Luke 10:25-42 - Following the Great Commandment

I'm going to invite you to Luke chapter ten is where we're going to be together today. Luke, chapter ten is what we're going to look at together as we think about the beauty of Mother's Day. I want us to know that as we, as we continue in our capital campaign with this matters to me that I think these things blend together beautifully because I think that related to where we're at as a church, it very much reflects the heart of the mother and the desire for the well-being of her children. We're just expanding the family to more than just your particular children. We're thinking about all of God's people and how we're ministering in a community, and we're going to be reaching people we don't even know. I mean, this morning, right now, this is about full capacity for us. Like, I don't know that we can't really squeeze much more than this in this room. And so we're thinking about not only our need to grow, our ability to minister right now, but also in years to come as a as a church and what that would look like for us. And we started a campaign last fall where we had an opportunity to secure some property, and we told you as a church, we had to raise $450,000 in 42 days in order to secure that land, and we were able to do that.

And so we started a one, a campaign that really has three steps to it. That first campaign allowed us to secure that property. Where it's located is not a mystery. It's not like a secret we're trying to keep here. This is on Main Street, 710 West Main Street. We were able to get four acres of land here, and we got a really good deal on that. And so we were able to secure the land. And now we've just launched our new campaign to pay off this land so that we can get to the next step, which is to build a building. So that's the third step of our campaign. And one of the things we love about this land that we're able to purchase is not only will it allow us to build a facility that's bigger for continuing to do ministry as a church, but also it will allow us to expand on this property into our future as the Lord continues to guide and direct us, and we already have ideas of what we want to put on this property. We've got more ideas than probably I've got life left to live. But we've got big dreams for what Jesus can do in us and through us. And you know, when we think about the needs of ABC, how God has been faithful. It's been a journey to rejoice over, we've oftentimes in our history come to places where we've had a need and we've just seen God be faithful.

One of the things I love about moments like this is this second step of this campaign. We're talking about raising $1 million, which is a lot of money like. And if you're a pastor, it's not even fathomable amount of money, right? Like, how is God going to do that? But one of the things I love about these journeys, this has happened to us. This is our sixth location. We've met as a church right together in our history. This is the sixth location. We've even remodeled this building during in 2020, at the beginning of Covid, we added on 1200 square feet to kind of extend our time here. But every time we've come to a time, a place like this. What I have learned to love more than anything is not actually getting the building. It's. It's how the need has pressed my life into seeking Jesus more. Like to just stop and say, God, I don't know how you're going to answer this, but you are always faithful. And as we walk faithfully with you, we get to see how your hand will respond, how you work in the hearts of people to move in a way that we get to move forward in you and here we are again. And you know, I know on the back end, one day, hopefully sooner than later, we'll, all this will be taken care of.

But we also in this moment, I don't want us to skip past the idea that we get to spend time with Jesus in this. And, as we drive past that property or we think about, here we are this morning and I can tell you, I'm not going to point this out when this happens. But sometimes people walk in the room when I'm in the middle of a sermon and I think, oh, they probably forgot when church started, right? And I'm in the middle of a message and I'll see them walk in and in a time like this. And the room looks full and so they can't find a spot, and they'll turn around and walk back out. And I just think of missed opportunities that way. And here we are together in a room. And there's a lot of us were not here from the beginning. Some of us have been from the very beginning, and I'm thankful for those that have. But some of us have joined in somewhere along the journey. We didn't start with this many people. And so because of that, you're standing on the shoulders of someone else who really helped pave the way for us to get to where we are today. And now we're in a season to think about. Okay, God, now, how can you use me in this season to provide a spot for that next person? Because, God, you're still on the move.

