Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

Have you met many Christians who mistakenly believe they have “arrived” in this life?  When they complete the education that most only dream about getting?  When they get the job promotion and that corner office that goes with it?  When that special someone says “Yes” to their marriage proposal?  When they are approved for the mortgage on a bigger and better home?  When the car they drive drives their friends mad with envy?  When the social circle they run in runs the city they live in?  When the ministry they lead leads the other ministries in the number of people showing up?  Yet on this side of the grave, the one thing the Christian never does is arrive.  To be sure, there is only one place where we will finally arrive, and it won’t happen until we get to the other side of the grave, when we will forever be in the unveiled presence of Jesus.  Is this the arrival you are anticipating?  Is this the arrival you are hoping for . . . groaning for?

When we live in a state of anticipating our arrival on the other side of the grave, we are living in the light of eternity.  Everything we do is measured against what will bring the most value and glory to the Kingdom of God, as we live like pilgrims who are just passing through on our way to the celestial city.  As the apostle Paul says to the Philippians, our citizenship is in heaven, not here on earth.  So as we live in anticipation of that eternal glory, we pour ourselves out for the expansion of God’s big kingdom here and now, not the expansion of our own little kingdom.    

The devil would like nothing more than to convince you that you have indeed arrived.  He has done it to countless individuals in the church.  They profess Jesus as Lord, and yet put the stuff of this life on the throne of their lives.  The devil even attempted to do the very same thing to Jesus! Our Lord’s response gives us the model for resisting the things of this world that would convince us we have arrived.

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.  (Matthew 4:8-11)

The devil tried to get Jesus to think He had arrived, but Jesus would have none of it.  He knew what He was here to do and He would not allow anything to get in His way.  With every attempt the devil made to get Jesus to think He had arrived, Jesus quoted Scripture.  It’s important to understand that Jesus never told us to forsake everything in this life for what is to come in the next.  The blessings and pleasure of this life are some of God’s good gifts to us.  Education, professions, relationships, houses, and even cars are all good gifts given by our gracious God.  However, these good gifts become bad gifts when we make them ultimate gifts.  When we think we have arrived because of any good gifts we have been given, we have arrived at the wrong destination.

You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. (1 Corinthians 7:23)

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.  (1 Timothy 6:17)

Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  (1 John 2:15)

These are just a few of many verses that help the disciple of Christ sharpen his or her focus on what it means to have arrived.  Short of Christ Himself, perhaps the most powerful example of a man who had truly arrived at the right destination was Paul, who declared in Philippians 3 that all the accomplishments from his life before Christ—his power, his prestige, his prominence in the community—were no more than rubbish, compared to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” In the same passage, Paul went to proclaim that he was “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,” in order to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I pray that these verses will serve to encourage you in your journey to the celestial city and your walk with Christ every step of the way, remembering that arrival happens not in this life, but in the next.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Did you ever think about God having an eternal eraser with your name on it?  It’s true!  Just a cursory glance through the Scriptures shows us God using His eraser time and time again in the lives of some pretty messed up saints . . . saints like you and me.  God erased the deceptions of Jacob.  God erased the doubts of Thomas.  God erased the denials of Peter.  God is in the business of erasing a past littered with broken promises and shattered dreams and unfulfilled potential, and He is in the habit of doing it over and over again. 

Moses knew this quite well.  He lived a privileged life in Egypt; at age forty he sought to bring about a “good thing” (the deliverance of God’s people), but in the “wrong way” (in his own strength through murder).  You see, Moses believed his powerful, privileged position in the court of Pharaoh would propel him to the position of deliverer of his people.  He was wrong, tragically wrong, and this would have been the end of the story, if not for God’s eternal eraser.   

After his failed attempt to free his people, Moses fled Egypt and headed off into obscurity, tending sheep on the back side of the Midian wilderness. For the next forty years, Moses undoubtedly many times about what could have been, believing he had completely blown the one chance he had to serve his God and bless God’s people.

