Who Will Love Him More?

When we understand how much we have been forgiven by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, we will be moved in our souls and wills to worship.

Note: This transcript was auto generated and may have errors.  If you would like to volunteer to review and edit our sermon transcripts before they are posted, contact Gail Peterson, gpeterson@calvaryefree.church.

[00:00:01] Once had a conversation with a guy many years ago. This was at a church where I worked when I was in Pennsylvania. He was describing why he and his family came to church, and why specifically he had picked the church there in Pennsylvania. He said he picked this church because he liked the preaching and his wife liked the singing. That was that was the reason he said so singing. Singing was was her thing. He explained to me, now, if you know me, this is not the kind of explanation that I’m going to just nod my head and move on. I had questions. So I dug a little deeper, and he admitted that he didn’t like singing, not because he didn’t know how to sing or he couldn’t sing, but because he felt it was emotional and his faith was more about facts and learning, and it didn’t affect his emotions. And so, of course, not content at all with that explanation, I went on to describe how a true, life transforming understanding of the gospel would never leave a person’s emotions untouched. It just wouldn’t. It affects all of you, transforms all of you. Now, look, I get that there are some people who are not as expressive just because of their character, just because of who they are. My grandfather was a wonderful, loving man. But if he gave a chuckle at anything, it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard in his life. You know what I’m saying? He could be deeply moved, but you’d never know it from his face, right? But the idea that somehow your faith in Christ could be simply a set of propositions, a set of truths that you believe without any any impact on your passions or your emotions that move you to worship, love, compassion, and joy.

[00:02:01] That might be an indication that of a heart that’s not been changed by the gospel. You may know about God, but you don’t know God. You know about the gospel, but you’ve not been transformed by the gospel. The Puritans often get characterized as this group of of stuffy Christians who cared a lot about law and devotion. That sounds when I say the word Puritan, that’s what comes to mind, isn’t it? Just really just stuffy, law keeping, devotion type people. But they’re very rigid when it comes to their passions and their feelings. That’s what that’s what comes to mind. Usually when I say the word Puritan in a church context, and their portraits aren’t helping them out at all, here’s here’s a picture of Jonathan Edwards. Uh, here. He’s one of the leading pastoral voices and theologians of the Puritans. And you can see that he looks like he wants to tell you that he’s very disappointed in you, doesn’t he? Isn’t that that’s kind of the vibe this portrait gives someone, said, Jonathan, we’d like to paint a portrait of you. And he said, okay, I’m ready.

[00:03:11] This is this is what he gave. But actually, Jonathan Edwards was one of the church’s greatest writers and preachers on matters of the heart. Did you know that he’s one of the greatest writers on it? He referred to what he called the religious affections, which are the passions, the emotions, the joys, the the life motivations that stir a person’s soul who has been made new in Christ. Here’s a picture of Jonathan smiling. Okay, someone just told him a joke. Here. You see the difference? Edwards said that the religious affections are the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination of the will or soul. Okay. It’s one of the the most the more vigorous and sensible exercises, the exercises, the the actions of a person’s life, he said, are are vigorous, meaning they’re not reserved. They’re not they’re not held back. They’re passionate, but they’re also sensible at the same time. So they’re vigorous, but they’re also sensible, meaning that they make sense given where they come from. Right. This is not this is not an insensible vigor. This is a sensible vigor. It’s passionate, but it’s rooted in the correct place. And where they come from is an inclination of a person’s will or a soul, meaning it comes out of the the root of who you are. Jesus said the same thing when he said that out of the the good treasure of a person’s heart, he produces good. He says, the root is what indicates what comes out of that heart.

[00:04:53] And so if in your soul you are a wretched sinner who’s been forgiven, you’ve been transformed, you’ve been made new and united with Christ, completely out of the undeserved grace of God. Then what will happen is you will be driven to an unending thankfulness and joy and worship of Jesus. There will be an unstoppable flood of gratitude that will not only draw you into a life of loving and worshiping Jesus, but it will compel you to treat others with that same love and that same grace. It will cause you to have great compassion for those people who are hurting. You want to know where compassion comes from? It comes from understanding the gospel. You have great compassion for people who are hurting. Compassion for the people who don’t yet know Jesus. For your family members. For your for your enemies. For people who disappoint you. For everyone who is broken and is in need of the grace of God like you are. In short, everyone start to have compassion for everyone, no matter their walk of life. So when I hear someone describe his or her faith as a kind of head, knowledge that has not stirred their affections, has not stirred their emotions, it hasn’t moved them to celebrate Christ. It hasn’t brought them yet to a joy in their souls and healing them into their relationships. I actually get pretty concerned that this person has not yet actually been transformed by the gospel.

