Eric, if you have your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter 10.
Luke chapter 10.
I want to thank Lawrence Crenshaw for filling in for Brian.
Short notice like that when sickness came upon him.
And he's already learned the power of the methodical pause in the middle of reading Scripture
that only ministers and video tech guys know.
Today I want to deal with a passage that talks about the greatest question that's ever been asked.
It's asked a few times in Scripture.
Once it is asked by Nicodemus who came to Jesus under the cover of darkness to find the answer.
The rich young ruler wanted to know the same thing.
And then we see it again in our passage today.
Although when it's asked today it's not a genuine question.
It's not asked genuinely.
It's like a set up question.
It's like when they asked the preacher who was Cain's wife.
You know.
It's just to test them.
And they wanted to test Jesus.
And they didn't really want to know what he had to say.
They were just kind of needling him.
So this was intended to be a set up question.
However, the way Jesus answered the question not only tested the listener.
It tested all of us.
He didn't set up Jesus.
Jesus kind of set us up to realize what it means to do real Christian ministry.
Church, we do well to listen to Christ.
Even when he challenges us.
Even when he shakes us up.
Especially when he shakes us up.
And this morning's passage does exactly that.
It's found in Luke chapter 10.
Luke chapter 10 verse 25.
And it says,
Jesus said to him,
Correctly, do this and you will live.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus,
And who's 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 as 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.
And 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'll repay you when I come back.
Which of these three, Jesus asked,
do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?
And the man said, The one who showed him mercy.
And Jesus said, You go and do likewise.
Now, you know that story, probably.
It's a very familiar story.
As a matter of fact, if you were using the curriculum that we were using in Sunday school last week,
you dealt with it last week,
and you think the preacher ain't even done his homework.
He's just doing the Sunday school lesson.
But I will tell you that the listener in the first audience,
the one Jesus was talking to that day,
heard this story with a little bit different light than we hear it.
And it always helps us to understand Scripture in the context that it's in.
That's why it's important to read Scripture around the Scripture that you're looking at.
But also to understand the cultural context of when he speaks this story,
what it meant to them.
It helps us through that filter to understand how it speaks to us even more.
And so when the listener in the first audience heard this,
they came up with some conclusions right off the bat.
One of them was the victim deserved it.
He deserved it.
I mean, don't get me wrong.
It's not right to attack and rob a man,
but I mean, what was he doing there?
Nobody with good sense travels the road to Jericho alone.
The road has a dark reputation.
Josephus, a historian of that day, called it the bloody way.
And if you go down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
you really go down.
It is a 17-mile journey that drops rapidly from 2,800 feet above sea level
to 1,300 feet below sea level, almost a mile in depth.
It is a mountainous trek of rough terrain with 300-foot drops,
limestone caves, massive boulders,
all kinds of places for bandits to hide.
And they did.
And that's why it was called the bloody way.
In other words, it was a known danger.
Now, I didn't do this last week.
Last week, I went to Mississippi and, praise God,
got a contract on a house, on my house.
Amen.
Pray that it goes through and she gets a burden
and gives a little more than she committed to.
But what if I told you instead that I took my family,
after we watched some crime sitcom on TV,
that I decided to take them to a notoriously dangerous place
in a downtown major city in Atlanta,
excuse me, in America.
I drove to Atlanta yesterday.
Good example.
But anyway, a major city in America to see the real crime scenes,
just like we watch on TV.
And when we went down in that dark alley at night,
I got hit in the head and robbed,
and I barely made it out alive.
Now, I know you.
You are a gracious people.
You're kind.
You've been gracious to us as we've come into a new congregation.
I'm telling you, Ralph Carter told me they're appreciative people,
and he's right.
And I appreciate that.
You'd be nice to me.
But when you went home,
you'd have me for dinner.
The preacher has lost his mind.
He deserved it.
And his precious wife and his precious,
how in the world could he?
The old boy deserved it.
We ought to knock another knot upside his head.
Because remember, we help those who help themselves.
I mean, if you don't have any better sense than that,
then just leave him by the side of the road.
That's what the first century audience would have said.
Tell you another thing the first century audience would have said.
They would have said the clergy did exactly what they were expected to do.
Now, I know we look at them and go,
sorry, old preachers.
But the reality is they did exactly what was expected.
Numbers 1911 and Leviticus 21.1,
tells us that if something is dead and is touched,
you are made ceremonially unclean.
And Jericho was a town of 12,000 priests.
And they were on their way to perform religious ceremonies.
They better not stop and get their hands dirty in the matter.
And these men didn't.
They made a point to go around him on the opposite side of the road
because in case he died,
and they got sidetracked,
they were like, don't look, just keep walking.
