Live Free with Josh Howerton - Jesus Stoops Down | Ep. 266 | Monday, February 12, 2024

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

Start your week with us in John 8, where the Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus in an attempt to trap Him. Despite the Pharisees' selfish motivation to use the woman for their own purposes, Jesus saw this woman with love and stooped down to her. Jesus does the same with you and me. No matter what ditch you find yourself in, He will be with you. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, hope you had a great weekend. Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive podcast. My name is Mike and we hang in God's word for a few minutes every weekday. And I pray that this time together fills you with hope and helps you get to know Jesus better. And you know what? Some of us have been walking with Jesus for a long time. And some of us are just starting out. So whatever mile marker you might be on right now, God is absolutely thrilled that you're walking his direction. We've been walking through what's called the Gospel of John. And again, gospel simply means the good news. about Jesus, and we are in John chapter 8 today. And this story just may be my favorite one in the entire Bible.

It's my favorite because of the way it blows away any misperceptions you might have of what God is like. So let me just set the scene for the story. Words like, embarrassed, ashamed, guilty, exposed, dirty, filthy, broken, used, trapped, worthless, afraid. Those words describe her. Words like arrogant, proud, self-righteous, judgmental, angry, sinister, scheming, treacherous, abusive, heartless. That was them. Calm, composed, compassionate, and in complete control, that was him. John Chapter 8, here we go.

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives. But early the next morning he was back again at the temple. A crowd soon gathered and he sat down. and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. Teacher, they said to Jesus. This woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say? They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him. Now, Jesus often taught out in front of the temple. The Pharisees knew that there would be a big crowd there, lots of witnesses.

You see these religious leaders that all been trying to get rid of it. Jesus for a while now. This was all a big political game to them. They were trying to destroy his credibility with the people. If Jesus were to say that the woman should not be stone, they could accuse him of violating the letter of Moses law. If he were to urge them to go ahead and execute her, they would report him to the Romans who did not permit the Jews to carry out their own executions. So Jesus was fully aware that this was nothing but a trap. Also, Jewish law required that they bring both the man and the woman. So where's the guy?

This is obviously a big setup. I don't know. Maybe they paid off a Roman soldier since he wasn't under Jewish religious laws. We'll give you a hundred bucks. If you can seduce and sleep with that girl. What girl? That one. Done. They knew that she had that kind of reputation, so she would be easy prey.

However it all played out. They set up the whole thing. I mean, how else do you catch someone in the act? They knew who she was, where she would be and at what time. They just used her. You know the Pharisees did that a lot. They always used and devalued people. Their extreme legalism blinded them to the grace of God and to the worth of other people. They cannot see the intrinsic worth of this girl. They just use her as a pawn in their religious chess game, like the sex traffickers of our day. They have no concern for her,

no use for her. She's only a means to their end. So they set her up, they grab her in the act, pull her out of the house, drag her through the streets of probably nothing on the sheet, she tries to grab in desperation on her way out, and they throw her down in the dirt in front of all these people. And Jesus. Matt Chandler tells us about a time when he was a freshman in college, and he became friends with a young single mom who really wanted to begin to know God, so one night he and some friends invited her to go to a Christian concert with them, and she went along. After the concert, the preacher got up and said he was going to be talking about sexual purity. And at the beginning of the sermon, held up a rose and talked about how this was the perfect rose, beautiful with all of its petals

and leaves. He said, this rose smells beautiful. Then he threw it into the crowd and told them to pass it around and smell it. Then he started ranting about sexual sin in a very angry, accusatory, judgmental kind of way. Then after the rose had been passed all the way through the audience, he asked for the rose from the last person who had it, and by now it was broken and a bunch of petals were gone, et cetera. And he announced to the crowd, no one would want this rose now. It's been touched by everybody. Who would want a rose like this? Who would buy a rose like this?

Matt said he was squirming in his seat and looked over at his new friend who had her head down now. Tears in her eyes, clearly wanting to disappear. He said he wanted to stand up and scream. Jesus would. Jesus would want that rose. Jesus would pay anything for it. And he would. Gang, here's one of the coolest verses in the entire Bible.

Four words that might forever change the way. way you have seen God. Verse 6. But Jesus stooped down. Isn't it cool? Jesus stooped down. Why? Because that's where she was. That's where she was. He got down on her level. Everyone else is towering judgmentally over her. She sits the shame down the dirt. She's just trying to cover up her nakedness. Just grab some dignity. She's scared of death. And Jesus stooped down. He does that, you know. Jesus stooped down. Jesus stooped down. to meet you and me right where we are gets right down in the dirt with us isn't that a cool thought that god gets down and dirty with us some of you think that god towers over you with

holy wrath disappointed in you ready to drop the hammer of judgment on you just the contrary god stoops down he gets down into the dirt and filth of our world right into the shame and regret of our lives in the middle of our hurts in the middle of our hang-ups in the middle of our habits and if you would look up, you'd find him there. And I pray you'll do that today. And then come back tomorrow and we'll pick up right here. Hope you have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint. church slash daily drive.