Being a Good Samaritan

Text: Lk 10:25-37 (NKJV)

25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

27 So he answered and said, “‘You shall 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 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 

31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Proposition: We were all lost without a helper. Jesus is the despised helper of lost sinners.

I.                    Anticipatory Set

A.     Introduction

1.      I do thank God that I am able to speak to you this morning

2.      I count it a real honor and privilege to do so

3.      I have been coming to El Dorado for some time now

4.      But, I have never stood in this spot to deliver a word from God

B.     Typically, I deliver messages at home with lots to time to commune with the Lord

1.      That is not the case today

2.      I don’t generally speak away from home

C.     For that reason, I don’t have a lot of

D.     Just to make things clear, let me tell you about myself

1.      I am a student of the Bible – Biblicist

2.      I do not believe that I understand all of it – I am studying it

3.      I believe that the Bible is the Word of God

4.      I believe that it can save you (move you from lost to fellowship)

5.      I believe the Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved (Hindu, Buddhist & Islam)

6.      I don’t believed that you are saved by good works or good intention

7.      It is not a matter of belonging to the biggest or best church

8.      It does not matter what you family name is

9.      The size of the bank account does not matter

10.  The size, type and cost of your car does not matter

11.  The only thing that matters is whether or not you have taken Jesus as savior

a         It is not rolling in the isles

b        It is not about speaking in tongues

c         It is not even about FEELING anything

d        It IS a matter if trusting Jesus

12.  There is much more but, I would have time to preach if I were to list them

13.  I, like Elizabeth Taylor – don’t plan to hold you long

14.  Please turn in your Bibles to:

<< Luke 10:30>>

<<Being a Good Samaritan!!>>

II.                 Introduction

A.     Today’s Scripture comes in a chapter that explains much about Christianity

1.      In this chapter are three (3) rapid examples of what it means to be Christian

2.      Some people have called this the three fold ministry of Christianity

a         First, it talks about the fact that we are to be ambassadors for Christ

(i)                  We have been sent into the world to represent Him

(ii)                This is not to represent our own interests – but His

(iii)               This is seen in vs 1-24

b        Second, we are also to be neighbors

(i)                  We are to look for opportunities to show mercy in the name of Christ

(ii)                This would include being a neighbor to people that are not like us

(iii)               This is the message of Vss 25-37

c         Third, we are to be worshippers of Christ

(i)                  We are to take time to listen to his word

(ii)                We are to take time to commune with Him in prayer

(iii)               This is the message of Vss 38-42

III.               Body

A.     So it is here in this chapter that Jesus send out the disciples

1.      These disciples were not the 12 apostles

2.      They are the anonymous disciples - not named

3.      They are given instructions that look a lot like that for the apostles (Lk 9)

4.      Please notice that they too were told:

a         Not to take money with them

b        Not to take extra provisions

c         Not even an extra pair of shoes

d        Don’t get entangled with the elaborate greetings

B.     These un-named disciples were to go ahead of the Master to prepare the way

1.      They were sent by Jesus

2.      To go ahead of Jesus

3.      This was a dignified calling

C.     That is certainly the way it is for us today

1.      All of us who have accepted the Lord Jesus as savior – have been sent

2.      We have been sent to tell a dying world of the great gift

3.      This great gift has been made available by Jesus

D.     We are his ambassadors

1.      We have been sent to represent him

IV.              Point Two: We are to be good neighbors

A.     This brings us to our passage which serves as the main discourse

1.      Here in verses 25-28, Jesus is asked and answers an important question

2.      This was a legitimate question but, it was asked with the wrong motive

25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

27 So he answered and said, “‘You shall 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 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

3.      There are a few things that we need to notice and recognize in this passage

a         This was a lawyer

(i)                  This is a person that understands and knows the law

(ii)                The Bible tells us the exact motive of this lawyer

(iii)               The motive was to “test” Jesus

b        It seems that this lawyer did not have a clue of who he was talking to

c         This was a very good question that needed to answered - then as well as now

4.      What does it take to be saved?

a         Notice that Jesus sends the lawyer back to the law

b        Jesus does not send the lawyer to the law to be saved

c         He sends him to the law to SHOW that he NEEDS to be saved

d        Jesus knew that there was no real conversion without real conviction

5.      The lawyer needed to be convicted of his need for salvation

a         That is the way it is for too many of us

b        We may have spent a lot of time in the church

(i)                  We may have worked on committees

(ii)                We might have even started ministries

(iii)               We may have given lots of money

(iv)              But we have never been convicted of our personal need of a savior

c         It is not a matter of working with the homeless, meals on wheels or deacon board

d        We need to recognize our personal need of the savior

6.      The Lawyer gave a good answer

a         He quoted Deut 6:5 – Love the Lord God

b        He added Lev 19:18 – Love your neighbor as yourself

7.      Jesus said that this was a good answer and that he should do this

B.     The Lawyer originally had thought to trap Jesus

1.      At this point the lawyer now felt trapped

2.      Jesus’ answer implied that perhaps he HAD NOT done this

3.      He was prepared to say that he had done this from his youth

4.      Jesus did not fall into his trap

C.     In case we had though that the lawyer’s motive was misunderstood

1.      Here is a little more to answer that question

2.      Notice how the lawyer reacts in vs 29

29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

3.      I am sure that you have known people that think that they are very smart

4.      They look for ways to trip you up

a         They ask questions designed to make you look like a fool

b        If you don’t answer the way they want or expect – they probe

c         They try to make you doubt that you understand anything

5.      Notice that he was trying to justify himself

a         Of course, we know that if God does not justify you – you aren’t justified

b        He needed to look good in front of his lawyer friends

6.      When we need to justify ourselves – we know that something is wrong

a         We know that we are not right

b        We know that we stand in the need of  something

7.      Even right here – right now – how are you justifying yourself?

a         What things are you hiding behind?

