March 12 | Pastor Jason Browning
Luke 10:25-28
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27He answered, “‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Love God with
Love other people the same way you love yourself.
How do you command love?
Luke 10:29
29But he wanted to justify himself,so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
It’s amazing what we do to try to justify ourselves before Jesus.
The whole point of Jesus coming to earth was that there wasn’t anything we can do to earn salvation or right standing with God.
Luke 10:30-31
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
- The pass of blood
Luke 10:32-37
32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii 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.’ 36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
The Samaritan steps over an incredible social boundary to meet the need of someone he doesn’t look like, associate with, understand, or agree with.
Three reasons Christians don’t help people in need:
- We only help when they are
- We don’t help because they
- We don’t help because we
- We only help when they are
Our serving and our giving, our loving our neighbor should be at a level that we experience some of their difficulty as our own.
One of the greatest temptations Metro Church faces is being so involved in the religious duties that we fail to give away ourselves.
Matthew 23:23
23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
Love your neighbor.
The person we most closely identify with is the guy who’s bleeding on the side of the road.
God, who had every reason to hate us and be our enemy wrapped himself in flesh, walked the most dangerous path to find us, saw us in our brokenness, took on the suffering we caused ourselves and used His own resources to save us.