Luke 7 :: A Hooker and a Pharisee

Luke 7

At the end of the chapter, Luke recalls a story about a sinful woman, a woman of ill repute, a harlot...a hooker.  Included in this story is a Pharisee, a member of the religious elite, a socialite of all socialites.  The two prove to be an unlikely lesson on the grace of God.

The Pharisee has invited Jesus to his home for a meal.  Jesus's acceptance of the invitation shows that he was not spurning the Pharisees socially, but that he indeed was here for them also.  The woman has taken advantage of the social customs of the day which allowed her to attend a banquet to wait around for left-overs.  She was allowed to come get scraps, but she wanted to see the Savior.

She brings along an expensive bottle of perfume.  Where she got this, I have no idea.  She may have bought it with her "earnings," or she may have received it as a "gift" from a client, or she may have taken from a client.  She could have also come by it honorably, I presume.  She does to Jesus what she knows to do.  I speculate that this was not the first time she had washed the feet of a man, while crying and splashed some expensive perfume on his feet.  It's the sort of demeaning thing that a john would have requested.  She was expressing love for Jesus in the only way she knew how.  When the Pharisee saw her doing this, he wasn't shocked, but he says, "If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him."

Jesus then addresses the Pharisee with another story.  Two men in debt to a banker - one owes 500 pieces of silver and the other 50 pieces of silver.  If the banker cancels both debts, which of the two would be more grateful?  The host answers reluctantly, "I suppose the one who was forgiven the most."

Looking back at the woman, he continues his conversation with the host.  He explains that she has done much more for him than the host has done.  She has been forgiven much and is very, very grateful.  Jesus then tells her that her sins are forgiven and that her faith has saved her.  Now she can go.  She has what she came for.

Wow!  I am absolutely blown away by this story.  I am floored at the willingness of Jesus to love the unlovable.  I find myself saying, "Yeah!  Take that Pharisee."  I have to ask myself, what does this say about Jesus?  Jesus accepts us where we are when we come to him.  Jesus deals with us where we are when we invite him in.  Jesus accepts our offering no matter what it is.  Jesus cancels debts - both large and small.  Jesus notices our offerings.  Jesus notices our ambivalence.  Jesus forgives sins.  Jesus saves the woman based on her faith - not her church attendance, not her walking an isle, not her commitment to attend temple every week after that, not her quitting her profession...

This really is good news.  This really is the expression of the gospel that people are searching everywhere hoping to attain.  This is the love and the compassion I want to flow through me.  Incredible!

Romans 10:4-10 :: What is Salvation?

Romans 10:4-10 (TheMessage and TNIV)

Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy - every detail of life is regulated by fine print!  But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story...

The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest.

It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go and work and set things right for us.  This is the core of all we do and teach.  Say the welcoming word to God - "Jesus is my Master" - embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead.  That's it.  You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you.  That's salvation.  With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!"

What do you think?  Is it really this simple?  How do you trust God to shape the right living in you?  

Romans 3:21-24 :: Facebook and Faith

Romans 3:21-24 (The Message and TNIV)
Romans Reading Plan

But in our time something new has been added.  I like this but...I cannot lie.  Okay, maybe that wasn't the way you wanted to start your Monday morning, but c'mon...laugh a little!  Seriously though, I have been waiting for this small three-letter word since day one of our reading through Romans.  This is where it all turns.  This is where we are introduced to hope.  This is where the bridge is built and reconnections are made.

Do you remember life before Facebook?  You know that life where you simply wondered what your friends from high school were doing, but didn't want to exert the effort to track anyone down.  FB made it easy to reconnect with friends that we have lost touch with over the years.  Reconnections are great (in most instances).  One of the things I like about going to see my in-laws is the fact they live in the town where I spent 6-12 grades.  I always see old friends when I go back and when I get to see that one friend I haven't seen or heard from in 20 plus years, it's really nice.

Paul is introducing us to an opportunity to reconnect.  For nearly three whole sections, Paul has built a case that no one is good enough to be reconnected to God.  We all start out in the same boat, at the same starting line, with the same problem - sin separates us from God.  Now we have a chance, though, to reconnect because "something new has been added.

The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us.  We have seen that the Law was given to show us our sin, but it didn't fix it.  The Law simply showed all of us that none of us are capable of "setting things right" between us and God.  We can't make a phone call or send an email on this one.  That said, God provided Jesus to do what we could not and cannot do.  We were "incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us," so He did it for us.  He put Jesus in our place.  No Jesus' rightness is accredited to us.  By putting our trust and life in Jesus, we can reconnect with God.

