Zach Peters' Podcast
A place for sermons, reflections, and general pondering on life and stuff.
Zach Peters' Podcast
Luke 7: Everyone Needs Jesus
Jesus teaches that everyone, regardless of their past, needs grace. Through contrasting characters, the sermon emphasizes the importance of acknowledging our need for Jesus and responding in worship while encouraging us to see potential in others despite their faults.
• Exploring the story of the Pharisee and the sinful woman
• Understanding the parable of the two debtors
• The importance of recognizing our need for grace
• The role of worship in responding to forgiveness
• Seeing potential in people despite their circumstances
• The need for self-evaluation without moral checklists
• Church as a place for healing and grace
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Tara's not here so she ruins this example because I wanted to give her praise. She'll see the recording so she'll feel happy about it later. But Tara is a really, really great gift giver, like really good. She and maybe you guys know this, but for me at least, she spends way too much time and effort trying to figure out something good for me for Christmas, birthdays, father's Day, it doesn't matter, she wants it to be perfect. She wants it to matter to me like multiple levels. It's not just like hey, give me some money which I would be happy with, she wants something that's gonna fit me perfectly. Okay, that's how she's been our entire relationship. Again, I don't know if you guys experienced that or not, but for me it's a little insane and seeing it for the kids like she's like researching and this and that I'm like you might as well to be taking a college course in like a gift for a person, because that's how much effort she puts into finding a gift that I'm going to enjoy and I get it Everybody loves. Like a cash gift. Okay, I do, I love money for a gift. It's simple, easy, but it does mean something a little extra special whenever somebody has put that time and effort in to give you something that really connects with you and that you can use.
Speaker 1:One of the beautiful things about Jesus and the gospel and Christianity is that the gift that's offered to us is personalized to everyone, but it's the same gift. That's why it's special that a slave, an Athenian slave from 2,000 years ago, hearing the gospel for the first time when Paul comes through or Silas comes through and he gets saved, is unique and yet the same as maybe a Japanese person in the 16th century hearing the gospel for the first time. And it's the same as a 20th century mathematician learning about Jesus for the first time. It's all radically different, it's all unique to them and their unique experiences, but it's the same gift that's still meaningful. It's special, this gift that we have in Jesus.
Speaker 1:Everybody needs Jesus. And listen, I planned this sermon before I knew what songs you picked. Everybody needs Jesus. We need him. Gotta have him. Okay. Jesus is like a cash gift on another level for me. Okay, gotta have them. Okay. He Jesus is like a cash gift on another level for me. Okay, gotta have them.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes, though, we forget that a little bit, we lose the significance of the gift. We sort of lose sight of the fact of what it means that we have him and we don't necessarily respond in a way that's appropriate, or maybe we just forget that we need them to begin with and we're sort of just trying to do our own thing. That's a little bit of what we're talking about today in Luke, chapter seven, verses 36 through 50. It's a bit of a story, but it'll go by in no time and obviously can't read it. So pay attention, right, just pay attention. When's the last time we all paid attention to something? For me it was been a while, but that's a job. I have to pay attention. I got kids, but, thank you, I appreciate that horrible, horrible joke and the laughter you've given me for it.
Speaker 1:All right, luke, chapter seven, verse 36. Let's get loose, everybody Get loose. It's okay because it's a day and it's a great day, and you know what. People are sick, people are not here, it's definitely. You know all your family's not here. Maybe we should just dedicate your kids every week. What if we do that? Or every week your kids do something special. Every week you're you know what. That you good. You like that layer of separation there. But anyways, all right, gonna be a good. It's a good day. It's a great day. We're gonna get loose, we're gonna have fun. Listen, you know what? There's so few of us in here. If you have a question, you could probably raise your hand and I'll probably answer it. I rarely do that, but I'll do it this time, all right.
