On The Homefront Series

ON THE HOMEFRONT

Luke 10: 25-37 (p735) Oct. 10, 2010

INTRODUCTION:

When I was growing up there was a Methodist minister that came into my home almost everyday and taught me real truths about loving my neighbor…Fred Rogers would come into his house, take off his jacket, slip on his cardigan sweater, change his dress shoes for sneakers and say, "Hello Neighbor"

"It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood

A beautiful day for a neighbor

Would you be mine

Could you be mine

It’s a neighborly day in the beauty wood

It’s a neighborly day for a beauty

Would you be mine

Could you be mine

I have always wanted to have a neighbor

Just like you….

And then as a little boy, Mr. Rogers took me into his neighborhood. He introduced me to King Friday and land of make believe, Mr. McFeely the postman, speedy….and be always had a special guest…every part of the show was planned to teach you how to be a good neighbor, how to treat the people you came into contact with daily…Its only as an adult that I came to realize that Fred Rogers built his show on the foundation of the parable of the good Samaritan...and that when I walk out the door of my home I walk into the neighborhood…and into the lives of my neighbors.

Its exactly what Jesus did…He walked out of the front door of his home in heaven and walked into our neighborhood… the 2nd chapter of Philippians tells us how He came…"He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant"

And one of the most difficult challenges in the New Testament immediately precedes that truth. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5)

As I walk out my front door, into the world…if I have called Christ my Lord and Savior, my attitude should be the same as His…I can come sing about this attitude on Sunday mornings, I can pray about this attitude on Wed. nights, but I am called to live out this attitude in the neighborhood…and its not an easy one…"It’s the attitude of a servant…what can I do for you! How can I help you? How can I serve you?" that’s the attitude the Spirit of Christ is trying to create in my heart, and all the while my sinful nature…my selfish nature says…"No, serve me…Give me….Help me!"

It really is a battle for our hearts…it really is about the attitude that wins.

No wonder this parable is told by Jesus to a man who wants to justify his…

1.

I Eternal life will never be found in External living.

An expert in the law…the O.T. commands stood up to test Jesus…Testing God is never the greatest of ideas.

"Teacher what must I Do to inherit eternal life"

What must I do? It’s the way most of us think…If I'm good enough…do enough…live nice enough…I'm in!

But I love how Jesus makes us face the real truth…How putting the cart before the horse never works…

He asks the tester…"What's written in the law? How do you read it?"

And believe it or not he gives the right answer "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with your strength and with all your mind."

Love God emotionally, spiritually, physically…Love God with everything you are…Love Him completely and totally.

Here is the starting place for salvation…it has nothing to do with doing…it has everything to do with being in relationship with God…seeking him, talking to him, surrendering to Him…really falling in love with him.

Its what He created us for…its what God really desires. Its what changes everything especially our attitudes.

And then the expert adds "and love your neighbor as yourself"

I'm not sure if the tester added this because he was suppose to…or if he had this in mind for the testing of Jesus, but

Jesus responds "Do this and your will live"

Notice Jesus doesn't give a list of good things to do for salvation…He approves the starting place for salvation…Loving God. Do this….really love him, and that horse will pull the cart. That relationship will influence how your heart beats, mind thinks, hands work in your neighborhood.

When elderly Adele Gaboury turned up missing four years ago,

concerned neighbors in Worchester, Massachusetts, informed the police.

A brother told police she had gone into a nursing home. Satisfied with

that information, Gaboury's neighbors began watching her property.

Michael Crowley noticed her mail, delivered through a slot in the door, piling

high. When he opened the door, hundreds of pieces of mail drifted out.

2.

He notified police, and deliveries were stopped. Gaboury's next-door neighbor,

Eileen Dugan, started paying her grandson $10 twice a month to mow Gaboury's