Grace Community Church, Arlington, TX

Last week we saw what drives Jesus. What His heart is like. Jesus Himself tells us what His heart is like.

The heart, in biblical terms, is not part of who we are but the center of who we are. And when Jesus tells us what animates Him most deeply, what is most true of Him—what we find there is: Meek and Humble.

For all His resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, His supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more accessible and approachable than Jesus Christ. This is Who He is.

And what we see Jesus claim with His words in Matt 11:29, we see Him prove with His actions time and again in all four Gospels. What He is, He does. He cannot act any other way. His life proves His heart.

Traveling from town to town, Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. (Matt 9:36) This compassion comes in waves over and over again in Chris’s ministry, driving Him to heal the sick (“and He felt compassion for them and healed their sick,” Matt 14:14), feed the hungry (“I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.” Matt 15:32), teach the crowds (“and He felt compassion for them…and He began to teach them many things,” Mark 6:34), and wipe away the tears of the bereaved (“and felt compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep,’” Luke 7:13).

The Greek word for “compassion” is the same in all these texts and refers most literally to the bowels or guts of a person—it’s an ancient way of referring to what rises up from one’s most innermost core. This compassion reflects the deepest heart of Christ.

Last week we saw that spiritual maturity is becoming more like Jesus in Character and Conduct. Becoming more like Jesus in Heart and in Action.We saw what His heart was like, it is meek and humble. And we are never more like Jesus than when we are meek and humble.This week we see what kind of action comes out of that kind of heart. The action is compassion.

One time Jesus got into a conversation with a religious leader about the verse: Love your neighbor as yourself. And the scribe was in agreement that people should do that. But then he asks Jesus the question: “And who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus answers his question with a story. The story that Jesus tells him is the story that we know as the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus finishes His story and then turns to the Scribe and asked him a question.

Jesus changes the question. The scribe’s original question was “And who is my neighbor?” That was one of those questions you ask to try to get out of doing something.

But Jesus now changes the question and turns it back to the scribe. “Which example proved to be a neighbor?” In other words, which one loved his neighbor as himself.

Just like you are never more like Jesus in heart than when you are meek and humble. You are never more like Jesus in action than when you are showing compassion.

Let’s see what we can learn about compassion from the story that Jesus tells when He wanted to teach on compassion.

The trip from Jerusalem to Jericho was about 20 miles and 3600 feet down. It was a winding road called the Jericho road. Thieves and rapists hung out there. A certain stretch of this road was called “the bloody way”, because so much blood had been shed there.This guy was mugged. They stripped him, beat him, and left him half dead.

Now, along come some others on that same road.

Along comes a priest, a religious leader, probably returning from a period of duty in the Temple to his home in the country, for Jericho was one of the principal country residences for priests.

This priest had probably been on duty for several days, and now he was going home.But on his journey home, he sees another human being stripped, beaten, and abandoned. And he passed by him.How could he do that?

1. Maybe it was fear. Maybe he thought that those who had mugged this guy might still be lurking around in the rocks. To stop wouldn’t be prudent. It could endanger his own life as well. It is just too risky to get involved this time.

2. Maybe he was just tired. He had just worked a long stretch at the Temple. He was drained physically and emotionally. He didn’t feel like he had anything else to give. Perhaps he thought, “I’ve helped so many, I’ve got nothing else to give. Someone else is going to have to help this one.”

3. Maybe it was the time factor or the hassle factor. Maybe it was the fact that he realized that this was going to be a major hassle and take up way too much time. After all, if the man is dead or dies in his hands, according to the OT law that would make him unclean. That means that he would have to go through ceremonial cleansing. What a hassle that would be. That would take even more time before he could go home and be with his family. And he is ready to get home and be with his family.

(Then along comes a Levite.) Levites were the official worship leaders in the Temple. He was probably on his was home to the country as well. But he also passes by. Probably for some of the same reasons the Priest did.

Then along comes a 3rd person.

A Samaritan. The Jews hated the Samaritans. In fact, the Jews, when referring to Samaritans, would simply call them dogs.
This Good Samaritan now becomes our example of what it looks like to love your neighbor as yourself.

In this story we will see what it looks like to love my neighbor as myself.

1. Loving My Neighbor means that I must See their need.
It says, “When he saw him…” Love begins with the eyes.Why don’t we see the wounds of the people around us? One word—busyness. Hurry is the death of kindness. If you and I are going to be kinder people, we’ve got to slow down. The slower you go, the more you see.

It’s not enough to just see their need, you must sympathize with their pain.It starts with Seeing, and then it move to Sympathizing with their pain, and then…

3. Loving My Neighbor means I must Seize the moment. Seize the moment to be kind. Don’t wait. Don’t delay. Don’t procrastinate. Do what you can at that very moment. Luke 10:34 and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. When someone needs your help, needs your compassion, they need it right then.But in order for us to be able to do that, we must be willing to do two things:

A. We must be willing to be interrupted. Kindness doesn’t happen on your schedule. It happens on their schedule.

B. You must be willing to take risks. Many times, the one thing that keeps us from being kind is our own fears. Fear makes us unkind.

The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear.”

4. Loving My Neighbor means Spending whatever it takes. There is always a cost to kindness. There is always a price tag. It inevitably causes you to sacrifice time or money or energy or reputation or privacy.

That is what loving my neighbor looks like. Start seeing the needs, sympathizing with their pain, seize the moment, and spend whatever it takes to help them.

Jesus finishes His story and then turns to the Scribe and asked him a question.

Right answer! And then Jesus turns to the Scribe and to us and says, “Go and do the same.”