MESSAGES
Jesus answering the question posed to Him by a lawyer, "Who is my neighbor?" answered by giving this parable in Luke 10:30-37, "Then Jesus said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, 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.
So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'
So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
Here was a certain man—who he was we don't know, who was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho when he comes along a bunch of thugs, gang-bangers, and terrorist who strip him, beat the tar out of him, knock him down, and leave him for dead.
On September 11 America was attacked by a bunch of Islamic thugs and terrorists, better known as "gutless cowards." These cowards hijacked two commercial airplanes and crashed them into the side of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Within less than two hours both buildings collapsed to the ground in a pile of twisted metal, ending the life of some 23 NYPD officers, 37 Port Authority officers, 350 firefighters of the FDNY, plus over 3500 innocent people who either worked at or were simply visiting the WTC.
As this horrific event took place God reminded me that no one is exempt from danger. Danger can meet us anywhere and anytime. It can meet us on the road to Jericho, in a pedestrian mall in Jerusalem, at the Twin Towers of New York, and even in the streets of our own hometown. Danger can come to us from across the street, and it can come to us from the other side of the globe.
Wherever mankind is there will always be danger. Why? Because Man is man's worst enemy. If anyone knows that, those of you in law enforcement and the fire service do.
In this story the man was physically beaten. However, many times we can be stripped, beaten and left for dead emotionally and mentally as well. The people of N.Y. City, the people of this nation, and many people of this world have been emotionally, mentally, and spiritually stripped, beaten and left for dead as they watched this gutless act take place, and learned the news of the loss of so many innocent lives.
This parable Jesus shares is not so much about, who is my neighbor, but rather, who am I a neighbor to? In other words, He shares with us how we're to treat our fellow man.
As this man lies half-dead on the ground, along comes a priest who sees him, and what does he do? He crosses the road and passes by on the other side. He turns his back on a person in need.
Here is a man, who in the eyes of people, is as close to God as one can probably be. This priest knows the Scripture, and he teaches others the Scripture. He just doesn't want to live the Scripture.
This priest should have been filled with sympathy and tenderness, and yet he was filled with emptiness. As Jesus Himself said, he might have looked good on the outside with his fancy robe, but on the inside he was filled with dead men's bones. This priest was as "spiritually rotten" as one could be.
Next comes a Levite, one who assisted the priest in his duties. This guy does a little more than the priest did. He comes upon the scene, he stops, and he looks down at the person in need. Taking a moment to investigate the situation, his response is no different from that of the priest. He also crosses the road and passes by on the other side.
Perhaps he thought to himself, "I'm just to busy and if I stay here too long I might get attacked myself and end up lying in the dirt next to this guy. Besides, he'll probably be dead in an hour or so. No reason to waste my time on a hopeless case."
What excuse do we come up with for not helping people in their time of need? Perhaps we're no less guilty than these two men, "I don't have time to talk to Joe. I need to finish that project at home. I promised my son I'd take him to a ballgame." Or perhaps we think to ourselves, "I'm afraid if I try to help Joe he won't appreciate my help. There are other people who can help Joe. And besides, Joe is a hopeless case." If that has been our attitude in the past, may it never be in the future.
Both the priest and the Levite knew the condition of this man lying on the ground. They just didn't care. They weren't willing to take the time to help and comfort this man in need.
They had no love or compassion for this man. Why? Because they had no love for God. Jesus said, "If you love Me, obey Me" (John 14:15), and the Apostle John said, "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17).
Had the Priest and Levite loved God they would have shown love to this man. Someone once said of these two men, "They were about as holy as they could conveniently be." Their life was too busy to help others.
Can you imagine yourself in need of medical attention and someone coming upon you, standing over you, looking down at you and saying to you, "You're a bloody mess! Let me help you. I'll go call the medics. Oh yea, here's a gospel tract. Be warmed and filled, and I'll be praying for you. Bye-Bye." All the while he leaves you lying there wounded and dying.
There were those in New York who appeared very busy, but in the end left the people lying there wounded and dying. Instead of passing out love to the people, they were passing out tracts. "Here read this! It'll help you get through this difficult time!" They were hoping a piece of paper would do what only a person can do, and that is to bring comfort to the people. They were engaging people with a piece of paper instead of with their heart. Personally speaking, I look at what they were doing as basically crossing the road and passing on the other side.
I want to be careful when I say that because I know that it's easy for us to condemn the attitude of the priest and Levite, and others like them, when in fact, the same situations exists today. Perhaps at times we've allowed the color of a man's skin, his social upbringing, his style of dress, or his position in life to affect the way we respond to him. Perhaps we've passed by people because they didn't meet our qualifications.
Each of these men in this story saw a wounded man lying on the ground. Each saw that he had been stripped, beaten and left for dead. But only one, a hated half-breed Samaritan, was a neighbor to the man and showed it through compassion. Verse 33 says, "He had compassion on him."
Throughout the gospels we read of Jesus, and how He was such a man of compassion. The word compassion can mean, the study of the visceral parts (guts). In other words, Jesus literally hurt in His gut for and with the people.
Just as the Lord always showed compassion for the people, so this man shows compassion for his fellow man. He hurt for this man, and was willing to get involved. He was willing to reach out and extend a helping hand. This man was doer of God's Word, not simply a talker. He demonstrated his love for God by showing love to God's people.
