Fan or Follower-Knowledge or Intimacy?

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Mervyn Ryan
6 years ago
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1 Luke 7:36-50 March 12, 2017 #3 of series Fan or Follower-Knowledge or Intimacy? My wife and I enjoy tag teaming on wood projects for our grandchildren. She is definitely the visionary and artist of the two of us. I am the grunt...the wood cutter, sander and putting the pieces together. This past week our grandson, Addison, turned one year old. We have enjoyed making special projects for the grandkids on their first birthdays. We made a rocker horse for Landen, and a baby cradle for Layla. Addison's first birthday gift from Grandpa and Grandma Z was a rocking orca whale. His mom has been going to Orcas Island since she was his age. She got married on the island that is named after the orca whale. What better gift than a rocking orca whale. It brought to Loreen and I a new woodworking challenge. The pattern called for 3/4" plywood. The design called for the body of the whale and the rockers to have two identical pieces that would be glued together to make the project a sturdy 1 1/2 inches thick. As careful as I was to make the cuts exactly the same I was off. That's why they make sanders. Still there was a small gap of less than an eighth of an inch if that. That's why they make wood filler. I filled the gaps. The next day I sanded the wood fill down to a smooth finish to touch. Loreen painted them and there were no more gaps! We were so proud of our new gap free journey in woodworking. Needless to say Addison enjoyed riding his orca "gap free" whale. A whale that we think will fill the generation gaps for years to come. page 1

2 We come to a place today in our fan to follower journey where we find a gap! It is not a small gap of less than an eighth of an inch. It is more like a one foot gap. About the length of this ruler. What is the gap? Let me illustrate it by holding up the ruler in front of the gap. The gap is from our head to our heart...a gap of about 12 inches, give or take a few. Why is this gap such a concern when it comes to the fan or follower question in our journey of faith? The head is what we often equate to knowledge about something or someone. The heart is more about the relationship, the intimacy we have with that person. The gap of knowledge and intimacy is our focus on this part of our fan or follower quest. How do we fill this gap? Certainly not with wood filler. We fill the gap between knowledge and intimacy with "YADA!" What is YADA? Probably the best bible working word we have for intimacy is the Hebrew word, "YADA." The bible first uses this word to describe a relationship in Genesis 4:1. "Adam knew Eve his wife." KJV The Hebrew word for "knew" is the word "YADA." The best way to define the words is: "To know completely and to be completely known." There is a gap between the unchurched and the churched. The unchurched cry out to us, "I don't care how much you KNOW; I want to know how much you CARE!" The unchurch don't care how many bible verses you have memorized in your head. They want to see if the truth of God's word has filled that gap to your heart. page 2

3 Jesus would voice it this way: "I don't care how much you know ABOUT me; I want to know how much you KNOW me." What does he mean by this? Let's pull up a chair as he is invited to dinner. Unlike the coffee shop scene a few weeks ago where Jesus invites us to join him for a fan to follower conversation; we find Jesus being invited and also an uninvited guest who crashes the dinner party. As we approach the table we find the host, Simon, a Pharisee, Jesus, and the uninvited guest, a prostitute. "A Pharisee, a prostitute and Jesus were sitting at a table..." Sounds like a great opening line for a novel! Simon, the Pharisee had recently heard Jesus teaching and decided to invite him to his home for dinner. I wonder what he might have been teaching...i think we might find a clue as we watch the uninvited guest make her unwanted appearance. While Jesus was eating, the prostitute makes her way to where Jesus was sitting. Things get awkward as this woman plops herself at the feet of Jesus. I'm wondering, "Where's security? We got some confusion here!" We find out quickly that "this woman" was known by the village. She was the village prostitute. Apparently she must have heard what Jesus had earlier taught in the village and something happened. I believe what Jesus taught on was forgiveness and a new life to any who sought to follow Jesus. I believe that gap from fan to follower was filled by YADA. She realized for the first time that she wasn't destined to be a sinner. She was loved. God knew her as a daughter and not a person destined to being the sinner she was to the village people. She realized that God had not given up on her, even if everyone else, including herself, had given up on her. page 3