Satan delights in convincing the saints that they have blown their “one chance” of serving God and blessing God’s people.  The devil wants Christians defeated, believing they have missed their opportunity of being used by God.  Our adversary loves to discourage disciples by convincing them they are disqualified for service in God’s kingdom.  He convinces some that they are too bad; others that they are too poor; still others that they are too old.  Satan keeps running into one problem, though: God always gets the last word! 

After Moses messed up, God sent him on his wilderness experience for forty years.  All this time, God was preparing Moses for fruitful service: to go back into Egypt to deliver God’s people (a good thing), but this time to do it in God’s strength and according to God’s plan (the right way).  God did not discard Moses and dump him on to the ashes of apparent defeat.  Instead, He drove Moses into the desert for a season of preparation and training for future service.  You know the rest of the story.

Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated . . . And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.  (Deuteronomy 34:7, 10-12)

So, what about you?  What will be the rest of your story?  Are there any places in your life right now where you have lost all hope?  At the office?  In your marriage?  With your children?  In your ministry of service?  We all must remember that our past never determines our future.  Jacob’s life of deception did not determine his future.  Thomas’s doubts did not determine his future.  Peter’s denials of Jesus did not determine his future.  God determines our future, and He begins by first erasing our past.

When we cry out to God for forgiveness, He not only forgives us, He forgets what He is forgiving.  “For I will forgive their iniquity,” He declares, “and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).  We must do the same if we are going to get on with the perfect plan God has for imperfect people in advancing the cause of His kingdom.  Your hope, your motivation, your drive to continue pressing into the call God has placed in your life will only be as big as the One you are trusting in.  Moses learned not to trust in himself.  Have we learned this too? 

Remember what the psalmist said: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).  God is not finished with you, and He won’t be until He brings you into glory. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today we are going to take a brief look at a statement from Jesus that seems absolutely crazy; nevertheless, yet it is infallibly true. 

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matthew 5:10-12)

When we think about being blessed of God we generally don’t think about the blessing of persecution.  In fact, it seems just a little bit crazy doesn’t it?  But Truth, for whom it is impossible to speak untruth (Hebrews 6:18), said it is true: we are blessed when we are persecuted for righteousness.

We think about the blessing of financial prosperity.  We think about the blessing of good health.  We think about the blessing of obedient children.  We think about the blessing of faithful friends.  But when was the last time you considered yourself blessed to be in the middle of persecution?  The Bible makes it clear that those persecuted for the Prince of Peace are indeed a blessed people who should rejoice and be exceedingly glad.

Now the persecution Jesus is speaking about is for righteousness, not for foolishness!  Many times we endure persecution simply for being foolish—making poor choices or bad decisions.  This is the result of being sinners, both by nature and habit.  In the passage above, Jesus is talking about those who are living sold-out lives for His sake and because of it, bring on persecution from those who know not the Christ and hate the things of God.  The world hates Jesus!  If you are following Him and witnessing for Him, persecution in many different forms should not only be expected, but welcomed. 

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  (Romans 5:3-5)

I remember hearing Dr. R. C. Sproul discuss Jesus’ words in Matthew’s gospel during a seminary class: “If you are not being persecuted for following Jesus by the watching world,” Dr. Sproul told us, “you might want to take a look at just how closely you are following Jesus.”  For those who are being persecuted for righteousness sake, understand that rejection is the natural response of those who have rejected Jesus; slander is the natural response of those who have slandered Jesus; reviling is the natural response of those who have reviled Jesus; false accusation is the natural response of those who have falsely accused Jesus.  If we are standing up for the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of this world will be standing up against us.

There are those who will do just about anything to avoid any kind of persecution.  They won’t even tell a neighbor about Jesus, for fear of rejection or being removed from the invitation list to social events.  But make no mistake; there is a special blessing that can only be found on the other side of persecution for righteousness sake.  The first blessing is to be identified with the suffering Servant and the kind of character that produces in us.  The incomparable Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of His children’s graces, to make them shine the better.” The second blessing—our great reward in heaven—will be found on the other side of the grave.

Crazy . . . but true!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Sometimes we get so focused on our intended destinations in life, we forget who we are supposed to be following.  We set personal goals . . . professional goals . . . family goals.  Goal setting is not only good, it’s completely biblical!  Throughout Scripture we read of individuals who planned for the future, set goals, and worked toward accomplishing them—including Jesus. 

