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?