The Power of Service

Now our passage for this morning is pretty long ones. So I will read it too. And if you want to follow along in the Pew Bibles you can it is in Luke chapter 10 verses 25 through 37.

a pretty familiar Parable the parable of the Good Samaritan So if you want to follow along with me is I read feel free. Is on one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus teacher. He has 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 with all your soul and with all your 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? and replied 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 happen to be going down the same road and when he saw the man he passed by on the other side. So to a levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side. But as 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 end 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 and when I return 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 wall replied the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him go and do likewise. Thanks be to God for his word. You know, it's we read that and as we look at the responses of the different people involved in that story, you know, the first ones we look at of course or the responses of the priest and the levite. You know anyone who reads the story I don't think we would have a problem thinking that you know there in verses 31 and 32 the priest and the levite clearly acted in a manner that was contrary to love. They responded to this man who had been beaten and left half dead along the road. Play wasn't loving. However, it wasn't contrary to what people would have expected. Kind of makes us Wonder but you know the priests served in the temple and their highest Duty was to offer sacrifices. And the Levites, you know also assisted in the temple services and help to maintain the order of what was going on there and the priest and the levite most likely avoided the man because they were afraid of being defiled in some way because he know he looked like he might be dead and if they happen to touch a dead body, then they would be unclean and they would not be able to perform their duties. in the temple You know, the priest wouldn't be able to offer the sacrifices because he would be unclean and the levite wouldn't be able to help because he would be unclean. So most likely a good part of the reason they avoided him in this story was because well they didn't want to be unclean. And so when people heard that part of the story, it wouldn't have shocked them cuz they would have thought well they were just making sure they could keep doing their duties. So to an extent, you know, the love was being observed.

Cuz you look at it, you can see that the law was being observed at an obvious neglect of Mercy. You know when there has been many to explain the attempts many attempts to explain, you know, why they did what they did and I explain some of that to you. But you know the point of the story seems to require that

it's that they don't really have an excuse for why they didn't show Mercy to this man who was clearly and needed their help. You know, so maybe it's not necessarily that they have an excuse for what they did. But there was not an excuse for what they didn't do. in response So then we look at the response of the Good Samaritan, you know in verse 33. We see that the Good Samaritan took pity on the wounded man, you know took pity, you know kind of implies that deep feeling of sympathy that we give to somebody. And you do to those who Jesus was teaching that day to those who would have heard this Parable that was striking for two different reasons. The first reason being that it stands in direct contrast to the attitude of the priest and the levite doesn't it mean that's pretty obvious. They looked at him and thought Oh, no, I don't want to help this guy and he sees him and immediately takes pity on him. And the second reason is that it also goes against the normal feelings of hostility that were there between Jews and Samaritans.

You know, I think the most significant part of this story is that we see that his pity was translated into sacrificial action. Me just think about it. You know what he did for someone that he didn't even know most likely those Samaritan used pieces of his own clothing to make the strips that he bandaged his wounds with he used his own wine. He used his own oil. He used his own resources essentially to care for this man's needs. And he even used his own donkey to carry the man to the end and then he paid The Innkeeper out of his own pocket to look after him and take care of him and he even promised to come back and make sure that if the Innkeeper had any other expenses other than what he had already paid that he would make good on that too. So he made a commitment to continue to care for this man that he didn't even know.

And you know is I read this story. I always stop and think. You know, would I be willing to go this far to help someone? I didn't even know. Would I go to Such Great Lengths or would I be more like the priest and the levite and kind of distance myself and pass by on the other side.

you know, we can also look at the expert in the laws response to this story that Jesus is telling to

Cuz you know Jesus asked a second kind of counter question there in verse 36. He know he's asking the expert a law to voice his decision in. And it's question. You know, Jesus doesn't focus on the object of neighborly love.

