Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Who's the Sinner?

Episode Date: March 23, 2020

Want to join our 4-week Zoom Bible Study, "Are we living in the end times?" https://info.thecrossingchurch.com/zoom-online-bible-studies (Sign-up today). We start Friday April 3 from 12:00-12:30 with a 15-minute Q&A afterward. "That's good news to all of us because all of us have a little bit of Simon living inside of us. All of us have a little bit of Pharisee inside of us." It's easy to judge the Pharisees for questioning Jesus. But then we become just like them: condemning other sinners. And, when we do that, we're belittling God's grace while forgetting our own sins. Jesus came for the sinners, and that included the Pharisees—and that includes us too. Listen to the story that's had the biggest impact in https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/keith-simon/ (Keith's) life as we continue our series on https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcast-series/how-to-follow-jesus/ (Learning to Follow Jesus). Interested in more content like this? Check out these episodes: https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/what-keeps-people-from-following-jesus-learning-to-follow-jesus-luke-5-27-32/ (What Keeps People From Becoming a Christian) and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/what-does-a-christian-look-like-learning-to-follow-jesus-luke-6/ (What Does a Christian Look Like?) To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TheCrossingCOMO (Facebook), https://www.facebook.com/TheCrossingCOMO (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO.  Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're learning how to follow Jesus by working our way through the Gospel of Luke. Before the episode starts, I want to invite you to a special online-only event with Keith and I. We are going to be doing a lunch Bible study on Friday, April 3rd, from 12 to 1230. We're going to do this for four weeks, actually. and we're going to be asking the question, are we living in the end times?

Right now, I'm getting so many questions from people who are actually literally asking the question. You know is coronavirus a sign of the times? Or they're just wondering, what does the Bible say about these kinds of things? There's a lot of questions, a lot of misconceptions. We're going to address those. Again, we're going to put a link to that online event right at the top of our show notes. Pause it right now. Click that link, sign up today.

And you can join us on April 3rd from 12 to 1230 and a few weeks. afterwards. In just a moment, we're going to dive into a story at the end of Luke chapter 7. And I just want to tell you up front that this story has probably made a bigger impact in my marriage, and my parenting, in my relationships with coworkers or with friends than any other story in the whole Bible. And what's weird about that is that this story, as you'll soon see, is not a story about marriage or parenting or relationships with coworkers or anything like that. This is a story about God's grace. It's a story about forgiveness.

It's a story about our sin and feeling the weight of our sin. And how understanding those truths changes how we see ourselves and how we see God and how we see other people. And therefore changes our relationships with everyone we come into contact with. In Luke chapter 7, verse 36, begins a story about a Pharisee named Simon, no relationship with me, by the way, who invites Jesus over to have dinner with him. And so Jesus is there reclining at a table, partaking in this meal, and a woman in the town who is said to have had a sinful life heard that Jesus was coming. So she walks into this party with an alabaster jar of perfume.

And she comes up to Jesus and she begins to wipe his feet. She wipes her feet with her tears, she dries them with her hair, she kisses his feet, and she pours this perfume, this alabaster jar of perfume all over Jesus's feet. So this Pharisee, who had invited Jesus, when he sees all this go down, he says to himself in verse 39, 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. So Jesus knows what Simon's thinking. And so he says, look, Simon, I've got a story to tell you. And he tells him a story about two people who owe money to someone. One owed him 500 denari and the other 50. Now think of that as a large sum of money versus not much at all. So we might say that one person owed him a million dollars and the other person owed him $100. It says neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now, which one of them will love him more? And Simon the Pharisee thinks about it and says, well, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven. And Jesus says, you have judged correctly. Then Jesus turns toward the woman and says to Simon,

do you see this woman? Because when I came into your house, you didn't give me any water from my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't give me a kiss, but this woman has not stopped kissing my feet. You didn't put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Now, here's a key verse, verse 47. Jesus says, therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. Jesus is invited to this dinner party at Simon's house, but we kind of get the idea that maybe this Pharisee is suspicious of Jesus. And we get that impression because when Jesus shows up at this party, he's treated very rudely. If you came to my house or I came to yours, there are certain cultural

customs or courtesies that we would offer each other. We might say, hello, come in, take off your coat. Would you like a seat? You want something to drink. But if I didn't offer any of those to you, you might rightly say that I treated you rudely when you came to my house. Well, when Jesus entered into Simon the Pharisees' house, the very minimum that would have been expected was that he would be greeted with a kiss, maybe some water for his feet and olive oil to wash himself. And yet, no one offered him any of these cultural common courtesies. So Jesus probably was thinking, this is not a place that I'm welcome. But Jesus doesn't freak out.

