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Compassion Of A Neighbor | David Fisher

You know, two weeks ago, we started talking about God and who God is. And he, he declared who he was.

He said, compassionate and gracious. Two weeks ago, we talked about God’s compassion. And then last week we talked about the compassion of Jesus, how, when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion.

We’re going to talk about compassion again today. I hope y’all don’t mind. I think it’s an important, important principle for us to understand is God’s got to move it into our hearts.

And it’s not enough just to be taught. We can’t just be hearers of the word. We’ve got to be what doers of the word and my hope and my prayers that God will move us to do that, to be doers of his word.

We’re going to be looking here in Luke chapter 10. Most spend most of our time in verses 25 through 37, you know, you know, the account as the account of what’s called the good Samaritan. I don’t think that’s probably the best name for that, for that parable, but that’s what’s traditionally been used.

I think it’s should be. God wants you to be a neighbor, be a neighbor, be a neighbor parable. So let’s go ahead and start here.

Chapter 10 verse 25 and behold, a certain lawyer stood up. Let me stop right there. Got those who you don’t know.

I’m also a lawyer. So I, but I also I want a disclaimer here. He wasn’t talking about like lawyers, like us.

So he, he was talking about experts in the Jewish law. So that’s my loophole. That’s my excuse.

Now he, he said a certain lawyer came up. This person would have been learned in the scriptures that they didn’t spend time with Roman law. They spent time with the law that God had given to Moses and they were experts at it.

They spent all of their life studying the law of Moses, all the ins, all the outs, all the nuances. Yeah. But what about this situation and how does the law apply to that situation? That’s how they, that was their, not only their job, it was their hobby.

They loved the law. So he’s a, it’s a certain lawyer. He stood up and it said he detested him meaning Jesus.

And he said, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now I don’t know about you, but I think he already thought he knew the answer to that question before he ever asked it. You know, there’s three types of questions. There’s the kind of question you ask about because you need to know something like what time is dinner going to be served? You want to know that because why? You, you want to be there in time for dinner, right? It’s, it’s an honest, what I’m going to call an honest question.

This was not an honest question. This man steeped in the Jewish law had a pretty good feeling that he was in because he was a Jew. He was a son of Abraham, a son of Isaac, a son of Jacob.

He was one of the chosen people. And all he had to do was to follow the commandments. And he was in that, that was his mindset.

There’s a second kind of question and it’s, I think getting close to what he was asking here. It’s the, the testing questions. It’s really the, I’m really trying to figure out what’s on your mind, what you think, where are you, what do you, and so I’ll ask the question not because I don’t know the answer, but because I’m trying to know whether you know the answer or not.

You know, that kind of question. It’s kind of like, do you think it’s time for the garbage to be taken out? That is not really a question, is it? It’s, it’s the wife usually asking the husband, do you realize there’s some stinky trash that needs to be taken out? I know it’s stinky and needs to be taken out. My question is, do you know it? Right? Y’all don’t ever have those questions in your house.

And then there’s the third, it’s called the setup. All they’re trying to do is set you up. They’re hoping, hoping that you’ll give an answer that is unsatisfactory like, no honey, I didn’t know the trash needed to be taken out today.

Man, she’s got, man, she’s got me. She’s got me. It’s the setup.

And so this lawyer is asking the question, which somewhere between the testing and the setup question, what do I do to in turn to inherit eternal life? And you know how Jesus answered the question? He doesn’t. He punts, he punts. You know, why are we always drawn into every argument that somebody asked us a setup question? What do we feel if we’ve got to argue with them and prove our point? Sometimes if they ask you that setup question, all you got to do is turn and say, well, I don’t know.

What do you think? Make them speak. Man, that’s Jesus was beautiful at that. Jesus turns it on him and says, I don’t know.

Um, he did. Well, he didn’t say, I don’t know. He said, let me be precise here.

Verse 26 he said to him, what is written in the law? Now he’s playing in the lawyer’s field, right? What is your reading of it? Well, I can just, I know the lawyer is just, um, he’s repeating everything he’s learned all of his life, boiled down to these two points. That’s all they talk about. That’s what they live to talk about.

It seems like, man, he’s like, he’s saying Jesus just called on me to talk about the law and that’s a good deal. So he speaks up, says, though, the lawyer 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 Jesus says, you have answered rightly.

