Author and pastor, Sarah Jakes Roberts preached a message titled “Tangled” at Shine Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. In the message, she admitted that sometimes it is hard for her to untangle herself from the rhymes, patterns, and mindset that have made her feel less than.
She started by sharing that she recently began practicing a Keto diet plan to help with weight loss. She revealed that during her weight loss journey God taught her two things: (1) you cannot eat whatever you want all of the time, and (2) another woman’s body goals should not be her goals. Roberts further noted that “if I don’t love where I am, because I’m trying to get to where I’m headed, then I’m gonna constantly hate where I am right now.”
The bestselling author also suggested that as humans, life has a way of tangling us in situations that can be either good or bad. Sarah recalled wondering what form of entanglement she was getting into when she started her relationship with her husband, Toure Roberts, the pastor of The Potter’s House at One L.A. “If I’m going to be tangled up with you, I need to know that me being tangled up with you is helping me to grow [and] help me to become a better person,” she remembered asking.
Roberts used the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery in the Bible, to illustrate a negative instance of being “tangled” up. In that passage, which can be found in John 8:4-5, when the Pharisees brought her to Jesus they said to Him, “this woman was caught in the car of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” The intent of the Pharisees, as Roberts noted, was less about punishing the woman, and more about trying to trap Jesus.
Jesus responded to their inquiry with a bold statement. He said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Eventually, all the accusers walked away. The Women Evolve author suggested that the law was fractured because the Pharisees needed to know what it was like for everyone to break the law.
Jesus then asked the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them accuse you?” Roberts recounted how all of them walked away because, like her, they too struggled with sin or “tangled” situations.
Roberts underscored the intentionality in Jesus’ question to the woman.
“If he doesn’t clarify it then she could walk off still thinking that she’d be condemned when he made sure that they backed up off of her.” Roberts reminded those in the audience to “stop punishing yourself for something God made back up off of you.”
To watch the full message of Tangled, check it out below.
