How to Stop Resisting
God
Discipleship Questions for Sunday June
17, 2007
Scripture
Readings:
First Reading:
2Samuel 11:26-12:15
Psalm:
32
Second
Reading: Galatians 2:11-21
Gospel:
Luke 7:36-50
2Sam. 11:26
When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead,
she mourned for him. 27 After the
time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became
his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD. 1
The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two
men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number
of sheep and cattle, 3
but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He
raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank
from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a
traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of
his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him.
Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for
the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the
man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this
deserves to die! 6 He must pay
for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of
Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand
of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s
house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of
Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you
even more. 9 Why did you despise
the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah
the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him
with the sword of the Ammonites. 10
Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you
despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11 “This is
what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity
upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who
is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do
this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have
sinned against the LORD.” Nathan
replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have
made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will
die.” 15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that
Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.
Psa. 32:1
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed
is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is
no deceit. 3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was
heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin
to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my
transgressions to the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah 6 Therefore
let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the
mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and
surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach
you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the
mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or
they will not come to you. 10
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s
unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad,
you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Gal. 2:11
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his
face, because he was clearly in the wrong.
12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the
Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself
from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision
group. 13 The other Jews joined
him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw
that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter
in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like
a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? 15 “We who are Jews by birth and not
‘Gentile sinners’ 16
know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by
faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no
one will be justified. 17 “If,
while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves
are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I
prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of
God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for
nothing!”
Luke 7:36
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have
dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the
table. 37 When a woman who had
lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s
house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him
at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped
them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him
saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is
touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” 40 Jesus
answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,”
he said. 41 “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him
five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to
pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him
more?” 43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt
canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned toward the woman and
said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give
me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them
with her hair. 45 You did not
give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped
kissing my feet. 46 You did not
put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many
sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little
loves little.” 48
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The other
guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives
sins?” 50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith
has saved you; go in peace.”
Now do you think anything changed for her the next day? O yes, everything had changed. She had been forgiven by the only One who
could forgive her and now no matter what the villagers did – she was not guilty
any more! She had been forgiven!
What freedom she must have felt! I believe that no matter how much members of
that village wanted to keep her in her state of guiltiness and fear and self
hatred she was now free!
She knew that God incarnate loved her! She had felt the embrace of God! She was no longer at odds with Him – with
God! He loved her! He had forgiven her! And all – all – was now very very well with her soul!
3
Now
let’s draw some lessons from this.
Please read the following and discuss: Now what
does all of this mean to you and me today?
Guilt is a reality – no matter how much you and I run and
rationalize our way out of it – it keeps on a comin’ Sin
and the resultant guilt just won’t go away!
But most of this world doesn’t do what that precious woman
did with Jesus. Most of the world
remains incarcerated in the cold and merciless jail of their
own sins! Why?
They don’t know how much freedom awaits them after their
terrible encounter with God’s impossibly wonderful love! They can’t bring themselves to believe in
such impossible love! And so the world,
in the words of Robert Bork, “slouches towards Gomorrah!”
Now let me ask us a very important question: Who can you most relate to? The woman or the Pharisee?
You see that Pharisee may not have got it? But the woman certainly did!
What was the difference?
A million miles – the distance between a humble repentant sinner and a
self-satisfied citizen of our world who lives in the jail of their own
small-minded creation and probably don’t even know it!
It’s the difference between someone who calls themselves a
Christian but disdains everyone else including most of their Christian friends
and a Christian who knows how much they need God’s constant forgiveness and
guidance!
It’s the difference between a pastor who smugly
congratulates himself on his happy Christian community and one who is often
overwhelmed with his hypocritical affectations, with the distance between God’s
calling upon his life and his actual performance! Who sometimes falls to his knees with sadness
over his pathetic failures! But who
knows that God’s mercies are new very morning!
And he
cries out in the words of Lamentations 3:20-26:
. . . my soul is downcast within me. 21
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your
faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will
wait for him.” 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one
who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait
quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Yes, it is good – very good – to wait quietly for the
salvation of the LORD!