Extra star check. Plus, plus you done good. Do this and you will live.

See, Jesus knew it was the right answer. If you, Jesus, in fact, had been asked that same exact question in other times recorded in the scriptures and Jesus gave the exact same answer. If you have your Bible, I have it up on the screen over to Matthew 22, Matthew 22 verse 37 through 40.

This was another time when some of the, another lawyer, how these lawyers get a bad rap in the Bible and probably deserve every bit of it too. He says, teacher, what’s the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus said, Jesus said, now it’s almost the exact same words. This other lawyer had said you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment. Y’all know this. Y’all have heard this before plenty of times.

And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments hang all of the law and the profits. The lawyer gave the right answer.

The words were right. His application was just wrong. And Jesus was about to just completely flip the script and the lawyer never saw it coming.

See we’re trained never to ask a question that you don’t already know the answer to because you can control the narrative. If you can control the answers, you don’t ever ask open ended questions unless you’re really having an honest discussion. If you’re trying to win your case, you control the questions and Jesus just said, you know, you answered right.

Didn’t argue with them, didn’t complain with them, didn’t add anything to it. Same exact answer. But the lawyer wanting to justify himself, wanting to understand now because now we’re getting into an area where there’s some, some wiggle room and he asked Jesus and who is my neighbor? See for him, he knew exactly who his neighbor was.

They discussed that in their synagogues and in their discussions and all their legal talks and talking about the law. He knew exactly who they taught the neighbor was. See the neighbor is usually the person who lives right where, right next door, right? That’s my neighbor.

And if you want to be a little more expansive, you broaden it out to be everybody in your neighbor hood, right? Okay, let’s just go down the street. Maybe your, your back door neighbor at, you know, it’s kind of the block about the block in which you live. They’re kind of in my neighborhood.

These are my hood folks. We were together and birds of a feather flock together and we kind of the same folks kind of stick together. And as long as we’re all here among each other, we’re going to be kind to each other, nice to each other.

And we don’t have to worry about those who are outside of the neighborhood, right? And that how most folks live. We’re going to be real honest. Jesus just completely flips the script.

I think he really expected Jesus to say, well, okay, let’s be real broad. It’s for all the Jewish people. It’s all the people of our, of our faith, of our, of our denomination, of our religion.

It’s just, it’s, it’s all of these people. Let’s be real broad. Jesus just really takes them to task and he does it in the most kind, subtle way, but I believe it proved the point that Jesus was trying to make.

And so we started with a parable here in verse 30. He said, a man went down from Jerusalem, which was the city, the Holy city down to Jericho, which is a much lower elevation. It is a treacherous road, treacherous looks and crannies.

It’s a very dangerous, very, very dangerous path. Apparently this man walked by himself and said he fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and then they departed leaving him half dead. I thought you either dead or you’re not dead.

They say he’s half dead, half dead. So he must’ve looked dead, left him half dead. Jesus says, now by chance, you know, not many things happen by chance in my world.

He says, by chance, by chance, a priest, a certain priest came down that road. Now we don’t know whether he’s going up from Jericho up to Jerusalem or if he’s going from Jerusalem down. Just he doesn’t, Jesus doesn’t give that detail.

So maybe it’s not important, but if he’s going up to Jerusalem, he’s probably going to go do the priest thing. If he’s leaving Jerusalem, he’s gotten through and now he’s going down to Jericho. Says, and we, he saw him, he saw the man, he passed by on the other side, didn’t touch him.

Likewise, a Levite, Levite would have also been of the tribe of Levi. It would be of the, the sons of Levi. Those were the people who worked and helped with the temple.

They’re the ones who did kind of the work around the temple. Holy servants of God, likewise, a Levite when he arrived at the same place, he came and looked and he passed by on the other side and never touched the wounded half dead man. But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed, came where he was.

A Samaritan to the Jewish people were about as bad as demon possessed people. In fact, they, at one time when they got mad at Jesus, they accused him of being a Samaritan, a half breed, somebody who took part of religion of their, the law of Moses, but didn’t believe they didn’t worship at the temple. They worshiped on a different mountain.

They were considered completely off limits. They were not only of another nationality, they had actually become a part of another race because they were completely separate, completely separate. And Jesus is now says that this certain Samaritan as he journeyed.

