In ninth grade, I picked up the sport of lacrosse.
If you've never played lacrosse, it's a sport where they run around looking like hockey players
on a field with helmets and gloves like that.
But instead of the ball being on the ground, it's in the air and you have these sticks that
are about yay long that have these nets on the top, kind of baskets, and you throw it
back and forth.
If you've never seen it, it's a great sport and totally worth learning.
By the way, the Yale team is actually quite good.
You should go check them out.
They competed, won the national championship.
Anyway, they're worth seeing for sure.
Anyway, lacrosse is a great sport.
And but as I learned lacrosse, one of the joys and trials that I had in it was learning
the basics because the mechanics of catching and throwing a ball out of a basket at the
end of a stick is not easy.
I had a coach.
I remember his name to this day, Ridge Diven, and he would make us drill incessantly.
We started our spring season in November inside the gym after basketball practice, running
back and forth, passing the ball, learning the basics, getting the bottom hand down so
that your stick was up and down, learning how to properly throw and catch, learning the
basics over and over and over again until it was painful.
It was grueling to do that day after day, week after week, month after month.
And if we didn't do it right, he had a signature move.
He would do this.
Do you know what that means?
Take a lap.
If you didn't do it right, take a lap.
He would drill into us.
Doing the basics well was exactly what we needed, and yet it was the hardest thing to do.
And I think that's true in the Christian life as well.
It is the basics that are the things we most need to do, and they are the things that are the hardest as well.
We're going to look at a passage this morning.
Jesus is going to say, what is it?
What do we have to do?
What does it mean to follow Jesus?
Well, love God and love your neighbor.
That's pretty well known.
Everybody knows that.
It's so simple, and yet how easy it is for us to lose sight of these as the basics.
And how difficult we actually find it to be to do when we actually try to make them to be the right thing.
I think we often as Christians delude ourselves to think that we are doing better than we actually are in these basics.
And this brings us to our passage this morning.
We are in Luke chapter 10, starting in verse 25 in your pew Bibles.
That's page 816.
And we are continuing our series that Greg began last week on being with Jesus on the road of discipleship.
Discipleship is one of those words that church people throw around.
It's not necessarily used in other contexts.
But a disciple is simply someone who is a learner and a follower.
That is someone who listens to the words of a leader or a teacher.
And then who also follows those words and emulates the life of that leader.
That's basically what a disciple is broadly.
And it is what Jesus is doing in this section of Luke.
In chapter 9, verse 51, it says,
And Jesus set his face to Jerusalem, which means that he was turning to the cross.
He was heading for his crucifixion and his death.
And during this whole section from 951 all the way to chapter 19,
Luke records this series of events where Jesus is teaching his disciples and displaying to the world,
what does it mean to be a disciple?
What does it mean to follow Jesus in these ways?
So that's what we're going to look at this morning for a few minutes.
We're going to read the passage and then we'll pray together and then we'll dive in.
So Luke chapter 10, verse 25.
And he answered,
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 and your neighbor as yourself.
And he said to him,
You have answered correctly.
Do this and you will live.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus,
And who is my neighbor?
And Jesus replied,
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers
who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a priest was going down that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was.
And when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying,
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?
And he said, the one who showed him mercy.
And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise.
Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.
And a woman named Martha welcomed him to her house.
She had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.
But Martha was distracted with much serving.
And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
Tell her then to help me.
But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.
But one thing is necessary.
Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
Please pray with me.
Lord, we thank you for your word this morning.
We thank you for these well-known stories.
And we pray this morning that you would make them new and fresh again to us.
Lord, we pray that you will speak to our hearts.
We pray that you will move our wills.
And that, Lord, you will use our hands.
Lord, we pray that as we listen to your word this morning,
that you will help us to be disciples.
Those who know you and listen to you and follow you.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Our text is all about the basics.
The basics in three part.
They're sort of the introduction of the basics in verses 25 through 28.
Then in 29 through 37, we see the basic of loving your neighbor.
And then in the last part, the basic of loving God.
So that's what we will look at in that order this morning as we walk through it.
So the context, the setup of all this, the introduction to Jesus reminding his disciples of the basic,
is a lawyer, a teacher of the law, comes to Jesus, and he stands up and he asks him a question.
And this would be a normal question for students to ask rabbis,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?
What are the things, what are the criteria, what are the actions that I need to do
in order to qualify to be in God's kingdom and to be God's person, to be secure?
These are the questions that he is raising.
But interestingly, Luke not only records the interaction,
but he speaks into the heart of the lawyer.