Because if they came in contact with dead,
it would not allow them to be a part of that process.
The ceremonies that they were going to.
Now, they knew the law,
and there's a lot of other passages that tell them to help,
but that's not the ones that they chose at the time.
Sometimes we have a tendency to pick the ones we want to pick too.
Therefore, they did exactly what was expected,
and the first audience would have expected them to do just what they did.
I'll tell you what else they would have expected.
When they thought of this story,
the first century audience would have said
the Samaritan was not supposed to help anybody.
This guy needed help bad.
He didn't only get robbed.
He got beat.
He got stripped.
He got left for dead.
Don't expect a Samaritan to help
because Jews hated Samaritans.
They called them mixed dogs,
and I'll tell you why they called them that.
Because Samaria is the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel,
and when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom,
they exiled 27,000,
and they only left a remnant behind.
Assyrian captives from other places also settled there,
and for those that remained,
they intermarried with the Assyrians that came into that area.
So Jews with Gentiles,
and then they adopted into a lot of the foreign gods
that came into that melting pot of an atmosphere.
And by the time the Jews returned to Jerusalem,
they had a hatred toward the Samaritans.
All of them, not just the guilty ones,
because they all compromised, the whole people.
No longer were they pure.
They were mixed.
They had mixed with the world.
Listen, racism is not a new thing,
and it was very real there.
Therefore, when Jesus used a Samaritan
to do the right thing in the story,
he hit a nerve.
It was a shocker.
Samaritans don't do good things.
It'd be like making a Jew a hero
to an audience of Nazis,
or making a member of the Taliban a hero.
We just don't want to hear that kind of thing.
It's unheard of.
It's controversial even to suggest it.
And John's Gospel tells us
that the Jewish leaders thought
that Jesus was a Samaritan
with a demon after hearing this story.
What in the world's going on?
And that's why this story challenged everything.
It crossed social barriers.
It was uncomfortable.
It was challenging.
And the truth is,
when you get to the heart of it,
it still is.
But Jesus taught it that day for a reason,
and through the power and the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God,
it applies to us as well today
to teach us.
And it teaches us a few things.
One of them is that real ministry is not easy.
Real ministry is not easy.
This lawyer is really just trying to goad Jesus.
He asked him a hard question
and provoke him
and get him to say the wrong thing.
Religious folks often do that kind of thing to Jesus.
And it didn't work.
Jesus saw it coming.
He didn't get mad about it.
He didn't get in a debate about it.
No, as my grandpa said,
he killed him with kindness.
He surprised him with his answer.
The lawyer wanted a formula for religion.
Tell me what I have to do.
Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
That's not Christianity, folks.
You can't do anything to earn your salvation.
Eternal life cannot be earned.
Christianity is surrendering your have-tos to God.
In other words,
you don't have to attend church to be saved.
But you will if it's real.
There will be a drawing there if it's real.
You don't have to reach out to others if you're saved.
But if Christ has touched your life,
you're going to want to tell others about it.
You don't have to tithe your money to the church
and be a Christian.
But if you are a Christian
and you realize how much God has done for you,
you realize everything that you have
has been entrusted to you
and it's not yours anyway, it's God's.
So why not give him back the portion
that he tells us to?
You don't have to pray
to be a Christian.
But the reality is,
if you are a Christian, you will pray.
You don't have to care about others
to be a Christian.
But if you are a Christian,
you will care about others.
The reality is,
real ministry is not just loving
those who are our own.
It's not just loving folks that are like me.
It's not just loving those
that we think deserve it.
Real ministry is when you sweat,
when it stings,
when you sacrifice,
when it's tough.
Not only did the Samaritan
reach out to this guy,
but he reached out to one
that should have known better.
He reached out to one
who was,
he reached out to one
and took a risk
when he reached out to him.
I mean,
this could have been a trap
to bait somebody.
There could have been fentanyl
on that dollar bill.
I mean, you know,
I was going to touch it, you know.
Leave him alone.
By the way,
me and Mama found a 20
at Dollar General the other day.
We took our chances,
but anyway.
Anyway.
Those are the things
that we would say today,
and it ain't even affected,
you know.
But that's no different
than that day
is what I'm saying.
Remember,
this is the bloody way.
Notice as well,
it was not just spot ministry.
He didn't buy the meal
of the guy behind him
in the drive-thru.
It was ongoing.
He spotted a beaten stranger
even after he was gone,
and he supported him
and took care of him.
Not endless support.
Don't misunderstand me.
Not endless support,
but he helped him get up
and get back on his feet,
and you know what?
I bet that was a pattern
for the Samaritan,
and the reason why
is because the innkeeper
trusted him.
