Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Y'all Need Jesus | New Testament | Luke 7

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

Is your moral life getting in the way of following Jesus? Do other people need Jesus more than you? Tanya discusses Luke 7, how Jesus pursues you, and what growing up on a farm was like. 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. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Luke 7

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. I grew up on a farm in southwest Missouri, and I went to church with farm people, and for a while, I went to school with farm people. That was before my mom petitioned the school board to let me go to the school where she was teaching. But I was schooled in the commandments of farm people, and the number one commandment to end all others was this. Don't ask for help unless you.

you plan on returning the favor. Reciprocity. That is how we slept at night. You couldn't possibly have a good night's rest if you owed someone a dime or a favor. Now, you might be thinking, those are nice folks, and that's the right thing to do. And you would be right by that.

But I actually think it was more about our pride than anything else. We looked down on people who couldn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get the hay in the barn on time. And we sure as heck didn't want to. be those people. This always came to a head in the summer months, especially the long days in June. We had our own hay to cut and bail, and don't assume that when I say we, I was any help whatsoever in this endeavor. So my dad had hay to cut and rake and bail in that kind of order, and we had neighbors

that would come help out with this, because there's nothing worse than having your hay down when a rainstorm comes. But either than he had to help out all those neighbors for helping him, or maybe he was trying to get as much time out of the house and on the tractor as possible, because he was always peak busy on June 12th, which also happened to be my parents' wedding anniversary. I always wondered why they got married on that day because my mom said my dad showed up just in the nick of time with a sunburn from being out on the tractor all day.

But that is how it started, and that is how it continued unless God sent a thunderstorm on June 12th. So this leads to commandment number two of farm people, which is don't talk about your feelings. Anyway, all that being said, it is taken quite a bit of unwinding for me to figure out that not only are needs and feelings an okay part of life, but there's also an invitation to be honest about them with our Heavenly Father. In fact, that kind of honesty with him helps us understand that he is God and we are not. and we can't do anything to help him out with his job. Luke 7 is one of those chapters,

where the compassion of Jesus for all kinds of different people shines through and touches those corners of our heart that try to be self-sufficient. For each person he encounters, Jesus has the relational and divine wisdom to give them what they need most in the moment, even when they don't know what it is. I'm going to walk you through chapter 7 so we can look together at the way Jesus compassionately met the needs of four very different people. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, he heals the servant of a Roman official,

a man who has all the power and resources someone could want at the time, but still finds himself unworthy to enter into the very presence of Jesus. And then Jesus reaches out and touches a dead body passing by him in a funeral procession because that very dead body is the son of a widow, a woman, who will be destined to a life of poverty and social isolation when this child of hers is buried. Jesus makes himself ceremonially unclean, but he touches the body anyway and tells the young man to get up, and he does. And Jesus also sends comforting.

and challenging words back to John the Baptist, who is in prison, words that seem to be just what this faithful way needed to persevere in his faith. Jesus goes through his day doing all these things, and we have to ask ourselves, why? For what purpose? Surely he wasn't acting at random. Why does he heal that servant and that son and so forth? And there's something in all of us that says, well, that's because that's what they needed. And maybe, maybe we have a tendency to others this chapter. The same way we have a tendency to others, our own walk through life. Look at how much they need Jesus. Look at how broken they are. That's what was happening to someone named Simon in this chapter.

At the end of chapter 7, there's a man named Simon, and he was a Pharisee who invited Jesus into his home. Now, apparently, Simon has the means to put on a nice dinner for many guests and make a really nice place to host Jesus as the guest of honor. And Simon seems to be in a position to serve Jesus and meet the needs Jesus had as a flesh and blood body, like providing food and water in a place to rest. But listen to the way Jesus turned the table on Simon, the Pharisees, self-sufficiency. Starting in verse 36.

Now, one of the Pharisees, this was Simon, invited Jesus to have dinner with him. So he went to the Pharisees' house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that, Jesus was eating at the Pharisees house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. And 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. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know who was touching him. and what kind of woman she is.

