This week, meeting at church on Sunday morning at 11 am for a worship service, and on Tuesday 5:30-7 pm for Food Pantry. The message for this week is about forgiveness: the miracle that can turn the people with the most shame into the people with the most love and gratitude.
https://youtu.be/OX4EqoFchBI
Call to Worship; Luke 7:31-35
31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
Tithe, Prayer Concerns, and Invitation; Father in Heaven, even though we are full of sin and doubt, we come to you in confidence of your forgiveness, if we will only renounce our guilt and try harder to walk in your footsteps. Thank you for our very being. Please accept our offering of ourselves as your tools in this hurting world. Amen!
Message Reading; Luke 7:36-50
36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured 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 who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Message; “Miracles of Forgiveness”
I know a guy who has spent the last forty years rehashing the same fights, the same old injustices perpetrated upon him, the same unfairness that life has thrown his way. All of it in his mind, is a vast celestial conspiracy to make his life miserable. Through it all he has remained steadfast in his faith, knowing his greater truths in life and unwavering in his determination to stand firm in the paths of his adversity. It’s just that his faith is revenge, his adversities are all those people against him, and his greater truth is he who laughs last, laughs best!
Another problem is that all of the key players in his conspiracy, do not know about his pain, mental anguish, or that he has carried around this acrid, putrid, caustic sludge that we call; “a payback mentality”. A recipe of vileness that has been corroding the vessel carrying it (our friend in pain), for years.
Outside he looks almost normal, but on the inside, he has descended into a mockery of himself. Making one think of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings, with his precious being hatred and revenge, mixed with alcohol, prescription meds, and binges of watching Japanese wrestling, Animal Planet and 1975 reruns of Roller Derby featuring Los Angeles T-birds taking on all evil, anywhere.
But this person is not alone. In fact, if you think he is “out there”, just how “out there” is it to carry all that hurt and hate inside for so long, that it begins to ooze out of the pours, unnoticed by the occupant? You? Cuz I know I am not alone.
Fact is, we are all in need of grace from the Lord, and each other. To be able to call out to God; Lord please heal my pain! It’s just that I can’t help wondering if God is answering my prayers, but I because of all of the distractions of ego, fear and hate, indeed hurt, that am carrying around… I am not even available to hear God’s answers.
I believe the Lord is alluding to that very thing in today’s Call to Worship reading from; Luke 7:31-35
31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
I guess He could compare them to the people of our own generation as well, calling but not listening. That there are people who just don’t get it, because they don’t want to get it.
You could make the case that a whole lot of people in each generation are like children that refuse to play well with others, regardless of the game. These children just never seemed to learn to play nicely on recess at school. Just like children on recess they grow up to be dissatisfied with other people, or the outreaches of the Lord. Regardless of how God reaches out to each of us.
When God uses conservative resources (Denominations, Cathedrals, Priest/Preachers, pageantry, liturgy, and ceremony; Brimstone and Fire) there are people who are not moved. When the Lord uses gentle approaches and resources (Faithwalks, Churches, Evangel/Pastors, contemporary music, hugs and handshakes; Love and Kindness), the same people are still not available spiritually. And then use any excuses readily available; too loud, too soft, unmanly, too fiery, not enough music, too much music, too much Bible thumping, not Biblically centered. Pastor has a beard, pastor is a woman, has an accent, didn’t tell me I was OK, too pure, not pure enough; yada, yada, yada!!!
Well, Good News. There is something out there for everyone, and if our Church doesn’t have what someone is looking for, there is a Church down the street or prayer group that might just be the answer. So, there is really no excuse of not accepting the miracle of forgiveness from and then a relationship with our Lord, within a faith community that supports your needs of worshiping God!
But if we are living and acting like children and just playing at worshipping God, we will not recognize God’s truth, the Lord’s voice in things because we are not available to His wisdom. To be children of His wisdom. Not seriously engage in a relationship with the Lord. Your relationship, not mine or anyone else’s. And that is the Good News of the Gospel. God wants a one-of-a-kind relationship in and with you.
That’s when you will find that worship that is not too loud and not too soft, but just right, and if you don’t; you will build a worship service with the Lord to worship the Lord. So again there is no excuse that a “just right” service doesn’t exists. God place you here for a reason. Maybe your church is looking for leadership from you, to help it grow into something more substantial, with more meaning for you, and people like you!
