Breaking Cultural Barriers to Redefine Compassionate Community

Have you ever considered who truly counts as your neighbor? Our latest episode takes a profound look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a story that upends traditional views of community and prompts us to redefine our circles of compassion. I share some deeply personal experiences that echo the cultural confrontations Jesus faced when crossing paths with the Pharisees, and how these ancient lessons are still vitally relevant, urging us to extend hands of mercy to all, not just those within our immediate circles. 

Witness the power of vulnerability as a strength, not a flaw, as we tackle the stigma surrounding brokenness and discuss the transformative impact of faith. Hear us unpack the vital role the church can play in offering sanctuary and support to those grappling with life's trials. We delve into the true essence of service, exploring how our commitment to living out Jesus's teachings can forge a pathway to spiritual fulfillment that transcends the transient. This is not just another discourse; it's an actionable blueprint for embodying the Savior's grace and leaving a lasting imprint on eternity. Join us for a heart-stirring journey towards healing and redemption.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:09

Like I said, I believe with everything in me that the message of the Good Samaritan is Jesus is trying to address a cultural misconception. Hey, you're not talking. All right, calm down, siri, trying to get in my way, sorry Listen, ai is great but sometimes it gets on my nerves. But I believe that with everything in me that Jesus is really trying to challenge a cultural norm. And so in Luke, chapter 10, 25 through 37, and I'll give you a second to get there and just to kind of set the tone of this passage the Pharisees of Jesus' day were always looking for ways to quote-unquote trap him, so they would ask him kind of open-ended questions in order to try to cause him to stumble or give him. You know, maybe they could catch him in a lie. And it was interesting because they never accomplished what they wanted to. But what they did do is they revealed a large part of who they are. And so Luke, chapter 10, 25 through 37, says On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus Teacher.

Speaker 1: 2:41

He asked what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law? He replied how do you read it? He answered love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. You've answered correctly. Jesus replied Do this and you will live.

Speaker 1: 3:03

But he wanted to justify himself. So he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? In reply, jesus said a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road and when he saw the man he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was and when he saw him, took pity on him. He went to him and he bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I return I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.

Speaker 1: 3:59

Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers. The expert in the law replied the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him go and do likewise. It's interesting because and like I said earlier, the Pharisees of Jesus' day were trying to justify a lot of their poor behaviors. They were these highly religious men who did all the practices and did everything that they were supposed to, but they oftentimes had a hard time just loving the people around them.

Speaker 1: 4:44

And so this conversation starts out, and it even says in the scripture that this man was looking to justify himself, and so, in his attempt to justify himself, he asked who is my neighbor? And I think that that's a valid question, because if you and I were to have a conversation today and you were to ask me who my neighbors are, I would tell you I have no idea. And it's not that I don't care about them, but I see them when they leave their house, maybe on Mondays, when they're taking their trash in or when they're out cutting their grass, and we all do that wave, that we all do, but I don't actually know their name, and part of that is my fault, because our paths don't cross. The one thing I do know, though, is there's a gentleman who lives on this side of us. We were sitting in our backyard one time, in their back room, in the back of their house this is going to make me sound like a creeper, and I'm not, I promise is just these windows all the way around and they have this giant flat screen TV in this room and at night, when it's on, it lights up their backyard. And so we were sitting there one evening on our back porch and we were hanging out with our kids and Everett looks at me and he says hey, they watch a show that we watch. And I was like what? And so I turned my head and on their TV is I don't know if you've ever seen the cartoon Bob's Burgers. That's something I've always enjoyed. I think it's kind of funny. It's about this family that runs a burger restaurant. And so I turn my head and this 70-year-old man is sitting in front of his TV watching Bob's Burgers. And I'm like I don't know if that makes me feel old or if it makes me feel cool, that I have a connection with that.

Speaker 1: 6:46

And so when the Pharisee, the religious leader of the day, asked this question, he says who is my neighbor? I can imagine that his initial thought process is he's thinking directly about those who are in context of his life, the friends that he has, the family members that he has, the friends that he has, the family members that he has. But what he's not thinking and he soon will realize is that that's a loaded question, because Jesus' idea of loving your neighbor is a universal thought and when Jesus is talking about loving your neighbor, he means every single person who is created by God. Once again, the religious leader of the day is trying to trap him, because if Jesus says, well, it's only this particular group of people, then it's justified. Or if Jesus were to come back and say, well, you know, you're only supposed to love the people who support me and follow me and follow God, then it's justified.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Instead, jesus takes this entire conversation and he turns it upside down. So he tells this parable of a man on the side of the road. He's been robbed by robbers, he's been beaten, and as the story progresses, a priest comes along. Surely a priest would help someone. So as the priest walks along and he sees the man has been beaten, he decides instead to go to the other side of the street and he walks on by.

