Tender Justice - John 8:2-11 - Who is Jesus? - Pastor Jason Fritz

amen thank you Chris good morning brother you guys can have a seat happy Father's Day to all the dads in the room on your way out make sure you stop by we have something really special for you today - it's a sort of a Father's Day buffet what's on the Father's Day buffet root beer-flavored sunflower seeds flavored beef jerky and ladies you'll appreciate this thanks to my wife breath mints lots of breath mints so make sure you hit that up on your way out and enjoy that this morning we're in John chapter 8 as always picking up where we left off last week fairly familiar text perhaps to many of you text that involves Jesus the Pharisees and scribes the religious leaders who want to kill him and an adulteress woman now there's a either a footnote or an EndNote in your Bible surrounding this section and it tells you something like this these verses are not included in the earliest manuscripts but that they were added later by the early church and it's worth noting that the content of these verses dovetails perfectly with what we know about how Jesus treats the outcasts and because of that these verses are definitely worth our attention and what we learn about Jesus is this Jesus is the perfect blend the perfect balance of justice morality and compassion there's ever been anyone like him and never will be anyone like him and that's the real tension even in our own culture how do you hold compassion and justice right calling people to account and morality how do you hold those things in perfect harmony and that's actually what we see from this this account in the life of Jesus and one of my favorite descriptions of Jesus is the one that calls him a friend of sinners and that's clearly seen in our text this morning so a while ago an English publication offered a prize for the best definition of a friend and here's the one that won the prize a friend is one who comes in when everybody else has gone out that's a good one a friend is someone who comes in when everybody else has gone out it's been said and rightfully so but if you want to know who your real friends are make a big mistake do something really do something just really mess things up and then look around find out who sticks around those are your real friends Jesus was a friend of sinners no in English the word friend encompasses a wide range of relationships everything from casual acquaintances to marriage relationship we call our spouses our friends but the Hebrews were a bit more sophisticated they had at least seven different words to describe seven different levels of friendship all the way from a casual acquaintance to someone that you would literally give your life for so for example this verse in Proverbs chapter 18 verse 24 says something that maybe at first first bless you you really don't fully understand what it means it might be a little confusing a man of many friends may come to ruin but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother now if you dig a little deeper in the Hebrew language they actually use two different words to describe two different friends two different Hebrew words but they're both translated into the same English word as friends so the first word is a Raia Raia the hebrew word ray R and it describes a friend that you would hang out with a friend that you know quite a bit about these are these are close personal friends and if you have many of these friends it says you may come to Rouen if this is the the depth of your relationships is sort of the the next-door-neighbor type of friendships then you may come to Rouen why because you lack the second kind of friend which is much deeper there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother that's a different Hebrew word and it's the Hebrew word oh ha oh ha and it describes a deep abiding loyal commitment you may have three four five table friends your entire life and that's actually all you need if you have none of them you're missing out you're missing out these are the people that have your back no matter what so when Jesus is considered a friend of sinners this is the kind of friend that he is now before we read the text I want to read to you a couple verses in Matthew chapter 12 that really set the tone for what we're about to read Matthew quotes Old Testament prophecy regarding the Messiah which we know was fulfilled in the person of Jesus he says this behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles he will not quarrel or cry aloud nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets a bruised Reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory in other words when the Messiah comes he's going to bring both power and tenderness how do we know that well look what the text says he will not cry aloud in other words when the Messiah comes on the scene he's not gonna stand in this in the street screaming for attention a bruised Reed he will not break what is that talking about a bruised Reed is already vulnerable you think of it in terms of a person who has a bruised heart there isn't a person in this room whose heart doesn't carry some kind of bruising you go through life you lived any amount of life at all and you carry some heartache you carry some pain the text says that when the Messiah comes a bruised Reed he will not break a bruised Reed is already tender it's vulnerable in other words the Messiah is not gonna come and he's not gonna bring more pain on the hurting instead the hurting will come to the Messiah and they will find peace and joy and comfort the way Jesus treats the adulterous woman is a perfect example of how he fulfills this prophecy so with this in mind John chapter 8 beginning with verse 2 early in the morning he Jesus came again to the temple all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them so you have to picture this scene Jesus is in the temple and he assumes the posture of a teacher you know in our time when someone gets up to teach they stand up but not so back in the day they sat down so Jesus is assuming the posture of one who is about to teach and it says that all the people came to him so this is a crowd this is a large crowd that's gathered and then this happens the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery so these two groups form the religious elite of the day the scribes you can think of as professional religious law interpreters see it was their job to take the law of Moses and help people understand what it meant but the problem is they move beyond interpretation to essentially translation