He focuses on the subject the Samaritan who made himself a neighbor. You know really this is a complete reversal of the expert in the laws question and it provides itself to the key. Meaning of what Jesus is trying to teach us about love. You know, Jesus is trying to make key points that love should not be limited by its object. He's also making the point that we have the ability to determine the extent and the quality of the love that we show others.

And you know, Jesus has also implying here with his questions that you know, love is often demonstrated through action. And in this case, it was demonstrated through the mercy that this Samaritan showed the wounded Traveler. you know another important thing to notice about this Parable is that there is a striking reversal of roles here because the jewess expert would have thought that the Jewish victim That was laying on the ground was the good person and he would have thought of the Samaritan as an evil person because that was just how they viewed that segment of their society.

You know, so Jesus could have told the story that way he could have made it a Samaritan victim and a Jewish helper, which they would have had no problem with that. It would have fit right with the stereotypes that they typically had. But he reversed that because it stress the main point of his lesson. You notice I Was preparing for this. I remembered one year when I was helping with church camp when we live down in Kentucky. Our cabin had to do a skit of this particular parable. So, you know, but we changed it. We tried to make it like, you know, it was a little more with the times of what happened. So we change the parable little bit so that you know in our story we use the pastor in place of the priests and we use the missionary in the place of the levite and honor a drug dealer. I can't remember which one it was was in the place of the Samaritan.

You know, so I thought about that. I thought well, you know would be kind of like if we did that here and you know, we could say that, you know, an ex-convict found a wounded farmer Somewhere Out in the Country along the road and that ex-convict loaded up that farmer into his own SUV and drove him to Adams Memorial Hospital and when he got there, he left his own credit card with them and told the hospital, you know any bills that this guy has I'll take care of them.

That's the sort of thing that happened here. And it's the sort of thing that you you don't expect. You wouldn't expect someone who we know is a convicted felon or something to willingly stop and help someone out alongside the road and that's the sort of story that Jesus was telling them here.

Because he knows we think about that. We would find it hard to think of this ex-convict really going out of his way to help someone like this. And you know the export of the law had a similar response. But you know when Jesus asked him the question at the end, he just can't avoid the thrust of the direction that Jesus is telling this whole story. But he finds it hard to say the word Samaritan. So in Jesus asking me no. His only response has the one who had mercy on him. At that point Jesus now refers back to you know, the expert of the laws original question of what must I do and Jesus tells him to go and do likewise.

But you know, why would Jesus tell the parable in this way? Why did he reverse the roles that most of the people who were listening, you know, most of the Jews who were there would expect. for this story I think it's because Jesus knew that this man needed to learn that God does not bestow blessings on the king of the Kingdom on those who reject his command to love.

you know, it's kind of Jesus's thing that you know, we might come to him saying or Desiring something but really he always knows what the deepest need of our heart is what we really need to hear what really needs to happen and he knew that for this man. He needed to see that he had to love others. Not just simply follow the letter of the law.

And rejection of the command to love shows that they have not truly recognized how much they need the love of God themselves. That's often why we were ejected. So, you know really the big idea that I'm trying to get at today. Is that so often Ministry takes place. At the intersection of need and chance. Of us finding ourselves faced with somebody in need.

And then do we choose to respond in love or not?

You know when God puts opportunities to lovingly serve others in front of us. How do we respond? You're the Good Samaritan could have simply passed by on the other side like the others did and no one would have thought anything about it. No one would have expected anything different from him. You know, it would have been the response that most of the Jews who were hearing. The story would have expected out of him. But that's not how he responded he chose to respond with great compassion and mercy.

And you know Christ is our example in all this. You know, I'm the night before his crucifixion Jesus met with his disciples for the Passover meal and we're going to do a play around a lot of that is coming up on Monday Thursday, you know, John records that although Jesus had always loved his disciples. He now did something to show them the full extent of his love.

When did you catch that statement there? You know, he always loved his disciples. But now he wanted to show them how exactly how deeply he loved them. So, what did he do?

