MCC Podcasts
Mowing Your Lawn Before the Gardener Arrives
Today, we're going to look at a text that is a favorite text of mine, a couple of stories that they're all good, but boy, there are two of them that really ring true for me that seem to have great power, no matter how often I hear them. One of them is the story of the prodigal, somebody that chooses to just, "Okay, I've had enough of this, I want my inheritance, you're like dead to me, go out, part of your life away," and he realizes it was better, I mean, I'm eating the garbage, better to go back and just at least be my dad's servant and humbly come and ask him to receive me back. At least I'll be able to survive better than this and how lovingly the father receives him. This one is another example of the same theme, the one we're going to look at today. It's officially referred to as the woman caught in adultery, it's not quite an accurate representation of what's actually going on. It's in John chapter 8, and we're going to be looking at that text this morning and seeing really the same values expressed by God, the same values as the values that are expressed in that story of the prodigal right here in the life of this woman that we look at today. You know, there are some things for which it makes no sense at all to try to clean yourself up. That just no sense at all to try to clean yourself up for that appointment. Like I am because I so dislike going to the dentist, I don't go that often, and although the other day I went and made an appointment, several issues I have to get dealt with now. But when I do go for the teeth cleaning, remember the old days of the teeth cleaning before they had the power blaster, sand blaster, water blaster, thing that they use? Now they used to grind away with that at the same place, it's like when you go to dental hygiene in a school they say don't make it comfortable, just dig in the same place. And wait until that person has had about as much touch on that particular space in your gums as they can stand without going crazy and then scrape three more times after that, you know. It's like stop if you don't stop it. But I don't like going there. But what I do is I don't want them to think that I don't floss. Like this, I don't floss. But what I do in preparation for going to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned is like two days before I go, I get that string stuff out and I force it in between my teeth. But you can't fool them. It makes no sense to try to clean your teeth up in time to go to the teeth cleaning and make them believe that you floss all the time, right? You've learned that, right? Last time I was there I asked the lady. She said do you floss regularly? I always loved that. You know, that's like heaven mud from head to foot and having somebody ask you where you're playing in the mud. She said do you floss regularly? And I said there were, you already know the answer to that. You already know within the second of touching my teeth that I don't floss regularly, right? Yes, I knew that actually. Then why did you ask just to make me feel bad? So we're talking and I said, I have a question for you. I actually asked her this. How many, how long would I have to floss before I came in here to fool you? Because I've been flossing for the last two days. She said, yeah, it didn't fool me. She said, you know, probably if you did really well flossing and were very consistent, did it aggressively for two weeks before you came in here, you might fool me, but not two days. Okay, because you know, there are some appointments for which it makes absolutely no sense to try to make yourself good enough, get yourself ready. That's one of them. I've never understood guys that are on their way to the barbershop get their hair all fixed up before they go to the barbershop or women who have an appointment with the hairdresser and take hours getting their hair ready. There was a pastor we used to room with sometimes. He took 45 minutes to do his hair, 45 minutes. All the young guys would sit there and laugh. This dude had beautiful gray hair and he had it kind of like this, you know, and he would just spray it and dry it a certain way and then spray it with the net, you know, and get it all just perfect like it was molded, like it was sculpted, like you went to the body shop to get it done every day. It's never made any sense to me to spend so much time doing your hair on your way to the beautician. I mean, just throw a hat on and get out there like everybody else, just deal with it. Or when I was in Barbara College, I went to Barbara College when I was in high school. So I finished school and then go to downtown and I got my California barbers license when I was in high school. There was a guy who used to come in every morning for a shave and back in Barbara College we used to hone our own razors, put the edge on them, then stop them. Remember that big barber strap that maybe was the strap of discipline for you? It certainly was in my house. We'd get them nice and sharp, no inserts, just real, real brazors. And then they'd lay down and you did an old-fashioned straight-edge shave. You put the cream on their face and then you would lay them back in the chair and then you would take a towel and get it so hot you could hardly hold it from the hot water, bring it out just enough and then you wrapped it around their face so their nose was just showing through and then you would take your hands just applying just enough pressure. And every, it was without exception, they would go something like this. Oh, moan because it felt so good. Take that off, put more cream on and then you take that straight edge and you start right here, you get a shave at nice and close, except this