in other words they said here's what we think Moses has to say and they added to the words of Moses and Jesus later will say you make it so burdensome you mate you make it so heavy for the people by by adding all of these traditions on to it so that's the scribes they were very educated learned men and then you have this other group the Pharisees these were the high and mighty pious super zealots of the day and they believed that through their sacrificial acts they became pleasing to God and so through their pious lives they believed that they could gain heaven so these are the two groups that hate Jesus and they want Jesus dead and so here's what happens they bring in this adulterous woman and they place her in the midst so here she is in front of the crowd in front of which is you know the temple I mean think about this is kind of like the Church of their day and there she is they bring her in front of everybody 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 of which we are expert Moses commanded us to stone such women so what do you say this they said to test him so that they might have some charge to bring against him she just 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 so here's the scene Jesus is teaching in the temple it's crowded people are gathered to listen he's seated in come those that want to trap Jesus and they bring him this adulterous woman and they present him before her they present her before him now according to Jewish law you had to have at least two witnesses in order to carry out capital punishment you had to have to they don't ask Jesus is she guilty they're already there they're asking him about the penalty Jesus should she be stoned to death they're appealing to Mosaic law which they interpret is this way Leviticus 20:10 if a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death so they bring her in and they themselves are acting as the judge and jury or the witnesses now let's realize that it's just the woman that's there by herself and the man is not present so this is a very very clever trap it's in a way quite genius and here's why because it seems that Jesus is stuck between two two issues on the one hand you have the explicit law of Moses that states if a woman is caught in adultery she should be stoned on the other hand you have Jesus who has been teaching and preaching this idea of compassion and grace and forgiveness in fact if you read the Sermon on the Mount the greatest sermon ever preached the Beatitudes what's he saying he's saying let me tell you about where I'm from let me tell you about the kingdom of heaven and let me tell you about what it means to bring the kingdom of heaven to this earth blessed are the meek blessed are the gentle so this is really difficult because on the one hand if Jesus says that's right this is what the law of Moses says stone her kill her then he could be accused of what kind of Messiah is that this is a messiah that will kill you oh and all that talk about forgiveness and tenderness and meekness and gentleness and all of that he's fake on the other hand if Jesus says well we offer her forgiveness and pardon and grace and mercy she shall live well then what happens then they accuse him of not upholding the law of Moses and certainly no Messiah is gonna come on the scene and deny the law of Moses so this is seemingly a really difficult place for Jesus to be in either he's exposed as having no saving element within him come to Jesus and he'll kill you or he's this man who doesn't affirm the law of Moses so they've got a really really good trap it's really quite brilliant and again that's the tension how do you hold compassion justice and morality how do you hold all of those things in perfect harmony well here's the deal don't ever try to trap Jesus he's way smarter than you and his response is even more brilliant so here's the first thing he does the text tells us that he's on the ground and with his finger he scribbles now that's kind of weird detail and it's a detail that if you read through the text it's kind of insignificant we don't know what he writes it's insignificant in the sense that it's not the thing that prompts the Pharisees to leave because in the next couple verses it says they leave upon hearing what he says not upon seeing what he writes so it's total speculation to freak to think what is it exactly that he writes with his finger we don't know some commentators think that he's actually writing the sins of the Pharisees greedy proud arrogant we have no idea that's total speculation my personal feeling is that this is yet another reason why I love the scriptures there's no reason for that detail to be in there unless it actually happened and maybe the author didn't see couldn't notice what Jesus was writing but nevertheless he did it and so because he did it he includes it in the events but it really has no relevance the other than to say this is exactly what happened what Jesus does though is he says this let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her now notice he doesn't say she's not guilty he doesn't even say that a stone should not be thrown instead he says make sure that the one who throws the stone is without sin now very important that you understand what Jesus means by this because this verse is misunderstood and therefore miss applied thousands of times every day don't judge me don't judge me you're a sinner too don't judge me let let he who is without sin cast the first stone because what Jesus is saying and this is very important to understand he's saying to them you all scribes and Pharisees you are disqualified as witnesses as judges and as jury you all are disqualified and here's why this whole thing is a trap it's entrapment it is a setup earlier I said that there had to be two witnesses two witnesses especially if you're going to enforce the penalty of capital punishment for adultery and by the way enforcement of capital punishment was very very rare they didn't just go around killing people because they broke Old Testament law they had very strict and strident rules that were in place and the fact that you had to have to really to eye witnesses to the fact otherwise you didn't even you had no case at all and then you would have to go to trial in fact there's an old Hebrew story about a woman who does something under a tree that she's not supposed to do and she's actually acquitted she's determined not guilty because the two witnesses could not agree on the size of the leaves on the tree and if they couldn't get that right then none of the none of the rest