1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:04,120 Welcome to the Islands Christian Church podcast. 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:06,760 Subscribe to hear a new episode every week. 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,480 Thanks for joining us. All right, so today we are 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,840 beginning a brand new series called Next door. 5 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,240 And so if you have your Bibles, you can head over to Luke 6 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:18,800 chapter 10 and just hold that for a second. 7 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,320 And we're going to get that to that text in a moment. 8 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:23,560 We have a another text to look at before we get there. 9 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,560 But this is what we're doing in this series called next door is 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,520 we're, we were looking at this idea of loving our neighbors. 11 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:36,800 We live in a world that is we we live in a world that is 12 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,560 connected, more connected than it's ever never has ever has 13 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,120 been. Think about this on your phone. 14 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:44,240 I texted a buddy of mine the other day and I was thinking 15 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,680 about this in Alaska. I texted my friend in Alaska and 16 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,480 we're we had a conversation back and forth and I was like, what 17 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:52,880 time is it there? And he's like, oh, it's, you 18 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,520 know, 3:30. And it was like, you know, 730 19 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:57,080 here. And, you know, it was like, this 20 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,920 is crazy that I'm talking to a guy in Alaska. 21 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,920 You go back 50 years, you know, 75 years to talk to somebody in 22 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:05,720 Alaska. Like, yeah, you might could call 23 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,680 them, but it was going to be very expensive and it was going 24 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:08,720 to take a while to get him on the phone. 25 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,720 And you had to plan that you sent him a letter. 26 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,320 Hey, can we get on the call on Thursday, October the 12th, you 27 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:16,240 know, at 4:00 in the afternoon. And like you, it was a lot. 28 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:19,000 I'm just randomly, I got a question for him in Alaska. 29 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,120 Just text him. You know, we live in a world 30 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,920 that is more connected than it ever has been in the history. 31 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:28,520 But at the same time, at the same time, we feel more divided 32 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:30,920 than ever. I mean, if you watch the news, 33 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,880 if you watch social media, what you hear oftentimes is we are so 34 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,440 divided as a nation. We're so divided as a people. 35 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,560 And so yet we're all so connected and yet we're all so 36 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:45,400 divided at the same time. Now this next door series that 37 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,840 we're going to be doing is about discovering what Jesus called 38 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,600 one of the greatest commandments, the second of the 39 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:53,880 two greatest commandments to love our neighbor. 40 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,320 So next door you have a everybody say neighbor neighbor 41 00:01:57,640 --> 00:01:59,760 and the Bible says cause us to love our neighbor, not 42 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,600 literally, not only literally our next door neighbor, but our 43 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:05,920 neighbor. The idea of neighbor is defined 44 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,000 more broadly as we're going to see today. 45 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,440 And in this series, through this series, we're going to explore 46 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,160 following Jesus and we're going to explore how following Jesus 47 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,600 transforms the way we see the people around us, the people 48 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,240 across the street, the people across the table, and the people 49 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,520 across every dividing line you can think of right now, every 50 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,560 dividing line you can think of. How do we see them? 51 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,040 How do we interact with them? Loving our neighbor isn't just 52 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:34,880 about being nice. And this is kind of what happens 53 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:36,760 to Christianity. Oh, you need to love people. 54 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,160 That just kind of means be nice and be kind. 55 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,080 And it's, it's, it's not just about being nice. 56 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,320 It's actually about reflecting the heart of Christ to everyone 57 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,760 you encounter. It's about reflecting the heart 58 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:53,280 of Christ to all people, no matter what, and how different 59 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:55,080 you may be from them. And that's different than just 60 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,240 being nice. And I, I know we kind of like 61 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,160 the idea of loving our neighbor as just being nice because 62 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,880 everybody, you know, you, everybody can just be nice. 63 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,640 But Love Actually sometimes is going to move beyond just being 64 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:09,600 nice. And the reflecting the heart of 65 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:11,760 Christ is going to look different than just being nice. 66 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,200 And we're going to talk about that today at the end of our 67 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,400 talk. So a common question in Jesus's 68 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,920 day was this question, what is the greatest commandment? 69 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,080 What is the greatest commandment? 70 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:25,600 In other words, what really matters most? 71 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,120 What is essential to being one of Jesus's followers? 72 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:33,480 Now we know that Jesus was asked this question often and we know 73 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,480 how he answered it. So we're going to start in Mark 74 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,000 chapter 12, verse 28 through 31. And I'm going to read this to 75 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,000 you very quickly to hear how Jesus answered the question. 76 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,680 What is most important? Mark chapter 12, verse 28, one 77 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,160 of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating, 78 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:51,160 noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, He asked him 79 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,240 of all the commandments, which is the most important? 80 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,480 So they're in a debate back and forth and this, this teacher of 81 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,000 the law, this lawyer says, hey Jesus, what's the most important 82 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,480 commandment? Verse 29, the most important one 83 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:06,280 answer, Jesus is this hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the 84 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,040 Lord is 1 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all 85 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,600 your soul, and with all your mind with all your strength. 