Meeting the Needs of Our Neighbor

I like that phrase, but how much I love thee my actions will show. That leads us right into the message this morning. I enjoyed that Brother Keith really sets the tone for what we're going to look at, what we started into last week. We started really examining the ministry, the ministries that the Lord has put before us. So I appreciate you being sensitive to that theme, Keith, and choosing that song that really ministered to me. Well, take your Bible this morning. Turn with me to Luke chapter 10. The Gospel of Luke will be in chapter 10. It will be in verses 25 through 37, primarily verses 30 through 37, Luke chapter 10.

You should be familiar with where Luke is. John is well-worn in your Bible for the extensive amount of time we've spent in John. So you're right there by Luke, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Now, I think you know by now that this morning's message is a continuation of last week's message. It's not a true part one, part two. Many times I will have a part one, part two in my teaching. But last week's message we looked at the ministry that God has put before us. If you remember, we learned how the Lord dealt with the pride of those disciples. They were arguing, disputing. It was more than a discussion as to who was the greatest.

Jesus cut right to the chase and he dealt with their pride. And he showed them what greatness truly was. Remember, he gave them that rule of greatness. I think A.T. Robertson, the Southern Baptist commentator, hit it right on the head when he gave us that phrase, "the rule of greatness." Remember their spiritual climate was pride? And he set the spiritual order in line. He put the spiritual order in its place. And then he put before them the true spiritual ministry, which was serving not just children, but serving those around them, serving the ones the Lord had put before them, those who were weak.

So we looked at the ministry that God has put before us. So continuing along this same theme, this morning I want us to take a look at one of the parables of Jesus. Maybe one of the most famous parables of Jesus, the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable of the Good Samaritan. Probably your Bible has a heading above that portion of the Scripture. That heading could be above verse 25. Sometimes in some translations it's above verse 30. But you see that parable of the Good Samaritan. Now, a couple of notations I want to make about this parable. First of all, you need to understand what a parable is.

A parable is nothing more than an earthly story. Jesus was a master teacher. He was a master storyteller. And Jesus would use stories that the audience would be able to identify with to make spiritual application to truth. A parable is a story that is cast alongside spiritual truth. And it is meant to illustrate the truths that are taught. So that's what we have here. This is a story, a parable. Now, to break down the parable that is before us, you really need to see the beginning of the parable. The beginning of the parable starts in verse 25. What I mean by that is, there is a situation between a man and Jesus.

This situation, this conversation prompts the parable by Jesus. Now, actually the parable starts in verse 30, but it is this discourse starting in verse 25, which prompts Jesus to teach in the parable. And we're going to read these verses here a little later, but I think it's important for you to see that. Now, it is important to know the context of this parable and that Jesus had an interaction with an individual. This individual was a lawyer, verse 25 says, verse 25 says that a certain lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test. Now, what does it mean by a lawyer?

This means that this individual was an expert in the Old Testament teaching, the law of God. But notice he asks the right question. Verse 25 states that he asked what it meant, or how could he attain eternal life? What does he say? What shall I do to inherit eternal life? So he asked the right question to the right person. This would be an almost perfect evangelistic meeting. What do we have? An individual needing salvation, asking Jesus what it meant to inherit eternal life. So if he were to come to faith in Christ, this would be the perfect evangelistic meeting.

But also second, notice that Jesus does not teach works for attaining eternal life. Many people could misinterpret the teaching of the parable. Jesus is not teaching works, but Jesus is teaching proof of someone who does have eternal life. He is teaching that if someone does love God, he will love his neighbor as himself. So he is not teaching works but proof. So we have a man, a lawyer, expert in the ways of God, according to the Old Testament scriptures. He is approaching Jesus, and he is an expert in the written Word of God.

And this man comes to Jesus with the most important question, and Jesus is teaching him what eternal life looks like here on earth through the parable. In our language, Jesus is teaching what the Christian life should look like in our life and in our day. Now, the title of the message this morning is "Meeting the Needs of our Neighbor." Meeting the needs of our neighbor. And like I said earlier, this is continuing along the same theme that we started last week when we looked at the message the ministry God put before us. So the meeting, the needs of our neighbor. You see the truths that are before you. They'll come out of these verses.