You know, he didn't invite them to come to church to hear a speaker or to see a program or it to read a book that he had read. He's simply serve the disciples by washing and drying their feet before they had the evening meal. Something that would normally be reserved for a slave girl in the household to do.

He humbled himself and serve them in that way.

And I'm sure that you know, there were many other examples throughout the time of Jesus being with the disciples that he did other things to serve those guys in the disciples knew that Jesus loved them because he served them.

You know one of the ways that Jesus demonstrated love was through service. And the lesson we can learn out of that is in John 13 a little later down in the passage versus 14 and 15. It says now that I your lord and teacher have washed your feet. You also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

So really Jesus is saying now that I have shown you how to serve go and do likewise serve others in the same way. And you know this I thought about that as I thought about all the different things were trying to start as a church in our community all the different things were trying to do. I thought about have we shown our community the full extent of our love.

Truth is I don't think we have yet. I think we're heading in the right direction, but I think there is more that we can do.

And I talked so much about service and things that we can do in the community because service is the action that causes us to move toward others in love. I've said it a million times but you know service is the mark of a Christian and we have the same attitude that Jesus has about service in Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 7. We read your attitude should be the same as that of Christ. Jesus who being met being in very nature. God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness.

Did you ever take a moment to think about?

What Jesus left behind when he made that choice? To come to Earth in human form as a baby.

So that he could die on a cross for us. I mean think about it, you know, he stepped down from heaven where he was sitting at the right hand of God. to come to Earth To experience life like we experienced it, which we all know is not always a Rosy rainbow field day. So that he can ultimately die on a cross for our sins.

I mean when I think about that, I realize that Jesus gave up more than we can even imagine.

You know, a lot of people have written songs or books about heaven. We can read a lot in scripture about having but still it's something that's beyond. What we can even comprehend but he gave all that up. the common service

Jesus willingness to serve those he loved is a moving expression of that extravagant love that the father has lavished on us.

You know, it's God's kindness that leads people to repentance. We have to remember that.

Yeah, we've tried the approach many many times of you know, the fire and brimstone which has its place in its time. But that is so often not the way that invites people into the kingdom. They still have to hear about the love side of it to

And the problem is so many people have heard about it so many times but they've never seen it. They've never seen it lived out. They've never seen it demonstrated by other people. but when they do barriers to the gospel melt away as people see God's love in action as they actually see it lived out.

And that's what has to be our motivation.

Because you know as we think about that, you know. We want to try to serve our community and a variety of different ways. And that's why we talk about all these different things because I would guess no two people in this room came to know Christ in the exact same way.

Yes, we all have to believe that Jesus Christ is our savior. We all have to repent of our sins. But how did you get there? What course in your life took you there? It was something probably different for each and every one of us that started us down that path. That's why it's important to serve our community in so many different ways and to have so many different points of contact out in the community is because we don't know what's going to click for one person or the other. We don't want to be all about just one type of person. You know, I want everyone in my church to be like me. Then I can be comfortable right? I can feel safe. I can know that's not what we want. That's not who God came to say. If you know, Jesus didn't give all that up for one people group. Gave it up for everybody and we need to remember that and that's why we need to see you know, when opportunities are put in front of us four different ways that we can serve people. We have to take them we have to make the most of those cuz we want to be able to share the good news and we don't know that one thing that we do that might seem insignificant and a lot of ways. Could be the one thing that opens the door for someone to listen to the gospel. And every opportunity we take gives us a better chance of communicating that love to someone who's never heard it before. Or maybe that particular need that we reach out to them and we help meet. Finally unlocks their hearts so that they can receive the Gospel. you know when missionaries go to another country part of the reason that they try to learn the language is because we talked about the idea of How the gospel has more of an impact when people hear it in their heart language?

