ENGAGE
Whenever I’m driving and someone goes whipping by me at well over the speed limit or is constantly cutting in and out of traffic or runs a red light, my immediate thought is “I sure hope there is a policeman in the area to catch that person”. And on those rare occasions when that actually happens, I take a great deal of delight that the other person has been caught and proclaim something to the effect that “there is justice after all.”
Of course when I’m the one violating the traffic laws, I want grace rather than justice. That was certainly the case several years ago when Mary and I were coming back from our vacation and driving back home from the Phoenix airport early one morning. As we went through Florence, a familiar route, I blew right through a stop sign that I thought I had remembered as being only a yield sign. But since there was only one car in sight about a ½ mile away, I figured I was OK.
Turns out that one car was a Florence police car and the officer inside turned on his flashing lights and pulled me over. At that point I was certainly praying for grace and not justice. Fortunately, after asking a few questions and running my plates and my driver’s license the officer let us go on our way with just a warning to drive carefully the rest of the way home.
TENSION
My guess is that I’m not the only one who wants justice for others when they do wrong, but who wants grace when I am the offender. When that involves a driver that I don’t know, it’s probably not a big deal. But when I allow that same attitude to infiltrate my relationships with people I do know, then I’m probably not going to love like Jesus loves and I need to change my mindset. That is exactly what we’ll see together this morning.
TRUTH
As we’ve done every week in this series, we’ll begin in 1 Corinthians 13. The next phrase we find there is in verse 6:
it [love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
(1 Corinthians 13:6 ESV)
This morning, rather than defining the terms that Paul uses here precisely, I think it’s more helpful to give you a sense of what they mean.
“does not rejoice at wrongdoing” =
“does not take pleasure when others fall into sin”
The idea here is that when I truly love others, I don’t find pleasure when they are accused of sin or even when it is proven that they are guilty. To use my previous example, it means that if I really loved like Jesus I wouldn’t get so much satisfaction when the police catch someone else violating the traffic laws.
Obviously, I am not suggesting, nor is Paul, that there isn’t a need for justice. But Biblical love mourns, and not rejoices, over sin that produces a need for justice. And this is not just a New Testament idea, either. We see the same concept in Proverbs in the Old Testament:
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
(Proverbs 24:17 ESV)
“rejoices with the truth” =
“takes pleasure in the truth of God’s grace”
The verb “rejoice” in this phrase is actually a slightly different word that the one in the first part of this verse that is also translated “rejoice”. In Greek, this verb has an added prefix that means “together with” and that suggests an intimate connection. In the New Testament words with that prefix are almost always used to describe an intimate connection with Jesus – “crucified with” (Romans 6:6, Galatians 2:20), “buried with” (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12), “raised up with” and “seated with” (Ephesians 2:6)
The fact that Paul uses that verb to describe how we are to respond to truth is quite appropriate given that the Biblical concept of truth is so much deeper that the way we use that word in English. We tend to apply that word to a set of facts to indicate that they are “correct”. But in the Bible, truth is not about correct statements, facts, numbers, or scientific conclusions. It is about relationships.
That is why Jesus said, “I am the truth.” Truth is not merely a concept; it is a person - God dwelling among us in the person of Jesus. And it is in that Truth that God has extended His grace to us. So truth is the embodiment of God’s grace.
Jesus obviously loves like that all the time because that kind of grace-based love is embodied in who He is. This morning we’ll take a look at a passage where that kind of love is most clearly on display. That account begins in the last verse of John chapter 7 and continues through the first 11 verses of chapter 8. It’s probably a familiar passage for many of you.
They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.
(John 7:53-8:11 ESV)
If you’re using the ESV translation, you’ll see that this passage is in brackets and that there is a footnote that indicates that it is not included in the earliest manuscripts. We don’t have time during the sermon this morning to discuss the reason for that footnote and why some Bible translations just omit that passage completely. If you have some more interest in that, we’ll dig into it a bit more during “Connections” this morning.
I tend to agree with the evidence that leads to the conclusion that this passage was not originally in John’s gospel and that it was added in at a later date. But I also think there is enough evidence to reasonably conclude that this event did actually occur during the ministry of Jesus and that it was so memorable that the account was passed down until at some point it was inserted into John’s gospel.
What I can tell you for sure is that there is absolutely nothing here that contradicts any other Scriptures. In fact, as we’ll see this morning, Jesus’ actions here are certainly consistent with Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 and they are consistent with His normal practice of extending grace to sinners. So regardless of when it was placed into John’s gospel, it is an appropriate passage for us to use this morning to learn how to better love like Jesus – with a love that does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoice with the truth.
