Luke 9 verses 51 to 62

Today’s passage from Luke’s gospel is really about our response to Jesus and this is what I’d like to look at this morning.

In the first few verses we see Jesus being sent by God the Father to Samaria. Remember that he only did what his father asked him to do.

So Jesus would have prayed about this beforehand. ‘Father where do you want me to go next,’ and God sent him to the Samaritan people.

God’s heart was to reach out to the people of Samaria through Jesus - to tell them the good news of the kingdom; to heal them from disease and sickness and to set them free from spiritual oppression.

In short God’s plan was that through Jesus many Samaritan people would be saved.

Now lots of Christians talk about being saved – but what does this mean?

Well most of the time we use it in the sense of being saved from hell and judgement but actually it means more than this.

The Greek word “sozo” from which we get the word saved, doesn’t just mean to to save or rescue. It also means to deliver, to protect, to preserve, to heal and to make well.

So God’s will for the Samaritan people was that through Jesus they should firstly and most importantly be saved and restored to a relationship with Him – but also over time - be made whole in body, soul and spirit – to be restored to the people He originally intended them to be.

And of course this is ideally what God wants for each one of us here today.

Firstly through Jesus, He wants us to be saved and rescued from judgement and restored to a relationship with Him. But also as we walk with Him through life, He wants to continue to sozo us. To deliver and protect and heal us and make us well – not just physically, but mentally and spiritually and in our characters and relationships.

Being saved is both immediate and continuous. We are saved the moment we put our faith in Jesus but God also continues the process of our salvation.

And of course we won’t be completely saved - sozo’d - until we go to heaven where one day we will be made whole and perfect – but the process of our sozoing starts the moment we accept Jesus into our lives.

At this point God can start His work of restoring us to the people He originally intended us to be.

You see, as far as God is concerned each person He creates is a potential masterpiece. But we are born into an imperfect and evil world and this world mars and spoils us.

We are cut off from a relationship with the one who made us and we live in a spiritually dark world where people and evil spirits can hurt and harm us.

The masterpieces that God originally intended us to be get wounded and damaged. And God’s heart bleeds for us because this is not what He intended.

His heart is to sozo us – to save us and rescue us – and like a portrait painting that has been damaged – to restore and repair us to the people He originally intended us to be.

And this of course is why Jesus came and died for us on the cross. This is why he took our sin and failure upon himself  and died for us – so that we could be sozo’d and restored to a relationship with God.

And then through that relationship – over time - the effects of all the ugly and bad things that have hurt us and spoiled our lives – can gradually be healed and removed from us – and we can be set free to love ourselves and to love God and those around us.

I’m conscious when I say this – that being sozo’d is a long process – something that God does bit by bit. Sometimes the effects of what we’ve experienced in life stay with us for many years – and God’s restoration process can seem very slow.

But as we co-operate with Him, as we seek to live as His children and to study His word and to serve Him, He wants to set us free from fear and oppression and to make us well.

Of course sometimes God does allow us to go through difficult and testing times and we may experience sickness and suffering.

And sometimes we may not be phsically healed – and this can be confusing and upsetting – but still we may be made well in other areas of our life: spiritually,  mentally and emotionally and in our relationships with others.

So, Jesus went to Samaria with a heart full of love for the Samaritan people – but they rejected him and did not receive him – and so God’s plan was frustrated.

And its the same today. Many people like the Samaritans in this passage - reject Jesus out of hand and don’t even want to hear what he has to say.

And there are others – as we see in today’s reading - who know about Jesus and have heard his message but still hold back from following him.

This includes some people who go to church. They hear about God’s love and being saved – but they want to keep God safely at arms length.

These people can be religious and may like coming to church. It may comfort them and enable them to feel that they’re doing their bit for God – but they don’t really want a relationship with God.

They don’t want to invite Jesus into their lives – and allow him to direct and guide them. And so like some of the people in today’s gospel reading, when pressed they come up with excuses.

They don’t want a God who asks them to lay aside their own plans and agendas for their lives – and to follow His plan instead. They want to be firmly in control of their own lives.

Actually if the truth be told - they want a God who is a bit like superman – who will turn up and help them when they need it - but will then retire gracefully until He’s needed again.

There are others who have felt Jesus knocking at the door of their lives – and know they should make their peace with God – but they’re not ready to do this yet, so again they come up with excuses.

I will follow you one day God but first let me focus on earning lots of money so that I can provide for my family.

I will follow you one day God – when I’m a bit older and have indulged myself a bit more and enjoyed more of what the world has to offer.

I will follow you one day God but life is awfully busy at the moment – and I don’t really have the time.

You see it really comes down to whether we are prepared to allow God to be the God of our lives – and to live life His way, under His direction and guidance.

I like the analogy of a driving instructor. When we learn to drive we have a instructor sitting next to us in the car. And he tells us where he wants us to go and what he wants us to do.

And this is what the Christian life is like. We invite God into our lives to sit next to us and to guide us through life – to tell us where we are to go and what He wants us to do.

Of course we retain our free will – we’re driving – and sometimes we may hesitate or question where He’s leading us. 

Sometimes like the prophet Jonah, we may even deliberately take a wrong turn.

But we’ll only find that we get lost and end up at a dead end – and then when we’re ready God will gently direct us back onto the route He has planned for us.

And because God created and designed us – the route He has mapped out for us will be the best possible route through life. It will be the route that brings the greatest possible blessing not just to us – but to those around us. And it will be the route to heaven.

God gives us free will and we can resist him and push him away and say ‘no this is my life – I’m going to go exactly where I want and do exactly what I want to do.’

But the likelihood is that if we’re honest enough to recognise it – in time we’ll end up feeling empty, disillusioned and lost – and in need of God’s loving presence in our lives to help us find our way.

So to start to tie up what I want to say this morning, God is looking lovingly at each one of us here today – and His plan and His hearts desire is to save us – to rescue us from judgement, to deliver us from oppression, to protect us , and over time to heal us and make us well.

And some of us are co-operating with this plan. We’ve invited Jesus into our lives and although we’re far from perfect and we don’t always get it right - we’re doing our best to follow him.

And as we follow Jesus and seek to play our part in his plan to save those around us - we’ll find that we ourselves are sozo’d.

God will protect us and deliver us and over time make us well, not always physically, but mentally and spiritually and relationally.

But equally there are those of us like the people in today’s reading who for various reasons have pushed away or put off saying yes to God’s plan for their lives.

So this morning I think God wants each one of us to think about where our lives are focused. Do we want to live life in co-operation with God?

Do we want Him living in our lives – sitting next to us as it were – and guiding us? Do we want to discover why He created us and with His help roll up our sleeves and seek to play our part in His plan to save and bless those around us.

Or are we keeping Him at arms length? The choice is up to us. 

Don’t be deceived the only way God can save us is is through us welcoming Him to come and live in our hearts and lives.

You can come to church as often as you want. You can sing heartily and take communion for many years – but if you deliberately persist in keeping God at arms length He cannot save you.

However, the moment we say yes to Him – yes Lord I do want to follow you – yes I do want you in my life - He rescues us from judgment and saves us – and then as we co-operate with Him, His plan for our lives can start to unfold.

God loves each one of us – but He will never force himself upon us. The choice to invite Him into our lives is ours.

And it is a choice – not a feeling. We can choose rationally regardless of how we might be feeling.

I’d like to close with a time of prayer.

Close your eyes and reflect for a moment. Do you want to invite God into your life?

Do you want Him to save you from judgement and to protect you and deliver you and over time to make you well.

Do you want Him sitting next to you as it were and guiding you through life? Are you prepared with His help, to follow Him?

If your anwser is yes just repeat quietly after me in your heart the prayer I’m going to say now.

Lord I’m sorry I’ve pushed away your love and gone my own way in life.

I’m sorry for the bad things I’ve done in my life and the people I’ve hurt.

Lord Jesus thank you for loving me and dying for me on the cross.

Thank you for taking my sin and being punished in my place so that I can go free.

Lord Jesus I want you in my life.

I want you to direct and guide me.

I want you to be my God.

Lord Jesus please come into my life to be with me for ever. 

Amen.

If you’ve said that prayer and really meant it - do come and see me or Campbell after the service. Thank you.

Luke 10 verses 25 to 37 - The Good Samaritan

Although the story of the Good Samaritan is familiar to many of us, I think we can learn some important lessons from it.

I’ve read it several times – but as I’ve prepared this talk I’ve felt there are things here that I really need to take on board and make more of an effort to put into practice in my life – and this morning I’d like to try and draw out some of these.

The story starts with a lawyer asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. And when Jesus asks him what is written in the law he comes up with the right answer.

And this answer has two parts to it. The first part is to love God with all our hearts and the second part is to love our neighbour as ourselves.

And of course the story of the good Samaritan illustrates the second part of the answer - who our neighbour is – and how we should love him or her – which I’ll get onto in a minute.

But we mustn’t lose sight of the first part of the answer about loving God wholeheartedly – because this is absolutely essential for us to take on board if we are to love our neighbour as God intends.

Indeed, the motivation and desire to love our neighbour is rooted in us first loving God. And by loving God I don’t mean a gooey emotion we may feel occasionally when singing a hymn or admiring a beautiful landscape.

No, we express our love for God by being actively obedient to Him, by doing those things we know He wants us to do.

This includes the very basic things we should do as Christians. Spending time with God each day in prayer and reading our bibles. Meeting with other Christians and doing our best to live Godly lives.

And we do these things because we know it pleases God and because they are essential if we are to be effective Christians – those who do try and share God’s love and make a difference to the lives of those around us.

If you’re a gardener, you’ll understand that the more time you put into preparing the soil – the better your crops will be.

And we are the same – the more time and effort we put into our relationship with God – the better able we will be to love our neighbour and the more fruit we’ll produce.

Loving God also involves being obedient to the specific instructions He gives us. In other words, we should offer Him ourselves in service and then respond by being obedient to where He leads us and what He asks us to do.

And this is important as we need to be where what God wants us to be doing what He wants us to do.

And as we do this He will enable us to love our neighbours in the most appropriate ways – using our specific gifts and talents to do this.