Because the lawyer isn't simply asking this out of sincere curiosity.
In fact, as a teacher of the law, he knows much of the Torah and much of the Old Testament.
And so when he is coming to Jesus, he is asking this question to test him.
In what way is he seeking to test him?
Well, it's not entirely clear because Luke doesn't expand anymore.
But it seems to me that maybe what this lawyer is saying is,
you claim to be a great teacher, but I think you're an upstart.
Will you uphold the traditions?
Or are you making a new way?
And it's possible as well, because we see it later on,
that he's asking this question in order to make himself look good.
I know the answer to these questions.
In fact, I am living these answers.
I'm the embodiment of this.
So I'm going to ask this question in order to make myself look good in asking the question.
But whatever it is, he asks this question.
And Jesus, perceiving this heart, responds on the safest ground possible.
He says, well, you're a teacher of the law of God.
You tell me, what does it say?
And the man quotes back to him from Deuteronomy 5, which we read earlier,
and then from Leviticus 19, 18, saying,
you shall love the Lord your God, and you shall love your neighbor.
These two things.
And Jesus responds and says, you're right.
Great.
Now go do it.
Jesus says, you have thought rightly about what it would require for you,
but now you must embody it.
You must actually live it out.
Go and do these things.
And in this introduction to these basics, we see these things laid out.
Thinking rightly and doing rightly.
Loving God and loving your neighbor.
As we think about the pattern of discipleship, what do we think is most important?
It's pretty easy for us to get distracted.
Can I create a checklist of things that I'm doing?
Can I create a creedal belief statement where I can check off and say,
yep, that's what I believe, so I must be good.
Maybe it's, I come to church every Sunday.
Isn't that right?
Isn't that what he wants?
And here's the thing.
All of those things are good.
None of them are bad.
But when we make them the most important thing,
when Jesus says, what is the heart of discipleship?
It is loving God.
It is being in a right relationship with God where you are responding to him in love.
And loving your neighbor where having known God's love for you and responded to him in love,
you then turn around and love your fellow human beings.
Men and women made in God's image.
And we realize that at the core of the Christian faith is these relationships of love.
And it is so easy for us to be distracted, isn't it?
I think of our church and as we sit on the brink of moving ahead, hopefully with a building project,
with the disruptions and the distractions and the extra work and the,
the, the, uh, some of the, the strains of transition that it will cause.
And I'm reminded here, we need to hear Jesus reminding us this morning,
this is what is most important about our church.
This is what we need to fight for more than anything.
The carpet of, or the color of the carpet does not matter.
But if we love or don't love, that is what matters.
So Jesus sets up this rubric, loving God and loving your neighbor.
And interestingly, then the next two sections unpack this.
This is one of those places where those bold, uh, uh, section breaks in your Bible are not always helpful.
Um, because the last verses in 38 through 42 are set off with another heading, aren't they?
At least they are in my Bible.
And in lots of Bibles, I think they're set off.
And so you think, oh, well, this is a new, this is a new setting.
And that's not completely illegitimate because in verse 38, there's a sort of classic Lucan.
He says, and now something else happens.
Um, and yet, as I studied these passages together, isn't it interesting that he sets out this basic,
love God and love your neighbor.
And then he tells these two stories about loving your neighbor and loving God.
And this is what we see as we go forward.
So starting in verse 29, then we see Jesus expanding and, uh, uh, deepening our understanding
of what does it mean to love our neighbor?
This basic that Jesus has laid out for us.
Now you see this, the lawyer is, the story is in some ways continuing because the lawyer,
having heard Jesus challenge, you've, you're thinking rightly about it.
Now go do it.
Feels threatened, doesn't he?
Because somehow he feels the need in that moment to justify himself.
I'm an upstanding religious man.
Don't you see me?
Aren't I doing enough?
And so he asked this question so that he can say, yes, I have met the standard.
I have, I have been able to do what is necessary.
And he asked the question, who is my neighbor?
So that he can know what are the boundaries of my responsibility?
What are the, what are the, um, where's the limit of what you're really asking of me?
How good enough is good enough for God?
When can I get to the end of the checklist and say, I'm okay and go home, put my feet
up, watch football and not have to think about walking this road of discipleship this afternoon.
Can I just rest please?
He wants to know how to check that box so that he can, uh, feel good and secure about his
own actions.
He wants to know what those boundaries are.
And Jesus responds with this well-known story.
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
If you've been in the Holy Land, I've not, so you can probably picture this far better than
I can.
Jerusalem is up on a mountain and you go down to Jericho.
And when you go down to Jericho, this was a well-known dangerous road to take.
So no one would be surprised that this man in, in Jesus' parable, as he goes down, he is beset
by robbers.
He is stripped, beaten, and left half for dead.
In all good storytelling, this raises the question, what's going to happen?
Who will save this man?
And lo and behold, a priest's arrived.
And for this Jewish audience, you would think, yay, the police have come.
We're going to be saved.
And yet that's not what happens.
He looks at him and he passes on the other side and continues.
And similarly, a Levite, one of those in the tribe of Levi who served the priests, especially
set apart by God.
Well, this certainly will, but he passes by as well.
And in the first century years, there was this saying that would ring in the ears of
the people that would describe the special people of God.
There are the priests, the Levites, and the people.
And so, if you're listening to this story as a first century Jew, you're expecting the
next sentence to be, and then finally, a Jewish layman was walking by, and suddenly this is
going to be the hero of the story.
This is going to be the one who will rescue this man in distress.
And yet that's not who it is, is it?
It's a Samaritan.
Now, many of you know this, but some maybe…
Samaria was the area north of Jerusalem quite a ways, up near the Sea of Galilee and beyond.
It was a place where two things had happened.
One is that the Jewish community had been both forcibly and willingly intermixed with people.
Both the Assyrians and then later the Macedonians, the Greeks, as they conquered this area, they
forcibly removed some of the Jews to other places and brought in other people.
And over time, this created an intermarriage and a syncretism that betrayed the Jewish commitment
to being a people set apart for God.
But not only that, but up in this part of the world, the northern king, and you've got
to get into the history of Israel.
I'm not going to tell you all about it.
But when Israel was divided after David's kingdom was established, when it was divided north and
south, they set up another altar on the slopes of Mount Gerizim.
And so, and that's up in Samaria.
And so the people who lived up in Samaria, if I could use the crassest words, they were
half-breed infidels.
Okay?
They were outside of the community.
And they were hated.
They were despised.
And they were opposed.
And Jesus says, a Samaritan, the worst of the worst, is trying to think of what might
be, it would be an ISIS soldier seeing an American in need and stopping and helping.
Maybe, maybe that's close, something close to the emotional impact that it would have for
Jesus to say, a Samaritan stopped and he helped this man.
And he didn't just help him a little.
Look with me at the story.
Verse 33 and following.
He came to where he was.
He saw him and he had compassion.
So he saw a need.
He responded out of his heart.
And then look at the actions.
First, he went to him.
He actually physically approached this enemy who was in need.
And then this whole list of verbs that Luke, he bound up his wounds.
He poured oil and wine on him.
He set him on his animal.
He brought him to an inn.
He took care of him.
The next day, he paid for him.
Not only did he pay for him, but he basically opened a tab and said, whatever you need.
Which put him at great risk because inns were not places of great repute in those days.
And it would have been opening him up to being massively scammed by the innkeeper.
And yet he says, whatever he costs, I will pay.
The enemy responds to one in need in a remarkable way in this picture.
And Jesus then turns the table on the lawyer.
You've asked me, who is my neighbor?
Because you want to know what the boundaries are.
But I'm going to ask you the question, which one of these three was a neighbor?
Neighbor moves from being a noun, tell me who I'm responsible for, to being a verb.
Tell me what I'm responsible for doing, for being, for becoming.
Who showed mercy?
Jesus is asking not about the limits of our responsibility, but the quality of our character.
When he asked the lawyer, the lawyer couldn't choke out the word Samaritan.
Isn't it interesting?
He didn't say, oh, it was the Samaritan who did it.
All he could say is, the guy who did that.
The lawyer was choking on Jesus' rebuke of his understanding of what it meant to follow him.
Because it's not about checking the box.
It's not about just doing good within a certain range of reasonable expectations.
It's about being a kind of person who responds to those in need with love.
He says, go and do likewise.
And you will live.
The inheritance you're looking for flows out of a life
that recognizes these things.
So what about us, church?
Daryl Bach, one of the commentators on Luke, says,
one of the ways to summarize what Jesus is calling us to in this parable
is to see and to feel and to serve.
I thought that was really helpful.
Questions for us to ask.
Do we see need?
Do we respond with compassion?
Do we do actions to serve those?
And you know what?
I want to stand before you and say,
I'm really glad to be part of this congregation.
Because do you know what I've seen over the years?
I've seen a homeless mother and daughter housed for a month
to get through a gap between when emergency housing ended
and when they were able to get themselves onto their feet.
