Two kinds of People (Jesus Sees the Heart)
(Part 2)
Through His eyes
Luke 7:36–38 (NLT)
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.
· We don’t know who asked Jesus, but we assume it was Simon
· And Jesus went
· Jesus didn’t care who you were
· What background you came from
· Or your motives for asking
· And He knew before He got there the motives, But Simon didn't know that (Yet)
37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.
· Then this woman walks in
· In his home
· How dare she
· He looked at her with disgust, disdain, with a smugness
· And she could feel it
· He had no love for her, no compassion, no grace
· She was that kind, and Holy people didn’t associate with that kind
· In his mind, there was no help for her!
· Can you feel the arrogance, the pride?
· Can you see the ignorance and stupidity in his thinking?
· Or, do you agree with him??
38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
· I can only imagine what is going through his mind now!
· Like what is she doing?
· Did she just wash his feet with her hair???
o He is leaning over to talk to the others with him
· And they continually talked about her and Jesus
o Cracking jokes
o Making unnecessary and unwanted comments
There are two different kinds of people in this room with Jesus
· One is coming broken
· One is hard-hearted
· But both need Jesus!
His true colors show, eventually they always do
Luke 7:39–40 (NLT)
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
· First and foremost, let’s just get this out of the way
· No matter how well you dress up the outside, you can’t hide the mess on the inside from Jesus!
· Jesus sees right through him and He sees right through all of us!
· We can’t hide the ugliness inside
· And at some point, we reveal it to others as well
o It’s called the fruit of the spirit
We have to keep an eye on our fruit!
Matthew 7:18 (NLT)
18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.
· Today’s spot is tomorrow's rot!
o A tiny little spot on fruit will make in unusable tomorrow
· So will a little bit of arrogance and pride today
o It will turn into this religious, holier than thou attitude tomorrow!
THE UNEXPECTED DANGER ZONE
A list of things God hates is found in Proverbs 6:16–19. Right at the top of His “I hate it when you do that” list is “haughty eyes,” the disgusted and disdainful look of arrogance!
There are a lot of things that can anger God. Few people would guess that looking down on others would be at the top of the list. Yet it is. If this passage really means what it says, God would rather have us struggling with porn than with pride.[1]
I’ve also noticed something strange about this sin that God hates most. It’s usually found among people who think they love God most.
Spiritual arrogance is not a back-of-the-line sin; it’s a front-of-the-line sin. So much so that sometimes I think of it as an occupational hazard of zealous faith, serious discipleship, and biblical scholarship.[2]
We really need to take a hard look in the mirror, every day, we need to humbly come to Jesus and ask to remove any pride and arrogance in us! It does not take long before we become just like Simon!
40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.
· Jesus says, “Simon, not only am I a prophet, I’ll prove it to you. I know your thoughts and her sins.”
· This is one of the many great errors of religion. There are two kinds of people: unholy people and holy people.
Religious people see others’ sin, not their own, they are always aware of others’ sin, not their own. They’re filled with pride, smugness, self-righteousness, judgmentalism, holier-than-thou-ism. Religious people tend to live in their heads and think, and quietly criticize others who are serving Jesus.
This woman is serving Jesus. She’s doing the thing that Simon should have done, but didn’t and he’s just going to judge the way that she serves Jesus.
Some of you, tragically, you’re like that. You live in your head. You think you’re holy. You criticize others, and you don’t participate. Jesus knows your thoughts. It’s amazing, isn’t it?
When you read this story, don’t think, “Yeah, I’m like that woman.” Think, “Maybe I’m like that guy.”
As individuals and as a church we need to always be self-evaluating, lately, I have run into way too many self-righteous believers not willing to get their hands dirty to wash feet! Our savior did it, He washed feet, helped the sick, hung out with “bad” people and loved them all. Maybe it’s time to come out of the stands, stop criticizing the player, and get into the game!
[1] Osborne, L. (2012). Accidental pharisees: avoiding pride, exclusivity, and the other dangers of overzealous faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[2] Osborne, L. (2012). Accidental pharisees: avoiding pride, exclusivity, and the other dangers of overzealous faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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