The last months and most recently the last few weeks have been pretty challenging for us all.
I heard one pastor say that this has been the toughest season he's ever led through from leading through this COVID 19, the political insanity, the news insanity, to the most recent events of the death of George Floyd, the protests, and the racial injustice
It seems like there’s division everywhere and honestly as a pastor that's trying to keep a church in unity it’s a bit overwhelming at times.
It would be easy to fall into the temptation to push away from the table, get off social media, and not engage in the topics at hand.
I don’t know about you but I’ve wanted to push away and live life as if everything is ok. But the truth is everything is not ok.
I don't know if you can relate to that but there's been such a bombarding of information.
There has been a bombarding of division and conflict that and truthfully, it has just been difficult for me to stay focused.
Should I engage in this topic, should I stay away from it. I want to relate but I don’t know how to relate.
Is it the right thing to stand up and speak, or sit down and be silent? So then I find that even within myself I have division.
So I have been trying to process all of this and I decided, to answer it all with LOVE.
Now with that said, the way to answer division is with love.
Y’all would be surprised at the division that we have just sitting in this room over topics like COVID 19, face masks, politics which we won’t discuss, and even the topical of racial discrimination.?
Wonder what would happen if we all took some truth serum in this room? I bet we would be shocked to hear the differences of opinions sitting in this room.
With that said, I am challenged with pastoring you and it is my job to keep us together in unity!
I am thankful we have been able to come back together and this is our second service together after 11 weeks apart.
But it is interesting as we begin to come back together, we have all had different opinions on what coming back together should look like.
What guidelines we should be using, what guidelines we should not be using? Should we take temperatures at the door, what about face masks, the list could go on and on.
But if we aren’t careful even division can happen just over something as simple as getting back in the building.
In all of this, in the spiritual sense I know I am called to preach and to pastor, but in the flesh sense, my flesh tells me that is all I am called to do, just pastor and preach to the few God has given you and don’t get in the middle of all of the other mess.
Don’t worry about COVID 19, don’t worry about racial injustice. You aren’t a big-time preacher or pastor. Fox or CNN are not going to cover footage from your church. You don’t have a national stage. Don’t worry about any of that. Nobody is going to care about what you have to say. Just push away, you don’t need the tension, you don’t have to fight someone else’s battle.
Then it hit me no I don't have a national stage but I do have a stage. I have a stage that I preach from the week after week that is live-streamed. I talk on a live stream Monday through Friday, I have a stage in my home when I have to answer the question about why an African American man died by the hands of someone who was supposed to be protecting life.
No, I may have a national stage but I understand I do have a place that God has called me to. I am called to speak into the lives of the people who have God has seen fit to play in my path to pastor.
With all that said, It is my desire to do that with faithfulness and I always want to share what God gives me with my whole heart.
I only want to be faithful to who God's called me to be and preach and teach only what God gives me to preach and teach!
So I have asked God what to do during this uncertain and painful season and he pointed me to this story that I started sharing yesterday morning.
Before I start, I have told you the past two Wednesday nights, that the most important thing for us as Christians is to live a Victorious Life. We need to Confess, Control, and Conquer! Last Wednesday night I told you we needed to be Battle Ready. We need to be battle-ready because Satan wants to divert us, divide us, and deceive us.
Tonight I want to help us victorious and be “Led by Love!”
We will never fail loving one another! Can I get an amen!
Let me read the story to you. Now I know Pastor Denny preached from this story a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing! Tonight if you will bear with me, I want to break it apart.
Luke 10:25-37
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, 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 on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
In this story the lawyer wanted to test Jesus.
The lawyer, the attorney was sitting there and Jesus was teaching the people.
The lawyer tests Jesus with a question, he asks, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus responds and asks what does the law say.
The man answered to love God with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself. Jesus said you are right, do that and you will live. The man apparently thought he had loved his neighbor. So, then the man asks, who is my neighbor?
Now it wasn't by chance that the lawyer was Jewish and Jesus tells a story about a Good Samaritan because there were racial tensions between the Jews and the Samaritans.
The Jews called the Samaritans dogs or half breeds because they were not full-blooded Jews, they had a mixed bloodline.
Jesus begins telling this Jewish lawyer a parable that explained what being a good neighbor looked like.
So Jesus tells the story of a man who fell among thieves and robbers.
This man didn’t deserve to be robbed, stripped, and left for dead, no more than any of us, God forbid that ever happened to any of us.