guy used to shave before he came in to get his shave. He would shave in preparation for his shave. And I said, "What? It looks like you shave before you came in to get a shave." He said, "I do." I said, "Why do you shave before you come in to get a shave?" And he said, "I wouldn't want you to think I was uncapped." There are some, I know, there are some appointments for which it makes absolutely no sense to try to make yourself good enough to try to clean yourself up. And there are some really serious life altering appointments for which it makes no sense to try to make yourself good enough to try to clean yourself up. Like an appointment with God, I can see getting all dolled up for a date, but it makes no sense to try to get all dolled up inside and out, to make yourself good enough to walk with God because it's just not possible. Some of us are trying desperately to do it, but it makes no sense at all to become good enough for God because it's not possible. That brings us to the story that I draw your attention to this morning from John chapter 8, the story of people who thought they were good enough for God, too good for just about everybody else, and the juxtaposition of that group of people and the woman that's the object of this story. Let's stand together for the reading of God's Word as we look at John chapter 8. At dawn, I'm beginning at verse 2 of John chapter 8. At dawn, Jesus appeared again in the temple courts. So keep in mind, let the picture be painted of the context in your mind. We're in the temple courts, Jesus appeared again in the temple courts, and all the people were gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. And now in the middle of him teaching all these unnamed and unnumbered group, this group of people around him, then it says in verse 3, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman, caught in adultery, so you have this third group of people bursting in a smaller group. And they bring this woman caught in adultery, and they made her stand before the group." So they say, "Come here, you. Stand right here." And this group of people in her community staring at her, Jesus is here. And then they start to talk to Jesus, okay? They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. Can you feel the embarrassment, the shame?" And the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say? They were using this question to trap him in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And at this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there and the group, by the way. And Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you? Where are the people who condemn you?" She said, "No one, sir, they're gone." Then she got exactly the opposite of what she thought she was going to get. And he said, "Then neither do I condemn you. Now go and stop practicing sin. Leave your life of sin." He got at his blessing to his holy word, his fully inspired, fully reliable word to us. Amen. Go ahead and be seated. You know, there are some appointments for which it makes no sense at all to try to doll yourself up, clean yourself up, make yourself good enough, good enough. And this idea that we talk about Sunday or in first, Sunday after Sunday, this idea of a relationship with God, of a friendship we sang about, this idea of God becoming our friend, this idea of this relationship, there are all sorts of people spinning their wheels in the mud of trying to become good enough, worthy of a relationship, of a friendship with God. And that makes about as much sense as doing your hair before you go to the beautician. Makes no sense at all. And here's why, a couple of reasons why from this story. Because number one, people who think they are good enough for God are rejected by God. In this sense, Christianity becomes one great, big, counterintuitive experience. People who think they are good enough for God, worthy of God, clean enough to have a relationship with God, are rejected by Him. That's one of the reasons it makes no sense at all to try to get yourself straightened up enough to come to God and to have this relationship. Look at the people who brought the woman to Jesus. Now, these are folks who are well-educated, well-respected in their community. At least they have all the power and the trappings of respect. They're used to having things their way. They're the decision makers, they're the theological plumb line in their community. They are the ones who have it figured out. They are the religious leaders. They're not used to being challenged, they're not used to being called out, they're not used to being humble. And they grab this woman, and they're not used to someone like Jesus coming and claiming to be God, claiming to have truth, claiming to be the fulfillment of the law, the one who says, "Here's what you've been teaching, but I'm telling you, this is what that meant, all along." They're not used to that. And they bring this woman into the context of all of these people, and look at what happens in verses 4 through 6. This woman is caught in adultery, but she's probably caught in the situation for which she was set up. They said to Jesus, "This one was caught in the act of adultery, and the very act is the emphasis there." Now, we're supposed to stone her, that's settled law. That's what's supposed to happen, and they're implying all of this. We've got you, we've got her, we've got stones, we've got a crowd. We've already encircled her, should we step back now, let's let her have it. And they figured that they've trapped Jesus, they have Him now. They're trying to undo Him, because He has no way out of this. Either He'll say, "Yes, you're right." The law says, "Stone her, everybody grab a rock." And His whole message of