Love Your Neighbor

Luke chapter 10 this morning, let’s turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 10. And I’d like to begin the reading in verse 25. Luke chapter 10 beginning the reading in verse number 25.

And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

And let’s mark our Bibles to this portion of Scripture this morning as our Scripture text for the message. And let’s again ask God’s blessing.

Father, as we have now read your word, this portion of it, we pray, Lord, that even though this is a somewhat familiar story to us with this good Samaritan, as we well know, Lord, we pray that you’ll help us to make the application of this passage to our hearts and lives this morning help us to see fresh things about it as it applies to our lives, help us to understand what you would have us to do even today and this week as we go forward. Help us to be guided by your word and not our feelings, not our own emotions. Lord, help us to be guided by faith in what your eternal record revelation gives us, because we know that you will not guide us astray. Your word is a lamp to our feet, it’s a light to our path. Bless us now as we look into it this morning and as we continue in worship. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Luke chapter 10 we’ve already read verses 25 through verse 37 and it’s there in verse 25 we read, in verse number 25 we read, “And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Based on the rest of the context I think it’s safe to conclude that this indeed was a, it was a, well it was a good question but it was asked with a bad motive. It was a good question that was intended to ensnare the Lord and yet we notice even as we go on down further in the text. If you look down in verse 29 but he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus and who is my neighbor? This is further indication that this was not a sincere heart question of his but more so a typical type of question for a man of his stature, a man of his upbringing and his background.

This man was a lawyer we’re told here and what does that specifically mean? Does that mean like TW King and Rocky Mount? No this is a specifically a lawyer, someone who was learned in the law, an expert in the mosaic law, an expert in the rabbinical law. He would be one of those people that have all the letters behind his name today, a PhD, you know MD, he would be MDiv or something like that. He would be a really learned man. He knows all the Hebrew, he knows all the languages, he knows all the theology we might say but he asked Jesus this question here trying to trip him up, testing him, finding out what is he going, what kind of response is he going to have to this? And this was a typical thing, it’s very likely this man was a Pharisee in fact, certainly of the Sanhedrin court there were men both of Pharisees and of the Sadducees that comprise those leaders in Israel.

This man seems to have been a Pharisee because of the type of question that he asked that he might inherit internal life. The Sadducees didn’t even believe in the resurrection but the Pharisees did believe in a resurrection of the dead even though they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they believed in the principle, the reality of a resurrection. And the Pharisees or this man who we believe to be a Pharisee here, a doctor of the law, a man who was very learned in the law, he says here, “How can I inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus responds to him in verse number 26. What does he say in verse number 26? What is written in the law? Basically he said, “Well you’re a master in the law, you tell me what it says, you tell me what the word says, what is written in the law? What is the essence of the law itself?” And he responds being a man well learned in the law by saying, “Well thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind.”

That’s the essence of the law and to love thy neighbor as thy self. He knew it just as well as those who Herod turned to and said when the wise men had come and they were looking for the baby that was born King, describes the Pharisees, those men they all said, “Well in Bethlehem of Judea, he used to be born in Bethlehem, Ephrata.” That’s what Micah said, you know, but even though they knew it, they knew they had the knowledge, they were learned men, they did not have the heart, they did not believe the very things that they were saying, they were practical atheists when it came right down to it, they did not take the word to heart like many even though the Gentiles had done.

As we look in Jesus ministry, this is why Jesus went into Galilee. For most of his earthly ministry, he was in Galilee, yes, he spoke to his own people, but he also cared for the Gentiles as well. But the Pharisee said, he rehearsed the greatest commandment, the second being like unto it, to the Lord, and the Lord said in response to him, what did he say here in verse number 28, “Now has answered right, this do and thou shalt live.” Now the problem with this man was he had a great deal of confidence in himself, kind of like the rich young ruler did, he said all of these that I kept from my youth, right? He had a great deal of confidence in himself, he didn’t even, he didn’t want to or did not see his own sin and his own imperfect keeping of this law.

The law was not, the law was given as a school master to bring us to Christ. It was not given as a self confidence booster, it was supposed to actually diminish or to remove the idea of confidence in ourselves and our ability to glorify God and show us that we fall short of the glory of God, right? That’s why the law, the law was a school master for the time to bring us to Christ.

