March 24, 2025 • 29 mins
Worship isn't merely what happens when we gather in a building on Sunday mornings—it's fundamentally about how we love God and others throughout our daily lives. This powerful exploration of Jesus' teaching confronts us with a challenging truth: our worship of God is directly reflected in how we treat those around us.
The familiar parable of the Good Samaritan takes on fresh significance when we understand the historical context of bitter hatred between Jews and Samaritans. By making a Samaritan the hero who helps a Jewish man, Jesus deliberately shocked his audience and expanded their understanding of neighborly love beyond comfortable boundaries. The question "who is my neighbor?" reveals our tendency to draw lines around who deserves our love and who doesn't.
What makes this teaching so difficult is that Jesus doesn't give us the loopholes we desperately want. We can't justify withholding love from someone because they vote differently, believe differently, or have hurt us. Our worship of God calls us to see everyone—even those we struggle to like—as created in His image and worthy of the same grace we've received. The early church demonstrated this connection between worship and love through radical generosity that ensured no believer was in need.
Perhaps most convicting is the recognition that this principle applies not just to strangers, but to fellow believers. Many Christians find it easier to love those outside the church than to extend grace to brothers and sisters with whom they disagree. Yet authentic worship demands we practice the same mercy with fellow believers that we've received from God. When we leave our places of worship, the true test of our devotion isn't the songs we sang, but how we treat the difficult people in our lives. Will you accept this challenging call to make your worship complete through loving others?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You know, last week, when we were talking about
worship, jesus kind of has thisconversation in the Gospels and
the leaders come to him andthey're saying, hey, what do we
have to do and how do we worshipand what's the greatest
commandment?
And Jesus goes back to the OldTestament and says, listen,
(00:21):
you've got to love God with allyour heart, soul, mind and
strength.
And then he continues theconversation.
He said the second one is, likeit, to love your neighbor as
yourself.
And so when we define worshipin Scripture for Judaism and I
think even for us, worship isdefined by two things that you
and I should do.
(00:42):
Well, one is to worship God andnot this false kind of sense of
worship.
I think about Paul and Silas alot.
There's a lot of times whenlife's going really well and I'm
(01:02):
like the biggest fan of God,but when life's difficult, when
life's hard, when you're inprison, when you've been
diagnosed with a disease youcan't overcome and when you come
to the end of your life, praiseis this idea that God is
unchanging, even in ourcircumstances, and so, no matter
how bad something is, theworship of God, his worship or
(01:26):
our worship to him, is notdependent on us, but it's
dependent on him and who he is.
The attitude of our heart is areflection of what we understand
about the one who created us toput him in the highest place,
to give him the greatest honor,to acknowledge his name above
(01:46):
all names.
And then Jesus comes backaround and he says to this
religious leader the second islike it, and it's to love your
neighbor as yourself.
Now let's be honest, and I'mgoing to be a little more honest
with myself here.
Loving God's easy Love myneighbor is the hard part.
(02:07):
I'm not good at that part allthe time, and let me define what
that means and we're going totalk about this.
But my neighbor to me isusually someone who I'm friends
with, someone who thinks like me, someone who acts like me,
someone who believes what Ibelieve.
It doesn't mean my next-doorneighbor, even though I do have
(02:30):
next-door neighbors.
They're both older, they'rewonderful couples.
I don't know if they enjoy mykids being outside screaming in
the afternoon, but they probablydon't mind.
At least they haven't saidanything.
But when this conversation comesabout, there's a bigger moment
(02:51):
that happens here and we'll getthere.
But what does it mean togenuinely love the other people
in the world that God hascreated.
So let's go big with thisconversation.
What does it mean to love thepeople that I disagree with?
(03:11):
What does it mean to lovesomeone on the other side of the
political aisle?
What does it mean to lovesomeone who doesn't even
acknowledge the existence of God?
What does it mean to lovesomeone who has a disagreement
(03:32):
theologically with me?
What does it mean to lovesomeone who doesn't love me?
And so there's this moment inscripture where this question
gets posed.
And if you've ever and I knowthat I've preached on it before,
(03:55):
but the story of the goodsamaritan is always the one that
comes to mind.
So so luke chapter verses 29through 37.
So the religious leader of theday comes up to Jesus, and Jesus
kind of goes he walks throughthis love God with all your
heart, soul, mind and strength.
(04:15):
And he says love your neighboras yourself.
And so this religious leadercomes up to Jesus and he says
listen.
So who is my neighbor?
Who do you define as myneighbor?
So verse 29,.
And it sets the tone of thisman's heart.
It says but he wanted tojustify himself.
So he asked Jesus who is myneighbor?
(04:38):
In reply, jesus said a man wasgoing down from Jerusalem to
Jericho when he was attacked byrobbers.
They stripped him of hisclothes, they beat him and went
away, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be goingdown the same road and when he
saw the man, he passed by on theother side.
So, too, a Levite when he cameto the place and saw him passed
(05:02):
by on the other side.
By the way, that's probably notcompletely untypical with them,
because there's a priest,there's a Levite.
So there's a lot of religiouslaws currently happening in this
context.
You don't want to touch a deadbody, because if you touch a
dead body you're unclean.
