10.18.26 The Parable of the Good Samaritan Josh Thompson: I I'm so thankful that we get to be a part of what God is doing, not just only here, but around the world. And I'll tell you what, when you when you give financially and you you so in in offerings, to missions or just your your giving to tr to the to the your normal ties and offerings. That those funds allow us to be able to reach and go way beyond what we could ever do just right here. And and this last year, as they said, we've had ten ten different leaders and pastors that we've supported to go through school. That allows their churches not to be shut down for them to continue. And I believe it's just gonna increase. How many say that's good soil? That's good soil, multiplication. It's beautiful. Well, we are going to continue today in the parables of Jesus. And we're going to look at what might be one of the most iconic stories that Jesus ever told. The parable of the good Samaritan. Good Samaritan. Now, I gotta tell you, I think everybody kind of knows about the Good Samaritan, but I can't remember a message that I've ever heard on the Good Samaritan. Pastor Gary, maybe you did, and I can't remember it. I'm sorry if you did. But you know what's wild? Even people who have never opened their Bible know that phrase, Good Samaritan. We have organizations like Samaritan's Purse, we have what we call good Samaritan laws that are in place. Have you heard of this? Where if you're you go to help someone in an emergency, you see someone that needs emergency help and you're trying to help them, but you accidentally make it worse, there, which is what I probably would do if I was trying to medically save someone, there are forms of legal protection. When we call somebody a good Samaritan, most people know what that means. And the the they it means the person stopped. They they helped somebody that was in need, they did something good. You think about that, this story that Jesus told 2,000 years ago is still shaping our language today, still shaping our culture, it's even shaping our laws. Hearing the name Good Samaritan, for us, it regist registers something good, something positive. But it would have sounded actually shocking to the people that were listening to Jesus. If you told a Jewish man, you know, in in that day that you were gonna tell them a story about a good Samaritan, they'd say, that's an oxymoron. There's no such thing. There's no such thing as a good Samaritan. No such thing as a good Samaritan. Samaritan person. There was deep hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. There was generations of hatred and division. And as we'll see, Jesus in this parable makes a Samaritan the person in the story that his listeners actually need to learn from. Have you ever had to learn from somebody you didn't like? This person that they look down on actually becomes the person that he calls them to emulate. And that's, I think, what parables do. Jesus takes in these parables something we think we understand and he opens our eyes. He opens our eyes to what we've been missing. He reveals what God is like. He reveals what the kingdom of God is like. And he opens our eyes to see, and he opens our hearts so we can actually see what's going on in there. How many want him to do that to you today? I want to just pray, Lord. I thank you for your word. Not just say, Jesus, we just want you today. We just want you. Your words are life. You are life. And I just pray that even right now, in the midst of this very morning, that that we wouldn't just get this as information today, but Lord, your word would go deep in us, touch us, change us. So when we leave here, we're actually different because of it. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, the parable opens up. with a question that a lawyer is asking Jesus. And it's not really a question, it's actually a it's it's actually a trap for Jesus. It's it's kind of a setup. it's this mini theological battle that this lawyer wants to have with Jesus. Now we hear the word lawyer and we think of one thing, but this guy is not like a civil lawyer like you would imagine on some TV show being. He was an expert in religious law, biblical law. That that was his expertise. He's he's a religious scholar. And he's gonna test Jesus on his knowledge of Scripture. how many know Jesus is gonna ace that test? Because you know, he's the word. He's gonna win that debate, okay? You you you try and debate Jesus on the word, it's not gonna go well for you. So that's what's kind of going on here. Luke chapter 10, we'll start in verse 25. This is this: and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do? To inherit eternal life? Which is such a beautiful question, right? man, all of us at some point are asking that question in our life, but he's not asking it genuinely, because he's trying to trap Jesus. And Jesus responds to his question with a question: how many know that Jesus loves to do that? So Jesus, verse 26, Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? I love that question. And he answered, Well, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. What's he doing here? He's quoting Deuteronomy. Verse 28, and he said to him, You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. But he, get this. Desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? Now it's easy to skip past this last verse because it's just kind of there, but it's actually key to understanding the whole conversation that's happening here. So I want you to look at that again. So desiring to justify himself, he asks. Who is my neighbor? The lawyer in his heart wanted to justify himself. That that that that courtroom word here in the Greek, it means to be declared righteous. That's what this guy was wanting. It's