As you've moved in my heart, you want to move in the heart of other people. And we've looked at the idea of how our church has grown over the years. And you know, one of the things I appreciate about our growth is that we are not a church that's just here to create a crowd. I don't really get my kicks off of making a big group of people gather. Anybody can create a crowd. That's not our goal. Our goal is to be a healthy church, and the results of being a healthy church is that you should grow. Now, that doesn't mean numbers don't matter. Numbers certainly matter. I mean, we look at the numbers today and we're like, yeah, we're kind of kind of out of space. We need some more space. Numbers matter. The reason numbers matter is because people count. You count, you matter. Right. But the goal of our church is not about creating a crowd. The goal of our church is to be a healthy group of people pursuing Jesus together. Now, that doesn't mean we don't come in through the doors broken. It doesn't mean we don't have struggles in life. But we recognize that there is a place that we can find health in Jesus, because every day his mercies are new and he gives us the privilege of starting afresh each day in him, that we can kind of put the past behind us and move forward in what God has before us.

And so that's what it means to be healthy, to have those healthy targets. And as we've we talk about this campaign together. That's really what we have focused on is the reason for which ABC exists. Buildings are wonderful things, and I don't want to take away from that. But can I tell you putting a building into perspective matters because a building is just a tool. What we do in that building is what ultimately matters. And it's not about our seating capacity. Sometimes we say as a church, but our sending capacity, how we get what Jesus is doing in you, then moving through you to be a blessing to this world. And so in order to do that, we've focused on really two ideas as a church and this Matters campaign. We've talked about idea one last week. We're going to talk about the second idea today. But the first idea is to understand God created his church for a reason. We don't create the reason, but God gave us the Great Commission and we say this. We're here to fulfill the Great Commission if you want to know what that is. Matthew 28, 19 and 20 go in the world and make disciples.

Jesus calls his church to make disciples, followers of Christ, fully devoted followers of Christ. That's our desire for all of our lives here, that we would be fully devoted followers of Jesus. And so we say things like this, that God created the church for a purpose bigger than itself, that we exist to give ourselves away for the glory of God, to the benefit of others, to think beyond ourselves because we understand what Jesus has done through us or in us, he wants to do through us that God put his church here for a reason, and there should not be towns in Utah. If God's people really believe in the Great Commission, if God's people really believe Jesus overcame the grave and he wants to give you life to. And we can all have that relationship with the Lord if we really believe that there should not be towns in Utah that don't have a biblically based church, and it's the foundation of who we are, is that great commission. And so in order to live on Healthy Mission, we talked about three ingredients last week. If you remember the idea of being a people that are full of compassion courage and sacrifice, really living that great commission, that's the way our life should emulate that. And we saw that from Isaiah chapter six, that we need to be a people of compassion, that care for those around us.

Can we can walk boldly in courage because of what Jesus has done in our lives, that foundation is not about our strength. As Ephesians chapter six verse ten says, be strong in the Lord and in his might. Like we don't do what we do based on ourselves, we do it equipped in the Lord, in his strength, his grace, his mercy for us. Every day we get to walk in that. So that's the idea of mission. God cares about what we do. But then there's also the idea of following the great commandment and saying to us, God cares about how we do it. You know you can be right, truthfully, but to be right lived in the wrong way is to still be wrong. Meaning God doesn't give us the truth in order to bludgeon people over the head with it, but rather to find them free in him. And so what is it? What does it look like for us to live that great commandment, loving God and loving others. And this is what we want to look at together today and in this passage in Luke chapter ten. And if you remember in this in the Gospels, when it comes to the Great commandment, it's mentioned multiple times in the Gospels. And when it's discussed, the kind of the backdrop to it is people are coming to Jesus to ask him questions, not because they really care about the answer, but because they're trying to trip Jesus up in order to make accusations against Jesus, to get rid of him.

And so here they are challenging Jesus. And then in Luke chapter ten, a lawyer comes and he asks Jesus this question, and he asks Jesus, really? What's what's the greatest command we can follow? And you see it in Luke chapter ten verse 25. It says, and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life. And he said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? I love this about Jesus. Jesus understands something about you and me that we as people, sometimes at heart, we're a little bit rebellious. I'll talk about that in just a minute. But we have this tendency when people tell us what to do that we just kind of want to say, no, make me right. Like. And Jesus has this masterful way of when we come to him with questions rather than just tell us what to do, he responds with a question in order to get us to think. Because if we discover the answer, we're more likely, we more likely will own it. We'll live it out. And Jesus is doing this with the lawyer, right? He wants to know, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now I want you to know, left up into itself, Jesus responds, here, let me see.

