Inside Out 2
Notes
Transcript
Game
Game
Have all players partner up in teams of two.
Make sure each player has one sheet of paper.
Have each player make a paper airplane. Have each team decide which plane they will use for the game. They are allowed to switch planes one time.
Have players form two lines, with partners across from one another about five feet apart.
Partners will pass the airplane between them. On each completed pass, both partners will take a step back. Make sure all partners are tossing and stepping together.
Once a team's plane hits the ground, they are out.
The team who completes the furthest pass without dropping their plane, wins.
Announcements
Announcements
Women's Night of Worship - November 14th @ 7 PM at South Fork
Join women from across our church and city at our South Fork campus on November 14th, from 7PM - 9PM! This is going to be a special night where we see the Lord work in the lives and hearts of many. We are going to encourage our middle and high school students to be a part of this event.
Student rGroup - September - November
The last Student rGroup of the season is on November 17th at Dario in King!
This is a great opportunity for Middle School and High School students to come and grow in their relationship with Jesus
Friendsgiving - November 19th at REVO North
On November 19th from 6:30 - 8:00 we will gather at our North location for a fun student ministry friendsgiving event! We will have giveaways, do some turkey bowling, have a football Punt-Pass-Kick event, have some of our favorite Thanksgiving desserts, worship together, and close out our "Inside out" teaching series!
No Students — November 26th
Intro
Intro
Students!
We are in week 2 of our series called “Inside Out”
The goal of this series is to show us how Jesus changes us from the inside out!
Last week we talked about how two Jewish men, who were rich, and well established responded to Jesus
The rich young ruler rejected Jesus, Zacchaeus accepted Jesus and became radically generous
Today we are going to look at another example of how accepting Jesus changes us from the inside out!
How accepting Jesus changes our view on love and compassion
Battle of Wits
Battle of Wits
To learn about how Jesus changes our view on love and compassion we must go to the book of Luke
If you have a Bible go to Luke chapter 10
Side note — I want to challenge all of you to start bringing a physical Bible with you to Students
Imagine how much more you’ll be able to get out of the Word if you have it with you
If you don’t own a Bible I can give you one!
Anyways soapbox over — Luke 10:25-28
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “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.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
Luke 10 starts out with a guy who is a lawyer
He was quite literally a lawyer in the sense that we think about
Only instead of studying Roman Law, he knew God’s law
He would spend hours reading, memorizing, and meditating on God’s Law
He was the person that helped administer justice within the Jewish system
People respected this religious teacher and honestly rightly so
However he goes to Jesus asking a question — and notice what Luke said “to put him to the test”
The Lawyer is going to Jesus to challenge Jesus
What was he challenging Jesus with exactly?
God had given Israel an inheritance, namely the land of Israel.
They had forfeited this inheritance through disobedience.
Now they looked for a new inheritance, one that would last forever.
The rabbis debated exactly what this inheritance was.
The lawyer gave Jesus opportunity to provide a new definition.
However with this test Jesus responded in typical rabbinical fashion by throwing the question back at the lawyer
The lawyer responded by quoting scripture
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Essentially telling Jesus — Love God. Love Others(neighbor).
And for once Jesus agreed with the religious leader!
You must love God and love others
Such love must not be half-hearted.
It must be all-encompassing.
Every part of you—thoughts, emotions, feelings, actions—must be controlled by love for God and for others
Not just an idea of the mind, but an action of one’s strength, a feeling of one’s soul, an emotion of one’s heart.
Love must control the entire person
In this battle of whits between the religious lawyer and Jesus they agree!
The test seems to be null and void
Test 2.0
Test 2.0
However, in typical fashion, the lawyer didn’t give up
He had one more trick up his sleeve for Jesus
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Essentially the Lawyer is making a last ditch effort in order to trick Jesus
See Jewish leaders would seek to determine who their neighbor is so that they could determine how love had to extend
They needed to understand if they broke the Law or not
They would do this by trying to govern every situation and relationship you found yourself in:
Jew and Gentile
Jew and Roman
Man and woman
Free man and slave
Priest and laity
Clean and unclean
Righteous and sinner
Every relationship had to be clearly defined so that they could make a fair judgment and “follow the Law”
The Lawyer is asking Jesus this determination so that He can condemn Jesus because either:
A) Jesus will disagree with his interpretation of neighbor and therefore they can punish Jesus
or
B) Jesus will agree with his interpretation of neighbor and they can attack Jesus for not living out the interpretation
This is really the test within the test from the Lawyer
Side note: this is why words matter so much. Why thinking critically matters so much. Why you should think deeply about questions and not just give a random rushed answer
Parable
Parable
Jesus doesn’t avoid the question by the Lawyer
Instead he gives a parable that is designed to help teach a deep theological truth in a way that is easily palatable
Jesus goes:
30 Jesus replied, “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. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
The parable is about a man that is going on a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho
It was a 17 mile hike that fell almost 3,300 feet in elevation. Oh and it was extremely rocky
Essentially its long, down hill, and rocky/dangerous
This was a popular path as many Jewish leaders and Roman government officials would travel it
So robbers would stake out behind rocks and often attack them to steal their money
In the parable a man — unidentified — is beat, stripped naked, and left for dead
But as luck would have it a priest, the highest of Jewish religious officials, showed up
If anyone should help the man it should be the priest
Yet the priest hurries on the side of the road away from the man
Researching this I learned for the first time that not only did the priest neglect the man, but he went against his duty
If he assumed he was dead — which its clear he appeared dead
According to rabbinic law, burying corpses you come across was considered a sacred and obligatory duty. The burial of a dead person was generally regarded as a duty, particularly for what was called a “compulsory dead person” - a corpse left without relatives to bury it. In such cases, anyone who found the body was obligated to ensure its burial.