So if you’re listening to that story, you’re not expecting anything good to come out of that Samaritan. It says, and when he saw him, when the Samaritan saw him, he had compassion. And so he went to him and bandaged his wounds and pulled oil and wine, taking care of his wounds.

He set them on his own animal, brought them to an end, like a little place where he could stay and took care of them. And on the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii coins valuable for a whole day’s work, two days worth of work. He invested in this stranger, gave it to the innkeeper and said to them, now take care of them in whatever more you spend while I come again and I’ll repay you.

So Jesus stops then and turns back to the lawyer and says, so which of these three do you think was neighbor who fell among the thieves? And the lawyer said, he who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said, go and do likewise. Go do likewise.

See to them a neighbor was who are they? Jesus uses the word neighbor and says, who are you? Y’all get the flip here to the, to the Jewish lawyer and their studies of who they should extend love to and mercy to and compassion to. It was always a definition of who were they. Are they in my group or not? Are they part of my people or not? Are they in my hood or not? Because if they’re not in my hood, if they’re not my people, then the law says they’re not my neighbor.

And if they’re not my neighbor, then I don’t have to love them like I would love myself because that’s what Leviticus says. You should love your neighbor as yourself. So I’m going to call, see, say what he, what we would say in the law is call him a loophole lawyer.

I’m looking for a excuse. I’m looking for a reason on why this law does not apply to me. Judge hears loophole lawyers all the time trying to find an excuse, trying to find an exception of why this law doesn’t apply.

And that lawyer could have had discussions and arguments with them say, you know, uh, that person is not worthy of my love. And you know, the law doesn’t say love the stranger. It says love your neighbor as yourself.

I’m going to tell you, we all set out those boundaries of who our neighbors are, of those who are willing or who are deserving of our compassion in our kindness. Don’t we? If we’re really going to be honest, there’s always them. There’s always they, there’s always this group of people who are outside of the boundaries of who I have to love as a neighbor.

I ain’t even gotten to about whether you really love yourself or not. It’s hard to love others as you love yourself when you don’t even love yourself. That’s a sermon for a different met for a different time.

But if we can start looking for the loophole, if I can exclude you and say you are not my neighbor that I don’t have an obligation to you. Jesus flips the script. Who is the neighbor in this? He says, the neighbor is the one who showed mercy.

He’s saying your neighbor’s not defined on who they are. Being a neighbor is who you are and who have I put in your path by chance that you’re going to run across and you can say, well, I’m sorry. I can’t help you.

You’re not my kind. You want to them. You’re in that party.

You’re in this party. You’re in that neighborhood. You’re in that color.

You’re of this nationality. You are of this denomination and we find reasons to create artificial barriers around us of who it is that we should love and show compassion towards. I will tell you, Jesus just turns right in right and says, I’m going to tell you who the neighbor was.

The neighbor was this unclean defiled person in your mind. This person of another nationality, even almost of another religion and that person did what the priest and the Levite refused to do. He could have come up with all kinds of excuses.

See if the priest had touched a dead man, he would be unclean until he could be purified and during the time that he’s unclean, he could not serve as a priest. He could not eat of the holy things. He could not participate in the life of the temple because he would be unclean.

The law said it in Leviticus. Leviticus 21 said the priest is not to touch a dead person unless it’s their very close relatives. This guy laying here on the road was not his relative and he was not.

Going to defile himself to help and show compassion. The Levite was almost the same. See if the Levite had touched a dead body, he also would be unclean and he couldn’t become clean until he’s taken a wash him in a bath that next night and he’s not, he’s not, he’s not able to serve for at least a whole day.

Priest is going to be a whole lot longer. See they had good reasons and excuses not to help the man, not to serve him, not to meet his needs and Jesus just took the examples that the people they looked up to, the priest and the Levite and they would have looked up to this man, to these men and then use the example of the good guys of Samaritan, an unclean person. Samaritan didn’t have to worry about getting unclean by touching a wounded person or a dead person because in the world’s view he was already unclean.

I believe it’s those who realize that they’re sinners who have the greatest amount of compassion because they know what it feels like to be broken, to be wounded, to be excluded, to be cast aside and they know what it feels like. And this Samaritan reached out and it was a neighbor and Jesus said, go and do likewise. The Bible has a lot of examples of this, of how good religious people can get so blinded to the boundaries of where compassion and love have to go.