Or the lawyer responds, verse 27, he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Right. And if we just were to end there, someone might conclude, well, in order to get eternal life, it's about being a good person. As long as you're being a good person, that's all that matters. And so if this person just loves God this way, then they'll just inherit life because they're a good person. I want you to. That is not what this passage is teaching us. But in looking at this, we are learning the great commandment, the great Shamal in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four and five, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. But Jesus in giving this, he's giving us the great commandment. By the way, we'll talk about what why good matters in just a minute. But Jesus is giving us this great commandment. Now, let me just tell us, tell you, in a room like this, I have a little bit of a concern when I come to a passage this simplistic, right? And to be honest, in following after the Lord, the Christian journey should be able to be simplified this easily.

Like, if it feels complicated, it's because we're complicating it, not the Lord. And understanding what this passage means for us is critical. But in bringing up a verse that is so familiar for us, there's a few ways that we can respond as people that I sometimes get concerned over. The first is we read a passage like this and be like, oh yeah, I already know this. I got it right. We kind of check, check out. But I want you to know, the importance of this passage is not for you just to simply know that it exists. But to recognize that we struggle in living this out every day of our lives, that we're constantly given over to temptations and surrendering our lives to idols that lead us astray rather than than just the genuine joy of knowing Jesus. Right? So coming back and reorienting our lives to this is critical. This is why we call it the Great Commandment. So when you think in terms of precedent, this should matter more than anything else to understand your identity in this passage. And while we might intellectually know what it is to just take time to examine my heart, my life, to say, okay, is this where I am right now? This is what Jesus is doing to the lawyer. He's not saying this is how you earn life, but rather he's letting the lawyer work through where his own heart is before God to expose it.

And you'll see that in this passage. The second person I kind of worry about with this passage is the person that's very compliant to authority. We often we often when we refer to them as people pleasers, sometimes we our hearts can be so sensitive. Sometimes we'll read a passage like this and be like, oh yeah, I'm not doing good enough. I'm going to try harder. You know, you're just like that little Chihuahua of anxiety over everything. And you look at a verse like this and you're like, oh, I better do this right. And you kind of get some guilt and shame related to this. And you're like, oh, I didn't do as good. I got I got to do better today. It's like sometimes you just read a verse like this and you feel like someone's just putting a mirror to your soul because you were thinking about your trip to church today and how you exploded on your family when you shouldn't. And now we're talking about the commandment to love one another, right? This is supposed to be Mother's Day, for Pete's sake. Can't we all just get along? This is. This is one of those passages. And look, here's something critical for all of us to be mindful of as it relates to the gospel.

God's interest in your life is not modifying your behavior. We definitely we definitely want to be good people, but that's not what takes precedent. Good has a place, but it's not primary. There's something more critical to understand. And the great commandment draws that out. The third person I get worried about is that rebellious person, or that you read the word great commandment, and you are that person to be like, oh yeah, make me right. Like, catch me if you can. Jesus. Right. Like, here's the greatest commandment. And you sort of look at this as now your rebellious place where you stake your claim and pretend to be your own person. And I want us to know, when we come to any, anything in the Bible where it feels like it's encouraging us to do something different than we are, that the reason God does that is not because he's trying to compete with you, but because God has your best interest in mind. And there's something about us where we regularly doubt that as people, where we might even believe. Sometimes Jesus has my best interest in mind. But sometimes I might know better than Jesus. And so I need to follow my own path a little bit. And then I'll come back to Jesus whenever I feel like I've got these things figured out. And this passage encourages us to think about the way we consider our life in Jesus.

