Don't Miss Moments - Week 4 - St. Peter - Pastor Michael Ewart
Don't Miss Moments
Week 4 - THE CORE
Pastor Michael Ewart
It's great to be continuing this series. Don't Miss Moments today. We don't want to miss the love of Jesus. So let me ask you a question. How many of you would like to become a more loving person? That's this question show of hands. Hopefully make this audience participation. How many of you would like to become a more loving person saying? I asked it that way intentionally because I could have asked the question. How many of you are a loving person and there might have been fewer hands going up, some little bit more. Confident. Some maybe not so much but I think we would all agree. Do I want to become a more loving person? Well, sure. I mean, can you imagine if we were more loving to the people around us and all the people around us were more loving toward us.
Wouldn't this world just be a much better place? So that's what we want to talk about today is how how do we become a more loving person? Or we can state it like this wanted more love. And lots of it. That's a pretty pretty safe thing to say, right? We all want more love and lots of it. We would like to become more loving people. You would like to everyone around us to become more loving people. So, how do we make this happen? How do you become a more loving person, almost as you could be a blog post, right? Seven ways to becoming a more loving person and if I went around today, and we just kind of started throwing out some ideas. How could we become more loving? I might hear things like. Well, you didn't need to be more intentional, just start thinking about the people around you, maybe even plan out the ways you're going to show love for them. You know, those are some ideas that we might hear and those would be good ideas, and there's certainly a place for that I would call.
Better budgeting your love. Okay. So I've got this much love to give. Give me some tips and tricks so that I can take that amount of love that I have and I can use it more effectively and efficiently to help more people, that would be a worthwhile discussion to have or look at it. This way, I can give you tips and tricks for how to drive your car, right? Using the budgeting analogy. Yeah, we can we can budget our love better or using a car analogy. I, you can take the car that you have and if you will just drive more. We coast more to your stop signs. You can accelerate more gently that gallon or that tank of gas that you have will get you more miles. Okay, so we could talk about love in that way. I've got this much-loved tell me how to use it. So I get more mileage out of it. But that's not what I want to talk to you about today. Today, I want to talk about something a little bit different and that is how do we take our capacity to love? And make it even bigger.
How do we take the 10 gallon tank and make it a 20 gallon tank? How do we make the current fifty thousand dollar-a-year love income that I've got and then get a five hundred thousand dollar a year love income so that I got more to deal with and more that I can give out to others. That would be make you become a more loving person. In an absolute sense. You would become a more loving person. That is what I want to talk about with you today, or is that even possible?
Jesus through, with the scripture, we're going to look at today definitively says, yes, your capacity for love can absolutely grow. And by the time we're done today, you're going to know how in fact. I'm going to be so bold as to say, by the time we're done today it will have increased, Your capacity will not be God's will. So, let's turn to His Word and find out how this could possibly happen. We're going to turn to Luke chapter 7 and where to start reading at verse 36 where we see this.
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisees house and he reclined at the table. Remember to pause there for a second because there's some cultural context. We need to understand or the rest of this isn't going to make much sense. Jesus was invited over to dinner to a Pharisee. We're going to find out his name was Simon. This Pharisee was an expert in the Bible. So to speak. He knew Scripture really well, but Like the other Pharisees of his And he was very self-righteous. If you would have asked, Simon. Are you a loving person? Simon the Pharisee, Simon the Pharisee would have said, yes. I am. I'm a very loving person. He would have been very confident in his own capacity and measure of Love. Simon, the Pharisee also did not really care much for Jesus as we go through the story today. We're going to find out that he actually seems to be trying to trap Jesus a little bit. He's trying to, I don't know. he's not showing much love or respect to Jesus at all going to become clear in just a little bit but don't miss this one deal detail because again, it's not going to make sense unless we understand that Jesus as he goes to Simon's house and he goes for this dinner. It says that Jesus reclined at the table. Now, there's just kind of a cultural thing. We need to understand here that when there is a dinner party in those days, especially for a person of means, they didn't have tables like we have today and then you sit down behind a table, the table.
