WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:23.280 We're in a series called Just Us. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:24.719 Just Us. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:26.800 We kicked it off last week. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:32.159 And the title comes from a quote that I heard when Dr. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:36.159 Ephraim Smith was teaching a few years ago. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:44.640 And in his sermon, he said this when Jesus returns, there will be ultimate justice. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:52.240 That one day Jesus will return and restore and make all things right. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:54.799 He will wipe away evil. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:57.759 There will be no more sorrow. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:59.920 No more pain. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:01.439 Until then. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:04.239 It's just us. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:06.480 Until then. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:08.719 It's just us. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:19.599 That his church, follower of Jesus, we are to be his hands and feet to a hurting and broken world. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:39.920 That we would call and cry out the prayer that Jesus called us to, that his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in our lives as it is in heaven, in our church as it is in heaven, in our city as it is in heaven. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:46.719 And that we partner with him, the Holy Spirit, empowering us to accomplish this. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:02:03.120 And so as we begin a new year, and I know many of you have got new goals and new dreams and new plans and all those things, we want to ask what I think is just the most important question for us this year. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:10.479 What does God desire for you in 2022? 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:13.439 Have you thought about that? 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:18.960 Like, what does God desire and long for you this year? 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:24.719 And then even a little bit better than that. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.120 I don't know, better, bigger than that. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.319 What does God desire for us in 2022? 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:36.479 What does he desire for his church in 2022? 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:40.319 What a joy that we can gather in person and online. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:52.400 And I think we should be challenged with like the last few years of how church is and kind of the reckoning in some ways of like, Jesus, what do you want your church to be? 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:55.840 And would you make it true of us? 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.560 Would you make it true of us? 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:10.159 You know, you don't have to search very far in the scriptures to understand what he desires of us, what he uh wants and longs for you and for me. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:21.360 In fact, uh, one of the clearest, most concise statements of his desire for your life and mine can be found in Micah chapter 6, verse 8. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:26.000 It's a very familiar passage if you've been around church uh at all. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:31.919 And uh Micah is this prophet, and he's laying out literally God's case. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:35.840 This is God, like almost like a lawyer laying it out. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:45.199 If here's my case against Israel, that is his people that have wandered from his ways, that are doing incredible injustice. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.759 And through this, we see this incredible line of clarity. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:56.879 Micah 6:8, the prophet writes this he has shown you, he's revealed it, he's not hidden. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:04.479 Oh man, or oh mortal, or humanity, what is good or of moral excellence? 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:08.159 And God gets to define what's good, by the way. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:13.360 And what does the Lord require of you? 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.040 See, it's even bigger than what do you desire, what does God desire? 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.040 It's actually even what He requires. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:20.160 Have you thought of that? 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:22.000 What does God require of you? 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.079 What does he require of me? 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:33.680 But to do justice or to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:39.120 It's as simple and as difficult as that. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.839 And here's what we said last week. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.959 We began 2022 with the convicting truth. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:47.600 And the convicting truth is simply this. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:51.600 And I say it's convicting because it's convicting for me. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.240 God's will for your life is clear. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.959 God's will for your life is clear. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:04.000 We tend to complicate it so we don't have to obey it. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:10.639 We tend to kind of go, well, I'm not really sure what God's will for my life is. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:11.439 I don't know. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:17.920 And oh, that he would show me, I'm gonna pray really hard, or you know, maybe it's this, maybe it's that. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:25.439 And the reality is 99% of God's will for your life, for my life, is revealed in his word. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:29.920 He he's shown us, he hasn't hidden it. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:35.279 And if I'm honest, I can tend to complicate it. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:46.079 Because if I complicate it, I don't have to obey it, I don't have to feel as convicted about it. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:54.160 And so we've been talking about what does it look like to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:59.519 Last week we unpacked what does it look like for us to be a church that does justice together? 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:04.240 And if you missed it, please go back and listen to that on our podcast or online. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:07.360 Today we want to talk about what does it look like? 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:08.480 How do we become a church? 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:09.199 Think about this. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.000 How do we become a church that loves mercy? 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:27.920 I mean, as we think about those three things, uh wouldn't it be amazing if people described you and people describe me, and there's all sorts of things they could say, yeah, he's a great dad, she's an awesome mom. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:32.240 Wow, they're a fantastic worker, what an excellent student. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:34.000 And those are fantastic. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:43.920 But wouldn't you want someone who thinks about you and instead of describing what you do, they describe your character because it so shines through? 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:48.720 And they go, wow, this person, they act justly. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:07:10.000 There's just a winsomeness and a way that they treat every single person that just has an integrity and a care and a leaning in for those who don't have a voice. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:12.800 Man, they love mercy. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:16.240 Man, they love mercy. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:25.120 There's a tenderness, there's a genuineness of their heart for people to believe through. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:28.480 Don't you want to be, don't I, don't we want to be that kind of people? 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:32.240 Wouldn't it be amazing if people described awakening that way? 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:38.720 So, how do we become a people that love mercy? 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:41.680 How do we become a church that loves mercy? 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.879 Let's take a look at that in our time together. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:46.560 Well, what is mercy? 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:51.360 Mercy, this word mercy here is actually the Hebrew word chesed. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:56.000 And you gotta have the in there uh to say it right. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:57.759 So uh go ahead with me. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:07:58.959 Can you say chesed? 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:01.759 There you go, very good. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:08.000 Uh and this word chesed is actually pretty difficult for us to translate into English. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:12.959 Um, and your script your Bible, it's translated in different words. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:18.240 Sometimes it's mercy, sometimes it's steadfast love, sometimes it's loving kindness. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:27.040 At other times, uh it uses two words, sometimes it's love and faithfulness to interpret and translate one word, this one word hasid. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:29.680 Here's what it is: it's this loyal love. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:39.279 It's a faithful, covenant-keeping love that expresses itself in uh actions of kindness, mercy, and compassion. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:46.240 This is not just a feeling, it always entails practical action. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:57.039 Of the 246 times that you find Hesed in the Old Testament, most often it is referring to God and his response to his people. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:07.279 When Moses, Exodus 34, when Moses asked God, show me your glory, show me the real you, is what he's saying. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.879 I want to really know you. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.720 God says, I'll let all my goodness pass by you. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:22.639 And then in that moment, he declares, the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:24.559 That love and faithfulness, chesed. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:36.879 In Psalm 136, speaking of God, 26 times, it says, His steadfast love never fails. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:41.039 It's this covenant-keeping love. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:57.200 Now, when uh the Jewish scholars in the ancient day were translating the Hebrew scriptures into Greek so that uh so many people were able to read it back then. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:02.480 They were wrestling with what word do they use to uh translate chesed. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:09.759 And if you've been around church world, you would think the word that they would use is the Greek word agape for love. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.399 And it's like, okay, maybe it's this agape. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:22.879 And they actually chose the word eleleo, mercy, because this Greek word has such a richness and connected to the idea of chesed. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:31.120 It's a person who shows compassion and forgiveness, especially towards someone who has offended them. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:36.480 It literally is compassion in action. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:39.759 How do we become a church? 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:46.399 That's defined by loving mercy, compassion in action. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:11:03.440 I think there's no more like poignant and powerful place to unpack this idea for us as a church than uh in the teachings of Jesus, and in particular, uh the parable of the Good Samaritan. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:18.080 And many of you are familiar with the Good Samaritan, but there is such a richness of unpacking this Hesed love and what does it mean for us today, and how we become that kind of person and people. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:23.759 And so, if you got your Bibles, would you open them up to Luke chapter 10, verse 25? 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:32.720 Now, the parable of the good Samaritan actually begins before the parable with the great commandments. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:37.360 And the great commandment uh is as you know, love God, love others. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:42.480 Uh, and it's actually in this context, um, well, you'll see. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:44.799 Luke 10, verse 25. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:57.039 On one occasion, an expert of the law, a lawyer, uh, and the expert of the Hebrew law, that is the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, stood up to test Jesus. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:59.440 Okay, so this is antagonistic. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.559 This isn't just like, hey, we're having a conversation. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:06.799 Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:12.639 And this was a common question that, you know, rabbis and scholars love to kind of talk about and kick around. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:15.679 How do you read the law and some of these sort of things? 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:18.240 And um, you know, I love Jesus. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.080 Is his response, by the way, wasn't let me give you an answer. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:24.240 He responds with a question. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:34.159 And Jesus follows, oh, we would do so much good if instead of always trying to respond with an answer, we just led with a question. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:38.480 And Jesus, the great teacher, asked him, What is written in the law? 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:39.519 You're an expert. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:40.559 You should know this. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:41.840 How do you read it? 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:47.039 And he answers what was actually a common understanding of the summing up of the entire law. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:55.679 Jesus had taught on this many times, and perhaps he had even heard Jesus teach on this, and this is the reason he brought it up, because he had a bone to pick with him. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:01.519 He says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:13.600 Love God with all that you are, and the second command is like it or connected to it, that you can't actually love God well if you're not loving others well. 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:20.720 Your love for God is revealed or demonstrated in how you love others, is what the point is. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:23.120 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.879 This sums up the ten commandments, the entirety of the law. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.759 And so Jesus says, You've answered correctly. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:31.039 Good job. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:34.240 And I don't know if he did this, but he might have started a slow clap. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.759 Jesus, I don't think, would do that, but I might in sarcastic mode right there. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:40.879 You've answered correctly. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:42.799 Do this and you'll live. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:51.200 But wanting to justify himself, and here we get to the heart of the expert here. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:54.480 He asked Jesus, and who's my neighbor? 00:13:55.279 --> 00:14:04.559 Because we live in a world that separates the in from the out crowd, the right people and the wrong people. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:12.080 And how you answer this, Jesus, is either going to turn off everybody who's listening, and this is what he's trying to get at. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:13.519 He's like, I got you. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:15.279 I got you. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:17.120 Now notice this. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:24.559 In reply, Jesus tells what we all know as the parable of the Great Samaritan. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:35.919 And so, following the great commandment, then Jesus brings about the great clarification of who is my neighbor and what Hesed love really looks like. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:37.679 He begins this way. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:43.039 In reply, Jesus said, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.840 Now, that journey, it's about a 17-mile journey. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:47.440 It's a day's journey. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:52.080 Uh Jerusalem to Jericho is about 3,300 mile uh descent. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:58.799 It's pretty steep, it's narrow, there's zigzag past high, rocky cliff and boulder terrain. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:01.120 It was incredibly dangerous in their day. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.360 Bandits and robbers often hit out. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:09.919 Uh it was so dangerous that the nickname for the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was known as the Blood Way. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:11.600 Like, hello, no, thank you. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:12.399 I don't think so. 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:14.960 I don't want to go that way there. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:20.480 This is the path when this man was he was attacked by robbers. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:26.320 They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and he went away, leaving him half dead. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.600 And so we can understand and see there's a man on the side of the road. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:33.759 He's completely naked, he's bloody bruised, and he's laying there. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:42.480 We don't know if he's motionless or if he's somehow writhing in pain, but he's on the side of the road, and then a priest. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.720 Uh translated into our modern day, a pastor. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:58.080 Happened to be going down the same road, leaving Jerusalem, going to Jericho, having probably just performed his rituals in the temple and going home for a long weekend. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:04.879 When he saw the man, he passed by onto the other side. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:21.120 And then so too a Levite, and if we translated it into our day, it would be, you know, like someone who's uh really involved in their church, a leader, when he came to the place and saw him, pass by on the other side. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:38.240 Now, when Jesus is telling this story, he's actually following a very familiar rabbinic way of teaching and style of storytelling that the people are following, and they have a set of expectation about who's gonna come next. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:39.840 You know, he's not telling a joke. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.679 So there was a priest and a Levite and a, you know, that that wasn't his deal. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:56.080 In fact, uh, what often happened was they would this the rabbinic style of teaching was you would take kind of the religious and the lead, and then you would eventually make the common Jewish person the hero of the story. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:06.240 And so you can just imagine when the people were listening as they're taking this in, they're expecting, and then there was, you know, Joe the carpenter. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:07.680 Then there was so-and-so. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:14.799 This is what they're thinking and waiting for, and then Jesus flips the script and he says, But a Samaritan. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.000 Jews and Samaritan had such hostility and vitriol. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.880 It went back over 500 years before that. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:41.440 After Israel was actually conquered and taken away into captivity, uh, the Samaritans of the, they were Jewish people, they began to intermix with other people in the land, intermarry, and so there was this racial divide. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:43.839 Jews called them half-breeds. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:49.359 They began to worship, you know, in their own way, and they actually built their own temple. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:54.799 They said, Great, you have the temple in Jerusalem, we're gonna build a temple in Samaria, and so we're gonna worship in our own way. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:04.880 And they only held to the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah, and so there's this religious divide, there's this social divide, there's this political divide, there's such animosity. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:21.599 There was a literally war broken out through the history of Jews and Samaritans, but a Samaritan, most likely the audience had a visceral response. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:26.319 They probably booed, hissed when they heard Samaritan. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:27.440 So let's try it. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:28.799 But a Samaritan. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.079 Well, that was weak. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:41.039 But a Samaritan as he traveled came where the man was. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.000 When he saw him, he took pity on him. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:52.079 The wrong person in the wrong place, the wrong hero. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:54.400 It says he took pity on him. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:56.960 Circle that word pity. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:01.200 It's the Greek word spogizomai or compassion. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:07.759 It literally means this um gut-wrenching feeling. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:16.880 It's not just a thought, it is like a physical, visceral, gut-wrenching, like pain. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.880 It's actually used of Jesus most often when he sees the crowd. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:33.519 It said that Jesus, when he saw the crowd and that they were harassed and helpless, he had splegisomai, he had compassion and pity. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:36.240 So you can read it through the New Testament. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:44.480 Every time he saw the crowd, he had this compassion that was visceral that hurt his heart into the very gut. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.200 It's actually used of the father of the prodigal son. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:57.440 And fathers and parents, you can understand if you have a wayward child who's been gone and you're not sure if they'll ever come back. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:05.039 And the text says that as he saw his son a long way off, he has spogizomai. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:14.160 This gut-wrenching feeling that caused him, and this is what a father would never do lift up his robe and run. 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:26.079 A patriarch would never demote himself in that society that way, but because of his great compassion for his lost son, the Samaritan. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:32.079 He sees what two others pass by on the other side. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:49.279 Man that's naked, beaten, bloody, bruised, to left, to die, and he couldn't pass by. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.799 It affected him to his core. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:03.759 He went to him, bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine, then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.759 The next day he took out two dinari, gave them to the innkeeper. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:09.359 He said, Look after him, he said. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:15.680 And when I return, I'll reimburse you for any extra expenses you may have. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.960 I want to draw out just a few thoughts for us. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:32.640 As Jesus brings about the great clarification of what chesed love, loyal love, loving mercy practically really looks like. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:40.079 See, you notice chesed love, loyal love, actually loves despite the inconvenience. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.599 What an inconvenience. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:44.480 Think about it. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:47.359 These three men, they're on their way, they're headed somewhere. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:54.160 The priest and the Levite, you just gotta assume, you know, they just finished a tough, you know, week of work, maybe perhaps. 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:59.759 They're tired, they're ready to get home, they they've been missing their family, they've been on a you know a work trip. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.119 Trip and they're on their way home and they can't wait to get there. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:10.079 There's a plan, they're headed there, and and all of a sudden there's an interruption, a deviation. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:14.000 Something that didn't go according to plan. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:20.799 The Samaritan, most likely a businessman, doing business in Jerusalem, going to Jericho on his way. 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:24.400 It was inconvenient. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:26.079 It was a hassle. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:30.960 It wasn't what he had planned his day to look like. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:52.720 See, Kessel love loves despite the inconvenience, the interruption, the times when you go like, you know what, I had my plans, and now, especially for you, like really, you know, type A and really neat people that have everything figured out, dialed in, and the day planner, everything's like packed on top of one another. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.599 It's like all of a sudden, any type of interruption is like, whoa, I can't handle it. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:03.920 And it says, Hasid love loves despite the inconvenience. 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:09.119 And it loves, by the way, at great personal cost. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.960 You know, the Samaritan. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:18.319 He stops. 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:22.079 He bandages his wounds with oil and wine. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:27.279 That's kind of like the ancient day, you know, uh med kit that you'd keep on hand. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:43.200 Takes his own, most likely, clothing and robe to cut it off, to bandage his wound, to clothe him, puts him on his own donkey, takes him to an inn, pays the denarii, and then he writes a blank check. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:49.039 He says, whatever extra expenses, I'll come back and pay him. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:54.000 Now we don't know why the Levite and the priest step to the other side. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:24:03.440 A lot of times we think about it and maybe think, well, if they touched, you know, a dead body, they'd become ceremonially unclean and they wouldn't be able to serve in the temple. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:10.799 But that's a bad excuse no matter what, and we get that, but it's especially a bad excuse because what direction were they headed? 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:12.480 Down. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:15.920 They were leaving Jerusalem, not heading to Jerusalem. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:17.599 They weren't on their way to perform something. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:18.400 They were headed down. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:19.759 They had already accomplished it. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:21.440 It didn't matter, frankly. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:32.400 And I think the reason they passed by on the other side, so far, by the way, was actually the Pharisees had this thought that even if their shadow touched something that was dead would make them unclean. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:35.200 And so they didn't even want their shadow to touch the guy. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:37.920 They walked all the way around. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:46.000 I think maybe the reason they didn't stop is because they were afraid they might suffer the same fate. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:51.359 It's a tough road, the blood way. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:57.200 Stopping to help this person would expose you and make you vulnerable. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:01.119 Self-preservation. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:16.880 Love's a great personal cost, whether it's time, whether it's energy, whether it's resources or money. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:31.279 And where we go, okay, it's not about my self-preservation, but it's about engaging and giving of what I have, realizing someone else has no protection. 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:34.960 In our world, let's be honest, let's just call it. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.119 We live in the scarcity mindset. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:47.839 The whole stinking, you know, hoarding junk that goes on is the scarcity mindset of I gotta get mine, I gotta get mine, I gotta get mine, instead of going like, how can I care for you? 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:54.000 Tested love, loves despite the inconvenience, that great personal cost. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:54.960 And did you notice this? 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:56.000 Do you see this? 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:03.599 Because I think we wrestle with like, okay, Ryan, thank you very much, but I I haven't come across a whole lot of half-dead people lately. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:04.960 Right? 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:08.079 I mean you just haven't. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:11.039 I I don't think, I don't know. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:15.599 Hasid Love simply loves those along their path. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:19.519 He just simply loves those along their path. 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:32.799 They're going about their day, they're going to Jericho, and they encounter a man in need. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:35.599 I like how my friend Tim Lundy says it. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:37.359 He's a pastor in town at Venture. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:40.319 He says, God determines your engagement, uh, encounters. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:42.079 We get to determine our engagement. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:44.319 Have you thought about that? 00:26:44.480 --> 00:27:00.960 Like Hesed love is just having an attunedness and awareness to those that God puts along your path, and then having the awareness of saying, you know what, God, you determine this encounter, but I actually get to determine how engaged I'm gonna be, how responsive I'm gonna be. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.240 There was this interesting study, I think it was 1970. 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:12.960 Uh Princeton, uh, some psychologists did this at Princeton, and they actually uh leveraged uh Princeton seminary students. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:16.880 This the study was called From Jerusalem to Jericho was the study. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:17.680 You can go look it up. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:18.559 Fascinating. 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:31.759 Uh, and these two psychologists wanted to know um exactly what happened, you know, what they called the hurry condition, because they had this idea that people in a hurry aren't willing to help as much. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:41.359 Is it kind of like situational, are goodwill, are willing to give to others, or is it just the disposition that we have? 00:27:42.160 --> 00:28:03.920 So they took seminary students and they, you know, brought them on one side of the campus, did this whole kind of interview, some of these sort of things, and then they told them, hey, um, we want you to go share like a little mini talk on the Good Samaritan, and it's on the other side of campus. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:09.279 And what they didn't know is then they placed a person in need in the middle on the way there. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:28.799 It was a man sitting on the ground that was heaved over, that was coughing and wheezing, and and the the you know, the test was to see would seminary students preaching on the Good Samaritan stop and help this man. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:34.720 Now they had three different uh kind of options or three different directions. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:40.559 Uh, the one was they told a person, hey, you have plenty of time. 00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:41.920 But why don't you go ahead? 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:45.279 You might sit and wait for a little bit, but you have plenty of time, go. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:49.359 The second was, hey, you're right on time, but you need to leave now. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:51.759 And the third was you're late. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:53.920 You're you're already late. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:56.960 You need to hustle across campus. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:59.119 It was interesting. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:05.279 The group that had plenty of time, 63% of them stopped to help this man. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:10.960 The group that was right on time, 45% stopped to help this man. 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:14.799 And the group that was late, only 10% stop. 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:20.160 Of the total amount of people, only 40% stopped to help this man. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:24.960 Why 60% did not stop preaching on the Good Samaritan? 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.359 They called it the hurry condition. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:32.160 I gotta be honest, this is way too convicting for me. 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:35.200 We live in the Silicon Valley. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:53.359 Hustle, hurry, next, and it keeps us from seeing, from stopping, and being present to the people that God has put along our path to hesit them, to love them. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:03.359 Hesed love, despite the inconvenience, a great personal cost, simply loving those along their path. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:09.920 And then Hesed love actually transcends all prejudice. 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:30.480 In this story, Jesus so masterfully pulls it out, and that we see a racial prejudice, we see a religious prejudice, we see a social prejudice, we see a political prejudice right here. 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.160 And he's saying, think about this. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:39.359 The Samaritan man leans in to love a person that he knows would not do the same for him. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:44.799 It's interesting about Jesus, right? 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:47.119 Think about Jesus. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:54.559 In the ancient day, uh ancient Judaism, they kind of had these circles of acceptance. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:31:07.519 And so the most acceptable group was um the religious elite, the really righteous, so priests, Pharisees, and really orthodox believers. 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:12.240 And then the next rung out was just kind of the everyday Jewish person. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:20.079 You know, they may not follow everything, but man, they were, you know, a good woman, a good guy type mentality. 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:30.480 The next rung out, and each rung out you looked down upon and would associate less with was what were the tax collectors and sinners. 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:43.599 And these were Jewish people who had abandoned their Jewishness, if you will, and they were tax collectors and sinners, and you looked down upon them, you despise them, you wouldn't invite them into your home. 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:46.400 You certainly wouldn't eat with them. 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:52.559 And then there were the next wrong Samaritans, they were enemies. 00:31:53.039 --> 00:32:02.000 And then the final was Gentiles or Romans, and there's these eccentric circles out of acceptance or lack thereof. 00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:04.400 And then you think about Jesus. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:06.319 And he was known for what? 00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:11.279 Eating with tax collectors and sinners. 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:16.160 Something that the inner two circles would not do. 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:18.079 Why? 00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:27.440 Because when you ate with a tax collector or a sinner, the minute a sharing a meal of what that meant in that day meant I accept you. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:30.160 I accept you. 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:42.079 Here's what's fascinating in our day and in that day is we say we have to agree with you first before we can accept you. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:50.880 I have to agree with your political views first before I can accept you. 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:59.839 I have to agree with you socially and your social media post before I can accept you. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:04.480 Jesus' foundation was I accept you. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:07.519 I accept you. 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:10.480 And there's a big difference between accepting and agreeing. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:25.200 He didn't agree with a tax collector and a sinner and where they're at, but he's saying the foundation of transformation, and you are an image bearer of the God most high, and I love you, and I'm gonna sit with you, and you're gonna experience my love. 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:36.480 Think about this. 00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:40.240 It loves where others failed to love. 00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:49.039 Now, in the story, Jesus doesn't tell us, we don't know like where they were at, like how far the distance was, you know. 00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:56.319 We don't know if there was a um, you know, like maybe they were 20 yards apart, 50 yards apart, or even if they could see each other. 00:33:56.480 --> 00:34:06.400 But but in my mind, I kind of think about this like like even the pace of which he tells the story, that it wasn't like if some time later that perhaps they could see each other. 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:08.960 Think about it. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:16.880 The priest comes, sees the body, depths to the other side. 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:23.119 The Levite seeing the priest, and the priests, well, he's the priest, so I should follow his example, right? 