You know, there's a passage in John chapter ten, verse ten at the beginning of this verse says, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus says, I came that they may have life. And you know, if you know the rest of this verse, you know it doesn't end here. But sometimes I feel like we think about this verse in terms of it ending here, meaning we think about what life is in Jesus. We're to ask, okay, what does it mean to put your life in Jesus? What does Jesus give you in this life? We would often just define it like this I get to live forever. Like the quantity of life. How great is that? You know, I get to keep progressing because of Jesus. Jesus gives me permission to keep progressing. But. But I want you to know, the rest of this verse teaches us not just the idea of quantity. That's certainly a place that we have in Jesus. We get the idea of life extended in him. So there is the quantity. But Jesus also wants to give you the idea of quality, because he goes on and says that you may not just have life, but have it abundantly. And this is where our rebel heart often doubts the sufficiency of who Christ is. I mean, it began from the very beginning with Adam and Eve. Do you remember in the Garden of Eden, the temptation, I mean, what the serpent said to Adam and Eve, in a nutshell, was saying, don't you think God's withholding his best for you? And don't you think you might know better than God? I mean, that was the challenge that he really put out for them and that they took the fruit.

They were like, you might be right, right. Like, I think I might know better than him. And they bought into that. And so the question we should ask ourselves is really what kind of life do I really believe Jesus wants to give me? Because really, my willingness to trust him or not trust him is an indicator of how I see Christ as sufficient in my life. Now, some people that think that Jesus just simply gives you the quantity of life and that's it. They sort of they sort of look at it like this, that Jesus was good to help me on my progression. Meaning if you ask him, okay, what do you think the whole point of life is? They think the point of life is, God sent us here on earth to prove something so that we can continue to progress. And so we're kind of learning. And so they really couple the idea of just being good. You know, we're here to be good, to prove something to God and sort of then live to continue to live on.

So the idea of our progression needs to move forward. And you know, when I think about that idea, just simply living forever, the thought of God just made you to simply progress. The one illustration that constantly pops in my mind when I hear people speak that way, and I hear it a lot, like I hear, what do you think the point of existence is? And people will either say one, one, or two of those things, if not both together, to be good and kind of progress. Like in my mind, I think, well, what in the heck are you going to do for God that he can't do for himself? Or like, how do you think he's up there in heaven? Like, oh, I need you, please. Christians gather together and just praise me. Oh Lord, please. You're like, you think that like that's the image of God that he's got this insufficiency in his life where he's just so desperate. Thank God he made you and you're here, right? Like that. He needs you for this. The whole point is just to be good. Or the idea of progressing like the whole point is just to prove something. And it makes me think of the Greek mythology teaching of Sisyphus. If you remember Sisyphus, it was the one who he tried to trick the gods. And so the gods punished him by having to roll a rock up a hill for the rest of his life.

You know, he's progressing. Good for Sisyphus. He gets to spend eternity progressing. Like, look at that and think, really? Is that the point of life progressing? Can at some point we just enjoy the fruit of the top of the mountain? Like, do we have to endure the torture of progressing? Is that really what life is about when you come to the passage of the Great Commandment? It really hones in for us what life is about. And look. And it also puts into alignment where progression and goodness fits. And God certainly wants you to be good. But to be honest, you can be good your entire life and never have a relationship with the Lord. So it's got to be more than that. It can't be primarily about being good because you completely miss something if your only pursuit is being good. Or the idea of progression. Like, do you really need to prove something to God? I mean, God already knows your heart better than you know your own heart. What is it you're going to prove to God that he can't do himself? Is that really the point? And the great commandment reminds us of this. We're going to look at the four big ideas for what the Great Commandment teaches us. And we're going to ask the question, how do I how do I know that I'm really living this out? Because sometimes I think we can fool ourselves.

