Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

AG: Wesley’s Wealth

The modern Australian way is to spend, spend, spend, to the very limits of your income and then some more!

A few hundred years ago the great preacher and evangelist John Wesley showed us another way.

Wesley lived in economically uncertain times, yet from humble beginnings he became so well known that his income eventually reached 1400 pounds per year.

Today, this would be the equivalent of earning over $300,000.

So what did he do with all this wealth?

Did he tithe it?

No. Wesley went way beyond tithing.

He disciplined himself to live on just 30 pounds of the 1400 pounds he earned every year.

He gave away 98% of all he earned and lived on just 2%!

Wesley once preached a sermon on .

In it he spelled out his philosophy:

money is a tool that can be used for great good or great ill.

“It is an excellent gift of God” he claimed, “answering the noblest ends.

In the hands of his children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked:

It gives to the traveller and the stranger where to lay his head.

By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless.

We maybe a defence for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain; it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!

It is therefore of the highest concern that all who fear God know how to employ this valuable talent; that they be instructed how it may answer these glorious ends, and in the highest degree.”

He went on to spell out three simple rules which can guide us:

gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.

Source: information about Wesley reported in Christian History Newsletter, November 30, 2001.

Wesley’s sermon on can be accessed at http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/serm-050.stm

TS: In , Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem where there is a cross awaiting Him.

In , Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem where there is a cross awaiting Him.

At the beginning of chapter 10, Jesus sent out 72 of His disciples into the countryside to prepare the towns and villages to receive Him as He made His way to that cross.

As the disciples return to Jesus, many of the people from the towns and villages that the disciples visited followed them back to Jesus.

Jesus was speaking and teaching a crowd of these people when a lawyer stood up and put him to the test.

The Test

Let’s Read that:

Let’s Read that:

The Lawyer was a scribe who was supposedly an expert in the law.

He asked about the requirements to receive eternal life.

Trying to catch Jesus in an error.

Jesus turned the table and asked the expert.

his answer:

1st Love God with all you have

2nd Love your neighbor as yourself

Who is Our Neighbor?

This story featured the Wrong good guy

The Wrong good guy

Priest and Levite pass the man without helping

Priest

Priest, Levite, &

We don’t know how or why the priest was walking, also alone, on that same road that day and we don’t honestly know what his thinking was or his motivation for avoiding the injured, possibly dead, man on the side of the road.

I don’t think that was germane or relevant to Jesus’ point or He would have told us.

I think what is significant is simply the fact that he’s a priest and priests are to fulfill the law by … you guessed it … loving God by serving Him at the Temple and loving their neighbors by teaching them about the law and serving them as God’s intermediary at the Temple.

They, like modern day preachers, were called or chosen by God to serve Him and serve His people.

The priest also reflected the attitude that most priests and Jewish people would have had towards “foreigners” or gentiles, like a Samaritan.

Think about it.

Most Jews would walk all the way around Samaria, literally go days out of their way, then set foot in Samaria or get Samaritan dust on their sandals.

Help them?

Why, they wouldn’t even ask a Samaritan for a glass of water if they were dying of thirst.

Perhaps the priest’s concern was simply “religious.”

In order to find out if the man were dead or alive, he would have to go over to the man and possibly shake him or touch him … and that would render him religiously or ritually impure … and he would be inconvenienced by having to isolate himself and go through a series of ritual purifications before he could return to work or home.

Levite- members of the tribe of Levi, but not Aaron's descendants so not priests.

Levite- members of the tribe of Levi, but not Aaron's descendants so not priests.

Levite- members of the tribe of Levi, but not Aaron's descendants so not priests.

A Levite, who serves the priest who serves the people, came along, alone, and gives the injured man a wide berth.

And, again, we don’t know what he was thinking or why he would do that … what’s important is that he did it.

They assisted the priests at the temple

They “got their hands dirty” as part of their service.

Yet he too passed the man in need without hesitation.

The Samaritan helped

Not only did the Samaritan stop and help this poor stranger in need, he did so at his own peril.

The stranger lying there could have been a trap.

It was common for thieves to pretend they were wounded … much like a person putting up their car hood today to get victims to stop and help … or they would attack someone and leave their body there to attract the next kindly traveler.

The Samaritan could have ended up like the man on the side of the road … or worse … because he stopped and helped.

Unlike the priest, the Samaritan touched the traveler with hands of kindness and compassion.

No ceremonial reason restrained him.

He didn’t even hesitate.

He bandaged the stranger’s wounds.

He bathed his sores.

He helped him to get to a safe place where he could recover.

This was a beautiful picture of true compassion.

This was a poignant illustration of compassion at work.

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What was Jesus’ Point?

Everyone is our neighbor!

Everyone is our neighbor!

Everyone is our neighbor!

We have a responsibility to love our neighbor

Thus, we must love and serve everyone!

How?

Treat people the way you want to be treated

Be the first to start the kindness

God is commanding that our inborn self-seeking, which has now been transposed into God-seeking, overflow and extend itself to our neighbor.

Jesus’ listeners would have gone to to the requirements of the Torah:

Lev 19:9-18

Notice:

Live generously towards the poor and alien ().

Do not steal from anyone ().

Do not be deceptive in dealings with people ().

Do not swear in God’s name ().

Do not oppress, rob, or exploit the poor by paying unfair wages ().

Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind ().

Do not be partial to the poor or show favor to the great but judge honestly ()

Do not commit financial fraud.

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Do not hate your brother ().

Do not seek revenge or hold a grudge but extend forgiveness ().