b        What is it that you doing to get by God, the church?

c         The Bible says “Your sin will find you out.” (Num 32:23)

d        It is for certain that you can run but you cannot hide

V.                 Point Three: The Good Samaritan

A.     Looking at this next section, we cannot confidently call this a parable

1.      Notice that Jesus does not call it a parable

2.      He simply states that a certain man was traveling…

3.      Listen

30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 

B.     Notice that Jesus does not call it a parable

1.      He simply states that the case as a fact

2.      Telling a story that made the Jews look bad and the Samaritans good was not useful

3.      It might have been dangerous – they would have wanted to kill him for slander

4.      Or it at least would have been self-defeating – they would simply have said that he made it up

5.      It looks to me like this might have been a story in the Jerusalem Times

6.      That is, this was a news story that many people had heard

C.     The Road to Jericho was indeed dangerous

1.      It was a place inhabited by thieves and robbers

2.      It was steep with lots of twists and turns

3.      There were many good hiding places

4.      Many travelers were robbed and beaten along this stretch of highway

D.     Listen to the rest of the story

31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

1.      I think that we have to be careful here not to dog this passage

2.      By that, I mean,  we are not make this story into an allegory

3.      In an allegory, we try to make everything in the story stand for something else

a         It would be like turning the victim into a lost sinner who is half-dead (alive physically and dead spiritually)

b        Helpless he is left on the road of life

c         Perhaps we would think of the priest and the Levite and representing the law and the sacrifices – neither of which can save the lost sinner

d        We would think of the Samaritan as Jesus Christ who saves the man

e         He pays the bill and promises to come again

f          We would try to think of the two denarii as the two ordinances of communion and baptism

g         Of course, all of this would be wrong!

h         Using allegory – we can make the Bible say anything we want!

i           In dong so, we miss what God has to say

4.      Therefore, let’s just stick with what Jesus actually says and what THAT means

E.      It is clear in the story that the victim is a Jew that was traveling along the road

1.      This poor fellow was left in really bad shape

2.      Then comes along a Priest – the priest completely ignores the guy

a         He is perhaps on his way home after serving in the temple

b        Notice that the priest sees and ignores

3.      Then comes along the Levite

a         Here things are a little different

b        The Levite stops and looks

c         I am not sure but the conduct of the Levite is better and worse than that of the Priest

d        The Priest did not even stop – he completely ignored the situation

e         The Levite, on the other hand, stopped to understand the situation

f          Maybe he had SOME pity

g         Then, after having understood the plight of this man – he left

h         He did nothing for the man

4.      Jesus is making a point here

5.      Then comes along a Samaritan

a         A Samaritan was a person of mixed parents – Jew and a Gentile

b        They were generally hated and despised by the Jews

c         The Jews thought them to be nothing – little more than dogs

6.      Jesus then turns the tables of the story

a         He makes a Samaritan (dog) the hero

b        Notice that this was not a Jew helping a Samaritan

c         This was a Samaritan helping a Jew

d        This was not just any Jew

e         This was a Jew who had been ignored by his fellow Jews!

f          The Samaritan showed love to one of those that hated him

g         He risked his life – this could have been a trap

h         He spent his own money – the man had nothing

i           He was not publicly recognized for helping – not done for accolades

7.      Jesus is making a huge point here…

36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

a         It is not a matter of how much law we understand

b        It is not a matter of how active we are in the church

c         We must love our neighbors

VI.              Conclusion

A.     You see, the lawyer wanted to discuss the idea of neighbor in a general way

1.      He did not want to understand what it really meant for him in particular

2.      It is easy for us to discuss what people need in a general way

3.      But there is a bigger question

4.      It is easy to talk about poverty – but refuse to feed those we know are in need

5.      We like to talk about job opportunities – but not help them to find a job

B.     We,  who know Jesus as our Lord and Savior have an opportunity to make a difference

1.      There is a cost to caring

2.      But it is far more costly NOT to care

3.      The priest and the Levite could have made big impact – but they did not

4.      We here today can make an impact

5.      We can decide today to be a good influence in a bad world

6.      God himself will see that your love of love is not in vain

C.     I don’t know where you are today

D.     Perhaps you have never made Jesus your personal savior

E.      Perhaps you are here and are half dead with the cares and concerns of this world

1.      I would like to offer you Jesus

2.      He did come to seek and save those that were lost

3.      He came seeking to save you and me – please come

F.      Perhaps you already know Jesus as Savior