Sermon nugget Tues May 20, 2008
Theme- Confronting Sin
Verse- John 8:1-6 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
Consider the Charge
Jesus was teaching near the temple early the next day following the Feast of the Tabernacles. You might remember they were contemplating making a decision about who Jesus was and what they should do with Him. When our political candidates are presenting their views the media does a wonderful job of presenting tough cases to them to respond to in order to expose their real views and however they answer there are people for whom they alienate. That is clearly the motive behind this charge of sin.
The Pharisees interrupted his teaching with a the disturbance of a crowd coming with a woman. They made their charge against her. "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery, In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
She broke the moral law and there are consequences for such sins. She was to pay the price for her sin. Now since they knew what the law said, why bother Jesus? It seems they wanted to cause trouble for Jesus more than wanting to punish the adulteress. The woman’s sin was an excuse to really charge Jesus. Was He going to follow the law or not?
They knew that he was spending time with sinners; perhaps this woman was known to Jesus. But they were really trying to trap Jesus in publicly condemning her and personally getting involved in killing this woman. If he refused, they would have brought charges against him for teaching against the Law of Moses.
There was another political as well as religious factor in play. Rome had reserved for itself the right to capital punishment. If Jesus would be considered the one who authorized the stoning of this woman, then he could be breaking Roman law. If he stated that she should go free then he was breaking the Law of Moses. The leaders felt they had him either way. It is clear that justice was not the motive behind the accusers, rather it was entrapment.
When it comes to the matter of the church we need to realize we have no authority over those who are non Christians or non members. But does the church have any right to address sin other than speaking and teaching against it? The Bible is clear that we cannot let ongoing sin affect the body of Christ, or our own relationships with one another. Paul gave instructions to the church at Corinth when a man is having an affair with his step-mother that he needed to be disciplined and to ignore it was something even non Christians would not do. ( I Cor. 5) Jesus taught how important it was to reconcile with a brother or sister in the Lord in Matthew 18. If there is ongoing sin of pride, anger and lack of repentance or no desire to reconcile then others should be involved. And if there is still no change with the recommendations of church leaders it is a matter of church discipline resulting in disassociation. There are moral laws, civil laws, and church laws. All interplay when it comes to sin.
There are situations that occur that are not just one's private matter. What we do as Christians is not just our own business. The world may view it so, but the Lord of the Church does not. Christianity is personal, but never private. When you or I become part of a fellow we agree to the support and cooperation with one another. We need each other for encouragement and accountability to help us in our Christian growth. Whatever happens in the body that is harmful and destructive to life and health of the body is the concern of the body. O how we wish sexual sins of priests and pastors could have been stopped in our day instead of ignored. Much more damage was done with unresolved sin.
The charges are ways to discover the facts, the implications, and the decisions of how best to handle sin. It seems the teaching follows the pattern of dealing with private sin privately, and public sin needs to have some public response. Sin is damaging personally and publically and so is the manner and attitude in which it is handled. I cannot be taken lightly.
Pastor Dale
