Lighthouse Baptist Church
and Christian Academy

We recognize the sign. But when it's hanging around a person's neck, it means, "Stop talking and listen."

I look at this story and it occurs to me what a wonderful listener Jesus was. He especially listened to this woman. And you can read the story and see that He listened to Simon the Pharisee, too. As a matter of fact, He listened so well to Simon the Pharisee, the Bible says that He read his thoughts. This was the Son of God, and He was paying good attention to even what Simon was thinking. But He especially listened to this woman.

You look at this story, and it could confuse you. You say, "As far as I can tell this woman never spoke." You're right. She never utters a word. Not even one. But Jesus listened to her.

Wouldn't you agree with me that this woman was saying something to Jesus? Wouldn't you agree with me that listening goes way beyond just hearing the words that another person says? It's seeing what's in their eyes. It's feeling what's in their heart. It's reading between the lines. It's listening in the moments of silence. This woman was speaking. She was speaking loudly in her tears and in her service to Christ and in the washing of His feet and the kissing of His feet. She had a message, and Jesus, it seems, was the only one who heard it. He was the only one listening to her.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians

Titus remembers the way you listened to him and welcomed him with such respect and deep concern.

2 Corinthians 7:15

Why did Titus feel respected? Because of the way they welcomed him and because of the way they listened to him.

Are you a good listener? Would people around you say you really are a good listener? Do people feel like you're fully present with them whenever they're with you? Or is there anybody in your world who might just be whispering under their breath, "Would you please stop talking? Would you please stop advising? Stop rambling. Stop pontificating. Stop hyping! Stop hogging the verbal spotlight. Would you just stop and listen?"

Let me give you an idea. Why don't you get a button and put it in your pocket with your change or put it in your change purse. And every time you reach for change and you feel that button maybe it could be a subtle reminder, "Stop talking for a minute and value and honor what someone else has to say."

A second sign you'll see hanging around the neck of every person you'll ever encounter is...

Here's what it means: Keep your promises.

You tell people you're going to do such and so, and they really want to believe you. She said this, so that's the direction she's going. But before you know it you have turned the wheel and squealed the tire and you're going in an opposite direction from the commitment that you made to those people around you.

If you look at this encounter between Jesus and the woman you will find a remarkable promise being made. He said, "Your sins are forgiven," and Jesus keeps all His promises. Have you ever had someone break a promise to you? They told you they were going to do something that was very important, and they didn't do it. Did that make you feel honored and respected, or did it make you feel discounted and disrespected?

Proverbs 25:14 says,

People who promise things that they never give are like clouds and wind that bring no rain.

Proverbs 25:14

Could Jesus have been any clearer when He declared

Just let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no.'

Matthew 5:37

Keep your word.

I think most of the time when we break our promises, we break them because we made those promises hastily. We didn't think about our schedule or the schedule of others. We didn't consider what might or might not happen. We just made a rash commitment, and because we didn't plan ahead, we end up breaking promise after promise.

Proverbs 3: "Good planning and insight fill you with life and they bring you honor and respect." Have you ever noticed how valuable promises are to children? Kids really want us to keep our promises. As a matter of fact, if you make a commitment to them, they'll ask you, "Promise?" and we'll say, "Yes." But that's not enough for them. They'll follow it up with, "Hope to die?" Yes. That's not enough for them, so they'll follow it up with, "Stick a needle in your eye?"

God models this idea for us because He keeps all of His promises. Every promise He's ever made, He's kept. All the way through the Bible. Start way back in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. After the flood had destroyed the world, God told Noah, "I will never again destroy the world with water. And to seal that promise," God said, "I'll give you a sign. That sign will be a rainbow and every time you see that sign, you'll remember My promise."

Keep turning pages in the Bible. God comes to 99-year-old Abraham and 89-year-old Sarah, and He promised that they would have a baby. And from that child would come many nations. And the entire world would be blessed through their lineage. Think about it – 99 and 89 and a baby! There wouldn't be a single tooth in the whole family! They'd be the only couple in Target buying Pampers and Depends at the same time. To seal His promise to them, God said, "I'll give you a sign." It was the sign of circumcision. Abraham could have said, "How come Noah got a rainbow?"

God promised through the process that He would send a savior who'd forgive us of our sins and be our friend and comfort and teach and lead us. And He sent His Son, Jesus. And when Jesus came, He made a promise that God would love us and would forgive us and would one day welcome us into heaven if we trusted Him. He sealed this promise of love, this new covenant, this New Testament, with His blood when He died on a cross. Every time Christians take communion, we reflect on that promise and we feel valued and honored by God.

You and I show value and honor to others when we keep our promises to them.

The third sign you see hanging around everybody's neck is...

It basically means yield your rights and serve.

When other people want to be first in line, get all the attention, have everybody waiting on them or doing for them or it's all about them, those who are around people like that never feel respected. But if somebody ever puts aside their rights and gives back in an act of service, you really feel like you matter to that person.

This story in Luke 7 about this woman and Jesus is so tender, and it's a picture of her service to the Lord. Without a word, without mention of the value of her deed, without thinking of the expense or the shame or the work or the demeaning nature of what she was doing, she just came to the feet of God's Son and she served Him.