So how do how do I know that I'm living this out? You come to the great commandment. It's simply this you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. It's important verse to reflect on where we are. But let me let me give you a point. Number one, that it teaches us this should be premier, as we think in terms of progressing our goodness. And then as this, the Great commandment reminds us that God made us for relationship. God made you and me for relationship. Not about proving really anything to him, because there's nothing that we can do that God just he can't do himself for himself, right? So we certainly want to be good, and we certainly want to be better tomorrow than we are today if we can. But I want you to know, those things aren't what lead to relationship with God, but rather your relationship with God leads to those things. The most important thing for you as a human being is your relationship with the Lord. And God taught us that from the very beginning that when the Lord made us, he made us different than any other creature he designed. The Bible tells you in Genesis, he made you in his image.

And this is saying to you and me that you are made to relate to God different than any creature that God has designed. And more than that, God remade you at the cross. Meaning, when you give your life to Jesus, you find forgiveness in Christ and only are you made in Jesus or in the Lord. But you're remade in the Lord. And so this is saying to you that God has put a value on you far greater than he's put on anything in this world. And the idea of learning to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength first speaks to us the importance of a relationship with the Lord. More than anything, what we desire for you as a church and more than anything, what we want to be as a healthy church is a group of people who are walking in a relationship with Jesus every day, refreshed in the newness of life, of knowing Christ and walking with him. It's what the Apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter three that I may know him. Paul's entire life was about knowing him, and related to that the great commandment also teaches us. Number two, it teaches us humility. It teaches us humility because we learn in order to love God this way. It honestly takes a supernatural strength, because this is about really trusting in the sufficiency of who Jesus is, wanting to lean into him with all that he is.

And when you think in terms of what the Bible says about the Lord, a loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, this is a total surrender. Some people get really fixated on the detail of this passage. Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, right? Like get really fixated on what the details of those things are, and there can certainly be a place for that. Like one of the things when I when I think about loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, one of the things I like to remind people of is that God clearly says here to love him with your mind. God gave you a mind. You should use your mind, right? Because when people talk about faith, they typically mean blind ignorance like in our culture today. I'm not saying that that's right. But in our culture today, that's usually when people use the word faith. That's often what they're referring to. Like it's this guessing game that in the end, you just hope that you're right. You know, it's like we're going to all be before God one day. He's going to line up the religions and say, everybody get together. I'm going to tell you which religion was right. So, but when it comes to Christianity, it's important to understand God gave you a mind for a reason.

He created you that way. Christianity is not this guessing game. We get to rest on a foundation, and we're talking about giving your entire life to something you want to know. That foundation is secure, but to love in this way brings us to this place of humility. I mean, when you read the rest of the passage, you realize this is why Jesus is saying this to the to the ruler, and the ruler is saying the question he asked, remember, how do I inherit eternal life? And Jesus is like, I don't know, you tell me, right? He's like, let me ask you that question. And then this guy goes and lists the greatest commandment, and then he lists the command after that. But I want you to see verse 29. Look what this guy does. But he, desiring to justify himself, says to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Right. He's like, okay, like this is great, Jesus. But right. He just wants to qualify that because he realizes he can never fully attain to this. And this is why it brings us to this place of humility. God, I constantly need your work in me. Lord, I need your divine hand to supernaturally love the way you called me to love. So the Great commandment brings us to this place of humility. Number three, the Great Commandment shows us how to develop intimacy with God. How do we develop intimacy with God? When you understand God made you for relationship, the whole point of your existence is a relationship with him.

Can I tell you don't really walk in the joy of that relationship until you surrender all of your life to him. Meaning, we wrestle with people with this idea and doubting the goodness of God to the point we kind of make religion out of him. And we sometimes ask the question like how far away? You know, how far to the to the boundary can I get before God gets mad at me? Right. We kind of want to think that way sometimes in our relationship with God. We just we want to know how far over I can go and toe the line where God's still going to be happy with me, but I can toe the line. And I want you to know if that is your view of walking with Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus is not healthy. And I don't want to say that to be rude or mean or guilt or shame, because the whole point of this is to understand man. God made you to know him and you can get to know him. But the way that you get to know him is not trying to balance the line between the world and Jesus, but by surrendering all of your life to him as Jesus has given all his life for you.