like the it's like the judge bringing down the the gavel and saying, You're innocent. That's what that word means, justified. He desired in his heart to declare himself righteous. By himself. He's trying to justify himself before God. How many know that doesn't work? He's operating under the assumption that if he's good enough, if he's moral enough, if he's religious enough, that God is going to accept him. And that's the problem. And Jesus knew it. Because Jesus will declare anybody innocent if they repent and believe for his payment for their sin. How many know that? How many forgiven innocent people do we have here because of the blood of the Lamb of God? But this guy, he actually believes that if he's virtuous enough, God will accept him. This reminds me of the rich young ruler in in Mark chapter 10, where he asked Jesus, What must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus, he points him back to the law and the commandments, right? If you if you remember that. And the man says to Jesus, he says, Hey, I've kept all the commandments. Jesus is like, okay, well, you you lack one thing then. Go sell everything you have and give it to the poor. And the guy walks away. He can't do it. What is Jesus doing in those two situations with the lawyer and with the rich young ruler? He's He's doing this. He's exposing a heart. He's exposing something deeper here. The law was never meant to be merely a set of rules to keep. It was actually meant to reveal a life of God, a a life of love to God and to neighbor. We can say this the law is a way of life, it's not the way to life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. See, Jesus, he isn't only concerned with outward obedience, he's after a heart that's motivated by love, that produces obedience from love. Are you with me this morning? See, you can know all the right answers, and you can still have a heart that's far from God. And that's exactly what was happening here, what Jesus is exposing. The lawyer knows the scriptures, he knows what to say, but Jesus is actually showing him that the standard isn't only knowing rules or knowing scripture, the standard is perfect love. The only way to obey the law is through love. And guess what? You and I, we all have to come to grips with the fact that you don't love and you can't love in yourself before you can love. Because until we recognize how desperately we need a savior, we're gonna keep trying to be our own. Are you following me? Are you awake? Stay with me today. He's got something good for us. It's good. So both the rich young ruler and the lawyer are pretty impressed with themselves. Have you ever met somebody like that? yeah. They're trying to establish on the outside what can only be transformed on the inside through the saving work of Jesus Christ. And before we can receive the life that only Jesus can give us. We actually have to recognize that we cannot produce it in ourselves. That I actually can't love God without God. It takes God to love God. The law reveals what love requires, and Jesus reveals how desperately we need his grace and empowerment to obey it. And that's what the lawyer doesn't see. Instead of allowing the word of God to expose his heart, he's actually trying to justify himself. And so he asks the question: who is my neighbor exactly? Who is my neighbor exactly? You see what's happening? He's not asking, how can I love more? He's not like, Jesus, I want to love more, help me love more. He's basically asking how little he can love and still be righteous. Right? He wants to know where's the boundary? Where's the boundary of love, right? Who do I who do I have to love exactly? In other words, Jesus, you don't mean everybody, do you? Tell me the minimum standard to inherit eternal life. And here's the problem with trying to establish your own righteousness. If your right if your if your relationship with God rests on your performance, then you need a standard that you can convince yourself you've reached. I did that. I did that. I'm good. I'm good. That's what the lawyer is doing. Okay, this is really important for us to get this. He's looking for a limit to love. And guess what? Jesus is about to remove every limit. So he says, Hey, let me tell you a little story. Let me tell you a little story. And here he goes, verse 30. Jesus replied to him. He said, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, pass by on the other side. So imagine this with me, guys. I mean, let's just get into the story a little bit. Here's this man who's just been robbed, he's just been. Hijacked, attacked by Roberts, they strip him, they beat him, they take what he has, and they leave him lying there for dead. The guy's in horrible shape. There he is on the road. Imagine if that happened to you. And we honestly don't know how long he has left to live. Now think about this: along comes a priest. Somebody like Pastor Aaron. I love to pick on him. He's not here. That's why I like to do it. A religious leader, right? Like a man who's devoted his life to serving God. He's the kind of person that you would expect to stop. And the scripture says that Pastor Aaron saw the man. you all are gonna go tell him this. I probably should have chosen someone that was in the room. Scripture says he saw the man, the the priest saw the man, but instead of stopping to help, he crossed to the other side of the road and he keeps walking. Then comes a Levite, who's another religious man. You know, Levite were like worshippers, like, you know, it's like charity. Another person that you I don't know think she's in here. She might be behind the curtain. She hides back there. There's another person though you'd expect to help. And he does exactly the same thing. He sees him and he passes by to the other side to avoid him. We could say these two guys, we could say they're members of the clergy. They're people who've been set apart for the works of compassion. They they would have been the ones that distributed the alms to the poor. There's lots of speculation as you dig into this. Why they didn't stop. It was a very dangerous road, it was a very dangerous place, we know that. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe they were in a hurry. Maybe they just didn't want to get involved. But but most likely because they were on this road going from Jerusalem to Jericho, they were coming down from the road. It's very likely that they would have been coming home from worshiping at the temple. So in our modern terms, we could say, you know, they they were they were busy heading home from church. Whatever the reason was, these are the people you would imagine that would take care of a guy who was beaten, who was broken, who was hurting, who was alone. But they both pass by. They offer no help, they offer no prayer, they offer no presence, they offer no attention, they offer nothing. But there's a third man in the story, verse 33. Jesus says, But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He had compassion. Now stop right there. Jesus chose this man to be in this story very intentionally. Because what I said earlier, remember Jews and And Samaritans they they actually hated each other, okay? They were divided religiously, they were divided ethnically, they were they were divided socially. This is the last person that the lawyer would have expected Jesus to make the hero of the story. But look what Jesus says. When he saw him, he had compassion. Now don't miss that. The priests saw him, the Levites saw him, the Samaritans saw him, but only one was moved to actually do something about it. And Jesus says he had compassion. We talked about this word a couple weeks ago, and it's that deep gut level compassion that Jesus. Had when it says he saw the crowd and he saw that they were helpless and they were harassed. That's the kind of compassion that this Samaritan has. It's not simply this feeling sorry or pity for somebody, it's this deep in your gut. Have you ever felt that before? It's a compassion that actually moves you toward someone. He doesn't just feel something, he actually does something. And he does everything in his power to show mercy to this enemy who'd fallen. Here's what Jesus is telling the lawyer, and I believe he's telling us your neighbor is anyone in need. even your enemy. This c I I think this can't be overstated. In using a Samaritan in the parable, it's Jesus' way of saying, Don't you dare put limits on who your neighbor is. He's confronting generations of prejudice and hostility. it's wild in John 8 when the religious leaders are mad at Jesus and they're frustrated with him, they say, He's a Samaritan. That's like the way of cussing at someone. Right? Like he's a Samaritan. That's how deep the host hostility ran. So why would Jesus use such an extreme example? I think it's this, because he's showing us that you cannot put boundaries around the love of God. Are you awake, church? You cannot put boundaries around the love of God. You know what's happening in our world right now? Boundaries everywhere. Everywhere. And it gets into the church and Jesus is like The fruit of a heart that's been transformed by grace is a love that moves towards people in need. The broken, the hurting, the forgotten. Even the ungrateful. Even the person who's nothing like you. Demographically, socially, physically, can I dare even say in Missouri politically? If you're making a boundary on on who you love politically, I'm telling you you are not in the kingdom. Jesus is describing his definition of neighbor love. And it is this, church, it is a love that crosses every single boundary that we try and put around our compassion. Look what happens next, verse 34. He went to him and he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And then he sent him on his own animal and brought him to an inn, and he took care of him. And the next day he took out two deneri and he gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I'll repay you when I come back. Now you think about everything that the Samaritan just did. it's like it's a lot. he didn't just call the ambulance. Right? he stopped his journey. Let this get in you. Don't let this just be like here. Let it get. He stopped his journey. He gets his hands dirty. He bandaged this man's wounds as he's bleeding. I bet blood got on his hands. He actually rearranged his schedule. He gave up his ride. Like he gave up his seat on his donkey or whatever he was riding. Gave up his seat on his animal so this hurting man would have a place to ride. Think about that. Instead of being comfortable, he walks for the rest of the journey to the inn. He takes him to the inn and it says he takes care of him there. And he stays with him overnight. I mean, this is radical. I think it's easy to hear this and be yeah, yeah, yeah, but let's be practical. He didn't drop him off at the hospital so we could go about his business. No, he put his plans aside. He put aside his agenda for the day. Because he's like, I have to see that this man is taken care of. Next day, gives the innkeeper two denarii. I was reading into this, and and and basically it it pay it would pay for two months worth of this guy's stay if he needed to stay in the inn for two months. And he tells the innkeeper, he says, Take care of this guy. Whatever it takes, whatever else you spend, I'll pay you back when I come back. Could I just say that Jesus is giving us a picture of what compassion looks like? It doesn't just feel something, it does something. gave him his time. I think sometimes it's easy to give a few