Out of verses 30 through 37, we see the plight of the traveler. We see those who passed him by. We see the one who showed pity. The very simplistic breakdown of the verses. But I believe they will speak to us and to you and to me where we are today in our church. So I'm going to start in verses 25 because I want you to get the full context of the parable. And then we're going to go on down to verse 37. So bear with me as I read quite a bit of scripture. We will not divide all of the scripture, but we need to read all of the verses.

"Behold a certain law you stood up and put him," that's Jesus to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" There's the perfect question. And he said to him, "What is written in the law? How does it read to you?" Notice he gives the right answer. "And he answered and said, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.' And he said to him, 'You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.'" Again, he's not teaching works. He's teaching proof.

"But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, 'Who is my neighbor?'" Now, some Bible scholars say that this shows us that he was very prideful. We might not know that, but he does ask a question to justify himself before Jesus. Now, here comes the parable. "Jesus replied and said, 'A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and they went off leaving him half dead. And by chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.

Likewise, the Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, he passed by on the other side. But," verse 33, "a certain Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him he felt compassion, and he came to him, and he bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

And 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.' Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" He's asking this lawyer this question. He said, "The one who showed mercy toward him. And Jesus said to him, 'Go and do the same.'" Again, this is not work salvation, but this is proof of a salvation that works. So, you see the truths we're going to divide. Let's jump into main truth number one, the plight of the traveler. The plight of the traveler. Go back to verse 30.

"A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers. They stripped him. They beat him. And they went off leaving him half dead." It's a pretty bad situation here. By chance a priest was going down the road, and when he saw him he passed by. And likewise a Levite we see in verse 32. Now, verse 32 states that this man was traveling. This is obvious. We have no details about the man. We do not know if he was a Jew or if he was a Gentile, which would have made a tremendous difference to this lawyer, the one listening to Jesus. Now, there are some commentators who believe that he was a Jew.

And the reason they believe he was a Jew, it was because Samaritans did not frequent this road. Now, we cannot say that for certainty, but some would speculate. But what we have is a nameless man, no details, and he is traveling. Now, three observations about the traveler. First of all, he was on a familiar journey. He was on a familiar journey. Notice the Scripture reads, "He was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho." Now, all of the translations that we study say the same thing, "Down from Jerusalem to Jericho." Now, geographically, these two cities are about 20 miles apart.

Now, notice the language reads "down." This was because Jerusalem was about 3,300 feet higher in elevation than Jericho. And this was a rugged, treacherous, windy road. It was notorious for being a rough route. Second, I want you to notice he was on a treacherous journey. This was a very treacherous journey. What happens? He's traveling. He's going down. And we see that robbers fell upon him. They stripped him, beat him, and they left him half dead. So we see that he was robbed. He was beaten. And he was left for dead. This was because this route was notorious for bandits.

The terrain was perfect, the Bible commentators tell us, for setting an ambush for the unsuspected traveler. So this was a familiar journey. This was a treacherous journey. But then third, I want you to notice that he was ignored by those who found him. All the translations say that two individuals saw the man, and they passed by, and they passed by on the other side. And we will look at these individuals a little more as we continue in the message. So what do we have here? We see the plight of the lonely traveler. This man is all alone. He is nameless, and he is faceless.

And he is on this familiar, dangerous road, and he is robbed, and he is beaten. And he is left half dead, the Scriptures tell us. So we see the plight of the traveler. Let's move on to truth number two. I want us to see those who passed him by. Those who passed him by. Verse 31, "And by chance," by chance a certain priest. So this wasn't a planned encounter, but by chance a priest going down the road when he saw him, what does it say? He passed on the other side.

Verse 32, "And likewise the Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed on the other side." So we know, according to the Scripture, that there were three individuals who passed by this dead traveler. But remember, the audience was an expert in the Old Testament Scriptures. He would have been very familiar with these three individuals. He would have reacted. He would have taken notice, at least inwardly, when Jesus mentioned the three individuals. Now, I want us to examine two of these individuals here, and we will observe the third a little later. First of all, there is the priest.

All of the translations read the word "priest." Now, scholars tell us that there were a lot of priests who lived in Jericho. It was a popular place for priests to live, and they would travel this route back and forth between Jericho in and Jerusalem. When their service at the temple was up, they would return home to Jericho. Now, the priests were the descendants of Aaron, and Aaron was Moses' brother, and they served in the temple there in Jerusalem. Now, in summary, their primary job was facilitating worship there in the temple. But notice what this priest does.