And when folks
are coming back
to pay cash,
you don't trust them
unless they've come back before.
It wasn't spot ministry.
It was ongoing ministry.
Spot ministry.
Let's be plain.
Spot ministry is easy.
Real ministry is not easy.
It also teaches us this,
that real Christianity
is fruitful.
Real Christianity is fruitful.
We like to talk about
the gifts of the Spirit
and what we're gifted at
and those unique gifts
and abilities that God
has given us
to enable us
to do the work of the church,
the gift of evangelism,
the gift of proclaiming,
the gift of teaching,
the gift of faith,
the gift of discernment,
the gift of showing mercy,
the gift of leadership.
Man, if you give folks
the opportunity
to take a spiritual gifts test,
which basically asks them
what they think they're good at,
they'll fill it up.
You know,
they're multi-gifted.
Just ask them.
I mean,
we like to know
about that kind of stuff.
What's our gifts?
But what about the fruit?
I mean,
the fruit's what really matters.
If you have the gifts
but no fruit,
you're unfit for the kingdom.
And what am I talking about?
When I say fruit,
it's Galatians 5, 22 and 23.
When the apostle Paul said,
the fruit of the spirit
is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control.
You want to know
what the Christian life's about?
The fruit's where it's at, folks.
If you want to live out your faith
for the Lord Jesus Christ,
the fruit's where it's at.
And I promise you
that if you pray over those matters
in your life every day,
the Holy Spirit of God
will not only beat you up
but he'll show you
how to improve in those areas.
Because that's where the growth is.
Without fruit,
you're not effective
no matter what gifts you have.
And if you have fruit without gifts,
well, you don't.
But even if you could,
you'd still change lives
because that kind of stuff
gets people's attention.
It matters.
Jesus teaches us
it's not about what you got.
It's about what you do with it.
And so be fruitful.
He also teaches us this.
Real Christians don't make excuses.
The Samaritan didn't say,
oh, no, I'm just a Samaritan.
What are people going to think?
I'm not even qualified to do that.
He didn't say,
he didn't say I didn't do it
because I didn't know what to say.
How many times are Christians
sidetracked from doing
what God's burdened them to do?
Because they don't know what to say.
By the way,
if you don't know what to say,
don't say it.
Just be there.
People who try to defend
the role of God
in the midst of tragedy
usually cause tragedy to be worse.
And your presence means
more than your words.
And if I walk in a heavy room
and stand on the wall
and say nothing,
it's because I don't know
what to say.
And if you don't know
what to say,
please don't say it.
This Samaritan could have easily said,
I don't have time for this.
He also did not look
at the situation logically.
Like the lawyer
that asked the question
would have expected
somebody to look at something
because that's what they look at
is logic.
And logic does not always work.
Let me tell you about this,
oh boy.
I heard of a man
who decided to get married
based on logic
and scientific principles.
He was 30 years old,
logical age to consider
getting married.
And so he made a list of,
in black ink, by the way,
of,
on quality paper,
good paper,
because he's logical
and it's important.
And he made two columns.
One column
was why he should get married.
The other column
was why he shouldn't get married.
And when he wrote down
those things,
marriage outweighed
not getting married.
And so he got out
another piece
of good quality paper
with his black ink
and wrote down
eligible,
good quality
young ladies.
And he got out
index cards
and he put their names
on them
and he listed reasons
why he ought to marry
each one.
And he soon found one
that
he thought logically
should be his wife.
And he asked her
to marry him
and she said,
yes.
And the marriage
was a disaster
because love
don't wait on logic
and logic
does not lead
to love.
When the woman
anointed the feet
of Jesus,
as I mentioned
last week,
it was not logical.
It was love.
The Samaritan
did not act
logically.
He acted
lovingly.
He acted
when he had
the opportunity
to walk
by the victim.
He would have
missed that opportunity.
The priest
and the Levite
asked,
they responded
logically.
I mean,
a dead body
would have
sidelined them
for a week.
The very thing
that they were
going to do,
they would not
be able to do
if this fellow
didn't make it.
And it's much easier
to say,
I don't have time
for this.
Because the reality
is,
we only have time
for the things
that are important
to us.
So the question
is,
what's important
to us?
we've pledged
our life
to Christ.
We've pledged
our life
to serve him.
If today
you're a
professed
Christian,
so
what's important
to us?
And you may
say,
well,
to do
such as this
would be
fanatical.
To put
yourself out
like this?
Now look,
preacher,
I mean,
you know,
I love the Lord
and the church
and all that,
but I'm not
going to get
fanatical about
this thing.
So let me get
this straight.
Christ left
the glories
of heaven
to be born
on earth
in a cattle
stall.
