WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Welcome back some. Welcome for the first time, 00:00:02.259 --> 00:00:05.019 everyone else. Lovely to have you back here. 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:06.799 It's an incredible joy. The college has been 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:13.619 very empty for quite a long time. I came across 00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:17.879 a thought -provoking quotation recently. This 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:24.160 is what it says. Victoria is in on Augustine's 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:29.879 secret. I'm going to give you 30 seconds to think 00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:34.299 for yourself what that is all about. Victoria 00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:44.799 is in on Augustine's secret. Down to talk to 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:45.740 each other. You can think on your own or talk 00:00:45.740 --> 00:01:12.120 to a neighbour. Okay, I can see some laughter. 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:17.159 Let me put this quotation in its wider context. 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:23.540 First of all, St. Augustine, he made the point 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:28.299 that human beings are creatures of desire. What 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:31.760 or whom do we long for? Famously, you made us 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:35.319 for yourself and our heart is restless until 00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:39.959 it finds its rest in you. And then there's the 00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:45.180 quotations context. The marketing industry is 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:49.099 able to capture, form and direct our desires 00:01:49.099 --> 00:01:52.739 precisely because it has rightly discerned that 00:01:52.739 --> 00:01:56.739 we're embodied, desiring creatures whose being 00:01:56.739 --> 00:01:59.060 in the world is governed by the imagination. 00:02:00.859 --> 00:02:03.719 Marketers have figured out the way to our heart 00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:07.409 because they get it. They rightly understand 00:02:07.409 --> 00:02:10.990 that at root we are creatures who are orientated 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:15.370 primarily by love and passion and desire. In 00:02:15.370 --> 00:02:20.810 sum, I think Victoria is in on Augustine's secret. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:25.099 It's a quotation from a book by James K .A. Smith. 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.259 I guess many of you have come across him, or 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:30.020 if you haven't, you will be. In another of his 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:33.740 books, You Are What You Love, he said, what if 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:35.879 instead of starting from the assumption that 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:38.900 human beings are thinking things, we started 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:41.939 from the conviction that human beings are first 00:02:41.939 --> 00:02:47.610 and foremost lovers? His point then, he said, 00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:50.930 Christian discipleship frequently starts off 00:02:50.930 --> 00:02:54.650 on the wrong foot here as we preach and educate 00:02:54.650 --> 00:02:58.370 and train and do youth work and even parent according 00:02:58.370 --> 00:03:01.830 to the wrong model. We assume that people change 00:03:01.830 --> 00:03:04.969 through learning different things, whereas actually 00:03:04.969 --> 00:03:08.819 they grow through loving different things. And 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:12.259 so he protests about a model of ministry narrowly 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:16.060 focused on filling heads. So we're like heads 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:20.460 with on legs like that. And we stuff our heads 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:23.400 full of knowledge, convinced we can think our 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:27.099 way to holiness. It's like brains on stalks. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.379 You know, I'm thinking at this moment, is Oak 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:37.099 Hill telling me on my very first day that thinking. 