The key for the committed Christian is to set goals with God in view and to follow God with the goals in view.  Proverbs refers to the one who is not setting goals as a “sluggard” who cares not for the future.  In fact, this sluggard is instructed to pay close attention to the ant, which “prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:8).  Goal setting is a good thing . . . just as long as we keep in view the One we are to be following.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.  (James 4:13-17)

Surrendering to God and submitting to His will is the foundation upon which to set all of our goals, regardless of the area in life.  When we are following God, we can rest assured that we will get to the place He wants us to get to and in the best way possible.  That doesn’t necessarily mean the shortest way, or the easiest way, or the safest way!  God took the Israelites the long way, the tough way, and the risky way through the desert in order to bring them into the Promised Land.  And God knew exactly what He was doing the entire time.

When it comes to goal setting and making plans, we must remember that it is God who has the final say in the matter.  Peter learned this lesson well and often.  After a full night of fishing without catching any fish, it was time to clean the nets and go home.  At least, that was the goal Peter set.  Jesus had other plans, and He told the disciples to go out into the deep water and let down their nets (Luke 5:4).  You know the rest of the story: practically every fish in the lake swam straight into their nets!

After Jesus told His disciples that He was going to die for them, Peter rebuked Him (Matthew 16:22) with what he thought was a better plan for Jesus to accomplish his earthly mission.  Once again, Jesus got the last word and showed Peter and the whole world that God’s plans are always better than our plans.

And in Matthew 26 we find Peter saying to Jesus that “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.”  And yet Peter did just that—not once, but three times, just moments later.  Jesus, of course, had the last word when He told Peter that He had prayed for him, and that when Peter turned back to Jesus he was to feed His sheep—stronger and more prepared for the work of the Lord than he was before he denied Him.  

So what plans have you made?  What goals are you going after in life?  What have you resolved to do and not to do?  Remember: it’s not where you are going, but who you are following!  And when you are following God, you are sure to get to His intended destination.  It may not make sense to you, and it may be a whole lot harder than you thought it would be, but you can be assured that “He who began a good work in you will complete it” (Philippians 1:6), regardless of the cost or circumstance. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When was the last time you received something that filled you with joy?  Did it happen on your birthday?  At Christmas?  On a day that was unexpected?  It’s one thing to be filled with joy when we receive something from someone.  It’s another thing altogether when we receive something from someone when we didn’t deserve or earn it.  And that is what we get with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And that, dear reader, is JOY UNSPEAKABLE!

Often we receive things as some form of payment for something we have done.  I give you something and you give me something in return.  On the surface it’s a gift, but it is really repayment.  But with the Gospel, there is absolutely nothing we gave God for His gift of grace.  If there was, it would not have been a gift.  It would have been a repayment or a reward for something we had done for Him. 

We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.  (Luke 17:10)

Even if we were to do everything God commands us to do—which, by the way, we have never done—we would have only done our duty and God would be under no obligation to give us anything in return.  Jerry Bridges gives the following example:

Suppose you perfectly obey all the traffic laws of your state.  You always stay within the speed limit, always come to a complete stop at stop signs, always drive in the proper lane, always use your turn signals—always obey every traffic rule.  Do you receive any reward?  Not at all, that is what you are supposed to do.  You have only done your duty.  You do not, by perfect obedience of the traffic laws, obligate the state to reward you in any manner.  All you can say is, “I have only done my duty.”

Does not the Creator of all things (including you) have the right to demand and expect perfect obedience from His creation without owing any reward in return?  Of course He does.  He said to Job, “Who has a claim against me that I must pay?  Everything under heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11), an assertion which was later echoed by the apostle Paul: “Who has ever given to God that God should repay him?” (Romans 11:35.) 

So if it is impossible to make God our debtor, and He still gives us the gift of His Son, how are we to respond?  We should respond with a heart that overflows with love and thanksgiving for the gift we did not earn or deserve.  Peter said it well when he said we are to rejoice with a “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8) because of all that we have been given by the One who freely gave. 

