No Perfect People

Here is Sermon #4 in our No Perfect People Allowed series. It's been huge in our church. Enjoy reading about Grace!

            We’ve spent the last few weeks examining a wonderful topic. It’s a topic that has impacted my life, and after hearing from some of you, it’s a topic that has impacted your life as well.

            We even had one person come to faith in Jesus last week!!!! WOOO!!

            We’ve been looking at this simple truth: “No Perfect People Allowed.” God doesn’t call the super educated; the super-rich; or even the super good-looking.

            God calls those of us who are willing to admit that we don’t have it all together.

            We’re not celebrating how messed up we are; nor are we saying that we’re content with how we are. We’re simply acknowledging that every one of us needs the Grace of God.

            We all need Jesus to go there in our life. We all need Jesus to deal with that untouchable thing that we’ve been hiding from everyone.

We recognize that this is the perfect church for those of us who aren’t perfect.

We have looked at examples of God calling imperfect people. Three weeks ago we examined Matthew’s story.

He was a tax collector. (Sends chills down my spine) He was despised by everyone.

Then Jesus invades his space, looks at him eyeball to eyeball and says: “Follow me…” (Matthew 9:9, NLT2)

Matthew left all he knew to follow Jesus. He even invited some of his friends to eat with Jesus.

All the religious “freaks”, have a heart-attack, and exclaim: “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” (Matthew 9:11, NLT2)

Why does Jesus do that? Because that’s God!!!!!!

He goes to where imperfect people are, and He calls imperfect people to follow Him!

ILLUSTRATION- I’m not sure about you, but I want a God who will go there in my life. I want a God who’s not afraid to deal with the junk in my life.

I want a God who is willing to take me as I am, and One who will change me into who I need to be.

Jesus is that God. He wants us to come to Him, and unload our junk on Him.

He can handle all that we have to give Him, and we will find that what He has to offer us is sufficient.

For the last two weeks, we have looked at 2 different—but similar—women who had labels; two women who did crazy awesome things in order to find God.

These two women wanted better things for their lives; these two women believed that God could—and would—come to them.

The Bible is full of mind blowing, jaw-dropping expressions of grace. And grace is, as you may know, getting what we don’t deserve.

A tax collector doesn’t deserve Grace. Two hookers don’t deserve Grace. I don’t deserve grace. You don’t deserve grace.

But, remember, grace is getting what we don’t deserve, and our God, the God of the Bible, is a God of grace.

Think about it: if I deserved it, it wouldn’t be grace.

If I could buy it, it wouldn’t be grace.

If I could work for it, it wouldn’t be grace.

Grace is getting what we don’t deserve, and the bible is full of “I got what I didn’t deserve stories. (And the opposite is true as well)

But so is this church.

ILLUSTRATION- I had a conversation this week with someone who shared with me of a dark time in their life, a time when they did something stupid.

But they also shared with me of how the grace of God has taken that event and turned it around into something positive.

            This was an “I went from what I was, to what I am now only because of God’s grace” story.

            And we’ve been looking at stories like this in the Bible to remind us that God calls imperfect people.  

God will welcome anyone who is willing to admit that they are not perfect, even if you happen to be a thief.

            If you have your Bibles with you, turn to Luke chapter 23. 

Just to give you a little context: Jesus “trial” has just ended. Pilate had sentenced Jesus to be crucified.

            A man from Northern Africa by the name of Simon happened to be in the right place at the right time, and he was forced to help Jesus carry the cross to the top of the hill.

            The Bible tells us that 2 other men, “…both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.

³³ When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.

³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

³⁵ The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

³⁶ The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. ³⁷ They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

³⁸ A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹ One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

⁴⁰ But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?

⁴¹ We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”

⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

⁴³ And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:32-43, NLT2)

There is a tremendous amount taking place in this passage. Far too much for us to completely unpack this morning, but I would have you notice that some people that day were gambling. They were gambling for Jesus’ clothes.

Some people in our day are gambling; they are gambling on Jesus being who He said He was, and believing that His life has the power change our forever.

Some people that day were watching. They weren’t doing anything else, just being “innocent bystanders.”

We have some of those people here today. You’re not betting on Jesus, you’re not even betting against Jesus, you’re just watching.

