Love Across The Lines | Luke 10:25–37

[0:00] Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we are encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ. I'm Pastor Patrick Daly, and each week I share sermons that balance the grace and love of Jesus Christ with the truth of the Word of God.

[0:15] Together, we'll explore Scripture using observation, interpretation, and application. This helps us discover practical ways to live out our faith every single day.

[0:26] Let's dive in together into God's Word. Well, good morning, everyone. Happy New Year. How many of you guys stayed up for the New Year?

[0:37] All right, let's be honest here. And how many of us went to bed early? All right, all right. So we have all sorts of variety. You know, ever since moving here, one of the things that really just gets me around the New Year time is in Boise, they drop a potato.

[0:56] What's up with that? I mean, I know Idaho is known for its potato, and here in this area, we are known for our onions. And I haven't seen any dropping of onions, but if there is any, that would be really cool to see for next New Year's Eve party.

[1:12] So maybe we could put something like that. But it was very interesting because I had the opportunity to show my kids as they're dropping this potato, and they're kind of like, a potato?

[1:24] What's, why is a potato dropping? And I'm like, well, that's part of the celebration. And he thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. And I got to admit, it was kind of funny even watching as a parent here.

[1:39] But I'd like to welcome all of you here as this is the first Sunday this year in 2025. It seems like, you know, last year was yesterday. We were celebrating our time of the Advent season and Christmas.

[1:52] And now here we are in the 5th of January 2025. For some of us, we've made New Year's resolutions, yes? Maybe, maybe not.

[2:03] Are you continuing your New Year's resolution? Maybe, maybe not, right? And as we're here in January, for a lot of us, we think of New Year's resolutions.

[2:14] We think of times how we can, you know, we got to go to the gym or we need to eat healthier or maybe not drink too many Mountain Dews or whatever it is that, whatever it is you need to improve on.

[2:25] And it's just a kind of a fun thing that happens in the beginning of the year. And I think for this year how important it is for us to not only come to know Jesus Christ, but to grow in Him and to be molded by Him.

[2:40] Because the God that we worship and the God that we serve transforms us every single day. And it is my prayer for each and every one of you, whether this is your first time or whether you've been faithfully attending, that you know you are loved by Jesus.

[2:57] And that God extends an invitation for you to enter into a relationship with Him. And that believing in the Lord and being saved is just the beginning of your journey in Christ.

[3:10] We are all a work in progress. And we are to continue to be molded by the Word and have transformation that comes to our very lives. And through this transformation, the learning and growing, we share in the gospel message with other people.

[3:25] We let people know that Jesus lives. We let people know of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We share that. And part of knowing the Lord and growing in Him is living it out.

[3:40] And I want to ask you this question as you see this kind of image here. When was the last time you did something nice for someone else? You could say I did something nice this year and kudos for you on that one.

[3:54] But I want you to think for a moment, when was the last time you did something that was just above and beyond? Maybe you paid for someone's coffee and you found out they were hosting an entire party of five and you had to spend $50 on their coffee.

[4:09] Or perhaps you did the whole pay it forward thing where you were in the drive-thru at McDonald's and you wanted to pay the next person's cart or something.

[4:21] Or maybe it was just something simple as a smile. Maybe saying hello, good morning. And maybe not wanting to get angry when somebody is trying to cut you off as you're driving.

[4:34] When was the last time that you did something nice for that? A simple thank you. Smiling at someone or doing something good in the name of Christ or paying it forward.

[4:46] A small act of kindness can cross boundaries. And as Christians, we are called to live and love like Jesus Christ. In every single day.

[4:57] In every moment. In every moment. Now for some of you, you may have heard of this guy. He was on a famous TV show. Mr. Rogers. Many of you guys know it.

[5:08] You don't have to raise your hand. But if you don't, that would be surprising. Right? Many of us have heard of Mr. Rogers. Right? It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. We're not going to bust out in singing in here.

[5:20] Right? Won't you be my neighbor? However. Now, something I found. There's a documentary that came out about Mr. Rogers. I didn't know that he was a pastor.

[5:31] Did you guys know that? He was a Presbyterian pastor. And he was in... That was, in essence, his ministry. Of being the light...

[5:42] Exhibiting the light and love of Christ on television. Now, I got to tell you, that's a crazy ministry, as it were. But we know the profound impact when every single episode, there's that question.

[5:58] Won't you be my neighbor? And we think about this not only in the world, but we think about it in the scriptures today. When we think about the parable of the Good Samaritan. Who is your neighbor?

[6:11] Have you thought about that? You can think literally of who is next door to you, or if you live out in the country. Maybe a few miles away. Who is your neighbor?

[6:25] Maybe it's the person you meet in the grocery store. Maybe it's the person who you see at the post office. Who is your neighbor? Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan.

[6:37] It shocked his audience by elevating the hated Samaritan. And placing him as the hero of the story. And so, church, let's turn our Bibles.

[6:52] We're going to go to page 1032. We're going to go into the Gospel of Luke. So, it's going to be Luke chapter 10, verses 25 through 37.

[7:05] And we're going to read the text. We have been going through our sermon series known as Thy Kingdom Come. We've been going through the parables of Jesus Christ.

[7:19] Some of these parables are so easy. Maybe they're easier said than done. Maybe they're a little more complex and we don't know the meaning. But for the Good Samaritan, I think most of us have known this one or heard it before.

[7:32] And if you haven't, this might be a good refresher or a good introduction. So, are we there? Luke chapter 10, verses 25 to 37. Let's read together. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

[7:51] And he said to him, what is written in the law? Right? How do you read it? And he answered what? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.

[8:07] And your what? And your neighbor. Right? Your neighbor as yourself. And he said to them, he said to him, you answered correctly, but do this and you will live.

[8:20] But he, the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? That's kind of a snarky response, don't you think?

[8:33] Well, who's my neighbor, Jesus? So Jesus replied, and this is where we have the parable. A man was going down from Jerusalem to where? Jericho. And he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

[8:49] Now by chance, a what? Or who? A priest was going down that road. And when he saw him, what did he do? He passed by on the other side.

[9:00] And so likewise, a Levite. When he came to the place and saw him, what did he do? Passed by on the other side. The same language here, right? But then, a Samaritan.

[9:14] As he journeyed, he came to where he was. And when he saw him, he, what? He had compassion. He went to him and he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

[9:27] And he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, saying what?

[9:39] Take care of him. And whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

[9:54] And he said, the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, what? You go and do likewise.

[10:05] And so what we can see in the text here, it's very simple. Let's go to that next slide here. What is happening in these verses? A lawyer is testing Jesus. He's asking this question, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

[10:19] And Jesus is pointing out to the law to love the Lord your God with all your heart. He's going on also that you are to love your neighbor, right? There's much more to this. This is kind of a paraphrase with that.

[10:31] And then finally, the lawyer trying to justify himself. Who is my neighbor? Now, again, that's kind of a snarky reply, but it's still a good question nonetheless.

[10:44] It's a question that can be asked back then and certainly for us today. Who is my neighbor? Well, Jesus answers very clearly. Let's go to that next slide.

[10:55] What is happening here? We have the victim who is robbed, beaten, and left for dead, right? He was on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. We have the priest who passed by on the other side.

[11:07] And there's many scholars who said, well, maybe if you guys have watched Veggie Tales before, you probably know that one, right? I'm busy, busy, dreaded, if you're going to sing it, right?

[11:19] You guys know. They go into a musical number where it's like, oh, you know, I'm too busy to care for this guy. I have things to do. And that's commonly what is implied here, what is concluded here, right?

[11:34] So prioritizing his duties over compassion. How many of us have had those moments before? I got a doctor's appointment. I can't help you out here. We may have had those moments.

[11:46] The Levite also passed by on the other side. And some scholars say it was avoiding an inconvenience. Same idea, right? Passing him by and noticing that you looked, but you didn't do anything.

[12:02] And very often that hits home for us. Sometimes we do get inconvenienced in our own life to help someone who is in need. This is part of us living out the Christian faith to feed those who are hungry, to give clothes to those who are in need.

[12:21] But we're too busy. I certainly hope that in those moments you take time to care for your neighbor. And the Samaritan then, he acts out of compassion.

[12:33] And he is crossing these societal boundaries. Because you have to think for a moment that a Samaritan was hated by the Jewish people. Well, we can think of people who's outside of the cultural norms, who's outside of the line, as it were.

[12:50] Well, imagine someone who is across the line who's exhibiting kindness and you're not. That's very difficult. That can be a challenge for us. But in that challenge, we have to think, let us check our hearts in moments such as this.