Notice that we don't read of this Samaritan speaking a word to the victim, though more than likely he did. We only read of him rolling up his sleeves, getting his hands dirty, and demonstrating what a true neighbor is.
This Samaritan is a great example of how we are to treat our neighbor, no matter how our neighbor might treat us. In the days of this story, the Jews considered their neighbor to be only those of their own race.
As for the gentiles, and particularly the half-breed Samaritan, they were considered unclean, and were looked at as dogs in the eyes of the Jew. All they were good for was to "fan the flames of hell," and anything beyond that wasn't worth their time.
We don't know who this wounded man was. He could very easily have been a Jew, and this Samaritan could very easily have said to him, "Why should I help you, a Jew. You hate me. I'm nothing but a dog to you. It's payback time!" Instead, he helps this man without asking any questions.
This Samaritan knew that a Jew with a broken leg felt as much pain as a gentile or Samaritan with a broken leg. It didn't matter who the man was. He wasn't going to ignore his needs. All he saw was a wounded man who was in need of help, and he did the best he could to help. He showed compassion to this man.
Jesus gives us the point of this story in verse 36 as he asked the lawyer, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" In other words, who was willing to respond to the aid of another person in need? The lawyer responded, "He who showed mercy to him" (vs. 37).
We're not to be like the priest and we're not to be like the Levite, passing by the wounded and leaving them to take care of themselves. We need to be willing, just like this Samaritan, to get in there with the wounded, to help clean up their wounds, and to change their bloody bandages if necessary.
We're never to turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to those who are in need. We need to help them deal with their heartache, fractured lives, insecurities, failures, and grief. We need to be men and women of compassion.
Just as Jesus told the lawyer to go and do likewise, so He says the same to you and I, "Go to the aid of your fellow man and do whatever you can to help him through his difficult times." We need to be men and women of compassion.
Since September 11 I have had the privilege of putting together two separate teams of people from our church to take back to New York, in order to minister to the people of New York City.
For both our teams, our goal was one. We were going in order to proclaim the love of God to the people of N.Y. by being a good neighbor and demonstrating Gods love to them in a tangible way. Jesus said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). We went to love them with the love of Jesus Christ.
Our objective, both times, was three-fold. We went to New York in order to help comfort those who mourn, to help heal the broken-hearted, and to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
We understood that as representatives and ambassadors for Jesus Christ, we were to do nothing less than what Christ Himself has done. We were there to be an extension of Christ's hands, feet, mouth and heart. We were there to be a good neighbor.
We wanted to give these people our ear to talk to, our shoulder to cry on, and our heart to break with their heart. We were there to, "rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). Believe me when I say we shed many tears.
We were there to let the people know that, though they are grieving deeply, there is a God in heaven who loves them; who is there for them; who feels their pain; who wants them to know He has a plan for their life; and who wants to have a personal relationship with them.
However, our main job was not to preach the gospel and to get people saved, but rather to live the gospel by modeling biblical truth by caring for the needy, and helping to heal the wounded.
Some people would say to those in New York and across America, "September 11 happened because America has turned her back on God; because America murders 1.5 million babies a year; because America has kicked God out of our schools and government; because America leads the world in pornography and violent crime. That's why all this happened."
To these people I lovingly but firmly would say, "Shut-up!" Since when was action replaced with information. Knowledge doesn't heal wounds, and facts don't heal a hurting soul.
Christ always reached out and touched people in a tangible way, and in the same way we want to show people our faith and concern by our works, not so much by our words. We want to be, like the Samaritan, doers of the word and not merely hearers and talkers.
I'm not saying that knowledge and biblical truth isn't important, but this can come after we show mercy and compassion toward the person. When the bottom drops out of the lives of people they don't want to listen to a sermon and they don't want to read a book. What they want is for someone to come along side them and help lessen their pain. They want an ear to talk to and a shoulder to cry on. They want a person who'll help them bind up their wounds. As its been said, "People don't care how much we know until they know how much we care."
As I stood for the first time at the WTC overlooking ground zero, and the absolute devastation of rubble and twisted metal, knowing that some 4000 people were buried under it all, my heart began to break. Very quickly God reminded me where the real devastation lies. It lies in the lives of the firefighters and police officers and ironworkers and heavy machinery operators who were on the rubble and in the rubble trying to recover the bodies of those who had been killed. It lies in the lives of the people on the subways, people on the streets, business owners, etc. It lies in the lives of the people of N.Y. City, as well as the people in our own city. It lies everywhere across this nation and around this world.
When our teams left for New York on October 7 and November 18, we knew that none of us would return home the same. Nor did we want to. This trip, not only for me personally, but for each team member, has been life changing.
God has taught me about being a better neighbor, and about being a more compassionate man. Have I learned it all? Not hardly. Do I have a long way to go? Absolutely. But He who has begun that good work in me will complete it.
As you may have noticed the title of this message is, "What The World Needs For Christmas", you're probably wondering to yourself, what kind of a Christmas story is this? It might not be about the "Christmas Story," but it certainly reveals one of the greatest gifts Christians throughout the world need to receive—a compassionate heart for our fellowman. God help each of us to have such a heart.
God bless you,
Pastor Steve |
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