Like Jesus - Grace Filled

Introduction

Has anyone here flown in and out of New York City? Which airport did you fly out of? Do you know who LaGuardia is named after? Fiorello LaGuardia, who was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WW2.

He was called by adoring New Yorkers 'the Little Flower' because he was only five-foot-four and always wore a carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, go on raids with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids. One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself.

Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. "It's a real bad neighborhood, your Honor." the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson." LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions--ten dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: "Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant." So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, , pp 91-2.

Today we are continuing in our series, Like Jesus, where we are looking at the person and work of Jesus Christ and saying, “I want to be like that. I want to be just like Jesus.”

One word can sum up what we are looking at today, the word Grace. Jesus is the most grace filled person you could ever meet. This is a constant theme throughout the gospels.

Sinners, prostitutes, zealots and tax collectors were his friends. He spent his time on earth, not with kings, but with peasants, the poor, the destitute, the lowly. The religious, prideful and the judgmental people of his time hated him, precisely because he was full of grace.

We are going to dive into the idea of grace and how Jesus wants us to emulate Him and be a people of grace. In other words, Cornerstone Church should be known as the most gracious church in Johnston County.

I want people to hear about how gracious and loving we are and think to themselves, “gosh, they will let anyone in there.”

So, with that in mind, we are going to be in the book of John today. I have the notes loaded in the app and the words will be on the screen.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:16–17 ESV

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Now, this is the big picture I want to present to you. The Apostle John, the beloved disciple describes Jesus as full of grace and truth. In fact, he says that through him we have all received grace upon grace. In fact, grace and truth came into the world through Jesus. That’s my paraphrase of what I just read.

Jesus is grace. It’s the very character of God. So, with that in mind, I want to show you what that looked like (put legs to it, as they say) and so we are going to be looking at a very famous passage of Scripture today a little further into the book of John, this one is found in chapter 8.

John 8:1–11 ESV

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.”

Now, before I get into this well known event in the life of Jesus, I want to give you a little bit of context about this passage. This is a troublesome passage to a lot of people.

If you see in your bible that this passage has brackets around it or an asterisk or a footnote, there is a reason behind it. The reason is this, many scholars do not believe this text belongs in this place. They believe this was added to the Bible by a scribe or that it was accidently placed here inadvertently by a copywriter.

The context seems to be clear that the gospel of John is more naturally read as 7:52 to 8:12, skipping this part. In some manuscripts this story is found earlier in John and in other manuscripts this is found in a different gospel altogether, Luke.

The content itself is believed to be an actual story of Jesus. One that was likely handed down orally by the disciples but it was not written by the author of this Gospel.

So what does this mean? Not much really. Some will say this means the Bible contains errors. And so I will remind you that when we say that the Bible is without error, it means that it is without error is content, not necessarily in grammar.

I believe this is still the Holy Spirit inspired word of God. I believe this passage is still authoritative. This passage in particular does not change anything about what we believe about Jesus. It only seeks to reinforce what John says in chapter one - Jesus is full of grace and truth.

So we are going to look at this story today and I want to pull three points from this story about the grace of Jesus and in the end, ask you to be like Him, full of grace and truth.

Number one…

Grace Doesn’t Condemn, But It Doesn’t Condone Either!

There’s a legal aspect of what is going on in this passage. Jesus is being questioned on the law. The Pharisees, which were experts in the law and the religious leaders at the time are trying to trip him up. Religious people are typically trying to trap you, just FYI.

If you’ve ever been in an argument online or in person with someone, these are the people who will try to trip you up with your words. They will ask you “gotcha questions”. The Pharisees thought they were the king of “gotcha questions.” Jesus is going to put them in their place.

The Pharisees are quoting from Leviticus 20:10 which says…

Leviticus 20:10 ESV

“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

And legally, this woman is guilty. She was caught in the act. She deserved to be stoned. The Pharisees knew this. Jesus knew this. They think they have him caught.

If Jesus says no, don’t stone her, he is going against the law. If he says yes stone her, he is going against his message of love and grace for the sinner.

What does He do? In his wisdom he doesn’t condemn and he doesn’t condone. He doesn’t condemn the sinner by saying, ok stone her. He also doesn’t condone the sin by saying, no big deal!

To understand this we have to talk about the purpose of the law.

The law was given with a purpose. The reformers taught a three fold purpose of the law - a restraint, a guide and a mirror.

First it was given to restrain sin. If you stone adulterers, people will be less likely to commit adultery. Same idea behind a speed limit, some people will not speed because they don’t want to pay a fine. Others of us, pedal to the metal baby.

Second, it was given as a guide to good works. When the law says honor your parents, you are given an idea as to what a God would consider a good work. The law guides us into knowing what good actually looks like, it looks like God.

Third, as a mirror, the law, most importantly, was given to drive us toward our need for a savior. When we look at the laws of the Old Testament, there were over 600 of them, we are supposed to come away thinking, woe is me! I cannot live up to these! I’ve broken so many. It was meant to reveal sin.