Speaker 1: 8:40

And in my mind. I like to think that he's maybe. He walks along on the other side and as he walks by, he prays for the man. And I don't know anything about this priest. I just know that, for whatever reason, he saw someone who was hurt and broken and decided that it wasn't his job to take care of them. So, all of a sudden, another man comes by. It's a Levite, it's a man of faith, a man of religion, a man who's been set apart for the work of God, and he sees the same thing. He sees a man that's battered and broken and he decides to cross the street and he ignores him and he continues on his way.

Speaker 1: 9:19

And listen, maybe, as he walks by, he says I'm going to pray for you, I'll pray for you. And so you see this initial reaction. You see someone who is clearly in distress and the two most prominent religious leaders of Jesus' day ignore him like he didn't exist. Listen to me, this is a tough question to ask, but I think it's worth asking. How many times, as a Christian, if you're being honest, have you seen someone in need and you decided, for whatever reason, that it wasn't worth your time, that person wasn't worth the effort? And I've done it myself. I can tell you I'm not perfect. How many times do we see people in need and our solution is well, we're going to pray for you, even though we know we actually could do something to make a difference in their life, and we don't. And so the two interactions at the beginning of this message is two men who see someone broken and battered and decide, for whatever reason, that that person isn't worth saving, isn't worth saving.

Speaker 1: 10:47

And then Jesus continues on in this parable and he gets to a Samaritan. Now, mind you, he's speaking to a predominantly Jewish audience, so the moment he mentions a Samaritan, I would almost guarantee every ear in that place perked up Because they're like if our priest and our Levi ignore this man, what in the world is a Samaritan going to do to him? I can only imagine they're thinking that this Samaritan's going to come along and maybe make the situation worse Once again. They hated each other. They disassociated, hated each other. They were disassociated with each other, and I can only imagine that they were expecting his reaction to be similar, if not worse. And Jesus says the Samaritan man notices the man who's injured, he bandages his wounds with oil and wine and he puts him on his own donkey and he takes him in an inn to be taken care of. Not only does he pay for the first day at the inn, but he tells the innkeeper whatever he needs, take care of him and when I come back I'll pay the rest. And so Jesus takes this entire conversation and he turns it on its side, on its head, because, I guarantee you, no one in that audience expected a Samaritan to be the one to show mercy to a Jew.

Speaker 1: 12:36

You know, when we talk about this parable in today's culture, I think it's really easy to identify the broken people. I think if we look into society, we can identify people that we would consider broken fairly easily the broken homes, the broken marriages. The addiction is running rampant. You have so many people that are confused about who they are and who God made them to be. You have an entire culture that continues to seek self-gratification instead of turning to the one who created them. And the sad reality is and I believe that it's getting better, but the sad reality is is a lot of the church sees this brokenness and they have decided that it's easier for them to get on the other side of the road than to stop and help them figure it out and we justify that by whatever means necessary. We don't have time, we don't have the resources. I sat in a meeting recently that kind of blew my mind and it really just kind of threw me for a loop. But I sat in a meeting recently talking about some of the struggles in the area and I sat in a room full of some pretty high-class people people that are probably smarter than me, guaranteed and I sat in this room and we talked about poverty and we talked about the struggles of our area and there was a person sitting not too far from me who made the statement that it's really hard to help people because some of them just want to stay where they are. And I kind of stepped back because I was like that's a really general statement to make.

Speaker 1: 14:56

Can you imagine as the priest and the Levi walking by this broken man laying in the ditch and in their mind thinking, no, he's good, he likes it there, he doesn't want help. If he really wanted help, he could climb out of that ditch on his own. But that's how we often see brokenness. We often see brokenness as we try to justify or convince ourselves, and that's in this context of this scripture. That's what's happening. This religious leader is trying to justify his behavior.

Speaker 1: 15:34

So Jesus tells about the Samaritan. And then he asks him who's the one that acted more in his favor? Who's the one who really loved his neighbor? And the man replies the one that acted more in his favor. Who's the one who really loved his neighbor? And the man replies the one who showed mercy. And then Jesus says go and do likewise. Likewise, augustine writes. This is an almsgiving.

