Sermon Series: “Drop The Stone”  Sermon:  “Permission To Care Deeply”

Sermon Series: “Drop The Stone”  Sermon:  “Permission To Care Deeply”

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.   Mother Terresa

Are you:   “Grace A Lot”     OR       “Grace Alone”

Do you think you get to screen or edit the  list.

My Brother Called Me One Day:  “Karl it’s David….”

Good Samaritan:—  one who is compassionate and helpful to a person in distress.

Good Samaritan Law:—  exempts from legal liability persons, who give reasonable aid to strangers in grave physical distress.

Luke 10:25-37 “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’”      Religious Performance.      Trying To Trap Jesus

“He (Jesus) said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’”

“So 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.’ (LAW) And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.’”

“But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

Jerusalem to Jericho: The Jericho Road

4000 foot drop. — 17miles going down  — The way of blood … the pass of Adummim”.  

Caves / Robbers

Now by chance a certain priest (Pastor) came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, (Church Staff) when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.

Exodus 23:4-5   “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.”

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

A radical confrontation of self-righteousness:     Hero is a Samaritan.

John 8:48   “Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

“Being moved with compassion.”

Compassion:– sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. (Mer-Web)

“splagchnizomai” :– to be moved as to one’s bowels, inward affection. 

On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

MAKE. Attenders.  DISCIPLES

So which of these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Samaritan Teaches Us:

Opportunity is everywhere

Open your eyes

Open your heart

Open your wallet

Repeat as necessary

Would you give up a little of your temporary to touch a lost, broken persons eternity?

John 13:34   “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Not the best you can or the way you love yourself but as Jesus has loved you!

Not a call to religious performance.  

An indictment of the whole of fallen humanity.  

You can’t and you don’t and you never will love like this. 

MERCY!!! You can’t earn eternity

I can manifest God’s love … 

not through my performance but through my relationship with God by the power of the Holy Spirit

Romans 5:5  “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Where is the Jericho road?

It’s in our neighbourhood.

It’s in the people you work with.

It’s in the people sitting near you.

It’s in your family …

“I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at three-thirty in the morning.”

                Tony Campolo 

(The Kingdom Of God Is A Party)