We took this summer to discuss many different philosophical as well as biblical arguments that point to God’s existence. Yet amongst all the arguments, I believe one of the greatest testimonies for the existence of a personal God is His love (1 John 4:8). Love is at the core of the Christian faith because God is Love. God loved us so much that He gave His own Son so that we would not have to experience judgment, impending death, and eternal separation from Him. The crucifixion brought glory to the Father because it revealed His wisdom, faithfulness, holiness, His love and commitment to His promises. The crucifixion brought glory to the Son because it revealed His compassion, His patience, His power and His love for His Father, and this whole world. This love is the greatest testimony to people from every nation, religious and secular background, to all who don’t know Him.
As Jesus spent His last week on this earth that He co-created, and before suffering an indescribably horrific death on the cross, what were some of His parting words to the disciples? He said:
Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35 NLT).
One of the last things my dad wrote at the very bottom of his will was: “When your mom and I are gone, we want you to stay close to each other, to continue to look out for each other, and take care of each other as a family.” How much more is Jesus saying this to His family? Love one another! Look out for one another. Care for each other. By this type of love everyone will know Whom we follow. It goes beyond natural, limited, human love - this is talking about being filled up in our hearts with God’s love for our brothers and sisters and the people around us.
What is the character of love? How does 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 define love?
Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening] (1 Cor 13:4-7).
J. C. Ryle, a 19th C Anglican preacher said:
There is nothing that the world understands and values more than true charity. The very men who cannot comprehend doctrine and know nothing of theology can appreciate charity. It arrests their attention and makes them think. For the world’s sake, if for no other cause, let us follow after charity more and more.
Ryle’s statement is beautiful and should inspire us but isn’t the love command one that we struggle the most with? Maybe this is because life is relationships but deep, healthy relationships are hard work. This brings us to the passage today.
Luke 10:25-37 (ESV)
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he encountered robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by coincidence a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed compassion to him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
What can we take away from this lawyer’s encounter with Jesus? In this passage, some things we can see are:
1. Religious Love
2. True Love
3. The Results of Love
Let’s look at the first type of love:
1. Religious Love
After Jesus' disciples returned from a fruitful time of preaching the gospel in the surrounding towns and villages we see an expert in the Jewish law, sent by the Sanhedrin, standing up in the crowd to test Jesus. This verb test is the same word Jesus used when Satan was tempting Him in the wilderness.
The question this man asked was on the minds of many: “What do I have to do to have eternal life?” In other words he was asking, “What do I have to do to share in the resurrection of the righteous?” The word “do” is referring to the one time task that would guarantee all the blessings that the righteous would inherit at the end of time. How many people live like this? People want to know the one thing or list of things they have to do to get the blessing at the end of time while living the way they want now.
Jesus puts the question back on the man: “What does the Law say?” “How do you read it?” Why do you think He asked the man these two questions? What Jesus was asking him was:
What does the Word of God say? How should it be interpreted it in its context? These questions are very relevant for us today. How many Christians can quote the Word of God but take passages out of context? We all have our own filters and systems of rationalization when listening to the Word of God, but we need to always keep the Word in its context. Jesus knew that this man already had the answer because he was an expert in the law. He might have been one of the Levitical priests, so Jesus put the question back on him. Let’s look at the passage and see how this man answered in v. 27
You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
This was the Deuteronomy 6 prayer that every Jew prayed each morning and evening. God’s love is not an abstract concept but is very tangible, it can be felt and seen. Love for God produces love for people.” So Jesus said you are right now “continually do this and you will live.” But why did the lawyer feel like he had to justify himself? Why did he ask, who is my neighbor? What can you see in his response? He was trying to justify his limited, religious love that would only go so far (v. 29). He limited his “neighbor” to his fellow Israelites, to those who are in the same family, those who are easy to love because they are good people like me. “We can’t love everyone! Where do you draw the line? What about liars, corrupt people, those who slander others? What about people who don’t even believe in God? Really, Jesus, who is my neighbor?”
John said:
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? (1 Jn 4:20).
This is the best that religious or natural love can do.
To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is much more than adopting a code of behavior; it is the outcome of a spiritual relationship that affects all aspects of our life. What does it take to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? How do we move from natural, human or religious love to having God’s supernatural love? Why would love include all your heart, soul, mind and strength?
