Luke 7:36
Posted by: grosey2 <grosey2@...>
Have you heard of the Elfin Oak in Kensington Gardens? It is a huge mass
with carvings of fairies and goblins and who knows what. Well, it seems that
Mr. Ivor Innes, the artist, was engaged on a painting of a rugged coast
scene in Cornwall. On his way down the cliff one day, he struck his foot
against some impediment on the stony track, and, before regaining his
equilibrium, allowed his canvas to slip from his grasp and go hurtling down
the precipice to the rocks below and into the breakers. The sketch was
ruined beyond repair; and Mr. Innes transferred his attention from the lost
picture to the inanimate cause of all the trouble. The object over which he
had stumbled turned out to be the gnarled stump of a root of heather-an
oddly twisted and distorted thing. But as Mr. Innes sat beside the track,
nursing sorrowful thoughts, and reproachfully contemplating the
insignificant and unshapely mass that had brought about his strife, it
suddenly began to assume fantastic forms within his imagination. Just as we
sometimes see faces in the fire, weird objects in the formation of the
clouds and distorted landscapes in the pattern of the wallpaper, so that
heather-root took to itself the nature of a wicked little gnome, squatting
there upon the track, pulling hideous faces at the poor painter whose
beautiful handiwork it had so wantonly destroyed. Well it suddenly flashed
upon the distressed artist as he sat there that since the stump was so much
like a goblin that it could readily assume the mocking face of one, it
should be easy for an artist like him to make a goblin of it. Almost
absent-mindedly he took his brushes and palette, and, putting a few deft
touches to the knots and other shapes, transformed it into a grinning little
image. Everybody who saw the impish heather-root broke into laughter when
they saw it, and one man even insisted upon buying it. Mr. Innes had lost a
picture, but he had discovered a new art. The picture may have been quite an
ordinary one; but the freshly-conceived art was new and striking. Mr. Innes
wandered over the Cornish cliffs looking for the very things that had
already done him such damage. And in every withered old heather-root that
caught his eye, he detected an elf or a fairy, a dwarf or a serpent, a bear
or a brownie, a dolphin or a dryad, a lizard or a unicorn, a mouse or an
owl, a rabbit or a frog, a squirrel or an ape. He was soon producing
"griglans," as he called them, by the score. And then Mr. Innes undertook
the masterpiece called the Elfin Oak from a massive old tree-stump, gnarled
and knotted and unsightly, he worked it until, out of every crack and crease
and seam and knot, his magic chisel has lured the forms and faces and
fantastic figures that all London crowded to see.
That, in a nutshell, is the story that the New Testament unfolds. The world
had grown strangely gnarled and twisted and deformed. But God loved it-so
loved it that He gave His only Son to be its Saviour and Lord and King! And,
under the magic of that divine and deathless love, shaped by the hands of
the Master artist, out from that putrid mass of humanity swarmed the
griglans! A new creation, remade in the image of God.
This morning we see a life transformed, a sinner touched by the Saviour, and
made a worshipper. We have all seen them; Sinners touched by the Saviour and
transformed. However rough and unlovely a life may be, the Divine Artist
knows how to entice from it such beauty. A chorus writer put it this way;
Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion He understood. All I
had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful
of my life.
A life transformed by the Saviour's touch. He can transform it into a thing
of beauty that shall be a joy for ever.
36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the
Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city
who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the
Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood
at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her
tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and
anointed them with the fragrant oil.
He transformed her from a great sinner, a harlot, a prostitute, a woman who
sold her body to the lustful desires of immoral men, into a worshipper, for
that is what she became. She became a worshipper. A Worshipper of the
thrice holy God to whom we were introduced in Isa 6 this morning as we
commenced together. A worshipper, who was in vital communion with the Holy
One, the Lord great in might and power. A worshipper, someone who would
worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth.
Has your life been transformed? Are you a worshipper of Jesus Christ?
But how could a person who had been a prostitute become a worshipper?
How could the Lord Jesus who is absolute holiness bring a self centred and
immoral person into communion with Himself? We who are sinners need to
become worshippers.
