Has this ever happened to you? If you've got a real mess and want to clean like the pros, then you've got to see this. You'll be saying wow every time you use this towel. It's the fishing invention of the century. The Ginsu can cut a slice of bread so thin you can almost see through it. But there's more. Perfect cuts, and the only tears you'll cry are tears of joy. But there's still more. It has the strength to pull this fully loaded 80,000-pound tractor trailer. But I know you want more. This machine is my new husband. Can you beat that? It quenches, it drenches, it gratifies and satisfies. What would you pay for this crystal clear wonder? You know you're not going to spend $400 for it. You pay only $498. Not $225. Only $12.88. Or even $180. It's all yours for just $49.95. But wait, there's more. We'll double it and send you two more sticks free. This is truly an amazing offer Okay. So I have lots of questions. One of them, why would anyone ever need to see through bread? It's just kind of ridiculous. And I don't know about you, but when I hear soundbites like that, like, "This is truly an amazing offer. Act now. But wait, there's more," when I hear that, the skepticism kind of rises up in me. It sort of sounds too good to be true. And maybe you're one of the many here at Chesterfield or across our sites, so hello to Fenton, Mid Rivers, Grants Trail, those of you joining us online. By the way, my name is Ben. If we haven't met, nice to meet you. But maybe you're here and you're thinking, because you're still checking things out, "Ben, I feel that way about the church. Like all this talk about peace and hope and forgiveness, that sounds too good to be true." And it's okay to wonder that. But there's another response that we have to this idea of more, and it normally goes like, "More? Are you sure? I don't think I can handle any more." So I told this story a handful of years ago to make a different point. But about 10 years ago, I was finishing up my master's. I was working for a church in the summer in Colorado Springs. Loved the church, loved those people. I learned so much. One of the things that I learned is that words mean different things to people in Colorado than they do at least where I grew up in St. Louis. Like, when I hear the word animal, I hear pets, dogs, cats, maybe a fish. So when this sweet family from the church asked me to watch their animals for the week, I got a dog, five dogs, and four cats, three goats, two donkeys, and an entire chicken coop. So I guess I'm a farmer now. And that was not a good idea for anybody. Things went south real fast. The goats got out. They immediately start eating food they're not supposed to. Every time I tried to steer them away, they just kept hitting me with their horns. The chickens flew the coop. They're running around being chickens. I've got to worry about them. The donkeys, well, the donkeys and I developed a sort of mutual respect, like a live and let live sort of thing. But these goats. People, have you ever tried to move a goat? I'm telling you, I understand why Jesus uses goats when talking about hell. Now, all the animals got back to where they were supposed to be. No goats were harmed in the making of this illustration. But have you ever been there? And I don't mean on a farm in Colorado getting hit by goats. I mean, have you ever gone into a situation expecting one thing and getting another? I mean, maybe you're in a season where it feels like you can't take it anymore. Maybe God's not answering the prayer how you want. Maybe it's something going on with your health, an illness that you just can't shake. Maybe it's pressure at work. Maybe it's pressure to find work. Missing loved ones, conflict with loved ones, or just the anxiety that can come living in a constantly changing world. Or maybe you're in a great season right now. You're experiencing God's blessings, but it's the middle of summer, things are busy, there's a lot going on. Even the good stuff can start to stack up on top of each other and start to become stressful. What if I were to tell you that the answer to all of that goes back to words that Jesus said in John 10, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly." Other translations say, "Have it to the full." My translation, Jesus came that we might experience a life that is more than we can ever ask or imagine. It's not a life without trouble. The storms will come, but through it all, Jesus is our firm foundation. We move through life with Him. If you want to know the punchline for today, and really it's the punchline for this entire July series, there is more to life with Jesus than you think, and it's so personal. It's so practical, and it still has the power to change our world today. You ready? Let's pray. God, I'm so thankful for Your faithfulness. I'm thankful for how Your Spirit is moving in this place, God. So Jesus, no matter where we are in the journey, from those barely in the door to those who are ready to go and ready to worship, no matter where we are, Jesus, show each of us what it looks like to take that one next step, God, towards you and towards this life that is more. I ask all of this in the name of my Savior, amen. All right. We're going to jump into our stories. If you have your Bibles or if you want to pull it up on your phones, we're going to be in John 7. We're going to start in verse 53. John is the fourth book in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And as we turn there, I just want to celebrate the incredible weekends we've had these last few weekends, like Jarrett Stephens, the word he brought, amazing. Or how about that powerful experience our team put together last weekend over the 4th of July? It was so good. We've learned so much about hope. We've talked about the freedom that we have because of Jesus, and our story today gives us just one more look at what life with Him is like. So here we go. John 7:53. Well, before we even start, at