Category Archives: John

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Access Denied—Access Granted

Being With Jesus:
John 2:17 (NLT)

“His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”

I have always enjoyed this story of Jesus cleansing the temple. I love the robust image it paints of him. It stands in stark contrast to most of the historical paintings as well as the more recent images we get from the portrayal of Jesus by filmmakers. For some reason, artists from the Renaissance on up to this very day have given us a feminized Jesus—soft, tender, doe-eyed, almost porcelain-like.

That is not the Jesus of John 2:13-16!

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”

Jesus doesn’t appear all that soft in this encounter, does he? As a matter of fact, he opened up a can of comeuppance on these merchants of religion, and no one dared stop him. Go down to your local Saturday Market and do that, and see what happens. People typically don’t take too kindly to having their economic systems so abruptly disrupted.

Jesus was different. He was right—and people knew it. His anger was one of righteous indignation and holy zeal for the House of the Lord. So why was he so angry? Was it simply because these merchants had ruined Jesus’ preferred way of experiencing worship at the temple? I don’t think that was really it.

No, Jesus was upset because at the end of the day, enabled by a religious system that had grown corrupt and with the full support of a self-serving priesthood, these merchants had made it more difficult for worshipers to come and freely experience the love, acceptance and forgiveness of their Heavenly Father. The drift in temple worship had been to restrict access of people seeking God, whereas everything Jesus stood for and did—his miracles, his teaching and ultimately his death—was to open up a “new and living way” into the very throne room of God. If you want to get Jesus mad, just make it hard for people to find his Father.

Everything Jesus stood for and did—his miracles, his teaching and ultimately his death—was to open up a “new and living way” into the very throne room of God.

In this case, a house cleaning of the strongest order was long overdue, and if the worshippers present that day didn’t overtly cheer him on, they were secretly applauding on the inside.

Now as much as we enjoy this story, it really is incomplete if we don’t fast-forward to our time and ask how Jesus would respond if he walked into our church today. How much more zeal would Jesus have for his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit—that is, the church? How much more holy fire and righteous indignation would he display for that which he suffered and died to redeem? How much more upset would he be that the new community of grace—the New Testament church—had denied access to seekers by the very activities, programs and systems it claims will attract them?

In the new economy of the Kingdom of God, the church has replaced the temple as the dwelling place of God in the earth. Of course, that refers more to a people than a place—and yet both are the church. What would Jesus see in your church—in you, in your brothers and sisters in the local community of Christ, and in the activities that take place in your church building?

I have a sense that each—both people of worship and places of worship—are due for a little divine house cleaning. How about we get started before the Lord of the church has to show up and do it for us! And if nothing else, let’s eliminate anything that in effect, communicates “access denied” to people desperately needing to experience the presence of God.

“Learn to break your own will. Be zealous against yourself.” (Thomas A` Kempis)

Getting To Know Jesus: Is there zeal—a fire in your bones—for God’s house? If not, rethink your attitude and repurpose your energies toward the place where you worship. And not only the physical house in which God’s people gather, but also in the spiritual house made up of his redeemed children—the Body of Christ. Examine your attitudes for the world-wide church of Christ. And one more thing: How about your physical body? God’s Spirit dwells there, too. Is the way you treat it God honoring? Change the way you treat God’s house so that it will be said of you, “zeal for your house consumes me.”

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Under The Radar Miracles

Being With Jesus:
John 2: 7-10 (NLT)

Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the Bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”

It was his first recorded miracle—and even then, Jesus was reluctant to perform it. It was not yet time to launch his public ministry as Messiah of Israel, but he was at a wedding with his family and the wine was running low. The event planner was in a panic, so Jesus’ mother said, “No worries, my son will take care of it.” Thanks, mom! So Jesus turned water that was being stored in several thirty-gallon jars nearby into the best wine the world has ever tasted, before and since.

Of the many things that could be discussed from this water-into-wine miracle, one of the facets that stands out the most to me is how understated Jesus was in performing this miracle. When the great tasting wine was discovered, neither the master-of-ceremonies nor the happy partygoers knew where it came from. Only those who brought the water jugs to Jesus knew that he had transformed the liquid. And Jesus wanted it that way.

In fact, that seemed to be the way Jesus performed most of his miracles. He never made a big deal out of them, other than to draw praise to his Father. He never made a spectacle of his divine powers. He never showcased the miracles’ recipient like a zoo exhibit. Jesus’ miracles, you might say, were under the radar.

