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During his time on earth, Jesus shared many meals, with a wide variety of dinner guests-tax collectors, religious leaders, skeptics, prostitutes, fishermen... Just as Jesus reveals his character through the words he spoke and the miracles he performed, he shows himself through the meals he shared and the people he sat across from. ___________________________________________________________________________

Hey church family, I want to welcome you as we come together for worship - wherever you are and however you may be joining us. Whether you're here with us in our Worship Center, watching from outdoors on our patio, or joining us online. It’s good to have you with us.

I wonder how many of you have been watching the Olympics over this past week? It’s been fascinating to watch the best athletes in all kinds of different disciplines, come together to compete on the world stage. To me, it’s also fascinating to see how the different events, in which they compete, can capture the attention of so many people. People who in all likelihood, pay no attention at all to those same events during the four years, between each of the Olympics, but then, because these events are included as part of the Olympic games, they will stay riveted to the screen to see who the winner is when it comes to things like Synchronized Swimming or 3-on-3 Basketball or the Canoe Slalom.

If I were to ask you, “Who is the Greatest Olympian of all time?” The answer is probably something on which most people can agree. It would be Michael Phelps. Clearly the most decorated of all Olympians having won a total of 28 medals - - 23 of them Gold. No one else even comes close. That’s the great thing about the Olympics. With Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, to differentiate their achievements. . . You know who the greatest is in every event. But, if you move away from the Olympics to other athletic endeavors - - well, then it’s tougher to get agreement - - on that question of - - - Who is the G.O.A.T.? For example, “Who is the greatest basketball player of all time?”

It depends who you ask “Who is the greatest baseball player?” Again, which era? Modern-Day or All-Time? With steroids or without? The greatest football player? What position?

Jesus was once asked, within all the commandments that God has given, which one of them was the greatest. He didn’t have to think long before giving an answer to that question, and we’ll see how his answer to that question plays into what we’re looking at today as we continue our series called: “Meals With Jesus”

And the reason we’re calling this series - “Meals With Jesus” – is because what we’re looking at in this series are “Meals With Jesus” Specifically several of the “Meals With Jesus” that are recorded for us in Luke’s gospel. If you’ve read through the gospels, you know that Meals were an important part of Jesus' ministry, and if you read through the gospels, you’ll also see that a term that Jesus repeatedly used often to describe himself, was the term “Son of Man”

In Luke 19:10, He tells us that . . . “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

In Mark 10:45, he said . . . “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

And in Luke 7:34, He tells us that . . . “The Son of Man came eating and drinking…”

The first two, “To seek and to save” and “To serve not to be served”, to us may seem a little more lofty, a little more noble, than the third. Somehow, the idea that “The Son Of Man came eating and drinking seems a little more mundane, but the truth is you learn a lot about a person, and get really get to know them when you share a meal with them, and that’s why we’re looking at these meals with Jesus.

Today’s meal is a dinner that he attended in the home of one of the religious leaders of his day a Pharisee named Simon. You’ll find the story in Luke chapter 7, verses 36-50. So if you’re got your Bible or your Bible app, let me encourage you to turn there now.

In Luke 7, beginning in verse 36 we read that, "One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat."

Why had this Pharisee, this religious leader invited Jesus into his home for this meal? We’re not told. We know that Jesus was a popular rabbi, who when he spoke could gather a crowd. So maybe Simon the Pharisee wanted to hear him for himself. More likely. it relates to something we’re told a few verses before the beginning of this incident. Back in Luke chapter 6 and verse 7, we're told that "The Pharisees..." which again, was the group of which Simon was a member, “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely. . .”

Maybe Simon wanted to trap Jesus, or maybe he just wanted to hear him for himself. We don’t know. What we do know is that "when a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume."

When the Bible describes this unexpected guest as a “certain immoral woman” – that is simply a kinder and gentler way of saying that she was “a prostitute.” Also, what's implied here is that this isn't the first time that this woman has heard or seen Jesus. Somehow she learned that Jesus was going to be there, and so she prepared this gift, this alabaster jar of expensive perfume. She brings this gift to this dinner party, and she essentially crashes the party, because this is her opportunity to give this gift to Jesus.

