Gracious God, thank you so much that we can come to your word,
we can hear it preached and that your word is living and act of
God. And we thank you for Andy in the
way he has been serving you. And I pray that as he shares
about his ministry and as he shears from your word that it
would be glorifying to you and would be edifying to us and
would we have ears that are ready and eager to listen and be
changed. We pray for these things and we
we thank you for these things in Jesus name, Amen.
Hey, good morning everybody. As I was sitting in the seat
this morning, I was thinking, ohh, crumbs, this is a lot of
people. And I was thinking maybe 30.
So there's a couple more than 30, but that's OK.
So hopefully you've got some grace and we'll walk through it
together. But I was thinking, what's the
time I've been in front of a crowd this big?
And I was like, whoa, whoa. I did.
I decided to do physical education and Otago.
And part of that course was you had to, well, I say head 2, some
people say it was good, but we had to do a dance, contemporary
dance paper. And I'm a very conservative S
island boy and I did not want to dance, I don't know, to do the
class. And we had to perform in front
of usually old P/E students and they would want to, you know,
laugh at you and whatever. And it was on the biggest
lecture theatre they had in Otago, which is about 500
people. So it's a little bit smaller
than that here this morning. So I don't feel quite as bad and
I'm probably not going to dance. So all quite safe.
So this morning I'm going to speak on carry on speaking on
Luke. I believe you've already started
in there. I've been working through Luke
736. So if you open your Bibles up to
Luke 7, we're going to be talking about who is Jesus,
We're talking about his words versus obedience.
So I actions versus what we say and we're looking it's a simple
question. So who he is and more
specifically, how do we respond to him throughout this passage?
I'll draw another passages as well, but that's what we gonna
be looking at today. So if you turn to Luke 7 verse
36, then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and
he went to the Pharisees house and sat down to eat.
And behold, a woman in this city who was a Sinner, when she knew
that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisees house, brought an
alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at his feet behind
him, weeping. And she began to wash his feet
with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.
And she kissed his fate and anointed them with the fragrant
oil that when the Pharisee who invited him saw this, he spoke
to himself saying This man, if he were a prophet, would know
and what manner of woman this is who's touching him, for she is a
Sinner. So we'll just stop there for
now. We're going to go right through
to chapter 8 verse, verse three that we'll just look at the 1st
4 verses. So 36 to 39.
God is not impressed by our religious activity or obedience.
So he's not interested or without obedience, He's not
interested in what we do. He doesn't, he's, he's not
thinking, ohh, they're wonderful people.
They've gone to India or Africa or whatever.
He wants our obedience. So this is what we're looking at
this morning. So it's not an external
performance without surrender. So it's a it's our mindset
towards God and how we respond to Him.
O this is what Jesus is exposing in this passage, because we have
that Pharisee who who's a Bangalore and supposedly doing
all the right things, but as hard isn't in the right place.
Ow we see Simon, he invites Jesus to his house, but he keeps
him at a distance. There's no kiss, there's no
water, no oil. He's outwardly right, but he's
inwardly cold. So in that culture, hospitality
was everything. So it's very common to have a
servant wash their feet when they came and justice to really
look after them really well. And you notice this and where we
are in in Kerala in India, often you'll get dusty feet walking to
through rear both which is the place near us or that we work
it. And then you always take your
shoes off when you go inside. And so it makes you think about
this and the Bible, they talk about washing their feet because
it sort of brings a little bit more reality to it because the
New Zealand, you tend to just go in with your shoes on.
But because your feet get so grabby and your houses you're
trying to keep nice and clean, we tend to take them off idea.
So it really this Pharisee wasn't even offering, you know
that the servant to wash the feet.
O we compare that with the woman who's breaking the social
boundaries. She's publicly humbling herself
a little bit like that message with David where he's dancing
before God and he's he's just dancing in a loin cloth.
