487B9348C69CC9D8D92B599B4521EDF8 BB's Blessings, Blunderings, & Blitherings: Show your faith by your works... love your neighbor!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Show your faith by your works... love your neighbor!

We are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

In this, God is telling us to love Him and demonstrate our love for Him by loving our neighbor.

So who is our neighbor? Jesus answered this same question with a parable.

30 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" 37 And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." Luke 10:30-37 NKJV*

v. 30 Notice that Jesus doesn’t identify the man who “went down from Jerusalem”. We don’t know if this man was a Jew or Gentile. Even though Jesus didn’t specifically mention the ethnicity of this man, we assume he is a Jew. The robbers/thieves didn’t necessarily pay attention to his nationality or race or religion. Whatever distinguishing characteristics we would use today are missing in Jesus’ parable. They (the robbers) simply saw an opportunity and seized upon it to do the work of their “father”.

v. 31 A certain priest – this would be a man that knows the word of God. He knows that God has expectations of him to reach out to others. But he passes by the injured person and leaves him for dead.

v. 32 A Levite – this is a man that not only knows the word of God, but ministers to God Himself. He is supposed to be very close to God because of his calling. Yet he passes by the injured man and leaves him for dead.

v. 33 A Samaritan – this is a man who is considered despised by the Jews. Very often there was open hostility and hatred between Samaritans and Jews. Samaritans were people of Samaria and were thought of by the Jews as a mongrel race and of a polluted religion. Jesus ministered to and taught the Samaritans. The woman at the well was a Samaritan and she spoke about Jacob being their father in John 4:12 which says to me that they are children of Israel/Jacob. They were a people that believed the God of Israel. The Samaritan saw the injured person and saw him as a person in need, not as a “certain” type of man – he had compassion on him.

v. 34 The Samaritan went to him, cleansed his wounds, bound them up, put him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn where he cared for him.

v. 35 The next day, when he had to continue on his journey, he made provision for the man to be cared for by the innkeeper, paid in advance for whatever costs would be incurred and went his way – promising to return and repay, if necessary, any costs that accumulated beyond what he pre-paid. The Samaritan saw an opportunity and seized upon it to do the work of his “father”. He demonstrates his love for his God by demonstrating love for his fellow man.

This Samaritan didn't perform surgery. It didn't take special skill to do what he did. He didn't need years of schooling or training. He, as well as the priest and the Levite, were without excuse. Each man in this parable was expected to reach out to this injured person - this person in need.

This proves that none of us have an excuse for not "doing" in the kingdom of God. All He requires is a willing and obedient heart; a heart that beats for Him.

What is interesting in this parable is that, if we assume that the injured man was a Jew, it was his own "brothers" that came across him. Two of those brothers passed him by. It is likely that these were brothers that he either received teaching from or worshipped with every Sabbath. The one that didn't pass him by was the least likely person to have stopped - even though he was a "brother" too.

Jesus said in John 13:34-35*, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus was speaking to His disciples – not the general population. He was speaking to those who number themselves with him. He was speaking to those who name the name of Jesus. He was speaking to us.

His message here is that we are to love our brethren. As He has loved us, we are to love one another. By this outward act, the unbeliever will know that we are His disciples – when we demonstrate that love that He has given us, toward our brethren. When the general population – the unbelievers, the backslidden, the lost – when they see our love for each other, it will draw them to the one Who has placed that love within us.

Notice that He said it was a commandment? Just as the Samaritan was obeying God’s command to love God and to love his neighbor as himself, we are to be obedient to Jesus’ command to love one another – as well as obey the command to love God and our neighbor.

Who is our neighbor? Are you being obedient? Is there any area that you need to change? Are you loving God by loving His people? Are you serving God by serving His people? There are many areas that you could serve God in. Ask God, ask your pastor, ask your choir director or Sunday School teacher or other leader in your church… you can be obedient and serve in some area, in some capacity, regardless of your age, or your education, or your abilities ~ or your perceived lack of these attributes. Can you pick up a mop and broom? Can you vacuum? Can you wash dishes? Can you supervise children? Can you help out with supervising the children? Can you teach a Sunday School class? Can you play an instrument? Can you tell others of the love of the Lord? Can you pick someone up for service? These are just a few of the ways you can be like the Samaritan and serve God by serving His people – love God by loving His people.

What are you waiting for?

*All Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooo, this was good!
I have also heard that the priest represented religion, and the Levite the law. Both should have known better!
Fluffy

Unknown said...

I have heard that too, Fluffy. And you're right... both should have known better... and that applies to us today, dont you agree?

Thanks for the kind words!