Some people in Jesus’ day were mocking, scoffing and even testing God. They were putting Him to the test: “if you’re the Real Deal: come off that cross”

Amidst all the scoffing, mocking, gambling and the testing, one of the criminals asks Jesus to forgive him. Amazingly enough, Jesus does.

A lot of people have a problem with this. It doesn’t seem fair that this person lived life as he wanted to—as a criminal—and at the last minute he says a prayer and comes to faith in Jesus.

Does this mean that I can life any way that I want too?

 Does it mean that I can live like a pagan all of my life, and then, at the last minute, I can say “I’m sorry God?”

I don’t think it works that way. As far as we know, this was the thief’s first encounter with grace. This was his first time meeting Jesus.

He knows that he’s done wrong---he said to the other criminal on the other side of Jesus: “We deserve to die for our crimes…”(Luke 23:41, NLT2)—

He, for the very first time sees an incredible offer and he’s all in. .                                 ILLUSTRATION- Most of us receive unlimited offers to receive God’s grace. Don’t believe me?

Take your finger and place it just under your nostrils, and breathe.

What do you feel? Air! Right!

If you are still breathing—and most of you are--- then you can still be a recipient of God’s grace. This was the thief’s opportunity, and he received it.

Most of us have no problem accepting grace if it’s offered to us, but we balk when grace is offered to someone else.

But that’s not how grace is supposed to work. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve regardless of who we are or what we—or the other person—has done.

Paul said: “When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.

 ⁵ But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.” (Romans 4:4-5, NLT2)

Grace isn’t something that we earn, or even something we deserve. It’s something we receive, by faith.

The thief knows that he’s messed up; he knows that he’s not perfect; he knows that he needs help; he recognises that he’s got no way out.

Amidst the entire ruckus going on around him, he believes that Jesus is the Messiah and that He is the Key to life.

How do I know this? Look at what he said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”  (Luke 23:42, NLT2)

Jesus gives this man exactly what he didn’t deserve: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43, NIV)

Jesus gave this criminal Grace.

I wonder how many of us need to receive what we don’t deserve. I’m not talking about guilt, punishment and death—we deserve all of those things.

I’m taking about grace. How many of us need to come face to face with the grace of God?

Andy Stanley reminds us that: “Grace is birthed from hopeless inequity. Grace is the offer of exactly what we do not deserve.”

“Thus it cannot be recognized or received until we are aware of precisely how underserving we really are.”

“It is the knowledge of what we do not deserve that allows us to receive grace for what it is. Unmerited. Unearned. Underserved.”

“…grace can only be experienced by those who acknowledge they are underserving.” (Stanley, 2010, xiv)

Of all the people present in the life of Jesus that day, only one person received the grace of God.

Only one person got what he didn’t deserve and found what he could never imagine: paradise.

Please, friends, don’t miss the opportunity to receive the grace of God.

The truth of the matter is we don’t deserve the grace of God. We can’t earn it, we can’t buy it, and we can’t even sell it: we must receive it.

The story of the thief on the cross shows us that God welcomes those who are truly repentant of their sins into the kingdom of God.

God doesn’t want perfect people, He doesn’t want people who think they’ve got it all together, He doesn’t want people who think they are God’s gift to the world; He wants people who are willing to receive His grace in their lives.

As the band comes, I want to make this very personal. If you have received Jesus into your life, you still need God’s grace.

I’m going to ask you to come to the front, stand at the foot of the alter and take a card off the alter that says: “Grace”.

Let this be a reminder to you that you’re not perfect; that you haven’t got it all together.

Let this be a reminder that Jesus still has the power to change your life because of the Grace of God.

If you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you need the Grace as well.

You can come to the Cross and get what you don’t deserve instead of what you do deserve.

You can leave your burdens at the feet of Jesus and pick up something way better, something off the chartsà Grace.

Following Jesus isn’t simply a decision that you make; it’s a lifestyle that you chose, so if you choose to operate in the realm of grace, you respond as we are reminded that our chains are gone, but only by the grace of God.

No Perfect People

This message, is # 3 in our sermon series: "No Perfect People Allowed". I hope you enjoy. As Always, I would love to hear from you!

           

If you have your Bibles with you, let’s turn our attention to our lesson for this morning. We will be looking at Luke 7:36-50:

“One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.