And sometimes we use the example of the idea of a husband and wife getting married and with the image of you know what? If they were to come before us today and they were to give their vows, and one spouse would say to the other spouse, here I am today, and I feel really led to give you half of all that I am. And if we were to witness that, we would say, in that relationship ain't ever going to be healthy, right? And like until you're willing to give all of yourself to the well being of your spouse and they do the same, it takes two people to walk in that health. It takes two people willing to surrender themselves. And it's the same with your relationship with the Lord. Now, the beauty is we already know Jesus gave everything for us. But the question is, will you give all of your life for him? And it's only in that we experience what true intimacy is in walking with the Lord. Maybe we could ask ourselves this morning, is there an area of your life that you're holding back from the Lord. Is there an area of your life that you doubt that he is sufficient with the abundant life that he promises? Is there an area of your life where you're being that rebel, wrestling against the goodness of who God is, rather than just trusting in the joy of that relationship in relation to intimacy? Let me give you the last point.

Then the greatest commandment guides us in honoring the Lord. It guides us in how to honor the Lord. And what I mean is, as we start to walk with Jesus and as we surrender to Jesus and as we love Jesus, we find that our affections change. We start to love what Jesus loves. We become who he is in terms of how we live. We start to live with the eyes of Christ in this world and move with our hands and feet, reflecting Christ and the things that we do. Because Jesus is doing a transformation work in us as we get near to him and this is who we are as peoples. We're kind of idle factories, meaning we will. We will worship something in our life. We'll put our affections towards something in this world. We'll look to something to give us worth and value and meaning. I hope we look to the Lord in that, but we will look to something for our identity to make us feel important. And whatever we're looking towards starts to shape us and we begin to honor it. And really, you should look at your life. I mean, people should be able to look at your life and say, see if you really love Jesus by the things that you were involved in this past week. It should reflect that because your affections for the Lord are transforming your life.

So here's the question then how do we know? And I got to do this quickly. But how? How do we know? Because sometimes we can say that we love the Lord, but it's something altogether different, to truly see it. Right. We can fool ourselves. So how do we know? No. And this is what Jesus really responds to. At the end of verse 27. He's saying, as the affections of God shape you. Verse 27, he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And then the end is this, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, you have answered correctly, do this, and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who? Who is my neighbor? So he wants to qualify this right? But Jesus is saying this if you really want to know if you love me, here's one of the evidences of your life. It's seen in the way you love the people around you. In fact, point number one of your notes, let me give it to you. Number one. Under that question, examine how you treat those who are around you. Examine how you treat those who are around you. And this lawyer, knowing that the evidence of his life shows that there's some brokenness there, not a real, genuine love for Jesus and seeing how he treats people He wants to qualify it.

Well, who's my neighbor? Right. Who is my neighbor? And Jesus goes on from here and we don't have time to read this, but he tells a story in Luke chapter ten, verse 30. He's saying, let me help you understand this. Like, if you really love me, the evidence of your love is seen in the way that you treat people. Because what God loves is people. And the way that you know that is God made people in his image. And then God gave his life for us. So the greatest value placed on anything in this world is on the human beings, because of what Jesus was willing to do for you and for me. So if you really want to show your love for God, it's seen in your love for people. And so the lawyer is saying, well, you know who is my neighbor? Show me. Like, how far does that love really have to go? And Jesus tells the story in Luke chapter ten, verse 30 of the Good Samaritan. And if you remember the story of the Good Samaritan, there was a man walking on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. And while he was on that road, he was captured by some bandits. He was robbed. He was stripped naked. He was beat.

He was thrown onto the side of the road, left for dead. They took everything that he had. Well, during that time, there was a story told of a priest and the Levite who passed by, and seeing the man lying there for dead in the ditch, rather than go down and help the man, they went on the other side of the road to avoid him to continue on their journey to Jerusalem. Now, when you look at the Levite and the priest, one of the reasons that you recognize that they likely did this is because if they were to help this individual, they thought they would risk becoming unclean and they were going on to the temple. Their religion was preventing them from extending a gracious hand to this individual. But on that same road walked a Samaritan. And that Samaritan, seeing that individual not only helped him on the side of the road, he also put him on his animal, let that man ride on his animal while he walked beside him. He carried him into the next town. He stopped at an inn. He helped nurse the man. When he ran out of time. He paid the innkeeper more money to care for this individual than he told the innkeeper that if the individual ran out of money to let him know next time he was in town, and he would make right what was owed to the innkeeper. And what you're reading about is this extravagant love, and the way that Jesus tells this incredible story of this radical love is intended to provoke our heart and the idea of what it means to love our neighbor.

Because here's what we learn about this scenario is if you look at this on a map, you'll note from Jericho to Jerusalem Samaria is not in between that. You definitely have the priest and Levite. This would have been a normal way of traveling for them, but for the Samaritan to come down on this road and to help out, he's helping out a person that doesn't belong to his people. He's out of his natural area, and he's in an area that was a little bit more foreign to him. Not only that, but he's in an area where people would have thought ill towards him. People would have had animosity towards him. And if you study the thought of Samaritans, Samaritans were people that were treated poorly by the Jewish people. But knowing that this individual on the side of the ditch, even though it didn't belong to his people, knowing that this individual likely would have been have animosity towards him and his own people. To the Samaritan, that didn't matter, because to the Samaritan, what his life was about was honoring God through the way he cared for people around him. So he was willing to pay an extravagant sacrifice for the sake of this individual to the glory of this God, because of the way that God had transformed his life.

And not only that, when you read the story, what you discover is he is the least likely thought of individual that would even care for someone in this way. Meaning not only is he a foreigner. Not only do these people not care about him, but he would have been considered sort of the outcast to God's people. I mean, he's kind of the B team. So he's helping us to recognize, look, and God moves in our heart and our lives, and we don't just sit back and wait for, the religious elite to do something about it. But rather, as God's got me in a place to respond, whether big or little, God's got me in a place to do something, to reflect my love for Jesus in the way that I care for people around me. The Samaritan becomes this beautiful illustration for us to think about, reflect on our own life. Do I really love in this way? Because if we're honest, we typically love for the purpose of getting something. What is the benefit to me? And Jesus is saying, no, no, no. Godly people love when there's nothing to gain from it. They simply love because they love the Lord and they love what God loves. And knowing how much God has loved them and transformed their life.

They want others to experience that too, and they don't let other people dictate the kind of person that they're called to be in this world. Rather, the Lord has already called them because our tendency is to let other people be our excuse for how we might treat them. But the Samaritan is teaching us that biblical love rises above that, and is willing to sacrifice for the sake of others. Not only that, he then gives us another story about Mary and Martha. If you read the Gospels, by the way, you'll find these stories of Jesus. And it's not these gospel writers simply saying, I need another story. What comes to mind when you think about Jesus and just sharing with us these random stories? These stories are interconnected to a greater purpose. And I think this greatest command, Jesus, is ending this chapter with this story because it's reminding us again of letting Jesus take precedent. Because if you know anything about this passage, this is where Jesus goes to visit Mary and Martha, and Martha gets busy serving everybody to the point she gets frustrated with Mary because Mary's not doing anything. She's just sitting with Jesus. And so Martha makes a comment to Jesus says, Jesus, why don't you tell Mary to do something to right? And Jesus responds to Martha, whose heart is full of anxiety and says, Mary is doing something. In fact, she's doing the most important thing, which is spending time with me.

Guys, I hope we learn what it is to serve like a Samaritan in this world. But I also hope we learn what it is to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary. To serve and to sit. And can I just tell you that what Mary is doing in this story is what should precede everything, then that flows out of the life of the believer? It is your time with Jesus that shapes who you are, to then let you live for the glory of the Lord in this world. That's what makes a healthy believer to truly trust not only in the quantity of life, but the quality of life. Do you believe that Jesus is enough? I mean, the reason we want to build a bigger building as a church is because as a congregation, we want to walk in that truth. We believe that Jesus is enough, and we need more space so that people can have that opportunity to know him to the point we're willing to love like a Samaritan, where we'll give of ourselves for the benefit of someone else that we may not even know. It might even be someone that may have hated us at some point. Who knows? But Jesus still transforms hearts and lives. And this is what we want to see. Let me close with this illustration. I'll give us a call here to respond. But this is if you know anything about Harry Potter.