bucks to somebody. It's a lot more expensive to give somebody your time. Gave him his attention. Man, that's something that's expensive these days. Just to try and get us all to look up from our phones. Right? Like I wonder if Jesus was telling this sermon today, if he'd be like, Yeah, they were walking down the road, they were just looking at their iPhones, didn't see him. He gives up his comfort. He gives up his resources. It moves, this compassion, it moves towards a need, even when it costs something. See that the priest and the Levi, they saw a problem to avoid. The Samaritan saw a person to love. Don't miss this. The Samaritan didn't stop because this man deserved his help. Like he didn't stop because they had something in common. He didn't stop because you know there was something in it for him. He stopped because he had compassion. Real neighbor love doesn't ask what's in it for me. Real love asks, what does this person need from me? And I think Jesus is giving us a picture of neighbor love that actually costs something. A love that interrupts our schedule, a love that inconveniences us deeply, a love that moves towards hurting people, even people who we might consider our enemies. Look at how Jesus ends the parable. He asks another question. Verse 36. He says to this lawyer, he says, So which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Imagine that moment. Hmm. Let me think about that. It's gonna take me a little bit. And the the lawyer answers. Verse thirty seven the one who shows him mercy. And Jesus says this, he says, you go and do likewise. You go and do likewise. In other words, stop trying to figure out who deserves your love. Start becoming a person who shows mercy. Because in the kingdom of God, your neighbor isn't only the person who lives next door. Your neighbor is the person who's in front of you wherever you are. The one who doesn't look like you. Can I even just say it? The one who doesn't vote like you? The one who doesn't have anything in common with you. Jesus is removing every boundary that we try and put around our compassion. Now, here's something I do want to make a distinction on that I think is important. There's a message out there that says God is the father of us all, and we have this universal brotherhood. I'll tell you this: we do not have a universal brotherhood. You know that song they did, you are my brother, you are my sister. It's not true. it is true, but it's not true. The brotherhood, hear me on this, is made up of those who are in Christ. That's what the New Testament says, okay? We got to be clear on this. And the only way to enter the brotherhood is through adoption into the family of God. And people who are not in Jesus are not in the brotherhood. We talked about this in the parable of the wheat and the weeds message. But I love, I love how one person put it, I heard them say this: there is no universal brotherhood, but there is a universal neighborhood. Okay, that's a different way of thinking about it. That is, every human being created in the image of God is my neighbor. Which means I'm called to love every single human being on the face of this earth as much as I would love myself. That's wild. Even if he or she is not a part of the brotherhood, even if they're not a part of the household of faith. So when I find somebody who is fallen in the gutter of life, my job isn't first to say, you know, why are you there? What did you do? Our job is to actually help them get out. Why? Because we would want that from someone else. And Jesus says, you go and do likewise. Who? Who? Anyone who's hurting. When? Anytime. Where? Wherever you go. What if I'm busy? According to the parable, it doesn't matter. Go and do likewise. In other words, go and be like the Good Samaritan. Show mercy. we can be so busy doing our lives that we miss the people that God has placed right in front of us. Right? we can be so consumed with getting where we're going. I'm I'm so guilty of this. That we might walk right past somebody who needs the love of Jesus. I wonder. I don't wonder. I know I've been the priest. I know I've been the Levite. I don't want to know how many times. I wonder how many divine opportunities that we've missed simply because we didn't want to be interrupted. Am I preaching to s to anyone here? What if the person that you find right in front of you is the very person that God wants to love through you? This Jesus love for neighbors is radical. It's a love for nothing in return. This isn't about some like transactional kindness, like I'm kind to you, you're kind to me. That's called friendship. Jesus' love says love for nothing in return. Think about it. We don't even know if this guy. who got robbed ever even came back and thanked him. Like it's just not even a part of the story. There's no like happy ending that way. Here's a question I think we have to wrestle with, and I wanna I wanna just ask it to you this morning. Is what I believe. producing this kind of Jesus love for neighbors in my life. Because genuine faith doesn't just change what you believe, it actually changes how you live and how you love. Jesus says something very similar in Matthew twenty five. He describes the day when he will come in his glory. How many are are excited about that day? The great and terrible day of the Lord. Look at this, Matthew 25, verse 32. It says this, before him, before Jesus, will be all the nations. And he will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty. And you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you welcomed me. I was naked, you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you a drink? And when did you when did we see you as stranger and welcome you? Or naked and clothe you, and when did when did we see you sick and imprisoned