³⁷ When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.

³⁸ Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

⁴¹ Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.

⁴² But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴ Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here.

When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

⁴⁵ You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.

⁴⁶ You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

⁴⁷ “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

⁵⁰ And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (NLT2)

-PRAY-

ILLUSTRATION- Before Christmas, Beth and I hosted the Board members and their spouses over for our annual Christmas supper.

         It’s an informal setting, where we can get together and converse back and forth.

            When the doorbell rang, I welcomed our guests into our house, I took their coats, told them to make themselves at home.

            We fed them a wonderful dinner, served tea and coffee and shared in wonderful—and at times—laughable conversations.

            We welcomed these wonderful people in to our home.

            There were certain things that Simon should have done to make Jesus feel welcome; after all, Simon had invited Jesus to share a meal with him.

            Simon should have kissed Jesus: this would have been an acknowledgement of His arrival.

            Simon should have washed—or have had someone else wash—Jesus’ feet.

            Simon should have given Jesus perfume to anoint Him, because, as John Ortberg points out: “in a world that had a surplus of heat, and a scarcity of deodorant, such a gesture was particularly refreshing.” (Ortberg, 2003, 207)

            Unlike our dinner guests, Jesus received noting. No welcome, no hand sanitizer, no right guard. Zip. Zilch. Not one thing.

            Even though Jesus was well within His rights as a leader of the day, to speak up and demand Simon do what he was supposed to do, Jesus remains silent.

            Simon had God in the flesh sitting in His living room, and He does nothing. Friends, don’t miss this holy moment.

You are sitting in God’s living room. He is inviting you to come to Him, please don’t miss His invitation.

            Simon is just sitting there.

“She”, on the other hand does something.

“She” was an “…immoral woman…” (Luke 7:37a, NLT2). A person with a label; someone who has been despised for a very long time.

            She hears that Jesus is in town, and something inside of her begins to turn; she begins to imagine her life without a label.     

            So, she does something ridiculous, something off the wall. She walks right into Simon’s house, unannounced, kneels down and begins to anoint Jesus’ feet.

            No doubt this woman had seen how Jesus was snubbed by Simon, so she comes in and begins to do all the things that Simon should have done.

            She kneels down to kiss his feet. (Being a prostitute, kissing Jesus on the face would have sent the wrong message, and only God knows how the people in the room would have taken that message)

            She looks into the Eyes of the Master and instead of seeing lust; she sees real love and begins to cry.

            She’s crying, because for the first time, she feels valued, she feels loved.

            As she cries, she notices that Jesus’ feet are wet, so she, yet again, does the unthinkable. She lets her hair down.

            “A woman (in Jesus’ day) always wears her hair up in public. She never allows it to hang loose in mixed company; it is considered too provocative a situation for men to handle.”

            “If a married woman let’s her hair down in front of any man other than her husband, it is grounds for divorce.”  (Ortberg, 2003, 209)

            Once she finishes wiping Jesus’ feet, she takes out her alabaster jar filled with perfume—which would have made her work as a hooker slightly less unpleasant—and she pours out the entire contents on the feet of Jesus.

            Well, as you can imagine, this makes Simon begin to think. “...he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” (Luke 7:39, NLT2)

            Mr. pompous is sitting down judging this woman for doing the very thing that he himself should have done!

            He should have been the one washing, kissing, anointing Jesus, instead he sits in his lazy-boy with his chest puffed out and says of Jesus: “this Guy can’t be the real deal!”

            Knowing his thoughts, Jesus shares with Simon a story about 2 gamblers and their bookie.

            Both men owed their bookie money. Both men couldn’t pay their bookie what they owed. So the bookie decides to forgive their debts and both gamblers are free as a lark.

            Jesus then asks Simon who was the most grateful for the freedom?

            Simon hums and haws, and then says that the one with the bigger debt got the better end of the deal.

            Jesus tells Simon he’s right, and then our text tells us an important detail.

       The Bible tells us in verse 44 that Jesus “…turned to the woman and said to Simon…” (Luke 7:44, NLT2)

            Up until this point, the conversation has been exclusively between Simon and Jesus, but now, Jesus brings the immoral woman into the conversation.