I was too old for Harry Potter when it came out. But those of you in your 30s, you'll love this. Harry? Harry Potter. In the first movie, there was a point in the in the story where Harry Potter, I think he goes upstairs and their whatever their Harry Potter home is, I can't remember what it's called, but they're upstairs in this place. Is Dumbledore the head guy in this? Am I getting things? Okay, there we go. So I know something. But he goes in this room and there's this particular mirror, and Harry goes and looks in the mirror, and all of a sudden he sees this image of his parents. And Harry's taken back by this because Harry was just a baby when he when his parents died and he barely remembers what they looked like. But here he is in this moment, standing with his parents, and he's kind of mesmerized by this, amazed by this. So he runs immediately to his dorm room and he wakes up his friend Ron. He's like, you got to come check this out. And Ron comes, stands in front of the mirror and he's like, what do you see? And he's really hoping Ron can see his parents, too. And Ron looks in the mirror and rather than see his parents, Ron starts to get excited because he sees himself as the captain of a sports team and everyone just praising his name.

And Harry is shocked that he's not getting to experience the joy of seeing his parents the way that he did. And so he goes back to looking this Ron leaves and Harry goes back looking at this mirror, and finally Dumbledore walks in the room and he explains to Harry what this mirror is. This mirror is what reveals the desires of your heart. And more than anything, he wanted to see his parents. Guys, can I tell you that what you love in life reflects just like this mirror? Not just what you love, but the way you love reflects the true desires of your heart. That's what makes this great commandment important. Not only does it help us understand the importance of relationship with the Lord, but it's a place to for us to pause and say, is what I care about in this world, what God cares about? Is my heart really given over to him? And we're in the middle of a three week campaign. We're not going to belabor this. We're going to do this for 12 months, but we're not going to hit this, to drive everybody crazy for an entire year. We're going to remind us once a month along the way. But for these three weeks, here's what we're asking you to do to love like a Samaritan, to think about how today we sit on the shoulders of those who have gone before us so that we can have a place to worship.

But now we're in a season where we need to think about how we can prepare a place not only for our growing church today, but generations to come. The question is, what are you willing to do for that? And we ask you to take these slips and to pray about how the Lord might lead you to give. And you can fill these out. Old fashioned style and drop in an offering box on your way out. Or you can use the QR code to go to do this online. And this Sunday and next Sunday are the last two Sundays we're asking. We talked about this last week, but to simply say over the next 12 months, what would you be willing to give? Our church is made up of a little bit over 200 families, and if every family could figure out how to give $5,000, I know that can be a lot for some of us. For some of us, not that much, but that kind of just puts a target out there. If we think about, Lord, what? How can I give in a way that just says, I love you and I want to love on our community? They may have an opportunity to know you too. You take these cards, pray about it. You have till next weekend to bring them in and then next week.

So you know we're going to on the 25th, we're going to show you where that is what everybody has pledged to give. And let me just tell you, don't treat this like a Levite and a priest. Meaning you may think that what you have is not a ton, and that's okay. This is about showing our love to the Lord and the way that we care for those around us. And so it's more about the heart of the giver than the size of the gift. And we don't want to pass by this like a Levite and a Samaritan, or, excuse me, a Levite and a priest ignoring this, but rather respond like a Samaritan and say, Lord, I just want to take time to think about what it is you might have me give, because on the 25th, if I flash up on the screen, five of us have pledged it's going to be kind of discouraging, right? But if we participate in this together, the goal becomes more of a reality that we can achieve. And by the way, we're already over $100,000 in this process. So we already got a great start to get to our goal of raising $1 million. But as you think about being a healthy church living the Great Commission following the Great Commandment.