The Church Is Loving Our Neighbor

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The Message for July 10, 2016

Luke 10:25-37

The Church is Loving Our Neighbor

Rob Miller, Pastor

We continue our five week worship series on The church is. We could put a lot of things in that blank. Today we consider, The church is about loving our neighbor.

Tony Campolo is a world renowned speaker, author, sociologist, pastor, social activist, and passionate follower of Jesus! (pictures)

In his book, “The Kingdom of God is a Party,” Campolo tells a story about arriving in Honolulu. He made his way unwittingly to a seedy part of town for a snack at 3:30 in the morning only to be surrounded by eight or nine prostitutes who had just gotten off work for the night.

He overheard one talking to her friend, “Tomorrow is my birthday.” Her friend rebutted, “So what do you want from me? You want me to get you a cake and sing, ‘Happy Birthday?’”

The birthday girl protested, “Why do you have to be so mean? I was just telling you, that’s all. Why do you have to put me down? Why should you give me a birthday party now -- when I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life?”

When the prostitutes left, Campolo’s heart was touched. He decided to throw her a surprise party. He decorated the place the next day with the help of the bartender, who happily chipped in the cake. That night, the stunned woman was deeply touched when the whole bar sang “Happy Birthday” to her.

Campolo offered to say a prayer for the woman before the stunned crowd, and after the prayer, the bartender remarked, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?”

Campolo replied, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” The bartender sneered, “No you don’t. There’s no church in the world like that. If there was, I would join it.”

The church is about loving our neighbor. And that love is for everyone.

The truth is - Jesus was a friend of sinners. The church is to be a friend of sinners too. Jesus ate and drank with people that church people of his day would have nothing to do with.

Jesus loved the unlovely. The church is to love the unlovely too. The church is about love. Last week we learn that the church is to do what Jesus did. And that involves loving God and loving one another. That love takes the form of a cross.

We are to love one another like Jesus did. That’s where our Gospel Reading offers us some great insights. Read Luke 10:25-37

Jesus met a guy with a life-changing question but it didn’t start out that way. It started out as trick question. This guy was an expert in the Jewish laws. He wasn’t really interested in eternal life. He was testing Jesus. He wanted to see what Jesus would say when he asked… “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

This guy’s picture of the church was very similar to how people picture the church today – it’s about doing things. You gotta do something, and if you do enough good “somethings”then you’ll “earn” eternal life. That is a false picture of the church and what Christianity is all about.

Jesus could see that this man didn’t understand life in this world or the next. So Jesus asked him. “What is written in the law?” And the lawyer answered, “Love the Lord your God with all our heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

I can almost see the guy standing there with a big smile on his face. He quoted the summary of God’s law – love God, and love your neighbor.

Notice the high standards set in God’s law – Love God with ALL your heart and soul, and love God with ALL your strength and mind. Notice how God’s law didn’t say, “Love God most of the time, or try hard and God will be happy, or just do the best.” No…. God’s law demanded total and complete, 100%, 24-7-365 day devotion to loving God and loving other people.

Jesus said to the man, “You have answered correctly. Do this andyou will live.” Notice Jesus didn’t say – “You will inherit eternal life.” He says, “You will live…” In other words, if this is your picture of Church and life andChristianity, then just do it.

Obviously, Jesus knew this lawyer could never measure up to God’s standards. Nobody can. Deep down, the lawyer probably knew that too. That’s probably why the text says he wanted to “justify himself.”

The manasked Jesus another question, “And who is my neighbor - exactly?” In other words, “I don’t have to be nice to everybody, do I? I mean, that’s unrealistic, isn’t it? Who do I have to be nice to?” The lawyer wanted to know, what must I do?

That’s when Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan.

There was a Jewish man, traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, on a very dangerousmountain road, well-known for thieves and robbers. Sure enough, this man was robbed -- stripped of his clothes -- beaten and left for dead in the ditch.

A Jewish priest came along. Now of all the people who were considered “good,” a Jewish priest was considered to be one of the best. Surely he would have a high place in heaven, because of his life-long good works in the temple. But look at what the priest does – Jesus says -- he crosses over to the other side of the road to avoid the man in the ditch, and keeps on going.

The lawyer would have thought… That’s not right… Can you relate? Why would the priest not stop and help?

• Maybe he was in a hurry.
• Maybe he had an appointment.
• Maybe he just didn’t want to get involved.
• Maybe he had done enough good deeds for one day… perhaps he was ‘good deeded out’.”
• Maybe he jumped to the conclusion that this man in the ditch was a drunk, and deserved whatever he got.
• Or maybe, he thought, “This man in the ditch isn’t my responsibility. Someone else will help him.”
• Maybe as the law stated -- the priest was not allowed to touch an unclean person and become unclean himself. The priest was keeping the law. That man in the ditch was as unclean as they come… So according to the law the priest did the right thing… Or so the lawyer could have argued.

Then a Levite comes along. Levites weren’t priests, but they worked full time at the temple too, doing all kinds of churchy things. They were part of the church staff. The Levite stayed on the opposite side of the path and kept going too.

• Maybe he had an appointment.
• Maybe he just didn’t want to get involved.
• Maybe he had done enough good deeds for one day… and was ‘good deeded out’ too. For whatever reason he did not get involved either.

I’m sure the lawyer who was listening to this story was surprised that Jesus would talk aboutthese “churchy” people being so unkind. He was probably more shocked when Jesus said that a Samaritan was the one who stopped to help.