86 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:16,320 The second is this colon. Love your neighbor as yourself. 87 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,760 There is no commandment greater than these. 88 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:21,120 And so here we are. Jesus says, hey, this is 89 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,400 essential. Love God fully and completely 90 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,880 and love people faithfully. Love God fully and completely 91 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,480 and love people faithfully. Followers of Jesus are meant to 92 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,640 live in a loving relationship with their heavenly Father and 93 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,720 at the same time to faithfully express that that love they 94 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:41,920 receive from God toward others. This is a both and situation. 95 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,320 Let's be honest, most of us do pretty well at the loving God 96 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:49,480 part, Amen? Like we can, we can sing, we can 97 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,240 worship, we can read our Bible, we can sit and pray, we can talk 98 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,880 about God. But the loving people part, it 99 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,080 could be a little harder, right? It can be a little tougher. 100 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,320 Let's be frank. It's easier to love people who 101 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:07,160 look like us, think like us, talk like us, share our values. 102 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,280 It gets harder when a neighbor includes people who we disagree 103 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:15,880 with, people who frustrate us, or people who have hurt us. 104 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:19,440 Let's be straight with each other. 105 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:27,160 Sometimes our version of love for people that aren't like us 106 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,120 is not really love. It's just a polite tolerance. 107 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:38,600 It's just a polite tolerance, and it's not a genuine 108 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,000 compassion for them. But what we're going to see 109 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,200 today is that Jesus defines neighbor in a much broader way. 110 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,400 He defines neighbor in a way that stretches us past our 111 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,640 comfort zone from just tolerating people that aren't 112 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,960 like us and holding the door for them, to actually showing them 113 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:02,480 compassion and loving them. He broadens that idea in Luke 114 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,520 chapter 10, a religious expert. Now you got to understand this. 115 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,480 A religious expert would have been someone who understood the 116 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,480 law backwards and forwards, who forwards, who had it memorized, 117 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,160 who knew everything there is to know about it. 118 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,120 So this is not just some random YouTube guy who watches a lot of 119 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:18,480 YouTube and has a lot of information. 120 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,920 This is somebody who's learned and studied and smart and 121 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,160 intelligent. This expert in the law. 122 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,560 He's coming to Jesus and he's trying to Make Love manageable. 123 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,000 That's important that you got to understand that this guy's 124 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,520 coming to Make Love. Hey, I know I got to love 125 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:35,160 people. I know loving neighbors is part 126 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,840 of it, but I want to make it manageable. 127 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,880 And he asks a question of Jesus, and here's the question that 128 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,520 he's going to ask. He's asking a question, who is 129 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:46,840 my neighbor? And what he's trying to do is 130 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:49,240 Make Love manageable. So if you take that, if you take 131 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,520 notes, that's what the expert in the law is trying to do. 132 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,560 He's trying to Make Love manageable where he can manage 133 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:56,160 it, where it's easier for him to do. 134 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:58,960 Who exactly is my neighbor is this question? 135 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,560 So let's look at verses 25 through 29 of Luke chapter 10 136 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,120 and see what it says. On one occasion an expert in the 137 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,600 law stood up to test Jesus teacher. 138 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,320 He asked what must I do to inherit eternal life? 139 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:16,320 What is written in the law? Jesus replied, how do you read 140 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,560 it? So so stop here for a second. 141 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,800 An expert in the law comes to Jesus and he says, hey, 142 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,240 basically what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? 143 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:27,520 What do I need to do to live forever to be right with God for 144 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,480 all the eternity? And the Jesus responds with a 145 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:33,080 question. So he asks a question. 146 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,600 Jesus responds with a question and what was Jesus question? 147 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:37,240 He says, what is written in the law? 148 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,480 Now he's, he's asking a guy who's an expert in the law, what 149 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:42,840 is written in the law? How do you read it? 150 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,160 And So what he's saying is like, you already know this, you're 151 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:47,560 already an expert. You already have the 152 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,240 information. So I'm just, I'm going to put 153 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,360 this back on to you. What does the word say? 154 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:54,120 What does God's word say? You're an expert. 155 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:56,680 Tell us what it says. And then the expert in the law 156 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,960 answers verse 27. He answered, love the Lord your 157 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:02,000 God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your 158 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,280 strength and all the all your mind and to love your neighbor 159 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,040 as yourself. Now how did he know that? 160 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,600 Well, this is ancient. This goes back to the very 161 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,560 beginning of God's word. This is Old Testament. 162 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,880 This is this is the this is the the foundation of God's teaching 163 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,720 to his people. So for thousands of years, the 164 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,120 Jewish people have had this command to love God and to love 165 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:25,760 neighbor. So Jesus sit and come on the 166 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:27,880 scene and invent that he didn't create that. 167 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:29,920 This is something this guy would have known because he's an 168 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,880 expert in the law. This is thousands of years old. 169 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:36,320 So he says to Jesus, oh, I know what the law says. 170 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,400 It says to love God and to love your neighbor. 