Those were actually quite a bit lower. And there were like couches almost a mass that were brought up to the table and you would kind of lay at the table. You would recline there by a cushion or a pillow underneath, you usually, and you would kind of recline at the table, you would eat from the table this way, and your feet were kind of behind you. And there being other person reclining, in the same way their head of the table, their feet pointing away, and people are lined up around the table in that fashion. That's what it means. That Jesus was reclining at the table. These meals could go on for a long time. It was a relaxed position where conversation could take place. That's what's happening in this story.
So, it goes on and says, a woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees house. So, she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. Okay, a new character is introduced to the story. It's a woman whose name is never revealed, but her character is called a sinful woman. The nature of her sin is not directly revealed either, but that kind of terminology, especially in the Bible times meant that person was probably sexual in nature. She could have been a prostitute. Perhaps, she was a known adulteress that she had not been faithful to her husband, whatever the nature of that sin, it was public. Other people knew about it other than she had a reputation and he or she was entering into the house. So, she came in with this alabaster jar of perfume that's going to come into play in just a moment. And as she stood behind, Jesus at His feet, let me just pause there. So that you understand what's happening here. Jesus laying at the table, feet out behind him. This woman comes in and she is not at the table. She's at the feet of Jesus. And that seems strange like, what is this woman doing in a stranger's home that she just with all the security there, stop her. Well, the custom again of that day was that at a dinner party like this? It was a somewhat public affair. There were people who were invited to eat, but it was kind of just well known that if you want to listen to the conversation of these people of the of this crowd, this well-off usually was richer people. If you want to just stand like at the window of the house, or if you even wanted to go to walk in and just stand there and listen to what they were talking about listening to the conversation. That was the Netflix of that day. That's how you would get entertained. You could listen to that bit. Interesting conversation so that this woman would enter into his house was not unusual was not strange other than her reputation. She shouldn't have really been there. But for her to enter it was not, it was not a problem at that time. So she entered and she stood at the feet of Jesus and says weeping. She began to wet his feet with her tears. And then she wiped his feet with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them.
Getting a little bit weird. So she's standing at the feet of Jesus, as she standing at his feet as he's reclining at the table. I don't know how many people were noticing her quite yet, but she just starts crying. Crying. Overwhelmed with emotion, but we're going to find out. I think these were more tears of joy than tears of sorrow, but the tears just pouring down her face, dropping onto the feet, the tears dropping onto the feet of Jesus, which too overcome with emotion, cried and cried and the water falling. The tears falling. Finally. She bends down just have a towel. What were in this feet are wet, and it is wet. Now, what she takes her hair down, and she actually washes off his feet washes, the tears off his feet.
And she's not Thunder. She's at the feet of Jesus. As a sign of reverence and respect in deep deep mom. And then she takes that alabaster jar of perfume and she pours some of that on Jesus feet as well. Anoints his feet with oil. Certainly got people's attention. It was unusual. It was notable for sure. It goes on and says this when the Pharisees who had invited him saw this, he said to himself not out loud. “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.” Because he's thinking, he didn't have respect for Jesus. We find that out that he didn't show any kind of love or respect to Jesus and then he's thinking of this mine. Yep, just like, I thought people say this guy's a prophet if he knew what kind of woman was doing that to him. He would have nothing to do with her.
Confirmed not a prophet, a charlatan. Yep, thought so. Now listen to what comes next, Jesus answered him, Wait, he didn't ask anything. He didn't speak.
Jesus answered him, Simon snapped out of his own mind. Oh, yes. I have something to tell you. Tell me, teacher consent. And now Jesus tells this amazing story. It's going to ask you the question that I posed at the beginning. How do we get a greater capacity to love two people owed money to a certain money? Lender one owed him 500 denarii and the other 50. Now, we don't have an exact conversion chart for this. I read somewhere that have been areas in about a day's wages. Let's just use round numbers. If you want to put it in modern terms. Let's say a day's wages $100 you can argue whether that's accurate or not.
Let's just say it is one guy owes him, fifty thousand dollars. The other guy owes the money lender, five thousand dollars, both not insignificant amounts, but one a whole lot bigger, about 10 times bigger. If my Pastor math is right ten times bigger than the other, much, much bigger debt. And what does the moneylender do? Neither of them had the money to pay him back. So he forgave the debts of both. Now, he says, which he's talking to Simon, which of them will love him more.
