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Introduction:
According to I Timothy 1:5, the goal of Christian teaching is love. Jesus in Matthew
22:37 taught that the greatest commandment is to love God. Why
should we serve God? How should we serve Him? With what attitude
should we serve God? The answer to each of these questions is
love. Yet, far too often, the approach Christians take to serving
God is not about love but about legalism, drawing lines and
keeping laws. In Luke
7:38-50, Jesus was invited into the home of a Pharisee for a
meal. In this scene, we are privileged to witness the difference
between serving God from these two approaches. We meet Simon the
Pharisee who was a legalist and we meet an unnamed sinful woman
who truly loved Jesus. Examine this text, contrasting these two
characters and searching yourself to see which one you are and
which one you want to be. Discussion: I.
The
legalist asks, “Where is the line that I may draw near to it?” A.
In vs. 44-46,
Jesus rebuked Simon for not being hospitable to Him. Simon had not
washed Jesus’ feet, greeted Him with a kiss or anointed Him with
oil. But had not Simon invited Jesus into his own home for a meal?
What more could Jesus want? I can almost hear Simon saying
following this rebuke, “Show me in the Law where it says I have
to wash your feet, greet you with a kiss or anoint you with oil.
You cannot prove that. I have had you into my home. You cannot
call me inhospitable. You are making up laws for God.” Legalists
are not so because they require perfect law keeping. Legalists
want to know what the law requires so they can know when they can
stop. They want to know where the line is. Some have higher lines
than others, but the issue is still about lines. B.
The sinful woman, however, did not seek a minimum
requirement. She wanted to know where Jesus was so she could draw
near to Him. And so, she drew near to Jesus, doing far more than
any would claim was necessary. Why did she do so much? Jesus said
it was love (vs. 47).
Therefore, she did not ask, “What do I have to do?” She asked,
“What more can I do?” C.
Paul demonstrated these contrasting concepts in I
Timothy 1:5-11 when he claimed that the goal of Christian
instruction is love. But there are some who desired to be teachers
of the law. Then Paul said something strange: “… the law is
not laid down for the just but for the lawless …” (ESV). This
cannot mean there is no law for the righteous to follow (cf. I
Corinthians 9:21). Paul’s point is the requirements and
prohibitions of law are given to condemn the unrighteous for their
unrighteousness. They are not given as requirements for
righteousness. What is the requirement for the righteous? Love
from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith. Obviously
that will be in keeping with the law, because the one who loves
God keeps His commandments (I John 5:3). D.
This makes perfect sense. Because, as Paul taught in Galatians 3:21, there is no law that could be given which could
actually provide life. Therefore, righteousness does not come by
law but by faith in Christ (Philippians
3:9). Why then do Christians spend their time arguing over
minimum legalistic requirements instead of just drawing nearer to
Christ? I believe it is because very few Christians grasp God’s
true minimum requirement. Most Christians believe God’s minimum
requirements for us have to do with a certain level of good works
or moral living. That is not the case. God’s minimum requirement
is growth (II Peter 1:5-11).
As long as you are growing, the line you are holding today is
good. But God expects growth by tomorrow. And the more the
legalist argues that he is doing enough and we should not expect
anymore, the more he shows he is not meeting God’s minimum
requirement. II.
The
legalist says, “Look at how righteous I am compared to other
people.” A.
Our approach to serving Christ will affect our standard
with which we judge spiritual maturity. Why did Simon believe he
could touch Jesus but the sinful woman should not (vs.
39)? Because he compared himself to others and he knew he was
better than her. B.
But, to whom did the sinful woman compare herself? Jesus.
She knew her unrighteousness. She knew how little she deserved to
be near Jesus or to touch Him. Jesus saw this mindset when He
highlighted the fact that she did not give Him a kiss of greeting,
but rather continually kissed His feet (vs.
45). C.
When we serve God out of legalism and establish lines of
minimum requirement, we naturally tend to consider ourselves based
on how much better we adhere to those minimum requirements than
others do or how much farther past those lines we live than others
do. Thus, the legalistic Pharisees considered themselves righteous
because of how they compared to others (cf. Luke 18:11-12). But when we serve God out of love, we do not
focus on minimum requirements and we do not compare ourselves to
others based on meeting minimum requirements. Rather, we strive to
draw near to God (James 4:8).
We recognize that we are not sinners because we are worse than
others, but because we fall short of the glory of God (Romans
3:23). We are not holy when we are better than others, but
when we are like God (I
Peter 1:15-16). Some have ridiculed this position because it
has led some to fear. They are afraid they just won’t make it.
But keep in mind what Peter went on to say in I Peter 1:17. God judges without partiality, so conduct yourselves
throughout the time of your stay here in fear. III.
The
legalist says, “Look at how little I need forgiveness.” A.
Why did Simon think Jesus should not touch this woman? She
was a sinner (vs. 39).
What then did Simon think of himself? He must not be much of a
sinner or need much forgiveness. However, this woman was a sinner
and knew it. She knew how much forgiveness she needed. She knew
how much forgiveness was being extended to her by Jesus. B.
Jesus’ story in vss.
41-42 describes the difference between these two. And of
course, we can see how this contrast naturally came from the
previous. Because the legalist was comparing himself to other
people, he did not appear all that bad. He surely did not need as
much forgiveness as these others. Because the woman was comparing
herself to the holiness of Jesus, she knew full well how much she
needed it. C.