171 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,360 And then Jesus says in verse 28, well, you've you've answered 172 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,240 correctly. Jesus replied, do this and you 173 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,200 will live. Jesus is like you asked and you 174 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,760 answered your own question. You already knew the answer 175 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:56,560 should be the end of the conversation, right? 176 00:08:57,600 --> 00:08:59,840 Should be over. But but Luke gives us a little 177 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:01,440 hint into what's about to happen. 178 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:06,160 Luke says in verse 29, But he wanted to justify himself. 179 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:09,880 Who's he the expert in the law? But he, the expert in the law, 180 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,760 wanted to justify himself. So he, the expert in the law, 181 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:17,400 asked Jesus a gotcha question. Y'all know what a gotcha 182 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:19,840 question is, right? Y'all know what a gotcha 183 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:21,720 question is? It's like I'm going to ask a 184 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,040 question that's put you on the spot. 185 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,840 It's a question that's just going to be hard for you to 186 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:26,400 answer. It's going to show your 187 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:27,840 weakness. It's going to put you in the 188 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:29,880 corner and the whole lights going to be on you for a moment. 189 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,640 And he says, I got I got a question. 190 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:36,040 And what is his motivation? His motivation is to justify 191 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:40,160 himself. So he asked Jesus, well, and who 192 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:45,760 is my neighbor? Define who my neighbor is Jesus. 193 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:48,960 Let's define our terms and here's the first idea. 194 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:50,760 If you're a note taker, I want you to write down this morning. 195 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:56,960 We like the expert in the law, want to limit our love or limit 196 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,120 who's our neighbor. We like the expert in the law 197 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,200 want to limit our love or we want to limit who's our 198 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,080 neighbor. See in verse 29, when this 199 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,640 expert in the law asked and who's my neighbor? 200 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:10,960 He wasn't asking. He wasn't. 201 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,760 That's fun. Are you telling me guys to stop? 202 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,240 Hey, look at some time, guys, man, that was strange. 203 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,440 So he isn't asking this. This expert in law isn't asking 204 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:27,040 because he wants to learn, right? 205 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:32,320 He isn't he isn't saying, hey, I, I really want to understand 206 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:33,960 this more. Help me Jesus with this. 207 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,400 That's not what's going. This is not in good faith, all 208 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,440 right? He's not in good faith at all. 209 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,760 He's asking because he wants to draw lines around who he's 210 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,240 supposed to love. He wants to draw boundaries. 211 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,960 And this is important. He wants to create walls for who 212 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,320 his neighbor is so he can limit who he has to love. 213 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:53,720 The this was a common question in Jesus's day, right? 214 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,320 This was, this was not new for Jesus. 215 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,560 In other words, this would this would be like, you know, this 216 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,960 was a common debate. This would be like how in our 217 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,440 culture we debate exactly how you should read the Second 218 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:05,800 Amendment or the 10th Amendment. And people argue about this kind 219 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:08,360 of stuff in legal terms. You know, legal minds get 220 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,440 together and they argue about these things all the time. 221 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,920 The 1st Amendment, this was a common legal debate. 222 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,640 This was not new. And so Jesus knew his tactic. 223 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:17,880 He knew what he was trying to do. 224 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,320 He knew that he was actually just trying to draw boundaries 225 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:21,880 around who he who he had to love. 226 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,040 And the Jewish people who had long been commanded to love 227 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:29,160 their neighbor, they had over the time narrowed that command 228 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:31,240 down. So that neighbor was simply 229 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:35,160 defined as people like themselves, people who shared 230 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,440 their faith, people who shared their race, people who shared 231 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,000 their values. In other words, they over the 232 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,120 centuries had said, well, I know God told us to love our 233 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:44,920 neighbors, but he didn't exactly say who our neighbors were. 234 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:47,080 And so we're going to, we're going to decide who our 235 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,600 neighbors are and they're going to be other Jews, people who 236 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:51,600 share our race, people who share our values. 237 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,800 And the group that that Jews most excluded from loving their 238 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:58,520 neighbor was literally some neighbors to the north of them, 239 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:02,480 literally some neighbors. And that group of people was 240 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:06,480 called the Samaritans. And the Jewish people decided 241 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,720 that the Samaritans were impure and they were less than human. 242 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,640 And the last thing they were with neighbors. 243 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:15,560 And so then they were not worthy of love. 244 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:20,680 They they couldn't be loved. And so when the man asked Jesus, 245 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,600 who is my neighbor, what he's really asking is this, who do I 246 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,480 have permission to not love? I need permission. 247 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,960 Give me some permission who I can, I don't, who I don't have 248 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,880 to love. And if we're honest, we ask the 249 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:40,320 same question today. Jesus said in another place in 250 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:45,040 Luke chapter 6 verse 32, he says, if you love those who love 251 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:49,640 you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love 252 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,840 them. In other words, if we make the 253 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,080 boundary, well, I'll love people who are good to me or people who 254 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,120 love me if I, if I, if I make that my boundary, Jesus says, So 255 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:01,800 what? Who cares? 