He's okay with that. he reclines the table to partake in a meal with these people who are very suspicious of him. Now, these dinner parties were not private. Often the doors of the house were kept open and uninvited townspeople were free to wander around and listen into the conversation. But we're told about a particular woman. She goes unnamed in this story. And we don't know much about her other than she had a reputation for living a sinful life.

Some people have read that to mean that she was a person. prostitute. Maybe, but that's far from certain. All we know is that she had earned a bad reputation, and it seems that somewhere along the way she had heard Jesus teach and had been deeply moved by his message. This woman had been standing around the outside watching this dinner party, and she noticed that when Jesus came, that he was denied all the traditional courtesies. So she tried to provide for them, except in a much humbler way. They had refused water for his feet, so she washed his feet with tears. They didn't offer him the kiss of peace, so she kisses his feet.

They didn't offer him olive oil to wash with, so she poured out her perfume all over his feet. Now all of this is ruining Simon's plan, because Simon and his friends were rude to Jesus on purpose. They were trying to humiliate him. They wanted to put him on the defensive. they wanted to evaluate him. They wanted to put him in his place. But because of this woman, he is receiving special honor. And it's clear that she's doing all this because she loves him. She had been rejected and judged, but now in Jesus God had accepted her. So yeah, she's pretty emotional. She starts crying and kissing his feet because she adores him. And Jesus doesn't turn away from her.

He's not embarrassed by her sins. He doesn't play the game of conventional morality by condemning some sins and ignoring others. She comes in faith and he receives her. Now this is good news for us because no matter what you've done, the one who forgave this woman will forgive you if you will come to him in faith. Now it's interesting because Simon is very bothered by how this woman is treating Jesus. and specifically he's bothered that Jesus is okay with it. The easiest way to put it is that Simon looks down on this woman.

He judges her. He condemns her. Full of self-righteousness, he is disgusted by her sin. Simon isn't bothered by her being there. He's bothered because Jesus isn't judging and condemning her like he is. So Simon and his friends decide that Jesus can't be a prophet it because he accepts this woman's outrageous behavior. So in this story, two people encounter Jesus.

Two people, Simon and this woman, are both in the presence of Jesus. Both of them listen to his teaching, but they have radically different reactions. One of the people has changed, and the other isn't. One of them is forgiven and transformed by Jesus, and the other leaves detached and confused. One of them loves him greatly, and the other one is. and doesn't seem to care at all. Why is the difference? Why is one person changed when they encountered Jesus and the other one isn't?

Well, it's a pretty simple answer. One gets the grace of Jesus and one doesn't. See, that's what the story's about. When Jesus tells Simon about two people who owe someone money, one owes him a lot and one owes them little, both are forgiven and asks which one loves him more? He's setting Simon up. See, Jesus's point in this story is that there is a parallel between monetary debt and spiritual debt.

So is Jesus's point that some are bigger sinners than others? Is Jesus saying, look, this woman is a much bigger sinner than Simon is? Well, I doubt it. Is Jesus's point that some people are forgiven more than others? No. See, both are sinners, both are bankrupt, both are unable to get right with God. Jesus's point is that some people sense and feel and know the depth of their sin and others think they're doing okay. Some people think they're big sinners and some people think they are

little sinners. Some people know they need a great savior to come and rescue them from the depth of their sin and some people have taken Jesus and taken his death on the cross and minimized it. Jesus's point is that some sense feel, know, are aware of the depth of their sin and how much in Christ they have been forgiven. Some people think they are big sinners and some think they're a little sinners. Simon wants to focus on the great sins of this woman, but Jesus shifts the focus. to the response of the woman. That's why he says that those who are forgiven much love much,

and those who are forgiven little, love little. It's not that Jesus glossed over her sins, not at all. Her many sins had been forgiven. It's just that her great love for Jesus shows that her sins have been forgiven. Because those who have been forgiven much, love much. Again, this is not saying, that some are forgiven much and some are forgiven little.