This is the question, and that's what we're talking about today. Right? The capacity of love. So Simon the Pharisee, I want you to tell me, which of these two men will love that money lender more, which one has the bigger capacity to love after the story that I told you and Simon replied. Well, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven. I think, Simon knows Jesus is trying to teach him something, but he doesn't quite know what yet, but he's suspicious of Jesus. So he says, well, I suppose try to figure out where you're going with this by suppose would be the one who had the bigger debt forgiven, right? That'd be the bigger capacity to love.
And Jesus says, you have judged correctly. You have answered right now. So what Jesus is teaching silent? One of the really big takeaways that I want you to have for today. If you want to drop this down it with you this when it comes to love. You give. What you got?
That makes sense. When it comes to love you, give
What you got?
If you want to love more and have a greater capacity to love more. You have to have gotten more or recognize or see that you've gotten more love, and then you can give more love, but it comes to love you. Give what you got. Now, Jesus, you continues the story by applying this point, very directly to Simon the Pharisee and the woman, he says this.
Then he turned toward the woman. He said to Simon turned toward the woman. He 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 has 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 feet. You see, Jesus, when he came to this party at Simon's house, had not been shown any kind of love. He had not been shown common courtesy and Hospitality that is typical for that day. Normally, when a person came to someone's house. If you were a person of means you would have a servant washed the feet of everybody who came in because the duck, the roads are dusty and dirty and see kind of smell and you're about to spend time in a closed room without HVAC and and so wash the feet at least show them that common. Courtesy Simon didn't do that. Simon did not even provide water. So Jesus could wash his own feet that common courtesy was not given in those days, the way you agreed, somebody that you love or respect would be with a kiss. That's how Judas was able to betray Jesus with a kiss because it was the common greeting of the day. Simon. Do not read Jesus that way. So I like someone coming into your house and instead of a handshake you, you old alligator, whole back thing. He doesn't get doesn't greet Jesus in a respectful way. And also a custom of the day was to anoint, somebody's head with oil which to uh, sounds made a little bit gross to have oil put on your head. But but that was a common way again in those days of showing respect and honor to a guest in your house, providing them with oil to put on their head. Simon did not do that for Jesus. So Simon showed zero, love you showed his capacity for love. Simon would have said before this. I am a loving person and yet his capacity to love. Jesus was non-existent. He was not able to show
For woman. As soon as she saw Jesus, she started Weeping at his feet. She did wash his feet with her own tears, and her own hair. And she did kiss him as a greeting of respect and love, but was kissing his feet and she did anoint him with oil but not his head. His feet. Because she was so humble before him. So thankful for him so much love and enormous capacity to love is what this woman have.
So, why was this woman's capacity to love so much greater than the one who we would have had expected to have a great capacity to love. Why was the sinful woman so much greater than the Pharisee who is respected and thought of as a loving person, why the difference Jesus says verse 47. Therefore I tell you her many sins have been forgiven as her grade level shown, but whoever has been forgiven, that all He loves.
Here's the key. Simon the Pharisee. Didn't think that he needed much of God's love.
God loves me. God forgives me a lot. I'm a good person. I'm a good man. Ask my neighbors. Ask me. I am a really good person. I don't need God's love, his favor, his forgiveness much. I've earned it. I've already got it. I'm good. In contrast, the woman recognized I messed up. I'll be back. God's not happy and a sinner and Jesus freaking that's exactly what Jesus confirms and reaffirms to her. Then Jesus said to her in verse 48. “Your sins are forgiven. The other guests began to say among themselves, who is this? Who even forgives sins? And Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you go in peace.” First woman received, great, love from Jesus. And so, she had a great capacity of love to give. It was a simple as that. So if you want your capacity of love to increase, there are two things that need to happen. Very simply. The first thing that needs to happen is this you would jot this down, see sins size. The first thing we need to do, if we want our capacity of love to grow is that we need. First of all to see in our own hearts and lives. We have to see the size of our sins, see sins size. And in response, you might say good grief. You should be a little bit emotional like that woman, right? She or she was filled with emotion weeping tears. When we understand the size of our sin. We ought to have an emotional visceral response, that, good grief. What is all this sin? How could it possibly all be forgiven? See? I think what we tend to do like, Simon the Pharisee is that we tend to minimize our sin. I'm not that bad of a person. I know a lot worse people. Let me tell you about my neighborhood. We talked about my brother. I am not that bad of a person. I try hard. I love people. I do. I help the poor sometimes and I sometimes, volunteer at church. Oh, yeah, and I'm in church, by the way, and I do, I'm not that bad of a person. We minimize our sin, but that's not what the woman did and that will not help your capacity to love.