So they're probably protectingthemselves a little bit.
(05:23):
So they walk on the other sideof the street because they
cannot tell if this man is aliveor he's dead.
And then Jesus says somethingthat to that audience would have
been like a gasp of a moment.
And Jesus says in verse 33, hesays but a Samaritan, as he
(05:45):
traveled, came where the man wasand when he saw him he took
pity on him.
And if you've ever paidattention or read anything in
the Scripture, you understandthat the Jews and the Samaritans
absolutely hated each other.
You want to talk about peoplewho are on different sides of
the aisle.
They're it.
Their understanding of God isdramatically different.
(06:06):
The other group feels that onegroup is condemned because of
how they worship and then theother side feels like the other
group doesn't have a chance ateternal life because of how they
worship.
They don't interact with eachother, they don't talk with each
other.
They actually go out of theirway to ignore each other.
At some point in their historythere was a division and they
(06:30):
could not reconcile the break.
And so Jesus is telling thisstory and he says a Samaritan
finds this man, who's a Jew, onthe side of the road, beaten,
broken, left for dead.
But as a Samaritan, as hetraveled, he came where the man
(06:50):
was and when he saw him he tookpity on him.
He went to him, bandaged hiswounds, pouring on oil and wine,
and he put the man on hisdonkey, on his own donkey,
brought him to an inn and tookcare of him.
The next day he took out twodenarii and gave them to the
innkeeper.
He said look after him.
He said and when I return Iwill reimburse you for any extra
(07:13):
expense you may have.
Which of these three and thisis Jesus posing a question at
the end of this parable.
Which of these three do youthink was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands ofrobbers?
The expert of the law repliedthe one who had mercy on him.
Jesus told him to go and dolikewise.
(07:35):
Nt Wright says this about.
He says the hatred between Jewsand Samaritans had gone on for
hundreds of years and is stillreflected tragically in the
smoldering tension betweenIsrael and Palestine today.
Both sides claim to be the trueinheritors of the promises to
Abraham and Moses.
Both sides, in consequence,regard themselves as the
(07:56):
rightful possessors of the landFew Israelites today will travel
from Galilee to Jerusalem bythe direct route because it will
take them through the West Bankand risk violence.
In exactly the same way, mostfirst century pilgrims making
the same journey would prefer,as Jesus himself did, to travel
down the Jordan Valley toJericho and then turn west up
(08:17):
the hill to Jerusalem is muchsafer.
So this feud between them isstill ongoing.
Culturally, we still see thedivision.
Just pay attention to the news.
It's everywhere.
And so Jesus is telling thisparable.
He's talking to this religiousleader.
(08:40):
And listen, I relate.
I relate more to the religiousleader sometimes than I want to
care to admit that I do, becausemy response sometimes, when it
comes to worship with God andloving my neighbor, is well, but
I did just enough, oh my God, I.
I told him about Jesus comes toworship with God and loving my
(09:01):
neighbor as well.
But I did just enough, oh myGod.
I told him about Jesus.
God, I gave him a ride to thestore.
Why did I need to give him aride back, god?
I was going to that Christianconcert the other day and I saw
that man on the side of thestreet who had nothing to eat
(09:21):
and I prayed for him.
God, that broken relationshipthat I have in my family, my own
personal struggle.
I've forgiven them, but I don'twant anything to do with them
anymore.
God, I do just enough sometimeswhen it comes to worship and
(09:45):
listen.
I say all that because I knowstuff's complicated.
I know relationships arecomplicated.
I know that loving people ishard.
I'm not always good at it.
People it's hard.
I'm not always good at it.
I love people who are like me.
(10:06):
I mean, you spend any time inany school across this country.
You're going to find that out.
I remember when I used to sit atlunch.
I sat with the jocks at lunchbecause that's what I was
supposed to do, right, I was theguy that I sat with.
The jocks.
I didn't like most of them.
I only had one friend in thegroup that I really had, but I
(10:30):
sat with them because in thatlunchroom that's what you did.
You sat with people who aremost like you, because that was
easy, and if you didn't, thenthere was conversation, you know
.
And so when Jesus is talking tothis religious leader, he kind
(10:52):
of puffs himself up and says,well, who's my neighbor?
And what he doesn't expect tocome out of this conversation is
Jesus talks about a Samaritanhelping a Jew, and I can only
imagine that this religiousleader, in a sort of kind of
righteous attitude, kind ofsteps back and says, well, that
doesn't make any sense.
Why would a Samaritan help aJew?
(11:14):
But Jews, don't you understandhow much we hate them and how
much they hate us?
Right?
Let's unpack that.
Sometimes we justify thetreatment of other people
because of but God, look at howthey treat us.
Look at what they said about usonline.
(11:38):
Look at what they said about usonline.
Look at every time they see me,how they snub me and they act
like they're better.
Why would I love them, and Ithink the simple answer is well,
(12:00):
god created them.
That's at the heart of not onlywhat we talked about last week,
but that's at the heart of thisparable is to love people that
might never love us is a trueand honest form of worship to
the God who created us.
Our worship of God is reflectedin the way that you and I love
(12:24):
other people.
That should change some things.