256 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,240 Sinners, even sinners, love those who love them. 257 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:09,160 And now, if we're all honest, it's just human nature to want 258 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,920 to limit love, to decide who's in and who's out. 259 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:13,600 But Jesus doesn't let us do that. 260 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,760 And the gospel won't let us draw lines around our compassion in 261 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:22,960 God's Kingdom. Nobody's off the neighbor to 262 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,320 love list. Nobody's scratched off. 263 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:28,840 Nobody's moved off the list now. So the guy asked a question. 264 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,520 It's a gotcha question. Who is my neighbor? 265 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:34,600 Jesus? Who exactly is my neighbor? 266 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:38,600 Walk me through this, Jesus. Now I want you to look Jesus, I 267 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:40,720 always say this is funny. The guy asked a question, who is 268 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:42,360 my neighbor? And Jesus doesn't respond with 269 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:45,360 an answer. He responds with a, a story, a 270 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,200 long story, a drawn out story. You know, it's like the guy's 271 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,480 like, OK, I guess I'll sit down. I mean, guys gonna tell this 272 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:52,880 long story. I mean, what am I doing? 273 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,840 Asking questions? So this so Jesus answers the and 274 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:57,360 I want you to listen Now think about the question. 275 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:58,880 The question is, who is my neighbor? 276 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:01,320 OK, who is my neighbor? That's the question. 277 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,600 And I want you to listen to the story and, and think about that 278 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:06,000 question as you're listening to the story. 279 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,120 Here's Jesus story. Some of you are new to the 280 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:09,520 Bible, never been around the Bible before. 281 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,120 It's gonna be the first time you've ever heard this story. 282 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:15,480 It's a great story. Verse 30, Luke chapter 10 in 283 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,240 reply Jesus said a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho 284 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,640 when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his 285 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,160 clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 286 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,080 A priest happened to be going down the same road and when he 287 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,280 saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 288 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,640 So to a Levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on 289 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,360 the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, 290 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,000 came where the man was, and when he saw, and when he saw him, he 291 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,000 took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his 292 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,440 wounds, pouring oil on him and wine. 293 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,480 Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn 294 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,160 and took care of him. The next day he took out two 295 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:54,720 dinero and gave them to the innkeeper. 296 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,920 Look after him, he said, and when I return I will reimburse 297 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,320 you for any extra expense you may have. 298 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:02,920 And here's the second idea I want you to write down. 299 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,840 Jesus expands the definition of neighbor. 300 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,240 Jesus expands the definition of neighbor. 301 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,920 So if the religious expert was trying to limit the definition 302 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,080 of neighbor, draw boundaries around who we could love and who 303 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,840 we should love, Jesus expands the definition. 304 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:20,840 So think about this, the expert in the law is trying to limit 305 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:22,360 the law. He's trying to constrain the 306 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,400 law, and Jesus is expanding the law. 307 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,000 And this is a mark of Jesus's ministry every time he opens his 308 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,920 mouth, right? Because the Jewish people are 309 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,760 always trying to limit what the law actually applies to and how 310 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:34,440 much the law actually applies to their life. 311 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,440 And Jesus is going, no, it's way deeper, way bigger than you 312 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:39,040 thought. It's a heart issue. 313 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:40,880 It's way larger. And that's what he's doing in 314 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,960 this situation. So he's expanding the definition 315 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,520 of neighbor. The religious leader wanted to 316 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,960 know who he could limit, who was worthy of his love. 317 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,680 But Jesus takes the story, and he broadens the definition of 318 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,520 neighbor. Now remember, the Jewish people 319 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,880 of Jesus's day saw the Samaritans as less than human, 320 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,120 lower than animals, And for centuries they had known that 321 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:05,760 their command was to love your neighbor. 322 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,960 But they never believed it applied to the Samaritans. 323 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:13,320 So when Jesus tells a story, he makes the Samaritan man the hero 324 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,440 on purpose. He makes the Samaritan man the 325 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:17,880 rescuer on purpose. In other words, Jesus is talking 326 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:22,800 to a collection of religious Jewish experts, and he who hates 327 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:25,080 Samaritans, who don't believe Samaritans are neighbors, who 328 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,520 don't believe Samaritans are people worthy of love. 329 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,920 And he tells the story and he makes the hero of the story 330 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,160 their enemy. Here's the hero. 331 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,560 The Samaritan is the hero. And he does that on purpose. 332 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,320 Now, here's a way. Here's the way I read the story. 333 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,440 You know, you've probably heard sermons on this story a million 334 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:48,720 times, and I don't know if you've ever heard this before, 335 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:49,960 but this is how I read the story. 336 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:53,040 Jesus is, there's two things going on. 337 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:57,240 I think Jesus is telling the story, number one, in a way for 338 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,680 us and the original hearers to assume that the traveler is 339 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,720 Jewish, OK, that he wants them to assume that the traveler is 340 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,680 Jewish, hence the Samaritans helping a Jewish person. 341 00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:09,520 But I think it actually goes deeper than that. 342 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,040 I think Jesus is telling a story, the story in such a way 343 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,520 that he actually wants the expert in the law, that it's 344 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:20,040 asking the question to see himself as the broken traveler. 