least in my Bible, I see a note that reads, "The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53 through 8:11." So what do we do with that? I mean, maybe you're here and you're wondering why we should even trust a Bible that has a footnote like that It's a fair question. That's the right question to ask. And believe it or not, details like that, they actually show, at least to me, why we can trust scripture. Because these translators, they were honest. They don't try to hide these details, one, because this only happens a handful of times in all of the Bible. But also, there's good reason to think that this really was a real event in the life of Jesus. Now, we can't go into everything, but within a generation or two after Jesus, a church leader might have mentioned this woman. Throughout just about every age of the church, theologians and pastors have studied and preached on this passage. And we'll get there, we'll get there, but there's nothing in this passage that Jesus does that would contradict what we see in the other Gospels. So there's definitely more. Come find me if you have more questions. But with all that said, let's jump in, people. I'm going to skip 7:53 and go straight to chapter 8. "At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?' They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him." So there's so much that we can talk about in this story, and when I read passages like this, I find myself imagining what it would be like to be the different characters. Like this woman. She was brought before Jesus in possibly the most vulnerable state. She got caught breaking a commandment that was punishable by death. The people around holding the stones, they were part of their community. She most likely knew who they were, so there was shame and guilt, and just for the record, these weren't little stones, as much as these would hurt. No, these were rocks. These things could do some damage, and these people were out for blood. Now, I don't think any of us in here have ever been on the wrong end of an angry mob who wants to stone us to death, but we know what stones feel like. Have you ever been accused behind your back, and maybe you never got a chance to defend yourself? Maybe someone just jumped in and started chewing you out without getting all the information. Maybe it was a Jesus follower who wronged you. You opened up about something, maybe a sin issue or a struggle in your life, and instead of getting understanding and grace and accountability, you are met with a lecture with a huge side of shame. I know that I've been on the wrong end of thrown stones, and I've thrown stones myself. Sometimes we throw stones at ourselves. We start to think that Jesus is at the front of the mob, holding a stone, ready to throw it at us. But is that true? "Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 'No one, sir,' she said. 'Well then, neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.'" So we skipped some verses. We'll get to how Jesus responds to the mob in a minute, but we can't blow past what he says to the woman in the story. You see, the good news of this story is that Jesus is not a part of the angry mob. He doesn't look the other way at our brokenness. Like this woman, he tells us to leave our life of sin, but he doesn't do it with a stone in one hand and condemnation in the other. In a short time, Jesus, he would go to the cross for this woman, and by the way, for the angry mob, too, and everyone in this room and everyone around the world. He went and he paid the penalty for all sin for all time, and his resurrection launched a victory party that is still going on today, and that's why forgiveness is possible. And there's no way this side of heaven to truly capture the magnitude and the mystery of God's forgiveness. But we can start here. It's personal. It's intentional. It involves the King of the cosmos meeting you in such intentional ways and help with people and experiences and situations in your life to draw you to him. Going to church, reading stories like this is one of those things. And the same Jesus who met this woman, he longs to meet you today. He sees you. He loves you right where you're at. He knows we're not perfect, but he wants us to trust in him. And when you turn to him, you are no longer condemned, but forgiven. That's why the Apostle Paul describes forgiveness in this way. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." If you've been keeping God at a distance today, this verse is for you. This life of forgiveness could be yours. If you're a follower of Jesus, this verse is for you. It is short. You could memorize it. Or how about just this week we read it every morning before we leave for the day and just see how the Spirit begins to work in you because when Paul says no, he means it. When God forgives us, when we turn to Jesus, he doesn't forgive you for everything except that one regret from your past. He doesn't forgive you at that moment to then go on to keep keeping score about sins in the future. No, when God forgives you, he separates your sin as far as the east is from the west, and that means it no longer defines us It also means that as we leave our life of sin, we don't do it alone. Jesus, He goes with us. It's by His power that we resist temptation. We lean on His grace every step of the way, and we just take the next step and the one after that and the one after that. If you're here and you have questions about what your next step with Jesus is, or maybe you just are wanting to learn more about how the Gospels fit into the larger narrative of scripture, or what Jesus said, or what He's calling us to do, or what are practical things that you can do to grow. If that sounds interesting at all, we're starting a new class Tuesday night. It's called Next Steps with Jesus. I'm teaching it. Come hang out with me. But I think what I'm trying to say is, at its core, forgiveness is an invitation