By chance, the priest, coming down the road, when he saw the man, who is the man? This half-dead man? This stripped and beaten man? He passed by on the other side. Second, notice the Levite. We see that in the scripture likewise. The Levite also saw the man, and he passed by on the other side as well. Now, Bible scholars tell us that there were a lot of Levites who lived in Jericho as well. And these priests and these Levites were familiar with traveling this route back and forth between these two cities. Now, the Levites were the ones who were the descendants of Levi.

They were of the tribe of Levi, and they served there in the temple in Jerusalem, primarily as workers and assistants to the priests. So what do we see? Notice this. The Levite, he passed by on the other side as well. So here we have two individuals. These are professional ministers. These are priests and Levites. These were the men of God of their day, experts in the Word of God, and they came upon this half-dead traveler. He's beaten, he's bruised, and he is bloody. And they passed by on the other side. These men would have known the Word of God. They served faithfully in the temple, which was the house of God.

Their occupation was to facilitate the worship of the one true God. And these priests also taught in the temple children the Word of God. But they passed by this poor, this destitute, this half-naked and beaten man. So we see those who passed him by. Then I want us to notice the third main truth, the one who showed him pity. Verse 33, "But," the story transitions here, "certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him and he saw him, and he felt compassion. He came to him and he bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his beast and brought him to an inn, and he took care of him.

And on the next day he took out to Daenerys and he gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'" So what do we see? The one who showed pity. Now, here we see a transition in the text. Notice verse 33, "But," but that word is there on purpose. And this word, "but," introduces us to the Samaritan in the story. We should know the basic details about Samaritans because of the studies that we've been involved in. Remember the origin of the Samaritans? We learned that in our study of the Old Testament Book of Ezra.

The Samaritans were the descendants of the half-breed Jews and half-breed Gentiles. They came out of the Babylonian captivity. When the nation of Israel was judged because they had turned their back on God, they were judged and they were taken into captivity, and those Jews that were left behind intermarried and intermingled with the pagan peoples, thus they created a half-breed mix, a half-breed race, and those became the Samaritans. So you should be familiar with their origin. But remember their relationship to the Jews. The Jews hated the Samaritans, and the Samaritans hated the Jews.

The Jews looked down on the Samaritans because they were half-breed Jews and they had a form of Judaism that had been altered. So we must see who this Samaritan was. He was half Jew, half Gentile, and hated by the Jewish populace. Four observations I want to make concerning the Samaritan in this story. First of all, he had compassion on this man in need. What does it say? But a certain Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him, and he saw him, and he felt compassion. Now, earlier I stated that we do not know if he was Jew or Gentile. But historically, Bible scholars tell us that Samaritans rarely traveled this road.

Now, we have to be careful here, but by laws of averages, or the law of averages, we can guess that if this half-dead man could have been a Jew. Now, if that was the case, this man had compassion on a man that would have possibly hated him. Now, again, we don't know that for certainty. That's enough information there to make us think about this. But we do know that this is a strong possibility. So whether the bruised and bloody man was Jew or Gentile, the Samaritan had compassion on the man. Second, I want you to see that he met his immediate needs. It says he came to him, verse 34, bandaged his wounds and poured oil and wine on them.

The man was beaten, and the man was bleeding. The oil and wine was considered the medicine of the day, and we see that he was treating his wounds. And then immediately he put him on his own beast, and the Scripture says he took him to an inn, which would have been their version of a hotel on the route. Now, there are remains of ancient inns on this route even today, and that was a common everyday occurrence to be staying in an inn. Now, notice that he brought him to the inn to care for him. He gave him care on the road, and he gave him father care, and the safety and the comfort of the inn, so he met his immediate needs.

Then third, we see that he met his future needs. Verse 35, "On the next day, he took out two denarii, and he gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend when I return, I will repay you.'" So here we see that he involved the innkeeper, and he provides money for the future needs of the man. Now, the New American and the English Standard read denarii. The King James reads two pence. Now, to do a little study, you can find out what this amount means, but this was the equivalent of two days' wages or earnings. It seems that he hires the innkeeper to do what he has prohibited from doing.