Speaker 1: 16:02

That Augustine wrote about the importance of understanding. When you look at the story of the Good Samaritan, that not only does it represent the way that Jesus desires for us to act, but it actually captures the idea that Jesus in this story is the Samaritan, that he has come to a broken and lost world to bring us up out of the ditch, to provide care for our wounds and not just drop us somewhere else, but to continue to stay with us as we go through the healing process. And so Augustine writes this this is our first alms which we give to ourselves when, through the mercy of pitying God, we find that we are ourselves wretched and confess the justice of a judgment by which we are made wretched, of which the apostle says the judgment was by one, to condemnation and praise the greatness of his love, of which the same preacher of grace says God commanded his love toward us and that, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us, and thus judging truly of our own misery and loving God with the love which she himself has bestowed, we lead a holy and virtuous life. But the Pharisees, while they give as alms to the tithe of all their fruits, even the most insignificant, passed over judgment in the love of God and so did not commence their almsgiving at home and extend their pity to themselves in the first instance. And it is in reference to this order of love that it is said Love thy neighbor as thyself. When, then, our Lord has rebuked them because they made themselves clean on the outside but within were full of ravening and wickedness, he advised them, in the exercise of that charity which man owes to himself in the first instance, to make clean the inward parts. And I realize that's a really big statement. And essentially what Augustine is saying, and he's talking about the Pharisees is one of the reasons the Pharisees, especially of that day, couldn't offer justice and mercy correctly is because they didn't realize that they needed that same justice and mercy.

Speaker 1: 18:28

You and I have to acknowledge that, at the very core of who we are, we are broken, that something is not right. I hear people say this to me more often than not. They tell me that because I'm a Christian, that I'm weak. They tell me that I use my faith as a crutch, that if I was really a man, I could figure out life on my own and I wouldn't need some imaginary God in the sky to tell me how to live. And my response to them every single time is I'm not weak. I've just accepted the fact that I'm broken. I've accepted the fact that there's a God who created me, who loves me, who, in my brokenness, in my sin, which has distorted all of humanity, has shown favor and mercy and love by sending his son as a sacrifice for my sin and my brokenness, so that he can restore me in the way that he wants me to be restored, not only in the life to come, but the one that is here and now. So what you call weakness, I call faith Faith that something bigger than me has found me in my ditch and has pulled me from it and is restoring me daily to the man that I'm supposed to be, and if you think that makes me weak, you've never met my God.

Speaker 1: 20:22

That's what the importance of the story of the Good Samaritan is, not only for the benefit of us helping others, but it should help us realize that we need Christ, because when we tell the story of the Good Samaritan, none of us will ever put ourselves in the ditch. If we were to change the name, if we were to retell the story in today's context, none of us would ever put ourselves in the ditch. If anything, most of us would label ourselves as the Good Samaritan. I think part of that's true. I think part of that is we try to convince ourselves that we would, in the right situation, do the right thing, but really, when you understand that you and I are the man in the ditch who's broken, it helps us to realize that Jesus is our good Samaritan. He is the one who has seen us at our worst and, instead of passing by and leaving us to suffer, he saved us.

Speaker 1: 21:59

There are so many people and I talked about this last week, week before there are so many people in our world that are desperately searching for something, whether it's fame or money or I don't know. There's so many things they're trying to find. There's so many things that people are trying to find a solution to their problems. I don't deal a lot with people that have addiction, at least not right now, but lately in my life, god has been bringing more and more people that struggle with that, and I continue to wrestle with. The conversation in my head is why is that happening?

Speaker 1: 22:57

And one of the things that continues to be a resounding conversation with people that I've come across and the things that I hear them tell me is either A they feel like they can't ever get away from it, or, b they do it because the feeling they get in the moment that they've taken something is better than dealing with their regular life at the moment, and so what I see is I see a bunch of people that are broken, lying in a ditch, who are in desperate need of a church that isn't just going to walk by and ignore them, isn't just going to walk by and ignore them. They're in desperate need of men and women who will see them as a human being, as a child of God, and embrace them where they are and help them out of their mess, because they deserve freedom, because we have freedom, and so when you look at this account, jesus is establishing, especially for the Pharisees, that you don't think you need me because you think you have it all figured out. And Jesus has made it clear that that's just not how it works. They're whitewashed tombs. They're beautiful on the outside, they look perfect, but on the inside they fail miserably.