Maybe she had heard, as Pastor Andrew shared with us last week from Luke five, that Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors Maybe she knew Jesus had a reputation for welcoming those that no one else would welcome. Maybe she had heard him teach on the prodigal son and realized that God’s arms are always wide open to the runaway who wants to turn to him. Verse 38 tells us that this woman "knelt behind (Jesus) at his feet, weeping..."

By the way, when it says that she knelt behind Jesus, it helps to understand how banquets were served at that time. They were most often served not at a table, where we would dine today, but instead around something called a TRICLINIUM. Tri meaning three sides, Klein meaning to recline. And so you would come into the banquet and instead of sitting in a chair, you would kind of recline. You would lay up on one elbow, so you could eat and talk to the people next to you, and the servants could come in the middle and serve or come around, you and serve from behind you.

And so Jesus is at this table, and his feet are kind of out behind him. That's kind of important to the story, right? So this woman has “. . . knelt behind (Jesus) at his feet, weeping… Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.”

“When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!’”

And it’s here we’re given some insight into the spiritual problem that Simon had. He could clearly see that this woman was a “sinner”. What he was blind to was the fact that he too was a “sinner”. And Jesus is about to tell him a story, to help him to see the thing that to which he was blind. But before we get to that story, I want you to notice something, and what I want you to notice is that this Pharisee felt like he was a man of judgment, a man of discernment. He sized up the situation, and he concluded that if in fact, Jesus was a prophet, which is what many people were saying he was, well, then, of course, he would “know” what kind of woman it was who was touching him.

The next verse tells us that Jesus “answered” Simon, and that’s significant because Jesus answered not Simon’s words, because he hadn’t said anything, but instead his “thoughts”. Simon is about to discover that whether or not Jesus “knew” what this woman had been “doing” – he clearly “knew” what Simon had been thinking.

Verse 40: “Then Jesus answered [Simon’s] thoughts. ‘Simon,’ he said to the Pharisee, ‘I have something to say to you.’ ‘Go ahead, Teacher,’ Simon replied”

Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

“Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.’ ‘That’s right,’ Jesus said.

Now, in trying to figure out who is who, in this parable let’s start with the moneylender. Who do you think the money lender is, to whom both of the characters, in the parable owed a debt they couldn’t pay? If you answered, God – you’re right. Each of us, like each of the debtors in Jesus’ story, owes a sin debt to God, and each of us is bankrupt, as it relates to our ability to pay.

The two debtors in the parable are the prostitute, the woman who is anointing Jesus’ feet, and the Pharisee, Simon. And the point of the parable is that the greater a debt that we realize that we owe to God.

The greater our love for Him will be when we realize how much he had to forgive when he forgave us. The prostitute had no problem in realizing the enormity of her sin debt. Simon the Pharisee? His was another story. Although he owed God a debt that was just as unpayable as this woman’s was, Simon, because of his self-righteousness, was blind to his need for God’s grace and forgiveness.

Take a look at verse 44. There we read that "Then (Jesus) turned to the woman, and said to Simon, ‘Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.’"

“You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.”

This encounter concludes with Jesus saying to Simon, "‘I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only a little love.’"

The point here is that:

MUCH FORGIVENESS = MUCH LOVE

LITTLE FORGIVENESS = LITTLE LOVE

Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” (Luke 7:47-48) “The men at the table said among themselves, ‘Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?’ And Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”

How could Jesus say to this woman, “Your sins are forgiven”? How could He say to her “Your faith has saved you?” What had she done in order to put in a position to receive those words from Him? And what do we have to do, today, 2,000 years later, in order to hear those same words from Him said to us?

Well, the answer to that question is, what we have to do, is the same thing that she did. How do we activate God’s forgiveness? In order to do that, three things have to happen.

1. We have to recognize that we’re SINNERS

That’s the starting point. Recognize that God is perfect and holy, and we’re not. Recognize that He has set a standard for what it means to live rightly, and we can’t meet that standard. If we’re honest, I think most of us would admit that we can’t consistently live up to our own standards, that we set for ourselves, but less God’s standard. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all fallen short of God’s standard.

