A Good Church Welcomes and Supports

A Good Church Welcomes and Supports

A Good Church  / Luke 10:25–37

Luke 10:25–29 ESV

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, 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 is my neighbor?”

He knows he has to love his neighbor.  So he asks, who exactly is my neighbor. 

Keep in mind what he is actually asking in this question.  He is not looking around for who he has to love or who he can love. The man asks the question because what he really wants to know is how much do I have to do before I’m done? Which means, who don’t I have to love? 

He’s asking if there is someone that he can skip over and have it still count as loving your neighbor. 

But He does.  The Samaritan does the following things, in this order

He sees him

He has compassion on him

He went to him

He bound up his wounds

He set him on his own animal. 

He brought him to an inn who could better care for him

He paid for his health

He planned on coming back 

He shows Willingness

Luke 10:33 ESV

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

When we receive people, we are encountering Christ. 

The Benedictine order, a monastic group communicates within their own rules that 

This is a reflection of Matthew 25 where Jesus tells people who have welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison, whatever you did for the least of these you did for me.  

Biblical hospitality is willing because it ignores that and invites the outsider in.  It invites the marginalized to be a part of the group. 

Proximity

Hospitality can only happen in proximity. It means that in order to show people what Christ looks like it will take getting close.  

People have to see what the kingdom of God looks like. It will not happen from a distance, yelling down into the side of the road. 

And the Christian is the One commanded to go first. 

We want the world to get it right, to act right, to legislate right, to speak right. We want them to love what we love and hate what we hate.  

But we often stand far away and grumble why they don’t think the way we do. 

Recovery

Luke 10:34–35 ESV

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

when we say yes to our neighbor in hospitality we are saying

Yes to thier suffering

Yes to thier spiritual needs

Being hospitable means we take on the whole person. Just like Christ took on all of us, warts and all.  

When we act likewise, like in this story that Jesus tells, and we show willingness and proximity, we are trusting God for another person. We make room for them.

› The Reality of willingness, proximity, recovery

› shows people what God’s promises look like.

Our hospitality is the foothold of the reality of God in the world.

When we show mercy, 

we are localizing the truths of God. 

› Christ is the One who’s hospitable to us.

› Christ is the true Good Samaritan. 

› We are called to it.  He lives up to it. 

Page .  Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:44AM January 27, 2024.