I remember what Paul says in Romans chapter 2, if you look over there in Romans chapter 2 in verse 17, Romans chapter 2 in verse number 17, it’s there that we read verse number 17, “Behold thou art called a Jew,” Paul says, “and restest in the law, you rest in the law and make us thy boast of God and knowest his will and approve us the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the law and are confident that thou thyself are a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness.” What did Jesus say about that? He said, “The blind are leading the blind and both are falling in the ditch,” right? He says here in verse 20, “and you think you’re an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes which has listened to this, the form of knowledge and of the truth and the law. Oh, they knew it up here, didn’t they? They knew it. They could speak it out here. They knew it up here. It was automatic.

When Jesus asked the man, when he asked him here in our text in Luke 10 verse number 26, he says, “What is written in the law? How are these thou?” He says, “I shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul of mine and strength, love thy neighbor as thyself.” It was automatic, it was like rapid fire. He knew it, but he didn’t know it. He knew it. He was going about to establish his own righteousness. I feel like I’m a pretty good guy. I feel like I’ve done pretty well. I do love God.

What is the story with the publican and the Pharisee? The publican wouldn’t even look up and the Pharisees over there. I thank God I’m not as other men are. You know I fast twice in the week and I give alms and do all of these things. He prayed thus with himself. The passage tells us he felt like he was a pretty pretty good fellow.

But notice that the Pharisee is almost as if he’s looking for a loophole here. He says, “Well who is my neighbor?” He’s trying to put the ball back in the Lord’s court instead of the weight being on him, the burden being on him here in this passage. He says, “Well who is my neighbor? Who am I responsible? Who do I have to love? Who do I have to show love to?” It’s kind of like even though this is a religious carnality, it’s kind of like the carnal mind how it says, “What do I have to do? What’s the bare minimum I have to do to get into heaven?” Kind of thing.

Jesus called out the Pharisees. He called out the religious Jews for basically you have broken the law in your heart. So keep it, you know, you tithe, mint, and anise and you you tithe all of these things. But then you’ve broken the weightier matters. You’ve disregarded the weightier matters of the law. Well, he says, “Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor?” Well, Jesus goes on as he often does, did, and gives an illustration.

I can’t help but think the agrarian culture in which Jesus lived and taught people. He used agrarian examples many times. He used examples of real life situations that people understood and they can relate to. Well, here he gives a real life illustration of something these people knew well about. He said there was a man going, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho because geographically it was downhill. Jerusalem, you go up to Jerusalem. We saw that when we were looking at the geography of Israel, they went, he was going down. I think it was something, there’s only a few miles. It’s not terribly far to get down to Jericho from Jerusalem. But everyone knew this was a dangerous route. You didn’t want to take anything valuable with you if you were going that way because you most certainly would be robbed of it and you would try to travel in groups, you know, a caravan or travel with more than one person. It was a dangerous, dangerous route that they would take from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And so everyone immediately would, and certainly the man, the doctor of the law, would understand what he’s talking about when he gives this illustration here.

So he went down and fell among thieves which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. The man probably wished he was dead. Why didn’t they just go ahead and finish me off and said, “A leaving me here to writhe in my own pain on the side of the road.” But they did. We might say this man went very smart, was he went, he traveled down to Jericho by himself and carried something that he could be robbed of. This man, this wasn’t, you know, he wasn’t maybe the brightest crayon in the box. I don’t know the whole story, but certainly he had to know the dangers that existed out there when he was when he was going alone.

In verse 31 we read and by chance there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him he passed by on the other side. He almost sounds like, you know, he wanted to act like he didn’t even see the guy, you know, just go by on the other side. And yet we see the Levite that comes behind him. He shows a little bit more, maybe his conscience was bothering him a little bit because you notice what it says about him in verse 32 here. It says, “And likewise a Levite when he was at the place.”

