The interruptible
Notes
Transcript
The Good Samaritan
Luke 10:30-37
This morning we are again in the Parables of Jesus
And as we continue we have come to maybe one of the more well known parables now just in the church but in the world today
The Good Samaritan
We have heard this before but church it is one thing to hear it and it is another thing to practice it
Please hear me this morning
Church is no longer about showing up to hear a great sermon or message but it must be about how can I apply this to my own life
As you all read your Bibles
As you all minister
As you all come to Big Church and Sunday School and Bible Study
You do all that for change not from the outside in but from the inside out
So we preach these messages that you would go out and begin to apply them
We teach in Sunday School so that you would go out and apply them so that God would get the glory
And as we look at the Parable today my mind immediately went to this is what Jesus did
That should be our role model Jesus
Now some of you will say well He was perfect and I will never get to that point
You are absolutely right He was perfect and you will never get there but we can still work in that direction to become more and more like Jesus
So the Good Samaritan is a good place to start
But this starts before the Jesus actually gives the Parable to get his point across
25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 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.” 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
After Jesus was done teaching a lawyer gets up to ask a question
Would have been more of a Bible study maybe
This guy asks Jesus how does he inherit eternal life
Seems a good question right
I mean we still have people asking that very question
Jesus asks him about the law
The lawyer answers that you are to love the Lord your God with your entire being
And that He is to love his neighbor as himself
To which Jesus says you have answered correctly
And He is absolutely correct
To Love our Lord with our entire being is to repent from our sin and run to Jesus
To Love your neighbor is to be obedient to Gods commands
Everything seems pretty clear
But then this lawyer asks a question
Who is my neighbor
It’s as if he is trying to justify himself right
That if my neighbor is only those who live next door to me then I am good and i don’t have to love those I don’t want to love especially if they don’t live next to me
He is trying to justify his lack of fulfilling what God has called him to did
So to answer the question
Jesus is giving us the Parable of the Good Samaritan
30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.
This was about 17 to 19 miles apart
The road was rocky and winding
Which lent to robbers hiding and waiting to take advantage of people as they came by
Now this guy would seem to be a easy target right he was alone as far as we can read, and there didn’t seem to be anyone else on the road at that time
So this guy is taken advantage of
But the focus isn’t so much on the guy who was beat and left to die
But the people who passed by
31 “And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
The Priest
The priest would have been the religious elite
He would have been probably returning to Jericho because Jericho was a Priest town and he could have very well been returning from priestly duties in Jerusalem
The Priest does something right
He passes by on the other side
He doesn’t want to help this guy out
32 “Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
The Levite
This would have been someone who was from the tribe of Levi but not a priest
So he would have probably lived in or near Jericho
This guy does the same thing as the priest
Sort of goes out of his way to not get involved
I am sure if we had the chance to speak with these guys they would have given us some great excuses right
Maybe the priest is tired from working at the temple
Maybe he is in a hurry to get to his house
Maybe the Levite doesn’t think he knows enough to help the guy
Maybe the Levite has family issues of his own and he is preoccupied
Maybe the Levite has a prior engagement and can’t or more rightly doesn’t want to miss
Lets make this applicable this morning
How many times have we passed by on the other side of helping people becasue we had an excuse
And you and I say whatever we want to justify it but at the end of the day it is just that
An excuse
Lets be clear
You and I have passed by on the other side because we are not inerutable
Because we are not willing to interrupt our busy schedule
Becasue we are not willing to dare I say love our neighbor
It should go without saying but lets say it anyway everyone is our neighbor
Not just those who live in close proximity to you
Not just those you are close with
But everyone is your neighbor and according to Jesus Himself you and I are to love them as you love yourself
Since you love yourself
Think of the things you do for self you love yourself
That is how we are to treat others right that we love them because we love ourselves
But that is not all that happened on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho
33 “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 “On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’
See the first 2 people were fellow Jews
This guy was a Samaritan and these people were looked down on by the Jews
They didn’t want anything to do with them
They despised the Samaritan people
It would have also been way more common for the Jews to help the Jews
But as you can see in the Parable This guy didn’t see that this man was a Jew but saw this man was hurt and needed help
So the guy takes from his own stash of oil and wine and either found bandages or brought his own, or used his own clothing to make some for this guy
Then he gives up his seat to the hurting Jew and takes him to the in and gives the inn keeper 2 days wages to pay for the room and food and whatever he may need
Then he tells him that I will come back and if you spend more than 2 days wages I will settle up with you
This guy who is hated by the guy he is helping goes above and beyond it would seem
Not only did he bandage him up but then made arragements to have him cared for for a few more days
Do you notice the difference between this man and the other 2
It wasn’t that he knew first aid and the others didn’t
It wasn’t that he knew more
It wasn’t that he had more money
The difference is this guy was interruptible
He was willing to stop his busy schedule to be obedient to Gods word
And Gods word was clear that you and I are to love our neighbor
We are to care for them as we would care for ourselves
If you and I Christians we are to be Christ like
We are to do the things like Jesus did
Church Jesus Himself was interruptible
36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
This is one of those rhetorical questions by a teacher because he is about to answer it
It wasn’t to define what a neighbor is but to define what someone who loved their neighbor is
It is so clear that the Samaritan is the one who loves his neighbor is
Church we are to do the same thing
We are to be in reputable and ready to love on people that bring into our lives
Believe you me, those people show up at some of the most importune times in our lives but you and I get the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them and show them the love of Christ
Then notice what Jesus does
Jesus says Go and do the same
Go and be like the Good Samaritan
Go and share the love of Christ with people
That is what you and I are to do church
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This is how people will know we belong to Christ is by our love we have for them and for each other
So let us do that
As we come to our time of invitation
We will ask the Band to come up
As they come up
If you are here and do know personally Jesus as your savior
I would invite you to the front and you can talk with someone who can open up the Bible and show you you are a sinner and how Jesus loved you so much that he died for your sin
And that you can repent this morning and believe in Jesus this morning and begin a relationship with Jesus this morning
Or maybe you are here this morning and you have a relationship with Jesus and have realized this morning you are the priest or the Levite in the parable
I would invite you to the front and repent and ask the Lord to change your heart
I would invite you this morning to be more interruptible