00:03:37.949 --> 00:03:41.229 There's no value in learning things. Are you 00:03:41.229 --> 00:03:47.189 kidding me? Of course not. Just to be clear, 00:03:47.330 --> 00:03:52.509 of course not. Learning and knowing are fundamental 00:03:52.509 --> 00:03:56.729 to loving in that sense. We come to love someone 00:03:56.729 --> 00:04:00.449 by learning about them, by getting to know them. 00:04:01.050 --> 00:04:03.990 Unless you go on one of these TV programmes in 00:04:03.990 --> 00:04:07.939 which case you get married at first sight. But 00:04:07.939 --> 00:04:12.099 our hearts, our love, our desires are foundational. 00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:15.740 And we're going to see that no clearer than Luke 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:19.139 chapter 7. So if you've got a Bible accessible, 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:30.079 we're in Luke chapter 7, verses 36 to 50. Luke 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:40.550 7, 36 to 50. Let me read it. When one of the 00:04:40.550 --> 00:04:43.350 Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, 00:04:43.449 --> 00:04:46.529 he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined 00:04:46.529 --> 00:04:50.329 at the table. A woman in that town who lived 00:04:50.329 --> 00:04:52.629 a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at 00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:54.990 the Pharisee's house, so she came there with 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:59.329 an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind 00:04:59.329 --> 00:05:02.250 him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his 00:05:02.250 --> 00:05:05.430 feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with 00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:08.920 her hair. kissed them and poured perfume on them. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.279 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:19.139 he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:21.579 he would know who's touching him, what kind of 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:26.100 woman she is, that she's a sinner. Jesus answered 00:05:26.100 --> 00:05:30.720 him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:35.370 me, teacher, he said. Two people owed money to 00:05:35.370 --> 00:05:39.490 a certain moneylender. One owed him 500 denarii 00:05:39.490 --> 00:05:42.529 and the other 50. Neither of them had the money 00:05:42.529 --> 00:05:45.870 to pay him back, so he gave the debts of both. 00:05:47.089 --> 00:05:52.930 Now which of them will love him more? Simon replied, 00:05:54.290 --> 00:05:57.009 I suppose the one with the bigger debt forgiven. 00:05:58.750 --> 00:06:02.600 You have judged correctly, Jesus said. Then he 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:07.259 turned towards the woman and said to Simon, Do 00:06:07.259 --> 00:06:10.939 you see this woman? I came into your house. You 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:13.699 did not give me any water for my feet, but she 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:15.980 wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:19.720 her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:21.879 woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:25.740 kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, 00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:30.060 but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:32.800 I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.819 as her great love has shown. But whoever has 00:06:36.819 --> 00:06:41.420 been forgiven little, loves little. Then Jesus 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:46.279 said to her, Your sins are forgiven. The other 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:48.720 guests began to say among themselves, Who is 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.420 this who even forgives sins? And Jesus said to 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:55.939 the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. 00:06:59.050 --> 00:07:02.790 So Jesus is invited to the house. At this point, 00:07:02.810 --> 00:07:05.310 we don't know his name, an unnamed Pharisee. 00:07:05.649 --> 00:07:07.850 Pharisees have made quite an appearance in Luke's 00:07:07.850 --> 00:07:11.889 gospel up to this moment. Back in chapter five, 00:07:12.069 --> 00:07:15.329 they frogged to hear Jesus. They came not just 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:18.069 from Galilee, but also from Judea and from Jerusalem. 00:07:18.209 --> 00:07:22.589 You could imagine they were intrigued. But when 00:07:22.589 --> 00:07:25.110 what they found was deeply challenging and deeply 00:07:25.110 --> 00:07:29.009 troubling. They were troubled by his claims. 