            “By facing one person while addressing another, Jesus is compelling Simon to look where he looks, see what he sees.”

            “He is inviting Simon to see that lying there on his floor is a prized possession of God whose value is beyond all calculation.” (Ortberg. 2003, 211)

            By turning toward this woman, Jesus was reminding the woman—and Simon-- that in the kingdom of God, “no perfect people are allowed”

            By turning toward this woman, Jesus was reminding all of us that anyone can be forgiven of anything.

            Jesus uses the story of an immoral woman to teach Simon a lesson.

            With all the restraint in the world, Jesus points out that Simon should have at least provided water for Jesus.

            Simon should have kissed Jesus; Simon should have anointed Jesus.

            Simon gave nothing to Jesus but the immoral woman gave of the best that she had.

            Then Jesus says: “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” (Luke 7:47, NLT2)

            The immoral woman comes face to face with grace; something she didn’t deserve, but because no perfect people are allowed, she got what she didn’t deserve.

            Simon thinks that he’s the man, but in reality he’s just as guilty as this immoral woman.

            Both people in this story needed God’s grace; both people needed forgiveness.

            Every person in this room today needs grace; every one of us needs forgiveness.

            Perhaps we are that immoral person; perhaps we are Simon, the truth of the matter is we all need the grace of God.  We all need Jesus to go there in our lives.

We all need Jesus to remove our label; we need Jesus to dwell inside of us through the power of His Holy Spirit.

            You see, not a single person on planet earth is prefect, but that’s ok because God uses imperfect people.

ILLUSTRATION- The story is told of a young boy named Teddy Stollard. He was not the kind of kid who got invited to parties.

He slouched in his chair and looked bored most of the time; he only spoke when called upon, and then in monosyllables.

            He never dressed right, he had smelly clothes; he was a rather unattractive boy.

            Whenever his teacher would mark Teddy’s papers she got a certain perverse pleasure out of marking all the wrong answers.

She would put the “F” on top with a little flair. She might have known better, because his history was on record:

            First grade: Teddy is a good boy and shows promise, but has a poor home situation.

            Second grade: Teddy is quiet and withdrawn, his mother is terminally ill.

            Third grade- Teddy is falling far behind. His mother died this year; his father is uninvolved.

            Fourth grade: Teddy is hopelessly backward. His father has moved away and Teddy’s living with an aunt. He is deeply troubled.

            Christmas came, and all the children, brought presents to school. They were carefully wrapped, except for Teddy’s, which was packaged in brown paper and held together with tape and marked: “for Miss Thompson. From Teddy.

            The teacher would open the gifts one by one for the class to admire.

        When she opened Teddy’s it was a rhinestone bracelet with most of the stones missing, and a bottle of perfume that was mostly gone.

            The other children started to laugh, but Miss Thompson caught herself.

Snapping on the bracelet, she said: “Isn’t it lovely, class? And doesn’t the perfume smell good?”

 At the end of the class, Teddy approached her shyly.  “I’m glad you liked my gift, Miss Thompson,” he whispered.  “All day long you smelled like my mother.  And her bracelet looked nice on you, too.” 

After he left, Miss Thompson put her head down on the desk and cried.  She asked God to forgive her. 

She prayed that God would help her to see what He sees when she looks at a motherless boy. 

When the children came back to school the next day, Miss Thompson was a new teacher. She tutored the children who needed extra help, Teddy most of all.

By the end of the year he had caught up with most of his classmates and was ahead of some. 

After that, she didn’t hear from him for quite a while. 

Then one day she received a note: “Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know I am graduating from high school, and I am second in my class.  Love Teddy Stollard.”

Four years later came another note: “Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know I am graduating first in my class.  The university has not been easy, but I liked it.  Love Teddy Stollard. 

Four years later, another note:  “Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know that as of today I am Theodore J Stollard, M.D.  How about that? 

I want you to come sit where my mother would have sat, because you’re the nearest thing to family that I’ve had.  Love,Teddy Stollard.” (Ortberg, 2003,217)

            Friends, these two stories remind us that God sees deep inside of us, that He doesn’t look at what we look at.

            So, I wonder today, where you are on your journey of life? Are you the immoral woman—the Teddy--- full of guilt and shame and completely messed up?

