Gregory W. Lee
Preached 26 June 2005
I. Introduction
-- turn to 1 Corinthians 13:1
1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
-- once upon a time the wife of a rich man fell sick, and as she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you.
-- over time, the rich man remarried -- his new wife -- the young daughter's stepmother -- brought with her into the house two daughters, who were beautiful and fair of face, but vile and black of heart -- the two step-sisters tormented the rich man's daughter from the first marriage -- They took her pretty clothes away from her, put an old grey bedgown on her, and gave her wooden shoes to wear
-- they forced her to work in the kitchen and to serve as their maid -- to sleep by the hearth, covered with ash and cinders and dirty and tired all the time -- and to make matters worse, they called her names, such as "stupid" and "dirty" and "ugly" and "unloveable" -- eventually, the pretty daughter of the rich man began to believe that she was all of those things and she accepted her fate and position as just -- in addition to losing her former position as the most loved daughter of the rich man, she also lost her name and became known as Cinderella because she was as dirty and dusty as the cinders that she slept in
II. The Story Behind the Story
-- this is, of course, the start of the fairy tale from the original story of Cinderella as recorded in Grimm's Fairy Tales -- kind of a curious way to start a sermon, wouldn't you say? -- but let me ask you, how many of you believe in fairy tales? -- how many of you believe that fairy tales are true?
-- in the story of Cinderella, we see the all too real picture of how a person can have their true identity stripped away from them by others and how they can began to see themselves as something less than what they truly are
-- Cinderella started the story as the only daughter of a rich man -- beautiful and loved and filled with the knowledge of the glory of God -- her mother called her both good and pious -- but, over time, as she listened to the lies of her stepsisters -- as she allowed herself to be defined by their words and by her demoted position as kitchen help -- she believed the lies and became what the stepsisters said she was
-- later on in the story, when the prince holds a ball in order to select a wife, she does not see herself as being worthy of going as she is -- she sees herself only in the reflection of her stepsister's eyes
-- and while we all know how the story ends -- how the stepsisters get their come-uppance and Cinderella marries the prince -- there is a sad truth about the start of this story -- we all have been in Cinderella's shoes -- we all have been subjected to the criticisms and the comments of others, and have let them define who we are today -- perhaps one reason why we are all so attracted to the old fairy tales is because we see a little bit of ourselves in all of them
-- the passage I read at the start of the sermon -- 1 Corinthians 13 -- is known as the love chapter -- in verses 1 through 8, the Apostle Paul gives us this stunning description of what God's love looks like -- of what perfect love looks like -- of what our relationship with God and with each other should look like -- these are the verses that we hear read at weddings as two young lovers commit their lives to one another
-- but then, Paul stops in verse 9 and takes another direction and gives us this thought
9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
-- why did God have Paul put these verses in the Love Chapter? -- I think it's because God knew that we would never recognize or receive perfect love here on earth and He wanted to make sure that we knew that there was more to love than what we were currently experiencing
-- Paul points out that perfect love makes imperfect love disappear -- the problem, though, is that we are still living and loving as children -- we are still living and loving in imperfection
-- rather than living and loving in the perfect love that God has offered, we are living and seeing life and love as a poor reflection in a mirror -- the ultimate problem is that we are living our lives based on a small part of the whole -- rather than living our lives with the full knowledge of who we are in God, we live our lives in part -- tainted by our own false self-image built by the lies of the world
-- that is exactly what happened to Cinderella -- she was called to live in the fullness of her beauty and character and nature -- but, she rather than living that way, she allowed her perception of herself to be distorted by the lies and torments of her evil stepsisters -- she lived in the reflection of their opinion of her rather than in the light of God's love
III. Simon and the Sinful Woman
-- let me give you another example to help you see this more clearly -- turn over to Luke 7:36-50
36. Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
37. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
38. and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner."
40. Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said.
41. "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
42. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
43. Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
44. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
45. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
46. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
47. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
48. Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
49. The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
50. Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
-- here we see the perfect example of what I am talking about -- in this passage we read about a woman who Luke tells us "had lived" a sinful life in that town -- she comes into the Pharisee's house where Jesus was and began to wash Jesus' feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair and to anoint them with oil
-- look at the difference between the way the Pharisee saw her and the way Jesus saw her -- look at verse 39
39. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner."
-- the Pharisee saw a sinful woman -- but look how Jesus saw her -- Jesus saw her with love -- He saw her as a forgiven sinner -- as a pure and clean and holy child
-- note that Luke is careful to tell us in verse 37 that she "had lived" -- past tense -- "had lived" a sinful life -- evidently, she had believed in Christ and trusted in His forgiveness of sins and had been cleansed prior to coming into Simon's house -- it was because she had been forgiven that she came in and worshiped Jesus by anointing His feet with her tears and with perfume
-- Simon the Pharisee saw her in part -- he judged her and condemned her as a sinner even though that was not who she truly was -- from the moment Christ forgave her sins and cleansed her from all unrighteousness, she became a new creation and began to live and to love in the light of God's perfect love
-- now I want you to compare this woman to Cinderella -- what's the difference between these two ladies? -- the difference is in where they receive their value -- from who do they determine their worth
-- Cinderella let herself be defined by her stepsisters and became what they said she was -- dirty, ugly, and unloveable -- and it almost caused her to miss out on her prince when he came
-- this woman did not let the world define her -- she did not let Simon tell her who she was and how she should live -- she lived in the fullness of the knowledge of God's love -- she was defined by her place with God -- by her value in the eyes of God as forgiven and pure and holy -- rather than by the way Simon tried to define her
-- notice that she did not seek Simon's approval to come into his house to visit Jesus -- notice that she didn't care what he would think about her -- she came into the presence of Christ based on her position in Christ -- rather than looking at herself through the poor reflection of Simon's mirror, she allowed herself to bask in the light of Jesus' perfect love
IV. Application
-- so, what should this mean to you? -- what can we learn from the stories of Cinderella and a sinful woman?
