YOU ARE THE NEIGHBOR

YOU ARE THE NEIGHBOR Luke   10:25-37 April 30, 2000 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory Hugh Hewitt is a brilliant Christian journalist and co-host of the PBS TV show, Life and Times Tonight. He also hosted another show that ran for two years, entitled Searching for God in America on which he interviewed many of today's top religionists and philosophers on the topics of faith. He wrote that one of the most popular jokes that sprang up around the hallways of the studio was to ask Hewitt, "Have you interviewed God yet?" He said he usually responded that he was working on an "exclusive". This morning we're going to investigate a man who did interview God. The story of that interview appears at Luke 10:25-37. The Interview (Luke 10:25-29) On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you strength and with all your mind,'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" We'll pause there long enough to make a comment or two about the interviewer, this "expert in the law"-no doubt a scribe. To his credit, this man had, in fact, come up with the central issue of the Law. That is, to please God, you must love Him with everything you are and everything you have. At another time, Jesus had been approached by another expert and teacher of the law who had tried to "test" Him, asking Him what he thought was a trick question: "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:36). Jesus responded by quoting the same scripture our inter viewer quoted, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. So you know this scribe got it right. We don't know if Jesus was impressed or not, but He did acknowledge it was the correct answer. Then He made it clear that the DOING of those great commandments is really what faith is all about, not just the KNOWING. You know, that is the hard part, isn't it? Here in this brief phrase the Lord brings to this law expert, and to us, the most scathing judgment of all: you know the word of God, but when will you do it? You are familiar with God's will, but you don't obey it. Frankly, this is a problem for a majority of Christians today. They have become "spectators" who enjoy listening to the preacher and the radio teachers, but they are short on the doing. One author categorizes all Christians as either believers or bystanders. "Believers attend church services on a very regular basis. It is unusual for them not to be there. Bystanders attend either occasionally, infrequently, or not at all. Believers teach their children (and others' children) the essentials of the faith; Bystanders entrust that chore to others. Believers witness of their faith to others; Bystanders are theoretically willing to do so if approached, but (interestingly) have never been approached. Believers study their Bibles; Bystanders intend to get around to it. Believers are full of God's forgiveness and His love. Bystanders know the rules. No job is beneath a believer; Bystanders don't want many jobs, but can sacrifice themselves for leadership positions if coaxed and pleaded with." --Hugh Hewitt, The Embarrassed Believer, pp109-110 That may seem a little rough, but it draws the same line as the Lord does when He says that the one who hears His words but doesn't do them is a fool (Matthew 7:26). James 1:22 - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. So far the interview is not going well for the scribe, who is more interested in justifying himself than knowing Jesus and His will (verse 29). He came to show off how smart he was, and to let Jesus see how well he knew the law. But, to Jesus, if you don't do it, you don't know it. So the scribe comes up with another question. I don't know for sure, but it looks as though the scribe is trying to get the onus off himself and put it on Jesus. He says (I think perhaps a little sarcastically), "Okay, then, who is my neighbor?" I want to deal with this question in a few moments, but notice what it represents. It represents a desire to be told what to do. Just give me a definition of who my neighbor is, so that I'll know exactly which I'll have to love and which ones I can ignore. When anyone stoops to asking this kind of question, you know the "spirit" of love is already absent. A wife says to her husband, "You tell me you love me, but you never do anything special to show how much you love me." "Okay," the husband responds, "Here's a piece of paper and a pencil-just write down what you think I need to do to show you that I love you, and I promise I'll do them!" Do you think that sometimes this is the way we sound when we demand of God exactly what He expects of us-as if to say we'll do that and no more? This must be exactly the opposite of what the commandment was getting at when the Lord designed it to read this way - "Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and your neighbor as yourself." This kind of whole-life commitment to loving God needs no restrictive guidelines. Well, our interviewer has just revealed his heart, hasn't he? So, in response to the question, Jesus tells a little story. And, if you'll listen carefully, you'll see that the parable he tells in answer to the scribe's question, really doesn't answer the question! The Parable (Luke 10:30-37) In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A PRIEST happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a LEVITE, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a SAMARITAN, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." The