Sermon Tone Analysis

Story of a kid who grew up in a messed up home / parents divorced when he was only two / Both announced they were gay / Mother got involved with another lady from her work / Dad did the same / This boy grew up going to gay pride parades / rallies / When he was 9 / he was attending one of these rallies with his mom and her partner / when he witnessed a man throw a cup of urine on his mother / He was stunned / asked his mom Why would someone do something like that?

His mother said “Because he’s a Christian and Christians hate people”

This is how this boy was introduced to Christianity / When he was 16 / two of his friends invited him to a Bible Study / He was excited to go?

He despised Christians / this was his chance to let them know / Bible study was a good man / One at a time kind of Christian

Didn’t take Long for this kid to become disruptive / he was mean spirited / trying to disprove / annoy / picking fights / but the leader was always gracious to him

His friends were same way / always returning his anger with kindness / The kid was shocked / over time he grew a respect / thought maybe he found the one group of not the right kind of Christians because they were not hate filled / so he went to the source / picked up a Bible / began to read / got to the story we are going to read today

John 8: 1 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 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

5 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.

7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.

10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?”11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.

“Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Prig = a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if superior to others.

I. Caught and Brought

A. What we know about the woman

1.

Not a lot / but She was married

a.

We know / because Mishnah (oral tradition of Jewish law) said to strangle to death a single woman who slept with a married man / but to stone a woman who was married

1. Married = means one time a beautiful young bride / filled with dreams

2. Dreams of having a husband who would love her / raise children together

a.

None of those hopes / dreams included what was happening this day

2.

Where things went wrong we don’t know / only speculate

a. Disappointed in her marriage / maybe her husbands fault / maybe her own / probably both

1.

We do know for some reason / she had to feel lonely

a.

At some point met another man / who noticed her / listened to her

b.

He became what her heart was longing for

3.

It probably started innocent / casual conversation

a.

One day it crossed the line / then another / then another / until she ended up in bed with this man

1.

Then it happened again / again

a.

She began living with a secret / living two different lives

b.

Lived with constant weight she was carrying / I bet living a lie was already killing her / living a lie is hard life

c.

Always wondering if people will find out

1.

The guilt / shame / because God already knows

B. Then It Happened….

[PREACH]]

1.

One day while in bed with the man / she was caught / eyes filled the room

a. Eyes of the hate filled religious leaders of the town / these leaders were well known

1.

No doubt / she had seen them around town

a. She’d probably seen them giving their disapproving eyes to many others around town [[end PREACH]]

2. Problem / today the eyes were not on everyone else in town / they were on her

a.

This day / angry / hateful stares were for her

1.

She was not only beneath them / she was beneath the man who was not her husband / caught!

3. Man was just as caught / but they left him alone

a. Grabbed her / pulled her out of the room / screaming in fear

1. Probably grabbing for clothes / bedsheet / anything to cover her nakedness

b.

Now being marched through town for all to see / confusion / humiliation increasing with every step

1. Realizing / she is being brought to the temple

a.

Why the temple?

Am I going inside?

Will they kill me in the temple?

C. It’s here we pick up in our story

1.

With humiliation / head bowed to ground / hiding her face / she hears conversation

a. 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.

Now what do you say?”

1.

Just got real / they do intend to kill her

2. Then she looks up to see who they are talking to / she see’s HIM

a.

She see’s the one who is being asked to hand over a verdict

1. Let’s not forget / He is surrounded / as is usually the case

a. 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.

He must have stood seeing the commotion / everyone probably was on their feet by this time

a.

He doesn’t answer their question at all

1. 6 .…

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

b.

What is He doing?

1.

I have no doubt / woman is trying to read what is being written

c.

Men holding her / squeezing her arms / continued questioning the man

1. 7 …they kept on questioning him / they were demanding / hoping to hear words of condemnation

II.

Choosing Condemnation

A. Get personal for a minute / I am going to ask you an awkward / very personal question

1.

Who are YOU temped to condemn? …….To write off? ……….Who are you blaming for your hurt?

a.

Is there someone / group of someones / you want to bring to God / accuse / who would they be?

1.

Like religious leaders / you feel you have some self-righteous anger

2. Sometimes that anger comes from something someone has done to us

a.

That anger spreads like a cancer / now you are angry at everyone else too

2. Something I have realized over time / counseling

a. Often / self righteous anger usually comes / NOT from something done to the angry person / but because of something the angry person has done

Article “While it may seem surprising, a common characteristic of a cheating souse is that they accuses you of cheating on them.