Daily Dose of the Word of God - Luke 7: 44-50

Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor

Transcript

Gregg DeMey  0:07  

Good morning and welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose of the Word of God. This is Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor at the church and it's Thursday May 15. It's still the season of Easter, and we have the opportunity today to respond to the reality of Jesus resurrection. Today's Bible reading is from Luke chapter 7, verses 44 through 50.

Gregg DeMey  0:29  

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. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”  Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”  The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”  Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Gregg DeMey 1:20  

I noticed both in the Bible and in life around me, people who have real encounters with Jesus respond with a great love. Jesus puts it this way: "whoever has been forgiven a little, only loves a little." But, the inverse is also true (as the story illustrates). Whoever has been forgiven a lot, loves a lot. Or to back it up even a little more: whoever is aware that they've been forgiven a lot, loves Jesus a lot.

Gregg DeMey 1:56  

This morning, as we start a new day, I wonder: have you been forgiven a little, or a lot? Some people in history have thought: "I'm a pretty good person, so maybe I just need to sin a little bit more, you know? Be a little more selfish, more pleasure, cause a little bit more mayhem and then I'll repent from all that stuff and ask for forgiveness. Then, I will love God more. God will give me forgiveness, more grace and then I'll love God better - like the woman with a bad reputation in this story." God forbid, what a bad idea that is. The way to growing up in Jesus is to grow more aware of how much we need him, his grace and forgiveness. How broken we are, and how perfect, beautiful and kind he is.

Gregg DeMey 2:52  

Here's what I've observed about mature Christians, (or, people who have known the Lord for a long time). There's an irony about Christian maturity - the better a person gets to know Jesus, the more aware they become of how far short they are falling of his perfect example. It's such a spiritual paradox. Become more like Jesus and simultaneously become more aware of how far you have to go and how broken you still are. This perspective puts us in a posture of knowing how much we still need to be forgiven for. "The one who is forgiven a lot," as Jesus says, "loves God a lot."

Gregg DeMey  3:37  

Let's pray. Dear God, we want to love you with all we've got today. We dedicate these hours, our words and our work to you. We know it's all possible because your mercies are new every morning. We love you so much because you first loved us. In Jesus name, amen.