You know, this is no accident. The Lord appoints every encounter that we have. And the Lord allowed this to happen to be a test here in verse 32. The Levite, when he was at the place, he didn’t just pass by. He came and looked on him. The priest, it just says he went down on the other side and just kind of kept going. But the Levite actually stopped, came over and looked at the guy and then it says he passed by on the other side. I’m sure they both came up with some good reasons in their mind. Excuses in their mind why they weren’t going to help this guy. You know, I could be putting myself in danger. You know, there’s a, I don’t want to get blood on my hands. I don’t want to get, I got somewhere to be. You know, there’s so many excuses that they could have come up with here. That man should have known better. You know, he should have known better than the travel by himself. He deserves what he got.

I don’t know what words they said. Maybe that’s what the priest said when he went by. But in verse number 32 here we see that that, the Levite at least came over and looked at him because probably he was having a little bit of a conscience there about this matter. They didn’t think anyone saw what they did or what they didn’t do. Perhaps they would have been more motivated to have helped the man if a reporter from the Jerusalem Post were just happened to be passing by right about that time and they could have gotten their name in the paper, you know. Kind priest helps man left or dead, you know, something like that. But, but there was nobody there except God watching what was happening and we know that God always sees everything we do. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. And so how do we live? How do we think? How do you and I think? I’m not just talking about as it relates to someone that’s heard on the side of the road, but in everything. How do I interact? How do I act? How do I think when there’s nobody there to see or to know what I’m thinking and doing but God? How do I think about that? Am I conscious of God that he does see and that he does know everything even our Father which seeeth in secret will reward us openly the Bible says even our prayer calls it the Father that sees in secret.

But in verse 33 a certain man a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was. Well same thing we read about the Levite. He came with that, he was at that place came and looked on him. But here we see the Samaritan that when he saw him he didn’t pass by on the other side. He had compassion. He had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again I will repay thee.

First of all this illustration had to make this great doctor of the law uneasy because the Jews first of all they hated Samaritans. In fact a number of the rabbis in Jesus’ day history tells us that the rabbis actually taught that a Jew was forbidden even to help a Gentile woman who was in distress giving birth because if they succeeded all they did was to help one more Gentile come into the world. So they were not according to the teaching of number of the rabbis were not in any way assist a Gentile woman who was giving birth.

People act like today like the Jews, the Zionists they’ve all the cut they’ve just really become such a mean people they’ve been mean for a long time they’ve been they’ve hated Gentiles not every single one of them but generally speaking the Jews are very proud people and we notice that the rabbis said that they couldn’t even help the woman and they thought the Samaritans were the worst of the Gentiles these were the very worst these half-breeds that live up in the north don’t have anything to do with them. Go to great lengths to avoid even going through Samaria don’t even don’t even look at him I wouldn’t even spit on him that’s the attitude that’s the idea they had about him but Jesus is rubbing salt in the open wound here by saying the Samaritan acted more kindly to this man beaten and left for dead than you would then then you who know the law should have known better the priest and the Levite should have known better I will tell you exactly who your neighbor is and more specifically he didn’t just tell him who his neighbor was he didn’t just directly answer the question though he answered it the man the Pharisee the doctor of the law said well who is my neighbor and Jesus turns around and is saying who are you a neighbor to who are you a neighbor to you ought to be a neighbor.

Look down in verses 36 and 37, which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves, well the Samaritan of course proved himself to be a neighbor he was neighborly to the man that was was beat up and left for dead in verse 37. Even the doctor of the law has to acknowledge this he said he that showed mercy on him then said Jesus unto him go and do thou likewise what he was pointing out to him was that you say you kept the law but you haven’t shown mercy you say you kept the law but you don’t even want to be a neighbor to the people like the Samaritan was to someone who truly you can help and that does have need and you just choose not to help them that is sin you are not being a neighbor to the one that God brings across your path.

You know when we talked about the statement about interruptions a little bit earlier God brings people across our path no yeah yes we get inundated with so many needs in our world you look at the news you it’s just overwhelming there’s so many needs there’s no way we can we can help with all those needs right but there are who is my neighbor is the person that God that God puts in my corner in my path in in front of me that I know that I can do something to help them that’s my neighbor it doesn’t matter if the person was dumb enough to travel down alone from Jerusalem to Jericho we might say well you shouldn’t have gotten that situation well that’s our tendency isn’t it to say why did you get in that situation.