Love is not some fuzzy, sentimental emotion - love is according to God’s Word and standard so it includes our intellect, our spirit, it directs our emotions and affects us physiologically. Our entire being responds to love and moves us into action. The Jews didn’t divorce their faith from what they practiced - faith and practice were vitally linked together and reflected the state of a person’s relationship to the Lord. Devotion to God is expressed by how we worship Him and how we treat others. Love is not a shallow, fair-weathered commitment. You can’t divorce love for God and love for people. Jesus then compared religious love to:
2. True Love
Jesus begins to tell a story about what could easily be a real-life situation. It could happen to anyone anywhere back then or even today. So even if it was a parable or story, it could well have been the report of an actual event. For Jesus to tell a story that made the Jews look bad and the Samaritans look good would be self-defeating or even dangerous. But based on the reputation of this route from Jericho it is possible that some of His listeners, including the lawyer, knew that such an event was likely to have happened.
In verse 30 Jesus tells the story about a man, it could have been any man - Jesus was not looking at his nationality or culture - He was looking at the person. While traveling this man was brutally assaulted on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho which was about a 17-mile journey. These thugs left him on the side of the road for dead. By chance a priest who was coming from Jerusalem saw this man, crossed the street and continued on his way. Why? Perhaps he wanted to avoid contracting impurity by contact with what looked like (or might soon become) a dead body. But this would not have been necessary since his time serving at the temple was over. Anyway, this was not his problem. And then a Levite even walked over to examine the man but did the same thing! That would have been a good story, a great testimony - here comes two different guys with Bibles to save the day, but no, they just keep walking and even cross to the other side of the road to avoid contact. What is going on here? You would expect that the religious people would be the ones who would have done the most to help this man because they knew the Law inside and out. But Jesus isn’t done, there was a third person in the story, a Samaritan. Those listening probably thought, oh no, not a Samaritan. Why would that be so disturbing?
To the Jews, the Samaritans were nothing more than a half-breeds, unclean, and unworthy nation. They were a despised group of people, considered leftovers from the northern tribe of Israel who the Jews considered pagans. So for hundreds of years there had been this common animosity towards one another.
What is surprising is that the Samaritan who, naturally speaking, could have rejoiced in the suffering of his neighboring nation did something totally unexpected. When he saw this man, he had compassion on him and expressed love in a tangible way. He applied ancient first aid, humbly put the man on his donkey and was not ashamed to walk alongside him all the way to the inn. He took care of him and gave sacrificially, two silver coins - which would have enough for 3 weeks of food. Jesus was letting this expert in the law know that true love, God’s love reaches across religion, race, and culture. What the Samaritan did was the….
3. Result of Love
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same” (Luke 10:36-37).
The despised Samaritan was the one who acted out of true love. It wasn’t the priest or the Levite (and by implication, not expert in the law). How does this apply to us?
There is a life group in the US that prays for us and our church here. Here are some self-evaluation questions the life group leader recently sent out to the group that I thought these were very relevant to today’s message. When I ask these questions, you don’t need to answer out loud and please don’t think about the person next to you or someone that you wish were here to hear this. Let’s ask ourselves how we receive God’s love, how we express it to others, and where we need to grow. Self-evaluation questions...
1. Am I patient and willing to suffer long in difficult circumstances or do I default into fight or flight mode?
2. Does kindness prevail when others are unkind to me?
3. Am I content with what I have or do I want what others have and enjoy?
4. Have I ever been puffed up with pride?
5. Do I frequently find fault or criticize others?
6. Do I think of others more than me or am more self-focused and self-absorbed?
7. Am I slow to anger or do I have a short fuse?
8. Do I hold grudges?
9. Do I persevere in trials, or crumble quickly under pressure?
10. When I’m working through things in my relationships, do I really want what best for the other person or is it my way or the highway?
This list is 1 Cor 13 in practical application and there isn’t one person in this room that can live up to it perfectly. Let’s be clear...only Jesus totally loved God and His neighbor as Himself. Only Jesus was consistently merciful to everyone who came His way. Only Jesus can save and transform us and fill us with the power of His Spirit to love God and love and care for our neighbor. This story reveals the result of love that comes out of a living relationship with the Lord - a life that has experienced the love, grace, mercy, kindness, and forgiveness of God. This story is a call to consider where we are in our relationship to God and to others. Are we merciful? Are we forgiving, are we truly compassionate with others? Or do we put on a good show, like the religious crowd, say lots of spiritual things but have no depth of commitment, character or loyalty to His Word and His people? When Jesus asked, “which one proved to be a neighbor to the man?”, the answer was obvious to all who were listening.
What we can understand about this story is that the attitude and the actions of this Samaritan are not spoken about here as the way to life but these attitudes and actions are the way of life for those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who are in Christ look for opportunities to love their neighbors. This is what we want to do and continue to do is make Jesus obvious to others, through our words and our actions, we cannot divirce one from the other. This is why we serve the Lord, this is why we go out to bring the good news of God’s love outside the church, why we take trips to help people in Ukraine. I pray that the love we have for God and others would become more and more obvious.
