LOOK AT JESUS’ FEET (Outline)
August 15, 2021 - Pentecost 12 - LUKE 7:36-50
INTRO.: Today we want to take a close look at Jesus’ feet. We do not think about our feet that often. Usually only when we stub our toe. Or hurt an ankle. Then we realize the importance of our feet. Feet in the Bible are mentioned quite often. People traveled almost exclusively by foot. Feet physically carried people from place to place. Foot travel also brought the messengers of God from place to place. “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of a herald, who proclaims peace and preaches good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God is king!’” (ISAIAH 52:7) LOOK AT
JESUS’ FEET. I. Bring forgiveness. II. Bring perfect peace. III. Bring out acts of love.
I. JESUS’ FEET BRING FORGIVENESS
A. Verse 26. A Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him. Jesus accepted this invitation.
1. Pharisees were religious leaders. They added hundreds of laws to God’s laws.
2. They became so concerned about keeping / doing laws they forgot about faith / hearts.
B. Verse 37a. An uninvited guest attends. A sinful woman. Wanted to see Jesus. Faith driven.
1. She showered Jesus with faithful acts of love. Her faith believed Gods’ forgiveness.
2. Verse 48. “Jesus said…’Your sins have been forgiven.’” She heard Jesus’ words. Assurance.
C. We have no greater joy and comfort than hearing the words of Jesus, “You sins have been forgiven.” We need to hear these words. It is why our worship services start with the confession of sins. We are blessed to hear Jesus’ declaration: “Your sins have been forgiven.” So important. We wander off on our own all too often. Our heart’s desire sometimes takes us down the broad wide path that leads to destruction. It is so easy. “This is what the LORD says concerning this people. They love to wander! They never restrain their feet. So the LORD does not accept them. Instead, he will remember their guilt and punish their sins.” (JEREMIAH 14:10) Our sinful nature loves to wander. Sins deserve punishment.
D. Look at Jesus’ feet. They are not like the feet this sinful woman saw. Jesus had not yet been crucified. We look at Jesus’ feet and see hole that the nail made when he was nailed to the cross. It is not a pleasant or pretty picture. We look at the feet of Jesus and see his love for his creation. His sacrificial love. “But now Christ reconciled you in his body of flesh through death, in order to present you ho-ly, blameless, and faultless before him" (COLOSSIANS 1:22) We are declared innocent. Completely. By the blood of Jesus we stand “holy, blameless, and faultless” before God. “Your sins have been forgiven.”
LOOK AT JESUS’ FEET. Jesus’ feet bring us forgiveness. Freely. Fully.
II. JESUS’ FEET BRING PERFECT PEACE
A. Verse 39. Simon was amazed that this man did not know such a sinful woman touched him.
1. In their false teachings Pharisees taught they were not sinners. People believed them.
2. It was especially troubling to them that such a sinner was there touching guests.
B. Verse 49. The Pharisees grumbled among themselves. Who is this man who forgives sins?
1. Verse 50. “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” Jesus knew her heart. Saw her love.
2. Jesus sent her off with peace. Do not be troubled by the Pharisees. Or their false teach-ing.
C. “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” Look at Jesus’ feet. There is forgiveness. There is our Savior’s peace. Divine. Perfect. The Lord Jesus had to remind his disciples again and again about the perfect peace he provides. We too need the same reminder in our world today. Many things today have gotten worse rather than better. “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be afraid.” (JOHN 14:27) Jesus tells us not have a troubled heart. Do not be afraid. Look at Jesus’ feet. Forgiveness. Perfect peace.
D. God’s perfect peace is much more than a physical feeling or emotion. God’s perfect peace is spiritual. Divine. That is why we cannot compare it with worldly peace. God’s peace is divinely connected to forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness purchased and won for us by nail prints made in Jesus’ feet and hands. "I have told you these things, so that you may have peace in me. In this world you are going to have trouble. But be courageous! I have overcome the world.” (JOHN 16:33) We are living in troubled times. “But be courageous!” Jesus overcame the world. Look at Jesus’ feet. Forgives. Gives peace.
III. JESUS’ FEET BRING OUT ACTS OF LOVE
A. Verse 37. The sinful woman came to see Jesus. Brought a jar of perfume. Act of love.
1. Verse 38. Tears wet Jesus’ feet. Her hair dried his feet. Anointed feet with perfume.
2. The woman did all these acts of love out of faith. Her sins were forgiven. She acted.
B. Verses 40-42. Jesus teaches Simon about the two debtors. Big debt and little debt forgiven.
1. Verse 43. Simon judged correctly that the bigger debt forgiven produced greater love.
2. Verses 44-46. “Do you see this woman?” Simon saw a sinner. Ignored special acts of love.
3. Simon did not show any good manners: Water for feet, greeting kiss, and oil for head.
4. This woman showed Jesus uncommon acts of great love produced by faith.
a. Tears for feet. b. Kissing feet. c. Anoint feet with perfume. d. Exceptional love.
5. Verse 47. Woman knew many sins were forgiven. Reacted and acted with acts of love.
C. Look at Jesus’ feet. Nail-pierced feet. Man-made scars. Look at Jesus’ feet. Forgiveness. Per-fect peace. LOVE. There is no greater love than one person would give his life for another. Jesus did just that. He died for our sins. All sins. Sins of the world. Enemies’ sins. LOVE. “This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 JOHN 4:9, 10) Only by and only through the love of Jesus do we know what love is all about. We are able to know love and to show love because God first loved us. Look at Jesus’ feet.
D. Jesus’ feet remind us that our eternal salvation is completely, totally dependent on his sacrifice for our sins. Saved by Christ alone. Saved by Scripture alone. Saved by grace alone. It becomes more and more important with each passing moment to keep our focus fully on Jesus. His feet. His hands. His work of redemption. Then and only then will we want to carry out uncommon acts of love. “And he died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves but for him, who died in their place and was raised again." (2 CORINTHIANS 5:15) Unlike the world and the worldly we do not live for ourselves. We live lives of love for God. For our neighbor. Uncommon. Necessary.
CONC.: It can be scary looking around at our world today. Not so much when we look at Jesus’ feet. There we find forgiveness. Peace. Love. Courage. Strength. No fear. "He himself carried our sins in his body on the tree so that we would be dead to sins and alive to righteousness. By his wounds you were healed.” (1 PETER 2:24) By grace we can lives that are “dead to sins and alive to righteousness.” God blesses us to know right from wrong. Avoid what is wrong. Do what is right. Our world desperately needs to look at Jesus’ feet. You, I, and believers have the feet of Jesus to bring God’s truth of forgiveness and perfect peace into our sinful world. May our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the courage like this woman to carry out uncommon acts of love. For God. For our neighbor. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
PENTECOST 12 rdgs: 1 KINGS 19:3-8; EPH. 4:30-5:2; JOHN 6:41-51; (PSALM 34)
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