[13:07] The Samaritan, he cleans and bandages the wounds. And transports the man to safety. And pays for his care and commits to ongoing support.

[13:18] And Jesus is saying that you need to go and do likewise. Like the Samaritan Jesus? The one that we can't stand?

[13:28] The one that we hate? Yes. Exactly. That's part of our spiritual walk in Christ. Believing in the Lord and being saved.

[13:40] Growing in him and acting upon that faith. Let us be that beacon of hope to other people in the new year. There are a lot of people who don't know who Jesus Christ is.

[13:52] There's a lot of people who God gives us this opportunity to show loving kindness to others. And so then we go into this next section.

[14:07] What can we learn? What can we interpret from these verses? Well, the first one is that love crosses boundaries. When we're thinking of the Samaritan, we're talking socioeconomics.

[14:18] We're talking racial divides. And just differences in people. We don't have that today, do we? We don't have any division in socioeconomics.

[14:28] We don't have any racial divides. We don't have anything like that back then. We do. And we're very, well, at least we should be aware of it. Shouldn't we? And so the Samaritan here, hated by the Jews, still exhibits that kindness.

[14:46] And it also has to think for a moment. Take a step back and think about the love that God has for you. That it doesn't matter who you are, what you have been through, or what you are going through.

[14:57] It is my prayer, and it should be our prayer, that if you don't know Jesus Christ, may your spiritual walk be towards knowing who Jesus Christ is.

[15:07] And upon believing in him, you grow and you move in the direction that God wants you to go. Because let me tell you something. God will put you on a wonderful path of transformation, of healing.

[15:21] A journey that is unlike anything that the world has to offer. And so God's love is transcendent of culture, racial, and even societal divides.

[15:32] Many of you may know Galatians chapter 3, verse 28, that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And specifically, yes, that is talking about when you are a believer.

[15:45] That God sees you all as the same. The second thing, then, is that love is active towards others. There are many verses in Scripture that talk about that we shouldn't have a dead faith.

[16:00] We should have an active faith. How does faith in action look towards you? It should certainly be to other people. It should certainly be to our neighbors. It should be for the ones that are suffering.

[16:16] The ones that may have been distanced. Who can you think has been beaten? It may not even be physically. There are people out there who have been spiritually hurt that need healing from the Lord.

[16:30] When we think of the ministry of presence, being present with someone who is in pain or in suffering, being there with them and helping them out.

[16:42] The Samaritan's love was shown through action, right? Again, cleaning the wounds, right? Offering transport and paying for care. These things cost money, especially back then, right?

[16:54] For us, it may be a little harder for us to think, all right, we put someone in our car and drive. I mean, you could say that's gas, right? You could say that's taking time out of your day. But think for a moment.

[17:06] It's going out of your way for someone. 1 John 3, verse 18. Let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.

[17:16] Many of you may know Micah, chapter 6, verse 8. What does the Lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God?

[17:27] The third thing here then is to love your neighbor. So these are the things that we learn because remember, we observe the text. We read the text. We think of what we can learn about it for our spiritual growth.

[17:38] And the third part is, how can we act upon this? So this third piece here, Jesus challenges us to see our neighbors, to consider them. Who is someone in need that you know?

[17:52] Who is someone that needs comfort? It might be as simple as, who can you show up to and pray with? Who can you show up to and be present with?

[18:04] It could be the homeless person. It could be someone that's struggling. And I mean, when we think of the word struggle, we always think of physical, but there's other types of struggles.

[18:16] Mental, spiritual, emotional, there's all these different, that's part of the brokenness of the world that we live in. That there's a lot, we live in a broken and fallen world.

[18:29] And when we think of the love of Christ that transforms us from the inside out, we are to exhibit that to other people. Love your neighbor. Romans 13, 10, love does no harm to a neighbor.

[18:42] Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Then we go into the third thing. The application. How can I apply or live out these verses?

[18:54] The first thing is to consider your neighbor. If you haven't gotten it by now, you should get it now, right? Consider your neighbor. Think for a moment. Do you get kind of a mental image?

[19:06] Or you know someone that's your neighbor? If you don't, maybe go to the grocery store. Look around, right? I mean, I don't know all of my next door neighbors.

[19:18] And part of that is because they're never home. But some of them I do. Introduce yourself. Just see how they're doing. Won't you be my neighbor?

