Becoming a Kingdom Focused Church

Kingdom Ambassador’s

This morning we will continue with the theme of of Becoming a Kingdom Focused Church.

In order to be the church, that God has called us to be we must expand the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God is expanded every time a lost person is brought out of the darkness into the light, when they receive salvation Scripture says in Luke 15:7

Luke 15:7 CSB

7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.

When a person receives salvation, the Kingdom of God is expanded and that is what we are called to do, as a body of believers to expand the Kingdom of God, to help lost people come to salvation.

This morning we are going to look at a very familiar parable from the Gospel of Luke an expert in the law approaches Jesus and tries to catch Jesus in a trap, by asking Jesus a question that was raised by several others in the other Gospel accounts.

The Parable is the Good Samaritan, and is found in Luke chapter 10, and we will look at verses 25-37 this morning for our text.

Verses 25-29 is where this expert in the law or lawyer as some translations call him, asks the question of Jesus, and Jesus responds, but then the Scribe, tries to justify himself and ask a final question which is then where Jesus gives the parable of the Good Samaritan in verses 30-37.

If you are able will you stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.

Luke 10:25–37 CSB

25 Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” 28 “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

I read this story a few times now, and then I heard this video the other day, and it reminded me of the story, and God spoke to me through it.

It is about a guy, never been to church before, not as a child, not as an adult, but one day, all by himself, he decided he would go, so he went into this little church, and found a seat.

A few minutes later, a lady came up and said sir your sitting in my seat, so he got up and moved, well service started and the song leader said grab your hymnal and turn to page 10, he grabbed the hymnal out of the back of the pew, and the man down the pew just a little bit said sir that is my hymnal.

Well about half way through the pastor preaching he had forgot to shut off his phone, and it started to ring, and he finally got it to stop, on his way out, the pastor says, if you are going to come back here make sure you turn that phone off.

He was real upset, again never had been to church a day in his life, expect for that one day, really upset, not knowing what to do, he decided to go down to the bar and have a beer, well he order one, and the waitress brought it to him.

When he went to pick it up, he spilt it, the waitress came over and said I am sorry, let me clean that up for you, she cleaned it up and said let me get you another one, clearly she could tell the man was all upset about something, so she said let me get you another one.

The man said, I do not have enough money for another one, the bar tender motioned the waitress over and gave her another beer for the man and said tell him it is on the house.

The man never went back to that church, but he continues to go back to that bar.

We do not know what kind of impact we have on people, maybe it is the person that comes in and sits in the pew down from us, are being we friendly to them, did we treat them nicely, did we show them love.

What sin did we drag with us to church this morning?

Have we told someone that they are in our pew, they are using our hymnal, or gave them a dirty look because their phone went off during service?

As I heard this story for about the fourth or fifth time the other day, God spoke to me, and said the Good Samaritan.

The first thing we see in this parable is:

I. Question’s Vs. 25-29

Luke 10:25–29 CSB

25 Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” 28 “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The expert in the law, a scribe, a lawyer, as Jesus what must he do to inherit eternal life? Another words the guy is asking what do I have to do in order to be saved?

We must not take this as or be confused to think this is an attempt to earn salvation.

There is a number of other places that Jesus or the disciples are posed with the same question or similar questions. Like in Luke 18:18 the the Rich Young Ruler ask what shall I do to inherit eternal life? In Acts 2:37 after Peter and the disciples preached on the day of Pentecost the people being convicted or pierced to to the heart ask them what should we do? Another words what do we do to be saved. Then in Acts 16:30 when Paul and Silas where in prison and where praying and singing and all of a sudden there was a earthquake and the doors opened the chains loosened, the jailer woke up and thought everyone escaped he was going to take his life, Paul said hold up, and then asked, what must I do to be saved?

We see this this expert in the law ask this question of Jesus, but do not miss the part that says, he stood up to test him, the NASB says put Him to the test, the KJV says and tempted him, another words this scribe was trying to catch Jesus in a trap, a way to arrest him, to accuse him of being a false prophet.

Jesus turns it back to the scribe, the expert in the law, and ask him a question then, what is written in the law, and how do you read it?

The expert in the law turned to the law from the Old Testament, because that is what they had at this time, first looking at Deuteronomy 6:5 which the Jews call the Shema, a devout Jew which this man would be would repeat twice each day.

Deuteronomy 6:5 CSB

5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

In the Shema three prepositional phrases describe the total response of love toward God.

These involve the heart (emotions), the soul (consciousness), and strength (motivation), and then the Gospels added mind (intelligence).

The second part would have come from Leviticus 19:18 to love one’s neighbor as yourself.

The thing was that for most Jews a neighbor was just another Jew, not a Samaritan or a Gentile. And sometimes did not even include all Jews.

Jesus responds to the man, you have answered correctly, do this and you will live. But the expert in the law wanted to justify himself, another words he had a self-righteous characteristic in him.

