Redemption vs. resolution: sermon outline

“Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” John 8:7

Context:

Festival of Shelters: Israel lived in shelters to remember the years in the wilderness (Lev 23:42-43).
The Temple courts, open to everyone. A crowd gathered to hear Jesus (John 8:2).
In the middle of the feast, a woman's sin exposed in front of everyone (John 8:3-4).

Introduction:

Redemption sets free a mind that was enslaved. It is internal.
Resolution solves a problem. It is external. Solving a problem doesn't require a change of mind.
Discipleship is Jesus' way of redeeming people, not of solving problems.

1. Jesus is the redeemer of our souls, not the solver of our problems (John 3:17).

"God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17).
Redemption transforms the mind, brings hope and makes us children.
Redemption doesn't always change the circumstances. It changes the perspective.
Sometimes God won't solve your problem. He will show you that, in truth, you don't have a problem.

2. Redemption brings resolution, but resolution doesn't bring redemption.

If you only look to God for solutions, you live on expectations and become their slave.
Whoever has been redeemed learns to walk through the problem as a child of God.

3. The Pharisees wanted to solve three problems, and none of them was redeeming anyone (John 8:6).

The woman's problem: sin. Their solution: stones.
The "Jesus problem": "They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him" (John 8:6).
The people's problem: discredit Jesus' teaching so they would be listened to again.

4. Whoever only wants to solve other people's problems is always ready to stone them (John 8:5).

The law punished both: "both the man and the woman who have committed adultery must be put to death" (Lev 20:10). Where was the man?
The witnesses had to throw the first stones (Deut 17:7). Jesus hands that rule back to the accusers (John 8:7).
Exposing the woman before the crowd was a way to shame Jesus, not to restore anyone.

5. Jesus takes the woman out of the center and puts the accusers in her place (John 8:7-9).

He writes in the dust and gives them time to think about what they are doing. They wanted an answer.
He doesn't condemn them. He makes them look at the problem from another angle.
They "slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest" (John 8:9): in order of importance, not in order of confession. They were defeated in their religiosity, not convicted in their hearts.

6. A question to redeem, an answer to resolve (John 8:10-11).

To the Pharisees, Jesus gives an answer. To the woman, He asks a question: "Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?" (John 8:10).
Jesus heard her trial not as someone who wants to condemn, but as someone who wants to set free.
Nor did He approve of the sin: "Neither do I. Go and sin no more" (John 8:11).

Conclusion:

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17