Speaker 1:Luke, chapter seven, verses 36 through 50. One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. That's Jesus. Ask Jesus to eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table and behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of anointment Other translations just say perfume and, standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kiss his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now, when the Pharisees a Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself if this man was a prophet, he would know who, what sort of woman this is and who is touching him, for she's a sinner. And Jesus, answering him, said, said to him Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered say it teacher.
Speaker 1:A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, the other 50. 500 denarii is like two years, 50 is like a couple of months when they could not pay. He canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? And Simon answered the one, I suppose, for whom the canceled debt is larger. And he said to him you have judged rightly.
Speaker 1:Then, turning towards 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 he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at the table with him began saying among themselves who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman your faith has saved you. Go in peace. There's a lot here. I'm just going to draw out some stuff for us, get us headed in the right direction. And then I've got some application points at the very end connected to this information I'm going to give you.
Speaker 1:Let's start with they're at a meal. Right, they're having a meal and they're at a table, but it's not a table like this. Okay, it's a low table, very low to the ground, and what they would do back then they didn't have chairs like we have chairs they would sit on cushions around this table with sort of their legs outside and they would recline on the table and they would eat and they would talk and they would fellowship. So that's the mental image you've got to have. That's why it was able for this woman to come and like get at Jesus' feet, because his feet were out like this. Everybody's feet are out like this and they're at this low table.
Speaker 1:Secondly, this wasn't like a private meal. This wasn't your family dinner. Okay, this was an open invitation to select people to come in and eat, but it would have been in a great room this was apparently a wealthy man and it would have been in a great room and people were allowed to come, sit in the corners of the room and the edges of the room and they could prop themselves up in windows if there are windows open to the street and people could stand in doorways and you could come and experience this meal. But more, you were there for entertainment because you knew Jesus was. Well, he was Jesus and the Pharisees were Pharisees and they had conflict. And you're just curious about what was being said. It was entertainment. They didn't have TikTok, right, they didn't have the radio, they didn't even have books. You had to go get a scroll right To read something to be entertained, and so this was like a show. Okay, so that's why there are people there. That's how this woman was able to be in there, okay, the other thing we got to understand about this is that they are sort of three characters in the story outside of the people, in the little parable Jesus gives us.
Speaker 1:We've got Jesus, okay, we've got the Pharisee and we've got the sinful woman. We know who Jesus is. Hopefully in this room, I'm fairly certain. We know who Jesus is King of Kings, lord of Lords, the author of our salvation, full of grace, full of mercy. Right, he's the guy, okay, so we know who he is. But who's this Pharisee? What does that mean? Well, why is that his title. Why does that connect to the story? Why does it matter? And who is this sinful woman? Okay, now, the Pharisee.
Speaker 1:Pharisees in general. They were a very important Jewish sect in the society in Jerusalem and basically just Jewish society across the Mediterranean, and they were devoted to the exact observation of the law. Okay, the exact. They wanted to get everything perfectly correct when it came to the Pentateuch, which is the first five books of the Bible, which is where they get the law and the prophets, which is, you know, law and the prophets, which is Isaiah, malachi, all that other stuff. Okay, so their lives were dedicated to reading that which is good, understanding that which is good and trying their best to live up to that which is good.
Speaker 1:But here's the problem and this is what Jesus tries to point out over and over again in their confrontations with each other in the New Testament their passion for the law, their passion for this exact observance, was misplaced. Right, it was stepping away from doing this for relationship. Right, they weren't doing this because they wanted to get closer to God. Necessarily, they weren't doing this because they wanted salvation. They weren't doing this because, out of love and out of a desire for relationship with God, it had become something beyond that. It had become about superiority, right, it had become about a list. It had become arrogance, it had become being culturally distinct from the world around them, and so they had taken something that was good, which is devotion to God's word, and turned it into what we now call legalism.
