You know this last week. I actually I went to
Las Vegas for the first time It was for a pastor's
conference It was it was it was a preaching conference.
All right, absolutely You know just because I've
stayed an extra two days So now I mean, yes,
that does sound kind of like the setup to a joke,
you know a priest a rabbi and a pastor go into
a casino But you know, I mean it was it was honestly
great. I had a chance to you know wander around
I saw a show in the sphere just gigantic it's
just the giant sphere that's got a screen and
everything like over the whole thing and And
then I went to go see a Cirque du Soleil show.
Not that kind of Cirque du Soleil show. It was
Michael Jackson, all right. Everybody was clothed,
enough. And yes, I did walk through the casinos.
You kind of can't avoid it. They're like in every
single hotel. But, you know, I was able to resist
because I saw it was like a $100 buy -in for
most of them. I'm like, yeah, I'll just go get
a Gordon Ramsay hamburger and I'll be okay. So
it was pretty good hamburgers. But while I was
in town, I went to go see some friends of ours,
the Planzas. They were the ones who actually
owned my house before me. And it was wonderful.
I'd get a chance to see them. And remembering
that they went out of their way to make sure
that I'd be able to get into their home. At a
time, four years ago, whenever all the prices
were skyrocketing and they didn't skyrocket with
it, and in fact, were even willing to go just
down a little bit so that I could get in, because
they cared. And technically, even though we were
never neighbors, because, well, I moved in when
they moved out, they treated me like someone
that mattered, like someone that they wanted
to make sure that they cared for. But when we
were talking, we were talking about our next
door neighbor. And she's just this really nice
lady. She's been there for any number of years.
And she lost her husband some years ago. But
really, every time that I'd come out and every
time that we'd see her is that she's the sweetest
lady and that she's there with her kids and her
grandkids and always an opportunity to be able
to just check on each other and just care. But
you know... When somebody is is sharing your
your faith and sharing your outlook on life And
and even oftentimes if somebody you know looks
like us it can be oftentimes be easy To see ways
to care and to reach out But what if my neighbor
didn't share my values and my beliefs? What if
my neighbor was difficult or rude? Would it be
tempting to look at them and to say that that's
a bad neighbor? Or more than that, would I still
be willing to say that that neighbor is worthy
of being called my neighbor? See, that's the
question that we want to have at the heart of
today's message. Who is my neighbor? And more
importantly, what kind of neighbor am I willing
to be? You know, as Romans 13 10 says, love does
no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the
fulfillment of So, as we think about our neighbors,
we may be thinking, well, I've never done any
harm to my neighbor, but if we did do something
wrong toward the people around us, would we even
be willing to admit it, even to ourselves? You
know, before Jesus ever told the parable of the
Good Samaritan, God had already laid out a clear
picture of what it meant to love your neighbor.
In Leviticus 19, which we're looking at, we're
given a series of commandments. Not just about
rituals and sacrifice and all the other stuff
we see in Leviticus, but about justice, generosity,
and everyday decency. Things that we oftentimes
skip over. And they're all wrapped around the
same core idea. Do no harm to your neighbor.
Do good when you have the power to do it. Let's
break it down a little bit, and no, not like
white boy dancing. Verses nine through 10 talk
about leaving the edges of your field unharvested.
In other words, you're not trying to get every
single little piece, no matter what it takes.
We might be thinking that they're talking about
wasting resources, but God is saying, Don't grab
every scrap for yourselves because there are
other people who may be able to benefit from
the leftovers. You know, sometimes we're so desperate
to hold on to what we think is ours, even those
little extra pieces, the ones that, let's be
honest, we don't really need. But we forget that
those scraps could mean everything to somebody
else. When we hoard what might not actually help
us, but it could be a lifeline, to someone else.
Did you really need to sell that couch for $50
online that you've had for 20 years when you
know that the family just starting out next door
doesn't really have any furniture right now?
Or verses 11 through 12. They call out lying
and stealing and using God's name as cover for
our selfishness. It's a spiritual version of
slapping a Jesus bumper sticker on something
and trying to act like it's holy Which is one
reason I don't put a bumper sticker on my car
in Houston freeway traffic, you know Oftentimes
we can end up doing things that are underhanded,
but then we act like well I'm just being blessed
by God. This is what God would want. This is
what's right and We're actually just doing what
we would want Sometimes we're even acting as
if being religious or acting like we're moral
allows us to hide behind God as his people when
our actions say otherwise. Even if we're sitting
there looking at our taxes saying, you know,
I could manipulate this in this way, when in
reality we know that it's not really true. We're
not really writing off something that really
was for a business. Or even more than that, going
further and saying, well, God is just blessing
me, and that I'm so intelligent to know how to
do this. Or even verses 13 through 14. Don't
take advantage of those who can't stop us. You
know, the times whenever we know that we can
get away with something, and we're like, well,
this is a little more convenient for me, so I'd
prefer that. The person who was underpaid for
a job, when you know that they actually did put
forth the effort into it, or the person we ignore,
or the one that we don't help because there's
no reward for it in us. And we can easily tell
ourselves that, well, we've done nothing wrong.