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:30.079 And so I come there, and certainly he must know something I don't know, so then I step to the other side. 00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:47.440 How often do we simply see how others are responding to people, and then in turn give or withhold our love because of how they are responding? 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:55.840 The Samaritan, he loves where others failed, where others passed by, where others stepped aside, he leaned in. 00:34:56.960 --> 00:35:07.280 The great commandment, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is translated then in how we love our neighbor, love those around us as ourselves. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:11.760 The great clarification, Jesus says, This is what it means. 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:28.480 At great personal cost, those along our path, rising above prejudice and where others have failed. 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:35.679 And then he ends, as only the master teacher can, with the great conviction. 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:40.079 And he began with a question and he closes with a question. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:44.639 He says, Which of these three do you think was a neighbor? 00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:50.800 Remember, the expert said, trying to justify himself, who's my neighbor? 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.239 And he turns it around on him. 00:35:54.719 --> 00:36:00.719 Which do you think was the neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:09.119 And the expert in the law replied, the one who had a leo on him. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:14.400 The one who had Hasid on him. 00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:18.960 He couldn't even bring himself to say Samaritan. 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:28.000 And then Jesus said, Go and do likewise. 00:36:47.599 --> 00:36:51.360 The Greek word for neighbor just simply means one who is near. 00:36:54.000 --> 00:37:01.199 What if loving mercy is as simple as loving our neighbors? 00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:10.960 The early church didn't just hear Jesus' words, they took him at his word. 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:20.719 In fact, John Ortberg in his book Who is This Man, great book, highly recommended, writes this. 00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:31.920 Sociologist Rodney Stark argued that one of the primary reasons for the spread of Jesus movement was the way his followers responded to six people, sick people. 00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:34.639 During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, around A.D. 00:37:34.719 --> 00:37:43.840 165, an epidemic of what may have been smallpox killed somewhere between a third and a fourth of the population, including Marcus Aurelius himself. 00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:53.599 A little less than a century later came a second epidemic, in which at its height, 5,000 people were reported to dying daily in the city of Rome alone. 00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:56.400 Not knew what we're going through. 00:37:57.280 --> 00:38:00.320 For the most part, people responded in panic. 00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:10.719 There was no guidance in the writings of Homer, no commands from the Greek god Zeus to care for dying people you do not know while putting your own life at risk. 00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:17.920 Greek historian Thucydus wrote about how people in Athens responded during an earlier plague. 00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:20.639 They died with no one to look after them. 00:38:20.800 --> 00:38:27.440 Indeed, there were many houses in which all the inhabitants perished through lack of any intention for care. 00:38:27.599 --> 00:38:30.480 The bodies of the dying were heaped up, one on top of the other. 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:34.719 No fear of God or law of man had a restraining influence. 00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:37.840 Now, what had happened in Greece was happening in Rome. 00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:54.719 At the very first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead, and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to advert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease. 00:38:55.119 --> 00:39:11.840 But there was in that world a community that remembered they followed a man who would touch lepers while they were unclean, who told his disciples to go heal the sick, who got in arguments at dinners that embarrassed whole tables. 00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:17.840 Dionysius, a third century bishop of Alexander, wrote about their actions during the plagues. 00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:29.360 Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need, and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy. 00:39:29.679 --> 00:39:39.679 For they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors, and cheerfully accepting their pain. 00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:41.920 Read now what might be familiar words. 00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:44.400 I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. 00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:47.199 I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. 00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:49.840 I was a stranger and you invited me in. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:52.000 I needed clothes and you clothed me. 00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:54.480 I was sick and you looked after me. 00:39:54.719 --> 00:40:02.079 True, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. 00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:15.760 The idea that the least of these were to be treasured, that somehow that Jesus that they followed was present in despised suffering, was essentially a Copernican revolution of humanity. 00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:26.159 It created a new vision of the human being, the people, the church actually took Jesus at his word. 00:40:28.639 --> 00:40:38.320 What if loving mercy is as simple as loving our neighbors? 00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:46.559 And what if it's our heritage, our foundation, our calling? 00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:51.039 Stand with me and we're going to continue in worship. 00:40:51.280 --> 00:41:06.880 And as we do, I want to remind you that we don't sing to a God who somehow demands you to love people, but one who demonstrates his love for us. 00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:10.320 And then invites us to do likewise. 00:41:10.639 --> 00:41:23.760 But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved. 00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:35.440 And you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:43.519 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 00:41:45.039 --> 00:41:53.599 But God demonstrates his own love for you, his hassan for you. 00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:26.880 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.