Jesus Guys: What stories did Jesus tell? (week five)

Week 5– What stories did Jesus tell? Welcome to Jesus Guys, a ten week series on following Jesus. This is a discipleship lifestyle. Here are the seven scriptures for reading this week.

1. Luke 10:25-37 Love your neighbor

2. John 15:1-11 The vine and branches

3. Luke 15:11-32 The prodigal son

4. Mark 4:1-20 Sowing seed

5. Matthew 25:14-30 The talents

6. Luke 15:1-10 The lost sheep and coin

7. Mark 4:30-34 The mustard seed

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Transcript

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This is Tim Dutellus. Welcome to Jesus Guys, a discipleship lifestyle, brought to you by menofbravery.com. This is a 10-week series, and this is week number five. And our theme for this week is the question: What stories did Jesus tell? Jesus would tell stories to help elevate the truth that he was wanting to teach, but then also make it applicable to everyday life and give real life examples. And more importantly, paint the picture culturally on how people could relate to this supernatural truth that he was sharing. There are seven readings, one for each day for week number five. And for day number one, it's from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verses 25 through 37. And this is the story of the Good Samaritan. And this emphasizes the lesson that we should love our neighbors. And you know the story. This man was testing Jesus, and he was asking, what could he do to inherit eternal life? And the story begins with this person testing Jesus, responding that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then to love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus confirms him, yes, you were correct, and do this and you will live. But then the man wanted to challenge Jesus by asking, Who is my neighbor? And this is when the story comes in, and Jesus begins to tell a story of a Jewish man who was going from Jericho down to Jerusalem, which is a very rocky mountainside road where there are these crevices where thieves could hide. And this Jewish man got robbed. And the story tells us how a priest and a Levi opposite of him passed him and left him for dead. But it was a Samaritan who paused and stopped, took pity on him, and helped his wounds and took care of him and even left money to the innkeeper. I mean, extremely generous. But there's a part of the story that is not written specifically in this text, and that is that in that day, a Jewish person would literally insult somebody using the definition of a Samaritan. It would be almost a racial slur. And it was an amazing analogy that Jesus pulled out of the cultural context of this time that we should love our neighbors. Even those that may look different, act different, believe different, we should love our neighbors. And I believe in this time and place in which we live where there is so much racial divide or even political and religious divide, that we still need to love all people and reach them with the gospel that changes lives forever. What's important about this is that Jesus ends this entire story with a four-word challenge. Go and do likewise. Because when we do this, when we do these things of crossing the street and caring and showing generosity and love, it begs the question why? And our faith in Jesus is not only seen, it's felt and it's heard loud and clear. Because what we do proves what we believe. So if we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, but we ignore the neighbor and we don't serve those that aren't like us, then our gospel and our religion and our faith is selfish. It's inward. It's only about what's in it for me. But Jesus was telling us this story very clearly so that we would understand that we need to serve others, love others, love our neighbors, even when they're not the same as us. And so in week number five, as we go through these stories that Jesus told us, may we be encouraged to live life in the present with the mindset of how Jesus wanted us to love one another, draw near to him in day number two with the vine and the branches, to know that there is redemption and forgiveness in day number three with the prodigal son, that we need to be faithful in sowing seeds on different types of soil in day number four with Mark chapter four, verses one through twenty. And then that we should be faithful with all that God has entrusted to us with the parable of the talents found in Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 through 30. And then also to be very aware that it's not about big numbers, it's about individuals that maybe God puts in your path in the story of the lost sheep in the coin in Luke chapter 15, verses 1 through 10. But then also as we wrap up this week in Jesus guys, what stories did Jesus tell? He reminded us about the mustard seed in Mark chapter 4, verse 30 and 34. Because this allows us to know that it's not about the biggest things, but it's about the little simplest things that we focus on. The smallest of all seeds on earth was planted and it grows and becomes one of the largest garden plants. In this parable of the mustard seed, it really helps to show the kingdom of God. As we exemplify the teachings of Jesus, he produces something bigger than who we are. It's bigger than big. And I am so encouraged by the teachings of Jesus that I know the fruit of it and the outcomes of it are not measurable by our human standards. It is supernatural. And so when we lean into the stories that Jesus tells us, let's try to see them through the lens of his supernatural perspective. What we're living out in these stories is not one plus two equals three, but it's obedience plus surrender equals something that we'll only be able to know in heaven. Thank you for listening to Jesus Guys. You can find all the scriptures for this week's reading at JesusGuise.com. And remember, God has you right where you are to make an impact for eternity's sake. Thanks for listening.