and visit you? And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. That's powerful, isn't it? the weight that Jesus puts on this. Then he turns to another group of people. These are the people who think they're Christians, and I'll just give you a heads up. It gets pretty intense here, okay? Verse 42: For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me, sick and And in prison you did not visit me. They're like, Lord, when do we see you hungry? When do we when do we see thirsty, naked, sick in prison, and not minister to you? Verse 45. Then he will answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. That is sobering, isn't it? that's sobering. we can't we can't escape it. some of the things Jesus says, I'm like, I wish he didn't say that. But he does. Right? Jesus is is just Showing us that how we treat people matters deeply to him. Right? But we have to understand something because people get this confused, like about the the parable of the Good Samaritan and and this Matthew 5 or 25. People get confused in these passages. I want to tell you what Jesus isn't teaching that we earn our salvation by doing good works. Okay? So don't hear that. The apostle Paul makes that absolutely clear. And here's I want you to see this. Ephesians 2, 8 to 9. He says this for by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. How many are thankful for that? It's a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. So we are saved by grace through faith. But look at the next verse, verse 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what? Good works, which God prepared beforehand. What? Thank you. That we should walk in them. So we are not saved by good works, we're saved for good works. Turn to somebody and say, that's good. That's good. We're saved for good works. I heard this illustration once. Let me illustrate. Imagine two trees are up here, one over here, one over here. They're standing next to each other. One is beautifully green, and the other one is completely barren, and it's in the middle of summer. There isn't a leaf on this one. Right? You're like, what's wrong with that tree? It's so barren. Which tree would you say is alive? The green one, the one with all the leaves. The one that that has no leaves, you'd be like, I think that that tree is dead. Here's the question I want to ask you. Do the leaves give the tree life? No. The leaves reveal that the tree has life. And I think that this is what Jesus is getting at. The way we love people, the way we show mercy, the way we treat people not like us, the way we love the beat-up, the burnout, the broken in life. These things don't earn us salvation. They reveal the transforming work of grace and of God in our lives. You cannot earn the mercy of God by becoming a good Samaritan. You become merciful because you've received the mercy of God. Okay? This is such a good, good, good word. Isn't that good? That's solid. Do you see the difference here? What if some of our frustrations and our inconveniences are like invitations? God, what do you want me to see here? What do you want me to see in this moment? Church, I just say this: like, my prayer is that we would be a people so marked with the mercy of God. Kindness of God, the goodness of God, that we can't help but extend his mercy wherever we are. May we not be too busy. May we not be so focused in where we're going to actually be present to the one in front of us. Would you stand with me? I want to invite a few of our ministry team to come down. I'm going to dismiss you in just a moment. But I'm going to close this way. If if you if you don't haven't figured this out, Jesus is the ultimate picture of the Good Samaritan. Do you see this? Like you think about it spiritually, we were the ones lying helpless, beat up by life, put on the side of the road. We were the ones that were broken by sin, unable to rescue ourselves. And Jesus didn't pass us by. How many are thankful that he didn't? The Samaritan, Samaritan, you know, gave his money. Jesus gave his blood. Samaritan gave his his his animal to ride on, to get to a place of safety. You know what Jesus did? He carried our sin to the cross. We love because he first loved us. You can't do this outside of him. It's his work in us. I'm gonna ask you just close your eyes. I'm gonna just ask this simple invitation. If you're here today and you do not know Jesus, you've never responded to his love. I wanna tell you, today is your day. Today is a day to respond to the kindness of Jesus. Maybe you've been away from him, maybe you knew him once, but today you're here and you'd say, Jesus, I need you. If you're here today and that's you, would you lift your hand? I just want to see. Give you a chance to respond. Yeah, thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you in the back. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Come on, church, just pray for a minute. Thank you, Lord. Anybody else that just say, man, I I need the mercy of Jesus. I need the mercy of Jesus. Yeah. We're gonna sing something as we go, but in just a moment, I want to invite those of you who raised your hand. This team up here would love to share with you and pray with you this morning. But as we go, I pray over everyone in this place that God, you would open our eyes, you would open our hearts to love our neighbor. you invite us to show us what that means. I pray that we would begin to even discover what this means. I pray that it would start today and it would never end in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. Can we give the Lord a big clap and a shout of praise for his word today? Do you raise your hand? We'd love to pray with you. If you need prayer for anything, come on. The rest of you, God bless you. We'll see you Wednesday.