In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the story found in Luke 7:40-43 where Jesus talks about economics and debt. He uses the example of two people who owe different amounts, with 50 representing about two months of salary and 500 representing just shy of two years of labor. The speaker emphasizes that the depth of our sin and the glory of our salvation are beyond comprehension. He also criticizes the idea that giving money will result in blessings or healing, stating that the cost has already been paid through Jesus' work on the cross.

God Almighty Father we thank you and praise you for your word and we pray by the grace of your Holy Spirit that you would make that word alive in our hearts not just to hear but be changed and not just be changed but to give what you've given us to those in need. Come Lord Jesus and meet us we pray in your precious name. Amen. Good morning. You know the problem is so simple. We came here and served seven years. It's true we had a job here but the problem with you all is very simple too. We became family. So Errol and I are just so gracious grateful to be here with you to be home again and to see your faces and to feel like we just get to run home. This morning I would like to take our attention to this gospel of Luke chapter 7 and so if you've got Bibles I'd like you to attend to this passage with me. Rob asked me to take up this conversation about stewardship and I must say to you this is one of the most wonderful conversations of the Bible and although we might think of November and the planning of our vestry to look at 2014 they need to do their work I understand these things but in essence every single Sunday morning is stewardship Sunday not for you but for him. Why do I say that? Because every single Sunday we come to this table we kneel at this at this rail and we open our hands and we take that bread to us we take that cup to us and we receive the offering of our Father in his Son for the forgiveness of our sins. We now take unto us his offering to us and this is why in our worship service what's done prior to the coming to the table is we come with our offerings our tithes if you're new to the church that's in the Bible it simply means a tenth of what of what we make we come with our tithes and our offerings we come not empty-handed to give a picture of all of us as he himself gives us the picture of all of him. It is a beautiful conversation because it's a conversation about worship. It's not actually a conversation about contributing to your church not in its first order it is not biblically anyway it's about rendering of ourselves unto the Lord who has rendered himself to us and so this story is about worship and that's why I love this story I am grateful to come to this one in particular in Luke chapter 7 because it says so much about this because the Lord's interest in us first and foremost is our hearts. The beginning of the story we find Jesus invited to a Pharisees house almost inevitably if you're somebody who knows the Bible some you will know that the Pharisees tend to be the ones in the black hats and why well there's some good reason for this you'll find in Luke chapter 7 just above our passage you'll find in verse 30 that as John the Baptist preached it was the tax collectors the sinners the prostitutes those who had done wrong they had gone they had heard John's message and they went into the fire of the of the of the message so that they went down into the water to be baptized and it says here in verse 30 but the Pharisees and the scribes or the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves not having been baptized by John they rejected God's purpose and again you'll find a little while later in verse 34 that they come to summarize Jesus as one who comes eating and drinking and they say of him behold a gluttonous man a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners they began to peg him you see and so oftentimes we have this this image of the Pharisee and we hold a label to them but but Luke actually breaks that label as we come to this passage he doesn't take Simon simply as one bearing that label he actually gives the man a name his name is Simon he's a real man and he's a man trying to figure out who this Jesus is and he invites him to his house so clearly the way the passage opens he is quite he's still in process he's still wanting to know about Jesus he's he knows he's a teacher but he's trying to figure out is he a prophet what kind of man is he and so he decides to have a banquet he decides to invite his friends and oftentimes in that culture it meant meal and it meant talking part a time for debate and rigorous conversation and Jesus also does not label him he comes welcome he comes he comes gratefully into Simon's house and so Jesus to his passion is for Simon to know these things and so you have this great banquet and in the midst of it Jesus tells this story found in verses 40 to 43 where he begins to talk about economics he begins to talk about money he talks about two people who owe a great debt one person owes 50 one person owes 500 very simple concept but don't think it's like $50 or $500 in the language here at 50 would represent about two months of your salary a denarii would represent a day's work 