Hearts that have a hold on this JOY UNSPEAKABLE beat for Jesus.  They beat for Jesus in the home.  They beat for Jesus at the office.  They beat for Jesus when on vacation.  They beat for Jesus when engaged in a hobby.  They even beat for Jesus when faced with trials and suffering, because there is great joy that comes from knowing that God will provide everything we need to face every challenge and ultimately bring us safely across the great divide.  Now that is a JOY UNSPEAKABLE that speaks loud enough for all the world to hear.

It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,

Full of glory, full of glory,

It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,

Oh, the half has never yet been told.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When you think about life apart from the biblical narrative, nothing seems to make sense.  We all know something is radically wrong with us and the world around us, but we don’t know what it is . . . apart from the story in the pages of sacred Scripture.  Only the Gospel can make sense of what seems at times to be absolutely senseless.  Let’s take a brief look at some of the things that don’t make any sense apart from the truths of the Gospel. 

Sin doesn’t make sense apart from the Gospel.  Why do we do some of the sinful stuff we do?  It is because we are sinners—both by nature and by habit.  Without the story of creation (all things made good by God) and the Fall in the Garden of Eden (all things made bad by man), sin doesn’t make sense.  We begin to try to categorize our inappropriate behaviors as something less than sin—a result of our environment or bio-chemistry.  The rationale goes, change the environment outside or inside (move or get medicine), and the person will ultimately change.  History has taught us these experiments have failed miserably.  Behavior can and often does change for awhile, but heart transformation never happens apart from the Gospel. 

Moral obligation doesn’t make sense apart from the Gospel.  In a messed up world, with a God who is off in some distant land, unconcerned and uninvolved, what obligation would there be for any moral concern on our part for what is good, just, and right?  Why would any of us care about hurting, lost, broken, oppressed, and marginalized people?  The survival of the fittest would seem to make the most sense.  But the Gospel tells us that God in Christ entered into this world to make all that had been crooked since the Fall straight once again.  And He did this at the most unimaginable cost to Himself.  Gospel sanity says we are to enter into the process Jesus started, expecting suffering along the way and ultimate success in the end, because what He began He will complete (Isaiah 46:9-11). 

Our overwhelming need for relationship doesn’t make sense apart from the Gospel.  God made us for relationship with Him and each other.  He said it was not good for us to be alone, and yet that is exactly what we tried to do in the Garden.  We looked away from God and each other and looked only at ourselves, which only resulted in fear, guilt, and a sense of utter brokenness.  But the Gospel tells us that we need a relationship with God, and through that relationship, God gives us a right relationship with the human community.  Gospel sanity moves us in the direction of working to strengthen both the community within the church and the community outside of it.  Gospel sanity drives us to care for everyone because God cares for everyone.  Mercy, justice, and service become the marks of the Christian who is busily engaged in building community wherever people are to be found. 

So . . . do you need a little Gospel sanity today?  In the words of Flannery O’Connor, “To know oneself, is above all, to know what one lacks.  It is to measure oneself against the Truth, and not the other way around.”  The Truth is that we all need a daily dose of Gospel sanity to keep Jesus at the center of our existence.  This is the only place where life is to be lived and the only way it makes sense. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

How would you complete the question: “What are you addicted to?”

Would you be offended to be even asked such a question?  I hope not, because we are all struggling with addictions since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden.  What started out as an “addiction to the Almighty,” which was good, wound up being an “an addiction to self,” which is grotesque!  We have been on a downward spiral ever since, moving from one addiction to another.  Let me make this perfectly clear: for Christians, if our addiction is not to the Almighty, it’s the wrong addiction!

As a pastor, I have counseled people who are facing very difficult and often debilitating addictions: workaholism, sloth, gambling, alcohol, drugs, food, pornography, success, money, image, approval, or acceptance, to name some of the most common.  Regardless of the addiction, the goal of our counseling sessions is to identify what the person views as their missing link in life that compels them to surrender to their particular addiction.  You see, it’s not the actual thing they are addicted to that they believe is meeting their needs; it’s what they get from their addiction that is.  And what they get is only a fleeting, illusory filling of the void that runs deep within their souls.