mercy and kindness and love for the poor and the poor in spirit and having a whole new start in life is compromised. Or He'll say, "No, we shouldn't do that, we should let her off the hook." In which case, His claim to not be challenging what it says in the law of Moses would be undone. So either way, they've got Him, right? They think they have Him trapped. These are people, and you have to ask the question, where is the law also said both offenders, the man and the woman should be brought to be stoned. Where's the man? She's caught in the very act, it's not like He ducked out the back door and you caught her or what? She's slower than Him? Clearly, this was a setup. Somebody was told or paid or whatever. Go in there and ask this woman to sleep with you, and we'll just come in and grab her and you'll run along. We can trap Jesus that way. So these are religious leaders who are supposed to be among the top echelon in their community. They are willing to entrap a woman who's already got plenty of brokenness in her life. Use her, not show her love, and they're going to come and entrap this woman and basically throw her away, and even if it means her death, in order to trick a merciful teacher, a Messiah, their Savior. And that's the caliber of leader that's here thinking they are the ones who are worthy of a relationship with God, people who think they're ready for God. Why is it crazy to try to prepare yourself, make yourself clean enough for a friendship with God, with Jesus? Because people who think they're good enough for God are always rejected by Him. And then Jesus goes on in verse 7. And Jesus gets back down and writes more stuff in the ground. And they kept on questioning Him. He straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And then He gets back down and starts writing again in the dirt. We don't know what Jesus wrote in the dirt. Pretty much everybody says, "Probably He was writing a seagraco colon and then starts listing some of my sins." And I'm reading that thinking maybe I should back into the crowd. The offer's still there though, let's throw stones at her, just terrible woman. Maybe the next name was your name and the next name and the next name and all these specific expressions of brokenness that He writes in the dirt. We don't know. It's a reasonable guess. He wrote something that caused the accusers who came with such arrogance and such certainty to weaken a little bit. And it says that they dropped their stones and their demands that she be stone and from the oldest to the youngest left to the point where it's just Jesus, this rather embarrassed woman and she was guilty, there was reason to be embarrassed. And this crowd, and never any reference to the crowd dissipating, the people who were gathered there earlier are still there watching all of this, watching the illustration of what Jesus has been talking about. And He says to the woman, "Where are they who accused you?" Well they were here but they left. Now what do you think she's thinking is going to happen next? I think it was something like this. If Jesus could write that kind of stuff about the holiest men in our community, oh my gosh what's he going to write now about me, I'm next. If he wrote a line or two about them, he's going to write a book about me. He's going to wear his finger out writing in the dirt and he should. She's got to be thinking something like that. There's no clue in this story that she ever expected to receive what Jesus offers. She's got to be shocked. Where are those who accuse you? They're gone. So go ahead. Have at it. I stink, I've always stunk, I'm filthy, I have nothing to offer you in friendship. All these people already know what you've just made very clear. Nothing left of me. Jesus instead stands up, you're not going to write in the dirt? No. He says, "Neither do I accuse you." Jesus doesn't say because when you make decisions that are inconsistent with the values of the Kingdom of God or when you make decisions that are not the best decisions in the world that express your brokenness, Jesus doesn't say that's okay, there's no such thing as right and wrong, there's no such thing as true or false. He doesn't say that. In fact, he says, "Stop living like this. Go and quit practicing sin, but instead he implies practice something else, but he stands up and he gives her what she doesn't think she deserves, which she's convinced she's not clean enough to receive or worthy to receive. He stands up and says, "Neither do I accuse you, neither do I condemn you." And when he's asked the question, "Who's without sin?" Let the one who's without sin cast the first stone. Who was in that group that met those qualifications? Only one person I'm giving you aunt, Jesus. There's only one person that's without sin in that group and all those people with all those Pharisees and teachers of the law, that dear broken woman, there's only one person who had met the qualifications of a Jesus spoke of there. Jesus has constructed his hands in such a way that they are not inclined to grab a stone. They are instead inclined to take hold of a broken person's cheeks and lift their bowed head and give them hope. Now he's not saying anything goes, but he is saying, "When you're broken, you come to me humbly, and I'll help you go." It makes no sense to try to get yourself ready, cleaned up enough, worthy of a friendship with God. Because those who consider themselves worthy of that relationship are rejected by him. And those, this is the second reason, those who come to him knowing they'll never be good enough, they're not good enough, they're dependent upon him. Those are the ones who are always received by him. He's got it sort of backward. He doesn't understand what we value, he