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03.08.09

Second Sunday in Lent

SERMON SERIES: ON THE ROAD TO THE CROSS

PART 2: THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN

ISAIAH 53:1-6; JOHN 7:53-8:11

• The Absence of Sin
• The Forbidden Subject
• Sin is not a subject we like to talk about much these days
• We really don’t like that word because it implies that we are far from perfect
• While we are quick to admit that there are no perfect people, we stop short of admitting that we are sinners
• Sin is such a harsh word, so we prefer a much softer vocabulary to talk about the things we have done that are contrary to the will of God
• The things we do to hurt others don’t spring from our sinful nature; instead they are “flaws” in our character
• When hurtful words come from our lips, we haven’t sinned, we just “misspoke” or had “a slip of the tongue”
• We much prefer to call the things we do wrong a “mistake” or an “error in judgment” than to admit that what we have done is sin
• It amazes me that, even among Christians, sin is not a part of our regular vocabulary
• We avoid calling the things we do wrong sin because we don’t want to admit that we are still sinners
• We avoid calling the things that others do wrong sin because we don’t want to appear judgmental
• Rather than addressing the problem of sin in our life and in our culture, we choose to ignore it and allow it to become an acceptable part of our life and culture
• Even in our judicial process, there are some sins that are more acceptable than others
• So we’re convinced that as long as we are only guilty of those sins that are much more acceptable we are in no danger of facing the judgment of God
• A regular part of our worship is a time for the confession of sin
• Yet, there are many of us who are very uncomfortable with this portion of our worship service
• We’re uncomfortable, not because we’re afraid to publicly admit the things we have done wrong, we’re uncomfortable because we believe that we haven’t done anything bad enough that we need to confess
• The words of the Unison Prayer of Confession don’t apply to us because they’re not things we have done, and the time for personal silent confession often becomes a time to think about the things we’re going to do once we get home
• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
• Gone are the days when preachers would preach a sermon like that which Jonathan Edwards preached on July 8, 1741 entitled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
• In that remarkable sermon preached during the Great Awakening, Edwards makes several significant points
• He says that God has the power to cast the wicked into hell at any moment, and that we all deserve to be cast into hell because we are already under that sentence of condemnation
• He says that there is nothing we can do for ourselves to keep us out of hell although we have convinced ourselves that we can avoid hell if we do our best to live a good life
• He says that God is under no obligation to save any of us, yet God provides us with God’s grace through Jesus Christ if we profess our faith in him
• He says that if we are saved from the torments of hell, it is by the act of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not through anything we do—forgiveness is a gift God chooses to give us
• A preacher preaching a sermon like this in most of our churches today would not last very long in the ministry because we don’t like being told that we’ve done anything wrong
• We don’t like to be called sinners, and we really don’t like a preacher who “steps on our toes”
• We want to hear sermons that make us feel good about ourselves
• Many of us don’t come to worship so that we might better understand God’s Word and God’s will—we come to worship to be entertained
• As long as the music, the prayers and the sermon are uplifting and we can leave feeling good about ourselves, that is worship that is pleasing to us
• But worship isn’t necessarily intended to be pleasing to us—worship is intended to be pleasing to God, and God is most pleased with our worship when worship results in bringing our lives more into conformity with God’s will for us and the world
• That means that worship must often be disturbing
• We’re uncomfortable talking about sin because we’re very uncomfortable about accepting responsibility for our actions
• Ever since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, we have devised a whole host of ways to try to absolve ourselves
• Adam was the first to play the blame game
• When God approached Adam about his disobedience to the only command God gave, his first response was to blame Eve for giving him the fruit and to blame God for giving him the woman, and Eve, in turn, blamed the serpent
• Ever since then, we have tried our best to lay the blame on others and on circumstances
• We blame other people, we blame the devil, we blame the circumstances, we blame parents, we blame the government, we blame God…but we never blame ourselves
• And if what we do wrong is the fault of something or someone else, are we really guilty of sin?
• The Problem of Sin
• The Adulterous Woman
• On the road to the cross, Jesus was repeatedly confronted with the problem of sin
• That’s not surprising since Jesus’ purpose for coming into the world was to save sinners
• On this particular day, the self-righteous religious leaders of his day brought to him a woman who was caught in the act of adultery