Yet there is no way to keep an authentic miracle under wraps—not for very long anyway. Sooner or later, the power of God breaks containment, and word gets out. Maybe that is why Jesus handled miracles the way he did—he let the miracles do the talking.

God doesn’t get all the glory when we grab some of it for ourselves!

Unfortunately, too many spiritual leaders today who have been used in the miraculous don’t follow Jesus’ lead. The bigger the miracle, the quicker the press conference or the book deal or the fund-raising letter! Now to be fair, if I turned water-into-wine, or raised someone from the dead, or performed some other sensational miracle, I’m afraid I, too, would head right to the local Christian network to tout what God had done through me. That is too bad! God doesn’t get all the glory when we grab some of it for ourselves.

Maybe we would see more supernatural displays of God’s power in our culture if we would commit to allowing the miracles to speak for themselves—and to fiercely make sure that all the glory goes to God when he graces us with one.

“That is what gives Him the greatest glory—the achieving of great things through the weakest and most improbable means.” (Thomas Merton)

Getting To Know Jesus: In The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen wrote, “To live and work for the glory of God cannot remain an idea about which we think once in a while. It must become an interior, unceasing doxology.” Spend some time today—and make it a practice every day—thinking of how to give God glory through your life.

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Exerting Eternal Influence

Being With Jesus:
John 1:40-42

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus.

I would argue that Andrew is the most inspiring and important figure in the New Testament because of his simple, non-threatening, doable example of bringing lost people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The cumulative effect, compounded through history, of his simple but winsome witness ranks him among the greatest in terms of exerting eternal influence.

Andrew didn’t have any special skills or advanced evangelism training, he just simply brought people to meet Jesus, and then let Jesus do the rest.

Even though Andrew was the first disciple Jesus enlisted, and even though he was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, he never achieved the fame that his brother Peter did. Jesus’ never included Andrew in his inner circle, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there at the Transfiguration, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gesthemane, like Peter. Andrew never preached like Peter, never wrote a letter that got included in the New Testament, like Peter, and was never recognized as a key leader in the early church, like James.

Peter’s name appears close to 200 times in the New Testament, 96 times in the four gospels—only Jesus is mentioned more often. We find Andrew in only 11 different places, 10 of them in the Gospels—mostly in a list of the disciples; 5 as “Peter’s brother.” Only 3 times do these passages tell us any details about Andrew—and even that is minimal. Someone once asked a conductor what the most difficult instrument to play in the orchestra was. He said, “second fiddle.” That was Andrew!

Yet beneath everybody’s radar, Andrew was being used in the most powerful way of all—to bring people to Christ. Andrew not only brought Peter to Jesus, but in John 6:8, we find it was Andrew who brought the boy with the loaves and fish to Jesus, and then one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible took place: The feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. On account of Andrew, we have a story preserved that has helped millions to understand that Jesus is the true and only Bread of Life. Then in John 12:20, some Greeks came to Philip and said, “we want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew, and what did Andrew do? He hooked them up with Jesus.

Andrew became both the first home missionary—when he led Peter to Christ, and the first foreign missionary—when he led these Gentiles to Jesus.

In Andrew, you don’t find any special skills or an incredibly charismatic personality, or an extremely articulate speaker. You just find a guy who was faithful, available, and useful. He just kept bringing everybody who got near him to Jesus.

Tradition tells us that Andrew just kept on introducing people to Jesus for the rest of his life. He was finally put to death at a ripe old age in Greece. His death came after he befriended Maximilla, the wife of the Roman proconsul Aegeas, and led her to faith in Christ. Aegeas became so enraged over this that he ordered Andrew to offer sacrifices to a heathen god. When Andrew refused, he was severely beaten, tied to a cross, and crucified. That cross, shaped like an X is today called St. Andrew’s cross. It is said that he lingered for two whole days before dying, but the whole painful time, he preached the Gospel to everyone who came by. Andrew never stopped introducing people to Jesus, even to his last breath.

Every time Andrew is mentioned, he’s bringing someone to Jesus—then Jesus does the rest, and lives get transformed. His single talent seems to have been leveraging his earthly relationships to introduce seekers to eternal life through Christ. He doesn’t lay the “Four Spiritual Laws” on people; he doesn’t whip out a “Roman Road” tract on them. He just says, “hey, come with me, I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

A watershed moment in our spiritual experience occurs when we come to the realization that the Christian life is not foremost about us, it’s about God—and fulfilling his purposes through our lives. And at the present, God’s greatest purpose for you and me, arguably, is reaching our world with the Good News. A Christ-followers, we were made for that mission—to serve as ambassadors of Christ. Is there a more critical use of our lives that this? No! Act 20:24 declares, “The most important thing is that I complete my mission…to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.” The wisest and best use of your one and only life is to leverage your time, talent and treasure to engage and influence people to place saving faith in Jesus Christ.

