Sermon Notes
1. Five Non-Negotiables
Pastor Joel is teaching the church’s values. If you are a sincere Christian these five things are non-negotiable. The first is Go. Jesus said follow Me and I will make you a fisherman of men. Followers become interested in other people. They become less selfish. They are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. They help spiritually by laying hands on the sick and by encouragement. They help practically by providing Christmas or opening a home on Thanksgiving. Jesus is making you interested in everyone else besides you.
2. Who Is My Neighbor?
Luke 10:25. A lawyer asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked what is written in the law. The man quoted Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said you have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. The man, wishing to justify himself, asked who is my neighbor. Jesus told the story of a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho who fell among robbers, was stripped, beaten, and left half dead. A priest saw him and passed by on the other side. A Levite came closer, looked, and kept walking. A Samaritan saw him, felt compassion, bandaged his wounds, poured on oil and wine, put him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, and paid the innkeeper two denarii with the promise to repay whatever more was spent. Which one proved to be the neighbor? The one who showed mercy. Go and do the same. Compassion is love that moves you to action.
3. The Prophetic Picture
The story is also prophetic of Jesus’ ministry. The wounded man is Adam, us. The robbers are Satan and the demonic. The wounds are the disobedience and the fall. The priest is the law. The Levite is the prophets. They looked but could not heal. The Samaritan is a type of Christ. The Jews called Jesus a Samaritan in John 8:48. He was the Son of Man and the Son of God. The wine is His blood that purifies the wound. The oil is the Holy Spirit that seals and gives power to get up. We need forgiveness and the power of the Spirit. The donkey is a type of His body. The inn is the church. The innkeeper is the pastor. He gives provision and says He is coming back with rewards. What you do for yourself will burn. What you do for the kingdom, even a cup of water, carries reward. What you do on earth does not get you into heaven, but it rewards you in heaven. We will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. First 10 percent to God. Next 10 percent to investments. Do not wait until you are financially free to give. You are laying up treasure in heaven.
4. Go and Do Likewise
The instruction is go and do the same. Live as the Good Samaritan lived. This is counterculture. The world thinks about itself. The Pharisee had no issue with loving God. He tripped over loving people. Where do I draw the line? Some needs are low-hanging fruit. Some are money pits. The Jericho Road was known to be dangerous. Traveling it alone was foolish. Some wounds come from our own foolishness. Have you become judgmental of the very thing you should have compassion for? We do not know the man’s education, ethnicity, or character. We only know he fell among thieves and could not get up. We look at the need, then at our time, resources, and emotional equity, and walk around it. The disciples wanted to send the five thousand away. Jesus tested them and said you feed them. We are the light of the world. Out there it is dark. War, division, and political ads that are not the image of Christ. In Joshua an angel with a sword said he was on neither side. He was for the kingdom of God. The kingdom is a government. Its citizens take care of one another. Be your brother’s keeper. Be the light in the family member’s dysfunctional season, in the ostracized brother, in the coworker everyone walks by, in the student who sits alone at lunch.
Be the one who stops.
Go and do likewise.
“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” (Luke 10:36)