4 The dinner she walked in on was one she would have never been invited to by Simon...much less anyone else who was a "Who's who" in the village. She must have realized that it was not too late for her to become a follower of the Messiah. Can you imagine how hard it must have been for her to walk into that courtyard? She was so focused in her heart on Jesus that she walked right up to him. She displayed a desperate love and affection for Jesus. What she did next was reckless, impulsive and culturally inappropriate. But come to think of it, that is exactly the kind of follower Jesus wants. She is so overwhelmed at what was going on in her heart that the tears started falling down her cheeks. She falls at the feet of Jesus and begins to kiss his feet. The tears are pouring down and falling on the dirty feet of Jesus. As she looks at the muddy streams she realizes that the host never washed the feet of his guest. She always wore her hair up in public. For a woman to wear her hair down in front of a man, that was not her husband, was not culturally accepted. For a woman to let her hair down was considered to be such an intimate expression. To do so in public was literally grounds for divorce. She lets her hair down in front of Jesus! Can you hear the audible gasp among the religiously correct guests? She then adds to their shock when she starts washing the feet of Jesus with her tears and drying them with her hair. It must have been a BYOB dinner party because we are told that this woman, this sinner, brought her own bottle. It was a bottle of very expensive perfume. Most likely it was a flask that was worn around the neck as a kind of perfume for women. As you might surmise, because of her profession, this flask was important to her lifestyle. She had used it a drop at a time, many times, for many men. But now she empties the entire bottle. She will no longer need it in the new life she will be living as a follower of Jesus. page 4

5 What a powerful image of filling the gap between the head and heart. She emptied herself of her old sinful way of life. She filled the gap with the YADA of knowing that Jesus loved her. She allowed her heart to be filled with his love. She entered that heart relationship of love of a follower of Jesus. You didn't see that one coming did you? Have you ever had someone you thought you knew do something so not like them that you literally said, "Wow! I didn't see that one coming from them." Now it's Simon's turn! At the end of the "didn't see that one coming" dinner, Jesus turned to Simon and said, "Simon, I have something to tell you." Simon replied, "Oh? Tell me!" Bad turn Simon. You shouldn't have gone there. It is similar to when the boss says, "I have something to tell you, can you see me in my office?" Some of you equate it to when I ask you to see me in my office. Simon said, "Oh? Tell me!" Jesus did! Jesus told him about the gap between a fan and a follower...between knowledge and intimacy. Simon didn't offer to wash Jesus feet as was customary for a host to offer to his guests...at least a bowl of water and towel for them to wash their own feet. Simon didn't greet him with the customary greeting of a kiss on the hand. Basically, Simon, the knowledgeable Pharisee, ignored Jesus. Simon, who had studied the Old Testament, memorized much of the 300 prophecies about the Messiah, wasn't able to recognize the Messiah when he was seated at his dinner table. His knowledge of Jesus was all a "head trip!" He may have scored high on his Pharisee SAT but he certainly failed at filling the gap with YADA. He knew about Jesus but he didn't know Jesus. page 5

6 The essence of knowing Jesus is to regard him with such an intimate love, respect and devotion. The prostitute made it very clear for all that it is never too late to fill the gap from fan to follower with YADA. The desire to know Jesus, to enter a covenant relationship of love with him who first loved us. (I John 4:16) The Pharisee had memorized the Shemah of the Jewish faith which states, "Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!" (Deuteronomy 6:4 MSG) The Pharisee knew it but didn't fill the gap from his head to his heart to where he applied it...lived it. We are told by the Apostle Paul, who was first Saul the fan and became Paul the follower to: "Go after a life of love as if your life depended upon it---because it does." I Corinthians 14:1 MSG It is never too late to fill the gap with YADA, to love Jesus with all of who you are. When we fill the gap and allow Jesus' love to take our old life and dump it out and fill us with a new life of his love, God lives in us and has the run of our lives as his follower. (I John 4:16,17a MSG) Instead of identifying ourselves as a follower of Jesus because I know about Jesus, we are to fill the gap and understand that we are a follower because we know Jesus. We fall at his feet with a repentant heart. We empty ourselves of our old life and rise up and follow him. In the end, Simon, the know-it-all Pharisee, the head trip, is the fan. In the end, the prostitute, the one who expressed her heart of love for Jesus is shown to be the follower. page 6

7 Here then is the question for us to ask ourselves as we look at this fan to follower project: Who am I most like in the story? When was the last time you had a moment with Jesus like the woman had? When was the last time you've poured yourself out before Jesus? When was the last time you demonstrated your love for Jesus with reckless abandonment? When was the last time you checked to see if the gap between the fan and follower in you has been filled with YADA? It is not how much you know about Jesus that he is concerned about. His desire of his followers is to have that intimate, uninhibited, reckless love for him. Fan or follower-knowledge or intimacy? How are you doing in filling the gap in this faith journey of yours? Fan or follower? (Credits to Kyle Idleman's book, not a fan, chapter 3) page 7

Two Debtors. Stories to be Shaped by- part 2. Luke 7:36-50; April 3, 2016

Two Debtors. Stories to be Shaped by- part 2. Luke 7:36-50; April 3, 2016 DAY 1: The Moralist & the Immoralist Two Debtors Stories to be Shaped by- part 2 Luke 7:36-50; April 3, 2016 1. This week we'll study two opposite kinds of people: the Immoralist and the Moralist. The