That’s exerting eternal influence, which is as simple as inviting family, friends and acquaintances into your spiritual environment—your church, your small group, your ministry team—and letting God do the rest.

“The greatest expression of love is to share with them the most precious thing a Christian has, which is the good news of the salvation of Jesus Christ.” (Brother Andrew)

Getting To Know Jesus: Following Andrew’s example, exert some eternal influence this week by bringing someone to church with you.

 

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Grace and Truth

Being With Jesus:
John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

There is a cute story about a family who brought their newborn daughter home from the hospital for the first time. The mom was a little concerned how the baby’s 4-year-old sister—who had been the only child to that point—would handle this new addition to the family. So mom and dad instructed “big sister” that she could be around the baby only when they were there, and that she had to be very loving and very gentle.

It wasn’t long after that mom walked by the baby’s room only to discover the sister hovering over the crib. Mom was alarmed, so she snuck up behind the little girl to see what was going on, and noticed she was gently stroking the baby’s hair with her hand and whispering, “Baby, can you tell me what God is like…I’ve forgotten.”

That’s one of the deepest cries of the human heart—to know what God is like.

Bible teacher R.C. Sproul was once asked, “What, in your opinion, is the greatest need in the world today?” His answer was that people needed “to discover the identity of God.” He was then asked, “What is the greatest spiritual need in the lives of church people?” His answer was much the same: “To discover the true identity of God. If believers really understood the character and the personality of God, it would revolutionize their lives.”

If believers really understood the character and the personality of God, it would revolutionize their lives.

The good news is, God has made himself knowable. He is not some unapproachable deity way out there in a galaxy far, far away. He is the God who is there, who is near, and who will reveal himself to those who long to know him.

Jesus, the one who knew the heart and nature of God better than anyone, taught us in the opening line of the Lord’s prayer to approach God as “Our Father in heaven”, which literally means, “Our Father, who is as close as the air we breathe.” Moses exclaimed in Deuteronomy 4:7. “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”

What does God want us to know? He is near and he is knowable, that’s what. Furthermore, he has made himself knowable in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And what do we know of God through Jesus? Primarily that God is the perfect blend of grace and truth!

Grace and truth is what Jesus perfectly modeled. Remember Jesus’s interaction in John 8 with the woman caught in the act of adultery who was about to be stoned? After embarrassing her executioners into inaction, he gently asked this guilty woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”

She replied, “No one, Sir.”

At that, Jesus offered these grace-truth words that would utterly right this sinner’s upside-down life: “Then I don’t either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

“Becoming a Christian—not just in name only, but placing life-altering, radical trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior—is predicated upon forgiveness. God’s forgiveness of our sins is the pivot point of authentic faith. When we accept Jesus, Jesus accepts us—just as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are. Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge that sin by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously and forever forgives it. That’s why, when you read the Gospels, prostitutes, publicans, and other big-time sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them—and still is! What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: God’s forgiveness! And when you meet Jesus, you meet God’s full forgiveness—given freely but costing you a changed life.”

Behind this amazing display of grace and truth, as Walter Trobisch said, what we find is that Jesus “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, totally, graciously and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand new chance at life.

Jesus accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are!

Only grace and truth can do that for sinners.

Perhaps that is why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them—and still is! What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: A whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace!

And when you meet Jesus, you meet God. And when you meet God, you get a whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace—and it completely revolutionizes your life.

“Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God; the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.” (C.S. Lewis)

Getting To Know Jesus: Along with today’s Scripture memory, take some time to memorize and meditate on another important verse: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)

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An Unbelievable Invitation

Being With Jesus:
John 1:12

Yet to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God.

What an unbelievable invitation the Apostle John is speaking about! Anyone who personally accepts Christ as Lord and Savior is granted the privilege of becoming a child of God—including all the authority and benefits of being fully included in God’s family. Now that is an invitation to which no other compares!

Because of statements like that the Gospel of John is, arguably, the best loved of the four Gospels. John speaks from a closeness to Jesus that few have ever experienced—and it leaks through every line in his account of Jesus. There are more memorable verses in this Gospel than the others—John 3:16 for instance, the entire Bible in summed up in just one verse. Each chapter inexorable draws the truly interested and open-hearted seeker to desire Jesus more and more. It’s no wonder people love John’s clear and compelling story.