plain message of this little story is simple: the priest and the Levite were too busy, too pre-occupied with their own agendas, too concerned about the danger that they, too, might be ambushed, to be of help to someone in need. But the Samaritan, even though he was of a class of people who were looked down on by the Jews, went and helped this Jewish victim. That's it, right? That's the Sunday school lesson we teach the children in the four-and five-year old class; that's the story on the flannel graph board and the one they tell mom and dad when they get home and all the folded up papers are unraveled. And the kids prayed in class and promised at home they would always be like the Good Samaritan, and not like the mean priest or the busy Levite. But, what about the question? Do you remember the question? In our rush to moralize the story, and rightfully so, that we should be Good Samaritans, we forgot the question the law expert asked Jesus!" That was the reason the story was told in the first place. What was that question again? Oh, yes, "Who is my neighbor?" And Jesus' answer is . . . His answer is . . . MISSING! He never really answered the question-not the question that was asked. In answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus tells a story about an unfortunate crime victim, two geezers who won't help and one good guy who does. What does Jesus have to say to the man who would like to know how to have eternal life? How does He respond to the self-righteous scribe who is pretty convinced he is keeping the law very nicely? What is Jesus' answer to the self-serving question, "Who is my neighbor?" He says: "YOU are the neighbor, buddy!" If you want to be a disciple of mine, you are to be the neighbor who helps others like I do. If you desire to be in on eternal life and say you love God with everything in you, and your neighbor as yourself, then let's see you prove it! If you are really interested in following me, the servant-King, you've got to stop asking inane questions like, "Well, exactly who do I have to love?" and get busy being the neighbor who loves his neighbor! The Point There are a couple of implications that the parable brings to us. The first is our responsibility as disciples of Jesus to be available to others. The priest and the Levite failed this acid test of discipleship. I suppose their objection is about the same as the ones we often bring up when faced with an opportunity to serve people when we really don't like that particular opportunity. "Why me?" "Can't someone else help out with this issue? I'm busy!" "This is not my area of expertise-I'm not gifted at this stuff." I believe there are two biblical truths about being disciples of Jesus that we need regular reminders of: 1. "Freely you have received; freely give" (Matthew 10:8) It is the Lord, whom we have pledged to serve, who first served us by living for us, dying for us, rising for us, and interceding for us. He said, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:15-17) 2. We who are led of the Spirit of God are never accidentally in a place of opportunity. That is, God has saved us for a reason, and that is to serve Him and other people in His Name; to do the good works He prepared for us in advance to do (Ephesians 2:10); to be salt and light to a needy world, and do the good works which will cause others to bring glory to the Father (Matthew 5:16). That is why it is so terribly important that we love Him and people (Mark 12:30-31). That is why He pours His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). That is why the scripture says "We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19). Fellow Christians, you will never be in a situation without God's knowing it. You will never be given a clear opportunity to help and serve another human being in the name of Jesus, but that it was God who arranged it. And He will resource you. The priest and the Levite did not pass by the victim in this story accidentally. While we cannot take on every need of everyone we see (nor does God expect us to-other than to pray for them), we can be wise enough to listen to the Holy Spirit's voice in our hearts. He will show us what we are to do. Sometimes we are just to pray for an individual or situation. Other times he will lead us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. A Specific Word About Giving Our Best One thing that stands out to me in this parable is that the Samaritan didn't just do a couple nice things to help out-he took care of the victim. He did his best for him. Could I pose this question for us this morning: what is the best we can do for people around us? I would suggest it isn't the giving of money and energy and other resources, or the doing of special favors, that is the best we have to give, although these are certainly good and godly things. But the BEST we have to give to people is a relationship with Jesus. Right? The Bible says we who have been reconciled to God through Jesus have been made "reconcilers" of others to Him (2 Corinthians 5:18). We've been doing a lot of praying over what our stewardship is concerning those around us. We have given special focus this spring to the neighborhood to the west. Time after time, as we have prayed for our neighbors, we have been strongly impressed that the Lord's greatest interest for us is that we bring the Good News to each and every household. To the end that everyone we can reach fully understands that God is not willing