The Jews hated the Samaritans. Samaritanshated the Jews. The Samaritan – of all people - had a good excuse to keep on going, after all, this man in the ditch was an enemy – “Why should I help him?”

For us it would be ISIS came along… and the man in the ditch is an American…

Instead of making excuses, Jesus says that the Samaritan had pity on the man and what had happened to him. He got off his donkey, took time to help the man. He poured oil and wine on the man’s wounds to kill the infection – and that wasn’t cheap. He put the man on his own donkey, while he walked– that was an inconvenience. He got the man a room at the inn where he was staying – again, very inconvenient for the traveling Samaritan. He gave the innkeeper two silver coins – that was enough money for someone to stay at the inn for 2 months. That was costly – very costly. He even offered to reimburse the innkeeper for any other extra expenses.

After telling this story, Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of these three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” And of course, the lawyer couldn’t say “Samaritan”- he said“the one who had mercy on him.” Jesus then tells him, “Go, and do likewise.”

Why did Jesus tell this story to that lawyer? Was Jesus telling him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life? “If you act more like the Good Samaritan, God would let you into heaven” – is that the point? Is that what we are about?

No. It is not!

Last week we heard that our names are written in heaven because of Jesus and not because of anythingwe do… The point is we can’t do anything to inherit eternal life. It doesn’t work that way. Eternal life is a free gift because Jesus paid the price…

So why tell this story… BecauseJesus challenged that lawyer to think about his own life – to see everyone as our neighbor.

We don’t know what happened to this expert in the law. But… we can start to get a picture of what we in the church are supposed to be about – love – loving our neighbor- going to extremes for our neighbor.

Maybe you’re thinking“I know I’m supposed to be this way, but I’m not. I’m more like the priest or the Levite than I am the Good Samaritan.”

We are all guilty of not loving our neighbor as we should.

When people are in need, we tend tojustify why we can’t help them… someone else will take care of them, it’s not my problem, I don’t have time, that person deserves what they get. You and I are sometimes just like the priest and Levite, ignoring people in need, and making excuses why we can’t help them.

When we do that… and we’ve all done that… when we realize that we’ve missed an opportunity to help our neighbor --we need to go to God and confess it…

“Gracious God, please forgive me. I’ve failed to help others. Sometimes I do, but often times, I make excuses, and pass by on the other side of the road. Please forgive me, O God of grace.”

That’s part of being the church - confessing our sin to God. But there’s another part… It’s trusting that your sin has been forgiven. After you pray a prayer like that, you can walk away, and pray…

“God of grace, thank you for taking away my sin and giving it to Jesus. I am a forgiven sinner. Thank you.”

Did I mention that Jesus is a friend of sinners…

The church is about confessing and trusting, forgiving and living.

Consider this -- you and I are like that traveler in trouble. As he walked along that road of life, he was ambushed by thieves. He didn’t stand a chance. As you and I walk along the road of life, we are ambushed by sin. We don’t stand a chance. We get beat up by sin – taken advantage of by sin. We find ourselves lying in the ditch. Spiritually, we are as helpless and in need.

Then, someone comes along – it’s the Good Samaritan – and his name is Jesus. He pulled us out of the ditch of life. He pulls us out of our sin.

The Good Samaritan sacrificed a lot to help that man. Jesus sacrificed everything for you and me. He took pity on you and me. When he saw you overcome by sin -- he saved you, dying on the cross for you, rising from the dead for you. He is our Good Samaritan in the story of life.

The church is about living that story.

The church is not about you or me trying to prove to our neighbor how good we are. The church is about Jesus saving you and me - the traveler in trouble.

Wehave been rescued, now what? Now we can we say, “Thank you,” to Jesus, for what he has done for us? Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive.

We can look for ways to help others. We can pay it forward. We can be a Good Samaritan to others – to be Jesus for others.

We can start with the people we know – our families. How might we help them? I’m sure you can think of a few ways.

Then there our church family – how can you be a Good Samaritan tosomeone sitting here beside youhere this morning? Sometimes God bringspeople in our lives so we can help them.

Let’s say I walk out of Albertson’s grocery store one day this week, and its 95 degrees outside. I’m in a hurry. I have ice cream melting in the bag, and I’m late for a party. Then I see an elderly woman, 2 cars away. She is visibly upset. Her tire is flat, and no one is around to help her. I could make an excuseand go on my way or I could do something. I can let the ice cream melt and/or get more ice cream. The party can go on without me. I may never see this woman again, but God has put her right here in front of me, to give me a chance to be a Good Samaritan to her.

So, I take the flat tire off of her car in the scorching heat. I take her flat tire to be fixed. I pay for it myself. I return to the parking lot and put the tire back on her car – and by the time it’s all over, the ice cream has melted. I missed the party, and the elderly woman is long gone.

That is the church. It’s nothing flashy. There is nothing I need to brag about. There is no audience applauding our good works. It’s just you, in a dirty shirt, by yourself.

It’s going way out of your way to help someone, and it will costs you -- time and money and effort. Maybe you don’t sayanything about church or Jesus while you’re helping your neighbor, but you’re living the faith, and you are reflecting what Jesus did for you.

Why would we do that? Why be a Good Samaritan to someone? Not because we are trying to earn eternal life by doing good works. And not because we are trying to look good in front of others.No…. we do that because that is what we do.

We do that because of the good things Jesus has done for us. We do that because Jesus is our Good Samaritan. He came not to be served but to serve and we want to be just like him.

That’s what the church is all about. The church is about loving our neighbor. Amen.