Speaker 1:Legalism that all your salvation, all your righteousness, all your connection to God is strictly based on how hard you can work and how closely you can apply your life and exactly observe the laws of God. That's what a Pharisee was, okay. That's why it matters. And, and for the context of this, the Pharisees are constantly trying to trip Jesus up with these legal questions what's the greatest commandment? Right, that was one of them. And Jesus gives them this answer that they don't expect and all the stuff. Jesus is constantly trying to flip the script on them and try to get them to understand that, while they think that they are righteous, while they think that they are the elite of the elite, they're just the same and this is sort of the point of what we're talking about today as this lowly sinful woman.
Speaker 1:Now, the sinful woman we don't know details about her, we don't know her name, right? Unfortunately, she's just the sinful woman. Okay, that's her title, that's her name. And the sinful woman. What we need to know about her is not necessarily the details about who she is, but the details about her actions and maybe why she was performing these actions.
Speaker 1:The woman had apparently had at some point an encounter with Jesus before this, at some point in her story. At some point in this journey that Jesus is walking through, she'd had an encounter with Jesus and she experienced freedom and she experienced joy and she experienced something that she had never experienced before. And now she is walking into this room. She's heard that Jesus is in this place, and now is her opportunity in her mind to go show appreciation to Jesus for what he did and apparently it was great appreciation. Because she's doing some in my mind, some stuff that makes me a little uncomfortable, right, okay, first of all, let me just say this when you walked into someone's home, it was common courtesy to offer them.
Speaker 1:Basically, somebody could come and wash their feet. If it was a slave, a servant, maybe a woman of the house, that was common courtesy. When you walked in this home, they walked around with sandals, they walked everywhere. It was dusty, animals were pooping everywhere. Right, wash your feet off, please. Right, this is the equivalent of us taking our shoes off. Okay, if you think it's bad walking into a bathroom, let's remember that at least we're not walking through dung in the street and dust and for miles and miles, and miles.
Speaker 1:Okay, so when you walk into someone's home, greet them with a holy kiss how you doing? I don't do that. Uh, northerners, you know this is a thing you guys still do, that I had to get used to a little bit, all right, and uh, try to avoid accidentally swerving at the last second and getting a kiss on the lips from one of your uh aunts. But anyways, true story halfway, but anyways. But greeted with a holy kiss, you get a foot washing right, and then you know, if they were well off, they would often anoint you as you walked into their home, because, again, it's not like people are bathing all the time, so if you're cramped into a room, it might be nice to smell something other than BO. Okay, that's what's happening here.
Speaker 1:Jesus didn't get any of that, and so that, all being said, it makes what this woman is doing slightly more interesting, maybe slightly more acceptable, but it's still a very, very, very interesting thing, right? She is passionately crying onto Jesus' feet, washing it off with her own hair, and then she's taking this perfume, which, by the way, is estimated to be worth, I guess, in today's standards, around $50,000. And she's using this ointment. She was a prostitute, that's what most people think she was. Apparently, she was a good one because she had made enough money to own this ointment. Okay, right, you don't get this kind of action in church. We got kids in here, my bad, everyone Perfect, perfect, anyways. But yeah, so this woman, this woman, this sinful woman is doing these. I mean, it's a very humbling, bare, raw reaction, reciprocal, right. She's responding to something Jesus has done for her.
Speaker 1:And it's just interesting to me and I want you to notice that the Pharisee is not his negative response, his negative actions and thoughts are not necessarily attached to the actions of. He's not saying I can't, that's weird. No, what's he concerned about? If Jesus knew that this woman was a sinner, jesus would push her away right now. It wasn't about the actions, it was about the woman, it was about the condition of the woman, because he is concerned about righteousness, he's concerned about ritual cleanness, he's concerned about getting all the rules right, and so he's missing the point. He's missing this moment. He's missing the point. He's missing this moment. He's missing the forgiveness, he's missing the worship. He's missing the point. Based on this, the standard that he has, okay, all of that is sort of the background information that we need to get to our application points At the background info.