And when we do that, here is the main idea that we come away with:
When I love like Jesus loves
I am gratified when grace triumphs over guilt
APPLICATION
HOW TO LOVE WITH A LOVE THAT REJOICES IN GRACE
1. Remember that God’s law is like a boomerang
If we use it to try and condemn others by aiming it at them, what often happens is that it turns around and comes back and ends up condemning us instead.
The scribes and Pharisees certainly learned that lesson the hard way here, didn’t they? They apparently took great delight in catching this woman in the act of adultery so that they could throw the book at her. But the problem is that they were using God’s law selectively and putting their own spin on it.
First, the law of Moses that was cited by the scribes and Pharisees required that both the adulterer and adulteress were to be put to death (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22-24). But in this instance, only the woman was brought before Jesus. And stoning was only prescribed for one particular form of adultery which involved a virgin betrothed to her husband (Deuteronomy 22:22-24). In Israel, most who were guilty of capital offenses were actually strangled rather than stoned.
Second, those caught in adultery were only to be put to death on the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses. And those eyewitnesses actually had to see the act itself, not just observe some circumstantial evidence like the woman leaving a man’s house at a strange hour. Although this woman was “caught” in adultery, there is no evidence in this passage that there were any eyewitnesses willing to testify to that.
I guess it’s not surprising that these religious leaders chose to overlook those aspects of the law since their underlying motive here wasn’t justice at all, but rather to test Jesus. The circumstances here are so fishy that it’s not hard to imagine that this woman had been set up, which might explain why her partner was not also brought before Jesus.
But Jesus took this same law that the religious leaders tried to use to accuse this woman and turned it right back upon them and used it to reveal their own sin.
There has been a lot of speculation about exactly what Jesus wrote with His finger on the ground. Some of it even has some pretty good Scriptural support. But I have to think that if that had been essential to the story, it would have been recorded for us.
That’s why I think that the act of Jesus writing on the ground with His finger is more important than whatever He wrote. I think that act served as a reminder to these Jewish leaders that what they referred to as the law of Moses was actually the law of God, which had been written on stone tablet by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). And somehow, in a way that is not really apparent in this account, that reminder caused these men to realize that they were not without sin and therefore were in no position to judge anyone else. The very law that they had used to try and condemn the women actually condemned them.
So when we’re tempted to use the Bible as a means to accuse others, we need to remember that that very same Bible is quite likely to come right back upon us and accuse us of the sin in our lives. We would do well to remember the words of the apostle Paul:
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
(Galatians 6:1 ESV)
There is clearly a need to restore our brothers and sisters by using the Scripture to help them see the sin in their lives. But we must do that in a spirit of gentleness, understanding that we better get the log out of our own eye before we go looking for the speck in another’s eye.
Possible action step:
• Make a commitment to God that before I go pointing out sins in the lives of others, I will first hold my life up to the Scriptures and deal with any of my own sins that God reveals to me.
When I love like Jesus loves
I am gratified when grace triumphs over guilt
And that begins with remembering that God’s law is like a boomerang.
2. Avoid the tendency to rank sin
Although the Jewish religious leaders certainly considered themselves to be righteous, they were probably not arrogant enough to claim that they were completely sinless. But they obviously considered that the sin of adultery was more egregious than their sin of not following God’s law completely with how they handled that situation.
We have a tendency to do exactly the same thing. Most of us have probably never sat down and listed sins in order of severity, but in our minds, we certainly have our own rankings. I’ll prove it to you. I’m going to ask a series of questions that I don’t want you to answer out loud – I don’t want to embarrass anyone. Just think of the first answer that comes to mind, not the answer you think I want to hear:
• Which is a worse sin – murder or insulting another Christian?
• Which is a worse sin – engaging in sexual immorality or thinking lustful thoughts about a good-looking woman at work?
• Which is a worse sin – robbing a bank or continually showing up late for work?
• Which is worse – cheating on your taxes or not keeping a promise to one of your children?
I could go on and on here, but I think you get the point. We naturally tend to view some sins as being more serious than others. And when we do that, we tend to condemn those whose sins rank higher on our list than our own sins while discounting the severity of our own sins. But, as James reminds us, in God’s eyes, sins is sin:
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
(James 2:10 ESV)
This is such an easy trap for us to fall in. And the problem is that when we begin to rank sins like that it can lead to” rejoicing in wrongdoing” where I actually take pleasure in catching others in their sins because it somehow makes me feel better about myself.