He did not want to admit his own lack of love for both God and his neighbor. Therefore, he asked, who is my neighbor?

II. A Priest Vs. 30-31

Luke 10:30–31 CSB

30 Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Now Jesus takes the question of who is my neighbor and He is going to answer it in the form of a parable.

Jesus says, a man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and is attacked by robbers. They take his clothes, beat him severely, and leave him to die.

This road the man is taking is a rocky, winding, treacherous descent of about 3,300 feet in 17 miles.

The stretch of road was notorious for being plagued with thieves and dangers.

We are then told that a priest happened to come down the road, who saw the injured man, that is half dead, and did not stop or even offer help but instead he goes out around the man.

Now a priest in biblical times could not defile themselves by coming into contact with the dead, except in the case of a close relative. Some suggest that is why the priest refused to act, but we must remember this is a parable, and therefore, this is fictional character, Jesus is using this as a teaching moment.

Today we would think of the priest as a pastor, who came upon a person who is injured and decided to look the other way.

III. A Levi. V. 32

Luke 10:32 CSB

32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Then Jesus uses the example of a Levi, when he came to the injured man, he also passed by as far away as he could.

Today we would recognize the Levi as a deacon, the Levi assisted the priests in the temple duties, today the deacons assist the pastor in the duties of the church.

But both men when seeing the injured man, decided to look the other way, they decided it was not their duty to help this man laying in the ditch half dead, all wounded, all beaten up, needing immediate help.

IV. A Samaritan. Vs. 33-35

Luke 10:33–35 CSB

33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

Now we see the Samaritan, Jesus chose to use the Samaritan, as they were outsiders, they were hated by the Jews, and were the last ones that would have been expected to stop and help this Jewish man that was dying in the ditch.

But Jesus says, a Samaritan on his journey, came to the man half dead, and when he seen him had compassion on him.

He did not just go over and check on him, he did not just go over and offer some supplies, but he stopped and bandaged this man up, he cleaned him up, dressed him up, put oil and wine, another words medicine on him and then loaded him up on his animal, and took him to Jericho paid for the man’s stay and told the inn keeper if this does not cover it all on my way back through, I will pay the rest.

This Samaritan represents the enemy if you will, we just remembered the 21 yr anniversary of 9-11 and the devastation of the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and field in Pennsylvania.

This Samaritan could be a Middle Eastern, or a Islam person, that would be someone we would least expect to stop and help one of us, but here they stop and take great care of the person, take them down to the hospital, and say not sure who they are, but here is my credit card info, if it maxes out before they are better, I will be back through in a week or two, and I will stop and settle the payment for them. Just take good care of them.

V. Who is the Neighbor? Vs. 36-37

Luke 10:36–37 CSB

36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

Jesus asks the expert in the law, this man that is educated, that is a smart man, which of these three do you think proved to be the neighbor, who acted as the neighbor here in this story?

The expert in the law answered the one who showed mercy!!

Jesus says Go and do the same.

Here is the thing, it was not the one we thought it would be is it.

We would expect the pastor to show the love of Jesus Christ to the injured man, but the priest/pastor got as far from him as he could.

We would expect the deacon to a great example of loving kindness but once again, the Levi/deacon also moved far away from the injured man.

The worldly man, the Samaritan, is the one that stopped and showed the love to the man, he was friendly to the man.

It is just like in the story, I shared in the beginning, the man finally after his entire life of never going to church, decided, I will give that church thing a try, just to be told, that is my seat, that is my hymnal, turn that phone off, but when he went to the world, the world loved on him, the world accepted him, the world provided for him.

Yet we wonder why people are turning to the world instead of turning to Jesus, because we as Ambassador’s of Christ, those that are supposed to represent the Kingdom of God, are doing nothing but turning people away from the kingdom.

We might think oh well, that only happens in big churches, it does not happen here in Red Level, but I have heard of it happening here at Red Level, I unfortunately Have not witnessed it first hand, as if I do I will address it with the person who does it, the person that attends here that does it, because i can tell you there is not a pew in here that has anyone's name on it, if your name is in a hymnal you better learn to share, and if a persons phone accidently rings, we better not be giving anyone any bad looks.

See, you do not know what a person is dealing with minutes before they walked in to this building, and therefore, we are to show them love, we all make mistakes, we all fall short of the glory of God

We all can do a better job of being Ambassador’s of Christ. We need to remember too it is not just when we are here inside these walls either it is also and more importantly when we are outside these walls.

We are to share the Love of Jesus Christ, as our motto says, Red Level Baptist Church, where Real Love Begins with Christ. And you better believe, that people know that you attend church, and they watch how you act, how you react to situations. How you treat them, are you being a real neighbor, and your neighbor is not just the person that lives next door, or across the street, it is anyone and everyone that you come into contact with.

Yes we have to be careful in today’s society, but God will give us discernment, if we need to pass by someone, or avoid someone.

Have you ever truly experienced that love, if you have not, then you cannot share that love with others.