[00:06:23] They may know the gospel, but they have not internalized it. They have not been transformed by it. Today, Jesus will interact with two people, one who has his act altogether and one who is an emotional mess. And Jesus is going to teach us what a heart moved by forgiveness of God’s grace looks like when we when we understand how much we have been forgiven by God through the grace of Jesus Christ, we will be moved in our souls, moved in our wills to worship him. So if you have your Bibles, you can open them to Luke chapter seven, getting back into Luke. Uh, this week we’re going to start in verse 36. I’ll also have it on the screen. If you don’t have your Bible, but you can you can open if you if you have your Bibles. Our passage today is in two parts. The first part is an interaction that Jesus has at a dinner table, and the second part is a parable where Jesus describes what’s happening in the heart of a person who understands God’s grace. And so we’ll look at each part. And as we go through this, I would like to challenge you, church, to identify yourself at this dinner table. Okay. I want you to find yourself somewhere at this dinner table. Do you have the heart of the Pharisee or do you have the heart of the prostitute? Let’s begin.

[00:07:48] In verse 36, one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her, the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. So Jesus is invited over to eat by a Pharisee. Uh, how he keeps getting these invitations, I am not certain. Uh, the Pharisees are very critical of Jesus, very, very critical of him. And yet many of them are also very intrigued by him. And we know that some Pharisees actually come and put their faith in Jesus. You know what that means? That means there is hope for rules driven, judgmental, religious people. That’s what it means. There are people who will come out of that, who will come out of this sort of this judgmental, I’m better than everyone else kind of background or family. They will come out of that, and they will come to understand the grace of Jesus and they will follow Jesus.

[00:09:20] Nicodemus is a good example of this from John chapter three, probably Joseph of Arimathea as well. So this meal isn’t necessarily a trap, even though the Pharisees did like to trap Jesus. The way this reads, though, is it sounds like this is a legitimate invitation from someone who wants to understand who Jesus is. Now, the way this meal is set up is important for understanding what happens. Because let me ask you something. When was the last time you were having dinner with your family at your house and a stranger wandered over and started washing your feet, and no one said anything about it? When was the last time? Uh, never. Yeah, I’m going to guess. Never on that. This is not your average meal. This would be what they would call or consider a public meal. You see where it says that they reclined at table? That is. That is not the way people normally ate. This is a sort of a sort of a a public picnic where the doors of the house would be left open, allowing the public to come in and to hear what Jesus has to say. So this is kind of like dinner theater, except the audience isn’t eating. It’s the people on stage who are eating. Does that make sense? Sort of a flipped around dinner theater. It’s a very weird setup for us, but it would have been perfectly normal to do this in the first century, and it explains why this woman would come up to Jesus and start crying and washing his feet.

[00:10:52] And the only problem that anyone sees is that this woman’s lifestyle is the problem, not the fact that she’s in the dining room at all. Okay, so here they are, the Pharisee Simon, who’s who’s not the same, by the way, as Simon Peter and Jesus. And they are having a meal together. And a particular woman hears that this public meal is happening with Jesus, and she seizes her opportunity to go see him. So she gets an expensive bottle of ointment and heads down to the meal, finds Jesus. And at that point she becomes overwhelmed, overcome with emotion. While she’s serving Jesus, she weeps openly at his feet. She’s kissing his feet and it says the tears on her face. They they wet his feet. And then she uses the tears and her hair to wipe the the dirt off his feet with her own hair. And then she took this expensive ointment and she treated his feet. So his feet are clean and they smell great. And if you’re thinking, why would you use expensive perfume on someone’s feet? Exactly. That’s that’s the point. This is, this is this isn’t a waste. That that’s the point. This is an extravagant display of love and service. This woman doesn’t care what it costs to serve Jesus.

[00:12:21] Does not matter to her. It’ll matter to other people. It’ll matter to his own disciples. But it does not matter to this woman. She doesn’t care what people think about her worship. She only cares in this moment about Jesus. So what would cause this woman to put on such a display of emotion and service and sacrifice? Well, ironically, what caused her to do this is the very thing that bothers the Pharisee. Simon says to himself, if this Jesus guy is really a prophet, he’d understand who it is that is touching his feet. If he really is who he says he is a prophet of God, he would understand that that that he can’t have anything to do with this woman. Certainly he wouldn’t let her touch him. Because she’s a sinner. Verse 37 describes her as a woman of the city, a sinner. Now, this is probably a euphemism for a prostitute. It’s possible that she’s known for some other sin, but it actually doesn’t really matter too much what what it’s actually referring to. The fact is, she is part of the category of people who are judged by society at that time to be great sinners. Okay, great sinners, unworthy of of the Lord. Certainly not welcome to come and touch the feet of a true prophet of God. See people who obey the Lord at that time. They need to stay clean. Pharisees thought holiness meant staying away from untouchable sinners.

