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Dec 13, 2020

Beyond Deserving

Beyond Deserving

Passage: Luke 7:36-

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Advent 2020: O Come Let Us Adore Him

Adoration - Week 3 We turn to a third text this week when we find someone bowing at Jesus's feet in adoration--this time from the woman upon whom everyone present threw scorn, everyone except Jesus. I'm finding three more reasons why we adore Him.

Order of Worship

OPENING PRAYER: Ancient Prayer - Anselm 1033-1109
CALL TO WORSHIP: Isaiah 61:1a,10a
ADVENT READING: Isaiah 52:7-9 & Luke 1
ILLUSTRATION: Advent Sketch #3
MESSAGE TITLE: Beyond Deserving
CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 7:36-50
BENEDICTION: Philippians 1:6,11

Readings & Scripture

OPENING PRAYER: Ancient Prayer - Anselm 1033-1109
ALL: Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you my whole being. Moreover, I owe you as much more love than myself as you are greater than I, for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised yourself. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of your love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Isaiah 61:1a,10a
LEADER: 1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,

ALL: 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness

ADVENT READING: Isaiah 52:7-9 & Luke 1
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” 8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. 9 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 7:36-50
LEADER: 36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 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 kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 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.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 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. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

BENEDICTION: Philippians 1:6,11
LEADER: 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

ALL: 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What during this long season of nationwide upheaval have you lost much enthusiasm for doing--what you used to do with greater enthusiasm? What might account for that?
  2. (ahem) Imagine yourself as the woman in the moment: what you thinking and feeling?
  3. What all does Jesus do for her in that moment?
  4. Why is Simon’s attitude towards her on one level perfectly understandable given the concern for righteousness?
  5. How can you tell the difference between valuing what is righteous and wandering into self-righteousness?
  6. Why in Jesus giving us His righteousness does that help us in our struggle with unrighteousness and self-righteousness?

QUOTES:

  • Pride is the vice of which no man in the world is free. . . of which hardly any. . . ever imagine they are guilty of themselves. . . .It leads to every other vice. . .the chief cause of misery in every nation and family since the world began. . . .It’s a spiritual cancer: it eats up the possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
  • Pride is looking down on things and people, [which] as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
  • Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
  • The real reason why so few men believe in God is that they have ceased to believe that even God can love them. - Thomas Merton 
  • You think religion is a matter of knowing things and doing things. It is not. It is a matter of letting God do something for you: letting him love you, letting him save you, letting him bless you, letting him command you. - Eugene Peterson 
  • Parental love, and, by extension, mentoring love, is authentic and effectual in proportion to the degree that it transcends the commonly assumed principle of the circular exchange, that is to say, “this for that.” All true love is a stranger to that kind of thinking. The “justice” idea of reward according to what is deserved is replaced by the much more powerful force of noncontingent, compassionate alliance with the essential personhood of the other, however small that part may appear to be, against the destructive forces opposing that person’s good. - Dorothy Martyn
  • There is an unbelievable release in letting go.  - Bono
  • The question of worth has been taken out of our hands. - Paul Zahl

SERMONS / TALKS: