“Real neighbours just do it – Luke 10:25-37”
Gladstone Baptist Church – 19/3/06 am
S1 - People don’t seem to be interested in helping other people out today
I don’t know about you boys and girls, but I think people are becoming more and more selfish. People don’t seem to be willing to help other people any more.
I want to tell you a bit about this lady. Her name is Delmae Barton - but everyone calls her Aunty Delmae. She is famous - she is an opera singer and has sung with the best orchestras in Australia and overseas. Actually she has combined aboriginal music with opera – can you imagine a didgeridoo featuring at an opera. Well Aunty Delmae and her son, have done this.
Well last Monday, Aunty Delmae was catching a bus to Griffith University in Brisbane where she helps out regularly, but as she got off the bus at on the way to the university, she started to feel sick and dizzy. She sat down on one of the seats at the bus stop and then collapsed. She actually had a stroke which meant that she was paralysed. She couldn’t get up and she couldn’t talk and she was so sick, she ended up vomiting. Do you know that she lay there sick and paralysed in her vomit for nearly 5 hours, while hundreds of people just walked by her. No one called an ambulance. No one asked whether she was okay.
It was 5 hours before some Japanese students came past and called an ambulance which took her to hospital. 5 hours lying at a bus stop unable to move and just watching others walk by.
Why do you think that no one helped Aunty Delmae?
It is so sad, when people don’t help other people in need. But we would never be like that. We would always help people wouldn’t we? – because we are Christians!!!
S2 - I think that even Christians who go to church don’t seem to be interested in helping other people out.
Boys & Girls, how often have you seen someone crying in the playground at school and not gone up to see what is wrong with them. Mum’s and Dad’s don’t often do this either. Mums & Dads, how often do you see someone broken down on the side of the road and you drive right past them without seeing if they need any help.
Boys and Girls, how often have you seen someone from your class being picked on and you don’t stick up for them. Mum’s and Dad’s find it hard to stand up against bully’s also.
Boys and Girls, how often have you seen that your Mum is really tired after a big day. Mum’s have a hard job and often get tired. But how often do you turn off the TV or the XBox and go up to Mum and ask her if you can help her get tea, or help her do the washing up. Dad’s I could ask you the same question – You are tired also, I know, but how often do you help your wife out.
I wonder how many people who walked past Aunty Delmae go to church. I wonder what you would have done if you had been at Griffith University that day and seen Aunty Delmae. You see, just because we come to church, often doesn’t mean that we are any better off than anyone else. We don’t help other people either very often either – we are selfish also.
S3 – Once there was a man who wanted to know how he could show he was good enough to get into heaven.
Once there was a man who came up to Jesus and he was a very smart man. He wanted to know what he had to do to show everyone that he was going to be accepted by God and to live with God forever.
We all know that you can’t make it into heaven by doing good things don’t we … I don’t know if I’ve ever shown you this heart. When God looks at us, he sees everything we do and he writes down everything we do – the good things and the bad things. Every one of us has good things and bad things written down on this heart – and God sees them all.
But we have a problem, because heaven is a perfect place, but our hearts aren’t perfect. If God let us into heaven with a heart like this – we’d spoil heaven, because it would not be perfect any longer. So somehow we have to get rid of all the bad things.
Let me ask you a question boys and girls, if we do lots and lots of good things, is that going to get rid of the bad things? No of course not – the bad things are still there aren’t they and my heart is not perfect. What if I do a hundred good things and only 1 bad thing – is it perfect? What if I do a 1000 good things and only 1 bad thing – is it perfect? What if I do a million good things and only 1 bad thing – is it perfect?
The only way we can get to heaven is if we have done nothing bad ever. We’ve all done more than 1 bad thing, haven’t we, so we all have hearts that aren’t perfect and God can’t accept us. The only way that we can get rid of the bad things is by getting rid of them. When Jesus died on the cross for us, he died so that our sins can be forgiven and what that means is that when God looks at us, he sees our hearts he sees that we have been forgiven by Jesus and all he sees is the good things and so he says – come on into heaven – you are perfect and deserve it.
Now the man who came to Jesus to find out what he had to do to get to heaven wasn’t perfect. He had done things wrong and so he had a heart that looked just like yours and mine – imperfect. But he still asked, what must I do to get to heaven.
S4 – Jesus told him that he needed to serve God and act like a real neighbour.
Jesus didn’t answer his question though. He actually asked him “What do you think you have to do?”
Now this man was very smart and knew the bible really well and so he said, “Well in Deuteronomy it says that you have to love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And in Leviticus it says you have to love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus agreed with him. You see if we really loved God with every single bit of us, and if we loved everyone as we loved ourselves, we would never do anything wrong. We would be perfect and get to heaven. So if we were able to do this, we’d have a perfect heart.
But can any of us ever live like that perfectly? No of course we can’t. I think this man realised that. I think that he started to thing – “Gee, I can’t love God perfectly with every part of me and I don’t love everyone – I don’t like John – he always annoys me and I don’t like Susan, because she is so stuck up.” You know, the more he thought about it, the more he realised there were people he didn’t like. But then he got thinking. “Hey who is my neighbor anyway? – maybe these aren’t my neighbors. I am good friends with Joe next door and Bob and Harriet across the road are good friends too. So maybe I am obeying the second command.” So he asked Jesus – “Who is my neighbor?”
Boys and Girls, I want to ask you the same question – what do you think Jesus said – Who is you neighbor?
S5 – Jesus told a story that showed that real neighbors do something to help others in need.
This is how Jesus answered the man’s question … Watch this (Show Section of Jesus Video).
Three people walked past this man who needed help. Who was the first man? He was a priest. A priest is like a minister or pastor. It would be like if Pastor Roger or myself walked past this man.
Would you be disappointed if you were lying on the ground in pain and Pastor Roger or myself walked past you? I would be too. We expect a lot of our pastors. But this pastor was too busy to stop. He may have been on his way to his church! He may have been on his way to visit someone! I don’t know But he was too busy to stop. Boys and girls, we often think that we are too busy to help people. Maybe you were in the middle of a game down the playground and you didn’t want to stop playing to go and see what was making another child cry. Maybe you were in the middle of a level on your playstation and way too busy to help Mum clean up the living room. I’m sure that many people who walked past Aunty Delmae thought they were too busy to stop and help her. The Priest wasn’t a real neighbor because he didn’t do anything to help. Can you draw for me a picture of the busy priest walking past the man on the road for me while I talk quickly to your Mums & Dads?
To Parents …
The priest was probably fearing that this man on the road was dead. Jewish law stated that if you touched a dead body, you were ritually unclean for 7 days. If a priest touched a dead body, then, he would be unable to be involved in temple worship. That meant that the priest couldn’t be a priest until he went through the cleansing ritual after 7 days. Sounds like a good excuse for a week’s holiday to me. But to this priest, it was an inconvenience he could avoid and so he thought – better safe than sorry and so he crossed over the road and gave him a wide berth. Have you ever not helped someone because you thought that it would inconvenience you too much?
To Boys & Girls …
The second person to walk by the man was a Levite. This was a person who worked around the temple and did lots of things to help the priests and people. He would be like one of the Elders or Leaders in our church. Maybe like Dr Bird or Mr O’Rourke who are our elders. Maybe he was like Mr Holley or Mrs Golding who leads boys brigade and girls brigade. Maybe he was like Mr Young the principle of Trinity college. This man was a leader in the church and he also looked at the man and walked around him. How would you feel if you were hurting and one of the leaders of our church walked around you? Pretty disappointed? I think that this man thought that he was also too busy to help and Mums & Dads, he would have also been worried about his purity. This man had work to do and I don’t think that he thought it should include looking after sick or hurting people. That was someone else’s job in the church – it wasn’t his job and so he also walked around him. Boys and Girls, have you ever not helped someone because you didn’t think it was your job to help them? Maybe it is not your turn to help set the table and so you don’t think you should have to help. The Levite wasn’t a real neighbor because he didn’t do anything to help. Can you draw a picture of the Levite walking around the hurt man also?
To Mums & Dads …
Mum’s and Dad’s, too often we can have a silo mentality in our ministry. We see that our job is to run kids programs or to lead a home group or to shake hands with people at the front door. We limit our ministry to those tasks and those tasks only and neglect to see that we are called to minister to people with needs.
The Levites’ role in society was significant in the Old Testament when the tabernacle was in operation – they were responsible for dismantling it, carrying it and setting it up. But with the building of the fixed temple, their role sort of became redundant. So we find that they took on other roles around the temple – they supervised the work in the temple, providing music for the temple, acting as judges and officials and acting as gate keepers and bouncers (1 Chron 23:3-5). Did their role include looking after people in need? We are uncertain, but I suspect that it was. People’s tithes usually was collected by the Levites to support all the priests and Levites. But Deut 14:28-29 says that every third year, the money was collected and instead of being brought to the temple, it was kept in the villages to feed the Levites, widows, aliens and poor. Though we are not told, I think it would have been the Levite’s job to collect this money and distribute it to the needy. So it was infact the Levite’s job to care for the needy. But maybe this particular Levite was a gatekeeper or a muso or did something else around the temple. He thought it wasn’t his job to look after the poor and needy because other Levites had that job. Maybe he did distribute money, but he was on his holidays and so thought he was exempt.
We are so like this Levite – we see things that need doing; we see people who need help – but we don’t because we think that is not our ministry. We don’t have the spiritual gift of helping or caring. How wrong that is.
To Boys & Girls …
Lastly a Samaritan man came along. This man was an enemy of the Jews. Jews and Samaritans hated each other. It would be like the person in your class who you dislike the most coming and offering to help you. You would be surprised if that happened wouldn’t you!!!
But this man came and helped the man. He bandaged him up and put him on his own donkey which meant that he had to walk now himself. He took the hurt man to the nearest town and asked a man there to look after him and help him recover from his wounds. He actually paid for this man to receive all the medical treatment he needed. He paid 2 denarii – which was the equivalent to 1 month’s boarding costs – that would be about $500 in today’s money. That is a lot of money to pay to help a stranger - $500!!! It’s a lot of money to give away to an enemy. But that is what this man did.
Jesus then asked the crowd who was the neighbor to the injured man. Who do you think was the neighbor? Why? The Samaritan man who helped him was the neighbor. Can you complete your drawing by drawing the Samaritan man helping the injured man.
To Mum’s & Dads …
A Samaritan was probably the last person in the world who you would think would stop and help out the wounded man. It would be like your worst enemy coming and helping you – or you helping the person you most dislike in this world. But this is what Jesus is calling him to do. This Samaritan went out of his way to help this man. He broke with all social, political and religious protocols. It took him time to help this man. It took him energy – he gave up his donkey for this man and the Samaritan had to walk the rest of the way. It cost him a significant amount of money. But this is what a real neighbor does.
To Everyone…
S6 – We all can be a real neighbor if we chose to help others in need.
Remember the young man who asked Jesus the question “Who is my neighbour?” in the first place? Jesus answered him that everyone is your neighbor. If I asked you that same question – “Who is your neighbor?” - what would you say? Everybody
If we want to obey God’s rule perfectly, we need to love everybody just as much as we love ourselves. And loving them means helping them when they need help. Jesus wants us to be real neighbors to everybody in this world. And real neighbors help out when help is needed.
Let’s see if you’ve got it
– Who is your neighbor? Everybody
– What do neighbors do? Help out
Remember “my heart” that I showed you earlier. Jesus wants us to help others – not because we think that it is going to get us into heaven. We all know that won’t work. We know that we really need Jesus’ forgiveness to get rid of the bad things in our lives.
We don’t help others to try to earn our way to heaven, but we do help others because we are going to heaven. God loves us so much and Jesus wants us to share his love with others. We do kind things and be neighborly because we want to show others how fantastic God’s love is.
So who is your neighbor? – Everybody
And what do neighbors do? – Help out