It's saying that some realize how much they have been forgiven in Christ, and some don't. See, what this parable is teaching us is that we are far more sinful than we realize, that God is far more holy than we can comprehend, and therefore the grace of God is far more amazing, far more magnificent than most of us know. when you get that, when you understand deep in your heart all that God is for you in Christ, when you understand how He has rescued you from your sin, when you understand how amazing God's grace is,

then it makes you into a new person. See, I think that what we're supposed to do at the end of this story is ask ourselves this question, are we more like this woman or are we more like Simon the Ferris? So here are some signs that I'm more like Simon the Pharisee, some signs that I don't really comprehend grace. First, those who don't get grace minimize their sin. You see that in this story, right? Simon doesn't seem to be aware of his sins toward Jesus, how he has treated Jesus rudely. To him, those sins are small. They're no big deal. Second, you're becoming more like Simon the Pharisee, you're moving away from grace in your life

when you can clearly see other sins, but you don't see your own. Simon was very aware of this woman's sinful past and her reputation. He's very concerned about her sins, but not so concerned about his own. It's like when Jesus said that oftentimes we can see a speck in someone, else's eye, but not a log in our own. When that's true of us, when we see other people's sins clearly, but not our own, that's a sign that we don't get grace. Third, we are bothered by other sins more than our own sins. You see, it's not just that Simon saw this woman's sins and didn't see his own, but that he was also very bothered by her sins. He doesn't think Jesus should have anything to do with

But do you notice that in your life? That other people's complaining bothers you, but yours doesn't? Other people's selfishness or pride or gossip might make you say, I just can't stand to be around them. It really bugs me when they're that way. But my sins don't bug me the same way. That's a sign I'm not getting grace. Fourth, you refuse to give other people the same benefit of the doubt that you extend to yourself.

You notice that when you sin, you might say something like, well, I was tired. That's why I reacted that way. I'm not feeling well today. There's a lot of pressure I'm under at work. If you only knew how the kids have been up in the middle of the night and that's kept me from getting a good night's sleep, my allergies are bothering me. When we say things like that, we call them what? We call them reasons. When other people say things like that, we call them excuses.

See, we give ourselves the benefit of the doubt that we don't extend to others. That's a sign we're not getting grace. How about one more? Sacrifice. This woman had an alabaster jar of perfume. It was probably the most valuable thing she had. We don't know exactly how she got it, but we do know that it was a precious thing in her life. And she broke it on Jesus' feet. People who get grace bring their whole life, their time, talent,

all of it, they bring it to Jesus, and it's all his. They're willing to spend it all on him. Let's end this with a little hope for Simon. You may have noticed that he is the only person in this story, that we know their name. In other words, we don't know the woman's name, we don't know the other guest's name, but we do know Simon's name. And maybe we know Simon's name because this story comes from him. Maybe he told this story to Luke. Maybe it was in this encounter with Jesus that Simon woke up to his own sin and woke up to the grace that God offered in Jesus. And maybe it's here that Simon turned from his sin and put his faith in Jesus and began to follow Jesus with his life. I know this. There is hope for all the Simons in the world. All the people who did not

their sin, all the people who minimize their sin, all the people who make excuses for their sin, there's hope that we too can see our sin and see the grace that's offered in Jesus and turn from our sin and put our faith in Jesus and begin to follow him. And that's good news to all of us, because all of us have a little bit of Simon living inside of us. All of us have a little bit of Pharisee inside of us. We need Jesus. So pray this week. pray right now that God would open your eyes that you might see the depth of your sin, but you might also see how Jesus offers forgiveness, how His grace is greater than your sin. As we see our sin and we see the grace that's offered in Jesus that's ours by trusting in Him,

it will affect how we treat other people. We will love people who are difficult because God loved us when we were difficult. We'll be patient with people because God was patient with us. We'll forgive people because God has forgiven us in Jesus. Those who are forgiven much love much. All of us who are Christians have been forgiven more than we could ever imagine. So all of us should be the most loving, kind, gracious, forgiving, humble people that the world has ever known. Make it so, Lord. make it so in my life in our life. Amen.

Also, don't forget to sign up for our online Zoom Bible study, Friday, April 3rd from 12 to 1230. Are we living in the end times? We're going to talk about questions people are asking right now and a lot of the misconceptions that come along with those things. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast. with texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.