Speaker 1:Now let me lay out basically the main point, the main emphasis of this entire parable, this entire teaching, this entire moment that Jesus is having Simply this everybody needs Jesus. Everyone needs Jesus. If you zone out the rest of the service, okay, if you've zoned out up until this point and you're just like, oh, what's happening? Where am I at in this service? Which is real life. I've been there, it's okay. Listen, there've been times in my life where I'm sitting in service, I'm sitting down and I'll zone in and I'm like, oh my God, I missed the entire scripture, I don't know where we're, what are we doing right now? So, I get it, I'm human, I know I've been in sermons before, anyways, but the whole point of this is that you need Jesus. You need Jesus, right, whether you are the Pharisee or whether you are the sinful woman, you need Jesus and we are offered the opportunity to respond to the gift that Jesus gives us. The Pharisee, who is this morally perfect, quotation marks person, and the sinful woman both needed what Jesus had. That's what the parable was about. That's what Jesus was trying to draw out for this Pharisee and for others to see that. You know you're concerned about the righteousness of this woman, but the reality is you're both debtors. You both have stuff that you can't get rid of on your own. You need what I've got to offer. Only one woman understood it. I want to be a person who understands that in my life. I don't want to do it on my own. I don't want to fall into that trap. We need Jesus Now.
Speaker 1:From this overarching point and we'll run through this we can break this down into sort of three bite-sized chunks. I could have came up with more, but I stuck with three because there's no need to have five bite-sized chunks. Let's have three, okay. Three chunks this morning of application and thoughts for your life that you can take with you out there, okay. First one is this Whenever you are examining yourself sort of internally, whenever you're thinking about, maybe all right, am I living a good life, am I a good person and am I doing the things I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker 1:Don't start. Don't start that process, don't start that evaluation with a moral list, with a checklist of things that you've got to do. I'm a good person because I've got this, this, this, this, this, this, this. That's not going to cut it. That's not how, it's not a healthy place to start an evaluation of your life if you are taking seriously Jesus and what's in scripture.
Speaker 1:Right, the Pharisee has this list. That's how he bases his life, that's how he does everything, that's how he decides everything. Everything's got to line up perfectly with the standard of the law. Now, it was for the wrong reason, but everything's going to line up From a technical perspective. He was doing all the right stuff and that was his whole worldview. That was their whole worldview. It's how they judged other people, how they judged themselves, and that's why, again, the Pharisee responded to this woman the way he did was not because of her actions, but because this woman did not fit his list right, and that list matters so much to him that it created a negative view of this woman.
Speaker 1:Right, and Jesus was trying to point out yeah, you're getting it wrong here. Getting it wrong here, it was all about the law and getting it right, and he was missing the point of he had Jesus Christ right in front of him, he had the author of our salvation, he had grace and mercy right in front of him and he was more concerned with the rules and regulations. Right, think about that Because, frankly, as a Christian, I've lived moments in my life where I have done that. Okay, just being frank, there've been moments in my life where I've missed Jesus for my own rules and regulations. Okay.
Speaker 1:Now, this is relevant for everyone, because whether you're a Christian or not Christian, there are plenty of people who don't believe in God, who don't go to church, who want to live a good life. They make choices and decisions because they want to do the right thing. Now, how they figure out what's right and wrong, I don't know how you do that without any sort of biblical base, because then you're just sort of making up your own rules. But people want to do the right thing. They want to love people, they want to take care of people, they want to be nice, right. They want to check off this, this, this and this. They want to give to good causes, they want to serve people, they want to live self-controlled and self-disciplined lives, right, and what they don't understand maybe because the church and as Christians we don't always do a good job of explaining is that even if they do everything right, even if they make a master list of everything you've got to do right to be a good person, it will never be enough to get rid of the debt that we have because of sin that is legitimately in our DNA, okay, and so they get it wrong.