But he's worried about what his praise to God, not what other
people were thinking. So it's, it's that kind of
display and it's, it's the costly devotion that she's
given. So they're in the same room, but
there's 2 completely different responses off you.
Now turn to the next few verses. Luke 40.
Ohh, sorry. Luke 740 to 43 And Jesus
answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you.
So he said, Teacher say it, there is a certain creditor who
had two debtors, 1 owed him 100 denari and the other 50, and
when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them
both. Tell me, therefore, which of
them will love him more? Simon answered and said I
suppose the one who forgave more And he said to him, you have
rightly judged O this is a key principle.
Jesus gives this lens to help us understand 01 of the people was
forgiven a little. So he loves a little bit.
So it wasn't that big a deal. He gets forgiven a bit and so he
obviously likes the the man they owed the money to, but the one
that was forgiven much he tends to love more.
So this is that situation with the woman and Simon.
So it's not theoretical, but it's shown in the response.
Jesus is pushing this a little bit further with the emotional
side. So do we just agree with him or
are we actually responding to him?
So I'd like to take another passage, Matthew 2128 to 32,
which you'll probably all know of the two sums, but what do you
think? A man had two sons and he came
to the 1st and said, Sun go work today in my vineyard.
He answered and said, I will not.
But afterward he regretted it and went.
Then he came to the second son and said likewise.
And he answered and said, I go, Sir.
But he did not go. Which of the two did the will of
his father? They said to him, the 1st Jesus
said to them, assuredly I say to you, that text collectors and
harlots enter the Kingdom of God before you.
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did
not believe Him, but tax collectors and harlots believed
Him. And when you saw it, you did not
afterward relent and believe him.
So this first son, he's saying I will go, I will not go, sorry.
But later he changes his mind, initially saying the wrong
words, but has actions later on revealed his true heart, whereas
the other son is a bit of a yes man.
And he says, I will go, Sir, but he does not go.
So correct words, but no obedience.
So the one who did the will of the Father is the one that
obeyed. So words alone are not the
measure. Action reveals the reality.
O we put this back inside the the passage that we're looking
at today. I've Luke 70.
Simon is like that second son. He's got the words, but he has
no obedience. He sees nothing wrong.
He's religiously respectable. He's a Pharisee, you know,
everyone looked at him as the people that are doing the right
thing, that he didn't wash the feet, his feet.
He didn't offer him a kiss when he arrived or a kiss of honour.
And there's no oil to welcome him or anything like that.
No anointing, no. No normal hospitality, he says.
Yes, and principle, but his life does not show what he's really,
You know what, what he should be doing.
He is son #2 He's yes Lord, but no action, no cost, no love is
expressed. Whereas the woman is like the
first son. She has a broken start.
She just had a what looks like a bad life or something that you
know, she's come from a sinful life and her response is
obedience. So she's moved from that broken
start to obedience. Oi heard life initially said no
to God but then she turns. So who responses tears or a pint
to repentance here is like humility wiping his feet with
her here and the perfume is costly side of her worship.
She does not just feel sorry but she acts in alignment with
repentance. OC is the first one, initially
wrong direction but ends U in obedience.
So this parable reveals the importance of repentance and
challenges us. Do our actions align with God's
will? So the two sons, two types of
people, those who initially reject God but repent, and those
who appear obedient that fail to act.
So the Father's request, interesting in this passage, the
Father's request of working in the vineyard.
When I was looking into this, it was like working in God's
Kingdom. So it was quite a nice picture
of the Father or God asking the two sons to work in His Kingdom
or the vineyard being His Kingdom.
So the obedience requires action.
Repentance is also needed. Self righteousness is not
needed. So how does my faith show in my
actions and obedience? If we turn now to one Samuel
15220, this is one of the classic passages of a talking
about obedience versus sacrifice.
There's quite a few in the Psalms as well, but this is one
that I always remember. I'll start it first 13 and go to
2023 because that sort of gives a better summary. 01 Samuel 15
starting at verse 13. Then Samuel went to Saul, and
Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord, I have
performed the commandment of the Lord.