Number two, when it comes to the sin debt that we owe to God.

2. We have to realize that we’re BANKRUPT

Regardless of which character in the story that Jesus told… The debtor who owed a debt of 50 pieces of silver, or the debtor who owed a debt of 500 pieces of silver we more easily identify with, it doesn’t matter. The bottom line is we don’t have the means to repay and settle the debt that we owe. And no amount of religious activity, no amount of personal resolve, or good works can ever make up for the debt that we owe.

And that leads us to the third thing that we have to do which is to

3. We have to rely on Jesus as our only HOPE

You can’t pay the sin debt that I owe to God, because you’ve got a debt of your own, and I can’t pay the sin debt that you owe, because I have a debt of my own. Only someone who was perfect - - only someone who did not have a sin debt, because he never sinned could pay our debt for us, and that’s what Jesus did at the cross - - when he died there - - when he accepted the punishment upon himself that we deserve.

And my question for you today is have you done that? Have you recognized that you’re a sinner? Have you realized that your sin problem is one that you don’t have the ability to solve because when it comes to the sin debt that you owe, you’re bankrupt? Have you looked to Jesus as your only hope?

If you’ve never done that, I hope that you’ll seriously consider doing that today, because there’s no other way to activate the forgiveness of God than this. It’s only through Jesus. “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Now turning back to our story, what I want to make sure you don’t miss is what I believe to be the main point. And to see that, I want you to look again at Jesus’ words in verse 47, and I want you to notice the relationship between God’s forgiveness toward us, and our love for him. We saw that in Luke 7:47, it’s there that we saw that: Much Forgiveness = Much Love, Little Forgiveness = Little Love.

I asked you to think earlier about “The Greatest Of All Time” The Greatest Olympian of All Time The Greatest Athlete of All Time and I mentioned to you, that whereas those questions might be too many questions that are up for debate, when Jesus was asked "What’s the GREATEST COMMANDMENT of all time?", He didn’t have to think long at all before giving an answer.

Matthew 22:35-38 says, “One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

The greatest commandment is to LOVE God. What Jesus quotes here in Matthew 22 is what would have been the best-known passage to all of the Jewish people. It comes from Deuteronomy chapter 6 says, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord your God is one.” The next verse says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might.”

By the way, this greatest commandment that Jesus talks about teaches us something very important about God. It teaches us that God is a personal being, not just some inanimate cosmic force The reason I say that is because you can’t fall in love with an inanimate force. You can only fall in love with a person. All of which begs the question: as a follower of Jesus Christ, how much do you and I really love Jesus?

That’s the question I want you to consider. You say, “Well, that’s a good question. But how could I possibly answer that? How could you possibly quantify that and come up with a grade for myself?”

Well, we’re going to take a little test to answer that and you can grade yourself on a scale of 1 -10. I want to share with you five characteristics of how people act when they love someone. I’ll walk you through the five of them and then I’ll ask you to grade yourself from 1 to 10. Ten means you’re absolutely perfect, you could not be better. One means you couldn’t be worse.

Number one, when you love someone. . .

1. You long to be with them

Think for a moment about young couples who are in love. Are they satisfied if they only get to be together every other Wednesday evening? No, Why? Because when you love someone, you want to be with them every moment of every day. Well, God reveals Himself to us in the Word of God, in prayer, in meditation. We can tell, number one, how much we love God by how much we yearn to spend time with God in prayer, in studying His Word, in spiritual meditation. Grade yourself on that. How did you do, from one to ten?

Number two, when you love someone. . .

2. You want to please them

For example, gentlemen, when it comes to our girlfriends, to our fiancées, or to our wives, you know what we do. We try to learn what their favorite restaurant is, what their favorite leisure activity is, what their favorite vacation spot is. We try to do what we can to help out around the house. We try to remember anniversaries and birthdays and Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, the day we went on our first date, the day we got engaged, Why do we do that? We do it because we love them, and we know this makes them happy.