And what John is describing in this stunning invitation is nothing less than unfathomably profound! Think about the One who is really making this offer: It is none other than the eternal and exalted Christ himself. John describes him in the most eternal and lofty language possible in the opening lines of chapter one. Let me offer you this paraphrase (from the Living Bible) of how John sees Jesus:

“Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (John 1:1-3)

It was God himself, in the person of Jesus, who came into a world he created—a world that for the most part, not only missed the true consequence of his arrival, but actively rejected it: “But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him” (John 1:10-12)

But here is the good news—and it is the best news you will hear today, or any day hereafter for that matter: “But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them.” (John 1:12b)

What that means is that if you are trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior (the only one who can forgive you and cleanse you from your sins), and have personally invited him to be the Lord of your life (the one to whom you have turned over control of your moment-by-moment life), then you have been given the right (authority given by God himself) to be made right with him, brought into his eternal family, given the gift of eternal life (John 3:16) and given the opportunity to walk in intimate relationship each and every day with the very Agent of Creation (the One who spoke everything into existence by his own breath for his eternal purpose).

Wow! You matter to God that much; you are that important to him!

You have been invited into a close, personal fellowship with Jesus—the Creator of the universe. If you can begin to fathom what that means, it will absolutely blow you mind, in the best sense of the phrase.

The right to become a child of God—now that is an unbelievable invitation! I hope you will believe it—and live like God’s true children are meant to live.

“God’s desire is to not only have you experience His love, but to totally overwhelm you with His love. To have you experience it to overflowing. To have you sense, feel, taste, and touch His love for you. He really wants you to experience Him!” (Linda Boone, Intimate Life Lessons)

Getting To Know Jesus: Memorize John 1:12 in your favorite version. Each day this week, list a benefit of being a true child of God and throughout the day, declare that to be true of you.

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Being With Jesus

Being With Jesus:
John 17:3

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

More than anything, we were created for an intimate relationship with God. Now there are certainly other things that will please God and bring glory to him through our lives, but nothing is more honoring to the Creator than to walk in a close, personal and loving relationship with him.

According to the Bible, the only way that gets expressed is by knowing Jesus: by being in an all-consuming, life-altering journey that comes from persistently hanging out with Jesus as his devotee. In fact, the Apostle John, the one who knew and loved Jesus as much as any human being ever, said this was, in itself, eternal life.

Acts 4:13 shows us the inevitable outcome of being in that kind of intimate, persistent, loving relationship: “When the Jewish council saw Peter and John’s courage and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Peter and John had simply “been with Jesus” until they looked and acted increasingly like him—they had assumed his mindset, absorbed his characteristics and expressed his behavior. They had hung out so closely in such an intense way with Jesus that they had absorbed him to the point of now exuding him without even thinking about it. They had not only been transformed through their relationship, they had been conformed to that relationship! They had been changed by Christ.  But changed into what?  Into “little Christs”!

That is what you and I were created to experience: A relationship with Jesus whereby his life gets transmitted to us, and through us, so that we begin to transmit the infectious DNA of Jesus Christ.

You may not have a religious pedigree or be well-versed in theology. You may not be naturally winsome, or articulate, or even all that likeable. Your “cool factor” may be pretty much non-existent. Maybe you lack more than you have. That doesn’t matter! What you do have trumps all you don’t have: You have every possibility that Peter and John had to “be with Jesus”.

That is the greatest goal you can have—that at the end of the day, the only thing people can do with you is to take note that you have been with Jesus. They may not like you or be impressed with you and they may wish you would just go away. But when it is all said and done, all they can do with you is to admit, “obviously, you have been hanging with Jesus!”

Make that your goal today. And then start hanging with Jesus. Pure and simple—that is eternal life!

You were made for that! The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, “From the beginning God decided that those who came to Him should become like His Son.” That is God’s inexorable plan: to make you like Jesus! He is orchestrating everything in your life right now for that purpose—circumstances, disappointments, temptations, opportunities, blessings. At this very moment, God is leveraging heaven’s resources to conform your character to Christ’s. That ought to give you confidence. As A.W. Tozer noted, “When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.”

So your journey into Christlikeness is not all up to you! God is rearranging heaven and moving earth to give you opportunity to be with Jesus—and to become like Jesus.

