3-6-11 (CRCF)<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/p>\n
Renee Schlaepfer
\nEvery single person you see needs a dose of hope today.<\/p>\n
Serena Woods<\/p>\n
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 \u201d\u2122self\u201d\u2122 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.
\nWhen 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\u201d\u00a6This 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.<\/p>\n
There is a lady we meet in John\u201d\u2122s Gospel that understood just how Serena felt\u201d\u201dand maybe just how you feel this morning\u201d\u00a6<\/p>\n
A Heart Like Mine
\nJohn 8:1-12<\/p>\n
We can spread our hope by showing folks that Jesus welcomes them\u201d\u201dno matter what.<\/p>\n
John 8:1-12 (MSG)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
So, the religious hypocrites try to interrupt Jesus\u201d\u2122 teaching by dragging in a half-naked woman!<\/p>\n
My question: Where is the man? Adultery takes two!
\nSeems like a set up\u201d\u201dlike 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\u201d\u201dso why didn\u201d\u2122t they drag him in too?<\/p>\n
Donald Miller<\/p>\n
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\u201d\u2122s 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\u201d\u00a6 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?<\/p>\n
I agree with Mr. Miller: that self-righteousness can lead to sins more conniving and malicious than adultery! That\u201d\u2122s not to downplay the woman\u201d\u2122s sin\u201d\u201dJesus calls a spade a spade, as we\u201d\u2122ll see. But I think that you\u201d\u2122ll 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!
\n6-8 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him.
\nJesus 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\u201d\u2122s not it at all! We don\u201d\u2122t know what he wrote\u201d\u00a6but I believe that it was pertinent to the situation at hand. [FREE Slide]
\nHe straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.
\n9-10 Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest.
\nSuddenly, these who have had so much to say are speechless. Suddenly, those who had schemed to get Jesus into a \u201close-lose\u201d situation now find themselves with no way to come out on top!
\nDon\u201d\u2122t mess with Jesus! Don\u201d\u2122t play games with Him\u201d\u201dyou cannot win\u201d\u201dever! He\u201d\u2122ll deal a card that you didn\u201d\u2122t even know was in the deck!
\nAnd this stuff still happens today in churches!
\nDonald Miller
\nWhen Christian leaders do this sort of thing, they play into Satan\u201d\u2122s little trap, trying to associate Jesus with verbal intimidation\u201d\u00a6by preaching a \u201cgospel of being right\u201d and a \u201cgospel of right actions\u201d, not the true gospel of grace!
\nThe woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”
\n11 “No one, Master.”
\n“Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”
\nDonald Miller
\nI am grateful Jesus didn\u201d\u2122t intimidate people with his righteousness\u201d\u00a6How amazing is it that the one truly righteous man in all of history had a kind of righteousness that didn\u201d\u2122t 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\u201d\u2122d say the latter outnumbers the former ten to one, at least\u201d\u00a6.
\nJesus removed all the illegitimate accusers\u201d\u201dthose fellow sinners who had no right to accuse and condemn her!
\nAnd then, Jesus, as the one and only legitimate accuser, extends grace to this woman!
\nHe does NOT condone her sin or pretend it\u201d\u2122s OK. He calls it sin and says that He chooses not to condemn her\u201d\u201dwe know, because of the fact that He would soon pay for her sin on the cross.
\nWhat a powerful, public demonstration of what grace really is! Grace is all about the love and mercy and righteousness of JESUS\u201d\u201dand therefore, it can be\u201d\u201dand IS\u201d\u201din all holiness\/justice extended to ALL, no matter what!
\nWe can spread our hope by showing folks that Jesus welcomes them\u201d\u201dno matter what.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
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\u201d\u201dlove and transformation!<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/p>\n
I want to close with a country music video that captures the truth of this story we\u201d\u2122ve looked at today:<\/p>\n
A Heart Like Mine (Miranda Lambert)<\/p>\n
I ain\u201d\u2122t the kind you take home to mama
\nI ain\u201d\u2122t the kind to wear no ring
\nSomehow I always get stronger
\nWhen I\u201d\u2122m on my second drink<\/p>\n
Even though I hate to admit it
\nSometimes I smoke cigarettes
\nChristian folks say I should quit it
\nI just smile and say \u201cGod bless\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201d\u02dcCause I heard Jesus, He drank wine
\nAnd I bet we\u201d\u2122d get along just fine
\nHe could calm a storm and heal the blind
\nAnd I bet He\u201d\u2122d understand a heart like mine<\/p>\n
Daddy cried when he saw my tattoo
\nSaid he\u201d\u2122d love me anyway
\nMy brother got the brains of the family
\nSo I thought I\u201d\u2122d learn to sing<\/p>\n
\u201d\u02dcCause I heard Jesus, He drank wine
\nAnd I bet we\u201d\u2122d get along just fine
\nHe could calm a storm and heal the blind
\nAnd I bet He\u201d\u2122d understand a heart like mine<\/p>\n
I\u201d\u2122ll fly away
\nFrom it all one day
\nI\u201d\u2122ll fly away<\/p>\n
These are the days that I will remember
\nWhen my name\u201d\u2122s called on the roll
\nHe\u201d\u2122ll meet me with two long-stemmed glasses
\nMake a toast to me coming home<\/p>\n
\u201d\u02dcCause I heard Jesus, He drank wine
\nAnd I bet we\u201d\u2122d get along just fine
\nHe could calm a storm and heal the blind
\nAnd I bet He\u201d\u2122d understand a heart like mine<\/p>\n
Oh, yes He would<\/p>\n
We can spread our hope by showing folks that Jesus welcomes them\u201d\u201dno matter what.<\/p>\n
Jesus understands a heart like mine\u201d\u00a6a heart like yours!<\/p>\n
Communion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading