“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Luke 10:25-37

As a congregation, we are asking this same question, “Just who is our neighbor?”  That is, just who specifically are we to focus our resources on in reaching with the gospel as we cannot possibly reach the entire city all at once.  

Now you are all aware that the Vision Team has been seeking God’s face for a fresh vision for our future.  A major component of a vision statement is identifying an organization’s core values.  That is, of all the many good values and ministry activity that we could embrace, what are the 6 to 8 areas that define who we are as a local congregation?  What do we value above all else?  What are the passions that we want to drive everything we do?

And like the expert in the law who asked this question in the parable, when the Vision Team asked Christ the question of just what should we value above all us, it is no surprise that collectively we heard the same answer:  "'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.'"

So based on this, let me present to you a draft statement of our driving passions and core values (see PP slide 1).

Now this parable of the Good Samaritan helps us to discover how to love God and love others well.  Even though this is a parable, it was based on a real situation that would have been recognizable and very believable to the original hearers.  

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho descends about 3,000 feet in about 17 miles.  It was very dangerous as robbers could easily hide along its steep, winding way.  Jericho was the home of many priests and Levites when they were off duty from serving in the temple.

However, what Jesus does in this parable, as he does in most of his parables, is that he introduces a shocking, biting, twist in the storyline that provokes the listeners to either repentance or rage.  

In this parable, Christ is confronting those who place religion over relationship, projects over people, status over service, image over involvement and legalism over love.  There are seven characters in this parable, and each character reveals something about what it takes to God and to love our neighbor well.  


I.  The Lifetime Learner

v. 25: On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.  "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

The man who came to Christ and asked the question that provoked the telling of this parable is described as “an expert in the law.”  In this passage, we are told straight out that his motivation was to trick or test Jesus.  Then later we are told that his intellectual questions were not motivated to discover truth, but to “justify” his own failures to love God and love his neighbor well.  

This is a common fault among educated Christians.  These are the ones who are trained beyond their obedience.  These are those who know far more about the Bible than they are actually putting into practice.  We use all manner of Bible study and seeming astute questioning that has the appearance of an authentic seeking after truth and a desire to know of God better.  When really so much of this pursuit is a way of justifying, avoiding, or covering over our lack of obedience in just entering into the mess of other’s lives to love them and pour grace.

Now there is nothing wrong with studying the Bible and being a thoughtful, educated Christian or with the pursuit of theological studies.  But one can do this solely from the head, which fosters a life of knowing a lot about God and the Bile and only leads to arrogance.  To love well we must pursue an experiential knowledge of God and the Word from the head and the heart, which fosters a life of passionate encounter with the person of God, and leads to a life of sacrificial love.   


II. The Loveless Legalist

v. 31: A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

“He passed by on the other side.”  When confronted with opportunities to love another in deep pain or serious struggle, there is something in us that wants to just “pass by on the other side.”  “The situation will require too much of me.”  “I’ve already given out my share of help today.”  “I’ve nothing left to give.”  “I won’t know what to say.”  There are all manner of reasons and excuses to pass by on the other side.  To love God and love our neighbor, we must always resist this fleshly urge towards self-protection and call on the Lord to empower us with super-natural agape love!  
 
For the priest in the parable, his reason was one of the most heinous because most likely it was for religious reasons he refused to love.  The man who was brutally victimized was left for dead and no doubt looked dead to the priest.  Their religious law forbade Jewish priest to come into contact with a dead body.  Over and over again in the New Testament, Jesus confronted the religious leaders for allowing legalism to keep them from loving.  This was the gang that was so cold and rigid they could not celebrate the healing of a woman who had been made crippled by a spirit for more than 18 years because Christ had healed her on the Sabbath!

Legalism always quenches love!  Now before we project too much judgment on the priests, we had better hold this mirror of God’s Word up to our selves!  What manner of legalism do we engage in that keeps us from loving others who are in great need, deep hurt, or serious struggle?

 - Perhaps we’re too busy maintaining church ministries that serve our own needs to engage in ministry to the spiritually lost?
 - Perhaps we are too rigid in our forms of worship that makes us hesitant to offer avenues of worship that are more inviting to the unchurched?
 - Perhaps we unconsciously create an atmosphere when we gather for worship, teaching, or even fellowship that you had better look and act and talk a certain way if you want to fit in with us?


III. The Dutiful Doer

v 32: So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

The Levites were assistants to the priests.  This man too “passed by on the other side” after seeing the naked, beaten, left-for-dead man laying in the gutter.  We’re not given the exact reason for his callousness.  But it is quite possible he was saying in his heart, “I’ve just done my share of ministry at the temple, I’ve put in my required hours, now I deserve a little ‘me’ time.”  

This is the attitude of those who may serve very well in the church, but are driven more by duty than delight, more out of work than worship.  Or this type may be the ones who compartmentalize their life so as to give so many hours to the church in ministry, but then set very strong boundaries around the rest of their life.  This time is for family, this time is for work, this time is for recreation, etc.   

Now there is nothing wrong with having healthy boundaries in life so that your family, career, or sanity stays strong.  But to live as a passionate, devoted follower of Christ, is to live missionally in every area of our life, and not to having some artificial distinction between what is secular or sacred, what time or activity belongs to God and what belongs to you.  

Every aspect and area of your life and being belongs to God!  We are called to be missional in every area of your life.  In your career, your home, your family, your friendships, your parenting, your marriage, your budget, even your recreation, you can ask the missional question, “How can I do this activity in a manner that better participates with the triune God in reaching the lost, restoring the broken, and redeploying the equipped?”
For example:
 - Open up your home for a home or Alpha group, or simply invite your neighbors over to build relationships that will grant you permission to share Christ and invite to church
 - See your position at work or in school as a God-ordained missionary appointment
 - For recreation, join a club or group that brings you into contact with the unsaved or dechurched, and then be bold in sharing the gospel and making invites to church, or just invite those who need salvation or discipleship along with you when you do your recreational activity


IV. The “What’s-in-for-Me” Worker

v 35: The next day he took out two silver coins 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.'

Now the parable does not really indicate that the innkeeper was doing ministry for money, he really was just running a business.  Nevertheless, we can use this character to illustrate those who only engage in ministry when there is something in it for them.  

Here are some examples:
 - I’ll only help with Nursery, Children’s or Teen’s ministry when I have kids that age
 - I’ll only do ministry that matches my gifts, is convenient to my lifestyle and life schedule, and is personally fulfilling
 - Let’s keep everything the same around here as to times, types, and styles of worship, leadership, and ministry because I find it best for my schedule and my personal preferences

Now all four of these attitudes are barriers to our calling to love God and love our neighbor.  And every one of us is capable, and sometimes guilty of, allowing these barriers to creep into our hearts.  The only appropriate response when the Holy Spirit convicts us of such sin is to repent. And to repent is not to ask for forgiveness only.  Repentance means to bring to bear upon our sin every available means of grace to crucify that sin at its source and to replace that attitude or behavior with a Christlike one.

We must continually fight against these barriers if we are to live into our calling to reach out and love those like the man in our story who fell into the hands of the robbers.  The man I am calling…


V. The Castaway Captive

v 30: In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers.  They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

Clearly, Christ meant this character to represent all those in need whether their needs are physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual.  Who is our neighbor that we are called, commanded, and empowered to love?  Everyone who is in need that you know of, and that you have the opportunity and the means, even at great personal sacrifice, to help.  

As a congregation, we are wrestling with the question, just who are the neighbors in need that we are called to target in any new outreach ministry.  We simply do not have the financial or human resources to offer ministry that reaches every age and life situation to the entire city of Dubuque.  
Personally, I embrace a theology that our Lord strategically places congregations in specific neighborhoods to reach that neighborhood.  If this is true, then Third Church is called to take the gospel to those within a mile or two surrounding us.  

But even limiting ourselves to this boundary, we still do not have enough financial or human resources to offer ministry that meets the needs of every age and life situation of those who live within our immediate neighborhood.  So the big question before us is, of all the people and needs that live within a two mile radius of this church, which target population can we best reach out to right now given our current ministry strengths?  When we can answer that question, then and only then, will we begin to birth new missional outreach ministry.  