doesn't understand. He could never make it in Marin. He'd be spending all of his time impressed with the humble and the quiet and the hidden good people who know they're not good. And he would not have learned the Marin standard. You get impressed by this kind of success, this kind of person, this kind of power, this kind of making it, people who drive this kind of a car, all the folks who are cleaned up enough to have a friendship with you. And God is saying, "I love them, but I'm not impressed by them." Now show me on the other hand, he says, "Somebody who comes with head bowed, thrown at my feet in the dirt, aware of their need, poor in spirit, and I'll show you somebody I can work with." Those are the folks that he receives. That's why it makes no sense to try to get all dolled up for him. He straightens up and says, "I don't condemn you, condemn you." He offers grace. He offers a new direction. He offers a new start to the woman who had nothing to prove and tried to prove nothing. Isn't that something? The hooker gets another chance and the holier-than-now get kicked out of the room. Now listen, those of us who are followers of Christ, you know, when I talk about things like those doors should never block anybody who wants access to the gospel from coming in and we're not going to just say anything goes, but everybody should have fair access, complete access to this message of Christ, it's kind of what I'm talking about. Jesus doesn't just say, "Go and keep on sinning, go and keep on destroying yourself, go and keep on making bad decisions, go and keep on doing things that are not going to be good for you or anybody else." He doesn't say that at all. He says, "Look, the hard fact is there's right and there's wrong. Practice what's right." But he does it with a merciful attitude. We can learn from this as Christians. If Jesus denied access to the gospel to no one, where do we come off thinking we can deny access to the gospel to anyone? That's a challenge to Christians who would say, "Ah, I think maybe I don't want their kids hanging out with my kids because they're not all that great. I don't want to be their friend because friendship with him does nothing to make me feel better about myself. They're sort of beneath me. You understand that that's sin, right? You understand the total depravity of that kind of thinking, right? Come on. We all go there from time to time, but not Jesus. Jesus, as the old, now late, great preacher Evie Hill used to say, "Loves to take a crooked stick from the garbage and hit a straight ball with it." He prefers it. Jesus likes to drive cars put together with duct tape. Black cars all shiny and nice and pretty. Jesus says, "Come to me, you who are perfect and clean and wonderful." No. Come to me, you who are broken and needy and left out and thrown at my feet. You who wallow in the dirt and are aware that you need mercy, you come to me and you will find what you need. It makes no sense at all to try to clean yourself up and make yourself good enough for a relationship with God because those who think they're good enough are rejected by him and those who are aware of their need are received by him. He's got it backward and in this case, backward is good. Just a couple of reasons that it's crazy to try to get yourself ready. Listen to this parable by Jesus from Luke chapter 18. This is the parable of the ... Well, listen to it. Told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. It says, "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector." So just for those who may not be aware, that's like saying, "One, a religious expert who's supposed to be really well advanced spiritually and one, a tax collector." In other words, synonymous with like as low as you can get, the most despised kind of person in that community. That's how the hearers would have heard it. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, "God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector over here. I thank you that I'm not like those people. I fast twice a week, I pay ties of all that I get." The tax collector standing some distance away was unwilling to even lift his eyes to heaven. He was beating his breast saying, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner of all sinners." Pretty simple prayer. Jesus says, "I tell you, this man, the tax collector, went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." The great theologian George Whitfield, just before his conversion, said this, "I began to fast twice a week for 36 hours together. I prayed many times a day and received sacrament of communion every Lord's Day. I fasted myself almost to death all the 40 days of Lent, during which I made it a point of duty never to go less than three times a day to public worship, besides seven times a day to my private prayers." Then he ends with this, "Yet I knew. I knew no more that I was to be born anew as a new creature in Christ Jesus than if I had never been born at all. I did all of this stuff to try to show God that I was worthy of friendship with Him, and none of it profited me anything." Whitfield would go on to say, "It was only when I came broken." He said, "Jesus, what the woman got at your feet in the temple court that day with the prodigal son received from his father, I want that. I got nothing to offer you, but brokenness." It's as though he heard God say, "Okay, that's what I'm talking about. You and me, we can go someplace when you come like that." Then those of you who are parents, grandparents, going years, and I've heard of people that deal with this kind of thing, you're going years and you haven't literally, haven't heard from your child or your grandchild, your sister or your brother. Years without every, it's