Strangers were invited into homes and kept for a period of time.
I've seen some of you regularly visit retirement homes
where members are.
I've seen some of you show up as a team
to unpack a large moving van full of furniture
for someone you have never met
because they're coming to be a part of our church
and you welcome them with serving.
I've seen single women adopt foster care kids
and raise them to know Christ
and to know the love of Christ in their homes.
I've seen men and women befriending the children
and single parent families to mentor, to love them.
I've seen busy families absorb other kids
so that overwhelmed parents can get a break.
I've seen couples take up the mantle to become a hub
for singles who need a place to be on Friday night
for fellowship and for fun
that's going to be constructive and not destructive.
I've seen you be willing to take on your neighbor's kid
when baby number two was ready to come
and many, many, many other ways
that I have seen you love your neighbors
within this church and without
in beautiful ways.
what I want to say is
Jesus calls us to keep going
to excel still more
in our love for our neighbors
to have a heart of compassion
and I know it's not easy
some of you think
but I'm so overwhelmed
I wake up every morning
and the need in the world
and the need even in my world
is so much
what do I do?
I'd simply say
recognize that
Jesus doesn't call you
to serve everybody
and to save everybody
but pray
and then do.
Find something to respond to
and serve.
Don't let yourself get stuck
in the paralysis of
I can't do it all
just do something.
And if all of us
just do something
we'll be following
in the footsteps
of what Christ
is telling us to hear.
Some of you want to solve
the problems you see.
You see people in need
and you want to solve
their problems.
Friends, there are problems
that we may not be able
to solve.
I sit in the office
and I see some of you
and I see others
our neighbors
in the neighborhood
come in
and they have many problems
that I cannot solve.
I cannot find them housing.
I cannot find them jobs.
I cannot find them friends.
I cannot do any of those things.
But I can still be a neighbor
to them
in those moments
treating them with dignity
with love
and with care
helping them in ways
that I can.
some of you will say
well I don't have time.
I'm just so busy.
This is the hardest one
isn't it?
Because in our life
in our world today
our currency
the thing we value the most
is often not our money.
it's much easier
to say
here take some money
hope that fixes your problem
than it is to actually
respond in compassion
isn't it?
Our time
and our attention
are far more valuable
than our money.
And yet the example
of the good Samaritan
is that he took
the things that were
most valuable to him
both his time
and his money
and his attention
and he invested it
at cost to himself.
And so I
like many of you
probably feel
the sting
of Jesus' rebuke.
If I think
I don't have time
to ever stop
and respond
in compassion
maybe my heart
has gotten hard
and my life
has gotten so full
that I'm not able
to respond
and to be a neighbor.
And if that's true
I probably need
a deeper reckoning
with the Lord
about what I'm doing
with my life.
It's very easy
for us to fill
our lives
with selfish things
that keep us
from being able
and willing
to love others.
If you are sitting
here this morning
and you're like
how do I do this?
What do I do?
Well here are a few
specific practical things
that you can do.
One is
we live in a city
if you walk around
New Haven
you will find people
who are in need.
I want to point to you
Pastor Greg
has written
a great little
brochure
called
Helping the Homeless.
Is that what it's called?
I think that's what it's called.
Yeah
close enough.
It's on the back
you'll see it
there's only one like it.
But it's really wise
because there's a whole
discussion that I chose
not to get into this morning
about when helping hurts
and how do you help well
and how do you not help well
and there's all that thing
because the heart of what
Jesus is saying is
see the need
respond in compassion
and serve them.
But as we do that
you'll learn
there's better and worse
ways to do that.
There are more helpful
and less helpful ways
to do that.
Greg's pamphlet
is a wonderful starting place
for thinking about
how do we respond
to the needs of people
that we meet
on the streets
of this city.
But there are other ways
as well.
Think about joining
the Night Runners team
that goes to Columbus House
simply to love
people there.
Think about joining
the mentoring team
that bridges
mentoring ministry.
Think they're full right now
but think about
whether you'd be available
next year
for mentoring
kids
in our city
who are needy.
if you're not on
the have need list
that Michelle
sends out
on a regular basis
it's one of the ways
to be aware of needs
within our congregation
that you might be able
to meet.
So those are four
practical ways
for you to take steps.
But at the end of the day
what I want to ask you
to do most
in response to this
is to pray.
Ask the Lord
to help you see
the needs
of the people around you.
ask the Lord
to give you
a heart of compassion
in response to those
and take steps
do something
to serve
in response
to what you see.