When you love somebody, you want to make them happy. God tells us in the Bible what makes Him happy. John 14, Jesus says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” So second of all, we can tell how much we love God by how deeply we are committed to biblical obedience in every area of our lives because we know that this is what pleases God. Grade yourself. How did you do on that one, from one to ten?

And then number three, when you love someone. . . .

3. You are loyal to them

The apostle Paul said in Acts chapter 21, “For I am prepared not only to be imprisoned but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.” We can tell how much we love God by how we react when we are presented with an opportunity to stand up for Him, at work, or in the office, or at school. We can tell how much we love God by whether we’re willing to take a stand for Jesus regardless of what it might cost us. Grade yourself on that from one to ten.

And then number 4, when you love someone...

4. You want to tell others about them

Have you ever met someone, who is convinced that they have just found the person who is the love of their life, their soul mate? If you have then, you know that when that happens, they can’t stop talking about them. Why? Because when you love somebody, you want to talk about them.

The Psalmist David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be on my lips.” David said, “I love God, and therefore, I love talking about Him.” So you can tell how much you love Jesus by how anxious you are to talk about Him and tell other people about Him.

And then number five, when you love someone...

5. They become the central focus of your life

Think about it for a moment. If your fiancé, your husband, your wife, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, or your children were suddenly just removed from your life, would that make any difference in the way you live your life? Would it make any difference in the way you spend your money? Would it make any difference in the way you use your time and your energy? You know it would! You build your life around these people that you love. So it would certainly make a difference if they weren’t there!

But let me ask you, if God were suddenly removed from your life, would it make any real difference in how you spend your time? In how you spend your energy? In what your daily schedule is, or in how you spend your money? We can tell a lot about how much we love God by central of a focus He is in our life.

Now, if you tally up your score If you rate yourself, 1-10 on each of those five things, I wonder . . . How many people got a 50? Raise your hands? 49? 48? 47? 46?

The truth is, I didn’t either.

The point of this exercise is not to depress us. The good news of the Bible is that, as God’s children, God doesn’t love us because we love Him the way we should; God loves us for no good reason at all, and He always will. But is there anything we can do to grow in our love for Jesus? I believe there is and let me suggest two things. . . .

Let me suggest two things you can do . . .

1. Ask God To Show Me How Sinful I Am

Take a look at our Memory Verse for this week. It’s a prayer that comes from Psalm 139 and it says. . . “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you.” (Psalm 139:23-24).

I would encourage you to pray that prayer, but you need to know that this is a prayer that takes a lot of courage to pray, and the reason is, that the more God answers this prayer, the uglier it gets. And do you know why? It’s because we may be followers of Jesus, and our sins may be forgiven, and we may be on our way to heaven and be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, but understand this: you and I are still sinners, with a long way to grow.

The more God shows us how far we have to grow, the uglier it gets. Some of you hear that and you think, “Well if that’s true, then why in the world would you ever ask God to do this?” Why would ask Him to show me my sin? Why would I ask him to point out anything in me that is offensive to Him? Well, the answer is in the story we looked at today. Do you remember what Jesus said about this woman? He said, “The more we realize what we are and the more we realize what God has really forgiven us of, the more we’ll love Jesus.” That’s what He said. It’s a good thing to know that because then you appreciate Jesus and His love more. So, ask God to show you how sinful you are...

And then number two...

2. Ask God to help me to get to know him better

God reveals Himself to us in the written Word of God. We need to be students of His Word. We need to be studying it, reading it, and meditating on it — not so we can grow in our appreciation of theology, but so we can grow in our appreciation of who God is. Get into the Word and get to know who God is, and I promise you, the more you get to know Him, the more you will love Him.

And our Lord Jesus Christ said that loving God with you're your heart, and soul and mind and strength is the greatest thing that any person can ever do. This is, what He said, impresses Him the most.

Let’s pray together.

More Messages from Dr. Rick Mandl

From Series: "Meals With Jesus"

During his time on earth, Jesus shared many meals, with a wide variety of dinner guests-tax collectors, religious leaders, skeptics, prostitutes, fishermen... Just as Jesus reveals his character through the words he spoke and the miracles he performed, he shows himself through the meals he shared and the people he sat across from.

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