Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Oops, haha...

So I just realized I forgot to post about last week. I apologize for that! Last week we had 43 people show up for CSF, which was once again a great joy to see that many people come out to worship God with other people and to fellowship with one another. We continued the series on "10 Things Jesus Never Said" and the topic for the sermon was "You're Too Far Gone To Be Saved." This is probably the biggest lie that I've heard people buy into, both Christians and non-Christians alike, so I was pretty excited that this was in fact the first major topic that's not accurate to what Jesus taught to be addressed.

The first thing we addressed, is the misconception that some people convince themselves of, believing that some sins are greater than other sins, and because of their past, there's no way that God could forgive them. I explained to them that God doesn't see sin in the same way that we do. He sees all sin as just that, sin. We are all on the same playing field. Paul explains this very simply:

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3.23 (NLT))


James also spoke on the matter.

“For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.” (James 2.10-11 (NLT))


After we established the grounds that not any one of us is better off than another, we went into looking at how Jesus reacted to a sinner who was caught in the very act of their sin.

“Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”” John 8.1-5 (NLT)

My first question has always been, where's the guy?!?! We're not given an answer in the text, but I've often wondered where he had gotten off to. These Pharisees and teachers of the law were crafty. They weren't dumb. They put Jesus in a horribly difficult position. Here He was faced with a question which demanded one of two possible answers:


1.    Agree with the mob and the Law and condemn the woman, and in doing so destroying his message of grace and forgiveness; or
2.    Pardon her, and undermine the very Law that He claimed to love and support.


How did Jesus respond?

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.” John 8.6 (NLT)

These guys were probably like, "WHAT IS THIS GUY DOING?!?! STOP STALLING!!!" I wonder if Jesus implemented this tactic to take the focus off of the woman. She was standing there in front of everyone, probably naked, and full of shame and disgrace. We aren't told what Jesus wrote in the dust, but I just wonder the this whole action was to have these people to stop focusing on this woman's sin and focus on Jesus. It's when we stop looking at and accusing other people of their sin and fix our eyes on Jesus, that we are able to see and identify our own sins that are keeping us away from Him. When Jesus didn't respond to their question, but simply just got down and started drawing in the dirt, everyone would have been wondering what He was doing. (Just try it next time you're with a group of people and you're asked a question. Let me know what happens... =)...)

“They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”” John 8.7-15 (NLT)

Jesus wasn't an idiot. He outsmarted them and put them in their place. When He was left alone with the woman, He didn't yell at her, He simply said "Neither do I [condemn you]. Go and sin no more." Jesus was compassionate, and willing to forgive this woman rather than kill her.

This is the same Jesus that died and rose again for you and for me. If He did all of this to give you the opportunity to be saved, why would He then refuse to forgive you if you are willing to forsake you life of sin, and give everything over to Him?

I want to end with this passage from 1 John:

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” 1 John 1.5-10 (NLT)


“God doesn’t see sins, he sees the sinner. He doesn’t see a murderer, a liar, a gossip, a slanderer, a drug addict, or a lazy person. He sees people in need of grace. And he sent his Son into the world to deal with the root cause of our symptoms – sin.” - Will Davis Jr.

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