Y’all remember Jonah? Y’all know the story of Jonah and the whale. Jonah was a prophet and God told him, I want you to go preach in Nineveh, the great city, the capital of the Assyrians, the enemy of the Israel people of the Israelites, the enemy. He told Jonah to go speak to the enemies, to the people who had been killing his people.

God told Jonah to go tell the Assyrians, the people in Nineveh to go repent. And you know what Jonah did? He said, I’m going the opposite direction. I don’t want to do that.

I do not want you to forgive those people. And so he ran and God found him. God never lost him, knew exactly where he was.

He gets thrown off. He says, God’s after me. This storm is my fault.

They throw him overboard. A whale gets them and brings them all the way back to the shore. And then he gets out and says, okay, God, where do you want me to go? He says, I want you to go back to Nineveh.

He said, yes, sir. And I’ll tell you, he was hating every minute of it. And he goes to Nineveh and he starts preaching.

And I doubt he was preaching with a lot of excitement in his voice. God’s going to kill all of y’all if y’all don’t repent. I just have a feeling it wasn’t a, I’m pleading with your souls type of message.

Y’all heard people who were like pleading for somebody’s soul, please repent. I don’t think that’s how he was saying it at all. But I do think he was saying the words.

So when my mama and my daddy would make me make up with my sister, it really wasn’t heartfelt. Sometimes it says, kiss your sister, make up. And so I put some spit on the edge of my lip and went right there and blurted on her cheek.

And of course I got another spanking cause I was doing that. Cause of course my sister went all dramatic on me. I got spit on me daddy.

And so I had to say the words again. I am, I am sorry. Sorry.

And I was not heartfelt. I don’t think Jonah was heartfelt, but he told him what God told him to say is I want you to repent. I want you to repent.

And they believed and they repented and Jonah got mad. He said he got angry. He, he set up and went and camped outside of Nineveh waiting for the hell in the brimstone and destruction of Nineveh sitting there hoping I hope they don’t repent.

And he waited and God didn’t bring the destruction because they repented. And he said he got so angry. I am so angry.

I could die. That’s not spitting mad. That’s spitting mad on steroids.

He is angry. God said, how do you know compassion for these people? And you got more upset about a vine that was giving you shade that died from a worm than you are about the fact that there were thousands and thousands of people and their animals that I have spared because of my compassion. Oh, what a lesson.

It’s not just Jonah. Jesus is in the house of Pharisee eating a meal and this woman comes in and she is a center. They all know she’s a center and she breaks perfume and she starts anointing Jesus feet and she washes his, his feet with her tears and dries it with her hair and makes a big scene in a Pharisee’s house while they’re eating a meal and one of the Pharisees thinks to himself and Jesus knows what he’s thinking.

So as he said to himself, if he was a prophet, he would know what manner of woman she is. And Jesus just pegs them. Who loves the most? The one who’s been forgiven the most.

Oh, what a teaching Jesus gives. Not one more example. James and John, you’re not going to find any disciples more devout to Jesus than James and John except for maybe Peter.

Those were two of his main three and they love Jesus with all their heart. They’ve been living with Jesus for almost three years and they are supposed, they’re kind of his front team and they’re going through a Samaritan village and the people there do not receive Jesus and they get so offended and they said, Jesus, do you want us to rain down fire from heaven like Elijah did and burn them all up? Them Samaritans, ah, it’s the same kind of person who was a neighbor over here, a Samaritan, a whole, he wanted the whole village to get wiped out. Good religious people.

Jesus followers. Jesus said, don’t you know what kind of spirits you are of? Man, don’t do that. See, we can be right in our words.

There’s not one person here who would disagree with the words. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Is there one person here who would disagree with that statement? We believe those words.

We know those words. We say those words. We write those words down.

The question is, do we apply the words? And that’s where the rub is, isn’t it? Not just hear the words, not just say the words, do the words and Jesus would tell us go and do likewise. It’s so easy for us to look at those other people out there. I got one more example.

I just love the, the musical Fiddler on the Roof. I’ve had quotes from Fiddler on the Roof before, but it’s just a masterful, beautiful. It’s a Jewish man.

He’s a poor dairy farmer, dairy man has one cow and he’s Tevye goes around selling the milk in town. He has several daughters, one of which now is starting to fall in love with a Gentile, somebody who’s not a Jew. Just like, I mean, just like back here in the New Testament.