What we all need is a little Gospel-sanity in our lives.  The Gospel tells us that we all have a hole in our soul; that hole is in need of constant filling, or we will feel empty, lost, and hopeless.  But when we try to fill the hole with anything smaller than God, the filling never lasts—and in fact, it only makes us try harder the next time to fill it more.  Apart from the Almighty, this vicious cycle never ends.  We move frantically from one addiction to another, in a fruitless attempt to fill the hole that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. 

Many Christians remember that when they were first saved, they sensed an overwhelming sense of peace—a filling of that hole in their soul.  This is what the Gospel is designed to do.  It fills the void caused by sin with freedom, joy, and faithfulness.  The problem is that many move on from the Gospel, thinking it was only meant to start the filling process by getting them saved.  They see the Gospel only as the “door” leading into the Christian life; they miss the truth that it is also the “floor” upon which they are to build their entire existence.

Only the Gospel can fill the hole in our soul and keep on filling it for the rest of our lives.  Nothing in this world can do what only the Gospel can do, and God designed it for just that reason.  Imagine being able to fill the hole in our soul completely and finding deep satisfaction in work or success or the applause of man.  If this was possible we would never long for or look to God.  We would live like Adam and Eve attempted to live—autonomous and apart from the rule of God.  Yet to attempt to live this way is to deny our humanity. 

All of life needs to be centered in and built upon the truths of the Gospel, the finished work of Jesus Christ.  This is the one thing God designed to fill the void and keep on filling it without any effort on our part.  That’s the point of grace!  It’s a gift that has been given freely and completely and it never stops giving.

Tim Keller writes, “We can make him the new center of our lives and stop trying to be our own Savior and Lord.  We can accept both his challenge to recognize ourselves as sinners in need of his salvation, and his renewing love as the new basis of our identity.”  We need to keep looking to Jesus and stop looking to anything else.  With an “addiction to the Almighty,” we will find a filling that overflows from the Fount of every blessing.

So . . . what are you addicted to today?  Would a little reorientation of the heart do you some good? 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

How can there be a problem with people pleasing, when we have been called by God to serve others . . . which obviously will be pleasing to them?  It becomes a problem when we think too much about the approval or disapproval of the people we are trying to please.  We all know this from experience.  Some know it professionally in trying to please their boss.  Others know it socially in trying to please their peers.  And still others know it relationally in trying to please their spouse . . . or even their children!

We speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.  We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.  You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.  We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else.

(1 Thessalonians 2:4-6)

The apostle Paul does a great job identifying one of our consistent struggles on this side of the grave: being people pleasers.  He also teaches how to keep this from being our legacy: being a God pleaser.  In the words “not looking for praise from people,” Paul gives us the key that unlocks us from the bondage of people pleasing.  Paul knew the only approval he needed he already had in Jesus, so he did not need to seek it from people.  He knew this because he had been entrusted with the truths of the Gospel.  Do you know it too? 

Paul refused to give people the power to break him by their rejection and build him up by their affection.  He knew what kind of lasting damage that can do.  There was a time in his life when this two-headed monster ruled his heart and shaped his life . . . but not anymore.  On the road to Damascus he found out just how much God had approved of him, and that was the only approval he needed from that day forward.  Knowing he could not be rejected by God empowered him to accept the rejection of others with a freedom and joy that could only come from a relationship with Jesus.

Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

(Galatians 1:10)

For Paul, “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:7) was enough to know.  He now knew the approval of people was nothing compared to the approval of Jesus.  He now knew the affection of people was nothing compared to the affection of Jesus.  He now knew the applause of people was nothing compared to the applause of Jesus.  He had Jesus and Jesus had him, and because of this truth Paul considered everything a loss because of his Gospel gain.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

What have you been fretting about lately?  Notice I didn’t ask if you were fretting, because it is in the DNA of our sinful nature to fret!  Yet Scripture clearly instructs that this is not for you:

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!  Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.  For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

(Psalm 37:7-9)

When God says something we should listen carefully; when He repeats Himself, we should listen very carefully!  God tells us twice in the passage above not to fret, because He knows that fretting and faithfulness are like oil and water—they don’t mix well.  In fact, as you’ve just seen, the Word of God states that fretting leads only to evil.  When was the last time you fretted over the success of someone other than yourself?  When was the last time you fretted over the “gain” received by evildoers?  When we do things like this we work ourselves up, tear others down, and exchange faithfulness for fretting. 