That should convict us a littlebit, because people will
recognize the God who died forme.
People will recognize the Jesusthat I worship and the way that
(12:45):
I treat them.
It's a reflection of them.
I was watching a video recentlyand there was a pastor in a
church and he got kind of honestwith his congregation and he
was talking to his worship teamspecifically.
Right, and so I love ourworship team and I love being
part of it.
(13:05):
I love the men and women whoare involved with it.
I think God has given us someincredible people at that helm,
and so this pastor was talkingto his ministry, his worship
team, and he says it's reallyeasy for you to get up here and
praise God and worship and do acool bass riff and play some
drums and have this reallyupward kind of experience on
(13:28):
Sunday morning, he's like.
But if your worship on thisstage on Sunday morning doesn't
transfer over into Mondaymorning and how you love the
people around you, he's like,then you're doing it wrong,
because the praise that youbring to the one who created you
is reflected in the way thatyou love those around you.
So if you're going to praiseand worship the Almighty God,
(13:50):
you're going to be called tolove some difficult people and I
can tell you, having been inministry as long as I've been in
ministry you learn to love somedifficult people.
By the way, I'm trying not tomake eye contact with anyone
because I don't want you tothink that I think you're
difficult, so don't.
It's not personal.
(14:10):
If I make eye contact, I'mlooking at your forehead.
But you learn that when Godgets a hold of you, that he is
going to bring challengingpeople into your life, he's
going to put this to the test,because every person outside
these walls was created by God.
(14:31):
Every person has the sameopportunity for salvation.
Every person who's alive today,and even way back when in the
future, is still under thesaving grace of the work that
was done on the cross.
That's an option for them.
God created them, he saved them.
You might not want Mike from thehardware store worshiping in
(14:53):
your church, but God wants himin heaven worshiping with him.
I personally think, and I'm notGod, I don't want to be, but
God wants them in heavenworshiping with Him.
I personally think, and I'm notGod I don't want to be, but if
I was God, I would, and we allget to heaven.
I would put people next to methat I don't like on purpose.
Just to prove a point, becausea lot of times we act like well,
(15:15):
there's no way that person can.
Well, no, they can.
They need to accept Christ, butGod has the same love for them
that he does for you.
Listen, I don't know how to saythis, you're not special, and I
mean that Like with as muchlove as I can say, because the
(15:39):
creation was made for thecreator.
We cannot miss that.
So when Jesus is having thisbigger conversation and he's
challenging the Pharisee, hesays listen, you want to talk
about loving your neighbor, theone you despise the most.
That Republican help, thatDemocrat Right, that Samaritan
(16:02):
stopped and helped your Jewishbrother.
Not only helped him, put him onhis own, donkey took him, paid
for him and said whatever's left, I'll take care of the bill.
He went above and beyond lovinghim and Jesus says that's what
it is to love people.
And he asked the question whichone had, which one loved him
(16:25):
the most, which one was hisneighbor?
And the leader says the onewho's done mercy to him.
And Jesus said now go and dothe same thing.
Live that out in your life,because the way that you treat
others is a direct correlationin the way that you worship God,
is a direct correlation in theway that you worship God.
(16:46):
They're connected.
They always will be.
Because when I understand whoGod is and when I worship the
God of creation, I realize thatthose people that I have a hard
time having a relationship withare still the sons and daughters
of God.
I also realize that my love forthem, my treatment of them, is
not depending on whether or notthey deserve it.
(17:06):
It's the fact that I've beenloved and treated with so much
mercy and grace that I can'thelp but share it with the
person next to me.
We see this lived out in Acts 2,42 through 47, as the church
was getting started, said theydevoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to thefellowship, to the breaking of
bread and to prayer.
(17:26):
Everyone was filled with awe atthe many wonders and signs were
formed by the apostles.
All the believers were togetherand had everything in common.
They sold property andpossessions to give to anyone
who had need.
Every day, they continued tomeet together in the temple
courts.
They broke bread in their homesand ate together with glad and
(17:47):
sincere hearts, praising God andenjoying the favor of all
people.
And the Lord added to theirnumber daily those who were
being saved Acts 4, 32-35,.
All the believers were one inheart and mind.
No one claimed that any oftheir possessions was their own,
but they shared everything theyhad With great power, the
apostles continued to testify tothe resurrection of the Lord
(18:10):
Jesus, and God's grace was sopowerfully working them all that
there was no needy person amongthem.
For from time to time, thosewho owned land or houses sold
them.
They brought the money from thesales and put it at the
apostles' feet and it wasdistributed to anyone who had
need.
So these men and women, as theyentered into a relationship in
the worship of God, they becamegenerous to those around them.
(18:33):
So let's talk about this fromanother perspective.
It's easy sometimes to go intothe world and love people who
don't know Jesus, but it'sreally hard sometimes to love
the person sitting next to youin the pew, because we come into
our worship service with ourrelationships and all the
(18:54):
turmoil that that can bring andwe start to kind of divide
against each other.
You know, in my life I've hadto accept that some people don't
like me.
But when we come together, whenwe're focused on God and we're
(19:14):
worshiping the God we love andwe cherish and we value, I've
got to see my brother and sisterin Christ in the same way that
I see my neighbor, to show themlove and mercy and grace and to
model for them what it means tobe loved by Jesus and listen.