of their testimony was credible and she so she was acquitted in fact according to the Mishnah which is an ancient commentary on the New Testament it says that a court ordered execution more than once every seven years is to be considered a slaughterhouse that's how rare it was and justice was blind it doesn't matter if you were male or female it was going to be carried out in the way that it was supposed to be carried out but what's happening before Jesus it's a trap so the the woman is brought before Jesus but here's the question right you know I'm going where's the who where's the dude the man is not there to paraphrase it is to have Jesus saying this I don't deny the law of Moses but by the law of Moses I deny that you qualify as witnesses or jury I'm not saying that the law of Moses isn't legit instead I'm using the law of Moses to prove that you're not legit let him who is without sin cast the first stone you've set this whole thing up to try to trap me that's why she's here your concern is not for her your concern is not for Justice your concern is to kill me and so the very law that you appeal to is the very law that I'm appealing to the very law that you used to manipulate and distort and twist for your own purposes not for righteous purposes you're the law breaker you're the ones that don't uphold the law you're the ones who are in sin perfect response he sidesteps the question and puts them on trial and in doing so their responses what upon hearing this they turn and they leave and the text is kind of funny at this point the oldest leaves first why because when you get a little bit older you kind of realize when you've been defeated a little bit more quickly than when you're the young guy right the young dudes stick around they're like no I'm right right I'm right I gotta prove that I'm right and the old guys like yeah we were burned okay yeah and they leave first and after they leave all the young guys follow and then there's this beautiful tender moment compassion just this morality Jesus has it all right here so he turns to this woman where did they go which is such a great question right remember the crowd is there and your friend you're in the crowd you're going what just happened Jesus just totally turned the tables on the guys who control religious life they leave and then Jesus looks at the individual where did they go did anyone condemned you to die she says no sir no one then neither do i condemn you go your way and sin no more Jesus is just a perfect man he confronts the Pharisees they no longer have a case but at the same time he doesn't really let this woman off the hook does he he doesn't let her go without giving her help because he says sin no more if you've read through the Gospel accounts the life of Jesus understand this very clearly Jesus was never soft on sin you know why that is because he loves you he loves you way too much to not tell you what you need to hear so he says go your way but sin no more never soft on sin but always gentle with the sinner she says he says to her you've got to change your ways he doesn't say you're not guilty rather he says you know you're guilty but I don't condemn you and this is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ this is the essence of Christianity you stand condemned you stand guilty because of your sin but then Jesus is the ultimate superhero who comes in and shields you from the consequences and the penalty of your sin and that's what Jesus is proving himself to be here he shields this woman stones should be thrown at you but they're gonna be thrown to me a spear should be thrown in your side but it's gonna be thrown in my side should be a crown of thorns on your head [Music] but I'm gonna wear it for you that's why John the Baptist points of Jesus right away you know he says it's so great he says look everyone look you know what you're looking at you are looking at the Lamb of God what lambs were sacrificial animals you're looking at God's sacrifice yielding at the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world I will be condemned for you is what Jesus is saying so that's why these verses Romans 8:1 they're so meaningful there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus second Corinthians 5:21 for our sake he that's God made him Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God he became sin for us what does that mean that means that this our sin through Jesus was nailed on the cross you and I were guilty but not condemned but in order for this to happen it's gonna cost Jesus his life and he knows us as he speaks to this this woman so what are the implications for you and me when we read a text like this goes back to what I said earlier without a doubt there is not a heart in this room that is not a tender broken Reed one of the great privileges of pastoral ministry is that I get a front-row seat many of your lives and the circumstances the relational heartache some of the pain we bring on ourselves right some of our heartaches as a result of our own misguided actions then there's a lot that comes as a result of what other people bring to our doorstep what do you do with that how do you deal with that I so appreciate pastor Chris in his honesty you know having had two miscarriages and a flooded house in a year and then leads us in a worship song about the goodness of God the Old Testament says when the Messiah comes he's going to be full of justice but he'll also be very compassionate I tend to read he will not break we have a room full of tender Reed's what does that mean go to Jesus go to Jesus whatever is on your heart whatever the burden is whatever the heartache is go to Jesus and I I love that part of the story in the prodigal son where he finally comes to his senses you know he's eating with the pigs a Jewish boy eating with the pigs and he comes to a census in sight you know even in my father's house there is food to spare and I'm eating with the pigs and then he says I'm going back I'm going back you know I love about that response he doesn't say you know what I'm too messed up I'm just too jacked up I disowned and disavowed my father totally turn my back on him I can never go back he doesn't say that he says I'm going back he also doesn't say I've just I've messed up too much I've just done too many bad things he all you know he doesn't say this he doesn't say I'm really concerned about what people are gonna think when I make my way back home he just goes and then you have this remarkable picture and let me tell you if you're a Jew living in the 1st century and you