00:07:29.930 --> 00:07:32.670 So do you remember when Jesus said to the paralysed 00:07:32.670 --> 00:07:37.170 man, friend, your sins are forgiven? They began 00:07:37.170 --> 00:07:40.269 thinking to themselves, who is this who speaks 00:07:40.269 --> 00:07:44.250 blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone? 00:07:45.649 --> 00:07:48.550 It wasn't just his claims. It was who he ate 00:07:48.550 --> 00:07:52.180 with. And later in chapter five, when Jesus went 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:54.620 to the Levi, the tax collector's house, there 00:07:54.620 --> 00:07:56.639 were lots of tax collectors and others that were 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:00.360 there. And then Luke tells us the Pharisees, 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:02.639 the teachers of the law who belong to their sect, 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:06.160 complained to Jesus' disciples. Why do you eat 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:11.379 and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And 00:08:11.379 --> 00:08:13.899 then, of course, there was his lack of observance, 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:16.480 his lack of fasting. They didn't like the fact 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:18.759 Jesus' disciples weren't fasting and praying. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:21.540 And they weren't often, but instead they were 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:24.180 eating and drinking. And then there was, of course, 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:27.660 his Sabbath observance. As Jesus' disciples went 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:29.879 through the cornfields, disciples began to rub 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:33.139 the ears of corn. And some of the Pharisees asked, 00:08:33.299 --> 00:08:35.679 why are you doing what's unlawful on the Sabbath? 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:39.340 And Jesus answered them again. And so they watch 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:43.720 his every move in chapter six. They were looking 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:46.299 for a reason, says Luke in chapter 6, verse 7. 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:48.659 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:52.059 looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. So they 00:08:52.059 --> 00:08:55.039 watched him closely to see if he would heal on 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:02.139 the Sabbath. Sure enough, he did. So the result, 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:05.639 6 .11. But the Pharisees and the teachers of 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:08.759 the law were furious and began to discuss with 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:13.759 one another what they might do to Jesus. She's 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.539 got that backdrop as the Pharisee, we don't know 00:09:16.539 --> 00:09:19.440 his name yet, invites Jesus to his house for 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:25.200 a meal. What do you make of that? Is he intrigued? 00:09:26.379 --> 00:09:31.039 Is he trying to trap Jesus? Is he curious? It 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:32.940 was a big deal to get someone over for a meal. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:37.259 Hospitality? We don't really quite know. We've 00:09:37.259 --> 00:09:41.610 got that kind of shadow in the background. But 00:09:41.610 --> 00:09:43.710 what about the other person here, the woman? 00:09:45.570 --> 00:09:47.549 Well, she'd obviously got quite a background, 00:09:47.730 --> 00:09:50.889 hadn't she? We get that very clearly. The language 00:09:50.889 --> 00:09:55.570 of being a sinner, probably a prostitute. I don't 00:09:55.570 --> 00:09:57.129 know, I've got quite a number of questions here. 00:09:57.409 --> 00:10:02.149 How did she get in? Did she kind of tailgate 00:10:02.149 --> 00:10:05.629 the stewards? Don't do that with the library, 00:10:05.710 --> 00:10:08.370 incidentally, and academic centre. No tailgating. 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:11.809 How did she get the perfume? Was it part of her 00:10:11.809 --> 00:10:16.730 profession? Pretty awkward. Not that surprising, 00:10:17.169 --> 00:10:20.629 was it? The Simon was really put out. After all, 00:10:20.629 --> 00:10:22.590 the Pharisees really cared who they act with. 00:10:22.730 --> 00:10:24.730 That was precisely the complaint about Jesus 00:10:24.730 --> 00:10:30.110 earlier on. Look at her devotion. She bought 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:33.190 an alabaster jar of perfume. I don't know what 00:10:33.190 --> 00:10:34.929 alabaster was. Do you know what alabaster is? 