Speaker 1:And again, like I already alluded to, it's not like Christians are exempt from this danger. I have most certainly have had those moments in my life where I have sort of put my rules and regulations in front of the grace and mercy and salvation of Jesus and I've thought that if I do this this way, like this, I'm going to get an extra dose of salvation this morning, okay, or Jesus is going to love me a little bit more because I'm doing all the right stuff. Again, and I'll go ahead and say this right now this is not a sermon against doing the right thing. This is a sermon of getting some stuff out of order in your life. Okay, both groups Christians, non-christians who end up judging themselves and judging others based on some sort of standard right If they're not careful, it'll mess with the values of people. It might mess with the value of yourself.
Speaker 1:I just want to make sure that we're on the same page and make sure that we understand and know that when we examine ourselves and you should think about this, you should think about your actions you should sit back and think am I doing the right things? It doesn't need to start with a list. It needs to start with two questions Do I need Jesus? To which the answer is I also would accept it. C in Spanish. It's a joke. It's a joke Si senor, yes, yes, you need Jesus.
Speaker 1:And then, if the answer to that question is yes, for your life, the next question is have I let Jesus do what he needs to do in my life? Okay, but that's where you start. Whenever you're trying to figure out your life, get your life together. When you're self-evaluating what's going on, do I need Jesus? Absolutely Okay, that's great. Now am I going to let Jesus do what he needs to do? Okay, because that's a different conversation that does sort of get into. Are we going to behave after we believe? Right, because there is a sort of formation that needs to happen there. I just don't want you to get that stuff out of order.
Speaker 1:Again, this is not a sermon against doing good things. This is a sermon on getting things in the right order. Everything starts with Jesus. Everybody needs Jesus and from that gift, from the fact that we have access to that, everything else flows from that, including our sort of second point here access to that. Everything else flows from that, including our sort of second point here. When we recognize that our own morality is not enough and yet we still recognize that we are offered the opportunity to have a clean slate, how are we going to respond when we ask the question do we need Jesus? And it's yes, and then, whenever we answer the question, are we going to let him do what he wants to do? Yes, how are we going to respond? This is a question of worship, Worship. I've said this over and over again if you've been here any amount of time.
Speaker 1:But worship is a genuine attempt to pay back an unpayable debt to Jesus for his grace and for his mercy. We know we can't pay him back. What worship is is our attempt to say I know I can't ever give God enough what he deserves, but I'm gonna give as much as I possibly can. Okay, that's what this woman is doing in this story? Right, the debtors in this story. They both receive forgiveness and both of them have a response of love. Okay, jesus points out that one loves more than the other, but both have a response and obligation to respond. The woman made a fool of herself in worship. That's what this was. It wasn't just some random crazy thing that was going on. It was worship. This woman puts herself out there, she puts herself in an uncomfortable position, she spends very expensive resources and affection to the person who forgave her debts.
Speaker 1:Worship is not just music. Worship is not just music. Worship is not just a Sunday morning sort of thing. Right, it's not a Wednesday thing, it's not even. It's just not right. We categorize it. Carrie's going to lead us in worship, and she is, but then whenever you get out there, you've got to lead yourself in worship. When you walk out the doors of this place, you are worshiping in how you treat the people around you. You are worshiping with your thoughts. You are worshiping with how well and how hard you work. You are worshiping in how you give. You are worshiping in how you serve. You are worshiping in every area of your life. This woman was worshiping, and how you serve. You're worshiping in every area of your life.
Speaker 1:This woman was worshiping because it was a reciprocated response from receiving the grace of God. And if you're in this room and you've answered the question, do I need Jesus? And you've said yes, that question, you have now been offered the opportunity to receive that grace and now we have an obligation to respond to that grace and mercy in crazy ways. This is crazy. Let's be real. Can we be real? This is crazy. I would look at this woman and probably think she's crazy. Okay, she was worshiping, she's worshiping.
