Sermon Notes: AN ENEMY’S LOVE!

“AN ENEMY’S LOVE!”

Luke 10:25-37

I. INTRODUCTION

Happy Family and Friends’ Weekend! Weeks ago, the preaching team designated this particular weekend and month for the roll-out of our new and official core values as a Church Family: L. I.F.E.  Love, Integrity, Fellowship and Excellence. The values transformed into action mean:

• We will love God and love others as we love ourselves daily.
• We will live with integrity grounded by Scripture and guided by prayer demonstrated by our actions.
• We will gather in fellowship to worship God The Creator, The Son and The Holy Spirit and depart to serve our community and the world.
• We will walk in excellence as fruitful disciples and faithful stewards of God, making the most of our God-given talents and entrepreneurial spirit.

Today, we will focus on the value of love as we look at a familiar passage in the Second Testament, which describes and defines love: the Good Samaritan story.  Do not allow the familiarity of this story to lull you into a spiritual stupor.  First, Jesus, a Jew, is telling the story to Jews. Second, Jews and Samaritans were adversaries, so Jews viewed Samaritans as “bad guys.”  Third, in this story, the “bad guy” helps the “good guy.”  Fourth, this experience (story) actually happened.  Fifth, the man’s “neighbor” changed three times without the man moving.

II. THREE WAYS TO VIEW LOVE:            27; Deuteronomy 6:4-6         

1. Love is complete  heart, mind, soul and strength.
2. Love is consistent  both God and you.
3. Love is compelling  if you get it, you gotta give it.

III. THREE WAYS TO VIEW WHO GOD LOVES:                                                     

1. The thieves viewed the Jew in the ditch as loot, so they attacked him;            v.30
2. The religious folk viewed the man in the ditch as one they did not like, so they avoided him; and                                               v.31, 32
3. The Good Samaritan viewed the same man as one he was to love, so he  anointed him.                                                                                                   v. 33, 34
4. Love is not a group decision.

IV. THREE WAYS TO LOVE WHO LIFE BEATS UP:                                                v. 30                   

1. The man was wounded – emotionally;
2. The man was dying – mentally and actually; and
3. The man was naked – socially.
4. The Good Samaritan did not ask the man how or why he got “jacked up.”  He simply “loved” him.

V. THREE WAYS TO LOVE LIKE JESUS:

1. The Samaritan, viewed as an enemy of the Jews, saves the man, a Jew;       v. 34
2. The Samaritan pays the man’s expenses; and                                                     v. 35
3. The Samaritan promises to come back if needed.            v. 35
4. Since the Samaritan “loves” the man, he is called the Good Samaritan.

VI. CONCLUSION

The priest and the Levite, who did not help the man in need, may have gotten beat up by the thieves who were hiding farther down the road. The Good Samaritan, on the other hand, knew where the thieves were hiding, so he took a different route. He knew because the man the Good Samaritan helped told him while he was showing his love.

Moral: When you genuinely show your love for others, God will provide for and protect you!  Obeying God’s principles has practical implications!

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