It was meant to drive us to Jesus. It was not meant for us to beat up other people with. It was meant for us to know the truth (that none of us are perfect and all of us have fallen short of the perfection found in the law), so that we can receive his grace.

The law was given to help us recognize our need for a savior. The truth is, no one lives up to the law and its demands. And lest you think you do, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, doubles down on the law. He says forget about the physical part of adultery, if you’ve even looked with lust, you are guilty.

It was all designed to keep us humble and able to receive the grace of God which came in the form of a person, Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to take the punishment of the law. He lived a perfect life according to the law, a life without sin.

And though he did not sin and broke no laws, he was put to death as a criminal for our sake. Because we have broken the law, we deserved death, even death on a cross, yet he took our punishment in our place and in exchange for that he gives us his righteousness.

Which leads me back to my main point, Grace does not condemn and it does not condone. Take an example from today. If you are PRO-LGBTQ+ you want your sin condoned. If you are anti-LGBTQ, you want to condemn people who are. My point is this, Jesus would not do either. Grace says you are in sin and Jesus will cover your sin instead of condemning it, but I won’t condone it and I won’t leave you there. I want to see you made whole and right now you are broken.

You saw this clearly in LaGuardia story I told earlier. The lady stole, she was guilty, she was punished, but the judge paid her fine and not only that, she left in a better place than she started…that’s grace.

Number two…

Grace Doesn’t Cast Stones

Because of the judgmental attitude of the Pharisees, when they bring this woman to Jesus, they only have one thing in mind…they want to throw stones at this woman.

And grace doesn’t throw stones.

We’ve all heard the saying, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. The truth of the matter is this, we all live in a glass house. We can all be broken by the stones thrown at us.

This woman was caught in the very act of adultery. She was probably not dressed properly. They likely drug her out of the place where this crime was committed. Interestingly, they only brought the woman and not the man, as we know it takes two to commit adultery.

Notice the difference in how Jesus handles sinful people and how the religious Pharisees handle them. Jesus offers love and forgiveness to them, while the Pharisees only offer judgment.

This is a constant theme with Jesus. I believe that He was talking to the Pharisees and people like them when he says this in the Sermon on the Mount…

Matthew 7:1–2 NIV

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

In other words, the way that you judge others, God is going to judge you with the same amount of strictness. If you give others grace, He will give you grace.

This is why I want to be the most gracious person around. I know what I have done. I know my sins and my heart cries out, Lord, I want to be more gracious. I don’t want to look down on others or treat them as less than, I want to build them up. I want to give grace.

When we receive grace, we know that we should not throw stones at others.

“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone.” Therefore, dear fellows, let the stones lie. I will not pick up any either. Let them lie, and do not throw at one another. Drop the stones, and say: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12).

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)

Luther understood these two ideas were connected. Grace and forgiveness. We have to be willing to forgive others, both when they sin against us or just when they sin in general. Grace and forgiveness are two incredibly powerful tools.

Jesus forgives, but religious people don’t. They want to hold account. They were ready to throw stones.

But just because Grace doesn’t condemn you or throw stones at you, doesn’t mean that we are just left in our sin. Grace doesn’t condemn, but it does do something…

Grace Changes You

Number three is that Grace Changes You!

Jesus says in verse 11, “Neither do I condemn you, go and from now on sin no more.”

Jesus loves the woman. He doesn’t condemn the woman. He doesn’t throw stones at her, but he doesn’t want to see her stuck in her sin. He encourages her to stop.

Grace changes people.

I know when I look at my life, it’s not the points that I was caught in sin that changed me, it was the points where I was shown grace that changed me.

Grace is the mother and nurse of holiness, and not the apologist of sin. Morning And Evening, Page 51

Charles Spurgeon

The grace that Jesus shows this woman is the type of grace that changes your life. This is not meant as a license to sin. God’s grace to you is not meant as a license to sin, but as a motivator to call you into deeper holiness.

So if you are here and you’ve responded to that call of grace, don’t go back to your sin, don’t go back to that lifestyle. Instead, allow that grace to change you and call you deeper into a better relationship with God that is marked by holy living.

Like Jesus We Are To Be Full Of Grace And Truth!

The same grace you have received you are supposed to give. In this series we’ve been looking at how we can be true disciples of Jesus. This is a very practical way to do that. Jesus was full of grace for others. We should be full of grace for others.

When someone offends you, someone wrongs you, someone betrays you, take a moment and think. How would Jesus respond in this situation? He would give grace.

He has shown us. He gave grace to Peter even after he denied him. He gave grace to Judas even washing his feet after he had made a deal to betray Him. He neither condemns or throws stones at the woman in our passage today and instead, gives her love and forgiveness.

Our goal is to be just like Jesus, full of grace and truth.

Conclusion

Let’s stand together and sing.