"Super Church": 4 Super Impact

Focus passage: Luke 10:25-37

It started with a simple question about gaining entrance into to heaven and took a curve that the lawyer was not expecting. This story confronts us with God’s call for us to make an impact on our world by loving people the way that He has loved us. The zinger in this story is that the Jews would have expected the Samaritan half breed would have been the robber. He turns out to be the hero of the story. The question we must deal with is “how far should love go?”
Love is messy and may mean getting your hands dirty. It also has a tremendous impact on the world around you that nothing else can match.  The lawyer in the text and every human being does not love God or others as much as God wants. God is love and models a love that has no bounds. As we look at the needs of others around us, we are faced with three choices taken by characters in the story. Only one has impact for the gospel.

• The lawyer saw the problems of others as something just to discuss v. 29. The lawyer stood up with a topic for the rabbi to discuss. This wasn’t strange for problems were brought up and discussed in the synagogue every day. Grand solutions to save the world were offered, but the plans were never implemented. People lamented, “If only someone else would do this or that, the problem would be solved”. No one ever thought that it was up to them to really help.

• The priest felt that wounded people should be avoided v. 31. Having served his time at the temple, the priest was walking home when he saw the man lying on the road. Hurting people are messy. You don’t want to get dirty and you don’t want to be late for your appointment. You might even be attacked by bandits waiting in the brush. The solution is to walk on the other side. No one wants to get trapped into a situation where you have to care for someone hurting for weeks at a time.

• The Samaritan saw the person as a neighbor to be cared for v.33. Only the Samaritan shows what God means by mercy. Love is not logical. There was no reason that a Samaritan should stop to care for this hurting Jew. Yet, compassion moved him to get dirty and to waste precious time. Mercy saw someone in need and didn’t count the cost of the sacrifice. This Jew had value because God valued him. Action, not words were needed to save the man’s life.

I can’t change the whole world, but I can have a big impact by helping one person at a time. Our society will talk about poverty or aging in broad terms. Jesus wants you and me to help one person with the gift of food or an act of kindness like shoveling a neighbor’s walk. It will be messy at times. People may even take advantage of my love. Yet the impact of doing something is greater than we can imagine. It changes us when we experience the power of God changing lives through us. It glorifies God by showing what His love looks like first hand. It can change the direction of a neighbor’s life lifting them from desperation to success. It can change us as we make friends for life or see God do miracles through us. God’s love gives us the power to make the world a better place one person at a time.