[19:29] Right? Just as that question was in the beginning. Challenge yourself to see everyone. Because we're all a needy people. That's the whole premise of Christianity.

[19:39] We're sinners in need of a Savior. We're definitely a needy people, aren't we? And certainly, it's a call for us to love one another. Just as the Lord loves us.

[19:52] Love your enemies. And pray for those who persecute you. In Hebrews 13.12, it says, Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers. For by doing so, this one always gets me.

[20:04] Some of you have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Now, that's a wild thought. If you really think about it. Entertaining angels at home?

[20:15] What do you mean by that? The second thing, then, is exhibit loving kindness, chesed, or unconditional agape love. We find that in the Greek or the Hebrew, for you scholars, chesed, right, being the Hebrew, and agape love, the unconditional love, that it's a type of love that is beyond what we can share.

[20:40] Love flows from a heart that is aligned with the Lord. Let me repeat myself here. Love flows from a heart that is aligned with God's love.

[20:52] And what do I mean by that? I'm talking the love that comes from the Lord. Chesed is steadfast, loyal love that goes beyond obligation.

[21:05] Think about that. Or when we think of agape love, many of you have heard that. The selfless, sacrificial love that is shown by Jesus Christ being a fulfillment of the scriptures, being born in the manger, performing miracles, living, dying, being buried, and on the third day, raising from the dead.

[21:28] So exhibit that chesed. And it's such a strange word to say, but think about that. Think of the concept behind this. And many of you know that James 2, faith without works is dead.

[21:45] And 1 Peter 4, 8, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins. And the third thing and the final thing is to commit to doing good in the name of Christ.

[22:03] First and foremost, you've got to know who Jesus is. You just have to. Come to know, believe in the Lord, and be saved. Specifically, know the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[22:17] 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 through 4. The simple gospel. That it is a fulfillment of the scriptures. And there's specific scriptures that is being fulfilled here.

[22:31] Know the Lord and grow in him. Learn to read your Bible. Commit to praying.

[22:43] We are not saved by what we do. We are saved by grace through faith so that we can do. As many of you know, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 9.

[22:57] Check out verse 10. That we are created. We are saved by grace through faith. It goes on in verse 10. So that we can do good in the name of Christ.

[23:09] So that we can do good works. It's explicitly there. Live out your faith by serving others. And think of someone this week. Think of one neighbor you can think of.

[23:24] Someone that you can help out. Pray for. Share the gospel story with. Offer a meal. You know, I think of these old movies that my parents would show me as a kid.

[23:35] When people would offer cherry pie. Or, right? The meatloaf or something, right? Exhibit that kindness. That loving kindness to other people. Walk in love.

[23:48] As Christ loved us and gave himself for us. As Ephesians 5.2 says. And I want you to think in all of this. The Good Samaritan is a challenging parable.

[24:04] When we are thinking about someone who you wouldn't expect. Or someone that's kind of hated doing good. Us as Christians.

[24:16] We've got to do good in the name of Christ. So as I opened with the idea of Mr. Rogers. That it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Won't you be my neighbor?

[24:30] Whose neighbor are you going to be? Consider that. And let this parable be a challenge for you. To exhibit that loving kindness.

[24:41] That agape love. To those in need. Let's pray together. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father. We thank you. For giving us this time. And this opportunity to sing praises to your holy name.

[24:57] To take part in communion. And to hear this wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan. May we recognize in this parable. First and foremost. We've got to have a relationship with you.

[25:09] And we grow in you. Upon that salvation. May we be challenged. To read our Bibles. And to grow. And learn what it means to exhibit that loving kindness to others.

[25:21] And let us be active in our faith. For some of us here, Father. We may have a dead faith. I pray that each and every single one of us here. Will know that they are loved.

[25:32] Make a decision for you. Grow in you. And be moved to do good. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ. And Father. As we are beginning this year.

[25:44] I'd like to pray. That everyone here. Will be moved to do good. In your holy name. It is in the name of Jesus Christ. The cornerstone of our faith.

[25:56] That we pray. And we all say together. Amen. Amen. Thank you for listening for this week's message from Ontario Community Church. I pray that you are encouraged and strengthened in your walk with Christ.

[26:10] For more sermons and resources, visit OntarioCommunityChurch.org. May God bless you as you live out his grace and truth every single day.