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:37.600 maybe you've done some speaking on this and thought 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:40.100 about it it's just let me this is a little bit 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:45.019 of research a soft translucent gypsum stone historically 00:10:45.019 --> 00:10:47.639 used to hold expensive ointments perfumes and 00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:50.419 oils and of course remember in that day they 00:10:50.419 --> 00:10:54.399 would recline to eat and so prop themselves up 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.659 on one elbow and she wets his jesus feet with 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:01.059 her tears and she wipes them with her care she 00:11:01.059 --> 00:11:06.590 kisses them and pours perfume on them It's pretty 00:11:06.590 --> 00:11:08.529 embarrassing, wouldn't you feel? Certainly for 00:11:08.529 --> 00:11:14.870 Simon. Awkward, but incredibly beautiful. She 00:11:14.870 --> 00:11:19.809 risked ridicule and more beside. And the Pharisee, 00:11:19.809 --> 00:11:21.769 he's still, of course, the Pharisee. He's trying 00:11:21.769 --> 00:11:25.169 to get his head around this. How do I make sense 00:11:25.169 --> 00:11:31.710 of this? So I know the teacher. He's supposed 00:11:31.710 --> 00:11:33.370 to be a prophet, but he doesn't seem to be aware 00:11:33.370 --> 00:11:39.330 of who this woman is. And then he thinks, I kind 00:11:39.330 --> 00:11:41.830 of want to say something, but I can't really 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:46.029 as the host. I can't be rude to my guest. So 00:11:46.029 --> 00:11:51.129 instead, he thinks to himself. He knows who the 00:11:51.129 --> 00:11:53.690 woman is. He's sure as anything Jesus doesn't. 00:11:53.690 --> 00:11:56.090 So he ends up muttering almost under his breath. 00:11:56.269 --> 00:11:58.870 If this man were a prophet, he would know who 00:11:58.870 --> 00:12:01.669 is touching him and what kind of woman she is, 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:08.090 that she's a sinner. I love Luke's little irony 00:12:08.090 --> 00:12:10.190 here when he puts in what happened to that. Do 00:12:10.190 --> 00:12:17.429 you notice what he says next? Jesus answered 00:12:17.429 --> 00:12:21.129 him. He knows exactly what's going on in his 00:12:21.129 --> 00:12:24.070 head and answers what is going on in his head. 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:26.850 This so -called prophet who can't be a prophet 00:12:26.850 --> 00:12:29.850 because he doesn't know. Simon, I have something 00:12:29.850 --> 00:12:33.830 to say to you. Two people owed money to a certain 00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:38.049 money lender. One owed him 500 denarii, about 00:12:38.049 --> 00:12:41.049 75k on today's terms, we think, something like 00:12:41.049 --> 00:12:45.169 that. 75 ,000, quite a lot. The other 50. Neither 00:12:45.169 --> 00:12:47.009 of them had the money to pay him back, so he 00:12:47.009 --> 00:12:49.850 cancelled the debts of both. Now, which of them 00:12:49.850 --> 00:12:57.929 will love him more? Have you ever, in your life, 00:12:58.070 --> 00:13:02.700 confronted a host? When you've been around for 00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:05.779 a meal, invited around for a meal, have you ever 00:13:05.779 --> 00:13:11.860 confronted your host? Have you ever been confronted? 00:13:13.299 --> 00:13:17.759 You just don't do this, do you? But Jesus is 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:23.200 extraordinary. Do you see this woman? Of course 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.299 he does. Everyone does. I mean, you can't miss 00:13:25.299 --> 00:13:30.580 her. Who couldn't perfume the smell filling the 00:13:30.580 --> 00:13:34.919 air? The crying, the sobs, you can imagine punctuating 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:37.120 the conversation. There's that awkward silence. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:47.440 The sounds. He calls out the host. And this is 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.159 one of the fundamental things that are going 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:52.019 on here. What a difference it was between the 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:56.580 woman and Simon. So Jesus comes into Simon's 00:13:56.580 --> 00:13:59.600 house. Simon doesn't give him any water at all. 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:03.100 not even for his feet. But the woman wet his 00:14:03.100 --> 00:14:05.879 feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair. 00:14:07.779 --> 00:14:10.539 I know some of you have been to Uzbekistan or 00:14:10.539 --> 00:14:13.139 that central Asia over the summer. I don't know 00:14:13.139 --> 00:14:14.779 if any of you have been to Middle Eastern cities 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:18.600 where you have open -toed sandals and your feet 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:22.100 get pretty dirty, don't they? Not a thing you 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:26.379 did. Done. But she with tears of repentance. 