Would You Break Yourself For Christ?

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints Podcast with your host, Dan Willis.

Welcome back, everybody. It is a new day, and that means we get to continue on our journey through Luke. I'm having an absolute blast with you guys. Uh, just a reminder, anybody that does drop prayer requests, um, it is anonymous at your request if that is what you request. Anybody that just wants their first name used, that's fine. I'm happy to do that, guys. In no way should those prayer requests feel like you are being exposed more than you would hope to be. It's just about lifting you up and anybody listening having the opportunity to do the same. With that being said, guys, I'm pretty impressed with the little community that's growing around this. It is a global community and that always is encouraging. If you know anybody that's looking for a daily devotional, please don't hesitate to share. Those shares and comments wherever you guys are listening to this, whether it's Apple or Google or Spotify or wherever it may be. It's greatly appreciated. I do keep my eyes on them. And thank you so much to all of you who have taken the time to share this out, either by word of mouth or online. So thank you for that. And let's get down to it as we continue in Luke. So when last we were together, we were taking a look at how Christ affirmed his character to John and John's followers through deed, through action. He could have easily just quoted Scripture directly, but instead he first led with action and then words. And it's not that the words were unnecessary, it's the words had more validity and truth when his actions displayed what the word had to say. And we looked at that and then we looked at the actions and the words of the Pharisees towards the end of that section of Luke as well and saw the hypocrisy of where they stand, where they have a double standard For everybody, so long as the person is for them, they are for them. If the person is against them, they are against them. And this led to Christ showing a very clear difference between the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the validity and wisdom of looking to John or looking to Jesus and their actions first, and then their words and what they have to say. So it was telling. If you guys missed the episode, feel free to go back. I know I'm seeing a lot of the newer episodes having people going back and listening to them. So that's great to see. Today we're going to continue on in Luke chapter seven. Verse 36, and we'll go to about yeah, we'll go to the end of the chapter on this one. So again, a little bit longer today, but my hope is that we keep the ball rolling through Luke because I'm excited to get into Acts next. So, as always, guys, I will be reading from the ESV. Feel free to follow along whatever version or translation that you have handy. If you don't have one handy, at least this is here for me to read out loud, and you can follow along with us wherever you may be. So one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment. And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who's touching him, for Jesus answering him said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, Say it, Teacher. A certain moneylender had 2 debtors. One owed 500 denarii, and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, The one, I suppose, whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, You have judged rightly. Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered her house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sin? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Again, guys, that was Luke 7:36 right through till the end. So it's really interesting, and I always love when the scriptures do this, and we've seen this several times throughout Luke already where we receive a teaching from Christ in one instance, either about himself or from the word, and then we see it applied to those that are not Christ himself, to just people of the world, whether that be Gentile or Pharisee or Jew, whatever the case may be. But in this instance, we see a woman who is otherwise, you know, considered a or a lady of the, of the town. People know her and they know who she is and what kind of a woman she is. Obviously, it's not one of credit or credibility. But this lady walks into this house having heard Jesus is there and does nothing but pour love on him. And we're not talking in any inappropriate way. But back then, guys, the, the feet were probably the dirtiest, filthiest, nastiest things you can imagine. And for somebody to take the time to care for them is Usually the job of a servant, somebody who's lowly, right? This is— your feet would be covered in dirt and filth and crap and whatever else you might have walked through and stepped through. And who knows how long you've been walking on them. So there's probably blisters or sores, and it's just not a pleasant experience. And here we see a woman who, with her tears, washes Christ's feet. She uses her hair, which is usually that symbol of beauty for women, and she just wipes the dirt off. His feet with her hair. She kisses his feet, which probably are not the most beautiful of things, given the amount of walking that he's been doing. And what's— what I find really interesting about the passage is, at no point do we see that she did that in order to receive salvation or blessing. All that we read is she heard he was there and felt the call to go and just serve him, to love on him. And it's a pretty amazing testimony of where priorities lie. She knows what the town thinks of her. She knows especially what the Pharisees think of her. And yet she had no hesitation to walk into a Pharisee's home and do this in front of everybody, in front of everybody at the table, the apostles who are gathered, Jesus himself, the Pharisees, whoever. She did not care what others had to say or think about her. Her focus was solely on Christ, how do I serve? How do I love you for all you are and all you will do, all you have done? I can't help but be honest in this, guys, and tell you how far short I feel that I fall from this mark. To humble yourself in such a massive way, to give up all sense of pride and self and ego and just lay it literally at the feet of Christ. And is there shame in that? Yeah. Is there humility in that? Absolutely. Is it an act of love though? Is it coming from her heart? Undoubtedly. And the blessing that comes of this is your sins are forgiven. How amazing is that? That it's not a matter of pride or astuteness, in a matter of absolute humility, of breaking yourself, of taking all that the world would consider worthy, your stature as a woman, your pride, your beauty, your whatever it is, And just decimating all of it for Christ, giving it all up for Christ. It's a hard lesson. It's a tough lesson. Take a look at your walk today. What have you laid at the feet of Christ? What is it that this world says is important that you cling to, that you hold to, that holds esteem above Christ? Challenge you to lay that down today. It's going to be what I pray for during our prayer time as well, guys. There are a couple prayer requests, and I will get back to doing prayer requests on the regular. So if you do have requests for prayer, please don't hesitate to reach out. I am I'd be happy to do that. But for today, I'm going to get down to prayer right now, but let's pray for that. Lord, thank you so much for all of those who are listening. Thank you for your word and the things that you teach us. How amazing humility can be. How amazing it can be when we lay down all that we are at the feet of Christ to find that he loves us that much the more. To find that in our humility, in understanding who Christ is and that this world isn't the judge, Isn't the one that gets to discern our value, our place, our worth, but it's him. It's him who does. When our focus is him and we give all that up, how amazing the love is that we feel. Lord, I lift up myself and, and those listening that are just struck by the heart of this woman. We're all sinners. The Pharisee would cry this out as her shortcoming of, oh, don't you know she's a sinner? We're all sinners. Romans has made that clear. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Amen.

And I pray that despite our sin, Lord, that we don't allow that sin to keep us separate from Christ, but instead we would come despite our sin to Christ's feet and just lay it there. All the worries of this world, all the priorities of this world, all the things that the world would put before him, between him and us. I just pray that we would move through that, Lord. Challenge the men and those listening today that they would take a look at that, take a look at themselves and discern what is it that's keeping me from his feet? What is it that's keeping me from from Christ and is of this world? Can we give it up? Can we lay it at his feet? Bless those listening, Lord. Your name we pray. Amen. That's it for today, guys. Have an amazing day out there. And like I said, I will try to have episodes up here every day. The only time I miss a day is when there are technical difficulties with the software that I am using. I am trying to source a better piece of software. I have asked. At the end of the episodes, if you are willing to become a supporter of the podcast, that would help me towards getting that software. But in no way is that an expectation that I have. But if you do feel led to do so, I do greatly appreciate that. But I will be trying to make the efforts personally to get some better software to be able to continue to deliver the episodes daily without interruption. So thank you so much for listening, sharing, commenting, prayer requests, all of the above, guys. And if you feel led to do that little bit extra and subscribe. Subscribe to the podcast, that's also greatly appreciated. Have an amazing day, and I will catch you guys tomorrow.

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