Whole Life Discipleship

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Let's come before the Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank You for Your grace in our lives. Your grace is always sufficient for us. Your strength always make perfect in our weaknesses. Once again we ask humbly and sincerely open our eyes to be whole wonderful truth out of Your Word. And help us not just to be hearers of Your Word but do us also that we might grow thereby. Thank You Lord for Your presence with us. Speak to us now. We thank You in Jesus' name, Amen. Let me begin with a story. It is a biblical story in Luke chapter 10. It's a story of a man who made every effort and yet failed and missed it. What must I do to inherit eternal life? The lawyer asked smugly. It was a loaded question. It was a theological mind field because it opens up argument to the nuances of Jewish law. It is highly controversial. It's almost like going to America and ask Americans, what do you think of Donald Trump? And so when he asked that question, he come prepared to debate Jesus, hey Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What commandments should I fulfill and how should I fulfill it? If you're looking for an argument, this is a great place to start. All eyes were on Jesus. How would Jesus answer this religious scholar who is called the expert in the Jewish law? After all, the lawyer was used to arguing all the nuances of the 613 Jewish commandments. Jesus answered the question with a question. What does the law say Jesus asked? The lawyer was pleased because now he was being asked the question. His opinion was being sought. It was right up his alley. He talked to himself, ah, nobody knows the Jewish law as well as I do. I'm glad Jesus asked. Stroking his scholarly outer coat with an air of self-importance, the expert of the Torah replied with citation from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Love God and love your neighbour, he replied in essence. He was brilliant to be able to reduce the entire law to these two maxims. Showed he wasn't a novice. He knows his stuff pretty well. It was pretty impressive. He was seeking a public debate with Jesus. More than the truth. More than being an honest inquirer. How do we know this? In Luke chapter 10 verse 25, it explicitly says he was testing Jesus. Moreover, what Foul Loose was telling. Jesus said in effect, hey, you got it man, that's cool. Do this and you shall live. Now for those of you who want the authorized version, this is what Jesus said. You have answered correctly, do this and you will live. Whatever it was, it was a grand anti-climax. Okay, show's over, let's go home. But wait, the Bible says, desiring to justify himself. He asked the question, so who is my neighbour? And now there was a subtle reversal. Because now Jesus was the one who is answering the question. He's commanding the stage. And so Jesus answered the question with a question. He comes now, sorry, he answers the question at first with a question. And now he answers the question with a story. The story is known as the parable of the Good Samaritan. You know the story. There was a man who went from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell prey to a group of robbers. They beat him up, robbed him, left him for dead and he was lying on the ground whimpering. Help me, help me. There was a priest that came, saw him, went on the other side and walked on. Help me, help me. He whimpered. Shortly a Levi came along, looked at him, decided to walk on the other side and carried on. Probably because the priest and the Levi were thinking they didn't want to be ceremonially unclean if they take this man and he dies. They have religious duties to perform but whatever their reason was, they went on the other side of the road, they walked on. Help me, help me. He whimpered on. He could hear the hooves of a donkey, clop, clop, clop, clop, clop, clop, clop, clop. Help, help me, clop, clop, it drew nearer. He looked up, there was a Samaritan. Now understand in the days of Jesus the Samaritans were despised but this Samaritan came in great compassion, took him, put him in a donkey, brought him to an inn, treated his wounds and said to the innkeeper, look after him, let him stay here until I return. I will pay you in full. At the end of the story Jesus turned to the lawyer and asked this brilliant pressing question, so who proved to be a neighbour? The lawyer knew the answer but he couldn't bring himself to say the Samaritan because the Samaritans are despised. So all he said is, the one who brought him and helped him, he is the neighbour. There was no rebuttal from the lawyer. It was game over, the debate was won. His conscience was struck. He had no answer because he got the point of what Jesus was saying. So here's the question, what's the point of the parable, the parable of the Good Samaritan? The point wasn't just how to render roadside assistance, the point wasn't just how to be neighbourly or helping those who go like, help me, help me, that wasn't the point. When you study the New Testament parables, there are three things you have to pay attention to. For all the parables of Jesus, here are the three things. The setting, the story, and the significance. The setting was framed by the question and the question is, what must I do to have eternal life? What does the law say? The law says, love God and love your neighbour. Good, one thing justifies himself. So who's my neighbour and Jesus told this story of the Good Samaritan and said, who proved to be a neighbour, the Samaritan, end of story, that was the setting. The story was the Good Samaritan, what's the significance? Here's the significance, and the lawyer got the point, and we as the church must get the point of what Jesus is saying. The point Jesus was making is when you think of a neighbour, you think of the one living adjacent to you or your kind. But as far as God is concerned, the question is not who is your neighbour, rather the question who proved to be a neighbour. His point, Jesus is saying you are the neighbour. And if you are the neighbour, listen carefully now, then love knows no limits. That's his point. If you are the neighbour, rather than who's my neighbour and who's not my neighbour, if you are the neighbour, then in God and his love and his ways, love knows no limits. But this lawyer, his love has limits. He despises the Samaritans, he despises the Gentiles, we, the Jews, we are the people of God. But as far as Jesus is concerned, you miss the mercy of God, there knows no bounds, and the grace of God and the love of God, there has no limits. It's an amazing grace, it's an infinite love, it's a boundless mercy, that's the love of God. It's so high a standard to answer the question, so how should I have eternal life? The point Jesus is making, there is nothing you can do in your human effort that will secure you in eternal life, because the law states the minimum, he expects the maximum. Because the law states the outward, it expects conformity and transformation in the inward, because God is infinite, He is holy, we are to be holy as He is holy, and no one can meet the standards and laws of God.