Yet divine transformation needs human collaboration. In a way, being with Jesus is on you! It is not just a mindset or a good intention. It is an intentional posture. As much as anything, to get intentional with your growth toward Christlikeness will require of you the daily practice of being with Jesus.

Divine transformation requires human collaboration!

I would simply suggest that each day—and throughout the day—you literally invite Jesus to join you in what is in front of you. Literally ask Jesus, “How would you handle this situation? What do you think about this opportunity? What should I do about this challenge? How would you respond to this person?” Just practice being with Jesus in the ordinary moments of your daily life.

To get practical with this, think about it this way: If you were to literally spend time with Jesus, what three attributes, attitudes and or actions would you witness in him?

For me, when I think of what Jesus would be doing in any of his ordinary days, one, he would be unbendingly truthful yet incredibly gracious with people; two, he would serve people—especially those we would consider the least worthy of his service; and three, even when he was treated unfairly, he would never retaliate; he would only offer love and grace in return.

Gracious, serving, forgiving—there are thousands of descriptives I could come up with—you too. So take a moment and write down the first three qualities of Jesus that come to your mind. Then your assignment this week will be to intentionally hang out with Jesus, consciously and consistently doing those three things you believe Jesus would do. Give that your best shot, and most likely, you will look a little more like Christ by this time next week!

And maybe people will take note that you have been with Jesus.

“‘Putting on Christ’…is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity. Christianity offers nothing else at all.” (C.S. Lewis)

Getting To Know Jesus: There are some spiritual disciplines that are obvious and essential to being with and becoming like Jesus: Consistent quiet times, Bible reading, Scripture memory, prayer, church attend-ance. I can’t encourage you enough to commit to those spiritual routines! One of the things I will be doing in 2015—and I would like to invite you to join me—is to read through the writings of the Apostle John, the one who knew and loved Jesus as much as anyone. So start with me on January 1 in the Gospel of John, and let the journey toward Christlikeness begin. Here is the link to the Bible reading plan I will be using. Enjoy the journey!

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Here Is God

Reflect:
John 1:14

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

There is a cute story told of a family who brought their newborn daughter home from the hospital for the first time. The mom was a little concerned how the baby’s 4-year-old sister—who had been the only child to that point—would handle this new addition to the family. So mom and dad instructed “big sister” that she could be around the baby only when they were there, and that she had to be very loving and very gentle. It wasn’t long after that mom walked by the baby’s room only to discover the sister hovering over the crib. Mom was alarmed, so she snuck up behind the little girl to see what was going on, and noticed she was gently stroking the baby’s hair with her hand and whispering, “Baby, can you tell me what God is like…I’ve forgotten.”

That’s one of the deepest cries of the human heart—to know what God is like.

Bible teacher R.C. Sproul was once asked, “What, in your opinion, is the greatest need in the world today?” His answer was that people needed “to discover the identity of God.” He was then asked, “What is the greatest spiritual need in the lives of church people?” His answer was much the same: “To discover the true identity of God. If believers really understood the character and the personality of God, it would revolutionize their lives.”

The good news is, God has made himself knowable. He is not some unapproachable deity way out there in a galaxy far, far away. He is the God who is there, who is near, and who will reveal himself to those who long to know him.

Jesus, the one who knew the heart and nature of God better than anyone, taught us in the opening line of the Lord’s prayer to approach God as “Our Father in heaven”, which literally means, “Our Father, who is as close as the air we breathe.” Moses exclaimed in Deuteronomy 4:7. “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”

What does God want us to know? He is near and he is knowable, that’s what. Furthermore, he has made himself knowable in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And what do we know of God through Jesus? Primarily that God is the perfect blend of grace and truth!

Grace and truth is what Jesus perfectly modeled. Remember Jesus’s interaction in John 8 with the woman caught in the act of adultery who was about to be stoned? After embarrassing her executioners into inaction, he gently asked this guilty woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”

She replied, “No one, Sir.”

At that, Jesus offered these grace-truth words that would utterly right this sinner’s upside-down life: “Then I don’t either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Behind this amazing display of grace and truth, as Walter Trobisch said, what we find is that Jesus “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, totally, graciously and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand new chance at life. Only grace and truth can do that for sinners.

Perhaps that is why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them—and still is! What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: A whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace!

And when you meet Jesus, you meet God. And when you meet God, you get a whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace—and it completely revolutionizes your life.

“Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God; the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.” ~C.S. Lewis

Reflect and Apply: Along with today’s Scripture memory, take some time to memorize and meditate on another important verse: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)