Good
Morning All!!
John 8:11; “She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I
condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
A man with a severe pain in his arm goes in and visits his doctor. He goes into the exam room and waits. As soon as the doctor walks in the man takes
his arm twists it behind his back and says to the doctor, “ Doctor, doctor, it
hurts when I do this.” The doctor said, “Then
don’t do that.” Yeah, that is a very old
joke but there is a ring of truth to it.
Often times, we do things that hurt us and then we wonder why it
hurts. Sin is this way a lot of times.
Our verse is from the story of the woman who
was caught in adultery. There is an
incredible amount of stuff going on in this story but we are going to look just
at the end of the story. Jesus tells her,
“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Many people focus on the first part of what
Jesus tells the woman. This is one of
the purest acts of forgiveness that we read about. She was caught
in adultery. She was drug out into
the street to be stoned to death. She
may have only had a bed sheet for cover; perhaps, not even that much. She also does not ask for forgiveness; she
doesn’t even acknowledge that what she did was wrong or sinful. Yet a merciful Jesus forgives her sins but we
can’t stop there. He then tells her to
go and from now on sin no more.
Jesus is telling her to stop doing what hurts her. Stop inflicting pain on yourself. We as humans do this often. We let our foolish pride and arrogance get in
the way and we refuse to stop what is hurting us. We continue to speak cruel words to those we
love because we won’t back down even when we see the pain we are causing. That is what Jesus means. This is how we as Christians can apply the
Law of God (10 Commandments) to our lives.
The Law shows us how to live. It
is a manual for how God designed us to live.
It shows us what is God-pleasing but it also shows us the way to live
according to God’s design.
It is also important to understand that when a loving body of Christ
points out that some activity is a sin; it is not so much of a judgment or
condemnation but rather it is a plea to stop hurting yourself; “Then don’t do
that.” This is what calling sin to be
sin is about. It is not about casting
stones, looking down our nose at someone, thinking we are better than someone
else. Calling sin to be sin is about
trying to stop the pain and start the healing and this is what Jesus
wants. He wants you to be healed, to be
whole again. Jesus desires that you may
once again walk healthy again. Jesus
came to pay for our debts and then to empower us to go and sin no more so that
we no longer carry the pain that sin causes.
Father,
give me the wisdom to go and sin no more.
Lead me to stop the pain that I inflict upon myself. Help me to control my pride, anger and
jealousy. Guide me by your Spirit that I
may be healed by you. Guard me with your
loving arms. Send your healing to those
who are broken by sin and in need of your healing. Restore them Lord, to your loving kingdom. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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