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A Recap from Sunday’s Sermon

Preaching Text: Luke 10:25-37

It is God’s common grace that people are naturally compassionate toward those in need. However, such compassion is significantly tempered by self-interest and the costs of helping. Jesus came, teaching and modeling a new way to a world that puts limits on the duty to “love neighbor as self.”

The way of Jesus heals society.

Luke 10:25-37 contains Jesus’ famous parable of the Good Samaritan. It’s so famous that Webster’s dictionary has an entry generated by it and all 50 states have laws named after it. Still, many Americans miss that Jesus chose a Samaritan to demonstrate true neighborliness has no barriers. In so doing, Jesus gave us God’s answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The answer is “everyone.”

The lawyer prompting Jesus’ parable was asking what to “do to inherit eternal life.” But, an inheritance is given not earned. It’s the result of relationship not effort. The only thing a person could “do” to live would be to perfectly obey the laws of God, namely loving God with ones whole person and loving neighbor as ones self. (Please note that such love is really about relationships, not deeds). Furthermore, we could never obey these laws perfectly on our own.

While the parable exemplifies neighborliness, Jesus IS the perfect neighbor. The Samaritan stopped for someone half dead, but Jesus came to us while we were fully dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1). The Samaritan offered help while on his way to other business, but helping us was Jesus’ business. The Samaritan healed a wounded man, but Jesus became a wounded man. Through him, we can be restored. Then, out of his love we can help others. “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassionate hearts” (Col. 3:12).

Taking it home: We often neglect helping due to tight schedules. Discuss ways to create extra margin in your schedule for helping those you may encounter.