(19:39):
I'll be the first to admit thatin there I struggle.
I'll be the first to admit thatin there I struggle.
I've learned in my very shorttime in this world that I have a
heart for people outside thechurch.
I love to go to places wherepeople don't know Jesus.
(20:00):
Man, it fires me up and I justwant to tell them about Jesus.
But I oftentimes struggleloving the very people that I
sit next to in church because inmy mind.
I'm frustrated.
Why don't they get it?
Why is there no growth here?
Why are we arguing about this?
Why is this getting in the wayof what we're trying to do?
And I allow myself to getconsumed with these
(20:22):
conversations, and the truth isthat's a me problem, because my
worship of God is reflected inthe way that I love not only
those outside the wall but theperson who's sitting next to me
in the pew, because that samelove, compassion, mercy, grace
that I've come to enjoy knowingGod is extended to them, and
(20:46):
they're still growing in theirfaith.
We are still trying to figurethis out together.
I love the early church becausethey saw it collectively.
They were working together forone common goal, and that was to
bring the masses the knowledgeof Jesus, so much so that they
sold their houses.
They took care of each other,they provided each other, they
(21:07):
made sure that no one was inneed.
Imagine that, that if we livedso generously that those around
us were never in need.
Imagine what that would looklike to be there for each other.
Imagine what the world wouldsee if they could walk into a
(21:32):
church that was so in love withGod that it was exemplified in
the love for each other.
That's what changes people.
That's what Jesus is arguing atthe heart of this parable.
(21:53):
He said listen, loving God'shard, but loving your neighbor
is even harder, so much so thatthe religious leader tries to
justify his behavior.
But loving your neighbor asyourself is a reflection of
worship To put someone aboveyour own needs, your own
(22:17):
preferences, your own desires,your own preconceived notions,
to see someone as a son anddaughter of God, the one who
created them the most high.
When we worship God, we reflectour worship of him by the way
we love those around us.
So you can raise your hands allday, you can sing as loud as
(22:41):
you want, you can drive down theroad and have K-Love blaring
all your windows down andeveryone hears the new Zach
Williams song playing on yourradio.
You can wear shirts like this,you can walk around and claim
all of these things about howmuch you love God.
But if you don't love yourneighbor, my question is do you
(23:06):
really?
Because the way that youperceive God, the way you
worship God, is reflected in theway you love those around you.
And that's hard.
Some people in this world arereally easy to love.
Friends of ours were at awheeling nailers game a couple
(23:27):
weeks ago.
Danny's friend, nicole, shecalls us and at the nailers game
there's a guy that has a shirton and says simply, jesus loves
you.
So I don't have to Listen.
We laugh.
I'd love to talk to that personBecause really I'd like to know
(23:50):
the back story behind thatshirt.
But, by the way, that's not true.
That's biblically unfounded,because if you love Jesus, you
love people.
Loving Jesus, loving people gohand in hand.
They have to.
You cannot have one without theother.
(24:11):
It's impossible, because howyou love people is a reflection
of how you see them.
And if you understand God asyour heavenly father, who
created you, then you understandthat God created them too.
And the same grace, mercy, allof that is available to you, is
available to them and it'sreflected.
So when Jesus tells thisparable, he's getting at the
(24:32):
heart of the matter.
It doesn't matter who they are.
You love them because God lovesthem.
That's it.
Because God loves them.
That's it.
When you talk about a true actof worship loving God and loving
(24:55):
people and people say is itreally that simple?
Yeah, it is, but it's hardBecause I can worship a perfect
God.
Because I can worship a perfectGod.
I can love a perfect God man.
I have a hard time loving thatperson.
(25:15):
That's mean to me.
That guy at my work who cussesall the time Not here, I'm just
the only one in the office, sothat would be mean.
But that's all I'm saying.
But you know what I mean.
I have a hard time loving thatperson.
I have a hard time loving thatco-worker that never does
anything, no matter how much Itell them.
I have a hard time loving theperson who's coming to church
(25:36):
and I know their life and whatthey've done and the mistakes
that they've made, because youjust don't know.
I have a hard time loving thatperson in my life, that family
member that just won't leave mealone.
I'm not saying it's easy.
I would be a liar if I told youthat I love everyone all the
(26:00):
time, without question.
Some people drive me nuts Onceagain, not looking at anybody,
don't take it personally.
Some people drive me nuts, butthat doesn't change the fact
that I still have to love them.
And I have to love them becausemy reflection and my worship of
(26:23):
God calls me to it.
I talked about this last weekand I love the church that I
went to.
It says as we enter, we worshipand as we leave, we serve.
I believe that Because the worldaround us needs to see
something different, they needto see and understand that we're
(26:43):
going to love them, oftentimesin spite of themselves and even
in spite of us.
Because you and I have beengiven so much grace and mercy,
you realize that God chose usright.
(27:05):
Jesus going to the cross wasn'tsome random event in history.
That was the plan All the wayback in Genesis.
God lays out the plan thatthere's coming a day when a
Savior will come and he willgive up his life for the broken
(27:25):
and the needy and theundeserving, and that's why we
worship Him.
