"Your Faith has Saved You. Go in Peace."

 

My favorite book of the Bible by a wide margin is the Gospel of John, but my favorite story in the Bible is found in chapter 7 of Luke’s gospel. In this story, Jesus is dining at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. While Jesus is reclining at the table with his host and the other guests, a woman comes in, falls down at Jesus’ feet, and begins to weep. She anoints Jesus’ head with perfume from an alabaster box, washes his feet with her tears, kisses them, anoints them with more of the perfume, and then wipes them with her hair. When Simon sees this, he thinks to himself that Jesus can’t really be a prophet, because if he were a prophet, “he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Given the way this is phrased, I assume the woman must have been either a prostitute or else was known for being “loose,” as my parents’ generation would say.

Jesus, being aware of what Simon is thinking, presents him with a parable concerning two men who owed money to a lender. One of them owed 50 days’ wages, while the other owed 500 days’ wages. When the men were unable to pay, the moneylender forgave them both. Jesus then asks Simon, “which of the two will love him [the moneylender] more?” Simon replies, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

Jesus confirms that Simon has answered correctly, and then says this to him:

“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 she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason, I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he is forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to the woman: “Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

There are two things I would draw your attention to here:

First, this woman was notorious in her community for being a “sinner,” someone with whom no one decent would be caught dead. In spite of this, she came to Jesus and found forgiveness. Maybe tonight you feel as though you are so filthy Christ could never stoop to love you. If so, remember this woman. Jesus had a reputation for hanging out with people who were less than respectable. In fact, his enemies called him “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” To this, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:12-13). In Luke 19, when he dines with a tax collector named Zacchaeus, who turns to him and promises to reform his life, Jesus comments: “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

If you’re a wretch, an outcast, despised and sick at heart, he came for you.

Second, notice that Jesus commends the woman for her faith. But how did she show faith, you might wonder. She’s not recorded as saying anything.

The woman showed her faith in coming to Jesus in humility. It was the job of common servants in those days to wash the feet of a guest, and this they would have done with water and cloth of some type; but this woman washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You can’t humble yourself much more than that. Further, she anointed Jesus with a type of expensive perfume, likely given to her by one of her “clients,” or else purchased with money she had made in her trade.

She came to Jesus because she knew who he was. As the Pharisee Nicodemus said, “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” The woman knew that Jesus had been sent by God. Further, Jesus had forgiven sins on a number of occasions, and had been castigated for it by the Jewish leaders. Jesus was preaching a gospel of “repent and believe,” and this woman exemplified both. She regretted her past and wanted to be reconciled to God, and she knew Jesus was God’s chosen. She showed her faith by recognizing him for who he was and what he could do. On another occasion, in Matthew 9, two blind men came to Jesus, asking him to restore their sight. Jesus asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” These men believed in both who Jesus was and what he could do. The woman in Luke 7 showed the same faith.

Further, Jesus emphasized that, because he had come from God, with the authority of God, all who accepted him also accepted God:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.” – John 13:20

Here’s the point of all of this: No matter what you’ve done, how dirty you feel, and how badly people may treat you because of your past, no matter how much you might want to shy away from him, Jesus came for you. If you want to be forgiven, turn to him openly, showing that you know who he is and what he can do for you. Your faith can save you, too.

“Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” – Luke 4:18-19

Biblical Zeal or Religious Self-righteousness?

"For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." - Romans 10:2-3

I would define "zeal" as "enthusiastic commitment, demonstrating follow-through." Zeal can be a good thing, and certainly no better than when employed in the service of God. Such zeal is always discernible because, as Paul states above, it is focused on the righteousness of God. Godly zeal is inseparable from godly character, which will always exemplify the fruits of the Spirit, including mercy and sound-mindedness.

Zeal untempered by the righteous character of God will ultimately turn a person into a human wrecking ball: arrogant, close-minded, controlling, overly sensitive, "high and mighty," and merciless - all self-righteous sound and fury. In the church, it is exemplified by those who are always finding something to condemn, always ready to run someone off, always dogmatic and insisting that their standard is THE standard, always putting people into groups and assigning them labels, always laboring to establish their own righteousness - and blind as bats to their own arrogance and cruelty.