[00:14:01] Like this Pharisees mindset would be I, I’m holy. I’m accepted by God, and I’m set apart as a servant of the Lord. Because I keep myself pure. I keep myself separated from the sin and the sinful people and the unclean people and the unclean things in the community. That’s what makes me worthy of the Lord. I’m allowed to be in his presence because of this. That’s that’s his view of himself. And so, of course, it’s his framework for assessing whether or not this, this guest of his at his dinner table is truly a prophet. Did you notice how Simon’s judgment is not about the woman? Simon’s judgment isn’t about the woman, it’s about Jesus. If Jesus is really a prophet, he wouldn’t let this woman touch him. Real prophets from the Lord would never let a sinner come like this. Close to him wouldn’t let him come. And. Treat him like this. A true prophet of the Lord would know better than to allow uncleanness to come near them. But ironically, it’s this woman’s sin that compels her to Jesus. The very thing that she that that the Pharisees says should keep this woman away from Jesus is the very thing that compels the woman to go to Jesus. She’s not going to Jesus despite her sin. She’s going to Jesus because of her sin. Let me say that another way, because I think that this is absolutely critical for tearing down the false notions of what it means to be a Christian, a religious person today, a modern day Pharisee, if you will.

[00:15:46] Okay. A religious person today, just just the average person who believes in God would approach God and say, God, please look past my sin. Please, please look beyond it. Please, please try to look past my sin. That’s not who I really am. You ever heard that before? That’s not who I really am. I know I did this thing, but it’s not. It’s not who I really am. Look at how well I’ve done. God, please look at those things. See my kind heart. Do you see how I usually treat people very nicely? I’m not like all those mean people in the world. Like, please, please ignore the times when I am like that. But but see that I am mostly a kind person. Do you see my devotion? God, do you see how often I pray, how much I give to the ministry, how much I, I worship? Don’t, don’t don’t look at the the areas where I lack devotion. God. But please do look at the areas where I am devoted to you. You see my avoidance of everything sinful. I don’t go to the bad movies. I don’t use bad words. I don’t participate in sinful activities. Now, sure, yes, I do sin. But let’s not talk about that, God. Let’s focus on the areas where I don’t sin, on those moments of my life where I appear to be separate from sin.

[00:17:03] Because again, I think you heard me before God. But I’ll say it again that’s who I really am. That’s who I really am. I knew a woman a while back. A woman who loves the Lord. I have no doubt that she does. Um, but a very critical woman. Very, very critical woman. And I could never quite figure out why she was so critical. She was critical of lots of things. It wasn’t one area of things. It seemed to be every area of life. She was critical. Nothing would ever quite measure up to her exact specifications unless she was in charge of that thing. Nothing ever quite measured up, and it dawned on me a little while back that in the years that I knew this woman, I never once heard her apologize about anything. Never heard an apology. Never. She never claimed to be wrong about anything. Once her mind was made up, well, that was it. She saw herself as having a very clear view and a very correct judgement about everything. And from her position as a follower of of Christ, she seemed to indicate that whatever she thought about something was what God thought about that very same thing. There’s a connection between being critical of other people and lacking self-criticism. There’s there’s, there’s a there’s a relationship there. The person who stands in judgment of the sins and the flaws of other people is often a person who lacks the self reflection and self-criticism that drives us to repentance, that leads us to our need for grace.

[00:18:37] That’s the Pharisee, both in this story and in our churches today. That’s the Pharisee. The opposite of this a person today who who understands the gospel like the woman weeping at Jesus feet. She approaches him from the opposite place of that completely opposite. She says, God, you see me for who I really am. Okay? I’m not presenting anything to you. God, you already see me. You see a person wrecked by the sinful nature of my heart that’s driven me to the sinful behaviors of my life. I look into the face of your law, and I don’t see my obedience. I look into the face of your law and I go, oh, I’m doing really well. I look into the face of your law. I go, I’ve broken it. I’m lost. I see how flawed I am. I see where I’ve not met your standard. I see where I’ve missed the mark. And to be acceptable to you. God. I’m going to need your Grace. I’m going to need your gracious forgiveness. Those are the two types of heart that are on display in this meal right now. That’s what’s happening. That’s the dynamic at the dinner table. Let me ask you. Which one of these two heart positions drives you to worship? Jesus knows what Simon the Pharisee is thinking, and so he decides to teach him.