Have you ever had anybody in your life who has served you, with no thought to their own needs or desires? Or have you ever served someone like that?

2 Corinthians 12: "So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well." Isn't that a beautiful verse?

Serving is not scorekeeping. Our culture says, "I do for you, now you owe so many acts of service back to me." "I did this, now it's your turn to do that." We get into this tit for tat, back and forth scorekeeping. I've seen so many shallow friendships, so many shallow marriages built on that kind of selfishness. The bottom line is that's what it is. It's not yielding, it's not serving.

What does yielding and serving look like? There are dozens of examples I could give. I'm just going to give you a couple. One example of yielding and serving looks a whole lot like courtesy, common courtesy. Did you see the sharp comparison that Jesus drew between the lack of courtesy that the Pharisee withheld and all of the courtesy that the woman gave? Jesus was just talking about fundamental courtesy. Just the courtesy and customs of the day.

Here's another. Service is also when we do our very best for others. When we do a deed of kindness, but we do it with a lot of reluctance, that's not really service. But when we do our best for others, it does really show that we're wanting to serve and that they really do matter to us.

That's why I had you circle the word "expensive." This woman didn't come with a that-will-do attitude. She didn't just "get by." She probably had cheaper perfume. But she wanted to do for the Son of God her very best. Jesus said it's rare perfume - rare, expensive perfume. She wanted to offer her best. This is one way we do show honor and respect for God. It's not like God expects us to bring Him something that's perfect. None of us can do that. All of us are imperfect people. But He does expect that we bring Him our best.

The Lord Almighty says, 'I am your Father and Master. But where are the honor and the respect that I deserve? You have despised My name.'

Malachi 1:6

If you were to keep reading in that text, the people ask God, "'How have we despised Your name?' and God says "You've despised My name by offering defiled sacrifices.' And the people said, 'How have we done that?'"

And God says, "Here's an example. Instead of finding the best lamb from your flock and offering that as a sacrifice, you're bringing Me lambs that are crippled and blind and sick. It's like you're going out into your field and you find a little feeble lamb leaning against the fence about to die. You figure he's not going to make it anyway and that's the guy you bring to Me." And God says, "If that's the way you're going to worship Me, don't bother."

He doesn't expect perfection. He knows we are incapable of giving that. Service is about others. It's not about I or me or mine. It's unselfishness. It's not treating people like you are here to meet my needs or advance my career or fulfill my dream.

Do you live in such a way that even subtly you communicate to others that they are here for you? Or do I in any way show others their value by being there for them? It's called service. And at the end of the day it's called respect.

There's a fourth and final sign that anybody you've ever met has hanging around their neck.

Get along with each other. Don't be stuck up. Make friends with nobodies. Don't be the great somebody.

Romans 12:16

Or

Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.

Ephesians 4:2

There's a controversial discussion going in America these days. It's the discussion around the word "profiling." We diminish people or we overlook people because they have certain physical characteristics or certain personality traits or they come from a different economic background or have lesser educational achievements or they're wearing a different colored skin. We sort of categorize and overlook and disrespect, and in our minds we say, "They are less than we are." We make those value judgments all the time. I hate that when I see it in me. I hate it when I see it anywhere.

There was a stutterer in the Bible, and his name was Moses. But God saw in him the next spokesperson for the Hebrew nation. There was a guy in the Bible who was flaky and undependable and his name was Simon, which meant flighty. But Jesus said, I'm going to change your name. I'm going to call you Petra, Peter, Rock because I see in you something nobody else can see.

And everybody in the story that we read this morning about Jesus and the woman saw her as an interruption at best and a whore at worst. But not Jesus. Jesus saw her as a worshiper. And He saw her as a daughter in His kingdom.

Has there ever been a day in your life when you've started the morning with this prayer, "Lord, help me see every person I meet as You do." What would change in your day?

Some time ago a songwriter tried to capture this idea. It's one of my favorite songs, In Heaven's Eyes. I was at a church up north a few years ago, and a soloist was singing that song. She had only gotten out one or two words when a woman from the audience on the front row stood up and before ushers or anyone could stop her she climbed the steps up the platform. The soloist looked at this approaching woman but kept singing this marvelous song. The woman from the audience walked over and stood very near the singer. It was obvious to those who were watching that this woman had some physical challenges, and there was an indication or two that she had some mental challenges as well. An usher started for the platform, and we all believed it was to escort this person off the stage. But the singer waved the usher away and instead scooted next to the woman, who was just standing there looking blankly toward the audience. The soloist put her arm around the woman and kept singing. "In heaven's eyes, there are no losers. In heaven's eyes, no hopeless cause."

I thought, what a message. What a message for that woman to hear. What a message for me to hear. What a message for you to hear.

Heavenly Father as we bow before You, we thank You that You see in us sometimes what we don't even see in ourselves. Father, we pray that You'll teach us to show love by the way that we respect others and by the way we see them. Is there anybody here who's been struck right now that God sees you in a way that says "I love you, I value you, I had you on My heart while I was hanging on the cross?" Have you let God's love touch you or soften you, invade you? Why would you not give Your life to someone who has loved you that much" Father, God, change us by Your love. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.