This obligation was so strong that it took precedence over other religious requirements. According to the Mishnah, someone with an unburied corpse is exempt from religious duties like reciting prayers. The obligation extended to burying neglected corpses, and there was a common rabbinic legal principle that gave precedence to burying an abandoned corpse even over laws forbidding corpse-impurity for priests.
For the Rabbis, burial of the dead was a sacred duty that took priority even over important religious activities like studying the Law, circumcision, or offering the Passover lamb. This duty was so comprehensive that even a high priest or a Nazirite was obligated to bury a “neglected corpse” if no one else was available
The priest at the very least should have stopped — yet he didn’t
Then after the priest left Jesus says that a Levite appears
Another worker in the temple, a Levite would do the more mundane jobs of the temple — surely he would have time?
Yet Jesus points out he leaves on the other side as well.
No explanation other than the fact that he had no love for his “neighbor”
Then we would expect Jesus to go to a Jewish lay member since the clergy failed
Instead Jesus goes to a Samaritan
Someone who in jewish eyes had little reason to be in Jewish territory
Deep seated hatred between Jews and Samaritans exist
We see this in John 4 with the woman at the well
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
We also see this one chapter earlier in Luke 9:51-56
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
Notice that — a Samaritan woman rebuked Jesus for speaking to her
A Samaritan town rejected Jesus entering
Now we see in the parable a Samaritan man coming to the man that was beaten
Not only did he come for him but Jesus said he had Compassion
The Samaritan had compassion—a Greek expression built on the word for a person’s inner parts, the seat of emotions and feelings. It expresses Jesus’ feeling for those in need (Matt. 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 6:34; 8:2; Luke 7:13). It is the feeling and attitude of a master who cancels a servant’s massive debt (Matt. 18:27). This is true neighborly love—a love that goes beyond anything society or religious law expects and acts simply because of the extreme need of another.
The Samaritan representing everything the Jews hated became more than one they should love as a neighbor.
The Samaritan became the hero of the story, the person showing love, the individual whose love Jews should imitate
Who’s the neighbor?
Who’s the neighbor?
I love the way that Jesus ends off this parable:
36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
He asks a question that is almost rhetorical because it is so obvious
Who was a neighbor to the man that was attacked?
There is no correct answer but the one that the Lawyer gave — the Samaritan man
Jesus then responds to him by saying: “Go and do likewise”
Another way of phrasing it — go be like the Samaritan
Because of Jesus…
Because of Jesus…
What I love about this parable and encounter with the Lawyer is that there is no conclusion
We don’t know if the Lawyer left with his tail tucked between his legs because he got showed up
Or if the Lawyer repented, came to Jesus, and started to show love
It’s left open — and that is on purpose
Why? Because it shows us the reality that
Jesus changes our view on love and compassion
He changes our view on love and compassion
He changes the way we are to view people and do things
If you have been following Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior he changes your view on love and compassion
Because of Jesus our love isn’t circumstantial
Because of Jesus our love isn’t circumstantial
When Jesus changes our view on love and compassion that means that He does two things
The first thing is:
Because of Jesus our love isn’t circumstantial
Unlike the Jews and religious leaders we are not meant to put everyone in a box and treat them differently
They put everyone in boxes “Jew/Gentile, Man/Woman, Slave/Free”
However, because of Jesus our love isn’t meant to be circumstantial — we are instead meant to show love and compassion to everyone
Who is our neighbor? It is anyone in need, who is hurting, lost, helpless
Our neighbor is the kid at school that is annoying
Our neighbor is the person at work that we cannot stand
Our neighbor is anyone that is in need
We are called to love them, care for them, help them, and ULTIMATELY lead them to Jesus!
There is no distinction
We are called to go!
Listen to what Paul says:
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
All are one in Christ Jesus
We are called to love others despite who they are or how they are
Christ loved us when we were still sinful — we are called to do the same
Because of Jesus we love the extra mile
Because of Jesus we love the extra mile
The second thing we learn is:
Because of Jesus we love the extra mile
Not only are we called to love, but because of Jesus we are called to love the extra mile
Think about the Samaritan man
He went to him
Bound his wounds
Put him on his animal
Took him to a hotel
Paid the bill for as long as he needed
Talk about loving the extra mile!
This exactly what we are called to be like when Jesus has changed our life
We are meant to love by going the extra mile — helping, serving, giving, doing all we can
We are meant to not just be kind to the people we struggle with
We are called to be with them, share with them, love them!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Because of Jesus we our love cannot be circumstancial
Because of Jesus we love the extra mile!
Jesus saved us, came to the cross, took our place — all while we were going against Him!
I want to close with this thought:
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
We are called to love!
Because of Jesus our love and compassion for others must be different!
We are called to love our enemies, love our friends, love those who we struggle to be around
Because of Jesus we love different
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
In what ways has your understanding of love and compassion changed since accepting Jesus?
What practical steps can you take to love those who are difficult to love?
How can understanding that 'our love isn’t circumstantial' change your daily interactions?
What are some ways you can go the extra mile for someone in your life this week?