into a relationship. And it does all go back to surrender. We give our lives to Him, we receive His grace, and with that, God's presence begins to settle in, and we start to feel a subtle yet steady peace that passes all comprehension. That's this life that is more. That's the life that Jesus longs for us, and if He no longer condemns us, why would we ever condemn ourselves? There are lots of reasons, but one of them is I think we forget just how much God loves us. The fact that the God of the ages chose to make my heart, our hearts, His dwelling place, we should never forget about that kind of love. But we do. Why is that? I think that's something we should talk about. If you're new to The Crossing, we do this all the time, so be sure to pull each other in. If you don't want to participate, that's okay. Oh, and if you are still checking things out, you can say, "I'm not sure God's love or God even exists." That won't throw us at all. But now, talk to each other. What keeps you from remembering how much God loves you? I would love to hear some of your answers. Who's got something? What keeps you from remembering how much God loves you? The hamster wheel of life. The hamster wheel of life. I love that. That's poetic. What else? Anything? Mean people. Mean people. Yeah. Sometimes you just get next to the wrong person, or maybe even a Jesus follower, going back to what we said earlier, treats you wrong and you start to associate them with God. That messes things up. Anything else? Anger. Anger. There's an anger in you that just builds and builds and builds, and before you know it, that messes up your ability to just meet with Jesus and encounter Him. Yeah. Let's look at what the site said. The busyness of life, that's one. Things keep stacking up on top of each other. When you start trusting your own plan instead of God's plan, He will feel distant from you. That's good. So Tim Keller has written a lot about this, and I'm going to paraphrase him for a minute, but if this sounds interesting to you, he has a killer book called "The Prodigal God." It might be worth checking out. But Keller says that we stop remembering how much God loves us the moment we stop appreciating our need for God's grace. And now we're back to the mob. Believe it or not, the mob thought they were being obedient to God. The Old Testament law did command that adulterers be stoned to death. Now, does that seem harsh to anybody else? And don't mishear me, I'm not taking adultery lightly. Jesus does not take adultery lightly. It destroys families. It robs people of their future dreams. If that's a part of your story, come talk to us. We would love to walk with you and work towards healing. But for many of us, we do read passages like this, and it feels harsh that adultery deserves a death sentence. It feels strange or foreign to us. And in a lot of ways, it is, because we are thousands of years removed from the ancient Israelites. But if we could hop in a time machine and travel back to the Bronze Age, we would realize that laws like this wouldn't have thrown them. It was actually fairly common, and really, the point of this was to protect the entire community. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law who led the mob, they didn't care about protecting the community or honoring God. They were trying to trap Jesus. We know that because, well, for one, John tells us, but also, well, where's the guy? It takes two to tango, right? So if the Pharisees cared about obedience, both parties would have been there. For them, this woman was nothing more than a pawn to set a trap. If Jesus says no, then He goes against the law of Moses, which discredits Him with the Jewish people. But if he says yes, strictly speaking, only Rome could pass capital punishment sentences, so the Pharisees could accuse him of trying to go around Rome. So this is a lose-lose situation. But Jesus, He answers in such a brilliant way that no one would've seen coming. He doesn't answer right away. Instead, He takes a beat, and He gets down and He starts drawing in the dirt. Now, we don't know what He drew. Scholars, they've been debating it for centuries. Maybe it was just lines. Maybe it was the charges that were brought against this woman. That would happen in courts of law back then. Maybe it was other commandments that the mob would've most certainly been guilty of breaking, coveting, lying, something like that. Whatever it is, we know what happens next. He looks at them and says, "You who are without sin, be the first to throw a stone." And then what happens? Little by little, people drop their stones from the oldest all the way down to the youngest. Why? Because next to the eternal, righteous, sinless, all-powerful God, none of us have any room to stand on. If you're taking notes, here's something to write down. Forgiving people can't hold onto the grace of God in one hand while throwing stones of condemnation with the other. Jesus, He invites us to a better way, a way where we live like Him in every area of life. To use churchy language, by the power of His Holy Spirit, we grow in our Christlikeness. We live like Jesus. And not in some sort of holier-than-thou Pharisee way, but we approach brokenness and disagreements with grace, remembering that all of us are fellow strugglers on this journey with Jesus. Paul puts it like this in Ephesians, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." That's why receiving God's forgiveness is more than you think. Because it's not just about you. God saves you to use you, and then He empowers you by His Spirit to go make a difference in this world, to live differently, to show compassion, to be kind and tenderhearted, and that's how the world begins to change, with broken people who never get tired of talking about God's grace. And yes, we say it with our words, we invite people to church, but we also live that out with our actions. In fact, it's our actions that give credibility