And that's the same reason why Ilook at the person sitting next
to me every day and have toremind myself that I'm called to
love you too.
You're my brother and sister inChrist.
(27:46):
We might not always agree, butI'm going to love you anyways,
and I hope that you'll love metoo, because at the end of this
life, when we all die, we're allgoing to the same place
standing before the King ofKings worshiping, and I'm not
going to be worried about youanymore.
If I really love God, then Ihave to really love people too.
(28:14):
Alright, let's pray.
God, we thank you so much forwho you are.
We thank you for the fact thatyou just we love the fact that
you love us the way that you do.
I mean how incredible it is toeven think about the fact that
we get to enter into this.
You know, last week, when we were talking about
worship, jesus kind of has thisconversation in the Gospels and
the leaders come to him andthey're saying, hey, what do we
have to do and how do we worshipand what's the greatest
commandment?
And Jesus goes back to the OldTestament and says, listen,
(00:21):
you've got to love God with allyour heart, soul, mind and
strength.
And then he continues theconversation.
He said the second one is, likeit, to love your neighbor as
yourself.
And so when we define worshipin Scripture for Judaism and I
think even for us, worship isdefined by two things that you
and I should do.
(00:42):
Well, one is to worship God andnot this false kind of sense of
worship.
I think about Paul and Silas alot.
There's a lot of times whenlife's going really well and I'm
(01:02):
like the biggest fan of God,but when life's difficult, when
life's hard, when you're inprison, when you've been
diagnosed with a disease youcan't overcome and when you come
to the end of your life, praiseis this idea that God is
unchanging, even in ourcircumstances, and so, no matter
how bad something is, theworship of God, his worship or
(01:26):
our worship to him, is notdependent on us, but it's
dependent on him and who he is.
The attitude of our heart is areflection of what we understand
about the one who created us toput him in the highest place,
to give him the greatest honor,to acknowledge his name above
(01:46):
all names.
And then Jesus comes backaround and he says to this
religious leader the second islike it, and it's to love your
neighbor as yourself.
Now let's be honest, and I'mgoing to be a little more honest
with myself here.
Loving God's easy Love myneighbor is the hard part.
(02:07):
I'm not good at that part allthe time, and let me define what
that means and we're going totalk about this.
But my neighbor to me isusually someone who I'm friends
with, someone who thinks like me, someone who acts like me,
someone who believes what Ibelieve.
It doesn't mean my next-doorneighbor, even though I do have
(02:30):
next-door neighbors.
They're both older, they'rewonderful couples.
I don't know if they enjoy mykids being outside screaming in
the afternoon, but they probablydon't mind.
At least they haven't saidanything.
But when this conversation comesabout, there's a bigger moment
(02:51):
that happens here and we'll getthere.
But what does it mean togenuinely love the other people
in the world that God hascreated.
So let's go big with thisconversation.
What does it mean to love thepeople that I disagree with?
(03:11):
What does it mean to lovesomeone on the other side of the
political aisle?
What does it mean to lovesomeone who doesn't even
acknowledge the existence of God?
What does it mean to lovesomeone who has a disagreement
(03:32):
theologically with me?
What does it mean to lovesomeone who doesn't love me?
And so there's this moment inscripture where this question
gets posed.
And if you've ever and I knowthat I've preached on it before,
(03:55):
but the story of the goodsamaritan is always the one that
comes to mind.
So so luke chapter verses 29through 37.
So the religious leader of theday comes up to Jesus, and Jesus
kind of goes he walks throughthis love God with all your
heart, soul, mind and strength.
(04:15):
And he says love your neighboras yourself.
And so this religious leadercomes up to Jesus and he says
listen.
So who is my neighbor?
Who do you define as myneighbor?
So verse 29,.
And it sets the tone of thisman's heart.
It says but he wanted tojustify himself.
So he asked Jesus who is myneighbor?
(04:38):
In reply, jesus said a man wasgoing down from Jerusalem to
Jericho when he was attacked byrobbers.
They stripped him of hisclothes, they beat him and went
away, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be goingdown the same road and when he
saw the man, he passed by on theother side.
So, too, a Levite when he cameto the place and saw him passed
(05:02):
by on the other side.
By the way, that's probably notcompletely untypical with them,
because there's a priest,there's a Levite.
So there's a lot of religiouslaws currently happening in this
context.
You don't want to touch a deadbody, because if you touch a
dead body you're unclean.
So they're probably protectingthemselves a little bit.
(05:23):
So they walk on the other sideof the street because they
cannot tell if this man is aliveor he's dead.
And then Jesus says somethingthat to that audience would have
been like a gasp of a moment.
And Jesus says in verse 33, hesays but a Samaritan, as he
(05:45):
traveled, came where the man wasand when he saw him he took
pity on him.
And if you've ever paidattention or read anything in
the Scripture, you understandthat the Jews and the Samaritans
absolutely hated each other.
You want to talk about peoplewho are on different sides of
the aisle.
They're it.
Their understanding of God isdramatically different.
(06:06):
The other group feels that onegroup is condemned because of
how they worship and then theother side feels like the other
group doesn't have a chance ateternal life because of how they
worship.