Well maybe if we dial it back and rewind it a little bit they grew up in the situation where if we had been in their shoes we would have been in the same boat as well as they were but the thing certainly there’s a point where with people continue to reject the gospel invitation reject help then you you need to shake the dust off your feet move on and help someone else but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have compassion like this man did the Samaritan did he had compassion on him he truly desired to help this man notice what he does here he saw him he stopped long enough to look at to listen to to see the need that the man had he cared having compassion he cared about this man’s dilemma even as if it had been his himself lying there on the road even as if it had been one of his own family that had fallen among thieves he cared for this man he helped him it says he bound up his wounds he got involved and got his hands dirty we might say he got his hands dirty by reaching down and actually doing something to help the person that he had the ability to help it kind of indicates to us that he had maybe he was traveling with something that he could have bound him up with. I don’t know did he take the shirt off his own back did he what did he what did he use that’d be interesting to find out but he gave him what he had he he had oil and wine what was the wine for the wine was to be to help with the pain this would this would be sort of an antiseptic we might say as well but but the oil the wine being more the antiseptic than the oil being more of the soothing of the wound to try to cleanse as much as he could out there on the field anyway and also to put a covering over the wounds and binding him up he set him on his own beast it says here he put him on his own beast he was willing to transport the man he took him where he could be further helped by bringing him to an inn where he could get rest where his he could get fed he didn’t have them food with him to feed him enough to feed him but he took him where he could and he paid for his stay there with the promise to and gave extra with the promise that if he needs more I’ll give more.

Well obviously you can’t squeeze blood of a turnip if he didn’t have the money didn’t have the money but he had the ability to help and so we did he had compassion you know even if you don’t have the money you still can have compassion you can still pray but many times God puts people in our path we don’t need to call the Jerusalem Post and say look what I’m about to do no we just need to help as God lays it upon our hearts to help the person and this is the true picture of the love God has to us even when we were left for dead in our sins God did not have to send his son Jesus Christ but he did and Jesus was willing to come and Jesus was willing to lay down his life for us all the provision of grace needed was made for us in Jesus Christ and his atoning death his work on the cross for us and even now after having died for us given his life for us raised again he keeps on giving grace from the throne of grace he continues to intercede for us as we go to him with every every need we have not only has he saved us from death but he’s made provision that we might be made whole and we might be healed that we might be we might be conformed to his very image his selfless image this is the love of God in Christ as well.

As I thought about valentines and love and all of that this week I thought about that once again what the true meaning of love is and I think about I think about homes and marriages that are in in sad states today those that we know and those that the devil has gotten an advantage over the relationship between a husband and wife it’s it’s sad to see those things and yet there is still healing to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ there’s sad to see when there’s a division between a parent and a child and the child the child’s begins to hate the parents we’ve seen that and yet that can be healed as well I think of what love what does it look like well this is what love looks like here this morning what the Samaritan did he loved his neighbor love looks like me giving up something of myself in order to help and care for another as I would that it would be done to me and this this man knew more about what love was than this doctor of the law who had all the theology he knew all the words but he didn’t have the hearts love looks like patience it looks like patience when we’re misunderstood when we’re wronged love looks like patience because it’s not easily provoked as 1 Corinthians 13 verse 5 says and it says also in verse seven that love is able to endure all things and endureth all things.

Love looks like a husband and wife respecting and loving and serving each other not only in help but also in times of sickness love looks like a mother getting up in the middle of the night to nurse her baby a father getting up to change the baby’s diaper it looks like a mother taking the time to read books to her children it looks like a father being patient enough to let his children make mistakes while they are trying to learn and help him so they so they can learn our children.

I’ve been challenged and convicted in my own life that my children they want to build things they want scrap wood to build things with all the time and so I’ve been realizing you know instead of just throwing the wood at them and say go build something to try to take the time to help them to learn how to make things and Lydia’s gonna hold my feet to the fire because we have a collapsible table that we make sometime this week but you know the tendency I know as a parent the tendency is to not want to take that time to it’s sometimes it’s easier just to do something yourself then to wait for the child to learn how to do it you know what I mean and that’s that’s our natural that’s my natural tendency but I need to be patient with my children to teach them it takes time to listen to one another’s needs.