50 days work would represent about two months of labor 500 would represent just shy of two years of labor so take your salary what do you make a year double it that's how much the 500 owed the first person 50 only owed about two months salary but get a bill for two months salary and see how that feels so they both owed a lot and neither could repay and that's part of the story here neither could repay either the smaller debt or the bigger debt the 50 or the 500 and so Jesus simply says in verse 42 this great news neither could repay but graciously this man he forgave them both he forgave them so you see economically we're talking about forgiveness being in economic terms but of course you know that am I too loud for you do you want to turn me down they can turn me down back here that's what I know and I can turn me up but anyway you see underneath this what he's saying is that is it and all of us know this all of us who are Christians know this that this blood from Calvary is the great debt paid it's the great cost of his life for us all of us know about forgiveness in financial terms and that's what's being done here is the release of a debt it's the release you're forgiven now of course undergirding that is the plain fact does not mean it simply poofs into the air it means that the one who is owed it ends up paying it you're given the benefits but the one who you owe actually pays it for you it's not that it's not paid it is that it is paid and it's paid by him and out goes this news this is the whole declaration of the Acts of the Apostles the news goes out forgiveness of sins is declared repent of them forgiveness is now available to us the cost is paid the debt is done hence the whole thrust of Calvary that's what Calvary is it's what it's always been and now the good news goes out and then Jesus asks this question the 50 the 500 who do you think is gonna love more and Simon is a bright man he's figured it out he responds back well the one who owed him more is gonna love him more and the poor guy fell into Jesus trap yes he did yes he did yes mr. 50 got the right answer yes you did because that's the whole story he's 50 he's 50 that's the whole point of this and that's not a bad thing Jesus is leading him to understand that the depth of his sin is not 50 it's 500 it's not 500 is 5 trillion it's beyond comprehension that what our Savior has done for us is beyond our comprehension but the less we know the weight of our debt the less we know the glory of our salvation yes and so here Simon is he's bothered he's troubled he's heard a wonderful story but really what's ticking him off is the woman miss 500 just entered the room she burst into the room she didn't just enter she was not invited and in the Pharisees law of lunch everything is clean hands are clean everything is clean the room is clean the house is clean there are laws of cleanliness and in burst miss virus miss 500 in she comes really like a contagion going into the body and the thing that the Pharisee normally would have done he would have risen up and he would have cast the contagion out that's what we do that's what he would have done but instead he's trying to make assessment of Jesus he's trying to figure him out and you'll find this back in verse 39 you'll see that what he's done he's not actually moved to deal with the virus not miss 500 he's not going to deal with her why because he's going to see if Jesus is really a prophet if he was a prophet he'd know about this woman she's a sinner everybody knows her she's a poor woman most likely a poor woman mainly because her reputation is known in the town everybody knows this woman now she's come bursting in miss 500 he does nothing he's waiting to see is Jesus this prophet he's testing Jesus he wants to know he's not sure he's wondering if this man is that person that he's irritated he's assessing who is this man now the thing about miss 500 she's quite something I say that because again she's not gingerly come into the story she literally is uninvited and she literally comes she's heard Jesus is there and she comes bursting she comes bursting into the into the lunch place and she goes right for Jesus feet and there she is and she begins there there to do that at his feet this this act of worship in which interesting to Jesus he never calls her sinner you know he calls her do you know what he calls her the end verse 50 he calls her woman of faith he does not put her down he raises her up he calls her woman of faith why does he call her woman of faith because she's come to love much which means if she's come to love much something happened to her before she got to lunch something happens we don't know we don't have it recorded in Scripture we don't understand it but what we do know is that what Jesus is watching is that those who are forgiven much love much and she's now burst in to love much let me see if I've got this right do you hear this listen to this she's not come to get from Jesus she's come because she's gotten from Jesus something happened to her where she knew that her debt was paid and she knew the one who paid it and she burst into worship him to fall at his feet and there we see the amazing thing in her hands please understand mr. 50 he is a law-abiding Pharisee he would be a tithing