They don't interact with eachother, they don't talk with each
other.
They actually go out of theirway to ignore each other.
At some point in their historythere was a division and they
(06:30):
could not reconcile the break.
And so Jesus is telling thisstory and he says a Samaritan
finds this man, who's a Jew, onthe side of the road, beaten,
broken, left for dead.
But as a Samaritan, as hetraveled, he came where the man
(06:50):
was and when he saw him he tookpity on him.
He went to him, bandaged hiswounds, pouring on oil and wine,
and he put the man on hisdonkey, on his own donkey,
brought him to an inn and tookcare of him.
The next day he took out twodenarii and gave them to the
innkeeper.
He said look after him.
He said and when I return Iwill reimburse you for any extra
(07:13):
expense you may have.
Which of these three and thisis Jesus posing a question at
the end of this parable.
Which of these three do youthink was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands ofrobbers?
The expert of the law repliedthe one who had mercy on him.
Jesus told him to go and dolikewise.
(07:35):
Nt Wright says this about.
He says the hatred between Jewsand Samaritans had gone on for
hundreds of years and is stillreflected tragically in the
smoldering tension betweenIsrael and Palestine today.
Both sides claim to be the trueinheritors of the promises to
Abraham and Moses.
Both sides, in consequence,regard themselves as the
(07:56):
rightful possessors of the landFew Israelites today will travel
from Galilee to Jerusalem bythe direct route because it will
take them through the West Bankand risk violence.
In exactly the same way, mostfirst century pilgrims making
the same journey would prefer,as Jesus himself did, to travel
down the Jordan Valley toJericho and then turn west up
(08:17):
the hill to Jerusalem is muchsafer.
So this feud between them isstill ongoing.
Culturally, we still see thedivision.
Just pay attention to the news.
It's everywhere.
And so Jesus is telling thisparable.
He's talking to this religiousleader.
(08:40):
And listen, I relate.
I relate more to the religiousleader sometimes than I want to
care to admit that I do, becausemy response sometimes, when it
comes to worship with God andloving my neighbor, is well, but
I did just enough, oh my God, I.
I told him about Jesus comes toworship with God and loving my
(09:01):
neighbor as well.
But I did just enough, oh myGod.
I told him about Jesus.
God, I gave him a ride to thestore.
Why did I need to give him aride back, god?
I was going to that Christianconcert the other day and I saw
that man on the side of thestreet who had nothing to eat
(09:21):
and I prayed for him.
God, that broken relationshipthat I have in my family, my own
personal struggle.
I've forgiven them, but I don'twant anything to do with them
anymore.
God, I do just enough sometimeswhen it comes to worship and
(09:45):
listen.
I say all that because I knowstuff's complicated.
I know relationships arecomplicated.
I know that loving people ishard.
I'm not always good at it.
People it's hard.
I'm not always good at it.
I love people who are like me.
(10:06):
I mean, you spend any time inany school across this country.
You're going to find that out.
I remember when I used to sit atlunch.
I sat with the jocks at lunchbecause that's what I was
supposed to do, right, I was theguy that I sat with.
The jocks.
I didn't like most of them.
I only had one friend in thegroup that I really had, but I
(10:30):
sat with them because in thatlunchroom that's what you did.
You sat with people who aremost like you, because that was
easy, and if you didn't, thenthere was conversation, you know
.
And so when Jesus is talking tothis religious leader, he kind
(10:52):
of puffs himself up and says,well, who's my neighbor?
And what he doesn't expect tocome out of this conversation is
Jesus talks about a Samaritanhelping a Jew, and I can only
imagine that this religiousleader, in a sort of kind of
righteous attitude, kind ofsteps back and says, well, that
doesn't make any sense.
Why would a Samaritan help aJew?
(11:14):
But Jews, don't you understandhow much we hate them and how
much they hate us?
Right?
Let's unpack that.
Sometimes we justify thetreatment of other people
because of but God, look at howthey treat us.
Look at what they said about usonline.
(11:38):
Look at what they said about usonline.
Look at every time they see me,how they snub me and they act
like they're better.
Why would I love them, and Ithink the simple answer is well,
(12:00):
god created them.
That's at the heart of not onlywhat we talked about last week,
but that's at the heart of thisparable is to love people that
might never love us is a trueand honest form of worship to
the God who created us.
Our worship of God is reflectedin the way that you and I love
(12:24):
other people.
That should change some things.
That should convict us a littlebit, because people will
recognize the God who died forme.
People will recognize the Jesusthat I worship and the way that
(12:45):
I treat them.
It's a reflection of them.
I was watching a video recentlyand there was a pastor in a
church and he got kind of honestwith his congregation and he
was talking to his worship teamspecifically.
Right, and so I love ourworship team and I love being
part of it.
(13:05):
I love the men and women whoare involved with it.
I think God has given us someincredible people at that helm,
and so this pastor was talkingto his ministry, his worship
team, and he says it's reallyeasy for you to get up here and
praise God and worship and do acool bass riff and play some
drums and have this reallyupward kind of experience on
(13:28):
Sunday morning, he's like.
