel like I could admit what I had done though an internal change had taken place.
The FireChief saw that something was happening, delivered a cocktail of grace and truth (my mom and him were in it together)...he believed I could change and I did.
Jesus believed this woman could change, and I THINK JESUS believed the Pharisees could too.
Thank God, Jesus believed I could change. There have been times in my life that I didn’t think I could change but God did something with me. In fact, the reason I believe anyone can come to know Jesus is because I was as far as I possibly think someone could be from God...but here I stand...BY GOD’S GRACE!!
If we don’t believe GRACE and TRUTH work together and if we don’t believe all can come to know Christ...then we don’t believe the Gospel we preach!
May we be a people who are willing to both act with compassion and tell the truth.
May we be a people who don’t give up hope that redemption is possible even when hope seems slim and change seems unlikely.
May we create an environment where people can admit their sins, expose their darkness, and begin the process of changing.
May we be a people who are constantly changing. May we not dig our heels in on our own sins or openly embrace that which is not righteousness because it’s dangerous!!
God we are all still a work in progress
May we be redeemed, may we be a redemption kind of people and may we leave a wake of redemption behind us in all that we do and every where we go!
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.