I think I may have shared with one of you the other night I read a little illustration this past week and it was an older sibling was known to read sit down and read stories to their to their younger little sibling and one day the older sibling got kind of tired of reading the stories to the younger one and he said well I’ve got a recording of a book that I’m gonna let you listen to today and the and the and the toddler stuck out it poked out his lips and said why and he says well why are you why are you upset I’ve got a book for you to listen to you listen to and he says yeah but that doesn’t have a lap it doesn’t have a lap and that required time of that child the older sibling to take the time to sit in my lap now Lucas is the same way daddy can we read a book and it’s getting kind of late tonight daddy can we can we read it just a little book just a short book so we have to read a book before we go to bed you know but love looks like telling children know when they really really really want to do something that they don’t know is gonna physically or spiritually or mentally harm them in some way we might have to say no even if it doesn’t look good on us at the moment and that goes for anybody.

You know if we tell the truth we must always tell it in love but we must tell the truth even if it’s not gonna make people just think we’re the greatest thing in the world at that moment we must speak the truth and we must speak it in love.

Love looks like taking the time to visit the fatherless in the widows in their affliction in their most difficult hour not just the fatherless and widows but those are prime examples, right? James tells us about anybody even though they may not be able to help you just like this man this man was left for dead he could not help there’s no way physically financial he had just been robbed there’s no way he could have helped the guy the Samaritan who stopped to help him but it wasn’t in the paper and it’s okay he helped him because he had compassion on him.

It looks like a son or a daughter caring for their parents when they are bedridden well up in age needing to be transported to doctors visits are unable to do so for themselves Galatians Paul tells us they’re to bear one and others burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Bear one another’s burdens, that’s the fulfilling of the law of Christ why because it’s loving your neighbor as yourself it is the fulfilling is this is on this hang all the law and the prophets: love your neighbor.

Love will require effort; it requires sacrifice; it requires giving up time and energy. They give giving up of some possessions. Perhaps Paul… we see with Paul with Onesimus we see the forgiving of death there of this runaway slave, we see the good Samaritan here. We also see that in this example with John and Peter and Philip in Samaria that the idea of loving by jumping in and helping someone else actually to complete a job. We have to love taking time to intercede for others in prayer. Praying for one another praying takes time doesn’t it? This is… it’s something that we have to do even in the privacy of our own our own prayer time to keep remembering, having a prayer list, and praying for people who’ve asked for us to pray for them. It takes a sacrifice on our part but we but this… isn’t this is an act of love?

Love is a decision. As I’ve been reminded numerous times recently: it’s a choice. Love comes with emotions, and we get you know there’s times where love brings (how can we say it) the butterflies along. If you love your spouse, you know you get those butterflies at times; but that’s not all that love is.

Love someone said, love at first sight, is not that incredible; but love after you… if you keep looking at how did it go, if you keep well, if you’re still looking at each other after many years, that’s a miracle because you’ve seen all the ups and the downs the highs and the lows but you still love each other; because that requires give and take. It requires sacrifice on both parts.

It takes God’s love for us as brothers and sisters in Christ, through the various different ups and downs and trials of life, to be what we ought to be one to another. By this shall all men know that you’re my disciples by the love you have one to another. At Christ Fellowship Church we want the love of God to be seen in our midst, and even in our actions for those that we come across in our daily lives. Only God’s love; and his the church must be built on truth, absolutely true pure doctrine, and it must be in the love of Christ that that church is built on that foundation of the truth of the doctrine of the apostles.

Only as his love fills our hearts will we be able to love each other as we ought to love: only will we truly treat our neighbor in a neighborly way. And so thank God for this example that we have here this morning in the good Samaritan, because he was willing to lay down his time and his his resources to be able to help someone else. Let’s pray.

Father, help us in our own lives. We pray for the Holy Spirit to come and finger around in our hearts and show us areas where perhaps we’ve not been very loving. Perhaps we’ve been impatient, we’ve been unkind, we’ve been selfish, we’ve been less than loving, Lord, and in our relationships to each other, relationships to those that we know on the job or in our neighborhood. Lord, wherever it may be in life that we come across people, we certainly don’t want to become jaded in these times in which we’re living because there are so many hearts that are jaded. Lord, help us to be filled with your love and to show that to one another. we pray now these things and ask them in Jesus name. Amen.