that they should perish, but that they should come to Him through repentance and faith. We are not responsible for every physical and emotional need that people around us have (though we may be called upon to meet some of those needs in the interest of effectively sharing our witness of Christ's love), but our primary task is to make it hard for people to go to hell from our neighborhoods! Make no mistake about it, friends-people who do not have faith in Jesus are going to hell. Unless Jesus was in the habit of not meaning what He said, then He means for us to understand that there is a very real Hell, a place of eternal punishment. But He also said there is hope of escape from that destiny for every sinner who comes to know Jesus and trust Him. In light of that, what is our number one task? It is just as we have stated in our mission statement: to "saturate the metro-east area with the Good News that anyone who wants to can be friends with God again through Jesus Christ; anyone who wants to can find wholeness in Jesus Christ; and anyone who wants to can find life-giving purpose in serving Jesus Christ." The word "saturate" means we want to soak the area with this message of Good News. Let me be clear. It is NOT our responsibility to SAVE everyone-that's God's work. It is our responsibility to REACH everyone with this message in as clear and appealing way as we can. Let me ask you a question. Who else is going to tell them? Is the government going to do it? Is some giant corporation with a huge advertising budget going to take care of this for God? Will God send angels from heaven with the message for them? No. It is the plan of God to spread this good news to others through His church. God reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). He told us, the church, to make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things He has commanded us (Matthew 28:18-19). I want to remind us all that this is our mission-it is not an option-it is the perfect will of God for us. It is the very reason we are here. We are His chosen messengers to carry this life-giving message to our neighborhoods-the neighborhood next door, your neighborhood where you live, the neighborhoods where your cell group meets, the workplace, the marketplace-everywhere He lets us set foot. By God's own divine choice, we have been put here in the St. Louis metro-east to be His life-giving messengers. And we are going to be faithful to that calling. Here is a plan we believe the Lord is showing us. 1. For the next two months we will be targeting the neighborhood here just to the west of our Worship Center. We are going to marshal prayer through the month of May, targeting the people who live there. In the month of June we're going to send teams of volunteers to each home with a friendly introduction of who we are as their new neighbors and what we're about as a church. We will send letters to each home introducing them to the church and to the good news we have to offer through Jesus. Our goal is this: to make sure, as best we can, that everyone in the area knows that God has made provision for them to be reconciled to Him. 2. We will then target the neighborhoods where our cells meet throughout the metro-east, praying for them, caring for the people we meet in these neighborhoods and sharing the love of Christ with them. 3. We will also be introducing what I consider to be the most exciting opportunity available in America for believing households to minister in meaningful and effective ways in their personal neighborhoods. It is called the "Lighthouse Movement"[Mission America -Lighthouse Movement], and it is being endorsed and promoted through every significant, inter-denominational Christian organization in the country. A massive effort to "saturate" every neighborhood in America with the good news. You'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks, but for now I am challenging you to get on board with this ministry effort, and say, once and for all, I am tired of ignoring my responsibility to be a witness for Christ. I will make my stand for Him among those people God has allowed me to live and work with. I'm going to step out, with my brothers and sisters, and prayerfully do my part to touch lives for Christ's sake. As good Samaritans, you can give to others the very best gift of all-the opportunity to know Jesus, to receive the gift of eternal life through Him and to have life abundantly. It's up to you - you are His messenger of good news. Without you, the disciple he has placed in their neighborhood, they cannot hear. It was January, 1930. Walter Vivian of CBS was checking the equipment which had been installed to carry the message of King George of England to the British Navy throughout the world. In the last-minute inspection a break in the wires was discovered. There was no time for it to be repaired. With one of his hands on the end of each of the two segments of the broken wire, Walter Vivian allowed 250 volts of electricity to go through him so that the King's message could be transmitted. He came out of the experience with burned hands, but the King's message got through to the navy. As we stand before God as a church, we must acknowledge our responsibility and be ready to accept it. Maybe it's time we commit all our hearts, souls, minds and strength to loving and serving God, and to loving our neighbors as ourselves. What's that question you had? Who is my neighbor? YOU are the neighbor!     [Back to Top]