345 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,200 He wants the expert in the law to see himself as the broken 346 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,640 traveler. Now this is important for how I 347 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,600 what I think, how I think Jesus is answering the question. 348 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,320 Remember, the question is, who is my neighbor? 349 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:35,360 I think he wants the expert in the law to see that he's the one 350 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,080 who's been broke down, who's been beat up, who's been left 351 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,000 for dead. So it's kind of like Jesus is 352 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:41,400 saying this even though he didn't. 353 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:43,080 It's like he's saying this in the story. 354 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:48,600 Imagine you expert in the law. Imagine you were going down the 355 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,360 bloody path. That's what that road is called, 356 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:52,160 by the way. Imagine you were going down the 357 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,680 bloody paths and you were beaten and you were robbed and you were 358 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:57,880 left for dead. It's almost as if he wants the 359 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:03,200 religious expert to see himself as the one who is beat up and 360 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:08,480 left for dead, in need of mercy. And then the priest comes by and 361 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,200 the Levite comes by. These are your people, religious 362 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:13,720 expert. These are the people you 363 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:15,520 respect. These are the people you admire. 364 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,720 These are the people that you love. 365 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:19,080 These are people that are in your circle. 366 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,520 They're in your boundary. But they don't stop for you. 367 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:24,200 The ones that you thought would love you. 368 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,400 The ones who thought you thought would would help you. 369 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,960 They walk right by you. And then comes along someone you 370 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,720 least expected, religious expert, bleeding, left for dead 371 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,320 on the side of the road. A Samaritan comes by, the one 372 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,280 you least expected, a man who was outside of your circle, 373 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,800 outside of your boundary. He sees you. 374 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:45,600 Now listen to this religious expert. 375 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,200 He sees you and he feels compassion for you. 376 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,120 And he risk his own safety by stopping on the bloody path. 377 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,800 He himself could have been robbed and beat up, but he risk 378 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,480 his own safety. He uses his own resources and he 379 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,200 pays for your recovery. Imagine this. 380 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:03,080 You, the expert in the law, the the very person you consider an 381 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,040 enemy, is the one who comes and saves your life. 382 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,320 I think that's how Jesus is telling the story. 383 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,640 I think he wants the religious expert to see that he's the one 384 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,840 in need and that it's his enemy, the one he hates that comes to 385 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,200 help him. The one he's divided with. 386 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,960 You see, the Samaritan chose to love the one who hated him. 387 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,160 The Samaritan chose to love the one who hated him. 388 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,040 He crossed the line. He took the risk and showed 389 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,240 mercy in doing so. Jesus completely defines what 390 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,880 neighbor means. He completely redefines what 391 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,400 neighbor means. He blurs the line between enemy 392 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,280 and neighbors for everyone who follows him. 393 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:50,800 In other words, when Jesus tells the story the way he does, he's 394 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:54,000 taken the boundaries that the religious expert has set up and 395 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,560 he's demolishing them, and he's going to circle that you're 396 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,760 called to love, that you're called to treat as a neighbor as 397 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,960 much bigger than you thought it was, and you'd call him an 398 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:06,840 enemy, but he actually showed you mercy. 399 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:12,600 He blurs the line between enemy and neighbor for all of us. 400 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,200 Enemy. Think about the word enemy and 401 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:18,280 think about the idea that you being a Christian and you have 402 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,840 an enemy. People that you dislike or 403 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:22,600 despise or people you can't get along with. 404 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,360 Whatever however you think of your enemy. 405 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,720 And listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 43 and 406 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:30,880 45. He says you have heard that it 407 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,320 was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 408 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,640 But I tell you, love your enemies hard. 409 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,680 Stop. That should be enough to stop a 410 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,240 sermon right there, right? But I tell you, love your 411 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:51,080 enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be 412 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:52,600 children of your Father in heaven. 413 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:54,880 Now that's an important clause, and I wish I could preach a 414 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,200 whole sermon on that. Hey, love your enemies. 415 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,760 Pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your 416 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,560 Father in heaven. In other words, loving those who 417 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,120 are not loving to you is an indication that you are actually 418 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:08,720 a child of God. How so? 419 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:10,560 How so? Well, listen to what the rest of 420 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,240 the text says. He causes God the Father, causes 421 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:18,400 his Son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the 422 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,960 righteous and the unrighteous. Now here's a whole, oh, another 423 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,760 thing, but Jesus, Jesus is saying, hey, there is a such 424 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,960 thing as evil. Like Jesus doesn't tell us like 425 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,040 the Gospel doesn't tell us like go around and treat like there's 426 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:31,680 like, treat people like there's no such thing as evil and walk 427 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:33,040 in the world like there's no such thing as evil. 428 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:34,600 No, that's not what the Gospel says. 429 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:36,920 That's not what the Bible says. And I know that's kind of what 430 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,240 everybody, you know, wants Christianity to be. 431 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,640 Just be kind, just be nice. Don't call out evil. 432 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,880 But Jesus is saying, look, there is evil, but we're called to 433 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:55,920 love those who do evil. Now that, wow, that's tough. 