Have you been transformed from a sinner to a worshipper of Jesus Christ?
Stephen Charnock, a great writer of a previous century, once said this about
worship: "Without the heart there is no worship. It is a stage play. It is
an acting a part without being that person, really. It is playing the
hypocrite." The word "hypocrite" comes from the Greek and means "to hide
under in order to argue." It comes from Greek theater where actors would
place masks in front of their faces to portray sadness or anger or
happiness. A worshiper of God with no heart is a hypocrite. We don't want to
be hypocrites. What is required for our hearts to be engaged in true,
heartfelt worship of God?
I want to share with you five elements for true worship. They are found in
this encounter between the sinful woman and Jesus. While the main focus of
this passage is forgiveness, we can also learn something about worship. What
the sinful woman did was an act of worship, which grew out of her having
been forgiven. Simon - a Pharisee had invited Jesus to His house for dinner.
Little did he know that he too would learn a lesson about forgiveness and
worship.
1. The Motivation for Worship Romans 12:1 "I beseech you
therefore, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world. But be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God."
Let's look at the h-e-a-r-t of worship. The Lord transformed this woman into
a worshipper.
I. Worship requires H UMILITY
1. This woman recognized her sinful condition and approached Christ with
humility. (v. 38) "Behind Him."
This woman has a reputation. She doesn't hide. She doesn't run. She doesn't
care. She has come into Simon's house to worship Jesus. She stands behind
Jesus and begins to weep. Then she kneels to wipe her tears from his feet.
In order to do this she must let down her hair. While wiping the tears off
Jesus' feet, she begins to kiss Christ's feet.
A heartfelt worshiper must feel his sin.
2. Simon the Pharisee failed to recognize that He too was a sinner and
reproached Christ with a critical spirit. (v. 39) Simon says to himself,
"Christ must not be a prophet -- this woman is a sinner!" When we are more
concerned with how we look than whom we reach we're in trouble.
3. We truly worship when we recognize the worthiness of God and the
unworthiness of man. A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a
pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a
certain offense twice and justice demanded death. "But I don't ask for
justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy." "But your son does not
deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. "Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be
mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." "Well, then," the
emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman's son. Mercy
there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There
my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary. It is by His mercies that we are
not consumed. His mercies are new every morning. By the wounds of the cross
Christ claims the right to be our Lord.
II. It involves EMOTION
1. This woman was clearly broken over her sins and began to weep at the feet
of Jesus. (v. 38) "Weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears."
What were those tears about? They were tears of love. Look at what the Lord
says of her: Jesus says, "Her many sins have been forgiven -- for she loved
much" (v.47).
She isn't weeping because she is terrified of Judgement to come? She isn't
weeping from shame. She is weeping out of love. Somehow, someway, this woman
had heard that Jesus was the Messiah. He had come to save sinners. To give
"freedom to the captives." She believed in Him. Her sins had been forgiven.
She had been transformed. And now
1John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. "He saved us, not because
of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy." -Titus 3:5
2. Simon the Pharisee was offended by such an emotional display and by the
fact that Jesus allowed this sinful woman to come near him. (v. 39)
Do you love the Lord? Has your life been transformed by Him? Do you love Him
because He first loved you? Do you worship Him with a heart of love filled
with emotion for His love and His forgiveness for you?
III. It is expressed through ADORATION
1. This woman went looking for Jesus, and when she found where he was, she
fell at His feet in adoration! (v. 37) "When she knew that Jesus sat at the
table."
There is a great Savior -- this is required for heartfelt worship.
Do you want worship that moves the hearts of people? Then put the focus on
Him.
Put the focus on His Deity -- "Simon thought . . . Jesus answered him."
(vs.39-40).
Put the focus on His Work -- "Who is this who even forgives sins?" (v.48).
Put the focus on His Truth -- "Simon, I have something to tell you" (v.40).
2. Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus in, but didn't even show common courtesy
to Him. (vv. 44-46)
3. We begin to worship when we do more than just invite Jesus in, but pause
to adore him.