First, we need to see and understand sins size. Understand this, even if you're not sure, this is true. But even if your sin is small by the world standard, you need to understand against whom. Your sin is whatever sins you commit we're seeing is also against God and did you know that it matters against whom you are sending and that's really true of our law code as well.
Even in our legal system. It matters who you are committing a crime against not just what the crime is Case in point. If you assault somebody and it's your seriously, injure them. It's just an incident, you're going to be charged, probably with a misdemeanor and your sentence will not be severe if you through the exact same kind to an on-duty police officer. It is a Class 1, felony. And you're probably going to be doing it matters. Who you sinned against. Here's another example back in 2008. George W. Bush was giving a speech before the Iraqi press. Remember, one thing, remember this and a guy who did not respect his position, was angry at the decisions. He had taken off his shoe and chucked it at it George Bush. He ducked out of the way, didn't hit him. So no harm done. Did you know that? That man was sentenced to 3 years in prison?
And he served nine months of that sentence.
In contrast, if you right now, aren't really enjoying the sermon much and you decide to take off your shoe and chuck it at me and I ducked out of the way, probably nothing is going to happen to you…please don't do that, by the way..bright lights. I might not see it coming. Feel free to throw soft rotten tomatoes. Those don't hurt as much. So it matters though and worst case scenario. You're going to get a misdemeanor more likely than not. Nothing at all. Is going to happen. Right? We'll laugh about it a little bit and that's the end of it. It matters.
You sinned against now understand this. That every sin we come in. No matter who we hurt or what we've done or what we've said, whatever sin there is. It is also a sin against the almighty. God, the creator of Heaven and Earth, the one who made you to be in a relationship with him. The one who made you to be blameless and holy and perfect. When we sin, we have sinned against him. It's serious. It carries weight.
Every single sin is a crime against God. It is a necessity, it's treason in the kingdom of God because we have declared that I will do what I will do and you don't get to tell me whatever the sin is. That's what it is. Sin is serious. And that's what led James 2:10 to say this. Who are whoever keeps the whole law of God. And yet, stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. If you were perfect, your whole life, but one time you committed one, sin James says you broke all of God's law. You are no longer a holy person. You are a sinner. That one said that you stumbled over caused you to be a rebel against the king.
Here's the other thing. If only it was the one singing. But can we be honest enough? Since we're in church to say, it's number one.
That does a day go by where we don't have multiple sins. Maybe somebody cuts you off in traffic and thoughts or words or gestures come out of your body. You're rude to somebody. You say words to them that you realize we're not saying. I said it may kind, or wait, maybe they needed to be said but certainly not like that. Maybe you've been anxious or you've been worried about, fill in the blank, the diagnosis, the war in Ukraine, the inflation that's going on my retirement. This relationship, my grades.
Doesn't anything bring anxiety and worry? Say God, you're not going to ,you're not there for me. I got to take care of this. I'm not sure how this is going to work out. So we have anxiety. We have worries. If that isn't that sin.
God has given you a set number of minutes in your life to live all for his glory to love other people. And how many of those have we have, we wasted enjoy watching Netflix. Another sin.
God would love to hear from you daily.
God would love for you to listen to him. By daily devotions and prayer. Does that always happen? Now, their sin, you know, I just kind of gone through a typical day and I've already come up with a few examples. If everything is a rock that we're stumbling over the imagine a rock, this big there was once in there is another there's another and over the course of the day. Let's be really conservative. You got 10 of them is probably way more than that. Let's be honest. 10 of them and then we multiply that by your lifetime. And if my pastor math is right, I came up with over a quarter million.