But if your worship on thisstage on Sunday morning doesn't
transfer over into Mondaymorning and how you love the
people around you, he's like,then you're doing it wrong,
because the praise that youbring to the one who created you
is reflected in the way thatyou love those around you.
So if you're going to praiseand worship the Almighty God,
(13:50):
you're going to be called tolove some difficult people and I
can tell you, having been inministry as long as I've been in
ministry you learn to love somedifficult people.
By the way, I'm trying not tomake eye contact with anyone
because I don't want you tothink that I think you're
difficult, so don't.
It's not personal.
(14:10):
If I make eye contact, I'mlooking at your forehead.
But you learn that when Godgets a hold of you, that he is
going to bring challengingpeople into your life, he's
going to put this to the test,because every person outside
these walls was created by God.
(14:31):
Every person has the sameopportunity for salvation.
Every person who's alive today,and even way back when in the
future, is still under thesaving grace of the work that
was done on the cross.
That's an option for them.
God created them, he saved them.
You might not want Mike from thehardware store worshiping in
(14:53):
your church, but God wants himin heaven worshiping with him.
I personally think, and I'm notGod, I don't want to be, but
God wants them in heavenworshiping with Him.
I personally think, and I'm notGod I don't want to be, but if
I was God, I would, and we allget to heaven.
I would put people next to methat I don't like on purpose.
Just to prove a point, becausea lot of times we act like well,
(15:15):
there's no way that person can.
Well, no, they can.
They need to accept Christ, butGod has the same love for them
that he does for you.
Listen, I don't know how to saythis, you're not special, and I
mean that Like with as muchlove as I can say, because the
(15:39):
creation was made for thecreator.
We cannot miss that.
So when Jesus is having thisbigger conversation and he's
challenging the Pharisee, hesays listen, you want to talk
about loving your neighbor, theone you despise the most.
That Republican help, thatDemocrat Right, that Samaritan
(16:02):
stopped and helped your Jewishbrother.
Not only helped him, put him onhis own, donkey took him, paid
for him and said whatever's left, I'll take care of the bill.
He went above and beyond lovinghim and Jesus says that's what
it is to love people.
And he asked the question whichone had, which one loved him
(16:25):
the most, which one was hisneighbor?
And the leader says the onewho's done mercy to him.
And Jesus said now go and dothe same thing.
Live that out in your life,because the way that you treat
others is a direct correlationin the way that you worship God,
is a direct correlation in theway that you worship God.
(16:46):
They're connected.
They always will be.
Because when I understand whoGod is and when I worship the
God of creation, I realize thatthose people that I have a hard
time having a relationship withare still the sons and daughters
of God.
I also realize that my love forthem, my treatment of them, is
not depending on whether or notthey deserve it.
(17:06):
It's the fact that I've beenloved and treated with so much
mercy and grace that I can'thelp but share it with the
person next to me.
We see this lived out in Acts 2,42 through 47, as the church
was getting started, said theydevoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to thefellowship, to the breaking of
bread and to prayer.
(17:26):
Everyone was filled with awe atthe many wonders and signs were
formed by the apostles.
All the believers were togetherand had everything in common.
They sold property andpossessions to give to anyone
who had need.
Every day, they continued tomeet together in the temple
courts.
They broke bread in their homesand ate together with glad and
(17:47):
sincere hearts, praising God andenjoying the favor of all
people.
And the Lord added to theirnumber daily those who were
being saved Acts 4, 32-35,.
All the believers were one inheart and mind.
No one claimed that any oftheir possessions was their own,
but they shared everything theyhad With great power, the
apostles continued to testify tothe resurrection of the Lord
(18:10):
Jesus, and God's grace was sopowerfully working them all that
there was no needy person amongthem.
For from time to time, thosewho owned land or houses sold
them.
They brought the money from thesales and put it at the
apostles' feet and it wasdistributed to anyone who had
need.
So these men and women, as theyentered into a relationship in
the worship of God, they becamegenerous to those around them.
(18:33):
So let's talk about this fromanother perspective.
It's easy sometimes to go intothe world and love people who
don't know Jesus, but it'sreally hard sometimes to love
the person sitting next to youin the pew, because we come into
our worship service with ourrelationships and all the
(18:54):
turmoil that that can bring andwe start to kind of divide
against each other.
You know, in my life I've hadto accept that some people don't
like me.
But when we come together, whenwe're focused on God and we're
(19:14):
worshiping the God we love andwe cherish and we value, I've
got to see my brother and sisterin Christ in the same way that
I see my neighbor, to show themlove and mercy and grace and to
model for them what it means tobe loved by Jesus and listen.
(19:39):
I'll be the first to admit thatin there I struggle.
I'll be the first to admit thatin there I struggle.
I've learned in my very shorttime in this world that I have a
heart for people outside thechurch.
I love to go to places wherepeople don't know Jesus.
(20:00):
Man, it fires me up and I justwant to tell them about Jesus.
But I oftentimes struggleloving the very people that I
sit next to in church because inmy mind.
I'm frustrated.
Why don't they get it?
Why is there no growth here?
Why are we arguing about this?
Why is this getting in the wayof what we're trying to do?