That’s just where this conflict was going on. This is now set in the early 1900s. It’s still the same.

You people stay over here and we stay over here. It’s a complete boundary. And so he’s, he sees his daughter talking to this Gentile boy and he asked him, what are y’all talking about? No, nothing.

She says, we’re just talking. And he says, that’s good. And she says, pop up, pop up.

It’s like, is it Fidka? How do you pronounce his name? F-Y-E-D-K-I. Fidka and I, we’ve known each other for a long time. And he says, Havela, I would be much happier if you remained friends from a distance.

You must not forget who you are and who that man is. And she says, he has a name, Papa. He says, of course, all creatures on earth have a name.

She says, Fidka’s not a creature, Papa. Fidka’s a man. Who says he isn’t? It’s just that he’s a different kind of man.

As the good book says, each shall seek his own God. In other words, a bird may love a fish, but where would they build a home together? She says, the world is changing, Papa. And he says, no.

Lord Jesus Christ came to break down walls. A separation of Jew and Gentile is gone. He came to save the world.

He calls and asks for us to spread the gospel to all tribes, all nations, every tongue, because you know, who’s going to be in heaven. The book of Revelation says it will be people called by Jesus Christ from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation will bow down and give honor and glory to our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He came to save the world.

He came to save the world. My hope and my prayers that will, will grab hold of the compassion of God. It will grab hold of the compassion of Jesus and we will become compassionate neighbors to anyone God puts in your path, no matter their tribe, no matter their tongue, no matter how broken, no matter how wounded, no matter how hurt, no matter how vile, no matter how filthy, no matter how much they may be a center and somebody we would rather just say, God, let me just pass on by.

We’ll tell you who Jesus tells us to be. He tells us to be a neighbor. And when we start being neighbors, we’ll tell you what the kingdom of God is going to grow.

And I believe God wants this church to be a neighbor to people, no matter their tribe. I am not condoning the behavior of those in any way that is sinful, wrong. But I’m going to tell you what, Jesus loves us when we are still centers.

It’s not for us to say, well, when you get your life right, then come join us. Is it the Samaritan could have said, you know, I’d help you out, but I’ll kind of wait for you to get up on your own and get on down to the end. Maybe I’ll take care of you.

No, he spent of his time and his money and his investment. He reached out and touched somebody who was half dead. I’m going to tell you our community and our paths are filled with people who were half dead and spiritually dead.

And Jesus would say to you, you know, I can teach, uh, God may use me to teach, but I’m going to tell you just teaching you is not enough. My hope and prayers that God will move you and that a spirit will move each of us to be a neighbor, to be a neighbor to those that we come in contact with to say, and I care about you because you know, I’ve been broken and I’ve been wounded and I’ve been beaten and I’ve been, somebody has stole something from me. There is a devil and that devil has stolen from me.

But I’m going to tell you, our Lord Jesus Christ is going to restore every single thing that the devil has ever stolen from you. I’m going to speak life over you and you are going to live. And in the name of Jesus Christ, you are going to live.

And if it costs me to deny, if it costs me a hundred bucks, that’s money well spent. If it’s going to take some investment of my life into yours, and that just means I didn’t get to watch my show tonight. Man, that was time well spent.

That means it causes an inconvenience in my life. That is time God wants us to spend all of us. I don’t care what tribe, what nation, what political party, what group, what organization you’re in.

We are all centers. We are all in the same boat. We are people who needed the mercy and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And because he’s been compassionate, he’s drawn us out of that to bring us into a church, a body of like minded believers. And I believe he’s going to do it and I believe he’s going to keep doing it. The last call I want to give is to those who feel like they’re the, the traveler and you’re broken and you’re wounded and you’re hurt and you need somebody to reach out to help heal you.

I’m asking you to come. If you’re hurt, if you’re wounded, y’all stand up. Would you, if you’re hurt, if you’re wounded, if you’re not well mentally, spiritually, physically, emotionally, I’m asking you to come forward because we have people who will place oil on you.

We don’t have any wine in here, but we’ve got some oil, but I believe that the wine of the Holy Spirit will, will bring healing to you. If there’s anybody here who just wants God to heal them because you may not know it, but you’re in a room full of neighbors who want to touch you and to bring healing to your life. Bless you.