Rocks. Since I had a rock, this big endured her quarter million of them. I don't know if they fit in this room.
See sins sighs. Good grief.
If we don't understand that like the woman in our story did, if we're more, like Simon the Pharisee, your capacity of love is not going to increase. First up, though is to see sins size. But we don't stop there. Because the woman didn't. Again, her weeping appeared to be about of joy and happiness not out of, not out of sorrow, because what does she do? The second thing I want you to remember today. Look at the Lord's mom. Look at the Lord's table. Sweet relief.
Did the woman do that. She looked at Jesus. She looked at His love. That's what overwhelmed her was the enormity of the love of, God, of Jesus. That's why I like this season of the church year, because I think we see more clearly the love of Jesus, we reflect on our sin. But we remember what Jesus did for us, especially in our Wednesday service at the St. Peter campus. We're remembering the extent of his love. Well, first of all, we remember that Jesus in his life remained. Perfect. Remember from the first two weeks of our series,
We talk about the baptism of Jesus, and how the Father in Heaven, said about his son that he loved him and he said with him, I am. Well, pleased. We know that Jesus was perfect and blameless and true because the father himself declared it. And you remember the second week of our Series where we talked about the temptation of Jesus, Satan himself after Jesus was starving for 40 days. In a moment of tremendous weakness, Satan said, now's my chance, the devil, like the chief of all Wicked. Angels came and tempted. Jesus to try. To get him to sin in that moment of weakness in Jesus withstood and Jesus stood, strong. Jesus did not give in. Jesus remained perfect and blameless in truth. And during the season of Lent. We follow Him then, to where his life ended. Jesus deserve to be just taken straight up into heaven. The father would say you're my son. I love you. I am. Well, pleased with you caught up.
Instead, Jesus went the way of the Cross. Why? Because he took upon himself those rocks. We were just talking about those rocks. We were just talking about every one of them and not just yours, but yours and yours, and yours and mine, and times billions because there's billions of people in the world, Jesus Took full responsibility for it all. And he suffered. When he bled. And he died. He took your punishment and he declared from the cross. It is finished. You are forgiven. You are mom. You are God's child. Look at the Lord's. Love sweet relief. So good.
So, just as Jesus looked at the woman and promised your sins are forgiven.
He said to her, “your faith has saved you.” To all of you today. The Lord Jesus says, Your sins are all forgiven. Your faith and is your Reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and what he did for your, your faith has saved because you're connected to Jesus and all that is true of him. Becomes true.
We just became more about in person.
Because, you know, the love of Jesus even better now, let's stop here. Before you go to bed tonight, tomorrow day, after that, every single day. Would you remember the size of your sin?
God's love for you. Every day, this is the Christian is some people called breathing for the Christian. We also call it the life of repentance every day. Going back to the crossing knowledge and who we are. And what we've done weeping at the feet of Jesus thankful to him for the love that he's shown for us at the cross. That's what it means to be a Christian and I promise you that the love that is grown in you today. The capacity to love that grew during the service today.
Jesus gives it to you. When it comes to love. You give what you got?
Let's pray.
Dear, heavenly father. We are so grateful for what you've reminded to sell today. What you assured us of what you promised us of that our sins, they are many, they are wicked. They are huge. They are offensive to you. They are a problem. They could separate us from you for all eternity. And what you said to that woman that her sins are forgiven, you say to us, our sins are forgiven and you, you accomplish this attitude, the enormous cost of Jesus. Sacrifice the atoning sacrifice of Jesus at the cross.
God, you guaranteed to us when Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, Lord help us to rejoice in this to go back to this every day of our life as a Christian and to continue to grow in us, therefore the capacity to love even more and more and more. Turn, our 10 gallon tank into a 20-gallon, turn our fifty thousand dollar loving coming to 500,000 and Beyond as we recognize more and more, the love that Jesus had for us and then in turn with us in him and he in us to love. Even more the people around us every day of our life you with us and bless us as we do this, she for your Glory's sake and in Jesus name and all God's people said Amen.