Well, I haven't broken the law as if legality
is the same as morality. We know that we could
just delay paying off this person even though
we know that They need the money just as well
as anyone else does. We just didn't want to have
to take it out of our savings. And verses 15
through 16 shift to how we use systems and narratives
to get what we want, whether we're trying to
manipulate the legal system or just the court
of public opinion, and we're trying to get others
to somehow do our dirty work for us. We're even
willing to bend the truth or amplify things that
we know aren't really real. to gain power or
money or influence. When we know that we could
just go to the person and deal with it, but instead
we're going to talk about them and not even give
them that chance. See, the times whenever we
want to use our social media or our gossip in
order to ruin someone's reputation, we're not
really venting. We're just hurting someone. or
even looking at verses 17 through 18 about not
hating your brother in your heart. You know,
let's be honest, there are times whenever we
feel that we've been wronged. There's a lot of
resentment that can be there. You know, we may
be saying, well, I'm just saying I wish that
I had some justice done for me, but is that necessarily
what God is seeing? Are we ignoring that maybe
it turns out the other person felt wronged by
us? Or even more than that, even if we were wronged,
if God is really the judge, then why aren't we
letting Him sort it out? We may keep saying,
I've forgiven that person, and yet somehow it
comes up over and over and over. You know, all
these verses, they're all trying to get around
this one idea. Love your neighbor as yourself.
I mean, sometimes, We harm our neighbor, we don't
even realize it. Sometimes, let's be honest,
we actually do know exactly what we're doing.
We just don't want to admit it. But either way,
the question remains, how can we do better? And
that points us to what Jesus is trying to show
us in many ways with the Good Samaritan. You
know, we know it, and maybe we know it a little
too well. We hear Good Samaritan. We immediately
know what it what it means, but sometimes we
know a story so well we Stop listening to what
it's actually saying You know, let's let's lean
in just a little bit There's a man who is beaten
and half dead on the side of the road and two
men pass by a priest and a Levi and these are
religious leaders These are the ones who are
meant to represent God's presence and blessing
among the people. They're supposed to welcome
people into the presence of God for sacrifice
and for worship. And yet, even though they should
be the ones you would think would love and would
care, they don't. They see them, but they cross
over to the other side. The text doesn't spell
out why, but we could only imagine. Maybe they
were in a hurry. Maybe they were afraid that
the man was actually dead and they didn't want
to risk being unclean while they had jobs to
do. They just didn't want the hassle, maybe.
They crossed over because how easy is it that
in our minds, that if we can somehow just separate
ourselves, then we don't have to actually do
anything. They keep going. They stay technically
clean, but spiritually, they walk right past
the heart of God. You know, this part of the
message, you know, it reminds me of those moments,
you know, whenever we see someone struggling
to carry groceries and we just, well, you know,
I don't want to, you know, worry them or bother
them. You know, maybe they don't want anybody
touching them. and then we see the oranges falling
out of the bag. Or the times whenever someone's
trying to merge into traffic, they've had the
blinker on for a while, but we decide we're going
to go in, rev on up and, you know, stop them
from it because how dare they get into our lane.
You know, the times whenever we're deliberately
looking in the other direction because of what
we don't want to see. If you don't make eye contact,
it's like you're off the hook, right? as if your
moral obligation is canceled by your ability
to act like you didn't see it. And that's priest
and Levite level of avoidance there. And it's
kind of funny, except it's kind of true. And
then comes the Samaritan, the outsider. The one
considered impure by the religious establishment.
Samaritan was not a good word in the scripture.
It was used by the Jewish community to show the
outsiders. Samaritan, people from Samaria, was
turned into a bad word. See, the Samaritan though,
he sees the man. And instead of calculating the
cost, he crosses the road to him. He helps, he
gives, he stays. The move goes from not harming
to actively helping. From avoiding trouble to
becoming a blessing. From asking what happens
to me if I stop, to asking what happens to him
if I don't. And it hits today. Because we live
in a world where we've gotten really good at
defining who does and doesn't count as our neighbor.
And if we can find a technicality, a zip code,
a background, a legal status, a lifestyle, we
can convince ourselves that we don't have to
help, that it's not our issue. And yes, I know
you caught what I put in there, third in that
list, as if I were trying to somehow be sneaky,
because pastors apparently have to be sneaky
to convince you to look at people without finding
an excuse to get out of loving them. But Jesus
doesn't give us that out. So I can't either.
Our neighbor is the person right in front of
us. The person in the ditch. The person that
God has placed in our path. We might not agree
with them. We might not understand them. We might
not even be afraid of the implications of helping.
But Jesus doesn't call us to caution. He calls
us to compassion. It doesn't mean we throw away
wisdom. It does mean we throw away indifference.
Because love doesn't look for loopholes. So let
me ask you this, who have you been avoiding because
it might be inconvenient to care? Who have you
crossed the road to avoid physically, emotionally,
socially, spiritually, and what would it take
to get you to cross back over? First John 4 11,
beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. So let's go back to that last
question. What would it take for you to cross
back over, to stop avoiding and to start loving.