And I allow myself to getconsumed with these
(20:22):
conversations, and the truth isthat's a me problem, because my
worship of God is reflected inthe way that I love not only
those outside the wall but theperson who's sitting next to me
in the pew, because that samelove, compassion, mercy, grace
that I've come to enjoy knowingGod is extended to them, and
(20:46):
they're still growing in theirfaith.
We are still trying to figurethis out together.
I love the early church becausethey saw it collectively.
They were working together forone common goal, and that was to
bring the masses the knowledgeof Jesus, so much so that they
sold their houses.
They took care of each other,they provided each other, they
(21:07):
made sure that no one was inneed.
Imagine that, that if we livedso generously that those around
us were never in need.
Imagine what that would looklike to be there for each other.
Imagine what the world wouldsee if they could walk into a
(21:32):
church that was so in love withGod that it was exemplified in
the love for each other.
That's what changes people.
That's what Jesus is arguing atthe heart of this parable.
(21:53):
He said listen, loving God'shard, but loving your neighbor
is even harder, so much so thatthe religious leader tries to
justify his behavior.
But loving your neighbor asyourself is a reflection of
worship To put someone aboveyour own needs, your own
(22:17):
preferences, your own desires,your own preconceived notions,
to see someone as a son anddaughter of God, the one who
created them the most high.
When we worship God, we reflectour worship of him by the way
we love those around us.
So you can raise your hands allday, you can sing as loud as
(22:41):
you want, you can drive down theroad and have K-Love blaring
all your windows down andeveryone hears the new Zach
Williams song playing on yourradio.
You can wear shirts like this,you can walk around and claim
all of these things about howmuch you love God.
But if you don't love yourneighbor, my question is do you
(23:06):
really?
Because the way that youperceive God, the way you
worship God, is reflected in theway you love those around you.
And that's hard.
Some people in this world arereally easy to love.
Friends of ours were at awheeling nailers game a couple
(23:27):
weeks ago.
Danny's friend, nicole, shecalls us and at the nailers game
there's a guy that has a shirton and says simply, jesus loves
you.
So I don't have to Listen.
We laugh.
I'd love to talk to that personBecause really I'd like to know
(23:50):
the back story behind thatshirt.
But, by the way, that's not true.
That's biblically unfounded,because if you love Jesus, you
love people.
Loving Jesus, loving people gohand in hand.
They have to.
You cannot have one without theother.
(24:11):
It's impossible, because howyou love people is a reflection
of how you see them.
And if you understand God asyour heavenly father, who
created you, then you understandthat God created them too.
And the same grace, mercy, allof that is available to you, is
available to them and it'sreflected.
So when Jesus tells thisparable, he's getting at the
(24:32):
heart of the matter.
It doesn't matter who they are.
You love them because God lovesthem.
That's it.
Because God loves them.
That's it.
When you talk about a true actof worship loving God and loving
(24:55):
people and people say is itreally that simple?
Yeah, it is, but it's hardBecause I can worship a perfect
God.
Because I can worship a perfectGod.
I can love a perfect God man.
I have a hard time loving thatperson.
(25:15):
That's mean to me.
That guy at my work who cussesall the time Not here, I'm just
the only one in the office, sothat would be mean.
But that's all I'm saying.
But you know what I mean.
I have a hard time loving thatperson.
I have a hard time loving thatco-worker that never does
anything, no matter how much Itell them.
I have a hard time loving theperson who's coming to church
(25:36):
and I know their life and whatthey've done and the mistakes
that they've made, because youjust don't know.
I have a hard time loving thatperson in my life, that family
member that just won't leave mealone.
I'm not saying it's easy.
I would be a liar if I told youthat I love everyone all the
(26:00):
time, without question.
Some people drive me nuts Onceagain, not looking at anybody,
don't take it personally.
Some people drive me nuts, butthat doesn't change the fact
that I still have to love them.
And I have to love them becausemy reflection and my worship of
(26:23):
God calls me to it.
I talked about this last weekand I love the church that I
went to.
It says as we enter, we worshipand as we leave, we serve.
I believe that Because the worldaround us needs to see
something different, they needto see and understand that we're
(26:43):
going to love them, oftentimesin spite of themselves and even
in spite of us.
Because you and I have beengiven so much grace and mercy,
you realize that God chose usright.
(27:05):
Jesus going to the cross wasn'tsome random event in history.
That was the plan All the wayback in Genesis.
God lays out the plan thatthere's coming a day when a
Savior will come and he willgive up his life for the broken
(27:25):
and the needy and theundeserving, and that's why we
worship Him.
And that's the same reason why Ilook at the person sitting next
to me every day and have toremind myself that I'm called to
love you too.
You're my brother and sister inChrist.
(27:46):
We might not always agree, butI'm going to love you anyways,
and I hope that you'll love metoo, because at the end of this
life, when we all die, we're allgoing to the same place
standing before the King ofKings worshiping, and I'm not
going to be worried about youanymore.
If I really love God, then Ihave to really love people too.
(28:14):
Alright, let's pray.
God, we thank you so much forwho you are.
We thank you for the fact thatyou just we love the fact that
you love us the way that you do.
I mean how incredible it is toeven think about the fact that
we get to enter into this.
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