[00:20:03] And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, say it, teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii, the other 50. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt. And he said to him, you have judged rightly. Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, 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 from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. This is such an important parable for understanding what a loving, what what loving God really means. See, there’s two debtors who can’t pay, okay? In the parable, in the story that Jesus tells, there’s two debtors, and neither one of them can pay.

[00:21:40] One owes 501 owes 50. But notice both of them. Oh, it’s very important. Both of them are in debt. And they’re both forgiven entirely by grace. Neither debtor came to the money lender with anything in his hand. He cancelled both debts solely by grace. There’s a difference in the amount of debt, but there’s no difference in the need for the debt to be cancelled. But then comes the big difference. And the big difference here is the response of the debtors. Jesus asks Simon, which of these two debtors will love the money lender more? And Simon gives the right answer. He says, the one. I suppose you can always read into that, I suppose, like, okay, where’s this going? The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt. I don’t know if Simon was answering while he was answering was was connecting the dots. He was understanding where this thing was going. Do you think. Do you think it dawned on him where Jesus was going with this? Well, Jesus makes it very clear to him. He says, do you see this woman? I won’t read all the comparisons again, but the gist of it was that Simon showed no courtesy or reverence for Jesus at all. But this woman cannot stop displaying reverence for Jesus. Why? Well, it’s because she recognizes just how great a debt of sin that Jesus, by his grace, has forgiven her.

[00:23:15] That this, this worship, this rooted in love, comes from knowing that she could not pay her debts, but her Savior has set her free. They both needed that forgiveness. They’re both debtors. But Simon couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see it. He could see her sin. But he couldn’t see his own. And because he couldn’t see his debt, he couldn’t see his need for grace. And because he hadn’t been transformed by grace, he had no reverence, at least not yet for Jesus. Do you see the logic there? You see how it flows. This is why I said earlier I’m concerned for a person who doesn’t have religious affections, a heart of worship, a heart of gratitude when it comes to Jesus. If if there is no or if there is no wonder, joyful emotion, no brokenness followed by gratitude or or assurance that that if you don’t have that, if there’s none of that flowing out of you, that that’s evidence of a lack of internalizing the gospel, and it means you have not been transformed by it. Let me quote another 17 century pastor, because why not, right? I mean, I always say two Puritans are better than one, right? Thomas Watson, in his book The Doctrine of Repentance, wrote how true sorrow over sin makes Christ very precious to us. And this is his quote. Oh, how desirable is a savior to a troubled soul.

[00:24:50] Until the heart is full of compunction, meaning guilt. Until the heart is full of compunction, it is not fit for Christ. How welcome is a surgeon to a man who is bleeding from his wounds. How many times down here at the clinic have families wept with joy when their loved one was saved from some terrible accident, or from some terrible disease? Every day. Every day. Does that happen? Of course it does. Watson says that the non-Christian who is ready to receive Christ is the one bleeding out, knowing only that a surgeon can save him. Unless I get this surgery, I’m dead. I need surgery, and the one who knows that his sin has condemned him and that he’s bleeding out because of it. Knows only Christ can save him, and those who have Christ now walk every day knowing that their lives were spared, that their lives were spared, and their eternal lives were secured by the surgery of the gospel. See, when you see how much you’ve been forgiven, your heart will be endlessly filled with joy and gratitude over Christ that will never stop. On the other hand, he who has been forgiven little loves little. By the way, that is not God’s perspective on this, that that God. God doesn’t forgive little. God only forgives big because we only sin big. Okay, but that phrase that he uses, he who has been forgiven little, loves little. That phrase is Jesus telling us how a self-righteous person sees his own sin, he and how he sees his own need for God’s forgiveness.

[00:26:35] If you think that you only have a little bit to forgive, or in some people’s cases, nothing to forgive, then you’ll demonstrate very little love for God. Now, sure, some people will still worship if they feel like they’re little sinners. They’ll still worship. If they want something, they’ll say the prayers. They’ll go through the motions to get what they want, or to earn approval from other people, or to put up the appearance of worship to gain something. But true love for the Lord that culminates in passionate worship of the Lord. That that’s going to come from a very clear understanding of the wretchedness of your sin that has been eradicated by the love and the forgiveness that Jesus has for you. And so I say to the guy who thinks that that singing and emotion are for his wife and not for him, who who thinks knowledge of the gospel is, is good enough, do you actually understand it? I’m sure we probably have some folks here today. Do you actually understand it? Sure. You can have a discussion of it. Do you understand what it means for you that God has saved you by his grace? Do you take seriously the depth of your sin and and the incredible news that you have been released from the bondage of your sin, and from the judgment and the wrath of God? Do you do you see that without the death of Jesus for you, you’d never be able to pay this debt yourself? You don’t have enough to pay it.