Let's take a closer look at the one person in
Jesus' story who did cross over, the Samaritan.
See, it may not land with full weight today,
but it would have hit hard in Jesus' time. Because
Samaritans, they weren't just the outsiders,
they were enemies. They were seen by the Jewish
people as spiritual traitors. They were the impure
ones, the religiously heretical, because Samaria
and the northern part of Israel, they had their
own altar areas. They had their own spots. They
worshipped in ways that were not connected to
the true Jewish community. And therefore, as
they also married to people in the surrounding
lands, they weren't seen as pure enough. The
name Samaritan wasn't neutral. It was a racial
slur. They were half -breeds, deliberately and
offensively, to mark them as less than. And these
were people, yeah, they shared ancestry, but,
well, y 'all married those other people. They
worshiped at the wrong place. They had their
own version of faith. They were seen as people
to be avoided, dismissed, rejected, and yet it's
this man. The one you'd never expect because
what good are they who chooses to stop? Who chooses
to help? Who chooses to love? Like people crossing
into our state just to help us find our lost
children despite everything we've done to label
them over the years and Here's the key the Samaritan
doesn't get caught up in religious posturing.
He's not worried about ceremonial cleanliness
He's not calculating risk or social consequence.
He's not looking for a theological loophole to
justify walking away. He just sees a person in
need and moves toward him with compassion. And
that right there, that's what righteousness looks
like. Because sometimes we use our own morality
as a shield to protect our comforts. We use our
religion as an excuse not to love. We say things
like, it's complicated, and it's not my problem,
or they don't belong here. All while the person
on the side of the road is bleeding out. But
the Samaritan sees a person, not a category.
The Samaritan sees a neighbor, not a nuisance.
The Samaritan sees an opportunity, not a threat.
So how much more should we, the people of God,
do the same? And Jesus asks the neighbor that
flips everything on its head, who was the neighbor
to the man? Not who counts as my neighbor that
I'm stuck with, but who became a neighbor. You
hear that? Became. Because being a neighbor isn't
something we inherit. It's something we choose
to become. Here's the question for us. Do we...
want to be the neighbor. Do we see it as a burden?
Do we see it as a privilege? Because the world
around us that's falling apart, it's not going
to change by self -protection. It's going to
be changed by sacrificial love, by people who
cross boundaries, by people who break prejudice,
who love not just when it's easy, but especially
when it's hard. We keep asking why the world
is so broken, why people don't know Jesus, but
maybe it's because we stopped looking for ways
to be their neighbor. Maybe it's because we've
made loving people optional. But Jesus says the
neighbor, the true neighbor, is the one who stops,
the one who serves, the one who loves, even when
it costs, even when it's uncomfortable, even
when the person is offensive to us, or maybe
we're offensive to them. Even when your pastor
is afraid of how many people don't want to hear
this. It is a privilege to be a neighbor. So
what's stopping us? You know, this is what we
see in Christ. Christ has done everything to
be our neighbor. Even when we were His enemies
because of sin. And yes, I am using the term
neighbor. Yes, He is our Savior. Yes, He is Lord
of all. I'm not trying to minimize that for one
second. But the same heart we've been talking
about, the heart that crosses the road, the heart
that refuses to look away, the heart that sees
worth in the wounded, is the very heart of Christ.
Because Christ wants to be our neighbor, not
because that's nothing, but because it's everything
from someone who dwells in the Kingdom of God
and welcomes us into it. It's the miracle, the
mystery that the Son of God looked at us not
just as lost sheep, but as neighbors worth loving.
Even when we were His enemies because of sin,
He didn't walk away, He came closer. He made
room. He gave everything, even His life, to bring
us into His family. Not just to be next door,
but to be inside. Jesus looks at broken people,
people like us, let's be honest, we are broken.
And he says, I want you in my kingdom, I want
you in my home, I want to live with you. And
if that's the heart of Christ, then what greater
privilege do we have than to reflect that same
heart to others? To look at someone, even someone
we disagree with or feel distant from or have
labeled as other and say, I want the privilege
of loving you. I want the privilege of seeing
you. I want the privilege of being your neighbor,
because that's how the world actually changes.
Not with arguments, not with excuses. With love.
Real love. Cross the road love. Love that doesn't
make excuses to avoid people, but searches for
opportunities to bless them. There are many voices
around us that give us excuses. Priestly logic,
Levite caution, theological technicalities, political
talking points. But there's one voice that cuts
through it all. It's the voice of Christ. The
one who came as the unexpected neighbor. The
one who, like the Samaritan, was rejected, misunderstood,
and even offensive. And yet, He's the one who
showed us what the Father's love really looks
like. And now He says to us, go and do likewise.
But not just do. Go and be likewise. Be the neighbor
Christ has made you to be because he was the
neighbor who crossed heaven to love you first
so go and love like that as Hard as it may be
Thanks be to God