Be zealous, yes, but always in conjunction with the work of the Spirit, always in such a way as you are drawing people to Christ rather than chasing them from Him, always conscious that, thanks to fallen human nature, we can easily go to harmful extremes even with the best of intentions driving us, always mindful that we are fellow servants of one another under one Lord: redeemed from the same fate, cleansed with the same blood, sealed by the same Spirit, destined to stand before the same judgment seat, accountable to the same commandments.

There is a very fine line between contending for truth and mounting a witch hunt. That line is knowing the righteousness of God as opposed to establishing our own. May we be ever mindful of the distinction.

"This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." - James 1:19-20

* Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible
* Image credit: www.wallpaperswide.com

It's Time to Make Up Your Mind

"Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it...And Shaphan read it before the king [Josiah]...Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded...'Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.'

"So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess...And they spoke with her. Then she said to them, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, 'Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read—because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.’ But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'Concerning the words which you have heard—because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,' says the Lord. 'Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place.' So they brought back word to the king." - II Kings 22:8, 10,11-13, 14-20

There are two great lessons for us in this passage.

First, the sins of an entire land may be so great that God loses patience with it and judgment becomes inevitable. At this point, the people as a whole have no interest in repenting, regardless of what their leaders may do for a time:

"Then the Lord said to me, 'Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.'" -Jeremiah 15:51.

In II Kings 23, we read how king Josiah made war against all of the Canaanite religions that had infected Judah, restoring true worship; and although we also read that the people agreed with him, after his death things quickly reverted to the previous condition. The people as a whole did not want God, so God gave them up to their enemies; and although a remnant later returned to Judah, the kingdom was never the same as before.
     I pray that America has not yet reached this point, but I fear that we have. There are no signs of anything turning around for the better. Just the opposite is true. We have reached a point where we no longer merely tolerate evil in our midst; we celebrate it, and those who speak out against it are hated and vilified. This is a terrifying development. We've not only closed the door against God, as a people we're nailing it shut, signifying to Him in no uncertain terms that we have no intention of letting Him back in. As a nation, we might as well be sealing the door of our own tomb.
     Second, we see some good news: for those whose hearts are touched, and who humble themselves before Him, God is yet full of mercy, just as He was toward Josiah. Sorrow for one's own sins, as well as the for the condition of one's people, is not lost on God. He will deliver those turn to Him, no matter what the culture as a whole does and what fate befalls the nation:

"Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, 'Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.' And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
"Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; and the Lord said to him, 'Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.'
"To the others He said in my hearing, 'Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.' So they began with the elders who were before the temple. Then He said to them, 'Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!' And they went out and killed in the city.
"So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, 'Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?'
"Then He said to me, 'The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!’ And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head.'” - Ezekiel 9:1-9

Even in the midst of calamity and judgment, God will set a seal on those who mourn over the sins of the land. The question of the hour for us all then is: what will we do? Will we go the way of the rest of our culture and pay the inevitable price, or we will turn to God in sorrow for our own sins and those of our people?
     We don't like to talk about judgment these days, but justice is just as much a part of God's nature as love is, and we do no one any good by sparing them the truth now only for it to come back and bite them later. Let the truth be told - the whole truth - and let men do as they will. Judgment is coming, and only those who draw near to the Lord will be afforded His protection. Those who reject Him now, He will reject then. 
     Don't play games with God. Don't listen to those who teach prosperity and "everything's gonna be all right," who never warn you to examine yourself before God or to repent and get serious about following Christ. Things are far from all right, and those who refuse to teach the whole Word of God (including the warnings about judgment) are not doing you any favors. Where there is danger, the only correct thing to do is to warn people to see to their safety. Whether they listen or not is up to them, but time is fast running out for all of us to decide whether we will be a Josiah and turn to God while there is time.

"For He says: 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." - II Corinthians 6:2



- clock image courtesy of "Sun Ladder" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2010-07-20_Black_windup_alarm_clock_face.jpg