Speaker 1:It sort of calls me out a little bit because, oh, I'm in a bad mood, I'm not even going to lift my hands today. Or I don't a bad mood, I'm not even going to lift my hands today. Or I don't know this song, so I'm just going to sit here and just not say anything, right, or this is isolating. This is weird. With so few people in here, I'm not going to lift my hand, I'm not going to sing out loud, right? And yet this woman's busted into a public meeting and she's pouring out her appreciation, she's pouring out her praise, she's pouring out her resources, very literally, because she has received this great gift. Her actions weren't about making a statement for people to see, but it was all about responding to this feeling that jesus had provided about her forgiveness and birth right. She probably hadn't felt this good in a long, long time. I don't know how she became the sinful woman, but at some point there was a choice and decision and a series of choices that led her to become the sinful woman and, for the first time since before those choices, she probably feels a freedom and a joy that she's never experienced before. And now she's responding appropriately.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine if you're going on a hike and you've got a heavy pack on and you don't really know where you're going. You get a little bit lost and this pack is cutting into your shoulders, your feet hurt, your ankles hurt, your knees hurt, your hips hurt, your back hurts, you're getting exhausted and you just can't find your way and you can't find somewhere to stop. You can't find relief. What would it feel like? What would it feel like for someone to come along and say, hey, I'll take that, come on, follow me. What would that feel like? Right, maybe it's because I used to hike. Maybe it's because I got flat feet and my feet hurt all the time right. Maybe I can relate to that, but I think that would feel pretty great. Well, that's what we experience in salvation someone comes along, you're going the wrong way. You can't carry this on your own for much longer. It's going to kill you. I'll take that. Thank you, come with me. What must it feel like? What does it feel like Whenever all the stuff in your past that you're not proud of, all the stuff that you're ashamed of, all the stuff that you know was wrong that you did, stuff that you're ashamed of, all the stuff that you know was wrong that you did, and Jesus walks up to you and says okay, that's gone, now Come with me.
Speaker 1:Do we recognize how amazing that is? Do we recognize that? You know? I want to be careful how I say this, because there is a thing is trauma. There is a thing is generational trauma. There are things that you carry with you for the rest of your life that you deal with when you make mistakes or other people make mistakes in your life. But the reality is, if we believe who Jesus says he is, that generational drama stands no chance in comparison to the grace of God. Your past stands no chance to the regenerative power of Jesus in your life, no matter what you've gone through, no matter what you've done, no matter how silly you feel, how dumb you feel, how hurt you are.
Speaker 1:Whenever you pick up the gift of grace and mercy in Jesus man, we should respond some kind of way Talking to myself. Here too, got to respond to that grace and that mercy. It's an amazing thing. You can't really separate this point and the last point, because we only arrive at a place of worship and appreciation if we first judge ourself not just from some moral actions or moral standards, but with humility. We realize that we need help. And whenever you realize that you need help, you are then positioned in a place to receive help, and when you get the help, you are then given the opportunity to respond to that help.
Speaker 1:Jesus didn't come just for the good people. Right, over and over again, jesus points out that he came for the sick, for the hurting. Okay, now here's the trick to that. The Pharisees probably heard that and thought well, that's stupid, right, I hear I am working so hard doing all this stuff, living this way, and Jesus says he didn't come for me, the king of way, and Jesus says he didn't come for me, the king of kings, lord of lords, didn't come for me. Here's why they didn't recognize. They were sick too, but they couldn't comprehend it. The woman did. That's why Jesus is attractive to hurting people, because hurting people know they hurt. Hurting people know something's off, and people like the Pharisees and people like the Pharisees and people like me sometimes work ourselves in a position where I'm good, I'm all right, I don't need any help, I'll figure it out. Please, don't be self-reliant, spiritually speaking. Spiritually speaking, understand that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Speaker 1:Third point is this, and I'm almost finished Learn to see the potential in people, despite any negative circumstances they are living in in the moment. I'm not saying that we accept sin or negative behavior. I'm not saying you pat someone on the back oh, congratulations, you're an alcoholic, good job. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is you're an alcoholic, but you still have potential. What I'm saying is you know you've committed adultery, but there's something on the other side for you. What I'm saying is you're struggling with homosexuality right now. Right, that's not good, that's not okay, but there's something on the other side. If you'll pick up jesus right. That's what I'm saying right now is never look at somebody and just see them and just see their failures and just see their sin and just see their hurt and just see their pain. You got to see them the way jesus sees them, right.