[00:28:03] Do you know that the only freedom that you have is freedom that Jesus has bought for you? Is that how you live your life? Do you recognize that? Do you understand that the benefits of having been adopted into the family of God entirely because of God’s choosing. Do you understand these things? If you understand these things, sing, speak these incredible truths back to God in prayer and in song. Cultivate the language of love that a son has for a father, that a daughter has for a father. Cultivate this language of love, because that’s what Jesus has made of you. He’s made you into one of his people and brought you into his family. And I want to say to the woman who speaks critically of others, to the one who for whom no one meets their their standards. Do you understand the degree to which you have missed the mark, that you personally have missed the mark? Were it not for the grace of God. You would be dead in your sins. Our passion for Jesus and compassion for others begins when we daily rehearse, and we remember that we are saved by grace alone in Jesus Christ. You didn’t save yourself. You can’t save yourself.

[00:29:15] You certainly didn’t. You didn’t bring anything to the table to pay for your debt. You’re not on some sort of payment plan with God where you’re you’re slowly paying it back to the Lord. You’re inexhaustible. Debt was paid and completely settled by Jesus. And if you truly grasp that, your critical spirit will be replaced by grace toward other people can’t be critical if you know how much you’ve been forgiven. Church. Let me close with just a few thoughts here this morning to challenge you. First. Self-righteousness is the painkiller. Self-righteousness is the painkiller that will keep you from feeling the stabbing pain of your own sin, so that you will remember and rejoice in God’s grace. I think I think that self-righteousness, the idea that you are in some way able to generate goodness that will that God will accept and therefore you’re not in need of forgiveness. I think that is a tantalizing narcotic in the church to feel this way about yourself. It dulls you to your need for God’s grace, dulling both your love for Jesus and your love toward people who need Jesus. Have you ever felt like your passion? I’ve heard this from from people before. Have you ever felt like your passion for Jesus and his mission was greater? Back when you first became a Christian than it was now? Than it is now? Do you ever feel that way? It’s just, oh man, there was a time when I was really on fire for the Lord.

[00:30:41] People will say, but boy, you know, it just doesn’t. I don’t feel that way anymore. That might be because self sufficiency has begun to creep into your heart over time. It might be because you no longer wake up every day remembering that God’s grace both saves you and sustains you today, that you desperately need him. Second thing I want to say is, I wonder how many of us would cringe at the thought of a woman like this coming and disturbing our time with Jesus. You know, I think there are times when I get pretty upset at people’s sin. Personally, I get pretty upset. I get pretty impatient with it too. But church. Jesus went to sinners. Jesus went to them. That’s all of us, of course. But when he when he went, he went to the the obviously openly God rejecting types of sinners. And he welcomed them into his presence. And he called them to repent, and he called them to to worship. If you want a good snapshot of the kind of community that Jesus sought to create, glance over the Gospels. Just spend some time glancing over the Gospels and figure out who Jesus hung out with. Look at the people in the crowds with whom he spent his time. It’s pretty rough, actually. If you find in your heart an inclination to be repulsed by certain people who engage in certain kinds of sins, remind yourself that you are called to share the very gospel of grace that saved you from equally repulsive sins.

[00:32:16] And finally. When you see yourself correctly. And when you understand what Jesus has done. You will not be able to stop your Thanksgiving. You will not be able to stop your Thanksgiving. You’ll be cooking turkey every day because every day is Thanksgiving. Life. Life becomes for those who are transformed by God’s grace. Life becomes a celebration. That’s really what what the Christian life is. It’s a it’s a life lived in celebration of the one who saved us. That’s what we mean when when we talk about a life of worship every day, lifting up the glory of God with every thought, with every deed, because it’s an opportunity to say thank you, Jesus, how can I worship you with this? How can I worship you with this day? Jesus, make my marriage reflect your glory because I want to worship you with it. Jesus, make my business. Declare your glory. Jesus, let my suffering reflect the suffering that you did for me. Remind me, as I suffer, that I’m suffering in the way that Jesus suffered for me, and that way I can use it to worship you. Let my words of hope point other people into your kingdom. You’re not going to wash Jesus feet with your hair this week, but you can express your love and gratitude with every opportunity he gives you this week. Let’s pray.