Perhaps there are people who just don’t believe that they need to be in relationship with the Lord because hey they “are good people”. Whatever that means. You know that person who only sins a little, so maybe what’s really needed is just an occasional tune-up on Christmas Eve or Easter and then were good to go for another year. (“Wouldn’t want to go overboard on the God thing…”) Especially if I don’t need to because I haven’t done anything really bad in weeks, or around that long in time. I think… Well, anyway, there are really bad people out there who need to go to church.
Correct! And here we are. Our Church meets because we are those people who are sinners and we know we need to be in a faith community, and to be forgiven, just like the woman in today’s Message Reading, who washed the Lord’s feet with her tears then kissed them. We’ll pick up the passage from Luke 7:40-43;
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
You see this story comes after Simon the Pharisee has been thinking to himself that the sinful woman is not worth a righteous man’s time of consideration. That a real Prophet of God would know who she was and would not have allowed himself to be touched and defiled by her.
Jesus is teaching Simon that things don’t quite measure up like that in real life with God. By Simon’s standards (who is not loving his neighbor as himself) A Prophet should be even more cautious of his company, (the unmerciful Pharisee). Like the average debtor in both large and small debts, the Lord is about the forgiving business. God forgiving us, and through us forgiving others.
Miracles in the making. An initial blessing has already been given the woman in knowing that she is a sinner and represented in her actions, putting her leagues/mile ahead of our self-righteous Pharisee. The guy who reminds me of a proverb from Proverbs 27:7 One who is full loathes honey from the comb,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.
In other words, he is so full of himself that real honey from the Lord is just bitter to the taste, When in fact scraps from the Lord’s Table are better than anything. Well, the Lord is not serving scraps, but if He is, count me in, along with our woman of repent in this passage! And please add me to those begging mercy and forgiveness on any given day. Truth is I need both from God, and you. I live, dwell, and thrive from the mercies I receive from God and you. We all do, in a healthy Faithwalk!
The real majesty of the Forgiveness Miracle is when we begin to realize just how much God is forgiving us in our own individual lives, including the lives of the people we have looked down upon in the past. Our passage continues with verse 44;
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
I guess the first thing that comes to my mind in this passage is to question just what was going on in the mind of the woman. Please forgive me, but in our society and living in modernity we have a hard time even thinking about kissing someone else’s feet or demeaning ourselves in front of an audience. Meaning that I need to dive deep into the pools of humility, and remember just what God is offering and what my ego, fears, and hurt, are stealing away from me. Or, who God is and what I am not!
Once I am willing to step back and recognize my sin life for what it is, death, I am now ready to begin the process of thinking clearly. Now I am ready to accept the fact that I own a world of debt, and that debt is sin of my own making and responsibility. Not the people who I have been holding a grudge for all these years, not the people I blame for my inadequacies, or my failures. Me. You see, once I can own my own sin, I am now able to attack it head on, and then move on.
Oh, and to realize that pile of my sin, represents how much the Lord loves me by forgiving that sin! Now I am beginning to understand the mountains of love coming my way, and it’s getting harder to carry a grudge when I have been given so much. Let it go!
The woman in this passage has placed her ego where it belongs in the refuse bin of her history and has moved on to live well in her humble yet majestic future in the Lord. How about you?
Our Passage ends with the Lord’s concluding word;
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
In this case I think “going in peace” means going with peace of mind that your sins are forgiven like her; because her faith lead her to have hope in the Lord, her love helped her focus on the Lord in the midst of the Pharisee and his friends, and her trust in Him, will now help her own the miracle which is her new life.
You see once I own my sin, realize it’s my own fault, then I am in a position to own the miracle. In this case forgiveness. Owning the miracle is a massage for another time, but briefly:
- If I was a prostitute, I now need to find other work, and help others to…
- If I was a blind beggar, now with sight, I need to find a job, and help others…
- If I was a bad husband drunk each night, I now need to learn to live differently, and lead others…
- If I was a spendaholic, I now need to account for myself to others.
- If I thrived on fighting with others, I need to find other outlets, and ask forgiveness of others…
The list is endless, because our desire to act like the children who Jesus was comparing his generation to in today’s Call to Worship, is endless.
My hope for you this week as you discover yourselves more fully in the Lord, is that you own your sin, then own the miracles the Lord conquers sin with, forgiveness! And let your humility drive your forgiving others in your life.
Amen!
Our Benediction, reemphasizes the miracles that come through our suffering from the sin that we own.
Benediction is based on Romans 5:1-4
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.