IV. It requires REPENTANCE
1. This woman showed by her actions that she had a repentant attitude. (v.
47)
2. Simon the Pharisee showed by his actions that he had a lot to learn about
repentance
3. We begin to worship when we understand what it means to repent of our
sins and receive forgiveness.
V. It produces THANKSGIVING
1. Because she had been forgiven much, this woman out of love displayed her
thankfulness by giving (v. 37)
2. The Presentation In Worship
There is a great sacrifice -- this is required for heartfelt worship.
The woman breaks the alabaster jar around her neck and pours the perfume,
her most precious possession, of the feet of Jesus. Real, heartfelt worship
costs you. "I will not offer to the Lord my God that which costs me nothing"
(II Samuel 24:24). "Worship that costs us nothing is worth precisely what it
costs" Leon Morris.
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, therefore brethren, by the mercies
of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world. But
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God the revelation of
Jesus Christ that ye present -- and that is a technical Greek word for the
Levitical offering. A man went up to worship God in the days of the Roman
empire, he brought an offering with them, a sacrifice.
And that parastasi is a technical word for the bringing, the presentation of
their offering to God. And every Roman that read it and every Jew that read
it, knew just exactly what he meant. The taking of the animal sacrifice and
laying it on the altar before God. So we, says Paul, are to present before
God, we are to take up to the altar of God our bodies.
follow are in apposition to that word for body. Somata. Now look at them.
Everyone of them is going to end in the same letter; in the same accusative
form.
Your bodies, thusian, zosan, hageon, hagion, euareston, latreian, logiken,
hemon.Everyone of them has an "on" -- and on and on and on and on. Now, when
you look at it in this sentence, all of those words are modifying, that when
you present your body, lay it on the altar of God, you're to present your
body a sacrifice upon the altar of God. Thusian, What is that?
That is your body is the sacrifice. Lay it on the altar. Lay it on the
altar. Zosan,, living, not dead, not slain. As they slew the animal; but to
be laid on the altar, living, Zosan
Hagion, it is to be pure and without stain. Euareston, It is well-pleasing.
Without blemish. You couldn't take a lamb that was sorry and hurt and
wounded. It had to be the best in the flock. To be well-pleasing to God.
Logiken. That means logical. Logical. That is, the service you render to God
is not to be by blindness and ceremony. But it is to be of your mind. It is
to be a thought-out thing. It is to be a conscious volitional thing. You can
translate it spiritual. You can translate it "reasonable." When you go
before the Lord and what you do is by practice ceremony, by repetitious
ritual, God says: "No!" But your service is to be rational and it is to be
spiritual, it is to be of the mind. "...which is your reasonable service."
The word Paul uses to describe the surrendered life is the word from which
we get our word "logical." What other response to God's love would be
appropriate? The natural response of a redeemed life should be that of a
surrendered life. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a
crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
Now, to look at that a minute, we are to bring our bodies. Now, in the next
part of the verse, he's going to talk about our minds. But the first part
here, our bodies. We are to bring your bodies and lay them on the altar.
Through our death, we are to reach a new spiritual life in the Lord Jesus.
And the sacrifice we bring is not a dead sacrifice. And a dead offering. But
it is to be a living sacrifice. And a living offering.
When I saw that film Martin Luther. Everybody ought to look at that. The
life of Martin Luther. When he was in the monastery trying to subdue the
flesh, you remember that scene when he goes into the monastic cell and he
takes down off of the wall a whip with those heavy steel tongs. And when
supper is called, Martin Luther doesn't appear. And the abbot goes and opens
the door of the cell, and there Martin Luther is lying prostrate on the
ground, lying on the floor of his cell. He has beat himself into
unconsciousness.
How shall I lay this body upon the altar of God? You don't need it whipped.
Monastic discipline by the convents of life. God says "No!" But when that
body is to be laid upon the altar, it is to be without blemish. It is to be
uncut. It is to be unmutilated.
that body is to be laid on the sacrifice of God, a living, a pulsing thing.
All whole, all dedicated, all yielded unto God. That's what that book say
"Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness,
but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from
death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of
righteousness." -Romans 6:13
2. Because Simon the Pharisee had been forgiven little - not that he didn't
have much to forgive, but that he didn't confess much - he showed no love
3. We begin to worship when we return our very best to Jesus in
thanksgiving!