Okay, notice the scripture said, while he was saying this to himself. Simon the Pharisee didn't even mutter those words aloud, but the next verse says, Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. See, Jesus knew what was happening in Simon's heart at that very moment.

Simon thought he was doing something to welcome and honor Jesus. And this woman, well, didn't Jesus know how she earned the money to buy that jar of perfume? Couldn't Jesus see through this woman's motives and see what her life was really like? Surely if Jesus was a prophet, he could see how embarrassing the situation was for all of them to have this woman welcomed at his table like this. And all the why. And all the while, Jesus was looking right into the deep, dark corners of Simon's heart, and he was giving him an invitation. Simon, I have something to tell you. The verse continues, Tell me, teacher, Simon said. And Jesus answered, two men owed money to a certain money

lender. One owed him 500, Donari, and the other 50. neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. And then he asked Simon, now which of them will love him more? And Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled. You have judged correctly, Jesus said. Did you hear what happened there? Jesus didn't condemn Simon for this unbelief or for his half-heartedness, but he did invite him to see it.

He did invite him to see how sinful his own heart was. He invited Simon to let go if his religious piety and his self-sufficient ways and receive the whole of the love Jesus offers those who know how sinful they are. Sometimes we have these opportunities to serve others and we go into those times thinking we have something to offer. Maybe we're helping someone with a meal or helping fix something in their home or some other active service. And then what happens, maybe while we're doing it or maybe afterward, is that we realized that we thought God was using us to help someone else. And really, God was helping us.

We were the ones that needed that act of service. It was our hearts that needed to be softened and opened to the love of Jesus. This is what Jesus is doing for Simon. You have to hear how the story ends. So Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, I'll picture this, he's looking at the woman and speaking for Simon to hear. The verse continues, Do you see this woman?

I came into your house. You did not give me any water from my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my head. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much. Then Jesus said, to her, your sins are forgiven.

And the other guests begin to say among themselves, who is this who even forgive sins? And the chapter finishes, Jesus said to the first, woman. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now Simon and his guests are still trying to figure out who Jesus is. They're still trying to sort out if he's a teacher or a prophet, and if they want to go all in on believing this man is the Messiah. But the woman already went all in. She went all in when she walked through that door. She didn't have anything to lose. She knew her position and society. She knew what these men thought of her. She knew how unwelcome she was in that home. She knew how unworthy she was in the presence of Jesus. She knew he loved her anyway. We can let our moral

lives get in the way of going all in on Jesus. We can let our goodness stand between us in the extravagant love of Jesus. The woman, she had no barriers to keep her away from complete submission. to Jesus. She had nothing to hide behind except for him. She let Jesus be the only reason she was welcome in that room. What about you? What do you hide behind? What do you put on or what do you say to make sure you're welcome into the room? Paul, in Romans chapter 4, quote Psalm 14 when he says, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Now, if God was on his throne, getting the whole of earth for all time, he would not find one

person who was worthy to be in that room in his presence at Simon the Pharisees house. But we don't tend to think that's true about us. We want to say, there is something about me that makes God love me. There is something I can do to make him love me. We want to look at people like the woman with the perfume and say, that's not right. You should have stopped sitting before you came to Jesus. You should have earned money to buy that perfume the right way or not have brought it at all. But this is not what the gospel teaches us.

There is no right way to come to Jesus. Jesus because we are all completely unworthy. Luke chapter 7 is about how Jesus comes to us. He comes to the grieving, sinning, doubting hearts of people, and cracks them open to receive his forgiveness and his love, to heal us, to give us hope that there is something so much better than these lives we've crafted. What are you holding on to other than Jesus? Is it the way you do the right thing at work?

Okay, but what if you mess up? Is it the self-improvement things you're working on? Okay, but what if you disappoint yourself? Is it the way you stay out of trouble at school or home? Okay, but what if you get caught? Or what if someone saw what was going on inside your heart? Jesus wants you to know that those things can't save you. you can't depend on them

and even if you could there would still be things in your heart that would expose you but he knows those things and loves you anyway he knows you are just as sinful as the woman with the perfume maybe more so

and he wants to have a relationship with you have you like that woman gone all in on Jesus before you forget sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter

hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.