Speaker 1:Jesus didn't look at the disciples and just think that those, that's just a bunch of regular, probably rough around the edges, fishermen. No, he saw some people who were used to hard work. He saw some people who were used to grinding out results. He says you know what? Those are the type of people I need to start my church People who can grind, people who can work right. That's why he saw. He didn't see them cussing, he didn't see them being rough around the edges. What he saw was potential okay. He didn't see the sinful woman right and just see the sinful woman he saw this woman has something to offer on the other side of her sin, if I can just get to her right. Jesus didn't look at the tax collectors that everybody hated and come to them and say, hey, listen, everybody hates you so I can't use you. No, he looks at those task managers and say, if I can just get to them and give them grace and mercy and get them to accept that they need me.
Speaker 1:What I see is people who are organized with resources. Do you understand what I'm saying? We can't lock in with our minds, we can't right. There's a word judgmental I think it gets overused because we also have something called common sense. We also have something called discernment that we got to have in our life Whenever we're looking at people. We got to understand that maybe we don't need this person in our life, but never count that person out. You don't have to be best friends with that person. You don't have to be connected to the hip to this person or this group that you don't like. But you got to understand and know that Jesus sees us people that maybe we are uncomfortable with, with potential Potential. Jesus saw me with potential right. He didn't just see me as Zach the screw up. He didn't just see me as Zach the awkward, as Zach the shy. He saw potential. Okay, that's what he saw. That's how he lived.
Speaker 1:Who is around us, who's around us, who's connected to us that maybe we have counted out because they are not living in a way that we would approve of. I'm not saying that we got to approve of the way they're living, that ain't it. But who are we counting out? Because right now they are in a moment of sin, season of sin, a lifestyle of sin. Who are we counting out? I've got some people in my mind right now. Right now, I've got one person specifically in my head that I know that I'm very disappointed in and it hurts that I'm disappointed in them, but I'm not counting them out. Okay, who in here? Let's flip it a little bit. Who in here? Maybe you're thinking in your head you're counting yourself out because of your sin, counting yourself out because of your failures.
Speaker 1:Okay, see, the potential on the other side of grace. Not a sermon on not doing the right things, not a sermon on not having good behavior, because let me tell you something, one of the worshipful responses that we have to the grace of God is recognizing that we gotta get rid of some stuff in our life. Not everything is acceptable in the sight of God. Okay, I get that. So that's not what the sermon is. The sermon is simply a reminder that we need Jesus, we got to respond to Jesus, and that that we got to look at people like God looks at us, full of potential. Okay, we all need Jesus.
Speaker 1:Listen, church shouldn't just be a country club where we get a membership. We come in, we hang out, we eat together, we go do fun things. Sometimes we go do all that. We get sick together. I don't know if they do that at country clubs. I'm poor, but I don't think that's a thing.
Speaker 1:Thank you, this one side. I get smiles on this side, actual laughter on this side. I appreciate it so much. Thank you so much. I'm kidding. Tara gets mad at me all the time because she'll say something funny and I'll just smile. She says why are you not laughing? Well, I am. No, you're smiling. So I understand, I understand. But church is not a country club. Okay, we're not just showing up having a good old time. This is a hospital, this is a mechanic. We were working on some stuff. We're fixing some things right. We're getting better so that when we get out there we're ready to do our job, because we all got a job to do, got a job to do. We need Jesus, we need his grace and mercy, we need his understanding, we need what he can offer us and we need to connect with it so that we can walk in our potential and how he designed us in the first place. Amen.