like they fell off the face of the earth. That relationship is so broken. And imagine one day, maybe around Christmas time, or Thanksgiving, you get a phone call, "Grandpa, it's Juni. Juni, we thought you were dead." Grandpa, I'm lonely. Can I come home? How many of you are going to say, "Well, yeah, but take a shower first. Yeah, but get your act together. Yeah, but go finish school first. Yeah, but make amends first. Yeah, but get all the dirt washed off of you." You're not going to say that. You're going to say, "Can you come home? Where are you? I'll come and get you." "Well, I'm in New York and you're in California. How long will it take us to fly to New York? Let's go." Right? You don't need to wash. You don't need to clean up. You don't need to change your shoes. We thought you were dead, and now you're here again. You would receive that child, that grandchild, that sibling. That's the message God is bringing. Who condemns you? They're all gone. Mm-hmm. Neither do I condemn you. No. Go and live differently. Some folks have been part of our church, our fellowship, our community, have not yet known the beauty of an intimate relationship with God that Jesus is offering. You know, that's what being a question is about. It's about basically two things, and you're asking the question, "I've kind of liked what I've experienced. I know that something's going on. I'm feeling something. I'm not quite sure what all this stirring is. I think I believe in a God. Maybe I'm starting to believe that Jesus explains who God is. I went in on this thing. I don't get it all, but I want in. What's my next step? How do I become what most of you are, a follower of Jesus? Being a Christian is basically about two things. It's about source of life, finding new life in Christ. The forgiveness this woman found at the feet of Jesus, recognizing our need and saying, "Jesus, you died on the cross to cover my brokenness. I want in. I want to follow you, and I want forgiveness from you." And the second thing it's about is way of life. This is the way we live now. We take the values of God, and we begin to practice those as opposed to things that aren't the values of God. It's not a perfect road, but we begin to practice something different. It's called repentance is the theological word for it, but you're going like this and Jesus says, "Go. Send no more. I'm going to start practicing this life now." Let's figure out what God wants for all of creation, all of humanity, and I'm going to invest myself in everything I can to bring that about. So it's a repaired relationship called reconciliation, and it's repentance or the practice of a new way of living. That's what being a Christian is. For those of you who are asking what the next steps are, I'm going to pray a couple of prayers, and one of them's for you. And if you feel like that's me, I want in on this deal, that's my next step. I want to begin to follow Christ. I'm going to leave here today, sure that I'm a Christian. Not sure of everything I believe, not sure of all that's entailed there, but my relationship with God is restored through Christ, taking advantage of what Jesus did. I'm going to pray a prayer for you. And if that's your prayer, you silently pray it with me, okay? And then there's a second prayer, Christians who have forgotten their own history, what God brought them through and from, Christians who feel like I got all cleaned up, now let's keep it clean in here, don't want any stinky fish in here. I want to pray for us, because it's easy to forget mercy. To understand the sin of that, we're going to repent of that sin. Not be that kind of follower of Christ. Whichever prayer is your prayer, align yourself with it, let's pray. Lord, some of us, you know, you've been working on us, and we feel somehow attracted and connected to this message, being a Christian. Yet there are all sorts of things that come to mind, we'll talk about being a Christian, that aren't all that good. Some of the stuff we've heard or seen hasn't really represented you. First of all, Lord, would you give that person the ability to put that aside for now? And just focus on the one issue. If I come to Jesus, broken, does He keep His promises, can I receive what He offers? And hear this prayer from them, Lord, Jesus, forgive me. I recognize that I need you. I recognize that if you were to write all of my mistakes in the dirt, it'd be a long list. But instead, I want to hear from you what she heard. Neither do I condemn you, receive forgiveness, be restored to your Creator. Jesus, you might pray, I'm convinced you're the answer to that question. You're the access I have to my Creator. I want to follow you today. Today, I receive your message, I receive you. Today, I become a Christian. And those of us who have been following Christ, the best we could for so long, it just becomes easy to forget mercy and to forget humility. To forget the mess from which we've been guiding. This might be our prayer. God I know that you so loved the whole world that you sent your Son. That you seem to thrive on the fringes and love the rejects, of which I was one. Would you protect me from the kind of arrogance that would ever exclude anybody from a loving Christian community, exclude anybody from the truth of Scripture and the gospel and the hope of reconciliation, drive that out of me. That's something that's in me and it keeps creeping up and it needs to be slaughtered by you. I don't want it in me any more than I want the lack of what's true and lack of an awareness of what's right and wrong. Don't want that in me either, but God, this arrogance that excludes people, that thinks I'm better than everybody else, take it away. In the name of Christ, I pray, amen. (gentle music)