to our words, and this affects everything. Yes, it speaks to how we approach sin issues and walking with people through their brokenness, but if you back up, it also speaks to how we handle disagreements in general in this deeply divided world. And we are divided, right? And not just in all the obvious ways that you all are thinking about right now. We're divided in sometimes small or maybe even goofy ways. Like, who here has strong opinions about toilet paper? Like, okay, where are my over people at? Raise your hands, raise them high. Sights, come on, play along too. Raise your hands. All right, where are my under people? Okay, the overs win, at least in this room. All right. Another one. Does pineapple belong on pizza? Who says no? No. Okay, high. Okay, who says yes? Yes. All right. Well, it looks like a lot of people just want to watch the world burn. Okay, another one. Is it okay to wear socks with Crocs? No. Who says yes? Yes. Okay, who says no? No. All right. Who in here is no not strong enough? Like it's like, heck no, straight to fashion jail. I just got to let you guys know that as a card-carrying member of the Crocs community, I wore Crocs and socks this week. There is nothing you can do about it. No. All right, one more. Let's talk about loading the dishwasher. No. Where are my surgeons at? Like, you just load up with precision. Cool. All right. Where are my agents of chaos? Raise your hand high. Yes. You all are my people. Like, is there really one way to load a dishwasher? Yes. I'm not sure if that's true. There is. There's one way. And I know I'm picking on you type A dishwashing people, but hey, just so you know, I'm jealous of you. My wife's on your team. I wish I had your organization skills. But how you load a dishwasher isn't that big of a deal, but sometimes, we make our preferences into the deal. And when that happens, we start drawing lines of our own, and not in the way that Jesus did that lead to more inclusion. No, we draw lines that separate the world into two groups, your side and my side, wrong and right, bad and good, and maybe, just maybe, evil. If we're not careful, we start to think that the people on the other side who don't think like us, that they kind of turn into evil people. And when that happens, I've made my preferences a litmus test to how a follower of Jesus should behave in the world. Now, this is different from our story because not all preferences are clear sin issues like the woman caught in adultery, but the posture of Jesus is still in play. He doesn't throw stones But sometimes we can pick them up for the pettiest reasons. Are you telling me that's his hobby? Really? Wait, that person's a follower of Jesus, and they listen to that worship artist or that pastor or believe in that theology? I mean, a Christian should never vote for that political party. I'm not saying that all preferences honor God or that followers of Jesus shouldn't hold people accountable. I'm also not saying that it's wrong to have preferences. What I am saying is that regardless of whether or not something is a disagreement over preferences or a sin issue, the response is the same. We drop our stones and we enter into every conversation open-handed. You see, an open-handed approach to truth takes Jesus at his word that the Holy Spirit will lead us to truth. It believes that Jesus is the author of truth, or as he says in the Gospel of John, "The way, the life, and the truth." And if that's true, then it changes the way we talk about belief. I believe things. There are convictions that I am hanging onto, but I'm not going to hang onto them so tightly where it's, "I'm right and you're wrong, and you're not going to change my mind, and there's nothing you can do about it." Because when we hang onto our beliefs that tightly, what are we left with? Fists. What are fists good for? Punching. But the opposite extreme's not right either. We can't just go through life thinking truth doesn't matter, just high-fiving everybody because I got my truth and you got your truth. So if it's not this, and it's not this, what is it? It's this. There are things that I believe. There are convictions that I'm hanging onto, but I am confident enough in the truth that I can put down what I think for a second, and I can pick up what you think, and I can begin to look at it. And sometimes I think it's wrong, so I put it down and I pick up what I think. But a lot of the time, if I'm being honest, I'll realize that some of what I think is wrong. So now I have to leave some of my old beliefs behind and pick up what I just learned from you. This is what it looks like to pursue truth in an open-handed way. It's not easy. I, by no means, have it figured out. But I do think that there are qualities that Jesus followers should have that I think are going to be really, really important as we continue to move through this world, and especially when it comes to disagreement. And I'm grateful for scholars like John Anazu at Wash U here in town, the way that he's written about how to handle disagreements well. And I'm grateful for this church and all the things we do to champion unity with the Genius of One course, of how that's just launched a movement around the world. But I think these qualities also are important, and they're not necessarily original to me. You'll find them all over scripture. But here's one. Humility. Humility says that there's always something to learn. That even if I leave with my beliefs unchanged, I still learn something new about the person. When we have these conversations in a humble way, the goal is not about being right. The goal is to figure out what is right. Humility is what led the mob to drop their stones, or charity. And when I say charity, I don't mean giving. I'm talking about charity of thought. Charity recognizes that the other person might have something to teach me, which means that I should truly take the time to understand what it is this person