Go and Sin No More

Go to the home page: Do You Need A Winning Game Plan For Your Life?

John 8:1-11 

Audio file is at the end of this text.

In this passage we find the established religious leaders trying to trap Jesus in theological questions.  Jesus arrived at the temple early on this day and he sat down to teach anyone who was there to learn.

The old guard was raging with jealousy.  They were tired of being upstaged by this young man who came out of no where.  He had no degrees, no titles, and no standing in the circle of thought leaders that dominated the teaching in the temple.  They did not consider him to be legitimate and they wanted to destroy him in front of the people who had come to listen to him.

What they did not know is they were dealing with the one who wrote the laws.  The Pharisees and scholars brought a women into the temple and had her stand in the center surrounded by men.  Women and children had to stand back away from the center as this area was designated for men only.  They said to Jesus that this woman was,"caught in an act of adultery and the law given by Moses gives orders to stone such persons.  What do you say?"

Let's take a look at Leviticus 18:20.  It says, "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death."  In Deuteronomy 22:22 it says, "If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both must die.  Purge that evil from Israel."

What is missing from the temple scene?  A man.  We don't know why the religious leaders only brought in the woman.  Who knows, maybe the man paid off the leaders.  It is clear the the old law says this woman, if guilty, should die.

But, we know that Jesus came to seek and to save us, not to condemn us.  Jesus came to show us how to live good lives from the inside out and this was a concept that the legal scholars did not grasp and if they had it would have put them out of business.

Jesus said to the scholars, "The sinless one among you, go first:  Throw the stone."  One by one, starting with the oldest, the "smart ones" walked away.  Now comes the best part!  Jesus asked the women,  "Is there is anyone here trying to condemn you?"  She said, "No one, Master."

She called Jesus, Master.  This tells us that she had come to faith in Jesus and Jesus had washed her white as snow.  Jesus took away her old spirit and gave her a new one.  Now Jesus could say, "I don't condemn you.  Go and sin no more."  It says in 1 John 1:9 that if we come to Jesus and confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.  

 The scholars in the story relished catching people doing wrong and they enjoyed pointing out the flaws in others.   This is how they maintained their power in that culture.  Jesus teaches us with this story that no human being is qualified to judge another human being.  Judging is God's job and this should be a great relief to all of us.  It should make you feel free and save in God's hands that he will make the world right in his time.

While you need to use good judgment regarding who you associate with, you are not to put yourself above any other person.  Don't find yourself in the position of the Pharisee.  Don't worry about others; follow the commandment, "Go and sin no more."

11 27 2011 by Robby4747 on Mixcloud

No Scorecard Required

Go to the home page: Do You Need A Winning Game Plan For Your Life?

James 1:26-2:13 

Audio file is at the end of this text.                  

James was bold and powerful.  He makes it very clear in his writing how we are to act as followers of Christ.  We have said many times that God only wants our trust; he is not keeping a scorecard.  This is difficult for all of us especially for me as a coach and for any athletes here today.   We keep score and the score is how we measure our success at the end of every game.

However, by trying to keep up with all of our good deeds and rack up "points" to win God's favor, we are putting God in a box of our own making.  We do this because it makes sense to us.  We are much more comfortable measuring ourselves against other people and thinking that by being better than another person we will work our way into heaven.  Forget this.  You cannot earn God's favor because God gives it to you as a free gift when you choose to accept it.  

Let's try to answer the questions:  What pleases God?

What is pure religion?

Now that you trust God, what does your life look like?

James lays down a big challenge when he says in verse 26 that talking is not religion.  The Message translations says, "talking a good game...is hot air.  Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this:  Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight and guard against corruption from the godless world."

James is calling us into the service of all people who are in need.  This makes the challenge so big and so bold that we can never get it all done but we try to do whatever we can whenever we can to lighten the burden for others. 


Avoiding corruption is as big a challenge as taking care of people in need.  Football coach, Lou Holtz, had one rule for his players and he called it the Do Right Rule.  He told these college athletes that they know what is right and what is wrong and in every situation he expected them to, "do right."  And if they had a doubt about what was right or wrong to do, just don't do it.  Rather than making a big list of rules for his players like, go to class, make your grades, avoid tobacco and alcohol and drugs, be in bed by curfew, he just said, do right.

Saturday night I performed a wedding and I told them than their home is sacred and they must protect it.  I advise every young couple and you too, do not associate with people who pull you away from God, only associate with people who pull you toward God.

I am not saying that you should judge people because that is God's job.  I am saying that you should use good judgment to protect yourself from a terribly corrupt culture.

James warns us not to elevate people with money while ignoring people who appear to have less than we have.  He reminds us that God looks at the heart and that God revealed himself in Jesus first to the poor.  Think about how God ministered to the spirits of Africans who were enslaved by their own people, crammed into ships and brought to a foreign place and made to work for nothing and treated like animals!  Those same people sang worship songs of praise as they worked in the field and out of this extreme abuse the songs we now call Negro Spirituals were born.  This music could only happen because God was taking care of the poorest.  Since God favors the poor then we should favor the poor.

Then finally James says, "Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free.  For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly.  Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time."

What is the Rule that sets us free?  Jesus reduced all the past instructions down to:  1)  Love the Lord your God and, 2)  Love your neighbor as yourself.  We are free from the old laws that bind, the big lists that go on and on.  This brings to mind Martin Luther King's speech, "Free at last, free at last.  Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last."  If you have Christ, you are free and there is no scorecard required.

11 20 2011 by Robby4747 on Mixcloud