man would he not he'd be a tithing man well done him he's a tithing man but in comes this woman in comes this woman bursting into this room what does she have in her hand did you see it did you hear it in verse 37 look at your Bible stop looking at me look at your Bible as you can see I'm no longer anything to look at actually some would argue I wasn't ever but at any rate look at verse 37 what is she bearing in her hands look at what she's got she's got the most precious thing possible doesn't she this alabaster vial of oil here she is coming in with probably the most expensive thing she owns something that she sold in the marketplace would feed her would feed her family this is everything potentially everything she has she's come to offer the best she comes to offer the one who gave his best her best she does not come empty-handed we do not come empty-handed we come to give thanks for him who has done this for us and in she comes she comes she comes with the alabaster she comes with the costly perfume she comes with what's most precious to her and in she bursts and what does she do there's no water for his feet and she's weeping the tears that comes down her face comes down to wet his feet she breaks open her hair she begins to she begins to take her own hair and begins to wipe his feet to be able to begin to serve him and then she she takes that that anointing oil she breaks it over him and then she begins to kiss him and to worship him and to give praise this is the woman called woman of faith this is the woman Simon calls the 500 she's the 500 this is the kind of person she's the sinner Jesus sees her as a woman of faith and the most extraordinary piece of this passage is this moment when you find in verse 44 that Jesus turns to the woman he looks at the woman he holds the woman up and he speaks to Simon while he's looking at her his attention is on her he is receiving her offering she knows she knows the debt is paid she knows who paid the debt she's come to serve to love much and so she look he turns and he looks at her and speaks to him while looking at her to get him to see her I want you to see her miss 500 the one you call sinner I want you to see her because today in the kingdom of God her offering is accepted for her sins that were many are forgiven and she has stood here and loved much this woman teaches us everything we need to know about our relationship with the Lord we come to offer ourselves fully and completely and we bring our best not our last and our worst and our leftover we come to bring ourselves to him who gave himself for us and Jesus takes the center stage still looking at her and he says these words basic kindness basic mercy basic love when I came into your house there wasn't even someone you to wash my feet there wasn't somebody to bear a towel to even care for my feet when I came here nobody came and even gave me a kiss I came here nobody even anointed my head with oil there wasn't even an ounce of love when our Lord Jesus Christ entered the room but they're in that awful awfully hard process of discerning who is this man is he teacher is he profit is he teacher profit we need a debate we need lunch we need a debate and boom she comes in I know I know you guys talk all you want I know you're having some debate go debate but I know yet talk to yourselves work it out do your best I know he forgave me I know my debts are done I've been released no longer the name I had is the name I had the name I have I belong to him I've come to bring my best I've come to bring myself because look what he's done for me and that's where you get the mighty Psalms that sing out of the Old Testament this is where you get the song of the Israelites and they came out of the Red Sea there's praise in the people of God for the Lord has shown his mercy he has shown his kindness and that's why when the prophets that the people listening to the Lord in prayer today they came to us in the room in Rob's room and they said the Lord is speaking to us behold the lamb read it again would you read it loud behold the Lamb of God who has given us this mercy behold the Lamb bow before him and receive his mercy receive his love receive his forgiveness from the prophetic team this morning yeah so so this is what she's done she's beholding the Lamb of God this is not just prophet this is not just teacher this is Lamb of God before the Lamb of God did the work of the Lamb of God you got that before he actually did the work of paying the debt she already knows and she's already free because she she received what he had and he gave it to her and that's why that's why I know you've heard really bad teaching on the television sets for like 30 years I mean at 40 years or however long there's been marketing in the church brothers and sisters if you just give God's gonna bless you he's gonna pour the heavens down if you just give healings gonna happen if you give have you heard it have you heard it it's bad teaching it's wrong it knows nothing of the Bible why we don't give to get we give because we've gotten yeah I mean it's no it's all backwards it's are you kidding me I don't I don't give to get blessed I give because I've been blessed by the Lord look what he's done for us look what he look what he did on Calvary's Hill