Your rational, reasonable service. Something you do with your heads and with
your mind and your heart, a chosen thing.
1. A permanent sacrifice - "offer" *Total surrender is better than repeated
rededications*
2. A personal sacrifice - "your" *What God wants from you is you*
3. A physical sacrifice - "body" Do not offer the parts of your body to
sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as
those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your
body to him as instruments of righteousness. - Romans 6:13
4. A practical sacrifice - "living"
*Would you die for Jesus?*
*Will you live for Jesus?*
3. The Transformation Through Worship Rom 12:2
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, therefore brethren, by the mercies
of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world. But
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Metamorphose And you'll find that word in the story of the
transfiguration of Jesus Christ. But be ye transfigured. Be ye
metamorphasized . Be ye changed by the renewing of your mind.
Now, our minds, our minds. There are two things there that I see that Paul
says about these minds of ours. And the first is this: that we are to
fashion our lives not according to the world, but we are to fashion our
lives by that holy ideal, that blessed pattern that God places in an
regenerated heart or as he uses here, in the quickened mind.
All of life is nothing other than an outworking of the vision, the
conviction, the goal that a man has in his mind, in his head. And there are
two great patterns that a man can have in his head, in his mind. He can have
the world or he can have the mind that is in Jesus Christ. And whatever that
man assembles his life unto will be according to the conviction, the things
that he thinks is worthwhile, worth possessing, worth having that he has in
his mind.
This young lady had changed! She had experienced the touch of the Saviour
deeply within. She was changed. And she was being changed! "And we, who
with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into
His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit." -II Cori 3:18
Archbishop William Temple on worship: Worship is the submission of our
nature to God, the quickening our consciousness by God's holiness, the
nourishing our minds on God's truth, the purifying our imagination by God's
beauty, the opening our hearts to God's love, the surrendering our wills to
God's service.
Have you been changed? Has the inward motive and desire of your life been
altered? Have you turned from pleasing yourself to pleasing the Saviour? Is
the centre of your mind changed? On what do you focus? Where is your
citizenship? Is it in heaven above, or down here on earth. I find it
interesting that we as Christians, while we have a concern for which teams
win in the soccer or the football, there's really only one concern on our
hearts, that Jesus Christ be glorified.
4. The Revelation through Worship Rom 12:2
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, therefore brethren, by the mercies
of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world. But
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
The woman who enters the house is a "sinner" by reputation, but one who has
received saving grace. Her sins had been forgiven. But with all the looks,
all the gossip, all the doubts that must have come into her mind, Jesus says
to her, Your sins ARE forgiven." "Your faith has saved you." "Go in peace"
(v.48-50).
The Affirmation she knew it already, but the Lord Reaffirmed it to her
Jesus says to her, Your sins ARE forgiven."
The Assurance John 14:21 "Your faith has saved you." "Go in peace"
(v.48-50).
On April 21, 1519 The Spanish explorer Cortez sailed into the harbor of Vera
Cruz, Mexico. He had only 600 men with him, yet over the next two years he
was able to defeat a vastly superior force and become conqueror of all
Mexico. How was this accomplish, when two prior expeditions had failed?
Cortex knew that he and his men faced incredible odds. He knew that the road
would be difficult and dangerous. He knew his men would be tempted to
abandon their mission and return to Spain. When Cortez and his men came
ashore and unloaded their ships, he ordered that the entire fleet of eleven
ships be destroyed. His men stood on the shore and watched as their only
possibility of returning to Spain burned and sank. From that point on they
knew there was no return, no turning back. Their only option was to go
forward, to conquer or die. You have heard of burning your bridges, well
they burned their boats. Have you surrendered your life wholly to the Lord
Jesus Christ? Have you responded to His great love to you and become a
wholehearted worshipper of Christ? Do you need to make a stand today and say
Yes Lord, I'll be a worshipper of Jesus Christ? Come and take your stand.
Burn your boats! Be baptised as a confession of your trust in this one who
receives sinners!