The lawyer
was not prepared
for this
and we are often
not prepared
to be challenged
the way Jesus
challenges us
with this parable.
And yet
this is the basics
that are simple
and yet hard
to do.
And then he goes on
as Luke tells the story
he moves from
this basic
loving your neighbor
to then this
second story
about Mary and Martha.
Jesus in his
traveling entourage
it seems clear
that Mary and Martha
would be people
who are known to him.
It's not clear
if this is the same
Mary and Martha
who are the brother
of Lazarus.
That's an interesting
exploration for you
to see
but it seems
that this is probably
happening somewhere else
although again
it's not clear
that Luke
structured this part
of his story
in a chronological
geographic order
and so it's possible
that
anyway
I don't want to get
into all the details
of it
but to say
we don't know a lot
but we do know
that Mary and Martha
were probably known
to them
partly because
they call him Lord.
they were probably
a part of the
larger following
that included
both the 12 disciples
but also others
who were following
with Jesus
and they welcomed
him into their home
and they began
to serve him
and you see
that there
there are
in these two sisters
there are two responses.
Martha welcomed him
into her house
and she had a sister
named Mary
who sat at the Lord's feet.
Both of these
were disciples
both of them
were looking
to serve Jesus
but they did so differently
and actually
really interestingly
if you have a King James Bible
it says that Mary
also
was sitting
at her feet
which is an interesting
picture
because it maybe
suggests that
Martha had started there.
It's not clear
and it's not in your English
in your ESV
but if you go back
to the original language
there's an extra
chi in there
which probably
means also
and it might suggest
that Martha
started there
but it's very clear
that that's not
where she ended up
right?
Because Mary
stays
and sits
at Jesus' feet
and this is the posture
of a disciple.
This is the posture
of those
who would follow
traveling rabbis
around in this context
and they would sit there
and listen
to the teacher.
They would listen
to the words
that the teacher
was teaching
and they would absorb
these things
they would internalize them
sometimes they would interact
like the lawyer did
with a question
but this was a posture
of a disciple.
And yet Martha
when you get to verse 40
but Martha
was distracted.
Martha was distracted
by her serving.
She got up
and she was taking care
of them
and for those of you
who have served
in churches
or served in all sorts
you know what this feeling
is like
when you're sitting there
and you're trying
to do the right thing
and you're trying
to help and serve
and you see the guy
over there
who's doing the thing
that you wish you were doing
but you're not doing
and you're wondering
why he isn't helping
to do the right thing
because Mary clearly felt like
this was the right thing
for me to be doing
and yet it was filling her
with resentment
with anxiety.
Jesus says
you are anxious
and troubled.
Troubled is this great word
it might be translated
you're full of rioting
in your heart.
Have you ever felt
your heart do that
in these
where you're just like
oh why isn't
no one else helping?
That's Martha.
She got there
and it was very hard
she challenges
Jesus
and Mary
don't you see
what's going on here
Jesus?
Which is sort of ridiculous
right?
It's not like
this is a
you know
but he's like
don't you see?
Why isn't she helping me?
It's always good
sometimes we don't even
get to the point
of verbalizing it
we just mutter
and grumble
and become bitter.
Martha at least
had the wherewithal
to express it
and say so.
and Jesus responds
and here's the thing
I don't think
that Jesus' rebuke
is of her serving
per se.
We just had
a whole parable
about how serving
others is important.
It's hard to see
that his rebuke
is oh no
Martha you shouldn't
have been serving
food is not important
hospitality
is not important.
I don't think
that's what Jesus
is saying.
But Jesus
is saying
look at your
attitude
and look at
what your serving
has done.
It has distracted
you from the thing
that is most
important.
Because in your
serving it seems
and this is where
it seems that
Martha has started
to serve serving
or serve duty
or serve
her picture
of what she thinks
is right.
And in the process
she's lost
the vision
that she's
actually serving
Jesus.
Mary
for maybe
her obliviousness
to the opportunities
to serve in other
ways
has kept
that right.
And it seems
that that is
what Jesus
commends
in this passage.
Look at me
and see
what she says.
I see what he says
in verse 41.
Martha,
you are anxious
and troubled
about many things.
But one thing
is necessary.
Mary has chosen
the good portion
which will not
be taken away
from her.
She has chosen
to make Jesus
and sitting
at his feet
and being his disciple
the most important
thing in her life.
and she will not
let other things
even good things
distract her
from that.
And wonderfully
this is also
an incredibly
counter-cultural
and socially
explosive move
because the rabbis
in the first century
would never let
a woman sit
at their feet
like that.