for us look look what he's poured out for us we come to worship him we go to his feet we behold the Lamb of God we pour out what he's given to us the healthy church is the missional church the missional church is the church that has received his blessing and give as much as he's given to us if he's forgiven us we forgive if there are people you've not forgiven my friends come get today kneel at this altar say your prayers repent of your sins because he wants to break those holds in our life so that what he gives us we can give and in giving we receive the greatest blessing of all we get to worship the Lord together that's what we get to do when you come with your tithes and offerings you are not contributing to the church in September there was a period that we went through at All Saints called September Grace and there are times in our churches that we need to ask the people to contribute to the church those offerings are are right and holy and before God but our tithes and our offerings are different in their in their source they are not there to contribute to the needs of the church they are there as an act of worship before God when you come to bring your offering when you bring your tithes and offerings into the church this represents my best my all the Lord gave it to us from the days of Abraham on from the days of Genesis 14 on the days of Melchizedek the days of Jacob the days of the law we come to bring our tithes and offering as an act of worship to God it's not just it's not because the church has a vision it's not because the church has a budget all these things are true it's none of those things we bring them into the church because we're we're worshiping God from the very beginning when I started ministry I made a commitment I made a commitment I've never ever let go of and Dale shared this is with you this morning I praise God it's here today in our church and in every church I've had the pleasure of serving I have had that that that very clear rule I don't know what people give I don't know what people give that's sacred between them and the Lord that's an act of worship between them and the Lord do you see that it's an act of worship before God the problem I found in some of my colleagues as I was growing in ministry back in especially the early days is that they would know and mr. mr. very well see or mrs. very well see would fall in the hospital at 2 in the morning and mr. mr. clergy would be there no but but but but mr. can't give anything because he's a old stubborn he falls in the hospital 2 in the morning and I'm like I'll get it in the morning you know I mean I'll figure that out when it comes time that's in the Bible's called the sin of partiality it's called the sin of partiality we do not do that all of us stand at the level ground of the cross always how many of you know that those who give much may not be giving their heart how many of you know those who don't give anything maybe giving their all how do you know how do you know these things our job is to say this requires our heart this exchange this thing that happens at this altar rail this bread this wine it requires our best and that's why as we're praying these things both at our church and here when we pray for the team the vestry to make up the 2014 budget you all have to say your prayers but be diligent with it do not be those kinds of people who set aside the last who set aside the little bits that are left over be those who pray intentionally Lord what do I come to worship you with what is it that represents me us as a family that's what we're coming with isn't it we're coming to say Lord this is an act of worship and the Thanksgiving to you to what you've done for us we're coming we're coming not begrudgingly Oh Lord have mercy it's stewardship Sunday and I know churches where it's just that it's grudging of course it's grudging it's all about money this is not about money this is about the Lord this is about worship this is about what he's done for us and let me tell you something let me tell you something from his perspective he gave us his son he gave us his best and when you know that and receive that and know that you're free if you're a 50 you won't care that much but if you're a 500 then you're going to know Lord thank you for what you've done for me all I can say is help me to receive and help me then go be an ambassador of that forgiveness and of that kindness into that mercy to everyone I meet I love that in first Peter he doesn't say he doesn't say go love the people who are obedient according to your standards he doesn't he tells us to go love as we've been loved go be kind as he's been kind go show mercy as you've been shown mercy and we get to go do that that's the joy of being a Christian that's the joy of what it was like to be this woman and therefore our Lord Jesus Christ takes this woman the reputable sinner and holds her up for all time and says behold the woman her heart is set free and so I pronounce indeed your sins are forgiven dear friends go in peace to love and serve the Lord there is freedom here if you know the depth of your sin the Lamb of God has come to set us free and if he has then I've got one thing to say to you and then I'm done listen it's two words listen love let us now pray for the