3-6-11 (CRCF)
Introduction
Renee Schlaepfer
Every single person you see needs a dose of hope today.
Serena Woods
I grew up on the streets. An outsider to the church culture. A vagrant surviving on the defiant spit of the stubborn will to live. When I became a Christian at nineteen, I was still an outsider in a world of insiders. They were all being groomed at Christian Universities and I was a single mom running from myself and raising a baby on grace. When my ”™self”™ caught up to me and my moral sheen got scratched beyond recognition in the hellish tumble of sin, I was booted out of the meeting places.
When I was out on my own with grit in my teeth and dried blood in my hair, I watched them all walk out on the Truth. They formed picket lines and petitioned for my death. Whispers of gossip and rocks of condemnation were hurled at my head and I searched for a place to find a shield of safety”¦This is the Christian sub-culture today. This is what the world sees and wants no part of. This current dilemma has been played over and over like a broken record of scriptures throughout history.
There is a lady we meet in John”™s Gospel that understood just how Serena felt””and maybe just how you feel this morning”¦
A Heart Like Mine
John 8:1-12
We can spread our hope by showing folks that Jesus welcomes them””no matter what.
John 8:1-12 (MSG)
1-2 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. 3-6The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.
So, the religious hypocrites try to interrupt Jesus”™ teaching by dragging in a half-naked woman!
My question: Where is the man? Adultery takes two!
Seems like a set up””like they had perhaps recruited some guy off the street to get this unfaithful woman to commit adultery with him so that they can bust in and catch him in the act and drag her to Jesus! By the way, the law that they refer to also condemns the man involved in adultery””so why didn”™t they drag him in too?
Donald Miller
Did Jesus have enemies? Did some people not like Him? Yes. People who used the ancient texts to lord over others with the tools of fear and shame and public humiliation and accusation were the enemies of Christ. To think those enemies of Christ do not still exist today in an evangelical context, even using Christ”™s name and hiding behind His cause of the gospel, would be naive. Jesus never controls anybody. He states truths, and is okay with the chaos it creates. Control is the enemy of relationship, and of love. The Gospel is about relationship and love, not force”¦ Will you consider the idea that the temptations have not changed, that we are still more tempted by self-righteousness and pride than by anything else?
I agree with Mr. Miller: that self-righteousness can lead to sins more conniving and malicious than adultery! That”™s not to downplay the woman”™s sin””Jesus calls a spade a spade, as we”™ll see. But I think that you”™ll agree that the focus of this passage is just as much on the wicked, anti-grace manipulation of the religious leaders as it is on the sin of the woman!
6-8 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him.
Jesus pauses in a sovereign stall. He appears to be ignoring them. Or, it seems that He is defeated and unable to answer their question. But that”™s not it at all! We don”™t know what he wrote”¦but I believe that it was pertinent to the situation at hand. [FREE Slide]
He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.
9-10 Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest.
Suddenly, these who have had so much to say are speechless. Suddenly, those who had schemed to get Jesus into a “lose-lose” situation now find themselves with no way to come out on top!
Don”™t mess with Jesus! Don”™t play games with Him””you cannot win””ever! He”™ll deal a card that you didn”™t even know was in the deck!
And this stuff still happens today in churches!
Donald Miller
When Christian leaders do this sort of thing, they play into Satan”™s little trap, trying to associate Jesus with verbal intimidation”¦by preaching a “gospel of being right” and a “gospel of right actions”, not the true gospel of grace!
The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”
11 “No one, Master.”
“Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”
Donald Miller
I am grateful Jesus didn”™t intimidate people with his righteousness”¦How amazing is it that the one truly righteous man in all of history had a kind of righteousness that didn”™t make people feel bad about themselves? In fact, stop reading this for a second and count the characters in scripture that rejected Jesus because they wanted to go on sinning? Now count the characters that rejected Him because of their religious hangups and self-righteousness. I”™d say the latter outnumbers the former ten to one, at least”¦.
Jesus removed all the illegitimate accusers””those fellow sinners who had no right to accuse and condemn her!
And then, Jesus, as the one and only legitimate accuser, extends grace to this woman!
He does NOT condone her sin or pretend it”™s OK. He calls it sin and says that He chooses not to condemn her””we know, because of the fact that He would soon pay for her sin on the cross.
What a powerful, public demonstration of what grace really is! Grace is all about the love and mercy and righteousness of JESUS””and therefore, it can be””and IS””in all holiness/justice extended to ALL, no matter what!
We can spread our hope by showing folks that Jesus welcomes them””no matter what.
12 Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.”
Jesus give us light for living a different way after we come to know His grace and love! And THAT is what hope is all about””love and transformation!
Conclusion
I want to close with a country music video that captures the truth of this story we”™ve looked at today:
A Heart Like Mine (Miranda Lambert)
I ain”™t the kind you take home to mama
I ain”™t the kind to wear no ring
Somehow I always get stronger
When I”™m on my second drink
Even though I hate to admit it
Sometimes I smoke cigarettes
Christian folks say I should quit it
I just smile and say “God bless”
”˜Cause I heard Jesus, He drank wine
And I bet we”™d get along just fine
He could calm a storm and heal the blind
And I bet He”™d understand a heart like mine
Daddy cried when he saw my tattoo
Said he”™d love me anyway
My brother got the brains of the family
So I thought I”™d learn to sing
”˜Cause I heard Jesus, He drank wine
And I bet we”™d get along just fine
He could calm a storm and heal the blind
And I bet He”™d understand a heart like mine
I”™ll fly away
From it all one day
I”™ll fly away
These are the days that I will remember
When my name”™s called on the roll
He”™ll meet me with two long-stemmed glasses
Make a toast to me coming home
”˜Cause I heard Jesus, He drank wine
And I bet we”™d get along just fine
He could calm a storm and heal the blind
And I bet He”™d understand a heart like mine
Oh, yes He would
We can spread our hope by showing folks that Jesus welcomes them””no matter what.
Jesus understands a heart like mine”¦a heart like yours!
Communion