And then he says, "If the cost goes even higher, I will compensate you." So he is meeting the man's future needs. Then the fourth thing I want you to notice right out of verse 35 is he made sacrifice to meet these needs. We have seen that he provided a good sum of money, and he hired help in this need, but now we see that he plans on returning to pay for even more. Perhaps after his business was done in Jerusalem or Jericho, he knew he could make his way back to the inn to care for the wounded man even more. No doubt this would have taken him away from his family, or even his job, or even both.

No doubt he took a risk in traveling around himself to do what? He made sacrifices for the man in need. So here we see a great compassion. But not just a great compassion, but an active compassion. This Samaritan had an active compassion for the man. Not just a compassion, but he was moved to meet the man's needs, both immediate and future, and whatever cost he would incur. He does not seem to evaluate the cost, but he evaluates the needs and he meets the cost at hand. So we here see the one who showed pity. Now, just like last week's message, I want to move away from the text and I want to make application.

You know by now that many times I make application as we journey through the text together, but I wanted to take a different approach with these two messages. I want to go through the text and explain them, and then I want to make application of these verses. First of all, we see the plight of the traveler. It's a sad situation. Man journeys alone. We don't know if he's Jew or Gentile, but he's nameless and he's faceless, but he's beaten half dead, stripped and left for dead. We must see the plight of so many travelers around us in their life. We must see that there are so many around us and they are on very dangerous routes in life.

They are on notoriously dangerous roads in their life. Some of these people are on roads of their own choosing. We've seen this before. There are many people who make bad choice after bad choice, and they make choices to live a life on roads that are notoriously dangerous. Some of us notice that there are some who are placed there on those roads, not by their choice, but possibly by their birth. We know that there are some on the road of drugs and alcohol. We know what drugs and alcohol do to lives. They destroy families. They destroy marriages. They destroy children. They put people in prison. People lose their health.

People lose their strength and vitality. And no doubt some lose their lives because of drugs and alcohol. And there are some of you here today. You have been victims of drugs and alcohol. Maybe your parents. Maybe your mom. Maybe your dad. Maybe you're living in an environment now where someone is on the road, a notorious road of drugs and alcohol. We've known people who are on the road of immorality. They do not adhere to what God's word says about morality. We see what immorality does. Immorality destroys families. It destroys marriages. It destroys children. And no doubt we know people who are on the destructive road of immorality.

We know some that they are on the road with their parents. We minister to people whose parents are on very destructive roads. We know parents who are on notorious and dangerous roads and they are dragging their children all along and they are travelers on these roads. I think you understand where I'm going in application. But I want to ask you a probing question. Do you see that we have travelers all around us and they are on very, very dangerous paths? It's almost like bandits pounce on them every minute of every day.

And they're bruised and they're bloody and they are half dead and they are stripped naked by the roads of life that they happen to be on. Second in application, we see so many who pass by the bleeding and the broken travelers all around us and they never seem to care. We see so many in our churches, so many who know the Word of God. We see so many who can quote the Word of God and teach the Word of God. But do not and will not and cannot practice what the Word of God says here in this parable. Jesus is saying, "If you love Me, you'll love your neighbor." And this is what loving your neighbor looks like.

We know so many churches and so many people within churches. We know so many people even in our families. They know the Word of God, can teach the Word of God. But they do not and will not and cannot practice what the Word of God says. And we here in our church can fall into the dangerous trap of saying that we know the Word of God and we serve God and we serve God in His house, but we will not meet the needs of those bleeding and bruised all around us. You know, if we're not careful, we can have the same attitude of those priests and Levites. Those priests and Levites no doubt thought, "I cannot touch that man.

I will become unclean." If we're not careful, we can look at people and we can say, "They have problems that are greater than I am. I can't tolerate their behavior. Oh, I can become unclean. I can't contaminate my life. I don't have time. That would cost too much. What would others say? See, there is excuse after excuse after excuse." So my question is, have we fallen into the trap of saying we know the Word of God and serve God, but we will not and we cannot and we do not stop on the side of the road with those who are bruised and bleeding and half dead? And then third, we must ask ourselves how we engage the needs of those around us.