Possible action step:
• Think about what sins I tend to condemn in other people. Ask God to help me see that my sin – whatever it is – is just as destructive.
When I love like Jesus loves
I am gratified when grace triumphs over guilt
And that means I need to avoid the tendency to rank sin.
3. Use the truth to help, not to humiliate
There is no doubt that for her own good, this woman needed to be confronted about her sin. And both the religious leaders and Jesus did exactly that. But both their motivation and the way they went about it was completely different.
John’s account reveals that the religious leaders’ only interest here was to use this woman’s sin as a means to trap Jesus. They really didn’t care about the woman at all. She was merely a pawn to be used to try and put Jesus in a “no-win” situation.
If He agreed with the religious leaders that the woman should be stoned, He would open Himself up to charges of sedition by the Roman government, because they alone had the power to carry out any death sentence. We see that later when a group of religious leaders who want Jesus to be put to death had to get Pilate to pronounce the death sentence and have the Roman soldiers carry out the crucifixion.
Not only that, but if Jesus approved of the stoning of the woman, the man who regularly hung out with sinners and offered them forgiveness would be accused of violating everything He had taught about grace, mercy and forgiveness.
On the other hand, if He merely excused this woman’s sin, He would be accused of violating the Scriptures, which would have undermined His claim to be God in the flesh.
These religious leaders clearly confronted this woman about her sin because they wanted to humiliate her and use her to humiliate Jesus.
We need to be careful not to fall into that same trap. In our human flesh, it is often tempting to humiliate someone else in order to advance our own agenda. If you doubt that, just look at our presidential race that has largely devolved into trying to see who can do the best job of humiliating the other candidates.
What often seems to be relegated to the back burner in this passage is the fact that Jesus also confronted this woman about her sin. In fact, there are some Bible scholars who suggest that reason this passage may have been removed from John’s gospel at some point is become some church leaders feared it would be used to excuse or justify sin in the life of a disciple of Jesus.
Although Jesus treated this woman with grace and told her that He would not condemn her, He also clearly told her that His grace was not to be used as an excuse or justification for continuing in her sin when He told her, “go, and from now on sin no more”. But unlike the religious leaders, Jesus did not do that for the purpose of humiliating the woman. Instead, he commanded her to leave her lifestyle of sin in a very humble and gentle manner. And He did that out of a great concern for what would be best for her.
God has not given us His commands for the purpose of being a “killjoy” or to make us miserable. Every command He has given us is for our own good. God had not prohibited adultery merely because he didn’t want people to “have fun”. He did that because He knows the devastation that comes to families and individuals when that occurs. I am certainly not aware of even one case I know about where either physical or emotional adultery hasn’t left a trail of broken lives behind.
That obviously doesn’t mean that God can’t bring healing to those situations, but there is no doubt whatsoever that the best for everyone involved would have been for the adultery not to occur in the first place.
So out of His genuine love for this woman, Jesus pointed out how damaging her sin was and commanded her to leave that lifestyle because He knew that was what was best for her.
I think it’s also easy to miss the fact that Jesus also loved the scribes and Pharisees enough not to let them wallow around in their pride and self-righteousness. But notice how He did that. He didn’t publically humiliate them like He could have. Instead, He helped them discover their sin on their own.
We don’t know how the religious leaders or the women ultimately responded in this situation. My guess is that few, if any of the religious leaders changed a whole lot. Perhaps some of them were the same ones who continued to try and trick Jesus and who eventually were instrumental in His crucifixion. And we’re not told how the woman reacted either. Once again, we see that our responsibility is just to love others like Jesus loves and leave the results to God. We are only responsible for our actions, net their response.
Possible action step:
• Ask God to reveal to me any situation in which I have confronted others with their sin for the purpose of humiliation rather than out of a genuine desire to help. If possible, seek forgiveness and reconciliation.
When I love like Jesus loves
I am gratified when grace triumphs over guilt
And that means that I need to use the truth to help, and not to humiliate others.
INSPIRATION
While finding satisfaction in another driver getting stopped by the police might not be a big deal, the attitude behind it can be devastating if it carries over into my relationships. But once again, applying what we’ve learned today about loving like Jesus is not easy because it goes completely against our human nature.
ACTION
So as we close this morning, I want to once again provide us with a few moments to pray and ask God to help us take one or more of these action steps in order to better love like Jesus.
[Prayer time]