00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:29.700 And then Jesus... So Simon didn't give Jesus 00:14:29.700 --> 00:14:32.019 a kiss. Well, kissing was customary. Greet one 00:14:32.019 --> 00:14:34.639 another with a holy kiss. And she kissed his 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:36.940 feet, not his cheek. And she kept on doing so. 00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:39.059 This was, again, this was dirt. He didn't do 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:42.320 that. Or Simon didn't put oil on Jesus' head. 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:44.919 Sometimes hosts did it. It wasn't that common 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:47.080 to do, but of course, sometimes some hosts did 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:50.720 it. But she takes his alabaster perfume on her 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:58.320 feet and doused it. So you see, Simon, The host 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:02.259 does nothing that a host should do, a good host. 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:08.679 Who is the real host who's offering hospitality? 00:15:09.620 --> 00:15:14.480 It's the woman. Which of them will love him more? 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:20.100 Jesus makes it very, very clear. The right response 00:15:20.100 --> 00:15:28.379 is extravagant love for Jesus. So the heart of 00:15:28.379 --> 00:15:30.879 our discipleship, back to that early quotation, 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:35.899 is love. It is love for Jesus Christ. Yes, we 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:39.360 care here massively about our understanding, 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:42.220 our knowing, our learning, our thinking, our 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:45.960 studies. We want you to be better equipped to 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:48.580 serve the Lord and we need to, as Andrew so rightly 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:52.929 said, we learn so much from you. But more than 00:15:52.929 --> 00:15:55.490 anything else, we want to grow in our love for 00:15:55.490 --> 00:15:59.730 Jesus Christ, don't we? That's the heart. That's 00:15:59.730 --> 00:16:03.649 everything. We get to know Christ better through 00:16:03.649 --> 00:16:05.769 our studies, through our conversations, through 00:16:05.769 --> 00:16:09.470 one another. We grow in our love for him and 00:16:09.470 --> 00:16:13.190 this passionate devotion seen in action. And 00:16:13.190 --> 00:16:17.549 you notice it's not. conscious and sort of self 00:16:17.549 --> 00:16:20.190 -conscious it's heartfelt one of the strange 00:16:20.190 --> 00:16:21.970 things about being in a college like this is 00:16:21.970 --> 00:16:24.490 we can you can gradually conform to what everyone 00:16:24.490 --> 00:16:27.690 else does because that's what peer pressure does 00:16:27.690 --> 00:16:30.990 but you notice this extravagant devotion was 00:16:30.990 --> 00:16:37.389 entirely unselfconscious desires reordered heartfelt 00:16:37.389 --> 00:16:43.409 love for the person But this isn't self -generated 00:16:43.409 --> 00:16:48.750 love from the inside. What's the engine for that 00:16:48.750 --> 00:16:52.710 love? Look at verse 47. I tell you, her many 00:16:52.710 --> 00:16:56.669 sins have been forgiven as her great love has 00:16:56.669 --> 00:17:01.029 shown. But whoever's been forgiven little loves 00:17:01.029 --> 00:17:05.809 little. So the woman loves much because she's 00:17:05.809 --> 00:17:09.329 been forgiven much. You'll know this so well, 00:17:09.410 --> 00:17:12.269 going in many of our ministry situations, people 00:17:12.269 --> 00:17:16.789 think, if only I do these things, if I only love 00:17:16.789 --> 00:17:19.089 Jesus a lot and show I really love him, then 00:17:19.089 --> 00:17:21.789 perhaps he might accept me. And of course, that's 00:17:21.789 --> 00:17:25.730 exactly 100 % the opposite way around. It's precisely 00:17:25.730 --> 00:17:29.369 because we know what Jesus Christ has done for 00:17:29.369 --> 00:17:34.309 us that we love him. He makes the point very 00:17:34.309 --> 00:17:37.789 plainly. It's the one who has had the bigger 00:17:37.789 --> 00:17:41.289 debts cancelled who will then love him more. 00:17:41.509 --> 00:17:44.349 So it's not love then cancelled, it's cancelled 00:17:44.349 --> 00:17:49.130 then loved. Forgiveness is the engine for that 00:17:49.130 --> 00:17:53.470 love. So we don't love to be forgiven, but because 00:17:53.470 --> 00:17:59.950 we are forgiven. This also makes a very striking 00:17:59.950 --> 00:18:06.559 point. Everyone needs forgiveness. It's easy 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:11.539 to