Or are you Simonàfull of yourself and completely messed up?

            Jesus invites both types of people to come just as we are; for He can and He will use us in inconceivable ways.

            Why do we have stories in Scripture of immoral people throwing themselves at the feet of Jesus?

            To remind us that God wants imperfect people to come to Him; and to show us that God’s grace can change any life.

            Do you need God’s grace in your life? The Good news is you can come as you are and talk to God about it and He’ll hear you, and reward you with a new heart.

            It’s ridiculous to think that we can come to God just as we are. It’s awesome to know that when we come to God as we are, we can leave changed because of who He is.

Are you coming to God?

No Perfect People #2

Sorry for the delay. Here is is, # 2 in our series. Enjoy

 

            Last Sunday Morning we kicked off a brand new sermon series here at the Ridge. This series is perfect for each one of us.

It’s perfect for those of us who aren’t perfect—and if you’re keeping notes, that’s every one of us.

The series is called: “No Perfect People allowed” and it is a reminder to all that God will go anywhere to find His children and bring them home.

Just look at Matthew. He was a tax collector. He was despised by his own people.

Then Jesus walks up to him, knowing who he is and what he’s done, and says to him: “Follow me….” (Matthew 9:9c, NIV)

At once, Matthew leaves his old life behind and he is changed forever. God altered Matthew’s life; and God wants to—this very morning--- alter your life.

You see, not a single person in this room is perfect, but God is perfect and He calls all of us to follow Him.

This morning, we are going to look at an Old Testament story of God using an imperfect person—a woman no less—to help accomplish His perfect plan.

This, again, is a reminder, that God will go there in our lives. He will touch that untouchable thing that we hope no one will ever see.

Just as an aside, the person that we are going to examine this morning is mentioned again in the New Testament. One of those places is in the family tree of Jesus.

Again, we have God reminding us that there is no such thing as perfect people.

If you have a Bible, you can follow along by turning to Joshua 2:

“Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.”

So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.

² But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³ So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.”

⁴ Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, “Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from.

⁵ They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.”

 ⁶ (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.)

⁷ So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.

⁸ Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them.

⁹ “I know the LORD has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror.

¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt.

And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.

¹¹ No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.” (NLT2)

the Book of Joshua is, as you may know, the 6^th book of the Old Testament.

The first 5 books are called the Pentateuch. Those books were written by Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Moses was the man chosen by God to lead God’s people out of captivity and into the land that God had promised to give them.

You know friends; this is still God’s pattern today. He wants to take us out of captivity and lead us into freedom.

Paul said: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free….” (Gal. 5:1a, NIV)

God longs to see people set free. This is the message of this church.

Remember our 20x20 challenge? We are asking God for 20 changed lives, we are asking God for 20 baptisms this year.

We are asking for this because God wants to see people come out from captivity and live in freedom!

We don’t have to be stuck in reverse, we can move forward in faith, and with God’s help, this is what we will do.

The last book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy, ends with Moses seeing the Promised Land but not being able to enter in.

We are also told in this book that: “There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.” (Deut. 34:10, NLT2)

Moses was a tough act to follow!

But Joshua, having received a call from God, sends two spies into the land to check it out.

The two spies turn on their GPS’ and head for their first rest stop of the day.

They go directely to this spot, because strange people often frequent this spot.

It’s interesting to note that God was already at work in Rahab’s life. She had heard of Joshua’s God. She had heard about the crazy awesome things that God had done.

She was amazed at how God had opened up the land and parted the Red Sea for the people to walk through.

She had heard about Joshua’s God and was stoked that He was coming to her.

Something inside of her was filled with hope. She had heard of this God and she wondered if this God could change her.

You see up until this point in her life, she was known by her label. We all have labels, and labels are hard to shake.

ILLUSTRATION- growing up in school, I was always known as the “short fat kid”. I was made fun of on a weekly basis, and I was even given a label by some bullies.

            Several people used this label, and it made me super upset because I was labelled in a way that I didn’t want to be.

            Even now, my stomach turns inside of me when I think of all the labels that I had as a kid growing up.

            Rahab had such a label. She was a prostitute. A hooker. A “sex-trade worker.”

            Despite her label, she works for God. Please don’t miss what’s taking place in this story: one of the key characters and the key developments in the story of Israel is God using a foreign prostitute to help pave the way for His people.

