LOVE- Champions by the Fruit of the SpiritSample

Love vs. Self-Justification

Bible story: Parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37

Theme Verse: Luke 10:27

This month we are learning about love, and ways to show love to others. This is such an important topic that Jesus often taught it. In fact, Jesus summed up the whole law in today's memory verse by saying Christianity is all about loving God and loving our neighbor as we would ourselves.

Self-Justification means thinking of a good reason why it is a bad time or a bad idea to help someone.

One day a Christian expert was talking with Jesus about this very topic. The Bible says that the man wanted to justify himself, and so He asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus answered him by telling the story of the Good Samaritan.

One day a man walked along a road and was beat up by some robbers. A highly religious man walked by, let us say he was a Christian pastor. He did not stop to help the injured man. Why wouldn’t the pastor stop to help?

Maybe he was on his way to a conference where he would be speaking, and he did not have time to stop. Maybe he did not have any extra money to share, and he knew if he stopped, he would have to spend money to help the man. Maybe his father was waiting for him at home, and he did not want to be yelled at. Whatever justification he had in his mind, his actions did not show love.

Again, another man walked by, without stopping to help. The Bible says he was another kind of religious man. Let us say he was a Hindu priest. He also walked by without helping. Now we have two religious men who did not stop to help. The truth is we all do this. We all have justifications in our minds as to why we cannot stop to help someone else in need.

Then in Jesus's story, a third man walked by. This man was of a lower level of society. In fact, the Jews were not supposed to talk to them. The lower man stopped and took good care of the man. He brought him to safety, and paid for his doctor bill. Jesus then asked the crowd, "Which one of these three men was a "neighbor" to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" Everyone knew right away that it was the man of the lower society who really showed love.

This is much harder to do than to talk about. It is much easier for us to have Bible studies, and worship meetings and talk about love, than it is to actually treat others as we would treat ourselves. Jesus knew this would be difficult, and that is why he told them this story.

Who will you be? Will you be a religious person, who always goes to church, but does not stop to help others? On the other hand, will you be like the Good Samaritan, who did not care what level of society the man was in, but was willing to stop and help.

Reasons to justify ourselves as to why we cannot help are NOT good. Jesus wants us to show our love with actions: no excuses!

Questions:

1. What if someone needs something from me?

2. Will the end really come?

3. What are your normal excuses for not stopping to help?

Life Application:

Stop to help someone in need this week, ignoring all the excuses you may have for not doing it. Do something special for someone who is not in your level of society.