You know, you might know another language you might know some Spanish or some French or some German. But it's much harder for you to connect emotionally in that language, but in your native language. You can connect a lot easier. So that's why are missionaries do it so they can speak in people's heart languages. But you know another part of it that our missionaries have learned is that you can share all the nice things you want to about God's love with people. But if you ignore the fact that their last meal was a week ago. Guess what the growling of their bellies too loud for them to hear one single thing. You just said about the love of God. Do Tom's sometimes you have to address those other needs to allow them to hear the real message that we have? And you know any church I've talked to any church that has tried their hardest to build bridges into the community to bridge some of those gaps. All those churches have seen that, you know when you selflessly serve your community. People notice that it gets people's attention people start to talk about it and you know, it forms this bridge. That the good news can travel over then those good deeds can form a bridge that really frankly. The church hasn't had that connection to the community for a long time and it's a bridge that churches have to be sure to maintain. Because we know that service is something the community needs. It's something God desires and it's something that the church has the capacity to do. We often don't think about it, but we do. Because he know the sad fact is a lot of people if you ask them what some of their major needs were out there. Unfortunately for most people salvation wouldn't be at the top of that list. It wouldn't be the first thing that they would name. However, you know, if you did ask him. There's a lot of other needs it would come up. Other things they would say that they need to know we can't meet every need for every person. But if we can at least show that we care about what's going on in their life what their needs are and try to help them in any way possible. You know, then we can begin to form relationships with them. And as we form those relationships will get those opportunities to share the gospel and when you've built those relationship and then when you share the gospel, that's when you get a much better response from people are much deeper response. You know, but sometimes when we put all this energy into serving we can get to the point where we ask ourselves, you know, but what if we do all this put all this effort into it all this time, and nothing happens. No one responds.

You know that didn't stop Jesus, you know, I know when he healed the ten lepers he knew that only one of them was going to return. Course he did. He knows everything so he knew that when he did it, but did that stop him from doing it? Did that stop him from healing all 10? No. Healing is what the father called him to do. So he went ahead and did it. Anyway even knowing he may not get thanked for it. And one day Jesus would ultimately surrender himself to the Cross to be sacrificed for the sins of All Mankind through all time. And he knew not everyone would respond to the gospel and be saved but he still did it. Anyway, even though he knew not everyone would respond favorably.

The Apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians chapter 6 verses 9 and 10. Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time. We will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore as we have opportunity. Let us do good to all people especially those who belong to the family of believers.

You know this passage should remind us that are singular goal and serving. Others is to Simply bring glory to the father. We don't do it simply as a way to get a pat on the back. We don't do it simply because we want more people to come to our church. We serve our community because that's what God has put us here today. We serve our community because our job is to bring him glory and recognition. You know we seek to serve others so that they can see the love of God in action. And then when they hear us share about the love of Jesus, they actually know what that looks like.

cuz you know, if as more and more people grow up in broken families and family life that we just don't even want to describe it's hard for them to understand what you mean when you say a kind loving father. Or someone making selfless sacrifice when all they've seen is selfishness. And that's why it is so important that we serve other so they can see God's love in action. Because then our service will be a powerful testimony to our community that we're not just about our own building or our own things as a church, but we truly love the community and we truly are here to serve them. And when we do that, that's when God's redeeming light will truly be able to reach out farther and our community. Because we have to realize that the possibilities for us to serve in our community are only limited by our imagination. You know, we're the ones that place limits on what we can do for others.

But you know instead of looking at the things that man looks at when we consider those things. We need to be simply asking God. What is it that you have us here to do? And then do our best to pursue those things. Please bear with me in prayer.

Heavenly father as we come to you today Lord as week. Talk about your love for us. Lord let us not forget how important for us. To remember the command to love others in to show them that love by serving them. Lard with no other intention other than to bring you glory. And Lord, I pray that you will help us to see our service as an opportunity to create relationships with people that might normally fall outside of our Social Circle. But Lord people who need you. And Lord, I pray that you will help us to make the most of every opportunity you put in front of us to serve others. We pray this all in your most. Holy name. Amen.