Consider that story for just a moment. Regarding monetary
debt, we can clearly see one was forgiven of a greater debt than
the other. But what consequences did both of those debtors face?
They both faced the same consequence of being stuck in debtor’s
prison until they could pay the last penny of what they owed (cf.
Matthew 5:26). While one may have been forgiven of a lesser
debt, he was not saved from a lesser consequence. If perhaps Simon
had focused more on what forgiveness was saving him from and less
about what he needed forgiveness for, he would have been better
off. D.
Digging a little deeper, however, we find that this parable
does not match the actuality of these two individuals and their
sins, but rather their own perception of their sins. In Matthew
23:1-36, Jesus described the sins of the Pharisees and they
were not small. They were arrogant, self-centered, extortionists,
liars, unjust, unmerciful and murderers. In fact, at one point in
this text, Jesus claims that these legalistic Pharisees will
receive the greater condemnation (Matthew
23:14). How could such an awful sinner as Simon view himself
as not needing much forgiveness? Matthew
23:25-28 provides the key. One of the natural tendencies of
the legalistic mindset is to focus on outward action. The legalist
will not think so much about getting the heart right. His lines
are about outward conduct and apparent things. Amazingly, because
these lines focus on outward conduct, he will not work on his
heart as he should. The heart will remain corrupt. Eventually,
however, this corrupt heart will result in corrupt actions. But
then, he will come up with a system of why his action really was
not corrupt and was well within the lines of the law of God, which
leads us to our next contrast. IV.
The
legalist eventually questions, “Who is Jesus that I should honor
and trust Him?” A.
Despite the fact that Simon called Jesus, “Teacher” (vs.
40, NKJV) or “Master” (KJV),
Simon did not trust Jesus. His whole frame of reference was one of
doubt. He was looking for a reason not to believe Jesus (vs. 39). Then, at the end of this account, we note that those with
Simon (presumably Simon also) questioned who is this who also
forgives sins (vs. 49)?
They did not want to honor Jesus, instead they questioned Him. B.
The sinful woman however, recognized Him, trusted Him and
honored Him. He was the Christ. He was God in the flesh. He was
the One who could forgive and would forgive. She loved Him and
served Him out of that love. She did not question what she must do
to serve. She simply did as much as she possibly could. C.
This really seems like an odd characteristic of a legalist.
You would think of all people, the one who is so concerned about
keeping a law would never question the law giver. But that is
exactly what happens. When we think through it, we find that the
natural end of the legalistic mindset is to distrust Christ and
His word. The legalist who is focusing on finding lines, which
leads him to believe he is better than others and further leads
him to believe he is not much of a sinner, will inevitably come to
the point that he views himself and his thoughts as the standard.
Rarely will you see this manifest among Christians today as having
contempt for Jesus Himself. However, we do find among some
Christians contempt for the word of Jesus. You can see this when
they question God’s word (not questioning to find out what
God’s word says, but questioning God’s word). You will find
that the legalist will often say things like, “I know the Bible
says this, but …” “I can see what the passage says, but I
just don’t think God meant …” “I read what it says, but I
just don’t think God would expect this out of us.” Notice,
with each of these the standard is the legalist’s own thoughts.
Amazingly, this legalist will even come up with systems by which
he seems to justify his own ideas with the Bible. Consider the
example of the Pharisees in Matthew
15:3-9. God had a law. Honor your father and mother. But the
legalistic Pharisees, being their own standard, came up with a way
around God’s law. They came up with a way that sounded
“biblical,” that sounded like it was still all about God. All
the person had to do was dedicate to God the finances they would
have used to support their parents. Do you see what happened in
this circumstance? The legalist was his own standard and God’s
standards would not get in the way. That is the natural end of the
legalistic mindset. V.
The
legalist will hear, “Depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness!” A.
This contrast demonstrates why all of this matters. When
the story of Simon and the sinful woman was done, Jesus claimed
that the sinful woman’s sins were forgiven (vs.
47-48). However, He did not say anything about Simon’s sins
being forgiven. That omission says it all. B.
Notice the interesting circle Jesus took in this
discussion. He began in His story of vss.
40-43 by saying that this sinful woman loved Him more than
Simon because she had been forgiven of so much. But the account
ends by saying that she would be forgiven because of how much she
loved Jesus. How can it be both? Did she love because she was
forgiven, or was she forgiven because she loved? C.
Or perhaps it was both. She loved Jesus because of the
forgiveness He offered. As John said in I
John 4:19, we love God because He loved us, offering His Son
as a sacrifice so we could be forgiven. It is based upon that
continued love throughout our lives that God gives us forgiveness.
In other words, the recognition of what God has done for us should
prompt us to love Him. Loving Him prompts us to be the kind of
growing servants we ought to be, which in turn causes us to be
forgiven in the end (II
Peter 1:5-11). Conclusion: The question is, “Which one are we?” Which one am I? Which one are you? Are we legalists or lovers of God? Do we find ourselves trying to draw near to a line we establish as a minimum requirement? Or are we constantly striving for continual growth? Do we think we are pretty good people that God really did not have too forgive much? Or do we live a life of love because we know what truly awful sinners we have been and are compared to Jesus? Do we argue against what God has written? Or do we accept it unquestioningly? Which do you want to hear—depart or enter in? Which one are you—the legalist or the lover of God?
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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