434 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:00,040 It's like, man, can I just love people who maybe I don't agree 435 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,720 with on politics a little bit? Now I can do that part. 436 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,360 But you're telling me to love enemies and to love people who 437 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:14,080 do evil. Man, the weight of the gospel is 438 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,720 no joke, right? So Jesus broadens the definition 439 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,960 of neighbor beyond just the the circle that we want to have, the 440 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,680 people that share our values, look like us, think like us. 441 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:29,600 But there's something else he does with this story. 442 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:32,520 See, as he's broadening the definition of neighbor, hey, it 443 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:34,400 includes people that you would call an enemy. 444 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,360 It includes people that you don't see the world the same 445 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:39,480 way, people that that you view things differently. 446 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,480 But he also provides for us in the way he tells a story, how to 447 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,160 determine who our neighbor is, how to determine who our 448 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,600 neighbor is. And that's the third idea this 449 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:50,800 morning. Write notes. 450 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:51,880 You take notes. Write this down. 451 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:55,880 Answering the question, who is my neighbor? 452 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,400 Answering the question, who is my neighbor? 453 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:01,840 If you notice, Jesus tells a story. 454 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,000 The man's question was, who is my neighbor? 455 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:09,400 And then Jesus tells a story in such a way that the Samaritan is 456 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:16,120 a neighbor to him, you know, but Samaritan is a neighbor to the 457 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,320 beaten up Jewish man on the side of the road. 458 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:23,680 But he never actually tells the expert in the law, hey, this is 459 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:24,960 how you determine who your neighbor is. 460 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,600 He doesn't say it directly, but he says it indirectly. 461 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,760 Let's read the next two verses and then I'll tell you what I 462 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:35,040 mean. Jesus says, which of these three 463 00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:37,560 do you think was a neighbor To the man who fell into the hands 464 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,280 of robbers? The expert in the law replied, 465 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,240 the one who had mercy on him, Jesus told him go and do 466 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:44,800 likewise. So here we are. 467 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:50,120 So which one was a neighbor? Who was a neighbor? 468 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,960 The Samaritan was a neighbor. OK, well, the question was who 469 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,920 is my neighbor? That's the question. 470 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,320 Who is my neighbor? How do I determine what who my 471 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,520 neighbor is? The the question wasn't how do I 472 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,560 act like a neighbor or how can I find out? 473 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,560 You know who is, you know who's treating me like a neighbor? 474 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:09,000 Like, like he? The question is who is my 475 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,200 neighbor? And he answers it, but he 476 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,640 doesn't answer it directly. He answers it in an indirect 477 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,840 kind of way that you got to you got to look for, you got to 478 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,720 think about. And this is what I think how I 479 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:26,200 read the story. Jesus flips the question. 480 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:30,360 He does not answer it directly. He flips the question, and this 481 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:31,960 is the clearest way I can say it. 482 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,400 If you write down stuff, your neighbor, who is my neighbor? 483 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,280 You ready? Your neighbor is anyone from 484 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,040 whom you'd be willing to receive mercy. 485 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:48,960 Your neighbor is anyone from whom you'd be willing to receive 486 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:53,560 mercy. So who was the neighbor to the 487 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,200 man beat down in this scenario? The Samaritan. 488 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,280 So here's what most people do when they read the story of the 489 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,440 Good Samaritan. They instinctively cast 490 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,960 themselves as the what? The Samaritan. 491 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,800 Nobody ever reads the story and casts themselves as the beat up 492 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:10,800 Jew man, Jewish man on the side of the road. 493 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,440 Nobody ever does that. We all cast ourselves as the 494 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,800 what the hero. And we'd say things like this. 495 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,560 Of course I help people. I'm there for people. 496 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:22,880 I'm a good neighbor to people. Right? 497 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:24,720 This come on. Like if you grew up in church, 498 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,440 you know, every time you heard this story, it was taught like 499 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:28,680 go out there and be a good neighbor and help people who are 500 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,200 in need and and do and, you know, and like we all walk out 501 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,960 going, yeah, I need to go and be a good neighbor. 502 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:34,680 And that's not particularly wrong. 503 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:38,600 But we always cast ourselves as the good person, as the 504 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,200 Samaritan. But Jesus story pushes you 505 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,960 deeper, friend. He wants us to imagine ourselves 506 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:53,920 not as the Samaritan, but as the wounded traveler, helpless, 507 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,680 desperate, bleeding out, dying on the side of the road. 508 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:05,480 And then as that desperate dying person ask this question, who 509 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:12,720 would I allow to help me? So imagine that right now you're 510 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,440 dead. You're near death, you're dying, 511 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,320 you're bleeding out, you've been beat up, you're left on some St. 512 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:22,840 some back alley. You're going to die. 513 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:29,240 If someone doesn't come along and rescue, who would you accept 514 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:35,320 help from? Anybody, anybody. 515 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:36,800 What if they vote differently than you? 516 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:44,400 Like, what if you're a hardcore on the left and some dude with a 517 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,120 MAGA hat shows up to help you in that moment? 