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What Does Neighborly Love Look Like? // Time of Grace - YouTube
Channel: Time of Grace Ministry
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Sometimes when I'm preaching or teaching
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there are certain words in the Bible that I
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want to explain
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because they're not words
that we normally use
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in today's language.
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And one of the words that
I struggled to define
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is actually what we would
say is a common word
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that we use in Christian words.
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But the word is simply grace.
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And the reason I struggled to define it
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is because there really is
no one word or one concept
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that describes it.
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But what we're going to see today
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as we dig into the parable
of the Good Samaritan
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is that Jesus doesn't give
a definition for grace,
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but he gives an incredible
illustration of it.
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And maybe if you grew up in church,
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the definition of grace that you had is
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grace is undeserved love
or unconditional love.
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And that is absolutely true,
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that is an element of grace.
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But I want to show you today
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that there's actually
another element to it
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that this story beautifully illustrates.
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And again, from last week,
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I want to make sure that we recognize
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that being a neighbor
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that God wants us to be
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is not about obligation.
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It's an invitation.
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And I want to show you
today how it's an invitation
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to show the grace that God showed to you.
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Now, before we dive into this story,
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there's a couple of things.
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First of all,
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the historical context that
as Jesus told this story,
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which was completely
made up, it's fictional,
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it was just designed to teach a truth.
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The way Jesus told this story
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was to some people who understood
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some cultural things in their days.
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They understood what a priest
was and what a Levite was,
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and those were people
who worked in the temple
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and they had to go through
some very specific processes
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to make sure they remained
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what they would call ceremonially clean.
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And if they were to come into
contact with a dead body,
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that would make them unable
to work in the temple.
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Again, this is something that's
a little bit weird for us,
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but it was just common culture
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and common sense to them back then.
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Another thing to keep in mind
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is that as Jesus tells this story
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he's speaking to a bunch of Jewish people.
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And for them there was
this very sharp divide
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between Jews and Samaritans.
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As it turns out, they were
both descendants of Abraham,
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but the Samaritans had a different idea
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of how and where to worship God.
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And for the Jews,
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that was something that was repulsive.
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So in that day, that was
an example of separation,
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of people hating people.
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And that was the backdrop
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for him telling the story
of the Good Samaritan.
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So that said, we're going
to dive into this story.
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And as it unfolds,
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Jesus is going to give an example
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of how grace is not
only unconditional love,
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but it also shows an extra layer
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that you and I need to be aware of
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so that we can be the kind of neighbors
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that God wants us to be.
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Here's the story as Jesus told it.
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In Luke chapter 10, it says this:
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And that's the story
of the Good Samaritan.
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And there's a couple of elements
I want to highlight here
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as we talk about grace and
what it means to be a neighbor.
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First of all, there's
that unconditional love.
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This Samaritan had no
reason to extend love
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to this Jewish man who was
beat up and left for dead.
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And yet, because his love was
unconditional and unearned,
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he helped.
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But then there's another layer
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that I want to focus on and close with,
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and it's simply this.
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Everyone would have
applauded for that Samaritan
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if he had just bandaged the man's wounds.
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Like that was more than what was expected
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and people would have
thought highly of him.
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But then to go on and put
this man on the donkey
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and take him to an inn was next level.
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People would have been
totally amazed by that.
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And yet it still doesn't stop there.
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He goes on and he then
pays the innkeeper
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his due for that night,
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and then says, "I will come
back and pay any extra."
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And as you think about that,
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that gives us a good
definition for what grace is.
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It's not just unconditional love,
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which that is the front part of it.
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It is also love without limit.
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That man, in our context, the Samaritan,
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he basically put his credit card down
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in front of the innkeeper and said,
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"This man is going to stay
here until he gets better."
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And the innkeeper might be like,
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"What if he orders lots of room service?
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"What if he steals all the sheets?
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"What if he steals the towels?"
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The Samaritan is just
like, "Charge it to me.
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"I'll take care of it."
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That's unconditional love and
that is love without limit,
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And that's just a small picture
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of the love that Jesus showed to you.
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When he decided to be your Savior,
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when he pursued that cross for you,
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he was putting down his life on the line,
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and he said to his Father,
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"Father, whatever debt they have with you,
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I'll cover it."
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And the day that maybe
you first heard about God
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or the day that you were baptized,
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the day the Holy Spirit
worked faith in your heart,
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that was love without condition
and love without limit.
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That was the day Jesus said,
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"Everything I did for you is done.
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"You're forgiven.
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"And I will put my life down on the line.
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"You're going to continue
to sin throughout your life,
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"but my grace has no limit.
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"I will continue to love
you no matter what."
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And that's the kind of love
that your Savior showed to you.
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And he says to be the kind of
neighbor he wants you to be
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simply means to reflect that
to the people around you.
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So as you think about
what that means for you,
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what does that mean to have grace,
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to show love without condition,
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but also to show love without limit?
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And maybe this week is a
good week to pick one person
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that you can start demonstrating
that kind of grace to.
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Because it's not about
what you can do for them.
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It's simply about reflecting the grace
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that God showed to you.
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Well, today I challenged you
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to pick one person that
you can show grace to.
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And I know it isn't easy,
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so here's what I'm asking you to do.
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If you're willing to take this challenge,
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would you just put an
emoji in the comments?
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Maybe a hand raised, maybe
a thumbs up, maybe a heart,
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whatever it is.
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That way that we can know
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that we've got a community of people
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who are taking on that challenge
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to show the love of God
to the people around them.
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