is saying and not assume that they're bad or evil just because we disagree. So we approach the conversation in a way that honors the other person. We ask curious questions. We don't straw man or oversimplify their beliefs in a dishonest way. Charity says that I'm going to try to understand what you're saying as best as I possibly can. Oh, and pro tip, at least in my experience, this rarely happens on social media. Or how about empathy? This world needs more empathetic people. You see, empathy says that everyone has a story, and it's our job to learn what it is. How can I put myself in your shoes and learn things from your perspective? What led you to hold the beliefs that you hold or act the way that you're acting? You don't have to agree with someone to recognize that most of the time, people don't just hang onto a belief just because. And again, not every disagreement will be a clear sin issue like the woman in the story, but in either situation, the answer is Christlikeness. We live like Jesus. And I'm playing guesswork here, but considering the incarnation was the most empathetic act in human history, the God of the universe literally putting himself in our shoes, becoming like us, I think it's safe to say that Jesus felt deep empathy for this woman in John 8. And by the way, I know we're talking about just disagreements in general right now, but all these traits, they're in play when we walk with people through temptation and struggle and sin. We do try to see things from their perspective. We try to enter the conversation in a humble way. We learn as much as we possibly can, not to condemn or shame the other person, but to help. We truly try to listen to them and assume the best in a way that both acknowledges the sin but doesn't define them by it. That's how forgiven people love like Jesus, through both brokenness and disagreements. So let's drop our stones. Let's not draw lines with us on one side and them on the other because next to the cross, there is only us on one side. Broken people in desperate need of grace and a savior who keeps pursuing, keeps including, keeps forgiving, and then keeps calling us to love as we have been loved. Things won't always go according to plan, but every moment becomes an opportunity for God to surprise you. So around this time of year, I start just daydreaming about what it was like to have summer break. Do you remember those days? Like three months with no responsibilities, no school to do whatever you want. Anybody else miss that? Teenagers, college students in the room, I'm going to live vicariously through you. But I'm thinking about summer and I'm thinking about playing with my siblings and one memory in particular I've been thinking about lately with my brother Jonathan. And John and I, we fought like normal brothers do. I don't think we threw any actual stones at each other, but trust me, I wish I would've shown more charity and empathy and humility to my brother at times. But we're playing and we're having fun and we decide we want to play baseball. So we run to the garage. We get our bat, we get our glove, we are ready to go. I'm telling you, I am excited. Except we don't have a ball. And due to the severe lack of drone technology in the mid-1990s, we weren't going to get one anytime soon. But my brother, with such creativity and imagination, he looks at me and he said, "Ben Man," because that's what my family calls me, Ben Man. "Ben Man, hang on. I'm going to go get a potato." I'm not sure if y'all have ever played potato baseball before- ... but somebody should really tell the Savannah Bananas because it is a blast. I don't think I could describe to you just how much fun John and I had that day. And yes, of course, we smashed the potato wide open. Did that stop us? No. We got another and another- ... and we kept on playing. It wasn't the game I thought I was going to play, but it was better than anything I could've come up with on my own. I'm starting to think that life of Jesus is a lot like potato baseball. You won't always have everything you think you need. Things won't always go how you expect. It certainly didn't for that woman caught in adultery. She thought she was getting a stone. Instead she got grace. You might find yourself in a season where the promises of God seem too good to be true. Life will keep being busy. Things will keep stacking up on top of each other. Our brokenness won't go away, which means neither will our disagreements or division. What if through all that, Jesus longs to surprise us? And what if what He longs to surprise us with is better than anything we could come up with on our own? A life that truly is more than you think. A life that's found when we drop our stones. A life that's found when we seek truth with an open-handed posture. A life that's found by just taking the next step and the one after that and the one after that and all the while His spirit just keeps moving in close, keeps changing us from the inside, keeps leading us. I'm convinced that that's the life we were made for. So we're going to keep chasing after this life. We're going to keep just seeing how God meets us in the weeks to come. Come back next week. I can't wait to see how God speaks to us through the rest of this series and through the rest of the summer. It is going to be great. But for now, as we leave here today, let me read these words over us one more time. These are our marching orders this week. "Be kind to one another, and tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Let's stay humble. Let's be curious. Let's practice empathy. If you're a follower of Jesus, then let's be Christ-like. If you have questions about what it looks like to turn to Jesus in surrender, come talk to us. But whatever it is, let's drop our stones and let's pick up grace because it's the better way to live. And by His power we can be a glimpse of the kingdom He is building on Earth. Amen. Amen. We'll see you next weekend.