            Just as we saw Jesus eating with the sinniest sinners of His day, we see it again: God will go anywhere; God will do anything to bring people who are far from Him back home again.

            God will use anyone to accomplish His perfect plan, even those of us with a label. He used a prostitute to end 40 years of wilderness wandering.

            There are some people who wouldn’t enter a church if they knew a prostitute was there. Israel entered the Promised Land because a prostitute was there.

            God used a woman with a label to teach us an important truth: Anyone can be forgiven of anything!

            God used Rahab as part of His plan. He included her in the family tree of Jesus, and God included her in the Hall of Faith found in Hebrews chapter 11!

            God will go anywhere; God will do anything to bring His children home.

            When the king heard that some strange people enter a strange house, he began to ask questions.     He sent foot soldiers to Rahab’s house to ask her these questions. She lied to these men and sent them out on a wild goose chase.

Rahab took a giant risk. She heard about this God and she believed that He was the real deal and she stuck her neck out for Him.

She beleved that she didn’t have to carry her label one second longer.

She didn’t have to be a hooker for the rest of her life. She believed that God could change her forever.

She even makes a declaration to this fact“…the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11c, NLT2)

Rahab had heard about this God, now she was meeting this God. Rahab realized that she didn’t have to carry her label any more.

Maybe you’re carrying a label today. You’re doing your best to hide it from all of us, but God sees it.

Maybe you’ve tried all the other things that the world has to offer, seeking to get rid of your label, but it still hangs off your neck.

God placed the story of an imperfect woman in the Bible to remind us that He will, that He can, use anyone if they are simply willing to trust in Him.   

Rahab chose to walk away from the label that had defined her life for a long time.

Rahab chose to proclaim that God is the supreme God, and there is no One but Him.

She chose to let go of her past and let God change her forever.

When we are willing to put the past behind us; when we are willing to move forward in faith, we will be able to be used by a perfect God.

Rahab was a prostitute but she was used by God. I was the short fat kid, but I am being used by God.

You might be a tax collector, a thief, a murderer, or an adulterer.

Who you are is not who you have to be. You can be who God says you areà forgiven.

You don’t have to carry your label with you for the rest of your life.

The Blood that Jesus shed for you and for your sins covers your every label; it covers everything you’ve ever done.

This doesn’t mean that we have a free pass to live in sin for the rest of our lives.

Paul said to the Roman church: “…Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom. 6:1-2, NIV)

If you are truly thankful for the grace of God in your life, you will, with help from God’s Holy Spirit, life your life in a way that is pleasing to God.

If your old label happens to show up again, you have the assurance that God’s grace will cleanse you of your sin, because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

God wants us to know that no matter what our label is, He can and will use us for His purposes if we are willing to give Him our label.

No matter what our label is, God can change our lives forever.

No matter what our label is, we can find forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

No matter what we may have done with our lives up to this point, God is ready and willing to use us to alter the course of someone’s history.

You see, the story of Mathew the tax collector, the story of Rahab the prostitute, is the story of God using imperfect people to accomplish His perfect plan.

God will go to great lengths; God will do great things—such as keeping His people in the wilderness for 40 years—to change the life of one woman with a label.

To those of us with a labelà and we all have oneà Has God changed your future by forgiving your past? Has God given you a new label?

It doesn’t matter what you have done, it doesn’t matter who you are, all that matters is that you can, like Rahab, proclaim that God “...is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11c, NLT2)

God uses imperfect people to accomplish great things. He used Matthew, Rahab, me, and He wants to use you.

If you have never exchanged your “sinner” label for a “forgiven” label, this is the time, this is the place.

If you are still dealing with a certain label, even though you have given your life to Jesus, this is the time; this is the place to receive God’s grace once again.

The band is coming to lead us in our prayer time, and as they do, I want you to think about the labels that you are carrying today.

Do you need help getting over your past?  Do you need to shake a certain label?

I want you to know that you can’t do it alone. You need God’s help. You can’t change your past, or your future, without the help of God.

Jesus was given to those of us who need help getting rid of our labels.

There are no perfect people allowed in the kingdom of God, but there will be people who have labels.

Have you, will you, give your label to God?