Lost In Adultery Series

I mentioned last week that we were going to look at different characters from the TV show “Lost.”

Tonight, I want to focus on the character named Claire. She is pregnant when the story begins. The first several episodes show that she got pregnant by her boyfriend and her boyfriend leaves her. She has to deal with the result of her sin on her own.

She is excited about the baby, but has no one to share the joy. She has doubts and fears about raising the child, but she has nobody to turn to.

And throughout the country teenage girls find themselves in a similar position. We see how many Christians react; quick to judge, quick to shun, and quick to abandon.

But the sins that are treated this way, are not just adultery…they can be anything.

Some of us here tonight have been treated harshly by the church or by others. Some of us have been caught in the very act of sin—and what we have done is sin, even though society may not call it that, and then we are confronted by the armchair judges who want to justify themselves by judging harshly.

Like Claire, they have been abandoned by everybody because of our sin.

But Jesus shows us a different way for those of us in the church to respond and how Christ responds to us.

Tonight, may be the first time that you come to know that Jesus loves you no matter what you have done or where you have been. He loves you for who you are.

Look with me at John 8:1-11

8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

1. Accusation of the Religious

We see here in this passage the ugly face of religion. I talk to a lot of people – and one of the biggest complaints I get is about people who are just like this. These Pharisees know the law. And in their arrogance and selfish motives they bring a woman who is caught in adultery out in front of the crowed.

Let’s get the imagery right. This is like me dragging a female soldier caught in the very act of adultery, we all know that means – having sex with someone other then your spouse (whether you are single or not). I bring this soldier out in front of this congregation to accuse her. Better yet bring her out in front of the battalion formation.

Can you imagine how she must have felt:

Embarrassed?

Ashamed?

Betrayed?

Alone?

The same way others feel when we judge them.

One of my hobbies is photography. I love to use several rolls of film on a photo shoot. All in all - all of the pictures turn out ok. But I usually narrow them down to about 10 when I finally show them to people.

I scrutinize each photo. Many I put in a box. Many I throw away – after I have thoroughly studied their flaws.

But, I am:

Number one – Creator, I can do with them what I want

Number two – I am the judge, based on the specific criteria that I like to see in a picture THAT is what I keep.

I have studied photography for awhile. I know the rules. I know what to look for.

The Pharisees knew the law. But the problem is they were not the creator.

The Pharisees knew that Leviticus 20:10 says:

10 “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death”