This man was traveling and minding his own business when he was attacked, stripped, and left for dead.
This man was a victim of injustice nothing more, nothing less. He was robbed and taken advantage of.
Beaten and left on the side of the road incapable of taking care of himself. He was left to die alone.
This man represents any of us or anyone who may have been taken advantage of.
Now understand, Jesus decided to show this lawyer what love looked like by taking a man who did not deserve what had happened to him.
He used this as an illustration that this man was taken advantage of and that there was a there was an act of injustice committed against him.
It should have never happened.
This man represents anyone who has been taken advantage of whether it be spiritually by Satan, or naturally by a human.
This man being taken advantage of t represents the bullied the ostracized, the alienated the forgotten about, the picked on, the discriminated against, the person incapable of taking up for themselves.
I believe we the church have a job to do and we need to protect those who are victims of injustice. We need to be “Led by Love so we can Lead with Love!”
As a pastor I want you to understand defeating injustice begins with us, it begins with the church!
It begins in our homes where we should teach our children to love everyone no matter their race, nationally, culture, gender, or color.
We should teach our children what it looks like to take care of somebody who is being ostracized or alienated.
You say, well I don’t want to get involved, it’s none of my business, but if you are a child of God, you should be led by love.
A true child of God can’t sit back and allow injustice to happen!
Too many times, we feel justified because we attend church but sin is still active in our hearts, hate, greed, envy, and jealousy is in our hearts
I value fellowship and coming together, but what does coming together change if we don’t make a difference?
God's called us to something bigger and better has called us to Lead with Love, but to do that we have to be Led by Love!
So what do we do when we know someone has been taken advantage of do you run to their aid, do you defend them or help them?
how do we respond when we see someone discriminated against in the real world?
Whether you know it or not, I have been discriminated against. You say how is that?
Well, I will say, before I had a glass eye, my other eye appeared smaller than the other.
So instead of some people asking what had happened, often I was called names and picked on. Until one day, one of my true friends overheard it and beat the living daylights out of the guy who said it.
After that, he was with me all the time and nobody called me names anymore.
Now I don’t condone violence, but I was appreciative of his friendship and still am to this day.
So, how do we respond when someone is discriminated against or taken advantage of?
Well, Jesus had something to say about that in his story.
In His parable, he describes a priest and a Levite who comes walking down the road at different times.
Now if Jewish culture the priest and the Levite were both at the top of Jewish culture in the church.
In the Jewish church culture, priests don't get any higher and the Levite was his assistant.
It’s interesting that Jesus the one we follow, the one we serve, the one that we've submitted our lives to follow him in his ways, decided to pick the two most influential positions in Jewish culture to tell his story.
So Jesus says both of these men are walking down the street, and both of them pass right on by the man who was laying there on the verge of death.
Instead of engaging the person, they walk to the other side of the road. They walk past him.
The priest comes and does that, the Levite comes and does that. They walk on the other side of the street.
Now understand tonight coming to church and being super religious does not mean you are “Led by Love” or that we've embraced loving one another.
Just because our religious practices are high it does not mean that we have mastered the skill of loving God and loving others.
Your religious practices and deep spirituality and understand is not defined by how well we can quote scriptures, how many church services we attend, how much we give in tithes and offerings.
We are known spiritually and known as Christians by being Christ-like.
We are known as Christians by how well we love God and how well we love other people.
In the church, we need a lot less gossiping and hatred, and backbiting and arguing, and fussing and fighting.
But in the church, we need to be “Led by love so we can Lead with love!”
We need more of acceptance, a lot more of taking more of loving somebody even if they don't agree with
me.
Listen it seems easier to turn a blind eye and walk on by but and often we have that temptation but we have to be led by love.
It would be easier for me to stand up in here and teach and preach about something that's not culturally relevant.
It would be easy for me to keep my mouth closed on issues like social injustice and abortion and the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, or helping the poor.
Because when you start to talk about these issues everybody starts to squirm and
It would be easy to throw the priest and the Levite under the bus but I can't because I have compassion for them.
I understand that it is easier to walk on by the tough issues. It doesn’t mean it’s right but it is easier.
It's easier not to talk about it, it's easier not to get involved and because it's easier they walked on the other side.
As Christians, we have to stop taking the easy way out and get involved, and engaged in the tough issues.
How can we ever lead the hurting to Jesus if we keep looking the other way?
Jesus says, the priest and the Levite look the other way and pass but then there is a Samaritan that passes by.
The Samaritan comes into the picture to save the day.
Jesus is going to use this Samaritan to show us what being Led by Love looks like.
As I said earlier, Samaritans were hated by the Jews.
It is sad to say that the Jews would actually travel several miles, equaling hours or even a day's journey, out of their path so that they would not have to go through Samaria because of the racial prejudice they had for that city.
So Jesus is teaching about being Led by love and he uses one of the dogs, if you will, one of the Samaritans from the town that the Jews wouldn’t pass through.
Jesus uses a guy out of that community and says he's going to be the hero of this story.
Jesus says, but there was a certain Samaritan. Now understand when the lawyer heard something about a Samaritan, was an inward reaction of disgust.
He is thinking, what do you mean a priest passed him by? What do you mean a Levite passed him by?
Now there is no way a Samaritan would stop and help anybody!
When Jesus said the Samaritan man, this lawyer may have had feelings of anger in his heart, he may have had feelings of conviction in his heart.
Jesus used the one who was hated to show love! He showed that even though somebody is hated.
If they are led by love, they can lead by love.
On the flip side, he showed that often the ones who are supposed to lead with love are often the ones led by hate!
Jesus uses the hated to lead with love.
In the day and hour we live in, we need more people willing to be led by love so they can lead with love,.
We need more people to love their neighbor!
Let’s put this in today's language, watch this he jumps all in he gets a first aid kit out of his car and starts fixing his wounds.
He picks him up and puts him in his car and takes him to the inn, or hospital, whatever, takes out cash and says here is whatever is needed to pay for his care and if it costs more, when I come back, I will pay you the full amount owed.
This Samaritan man got his hands dirty. He literally got his blood on his hands. He got in the dirt on his clothes.
Now, this is just a story unless you're the guy in the laying there naked and half-dead in the dirt.
This is just a story unless you're laying there watching the sandals of others walk by and then out of nowhere somebody dives into your life and saves it.
It’s more than a story to that man, it is life to him!
We need more people willing to get their hands dirty. We need more people in the church who are Led by Love!
The greatest commandment we have is to love God and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves!
Jesus looks up at the attorney who no doubt is very upset maybe even angry at the story and Jesus asks him a question.
Jesus asks, which one of these showed love for his neighbor?
The lawyer says the neighbor was the one who showed mercy.
How many believe we should show mercy?
Now let’s look at this for a moment through the attorney's eyes.
Everything he knows has just been stripped away.
The religion he knows, literally in one Bible study has been stripped from him.
Now the one who brought the test is now being tested.
Jesus says which one is the loving your neighbor and then he musters up enough energy to say the one who showed mercy.
Then Jesus says, why don't you go and do likewise.
That sounds like an altar call to me.
Folks, the greatest commandment we have is to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We can’t allow the discriminated, the poor, or the Forgotten to lay helpless.
They need to be lead with love.
They need to hear our love and they need to see our love.
Let me read some scriptures to you about being “Led by Love.”
Romans 12:9 King James Version (KJV)
9 Let love be without dissimulation or (don’t pretend to love, don’t fake your love). Abhor or (hate, or stand against), that which is evil; cleave or hold on to that which is good.
John 3:16 King James Version (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
1 John 3:1 King James Version (KJV)
3 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
Ephesians 5:2 King James Version (KJV)
2 And walk in love or (live a life full of love), as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Romans 12:10 King James Version (KJV)
10 Be kindly affectioned or be devoted one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
John 13:34-35 King James Version (KJV)
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
1 Corinthians 13:13 English Standard Version (ESV)
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Conclusion
Let me close with this, when did we forget how to love, did it happen suddenly or was it a gradual, decline when did we forget the very foundation of the gospel for God so loved
Love is what moved God to action, love is what held Jesus to the cross
Love is what rolled the stone away but sometimes I feel we've forgotten the part in the Bible that says without love we are simply a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. Without love what we say is nothing more than a bunch of noise. Without love we are nothing.
Let me ask the question tonight, is that what people see in us, is that what they see in you or in me, nothing more than meaningless empty noise?
Love is supposed to be patient and kind, gentle, not angry or arrogant yet in our effort to stand on the truth I wonder if we have forgotten the very thing these truths are based on and that is love?
Never once did Jesus fail in this, not in his heartbreak or his anger, not in his joy or his betrayal.
His default has always been love! He led with love because He was led by love!
I believe it’s time for the church to be “Led By Love” so we can lead with love!