He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be.  ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!  What a way to start my day and my week!  This is a reconnection that changes everything.  It changes me.  It can change you.  How did he get us out of the mess?  The work of Jesus Christ, while here on this earth, is the means for our reconnection and our trust and faith in him and his way for us is our way of receiving it.  At the risk of sounding cheesy, God has sent every one of us a "friend request" and it sits in our inbox waiting an action - to accept or to ignore.

In the next few days we are going to dive deeper into the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf and why that was the only option for our reconnection to Father.  For today, what is it about today's reading that makes you pause?  Does any of this make you smile?

Acts 11 :: Just as...

Acts 11 in The Message and TNIV translations

This morning, I listened to chapter 11 a few times and one phrase jumped out at me.  Peter is explaining to leaders and friends in Jerusalem what had happened at Joppa with Cornelius.  In verse 15, he says "So I started in, talking.  Before I'd spoken a half dozen sentences the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us the first time."

The Jews Peter is speaking to are upset that he would go and hang out with the Romans like he did.  Peter has had an awakening that the Gospel is not just for the Jews like them, but for everyone.  I am thankful that Peter heard from God on this matter because I am not a Jewish person.  I am thankful that Peter was willing to go back and fight for the vision God had laid on his heart.

• Just as the Holy Spirit was poured out on the group of Jewish apostles at Pentecost, he lands on the Romans.
• Just as God was accessible to the priests, He is accessible to us.
• Just as the Holy Spirit would interpret the written scriptures to the religious elite, he will do so for you and for me.
• Just as Jesus loved the ones who love him, he loves the ones who don't.
• Just as Jesus loves the "good Christians," he reaches out to the desolate.
• Just as the Holy Spirit leads a pastor, he can lead you.
• Just as God loves the nuclear family who attends church every week, God also loves the lesbian couple trying to raise their son.
• Just as God loves the successful business person, God also loves the drunk on the corner that needs a home.
• Just as God loves the church out on the edge trying to be missional, he loves the high church downtown that continues steeped in their traditions.
• Just as...just as...just as...

I believe all people are loved by God and need Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Really?

Core Belief :: SALVATION BY GRACE

We believe a person comes into a right relationship with God by His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (TNIV)

On Friday morning, Cameron told me he had written a post for "Salvation by Grace" but got away from the house without publishing the post. He asked me to go online and post it for him. So I did just that...then something happened and I deleted it. Gone. Nowhere to be found. Oops. I'm sure that Cameron's post was probably life-changing for someone and now no one will ever know. Since that happened, I guess he's been tied up, so I wanted to pass along my thoughts on this core belief.

Salvation by Grace was one of the few mantras I remember from my churches growing up. I remember this phrase being thrown around often. Ephesians 2:8-9 was one of the first passages of Scripture I ever memorized. We quoted it before going out and sharing the message of Jesus to people who didn't know it...or at least hadn't embraced it like we had yet. Everybody in my church knew that you were "saved by grace" even if we didn't really know what it meant.

We believe that humanity's relationship with Creator God was severed through disobedience through one man - Adam (Romans 5:12). That's right. The one man created before all men. In Genesis 3, he disobeys God (he sins) and ushers death into our world. This death was not only physical death, but spiritual death as well. His sin separated us from God. Our relationship was not right. We also believe that Jesus came to make that relationship right again. His sacrifice and subsequent resurrection turned everything around. Now, through one man's (Jesus') sacrifice, life would redeemed and humanity could be restored.

So we believe that a person comes into a right relationship with God by His grace. His grace is the giving of His Son so we might have life. His son paid for our sin. His son set things right for us with God. We believe this happens through faith in Jesus Christ - trusting with your life that Jesus is our only way back into a right relationship with God.

How does this belief effect my everyday life? What difference does this make? Not only is our initial relationship reestablished by grace, but it's also sustained by grace as well. I cannot be the husband, the father, the friend, the pastor, the artist that I need to be apart from God's grace in my life. Nothing I do could ever earn this right relationship with God, and nothing I do could ever take this reestablished relationship away. I don't walk on pins and needles wondering if I've done enough good things to get to heaven some day. I don't worry about whether that reaction I had with my kids will reduce the love God has for me. I don't live my life in fear of Father. It's all because of Jesus I'm alive.

What does this belief mean to you? How does it impact your daily life?