Transformation Through Positive Guilt

Maybe you've heard people say this, maybe you've said it yourself, but have you ever heard the words, “I can't believe who's in church today”? As if to say, “What is that person doing here?” For example: I went to high school with that guy, and, man, he was a party animal. He had a potty mouth. What is he doing in church? Or, you know that lady sitting over there? She's a dancer at a strip club downtown. What is she doing in church? And I'm like, “How do you know she's a dancer?” “Oh, a friend told me.” “Mmmhmm, sure.” Or, that guy just got out of jail. Why is he in a church?

When I hear people say things like this, my reaction is usually, “Man, that's great! I'm glad they're here!” The church is supposed to be a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. We've all got something going on, and that's why we're here. We need hope in this world. Hope is fleeting these days, but thank God we have Jesus Christ.

So we're going to look at a story in Luke chapter 7 where Jesus befriends a woman who had lived this very sordid past. She had this reputation. Everybody knew she was a sinner. What I pray that we all come to see is that there is no sin so awful that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse. Jesus wants to be our friend. And if you feel like a sinner this morning, Jesus wants to be your friend. As followers of Jesus, Jesus wants us to be friends of sinners the way that he was friends of sinners.

So, the church ought to be a place where sinners feel welcomed in mercy and grace, but also feel inspired toward positive transformation. In other words, we can't stay where we are. We've got to become who Jesus has called us to be.

So, let's take a look at what happens in Luke chapter seven. We'll start in verse 36.

36 Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume 38 and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with the perfume.

When a person like this encounters Jesus, it's a beautiful thing. Now, we don’t know what her sin was. Some scholars suggest that this was Mary Magdalene, and she was a prostitute. We don't know that for sure. Maybe she was an adulteress. Maybe she learned and figured out how to swindle people out of money in some way, gambling or something. We don't know what she was. Maybe she worked in a job that was considered ceremonially unclean for the Jewish people. Whatever it was, she knew in her mind that her sin was big. It's huge.

And maybe some of us can identify with that. We've got this big sin in our lives. We wish we could just change it. Maybe our reputation precedes us, as it did with this woman, that we are sinners.

Well, she's tired of this broken, sinful life. And so she goes to the only person who can piece it all back together - Jesus Christ.

So I'm going to give you a few things I want you to notice about Jesus befriending sinners. Jesus is a friend of sinners because he elicits positive guilt. I think somewhere along the way, this woman had encountered Jesus, had heard Jesus teaching, and something finally hit her. And she said, “I've got to change my life.” She realized her lifestyle wasn't right and she needed to transform it because of Jesus’ words. And so, despite her reputation for sin, despite knowing who she is in the community's eyes, she goes to Jesus in this home of the Pharisee, even though he made her feel guilty, or maybe because he made her feel guilty.

Guilt can be positive or it can be negative.

Negative guilt, for example, may occur when we feel guilty for perfectly innocent things. We might feel guilty because we live in a nice house or we drive a nice car. We might feel guilty because we sleep in late, or maybe we don't diet and exercise like we should, and we feel guilty. Those are innocent things that are not ridiculous. They're kind of harmless, but not healthy..

Negative guilt can also occur when people feel guilty for things that are not their fault. Sexual abuse victims are classic examples. Not their fault, but they feel guilty for what happened in their lives. Again, not healthy.

Negative guilt can also center around a sin that God has forgiven you of so long ago. Like it's already taken care of, but you still feel guilty for that sin. That's not healthy either. God has forgiven you. Let it go.

So negative guilt can be destructive. It can produce feelings of depression. It can lead to worthlessness, inferiority, and lowliness. It could lead to compulsive issues in your life or psychological problems. So, negative guilt is not healthy.

But then there's positive guilt. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden against God, they disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. They immediately felt guilt. Why? They were guilty. This is positive guilt. Positive guilt leads people to positive change and to transform their lives.

It’s kind of like the check engine light in your car. When that check engine light comes on, you can't ignore it, can you? It's there. It might as well be a spotlight hitting your face. Every time you start up your car, it comes on, and it's irritating. You would like to take a sledgehammer and probably hammer that thing out of there. But as irritating as that check engine light is, it's a symptom of a deeper problem that needs to be taken care of immediately. Otherwise, it's going to cost you later.

Positive guilt may make us feel uncomfortable, like that check engine light that drives us crazy. But it's a warning sign that we should take care of it immediately before it costs us in the long run.

So Jesus befriends this lady sinner by drawing out this healthy guilt from within her, and he does the same with us. Let me give you four ways that God convicts us.

1. Through our conscience

Romans 2:15 says…

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them.

So even people who don't have a Bible, even people who have no religious training at all, instinctively know the difference between right and wrong. It's written on their hearts. Paul says the conscience, what's written on our hearts, is a warning light that alerts us to something wrong we need to fix.

2. Through scripture

Have you ever felt guilty when you were reading scripture? In my devotional time last week, I was reading in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings about the Jewish people in Judah who had been worshiping idols. They were building these temples and high places for idol worship and prostitution. And what happens is King Josiah, who was one of the good kings of Judah, comes on the scene, and he says, “Hey, guys, this temple hasn't been worked on in years. We need to repair it.” So, he orders repairs on the temple. And as they're working on the temple, they found the book of the law that God had inspired Moses to write - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They begin reading it to King Josiah, and King Josiah is distraught. And you know what he does? Immediately, he goes out and tears down the places of idol worship and prostitution. Why? Because that's what the scriptures do. They lead us through guilt and then to proper behavior.

Romans 7:7 says…

7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But I would not have known sin if it were not for the law…

So scriptures take us to that place of brokenness. This is positive guilt.

3. Through his presence, especially when we worship together

In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus is talking about disagreements that come up between believers. Can you believe that disagreements happen among church people? What happens when two or three people come together in trying to agree about something? Jesus promises, “When two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” This is beautiful.

Now we believe also that when we come together in worship, Jesus is here. His Holy Spirit is here. With the presence of the Holy Spirit, sometimes just going to church makes you feel guilty. Maybe you came in this morning and you thought, “Man, if these people knew the life I lived last week, they wouldn't let me in.” Or maybe you thought, “I'm going to walk into church this morning and the walls are going to come crashing down because, man, I'm such a sinner.” You're in the right place. This is positive guilt. The church may make us feel guilty. Maybe we don't hear it directly in a sermon, but the Holy Spirit loves to step on our toes. And it's a good thing. It’s positive guilt.

4. Through good people

Have you ever been convicted of something by a friend? Many of you know the Old Testament story of King David. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then later on had Bathsheba's husband killed in a military battle so he could get away with this adulterous affair he had. Now, David, fortunately he has this friend named Nathan. Nathan comes and he says, “David, hey, here's the deal, man. God knows what you did.” And as soon as David is convicted of his sin by his good friend Nathan, David's first words are, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Just like that, he knows he's convicted.

When we participate in something wrong or sinful, God may set it up to send someone to us who cares about us and loves us. It might be a friend, a co-worker, a husband or a wife, or even our own children. In that moment, we might feel overwhelmed with guilt. We might even feel angry because we've been convicted of the wrong thing we've done.

But those feelings of guilt are healthy. They are positive. It's indicating to us that God, our friend, is calling us to live a better life. And he needs us to change. He needs us to transform.