518 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:48,480 What do you say? Let me die? 519 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,920 Or what if you're a hardcore, you know, MAGA Trumpster 520 00:26:56,200 --> 00:27:01,520 conservative and some Kamala wearing pin, you know, person 521 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:05,000 walks up, you know dudes for comma lost T-shirt on. 522 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:09,360 Hey man, I'll help you. No man, I just assumed I then 523 00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:13,560 received help from you. Who would you allow to give you 524 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,080 mercy? I mean what if what if their 525 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:18,840 lifestyle were different? What if their religion wasn't 526 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,640 like yours? And in that moment, who would 527 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:27,560 you say, you know what, I'd rather die than have help from 528 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:28,800 you. That that wouldn't happen. 529 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,840 Every one of us, if you were dying, you wouldn't care. 530 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,320 You simply want to live. And anybody that came along in 531 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,040 that moment said, hey, I will bandage you up and I will help 532 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,640 you and I will get you to care and I will make sure you live. 533 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,720 You will say to them, I accept, thank you for helping me. 534 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,520 And in that moment, that person is your neighbor. 535 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,320 And so how do I determine who my neighbor is? 536 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:56,160 Simple. Who would I accept mercy from if 537 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,920 I were near death? And that question, the answer to 538 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:03,040 that question is, as we all said, anyone. 539 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,640 That's that's the point of this story. 540 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:08,720 The point of this story is not moralism. 541 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,040 Go out there and hold doors for people and be loving. 542 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:14,400 Yes, that's true. But that's, I mean, this is an 543 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,440 amazing story. And the point of this story is 544 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,280 not just more moralism. The point of this story is to 545 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,000 know how to determine who your neighbor is. 546 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:23,000 And how you determine who your neighbor is, is who you would 547 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,840 receive mercy from if you were near death. 548 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,960 And so, yes, loving our neighbors about showing mercy to 549 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,880 those in need. But I'm telling you, the way to 550 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,040 determine who your neighbors are and who you're called to love is 551 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:39,960 if you were in need of rescue, who'd you receive it from? 552 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,720 Now, I want to be clear as I wrap up, I'm going to be super 553 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,200 clear today because when you talk about love, it's like, 554 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:48,480 yeah, we need to go out and love people. 555 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,200 Loving our neighbor does not does not mean that we ignore 556 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,520 truth as we read it in the Scriptures. 557 00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,360 It does not mean that we ignore differences. 558 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:01,960 It does not mean that differences don't matter. 559 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,400 It's not like you know what Christians are called to love 560 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,600 and you know, differences just don't matter. 561 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,720 No, Jesus didn't live that way. He didn't teach that way. 562 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:14,640 He didn't didn't lead that way. This is this is difficult and 563 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:16,600 it's really hard for our culture right now. 564 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:21,280 We can love people deeply and still disagree with them 565 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:27,160 honestly. The cross shows us that. 566 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:31,080 The cross of Jesus Christ shows us that the greatest act of love 567 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,160 and the greatest confrontation with sin at the at the exact 568 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,320 same time. In other words, Jesus confronted 569 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,920 my sin on the cross and he gave me his love at the same time. 570 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,600 When Jesus died for me, he said, Stephen, you're a Sinner and you 571 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,920 need me to die for you, but I love you and I'm willing to do 572 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,920 that. You see, this is something 573 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:51,480 that's unique about Christianity. 574 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:56,800 We can disagree with our neighbors that we love, but as 575 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:01,280 believers, we must never be disagreeable or cruel or rude. 576 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:05,400 We are called by the Scriptures to engage with gentleness. 577 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,880 I mean, the Bible commands us to engage with gentleness, even 578 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,720 with people whom our world views clash with. 579 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,720 Class hard clash. Be gentle. 580 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,400 The Scriptures teach us. Here's what's happening in our 581 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,680 culture right now. Our current our current culture 582 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:28,040 is saying that any form of disagreement equals hate and 583 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:31,720 violence. Any form of disagreement equals 584 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:37,120 hate and violence. The followers of Jesus must not 585 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:41,320 fall into that trap. We can. 586 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,280 We can and should hold the conviction that we can tell the 587 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,400 truth the best we understand it. We can have conviction about the 588 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,440 truth the best we understand it, and we can be compassionate and 589 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,720 gentle at the same time that that is what love commands of 590 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,560 us. We can navigate the tension that 591 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,400 Jesus describes in Matthew chapter 10 verse 16. 592 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,760 Jesus said this, Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the 593 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:10,600 midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 594 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:17,880 We speak truth wisely and we love people greatly, deeply, and 595 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,000 most importantly, gently. We don't stop loving our 596 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,000 neighbors when it's difficult or when they reject us or disagree 597 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,600 with us. We love not because they accept 598 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:31,120 us or because they applaud us. The reality is, if you go and 599 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,560 read the rest of that Matthew 10 passage, you will see that they 600 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:38,680 will not oftentimes love us or applaud us, but we love our 601 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,120 neighbor. You ready? 