That is not
what women
are meant to do.
What Martha
was doing
is what women
are meant to do.
They had the old
barefoot
and in the kitchen
perception
of what women
are meant to do.
And Jesus comes
and he says
no,
don't you see?
This is exactly
what women
are meant to be.
Sitting at my feet
being my disciple
receiving
my teaching
serving me
in this way
as well as that way.
And he didn't say
but he might have said
and men
you can go
in the kitchen too
and help out
a little bit too.
That's another story.
But Jesus is exalting
and holding up Mary
as an example
of the incredible thing
that discipleship
is a calling
for all men
and women.
For all the ones
created in God's image.
This is what he's called
us to and for
in Christ.
And he says to Martha
don't despise
what Mary is doing
instead value it
celebrate it
exalt it
cherish it.
Follow in her example
of making
following me
the most important thing.
and following me
has a particular
shape here
because Mary is
there are lots of ways
to follow Jesus
we just saw
in the story
of the Good Samaritan
there's another kind
there are other
but here
the key is
that she is sitting
and listening
to his teaching.
And friends
I just wonder
for us
this morning
do we actually
do that?
we live in a busy
world
and we have
many many
distractions
we live in a world
that values
our external
productivity
what have you done
with your day?
What have you
produced today?
And Jesus
comes in
and he says
to be my disciple
is to love me
and to love me
is to sit at my feet
and listen to my teaching.
How well
do we do that?
Do we have
the creativity
and the wherewithal
to be like
Susanna Wesley
and to sit
in our house
full of
innumerable children
and to throw
her apron
over her head
so that she would
have time
with the Lord
every day?
Can you do that
in your lab?
Can you do that
in your workplace?
Can you do that
in the busyness
of your home?
Can you do that
when the papers
are waiting
to be written?
When the books
are waiting
to be read?
Are you willing
to sit
and listen
to Jesus
speak
his words
into your life?
Are there parts
of your life
where you're like
no thanks Jesus
I got this part
I don't really
want you to speak
into it
I don't want you
to speak
into my ethics
at work
I don't want you
to speak
into my sex life
I don't want you
to speak
into how I spend
my money
that's kind of
uncomfortable
can we just stay
on the like
worshipping you
and nice stuff
like that
go to church?
Are we resistant
to sitting
at Jesus feet
because we think
he might challenge
how we live?
Do you find
yourself
on a regular
basis
asking the Lord
Lord how do I
honor you?
How do I love you?
How would you
instruct me
to walk
through this
circumstance
this trial
this opportunity?
Do you rather
let your life
be filled
with distractions
things that
drive you away
from Jesus
rather than
filling them
with things
that drive you
to Jesus
and allow you
to sit
at his feet?
This is what
Mary did
this is what
Jesus commends
so the basics
easy
yet hard
simple
yet complex
love God
and love
your neighbor
and there
is a logical
progression
of course
in this
because it is
that when we
love God
first
that we are
able to love
our neighbor
maybe
I don't know
if you've tried
to love your
neighbor on your
own strength
it's very humbling
because you find
that your love
has very little
steadfastness
you find
that you run
out very
quickly
but Jesus
comes to us
as the perfect
good Samaritan
he comes
as the one
who pays
the greatest
cost
for our
salvation
he's the one
who shows
the greatest
love
and compassion
for us
in our
sin
as he
heads
to the
cross
to die
for us
and he
comes
to give
us
then
a new
life
to restore
us
into a
right
relationship
with God
whereby
his love
becomes
the wellspring
from which
then we
in response
to him
love him
and then
overflow
with that
love
in love
to our
neighbors
this is
the pattern
of the
gospel
this is
the picture
of what
it means
to be a
disciple
to do
these
things
may it
be so
for us
let's
pray
Lord we
thank you
for
Jesus
words
Lord we
pray
I pray
now that
by your
Holy Spirit
you would
take
these
texts
and the
questions
that they
have raised
and the
challenges
that they
put before
us
Lord that
you would
convict us
of where
we fall
short
where we
have
misunderstood
where we
have sought
to justify
ourselves
where we
have become
comfortable
in ways
where we
have lost
our
willingness
to be
costly
in our
love for
you
and our
love for
others
Lord renew
in us
a vision
of how
great
your
love
is
how
worthy
you are
of all
of our
lives
that we
as
disciples
might sit
at your
feet
and love
you
and love
our
neighbors
for your
sake
and we
pray this
in Jesus
name
amen