This doesn’t mean that we stop reaching out until then!  We already are reaching out through our food pantry, our Sunday worship, midweek, fellowship, and teaching ministries to which we invite new people.  Our primary evangelistic outreaches now and for the foreseeable future is our Alpha groups.  We have the potential for four new groups starting in the fall.  These means we will need everyone of you supporting this outreach through prayer, money, meals, leadership help, and childcare.

But no matter what target group we are called to reach, one thing is certain.  We will be required to love them the same way the so-called “Good Samaritan” does in our parable.  


VI. The Suffering Servant

v 33: But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  v 34: He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.  Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.  

The Samaritan “came where the man was!”  All the others “passed by on the other side!”  This is the convicting twist to the storyline introduced by Christ.  The Jewish listeners would never have suspected that a Samaritan would be the one to stop and help.  They were half gentile and half Jew, who did not worship in the temple but in their own place of worship, and so the Jews despised them.

But this Samaritan knew what it was like to be rejected and neglected.  It was because he was a man who had tasted suffering that he had the compassion to reach out to another in pain.  This is always the case.  Those who suffer most love most!  We are called to be as Nouwen said, “wounded healers.”  We are called to be like Christ, “suffering servants” who minister to others out of our brokenness because when we are weak, Christ is strong!

If we are to fulfill our calling, the calling upon every congregation, to reach the spiritually lost, restore to wholeness those deeply wounded, and then redeploy the equipped into ministry, we must go to where the lost and hurting are.  They will not come to us!  

I don’t know what your idea of church growth is.  Here is the truth about the state of Christianity in America.  The mega churches are growing bigger, while the smaller churches continue to shrink and close.  Yet, the number of new Christians is decreasing.  What does this tell us?  …that the growth in our American congregations is primarily transfer growth not conversion growth!   

The hard truth for us is that even if we did want to grow through transfer growth, it simply will not happen.  Most growing churches in America are located in cities where there is significant population growth, and so enough Christians are moving into the area looking for a new church to join.  In Dubuque, we certainly don’t have that dynamic.  

The other growing churches are those that offer a host of programs that appeal to the felt needs of young evangelical families.  We do not have the financial or human resources to offer all these programs either.  Almost every church in America, with the expectation of the truly missional ones, primarily target young healthy evangelical families in their outreach.  Personally, I have no desire to pastor a church that only grows through evangelicals who already have their act mostly together transferring in from other congregations!  

You see, the “castaway captive” that Christ calls us to reach especially represents those with the deepest need, and who are the most neglected by the ministry of the larger Church.  These are the forgotten, the disregarded, the unwanted.  While the American church is wasting most of its resources on trying to attract the already saved, those that the evil one has robbed of their rightful inheritance as children of God, has stripped of dignity, and has beaten and left for dead remain lying in the gutter unreached, unloved, and even unwanted!  These are the ones want to reach, to call to new life in Christ!

And these are the ones who will never come knocking on our church door looking for a mops group or a polished worship service!  To reach the ones that most need the gospel, we must “go to where they are.”  

How do we do this?  
 - We do this by rearranging our life so that we have more opportunity to befriend the forgotten.  
 - We do this by inviting the hurting and spiritually lost to Alpha, and even to worship, as some will come if personally invited.  
 - We do so by inviting those we know are hurting to tonight’s Praise & Healing service.
 - We do this by getting a hold of our Lord’s vision of what new missional outreach ministry He wants us to birth.  
 - We do this by being a neighbor to anyone we see in need regardless of personal cost.


The final character to look at in this parable is the one telling it, Jesus the Christ.

VII. The Resurrected Redeemer

v 36: "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"  37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."  

Going to where the castaway captives are, and bandaging their wounds, and pouring on the oil and wine of God’s Spirit, grace, and Word is not an option for us, it is the empowering command of our Lord and Savior!  To reject this calling is to live in displeasing disobedience.  To embrace this calling is to enter into the joy of partnership with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

We cannot continue to “pass by on the other side” and allow those captive and abused by the evil one to remain in life’s gutter when we have an abundant supply of God’s oil and wine!