The Uninvited Guests

Series: “Upside-Down Kingdom: What Jesus Really Valued”

1. ENGAGE: The Setup * Illustration:

“We’ve all seen those big, formal, high-status events on TV, right?

A state dinner, a royal wedding, or maybe the most famous one of all: the Academy Awards.

These are nights of glamour, status, and carefully scripted speeches. Everyone knows their part.

* “Back at the Oscars in 2020, the script was going according to plan.

That year, Joaquin Phoenix won the award for Best Actor for his role in Joker.

* “Now, Phoenix has a well-known history of being an intense, unconventional, and sometimes difficult figure in Hollywood.

When he got on stage, he didn’t give a standard, polished speech.

His voice cracking with emotion, he started talking in a rambling, deeply personal way about his past.

He said, and I quote, ‘I’ve been a scoundrel in my life. I’ve been selfish.

I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance.’”

Transition:

"The camera kept cutting to the faces of the other A-list celebrities in the front rows.

And what do you see? You see polite applause, but behind the applause, you see a palpable sense of discomfort.

You see the tight smiles, the slightly widened eyes, the quick, awkward glances between seatmates.

This wasn't part of the script.

This raw, emotional confession of being a 'scoundrel' had broken the unwritten rules of the perfectly polished event.

The gratitude was too messy, the emotion was too undignified, the display was too… real."

2. TENSION: The Problem And that’s the tension that hangs in the air.

It forces every person in the room, and everyone watching, to ask a question:

Are you moved by the raw display of gratitude, or are you made uncomfortable by the mess?

* The hard truth is, our culture values order, predictability, and decorum.

We prefer things to be respectable. * We believe that gratitude should be polite and contained.

It shouldn’t make a scene. It shouldn’t be messy.

* And because our own sense of need is often small, our gratitude is small.

It’s respectable. It’s controlled. * As a result, it’s easy to look with judgment and disdain on those who are “over-the-top.”

We become the comfortable guests, silently judging the “uninvited guest” who is making a scene,

because we don’t understand the depth of the debt they feel they’ve been forgiven.

Transition: This is one of the most subtle and dangerous problems in the spiritual life.

And it’s a tension that Jesus exposes in a dramatic, unforgettable encounter at a dinner party.

3. TRUTH: The Biblical Solution (Luke 7:36-50) *Alright, church, grab your Bibles. Turn to Luke chapter 7.

* (Set the Context, v. 36): Jesus is invited to a dinner party at the house of Simon, a Pharisee. This is a respectable, orderly, high-status affair.

A. The Uninvited Guest Crashes the Party (vv. 37-38): “And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.” * The Woman (v. 37): A woman “who had a sinful life in that town” crashes the party. She’s a notorious outsider. * Her Offering (v. 37): She brings an “alabaster flask of ointment”—an extravagant, costly possession, possibly her life savings. * Her Worship (v. 38): She takes the lowest position, wets Jesus’s feet with her tears, wipes them with her hair (a scandalous act of humility), kisses them, and anoints them with her most valuable possession.

B. The Host’s Internal Judgment (v. 39): “Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.’” * Simon grumbles internally. He’s not focused on her repentance; he’s focused on her reputation. He sees contamination, not contrition.

C. The Parable of the Two Debtors (vv. 40-47): * The Punchline (v. 47): He lands the core principle: Her love wasn’t the cause of her forgiveness; it was the overwhelming evidence of it.

* D. The Declaration of Freedom (vv. 48-50): “And he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this, who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” Transition: This story reveals a profound truth about the Upside-Down Kingdom. The currency of this kingdom is not our righteousness; it’s our repentance. So what does this mean for us?

4. APPLICATION: The Choice * 1. Acknowledge Your Debt. The first step to this kind of love is to stop seeing yourself as the “50 denarii” debtor and realize you are the “500 denarii” debtor.

A daily time in the Word should remind us of the holiness of God and the depth of our own sin, which makes His grace all the more stunning.

* 2. Recognize the Grumbling Heart. Simon the Pharisee in this story is the real-life version of the grumbling insiders we talked about last week in “The God Who Searches.”

The danger for us, the “found,” is that we can quickly forget the joy of our own rescue and start judging others who are messy.

* 3. Break Your Alabaster Jar. What is the “expensive perfume” you are holding back from Jesus?

Is it your time? Your reputation? Your resources?

True worship is costly and extravagant, born from a heart of overwhelming gratitude.

Transition: When a church truly understands this, it stops being a museum for the righteous and starts being a hospital for the broken.

5. INSPIRATION: The Vision * Imagine a church known not for its respectability, but for its “broken alabaster jars”—a place of passionate, sometimes messy, but always authentic worship. * Imagine a community where people are so aware of the debt they’ve been forgiven that they can’t help but love Jesus extravagantly. * Imagine a church like New Beginnings being a place where every “uninvited guest” is welcomed, because we know we are all uninvited guests who have been welcomed by the King.

6. ACTION: Your Assignment for This Week This week, I want you to respond to the grace you’ve been shown. * 1. Identify: What sin or past failure has God forgiven you for that you have started to take for granted? Take a moment to truly remember the weight of that debt. * 2. Thank: Spend specific time this week in extravagant, “over-the-top” thanksgiving for that specific act of forgiveness. * 3. Act: Find one tangible way to “break your alabaster jar” in an act of worship or service to Jesus this week.

* (Forward-Looking Transition): When we learn to live with the grateful heart of this woman, it prepares us for the next step in the Upside-Down Kingdom.

Next week, we’ll see Jesus take this idea of welcoming the outcast even further, as he confronts his own disciples for trying to be bouncers at the velvet rope.

Memorization Outline: The Uninvited Guest ENGAGE: The “Scoundrel’s” Speech * Start with the powerful, true story of Joaquin Phoenix’s raw, messy, and uncomfortable Oscar speech. TENSION: The Small Debt * Transition to the problem. We are uncomfortable with messy gratitude because we see our own “debt” as small and manageable. We become judgmental of those who are “over-the-top.” TRUTH: The Great Forgiveness * Reveal the solution from Luke 7. Jesus tells the Parable of the Two Debtors to show that the one who is forgiven much, loves much. APPLICATION: Break Your Jar * This is the application. We must acknowledge the true size of our debt, recognize our own “grumbling heart,” and “break our alabaster jar” in extravagant worship. INSPIRATION: A Grateful Church * Cast the vision. Paint a picture of New Beginnings as a church known for its passionate, grateful, and messy worship. ACTION: Your Act of Worship * Land the plane with the specific assignment. Challenge everyone to remember their forgiveness, thank God extravagantly, and perform one tangible act of worship this week.