kind of think, ah, well, I may not be the 00:18:11.539 --> 00:18:14.539 500 denarii person, but maybe I'm a bit like 00:18:14.539 --> 00:18:18.140 Simon, I'm the 50 denarii person. Maybe Simon 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:21.480 was forgiven a little bit. He's quite a good 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.220 person, really. He's respectable. But there's 00:18:24.220 --> 00:18:27.950 no indication Simon's forgiven at all. All of 00:18:27.950 --> 00:18:32.529 us are 500 denarii people. And again, you arrive 00:18:32.529 --> 00:18:35.309 new in a college like this and we can project 00:18:35.309 --> 00:18:39.390 our upright image that we're basically got it. 00:18:39.450 --> 00:18:43.269 We're sorted. We're on the Simon's side in that 00:18:43.269 --> 00:18:47.650 sense. But there's far from the reality. Simon 00:18:47.650 --> 00:18:50.789 was entirely unable to see the scale of that 00:18:50.789 --> 00:18:54.690 sin. And maybe that's true of us. We may not 00:18:54.690 --> 00:18:59.569 have the history of the woman, but we play out 00:18:59.569 --> 00:19:03.250 our sins in other ways. I was just reflecting 00:19:03.250 --> 00:19:07.230 on this. There's the kind of self -righteousness 00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:11.210 that Pharisees are legendarily known for. That 00:19:11.210 --> 00:19:14.390 sense of pride. I'm an Oak Hill student now. 00:19:14.490 --> 00:19:16.670 I'm an Oak Hill faculty member now. I've somehow 00:19:16.670 --> 00:19:20.329 made it. I've arrived in the hierarchy of religious. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:26.819 Pecking order, for want of a better word. I'm 00:19:26.819 --> 00:19:30.099 self -important. I'm now a somebody and will 00:19:30.099 --> 00:19:32.079 those nobodies. I don't have to associate with 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:36.740 them anymore. Or selfish ambition. It's my agenda, 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.819 my ways, the sacrifices on the way and the sacrifices 00:19:39.819 --> 00:19:43.559 that other people have had to have. Or the raw 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:47.119 greed, the lust for more and enslaving addictions. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.759 Or we can have all these things under the veneer 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:55.009 of religious respectability. So let me push it 00:19:55.009 --> 00:19:58.069 a bit further. Imagine if someone like this woman 00:19:58.069 --> 00:20:02.730 turned up in our churches. Would they say, here 00:20:02.730 --> 00:20:05.970 is a place where I'm accepted, welcomed and loved? 00:20:06.970 --> 00:20:09.950 Or would they say, that's the last place I'd 00:20:09.950 --> 00:20:15.150 go. I'd feel worse if I went there. And if that's 00:20:15.150 --> 00:20:17.309 the reality, maybe our church is a bit more like 00:20:17.309 --> 00:20:21.809 Simon than we'd like to admit. The church is 00:20:21.809 --> 00:20:25.809 a hospital for sinners, not an exhibition for 00:20:25.809 --> 00:20:29.690 saints. It's not a place where the righteous 00:20:29.690 --> 00:20:32.089 come to display their righteousness with the 00:20:32.089 --> 00:20:34.849 pastor or vicar or worker being the exhibition 00:20:34.849 --> 00:20:37.410 organiser or leader or the centre of the exhibit. 00:20:40.349 --> 00:20:43.029 But it's a different way. It's not like there 00:20:43.029 --> 00:20:45.069 are some people who've got the white coats on 00:20:45.069 --> 00:20:47.789 dispensing medicine and someone else who are 00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:51.599 receiving the treatment. We're all receiving 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:57.039 that. We all need that forgiveness. I'd love 00:20:57.039 --> 00:20:58.940 to tell you a little story about a bit of WhatsApp 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:01.799 from a friend, Rob. Rob came to preach here in 00:21:01.799 --> 00:21:03.660 chapel last year. He was involved with church 00:21:03.660 --> 00:21:07.779 planting on an estate in Plymouth. And it really 00:21:07.779 --> 00:21:12.740 was a place for those right on the edges. In 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:16.460 Whitley, on the edge of Plymouth, it was one 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:19.559 of those. um post -second world war where the 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:21.359 whole place had been raised because it was a 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:24.720 naval base concrete monstrosities 8 000 people 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:27.440 in this sink estate two people with meaningful 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:29.319 contact with the church you enter church plant 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:33.559 on the estate and this is one of his whatsapps 00:21:33.559 --> 00:21:35.200 a little group of people were praying for him 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:39.400 i thought it really struck me hi everyone It 00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:41.839 was a privilege to baptise more friends on Sunday, 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:44.579 plus two more people came to faith this week. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:48.079 Please pray for Jade and Jackie. Like all of 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:51.140 us, there's a road ahead of them. So we pray 00:21:51.140 --> 00:21:54.299 the seed find good soil. Jackie, three months 00:21:54.299 --> 00:21:57.079 sober, is already helping a friend of hers see 00:21:57.079 --> 00:21:59.880 who is now seven days off heroin and coming again 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:02.680 this Sunday with two kids. We've been praying 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:04.900 together over the phone. Please join me in those 00:22:04.900 --> 00:22:08.380 prayers. As a church, we're cranking up the dial 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:11.059 on freedom and changing, starting with the power 00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:14.039 of the sower. Please pray for guidance for me 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:16.920 in how and what to teach and how we as a church 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:19.960 support one another. I would hope that having 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:23.240 more openly messy lives in the middle of the 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:26.220 church encourages, capital letters, everyone 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:30.349 to see their need. But do please pray that the 00:22:30.349 --> 00:22:33.789 more sorted folk don't just focus on helping 00:22:33.789 --> 00:22:37.529 those poor, sick other people. The constant fight 00:22:37.529 --> 00:22:40.569 is against churchiness. Please pray I won't get 00:22:40.569 --> 00:22:43.089 distracted from what Jesus is doing. And please 00:22:43.089 --> 00:22:45.309 protect us all from trying to get new life to 00:22:45.309 --> 00:22:48.930 conform. I become more like us when we all need 00:22:48.930 --> 00:22:52.690 to be more like Jesus. Thank you. Isn't that 00:22:52.690 --> 00:22:56.170 right? It's in a nutshell. Goodness me, I feel 00:22:56.170 --> 00:23:01.369 in the nursery slopes for this. forgiven much, 00:23:01.509 --> 00:23:06.089 loves much. The forgiveness that we have in Christ, 00:23:06.150 --> 00:23:08.789 the forgiveness we're going to become more richly 00:23:08.789 --> 00:23:11.549 aware of over the next weeks, months, years, 00:23:11.650 --> 00:23:14.349 as our studies, with our church history classes, 00:23:14.609 --> 00:23:17.170 our doctrine classes, our biblical languages, 00:23:17.529 --> 00:23:20.289 New Testament, just part of the community life 00:23:20.289 --> 00:23:23.289 and everything else. The forgiveness that proclaims 00:23:23.289 --> 00:23:25.849 who Jesus is, the one who forgives us, is the 00:23:25.849 --> 00:23:29.640 beautiful person of Jesus Christ. And so if we 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:32.819 come to know him better, as we come to know ourselves 00:23:32.819 --> 00:23:37.700 better, we're going to realise how much. We're 00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:42.640 500 denarii and some people. And it's a prayer 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:46.000 that whatever else goes on, when we finish here, 00:23:46.019 --> 00:23:55.480 we'll love him more. Let's pray. Lord Jesus Christ, 00:23:55.660 --> 00:23:59.400 we do thank you and praise you. your uncomfortable 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:08.920 guest, but a truth -telling, loving, kind, welcoming, 00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:16.019 forgiving guest, one who calls out but also welcomes. 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:20.920 Lord, we know that in a place like this, there 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:24.019 are unique pressures. May we not experience other 00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:26.960 contexts, whether it be to be self -conscious, 00:24:28.329 --> 00:24:31.950 rather than showing unbridled devotion, but to 00:24:31.950 --> 00:24:35.670 be respectable rather than to be, like everyone 00:24:35.670 --> 00:24:40.410 else here, sick and in need of healing, sinners 00:24:40.410 --> 00:24:44.849 in need of forgiveness. So do pray by your Holy 00:24:44.849 --> 00:24:50.170 Spirit. Help us to love you more. Have you right 00:24:50.170 --> 00:24:53.430 first and foremost in our hearts and our minds. 00:24:53.750 --> 00:24:55.829 We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.