God tells us not to fret, because He is in control of all things.  Not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from His will (Matthew 10:29).  The sovereignty of God is a great comfort for the Christian, because we can be completely sure that what He has planned, He will bring about; in the end all that is crooked will be made straight—and that includes you and me!  Keeping our eyes on the truths of the Gospel is what will take us from fretting to faithfulness.  If we forget this we fret, and in our fretting we try to take control and make things right . . . which generally turns out all wrong!

Listen, we can fret over the economy or we can be faithful to the One who has the government upon His shoulders.  We can fret over the terrorism throughout the world, or we can be faithful to the One who will make every knee bow before Him.  There is so much God is calling us to do to expand the cause of His kingdom!  That’s why it is evil for us to be filling our hours with fretting.  Scripture commands us to “Be still, and know that [He is] God” (Psalm 46:10). We are to be still and fret not, and He has given us every reason to do just that.  It’s only when we forget these reasons—the truths of the Gospel—that we allow fretting to replace stillness and faithfulness. 

Only the Gospel can take our eyes off the stuff of this world and keep them fixed on our Savior.  We must continually remind ourselves that the day is coming when there will be no more pain, sorrow, tears, death, brokenness, sin, injustice, poverty, evildoers, and the fretting that springs out of this mess.  Gospel truths are the keys that unlock the doors to lead us past our fretting and turn it into faithfulness. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

A few weeks ago I preached a sermon entitled Scandalous Grace, based on the following passage from Luke’s gospel.

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”  (Luke 7:37-50)

There is much we can learn from the three characters in the narrative: The Pharisee, The Prostitute, and The Prince of Peace.

The Pharisee

The Pharisees were the religious leaders devoted to God.  The Hebrew form of the word Pharisee means separated ones . . . loyal to God.  The Pharisees were extreme, not only in following the Law of God, but in adding so much to it they were blind to the appearing of the Messiah, even though He was in their very midst—even in this man’s home!

Simon the Pharisee had invited Jesus to his house for a meal.  In those days, it was a common courtesy that guests would be greeted with a kiss when they arrived, their feet would be washed, and their heads anointed with oil.  Simon omitted all these courtesies for Jesus.  The honored guest was totally dishonored by the Pharisee. 

The Prostitute

Notice this woman is known to the reader only as a “woman of the city who was a sinner.”  To be sure, we are all sinners by nature and practice.  But this woman was a sinner by profession.  She is the sinner Solomon warns young men about: “Her house inclines unto death and her paths unto the dead.”  Great was her sin! The Truth, who never exaggerated, said her sins were many.  Yet she freely gave Jesus the common courtesies omitted by Simon.  She wet his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, anointed them with ointment, and ceased not to kiss them.  Her godly sorrow for her life of sin was put on display for all to see.  The Pharisee rebuked her . . . but Jesus received her. 

The Prince of Peace

Jesus received this sinner to His own detriment.  He was condemned by Simon for allowing such a sinner to handle Him.  He was always being condemned for the company He kept.  Consider this scene from another dinner table:

As he reclined at table in [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’  And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Mark 2:15-17)

The one thing the sinful woman who dared enter Simon’s home needed—forgiveness of her sins—she received from Jesus.  Not only did Jesus receive her, He spoke up and defended her.  In front of the condemning crowd, she heard absolution pronounced by her Prince of Peace. 

This passage from Luke is so rich in truth and comfort for those who see themselves as great sinners in need of an even greater Savior!

So . . . how do you see yourself today?  The more we peer behind the curtain of the Gospel, the more we see ourselves like the prostitute rather than the Pharisee.  We recognize that even “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6).  And the more we see ourselves like the prostitute, the less we have to pretend we are better than we are and the sooner we can step off the performance treadmill.  Jesus loves us just the way we are, but He also loves us so much as not to leave us there!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!