The Most Famous Story Jesus Told ~ Luke 10:25-37!

November 16, 2014 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson!

Intro: In his Shake Hands with the Devil, Lt. General Dallaire tells about the horrific Rwandan genocide in
which 800,000 peoplemen, women, children, babieswere brutally murdered. Dallaire tried to sound the
alarm, but found that the govts of the world were indifferent to the plight. He captured this indifference by
quoting a group of bureaucrats who arrived in Kigali to assess the situation in the early days of the genocide:
We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here are
humans.!

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That statement is as shocking as it is jarring. !

How is it possible to close our hearts to one another?

In an April 26, 2010 article, the CBC reported that more than two dozen pedestrians refused to help a man who
was bleeding to death after saving a woman from a knife-wielding mugger in Queens NY. !

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Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, 31, was stabbed about 7:20 am on April 18. Over the next hour and 20 minutes,
more than 25 people walked by and did nothing. One man stopped & turned him over, but after seeing
the blood walked away. Another snapped a picture with his smart phone. Some just stared, but most
noticed him and just ignored him.!

How is this possible? Most of us shake our heads and wonder about humanitys inhumanity. !

It seems that everyone acknowledges that things are supposed to be different, that people are supposed to
stop and offer help. But why is this so often the case? !

For some strange reason, we live contrary to our design. We were designed to love another, even
sacrificially. But we live for ourselves. !

Today, were going to look at a passage in which Jesus talks about what it means to live as his follower in this
world. IOW, how does one who calls him/herself a follower of Jesus live and love differently. That is, he calls us
to a different way of being human. !

This passage for our study is the famous passage of The Good Samaritan, and it is arguably the most
famous story that Jesus ever told. Many people who have never read the Bible or attended a church, and
even those who don't know much about Jesus, have heard of The Good Samaritan. Many people think
that its just about being a good person and practicing random acts of kindness. !

But is it possible that weve actually missed the message that Jesus intended to convey? As well see,
there is definitely something much deeper going on here, and if we want to understand what it means to be
a Christian, then it is vital for us to grasp what Jesus is saying. !

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Context of the story starts off with a direct challenge to Jesus and a curious question about eternal life. !
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25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? !

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The question: Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? !

Its a great question: Would it be great if Calgary was interested in this question? !
Its a relevant question: Jesus is talking about the coming Kingdom. How does one enter it? !
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 Its a revealing question: It assumes that there is something to do. If Calgarians think about this question,
they assume that good peopledefined as those who havent done really bad thingsgo to heaven. !

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The motivation: a lawyer stood up to put him to the test.!

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Jesus gives the lawyer a pop quiz on his knowledge of the OT Law. And he nails it.!

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Jesus: Do it & live. Love perfectly from your first to your last breath, and you shall live. !

26 He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? 27 And he answered, You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. 28 And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do
this, and you will live. !

Dt. 6:4-5, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your might.!
Lev. 19:18, You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you
shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord. !

Interesting: Jesus didnt say, Believe in me. Instead, he drives him to the Law. !
Rom. 3:19-20, Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that
every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the
law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.!

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29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? !
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1. A prideful desire: desiring to justify himself. He should have been humbled by his failure.!
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2. A defining question: Who is my neighbor? !
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What is the assumption here? There are two categories of people: neighbor & non-neighbor. There are
some people I dont have to love. !

30 Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who
stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going
down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he
came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. !

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Jerusalem to Jericho = 17 mile stretch that dropped 4000ft. Desolate, craggy limestone hills. Bloody way.!
Two religious leaders failed to help. Why? Hardly matters. !
Who do you expect to be the hero of the story? Nothing prepared them for what came next. !

33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had
compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on
his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two
denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will
repay you when I come back. !

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Jews have not dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9).!

2. Parable of the Good Samaritan? No such thing. !

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Ryken 545, Maybe it would be something like an Islamic fundamentalist helping an evangelical
Christian who was injured in a terrorist attack. It was the last thing anyone would expect.!

36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the
robbers? 37 He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go, and do
likewise.!

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The question is not, Who is my neighbor? but Ho do I prove to be a neighbor to others?!
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Main Idea: Jesus calls us to love others in ways that are costly !
because a neighbor is something that we are, not something that we have. !

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Application:!
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1. Get the facts straight. Eternal life is an inheritance; i.e., its a gift. !
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(1) Even if we were to love perfectly from this moment on, we have a long track record of failing to love
God with all our might and our neighbor as ourselves. !
(2) Romans 5:6-10, For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will
scarcely die for a righteous personthough perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we
have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For
if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we
are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.!
(3) Jesus is our Great Samaritan. When we were dead in our transgressions and sins, he was the one
who at great personal cost laid down his life to redeem us. He didnt just say he loved us, but he
demonstrated his love for us. For our sakes he became poor that we might become rich.!

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2. Get the question right. The question is not Who is my neighbor? but To whom am I being a neighbor?!
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(1) Jesus: You cannot divide the world into two categories: those who are worthy of your love and those
who are not. You cannot define who is a neighbor and who is not. You can only be a neighbor, and Im
calling you to demonstrate a neighborly love as a whole new way of life, a whole new way of being
human.!

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(2) HT: Ryken 546: Ernest Gordons story in To End All Wars.!
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(3) Who are your neighbors? Who are you enemies? !
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3. Get the grace needed. !
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Augustine, God gives us commands that we cannot perform so that we may know what we ought to
request from him.!

Conclusion: Imagine Calgary as a place where neighborly love is just our lifestyle. What if just the Christians
took seriously this challenge to be a neighbor to our city? !

After all, all there is here are humans.

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