Speaker 1: 24:31

And so, in order for you and I to understand the story of the Good Samaritan, we all have to understand that, every single one of us, we start in the ditch. We all have something that we're broken by. We all have something that we struggle with, whether people know it or not. But at the end of the day, what matters, especially as a church, what matters is how do we treat every single person God created. I said it a couple weeks ago I believe with everything in me that every single person is redeemable, that no one is outside the grace and the mercy and the love of God, that no one doesn't belong to be part of his church, his community, his family. No one is deserving of hell, no matter how bad of a person you think they are, because everyone is redeemable. Because if God can redeem me and my brokenness, then I have to accept that everyone I come across deserve the same grace and mercy.

Speaker 1: 25:55

The Good Samaritan should challenge us, as Christians, to stop judging people based off of appearance and instead asking God to show us who they are as a son or daughter that he created. The Good Samaritan should challenge you and I to look at a sinful, broken humanity and break us at our core, because what they need is Jesus and there is no other answer Church. We have something that the rest of the world doesn't, and that's Jesus, the perfecter, the author of faith, the one who saved us, the one who was perfect, the one who died, the one who commanded us to follow him, the one who told us to make disciples and go into the world and teach his truth. We have something they don't and no one else is offering it to them. We have something they don't and no one else is offering it to them. The Good Samaritan is a rally cry that when we see someone who's in need, when we see someone who's broken, we should be the first ones to respond. When you see someone who's in need, who needs to know Jesus, someone who needs to have truth shared with them, someone who you can help bring out of the darkness, it is your responsibility to help them. Help them.

Speaker 1: 27:55

We live in a culture that is we're consumers by nature. We save and we save and we save and we give a little bit here and there because it kind of makes us feel good. But but how many of us can honestly say that we give of our time, our money, our resources sacrificially in order to help improve and better the lives of people who don't know jesus? How many of us walk down the street every single day and we see the men and women and the families and ditches around us and we decide to cross the street because it's easier than embracing the challenge of helping them?

Speaker 1: 28:31

Imagine if jesus saw you in your sin and decided that you weren't, you weren't worth saving. Imagine if the God of all creation saw us and saw everything that we are and all of our brokenness and, at the final moment, decided that there was no need for a sacrifice. They could figure it out on their own. The reason you can't imagine that is because that's not the God we serve In the brokenness of humanity. God sacrificed his son to save you and me, to drag us out of that ditch, to throw us on his donkey, to provide for our needs and heal our wounds, and whatever it would cost them to do so, he was willing to pay the price. He did pay the price. Imagine if the church lived like that, that we really acted every single day as though everyone deserves to be redeemed, that no matter what they struggle with, no matter what their battle is, that we will do whatever we need to do to bring them to the truth of Christ, because God did it for us first, in my time with my brother.

Speaker 1: 30:35

My brother does a lot more with helping those who are in addiction and I've had the privilege of meeting several of the people that he works with and some of their stories are pretty phenomenal. And one of the things, one of the conversations that came up recently that I think is interesting and you know I think I've talked about this before I'm like a data guy, so I like science and I like statistics and numbers and all that stuff and when you're, you know part of the conversations we've had about people that are struggling with addictions and those who are in recovery. The numbers have shown that those, the ones who have a higher chance of success of completing rehab, are the ones who are oftentimes connected to a community of faith at the same time, and someone said that to me and my initial reaction was, well, yeah, like as a preacher, I could tell you I believe that. But what I love about that is there's science that shows that people who have a community of faith they're attached to have a better chance of overcoming the struggles in their life, not only because they get the help they need, but because they have the help of God and the Holy Spirit in them to overcome. And so if someone is struggling and they need and they're in need and they're battling something, the best place for them is here, because God made them and God will redeem them and you and I get to be part of that.

Speaker 1: 32:35

Being the good Samaritan is more than just helping someone in their time of need. It's helping people that we normally don't consider helping, because the world needs Jesus and you and I get to be part of that. And if that doesn't excite you, I don't know what else to tell you. There's nothing else I could ever want to accomplish more in my life than to show people Jesus. You can have all the money. You can have all the fancy cars I can't fit in any of the nice sports ones. Anyways, I've tried. You can have it all. You can have everything. At the end of my life, all I want to do is stand before God and have him say to me good and faithful servant, you've done well. You've been faithful. You did what you were supposed to. You realized that this world was here for a moment, but the people that you helped bring into eternity. That's forever. All right. Let's pray.