• But this woman wasn’t the “catch of the day;” she was merely the “bait” they were using to try to get a bigger catch
• The catch they wanted was Jesus, so they were using this woman to try to trap Jesus so they might have a reason to arrest him
• The law of Moses was very clear, they claimed: a woman taken in adultery must be stoned to death
• So they brought her to Jesus to see how he would rule
• To rule against the law of Moses would give the Pharisees cause to arrest Jesus, and to rule in favor of the law of Moses would violate his own message of love and forgiveness
• Immediately Jesus knew this was a trap, for the law of Moses prescribed that, in the case of adultery, both the man and the woman must be stoned, yet only this woman was brought to him for judgment
• While the Pharisees claimed to be strict adherents to the law, Jesus also knew that the requirement of stoning in cases of adultery had long been disregarded
• Rather than responding immediately, Jesus bent down and began to write in the dirt
• After a time of writing, Jesus straightened up and said, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” then he stooped down again and resumed his writing
• We’re not sure what Jesus was writing
• Perhaps he wrote the words of Jeremiah 17:13, which says, “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame.  Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.”
• “Written in the dust” is a reference to death, and the opposite is having one’s name written in the book of life
• If that’s what Jesus was writing, he was writing it to remind the woman’s accusers that they, too, were guilty of sin
• Or perhaps Jesus was simply writing the names of those religious leaders who were accusing this woman
• It was easy for them to recognize sin in the life of someone else, but hard for them to see the sin in their own lives—and we are often guilty of the same
• One by one, the crowd departed and not a stone was thrown
• When they were all alone, Jesus asked the woman, “Where are your accusers?  Has no one condemned you?” 
• “No one, sir,” the woman replied.
• “Then neither do I condemn you.” Jesus declared.  “Go and sin no more.”
• Jesus was the only one who could rightly execute judgment since he was the only one there not guilty of sin
• But instead of judgment, Jesus offers her pardon
• That she was guilty is without question since Jesus charged her to go and sin no more, but in the place of judgment, Jesus gave her mercy
• He condemned the sin, but not the sinner
• In doing so, he gave her the opportunity for a new life, and that is the essence of the gospel
• Faith is not only about the forgiveness of sin, it’s about a new quality of life that overcomes the power of sin
• The Power of Forgiveness
• That we are all guilty of sin is evident in the words of Isaiah 53, a prophecy that we as Christians understand to describe the life and mission of Jesus
• He took upon himself our infirmities and weaknesses, and carried our sorrows
• He was pierced for our transgressions and punished on our behalf
• Why?  Because we all, like sheep, have gone astray
• There is not one of us who isn’t guilty
• Yet, to demonstrate God’s love and mercy, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God
• As we travel the road to the cross with Jesus, we encounter the power of forgiveness
• Forgiveness doesn’t mean that we aren’t guilty; it means that God values us more for who we are than for what we do
• Forgiveness doesn’t mean that we have a license to go on sinning because God will always forgive us
• With forgiveness comes that call to a new way of life, and in that new life we are given the power of God to overcome sin
• To continue to live in sin is to cheapen the grace of God, and the grace of God is anything but cheap
• It cost Jesus his life, but that was a price he was willing to pay to demonstrate God’s love and grace to the world
• These words of Scripture demonstrate the awesome power forgiveness has to change people’s lives
• God’s forgiveness gives us the opportunity and the power to start over again, to live life with new purpose, headed in a new and different direction
• While we never hear of this woman again, we can rightly assume that from this day on her life was different and better
• Not only did Jesus spare her from death, her gave her a new opportunity to live and a new purpose for which to live
• She was obviously looking for love, but instead of seeking to find it in the arms of another man, she found it in the arms of God
• There is no sin that God is unwilling or unable to forgive
• The power of forgiveness is also a power that has been entrusted to us so that we might transform the lives of others
• The only limitation is our willingness to use it
• “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” Jesus taught us to pray
• So the forgiveness we receive is directly tied to the forgiveness we are willing to give, and the forgiveness we are willing to give ought to be in direct proportion to the amount of forgiveness we have received from God
• How radically we could change the lives of others if we could learn to hate the sin while loving the sinner, just as Jesus did for this woman
• How radically we could change the live of others by offering those who have wronged us a new opportunity to live by forgiving them as freely as Jesus forgives us