read this little detail in text the detail that has the father seeing the Sun coming and what does the father do he runs out to meet the son did you know that back in the day for all men to run it was considered undignified why because it gave the impression that you didn't have your affairs in order you don't run if you have to run somewhere are you late for something were you not prepared so when you get to be older in life if you're seen running you're Dobbs you were considered undignified and what does the Texas Tech say says he sees his son what does the father do he runs toward me because you know what that tells you father doesn't care what anybody else thinks either this is his son that's returned do you understand that's a picture of the gospel that's that's biblical Christianity I tend to read he will not break will not bruised and yet he's not gonna come shouting in the streets for attention because when the Messiah comes he will be full of justice and he will be full of compassion second implication comes with these simple words sin no more so question for you I asked myself this question all the time what is your sin gaining you how is it helping you what is it doing for you see there's there's that's why Jesus can't leave it alone there's always a challenge to obedience and growth and because Jesus loves you he's saying the challenges to obedience that leads to holiness and that is where you're gonna find the greatest blessings in life and so people love to quote let him who is without sin cast the first stone and that's a way of just kind of shutting you up and keeping you silent right like you have nothing to say about what a person says or does but what they fail to quote is the second part and that is sin no more go your way and sin no more I liken it to having children on Father's Day why do we tell our kids things like don't play in the street listen here's the deal if you continue to play in the street it's just a matter of time and you're gonna get whacked you're gonna take it out and I love you I love you more than you know and I love you enough to tell you that's not something you should be doing and so this is what Jesus does and it's really this getting rid of what would hinder the experience of being close to the man who died on the cross for your sins taking your condemnation setting you free and for me the real catalyst of all this is the cross because Jesus does know what it's going to cost him not only the part in this woman's sin but here's the deal there may be some in the crowd even today and maybe you identify more with the Pharisees and the scribes and here's the good news Jesus came to die for religious people - as we said last week for some it's an exchange of your morality for a relationship there's one other thing that has to be mentioned from the text and that's this sexual sin is real it's real Jesus never says adultery is okay and by the way the word here pornea from which we get our english word pornography it describes any and all sex outside of marriage why the Bible describes marriage as the ultimate form of oneness and unity and that comes in the context of the commitment of marriage that's the oneness that's the unity so now let me let you in on a little secret this is the reason why your sex life outside of the marriage commitment is letting you down there you go you're welcome this is why your sex life outside of the commitment of marriage is leaving you unfulfilled it's the ultimate expression of oneness and unity we also have to say that any and all sexual sin is absolutely and totally forgivable how do you know that it's really cool the lineage of Jesus in the lineage of Jesus there's this woman named Rahab and the text actually says Rahab the harlot which is a kind of way of saying the prostitute yet she's in the lineage of Jesus and when you read the lineage of Jesus they include her in it this is not the way you start a religion you don't take your heroes and say oh yeah great great great grandson of a that's not how you start a religion unless you're trying to communicate something it really did happen that way and number two the gospel of Jesus Christ is for everybody even in Jesus own family you have this this peace with God on the part of somebody that is a total and complete outcast even a street can have peace with God so here's the beauty of the gospel because it's gonna totally come into your life and it's gonna wreck you no matter where you are to those who proclaim I'm innocent I've done no wrong Jesus says no you're actually condemned and guilty to those who say I'm so guilty Jesus is yes and I'm gonna set you free that is the gospel of Jesus Christ at illuminate Community Church we want you to know that that's the priority that's the crescendo that's why we're here to lift up Jesus so that your life can be transformed so that your eternal destination can be secured and if you're here this morning you don't have a relationship with Jesus you say how do I do that it's simple you say a prayer what's prayer simply talking with God and simply expressing your heart's desire to embrace what he did for you on the cross Martin Luther called it the great exchange you put it so well you give Jesus your sin all your junk and dysfunction and in exchange you get eternal life pretty good deal if you'd like to know more about that I'm gonna be hanging out right down here on the stage I'd love to talk with you we're gonna have some folks over at the prayer table if you want someone to prayer with you they would love to speak with you about that as well pray with me father what a rich text we thank you for the life of Jesus ultimately for his death on the cross we thank you for the gentleness that is shown to this woman reminding us of the gentleness that you have shown to us therefore we extend a one another may we be quick to show that gentleness to all those we come across condemned but not guilty for that we are grateful we ask it in the name of the one who makes it all possible his name is Jesus Christ and God's people said

Channel: Illuminate Community

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Keywords: Tender Justice - John 8:2-11 - Who is Jesus? - Pastor Jason Fritz, Tender Justice, Justice, John 8:2-11, Who is Jesus, Jason Fritz, John, Jesus, preaching, new testament, bible, pastor, sin, jesus christ, gospel, sermon, teaching, biblical, illuminate community church, fritz, scottsdale church, scottsdale, christianity

Id: CN9WRE5YowU

Length: 33min 40sec (2020 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 20 2018