-- if you will stop and think about it for just a moment, you'll have to admit that peer pressure is not just something that a teenager has to deal with -- we all suffer from peer pressure -- we all are concerned about what others think of us -- and we all let other's opinions and comments shape who we are to some extent
-- let me give you a personal example -- let me tell you about an incident that happened when I was in the fifth grade -- do you remember what it was like when you were around that age in school? -- you'd gather together on the playground and you'd talk and joke and try to impress your buddies -- well, one day a classmate told me in front of everybody there that I was a know-it-all and that I kept telling the same stories over and over again
-- that little comment has haunted me my whole life -- to some extent, he was probably right -- at that time, I was extremely outgoing and I loved to talk and I loved to point out things to others -- but from that point on, I became more withdrawn -- I quit talking out so much for fear that others would make fun of me -- I quit telling others the things I knew -- I quit being who I was -- who God had made me -- and became someone else so that the world would find me acceptable
-- and you may not believe it because I'm standing up here, but since then, I have always been one who preferred to stay hidden -- who preferred to stay behind the scenes -- who preferred to not speak up and not draw attention to myself -- I became very shy because I feared that others would judge me and make fun of me -- to this day, when we go out to social events, I still hug the walls and rarely speak to others -- when I went to my class reunion last year, I probably didn't talk to over 10 people all night -- people I have known my whole life -- and I didn't initiate any conversations
-- since God called me into the ministry, I have tried to become more outgoing and more sociable and more like I was in my younger years, but I still find myself falling into playing a role that the cutting comments of a fifth-grader forced me into many years ago
-- in their book, "The Sacred Romance," Brent Curtis and John Eldredge talk about the "arrows that become lodged in places of our self-identify" -- they say that words and comments like these get "repeated a thousand times and play like a recording in our inner thoughts" -- causing us to live life based on what we think the world wants rather than what God wants -- living in part and in the looking glass instead of living in the light of truth given to us through God's perfect love
-- that's exactly what happened to Cinderella and that's exactly what happens to us when we allow someone other than God to define us and to tell us how to live -- Curtis and Eldredge say that we go through life with a "Crisis of Identity" -- living out a script or role that someone else has written for us -- not being who we truly are and not being who God has called us to be but living in part based on the world's design
-- G.K. Chesterton said, "Every man has forgotten who he is .... We are all under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten what we really are."
-- Cinderella had a "crisis of identity" -- she had forgotten that she was beautiful and good and pious and became who her stepsisters -- who the world -- told her she was
-- this crisis of identity is a tool of Satan to keep Christians from moving forward into Christian maturity -- even though we have been saved and made pure and holy in the eyes of God, Satan tries to do everything he can to keep us thinking that we are unworthy of love and incapable of serving God
-- he whispers lies and torments in our ears just like the stepsisters whispered to Cinderella -- and when we believe these lies -- when we start to live our life based on these lies -- we find ourselves crippled and unable to serve God -- we become who Satan tells us we are
-- on the other hand, the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet didn't have a crisis of identity -- she recognized the truth of who she was in Christ and lived in that truth
-- as Curtis and Eldredge state, "we are created in the image of God -- we are created as a reflection of the Trinity" -- and we are called to live in this image, not in the image the world has given us
-- Gerald May said, "Our creation is by love, in love, and for love" -- we need to recognize who we are as children of God and start living like it -- 1 Peter 2:9 sums up who we are in Christ "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
-- we are not who the world says we are, but we are a chosen people -- a royal priesthood -- a holy nation -- the sons and daughters of God -- and we should live as such
IV. Closing
-- let me close by giving you two principles to carry forth with you when you leave here:
1. Remember who you are -- remember that if you are saved -- if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and been forgiven of your sins
-- remember that you are pure and holy in God's eye -- you do not have to be told who and what you are by the world -- you should already know who you are
-- remember that you have the Holy Spirit within you who will help you live the life in Christ that He has called you to live -- and be true to your nature and to your calling
2. Remember that the same God who touched you has made that same touch available to every single person you come into contact with -- be careful in your conduct with others -- don't be like Simon the Pharisee or like Cinderella's stepsisters -- don't let your words condemn others and keep them from becoming who they can be in Christ -- we need to take care to honor others and to not devalue their worth as children of God -- and especially be mindful of your words to children, because comments received in childhood can distort and shape the life of an adult
-- before I close in prayer, we're going to have a moment of silence -- in the silence of this place -- in the silence of your heart, ask that God would reveal to you the arrows that may have led you to a crisis of identity -- the events that have forced you to assume a role that the world wants you to play rather than the life that God has called you to live
-- and as you recognize these moments, let's pray together that we would be freed from the power of the arrows and that we would quit looking at ourselves in a poor reflection in the mirror and that we would know ourselves fully just as we are fully known by God
-- remember this, the fairy tales are true -- "the hero really does have a heart of gold and the beloved daughter really does possess a hidden beauty" [curtis and eldredge] -- pray that you would come to recognize this in your life and in the life of others
-- let us pray
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