Are we more concerned about the cost, the sacrifice, the time, and the risk? The Samaritan was not. Are we more concerned about the needs and the condition of the broken? The Samaritan was. So my question for you is, are you more concerned about the needs or are you more concerned about the risk? Am I more concerned about the needs of those around me or am I more concerned about my sacrifice and my risk? See? Now in conclusion, I want to make the same three statements that I concluded last week's message. Now remember the title of the message last week, the ministry that God had put before us.

We saw how Jesus dealt with the pride of those disciples and all along they kept arguing who was the greatest and he put out before them true spiritual ministry. These three statements. First of all, I do not have all of the answers and we do not have all of the answers. But ultimately and finally, we must see that we have the greatest answer and that is Jesus. And remember, we must give Jesus in his totality. What did Jesus say? You do these things in my name. And so we give Jesus in his totality. We give them the gospel. We give them the Word of God. We give them the church. We give them each other. Yes, we give them Jesus in his totality.

We should be willing to go out and reach those who are bruised and bleeding, those who are destroyed by the paths that they are on and bring them into the house of God with the people of God to give them Jesus in his totality. I said this last week that we are learning as we go. We are growing as we go and we are learning as we go. I was encouraged in this manner this week. This week I made a phone call to a minister friend of mine, a lot younger than I am. He has recently finished his seminary degree and he is involved in his first pastorate. He's been in the pastorate for two years.

Brother Keith and I did some youth ministry work with him years ago. He was telling me the story of how he went to a particular church and how he thought the church was one way, but as he got involved in the life of the church, he realized there were very deep serious problems. What was this young man saying? "Hey, Chris, I am learning as I go." We are learning as we go. No doubt this Samaritan was learning as he was going in his journey. And then the third thing is this takes the Nehemiah heart.

We have learned in chapter 1 of Nehemiah that he was broken and willing and that brokenness is key because the brokenness is when God does the work in us and when God does not work in us, he prepares us for the task at hand and Nehemiah was willing. What does he say at the end of chapter 1 in his prayer? Grant means success. And so we must see that we do not have the answers, but we possess the greatest thing, the best thing that the society and the culture and those around us need and that is Jesus.

And as we engage those that God has put before us, those who are broken and bleeding, those who are dying around us, we learn as we go as Christ is in us. And look, it takes a broken heart, a changed heart, and a willing individual. So last week, what did we see? We saw the ministry that God has put before us. Specifically, we have a great ministry to children. I was reminded last night we have a great ministry to our teenagers. We have many around us who are bleeding and they're broken and they're hurting. It's up to the church to meet their needs. We have many individuals.

We have many adults who have needs that are far greater than we are and unless God gives us a visitation of the work of the Spirit, we have no hope in these circumstances. This is the ministry that God puts before us and we are His hands and we are His feet. We are to get outside of the four walls of the church to do what? Meet the needs of our neighbor. Now, as I conclude, I go back to the context. Verse 25, we have a lawyer, an expert in the Word of God. What does he say? Jesus, how may I have eternal life? But what does Jesus say? Jesus says, what is written in the Word of God? And the answer He gives is the right answer.

And if I can say it like this, the lawyer gave Jesus the right Sunday school answer. He would have gotten an A in a Sunday school test, but that was not enough because Jesus said, "Here is proof that you love God that you will love your neighbor." So, Nola, as we have a ministry that is before us, we will prove if we love the Lord, we will prove that we love God individually and collectively if we are willing to meet the needs of our neighbors. Now, as your pastor, I want to make a few personal comments here. First of all, I see how many of you are working to meet the needs of your neighbors. And I'm very thankful.

I hear individuals say that so-and-so came to see me, or so-and-so called me, or so-and-so paid me a visit. Listen, when I hear of those needs being met, I am blessed. I see that many of you are getting it, and you are meeting the needs of those around you. But for those of us who have been working hard at this for quite some time, we need to be reminded of the great responsibility that we have. We need to keep on keeping on. We need to keep working hard at meeting these needs. And then third, I want to say to some of you, some of you are not here yet. Some of you have great needs of your own.

Some of you need to be served rather than to serve. And that's why God has you here. So what do we see? Meeting the needs of our neighbor. Right along with the ministry that God has put before us. That's a great burden on my heart, a great burden on Brother Keith's heart for quite some time. And I believe it is a great burden that God has been developing on your heart as well. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for the ministry and the ministries that you've put before us.