But Samuel said, What then is this blighting of the sheep in
my ears, and the lowering of the oxen which I hear?
And so said they have brought them from the Malachites, for
the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to
sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have utterly
destroyed. Then say you'll see the soul, be
quiet, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night,
and you speak to him. Speak on, O Samuel said.
When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the
tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you
king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a
mission, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners and
the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are
consumed. Why then did you not obey the
voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the
spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord?
And so say to Samuel, But I have evade the voice of the Lord, and
gone on a mission on which the Lord sent me and brought back
Agag, king of the king of Amalek.
I have utterly destroyed the Malachites, but the people took
of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which
should have been utterly destroyed.
To sacrifice to the Lord your God, to Gilgal, so Samuel said,
Has the Lord has great delight and burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord.
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the
Fed of Rams. 4 billion is as the sin of witchcraft and
stubbornness, as as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you've rejected the word of the Lord, He also has
rejected you from being king. So the simple thing he was just
asked to destroy the Malachites and he thought, oh, oh, she are
pretty good. And those those oxen are pretty
good. We'll just save them and I'll
offer a great sacrifice to God. But God wasn't interested in
that. He just wanted him to follow
what he's told him to do. So this is the one of the
classic verses showing man trying to please God when he's
been just asked to obey. So we see here obedience is
greater than sacrifice. To obey is better than
sacrifice. So solve problem.
He thought his idea was better than what God told him to do, he
said. Some other animals God told him
to destroy, and he saved them to offer to God.
He disobeyed God thinking His offering would be better than
obedience. So God rejects religious
substitutes for obedience. So we put this all back
together. What God actually looks for
God's not impressed by sacrifice.
You could call that what we can offer him, our works, our
religious activity, external performance, correct language
about him, and spiritual appearance.
God is looking for a response of hearts or like they talk about
David having a heart after his own heart after the Lord's
heart. Something that I often wonder
what is that? I want to know more about what
having a heart after God's heart is.
It sounds pretty cool. And he wants us to be humble and
to immediately be obedient. Faith that moves into action,
Love that becomes visible. Sacrifice.
This is contrasted in Luke 7:00. So we had Simon.
That religious man says nothing offensive but does nothing
loving. The woman is a broken Sinner.
She has nothing religious to offer, but she gives everything
in response. Jesus says she has the right
heart that Simon does not. So Jesus forgives her.
Which is is also interesting because something only God can
do. So he's revealing something in
front of those Pharisees. Just one in them up a little bit
more oo the last few verses are the start of Luke chapter 8
versus one to three. I'll read those now.
It came to pass afterward that he went through every city and
village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the Kingdom
of God. And the 12 are with them.
And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and
infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come
seven demons, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza here at Stewart
and Susanna and many others who provided for him from their
substance. Jesus is going around
proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and these women are
helping by supporting. So even Mary Magdalene, who
sounds very similar to this lady in this story, she was healed
and now she follows him and supports him.
So they true faith and belief produces repentance and
obedience. So they're following serving,
giving and obeying, not just belief.
There's a response there. So the final contrast is that
these two sons had two responses once it's the right thing but
stays still. One starts wrong but ends UA
bang. So God isn't interested in what
we can offer that sacrifice. So sacrifice to us.
You know, like the Old Old Testament talks about
sacrifices, but our sacrifice is something that we can, that we
think we can offer God, but he's more interested in obedience.
Things we do for him as a part of that process, but the
obedience is the thing. So God is interested in how we
respond to Him. Trust, love and obedience.
Yeah. Just in closing, I want you to
remember those two things. The Simon had religion without
response, so it was just his, his pharmaceutical or his his.
He thinks he's doing the right thing by being religious and
offering God something. Whereas it's that true heart at
heart of obedience that God is really looking for.