To face
every temptation
that we would
ever face,
what scripture
says,
and to endure
all of it
sinlessly,
only to be
opposed by
the church
of that day
and endure
the worst
torture
and the worst
execution
known to man
studied by
the Roman
Empire to know
exactly the best
way to torture
a man before
you kill him.
so that you
and I
who fall
to too many
temptations
will have
the opportunity
to have
our many sins
forgiven
and go to
heaven when
we die,
but he
didn't mean
for us
to get
fanatical
about our
faith,
yet we're
to follow
his example.
Let the church
sit on their
tough,
proclaim their
way is right,
and dare the
world to join
them.
Or let's
get outside
the walls
and make a
difference for
Christ.
Because Jesus
said,
this is what
it means to
have eternal
life.
So how do we
do that?
We follow
the example
of who,
of what?
a Samaritan.
I heard
about a
PGA golfer,
don't know
who it is,
that won
$48,000
one weekend,
rough weekend
in PGA.
He won
$48,000,
and when he
had the check
in his hand,
a lady came
to him
with a baby
in her hands
and said,
my baby
is deathly
ill and
needs surgery,
and it is
$25,000,
and I don't
have the money.
And the man
took the check,
endorsed the
back of it,
and handed
it to her.
The next
day,
he got a
call.
from an
official
with PGA
and said,
you've been
fleeced.
He said,
what,
is the baby
all right?
He said,
yeah,
the baby's
all right.
He said,
the woman
was messing
with you.
She took
your money.
You've been
fleeced.
He said,
is the baby
all right?
He said,
yeah,
the baby's
fine.
He said,
good.
That's
all that
matters.
With every
head bowed,
and every
eye closed,
I think
God leads
us to do
what really
matters.
And I'll
tell you what
really matters
is if you
are here
this morning
and there's
never been a
time in your
life when you've
given your heart
and life to the
Lord Jesus
Christ,
I am thankful
today that
today is the
day of salvation.
That Jesus is
the same yesterday,
today,
and forever,
and the offer
that he makes
to those that he
comes in contact
with in the first
century is the
same offer that
he makes to you
today.
That if you'll
come and say,
Lord,
I come as I am.
I know I'm a
sinner.
I know I've done
wrong,
and I ask you to
forgive me,
to cleanse me,
to come into my
life,
and to change
me,
and from this
day forward,
I commit my
life to follow
you.
If you've never
done that,
or you're willing
to surrender your
life to the Lord
Jesus like that,
we're going to
stand in just a
moment,
and we're going
to sing,
and we're doing
it for you,
to give you the
opportunity to come.
If you come,
I'll make sure
someone talks to
you about what it
means to give your
heart and life to
the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Maybe you're here,
and you have done
that, but as you
watch those people
go through baptism
waters today, you
realize that you've
never publicly
professed that
private faith in a
way that is in
obedience to the
Lord, and as I tell
many baptism
candidates, the
reality is that is a
hindrance and a
hurdle in your
Christian walk.
Until you obey God
in that first step of
obedience that not
only Christ showed us
by example, but also
impelled us to do,
unless we do that,
there's a hindrance
there.
So maybe you want
to come this morning
and say, preacher, I
have given my heart
and life to the
Lord Jesus Christ, but
I've never been
baptized as a believer,
and today I want to
come just the way
Christ showed us to
come.
Maybe God's drawing
you to be a part of
this congregation.
God's blessed us in
recent days with many
who have felt led to
come and join us
along this journey.
We're not perfect,
nor are you, and so
man, we get along
great.
So you come as God
leads, and we'll
happily guide you
through that.
You have questions
about that and wonder
about that, my phone
number, I'm easy to
contact.
It's all over the
bulletin.
You let me know.
I'd love to talk to
you about that.
And then I sit among
a lot of priests,
Levites, good old
church folk.
We believe the right
thing.
We're sitting in the
right place today.
Seemingly doing the
right thing.
God says, are we
doing what really
matters?
Are we staking out
our life to follow
his will and his way
in our heart and
life?
I don't know how
God's leading you.
I don't pretend to
know that, but I know
that you'll never be
satisfied until you
follow him.
And so you come as
God leads you.
Maybe you'll make a
decision for the Lord
where you are.
Maybe you'll make a
decision for the Lord
privately at this altar
praying.
Maybe you want
somebody to pray with
you.
I'm here.
Just obey God.
Let's not hinder the
Holy Spirit by not
doing what he tells
us.
Lord Jesus, I love
you.
Thank you for the
privilege and opportunity
you give us today.
Lead us right now, oh
God, I pray in Jesus'
precious name.
Amen.