602 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,960 Because we have been loved by God who rescued us through 603 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:51,040 Christ. We, you and I, were beaten, left 604 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:56,640 for dead on the side of the road, and Christ was the better 605 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:01,400 neighbor to us. Christ came and he rescued us. 606 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:04,080 He was a neighbor to you and he was a neighbor to me. 607 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:10,320 So we love our neighbors. We serve our neighbors, and we 608 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,520 tell our neighbors our best understanding of the truth from 609 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:15,480 God's Word. And I'm saying that very 610 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,760 carefully because I acknowledge that it is our best 611 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,920 understanding for most Christians and most history to 612 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,640 tell the truth about God's Word. We can do both of those things 613 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,240 at the same time. Is it harder? 614 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:29,760 Is it tricky? Yes. 615 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,080 Will it cost us? Most likely. 616 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:38,640 But even if it costs us, we will do it because that is who Jesus 617 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:42,760 is and that is who we are. So let's love without limits, 618 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:48,000 but never without truth. Let's love without limits, but 619 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,200 never without truth. Love without truth is 620 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,400 sentimentality. Anyway, it's not actually love. 621 00:32:56,360 --> 00:33:01,720 And that's how Jesus did it. Now, as you leave today, I'm 622 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:03,640 going to, you're going to be receiving some things at the 623 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,160 door. You're going to receive little 624 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,960 invite cards that look like this for you to invite your friends, 625 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:13,640 leave somewhere, leave on a table, get to know a server 626 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:14,600 somewhere. It'd be better to have a 627 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,880 conversation with them. But invite your friends, invite 628 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:18,840 somebody to church, invite cards. 629 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,720 And then you're also a little baggie on your way out. 630 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,080 You're going to get a sticker. If I like stickers, right? 631 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,640 You're going to get a sticker and a key chain. 632 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,920 And I just want you to know, thank you for those of you who 633 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,600 came this morning at 9:15. We want to be a place that 634 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:36,480 serves this community and loves this community. 635 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,600 And we're giving you these gifts on your way out because we want 636 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:40,840 you to be excited about our church. 637 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:42,600 We want you to be excited about what God is doing. 638 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:44,400 And I want you to tell you how you can help. 639 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,560 All right, number one, pray for the people that God might be 640 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,920 leading you to invite. In other words, just look in 641 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:52,920 your circle and be like, who's God leading me to invite to 642 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:54,440 church and invite them to church. 643 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,600 Hand out these cards this week at work, school, your favorite 644 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,880 coffee shop, doesn't matter. And then here's a big one that 645 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,960 helps a lot. If you're on social media, share 646 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:06,640 our posts. I know you think that doesn't 647 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,880 really matter a lot of what you see our posts and ignore them, 648 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,040 right? And not, no, it's OK, Don't do 649 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:11,840 that. Just share. 650 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,639 Just click on share, send them out. 651 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:16,760 It helps to for people to see and go, hey, maybe I should go 652 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,920 try out that church. I have people all the time that 653 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:20,679 come to our church for the first time because we're in just an 654 00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:24,360 amazing location. So just help, just help. 655 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,880 That's a simple way to help. So let's invite others to 656 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,760 experience community and connection because this is what 657 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:32,600 I believe. There's always room for more 658 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:34,520 here at islands. There's always room for more 659 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,679 people to discover who Jesus is. And I have one more surprise for 660 00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:40,080 you because I want to celebrate going back to two services. 661 00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:41,679 This is good. I kept this secret. 662 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,800 All right, on your way out. This is going to be pastries and 663 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:50,639 cookies and sweet stuff, guys. So on your way out, listen, you 664 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,360 have some sugar. Thank you for coming to the 915. 665 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,120 Have some sugar. Enjoy it. 666 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,680 And then maybe linger a little bit and some folks coming up 667 00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:59,600 from for the 11:00, you can chat with them. 668 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,840 Will you stand with me as I pray for us and we are dismissed. 669 00:35:10,550 --> 00:35:14,070 Father, thank you that we were broken and beat up and left for 670 00:35:14,070 --> 00:35:21,310 dead on the side of the road. And your son Jesus was our 671 00:35:21,310 --> 00:35:26,200 neighbor. He is our neighbor, and he came 672 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:32,080 and he bandaged us, and he poured oil on our wounds, and he 673 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:36,320 put us on his own donkey and he brought us home and he 674 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:41,080 sacrificed for us that our souls might be made well and we might 675 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:46,520 be united with him forever. And God, as we leave this place, 676 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:52,960 may we be people who love like Jesus, who love without limits, 677 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:59,840 but also love with truth. We love without limits, but we 678 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,560 love with truth. Lead us in that. 679 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,920 It's tricky. Help us to be as wise as 680 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,000 serpents and as innocent as doves. 681 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:12,480 It's a tough tension, Jesus, and we want to do it well. 682 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:15,400 Thank you for these pastries we're going to have and for the 683 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,120 volunteers who provided it. We just love being a part of a 684 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:19,960 church that celebrates everything we can. 685 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:22,760 In Christ's name we pray, Amen. Thank you friends. 686 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:23,960 Have a blessed week and a wonderful day. 687 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,240 We love you. If you enjoyed this episode, 688 00:36:27,240 --> 00:36:30,720 please like and subscribe so you hear a new episode every week. 689 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:35,160 You can also worship with us in person in Savannah, GA or watch 690 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:39,200 our live stream on Facebook and YouTube every Sunday at 9:15. 691 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:40,480 Have a great week.