So the first part of our task as Christians is to actively love God by offering ourselves to Him and seeking to live in obedience to Him.

And then the second part is to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Now quite often we skip over the ‘as ourselves’ bit. But if we don’t love ourselves it can be difficult for us to love others.

I’m not talking about thinking we’re wonderful and wanting everyone to admire us because we’re so cool or clever or charming.

Loving ourselves is more about accepting ourselves and forgiving ourselves for past mistakes.

It’s the opposite to actively disliking ourselves and concentrating all the time on our failures and weakness and needs.

Ideally, as Christians, God wants us to know His love for us – so that we can then share that love with others.

And if we believe we’re unworthy of love, it makes it very hard for us to receive or believe in God’s love for us. And its then very hard for us to share or give away something we haven’t received or understood.

So we need to accept ourselves and forgive ourselves for past failures.

We need to say I know I’m not perfect and I’ve made mistakes in life and I may have regrets – but with God’s help I’m making progress.

And if God has accepted and forgiven me who am I to refuse to accept and forgive myself.

And then we need to make the decision that instead of focusing all the time on our own problems and shortcoming and needs – with God’s help we will focus on looking out for the needs of others.

And actually by doing this we will then often find the healing and encouragement we may have been looking for.

I’ve recently been reading a book by a lady called Joyce Meyer who I came across on TBN which is a Christian TV Channel on Freeview.

And Joyce makes this point very well in a chapter entitled “Be an answer to someone’s prayer.” I’ll read you a bit of what she says.

“I’ve spent many years teaching principles from God’s word but one of the simplest and most powerful things God has showed me, is this. If we want to have hope and happiness (in our own lives) - we need to give hope and happiness (to others).

“When we take our eyes off our own problems and look to help others with their problems, it’s amazing what God will do. I discovered that there is great joy in being used by God to answer someone else’s prayer.”

The story of the good Samaritan illustrates very practically meeting someone else’s need and being an answer to their prayer.

Of course the Samaritan people were despised by the Jews whereas priests and Levites were highly regarded religious people. And in this story Jesus once again shows his dislike of those who may appear outwardly religious – but whose hearts are cold towards God and others.

This Samaritan however, who to the Jews would have appeared outwardly to be anything but good – shows that his heart is good by the care he demonstrates for the man who has been robbed. He shows that true religion involves actively loving people.

He does everything he can to help this man get back on his feet. He cleans and bandages the man’s wounds. He takes him too an inn – where he can rest and recuperate. And he ensures all the bills are covered.

Jesus says at the end of the story “go and do likewise.” So when we come across someone with a need that we can do something about we should try and meet it.

And sometimes it may be inconvenient and time consuming and we will need to put ourselves out. I mean I’m sure the good Samaritan was on his way somewhere and it was inconvenient to help this stranger.

And it may cost us some money – but as we seek to sow seeds of happiness and blessing in others’ lives we will find that in time we ourselves reap what we have sowed.

Joyce Meyer recommends we make it our aim each day – with God’s help - to try be a blessing to someone else, to actively look for ways we can help out and encourage those around us.

These can often be just small acts of kindness. Offering to babysit for someone. Offering to help a friend or neighbour with a task that needs doing. Offering to help an elderly person do their shopping.

Giving the time of day to someone who is lonely. Offering to help someone out financially if we know they’re struggling to pay a bill or can’t afford something they need.

Simple practical things we can do to show others that God loves them and we care about them.

As I prepared this talk I was reminded of a Christian lady at my previous church, who was in her sixties - who was a good Samaritan.

She was the local lollipop lady and she always had a kind word and a smile for the mums and children going to school.

She helped with a children’s group on Sunday mornings and she also helped to run a weekly club for elderly people in the area, where they could socialise and chat and have something to eat.

She was always willing to babysit for younger couples in the church especially if it meant they could then go to some church activity. Basically, if she could help anyone out she would and she always had time for people.

She didn’t have an upfront role in the church but she played a major role in the local community bringing people together and making people’s lives a little brighter and easier.

Of course as Christians we want to help other people come to know God – but rather than just trying to share our faith verbally we also need to share our faith by our actions.

Joyce Meyer puts it like this; “If there are people in your life today who need to know Jesus, let me suggest you try a new method of sharing the gospel. Instead of just telling them about the hope found in Christ, find out what needs they have and ask God to help you meet those needs.

“Whatever you can do to show them the love of Jesus, do it. When you help people with their physical needs you’ll be surprised at how quickly they open up about their spiritual needs.”

Can I just say at this point that we need to get a balance between meeting people’s physical and spiritual needs.

Just as preaching at our friends and neighbours about God without offering to lift a finger to help them out is unlikely to bear fruit – so is being the kindest most helpful neighbour – if at the same time we never mention God or the faith we have in him.

Really the two things need to go hand in hand.

So to tie up what I want to say today, the two great commandments point us upwards as it were - towards loving 

God but also point us outwards – towards loving our neighbour.

God loves and cares for us – but He then commands us to reach out to those around us – our neighbours – to share and demonstrate that love.

Of course it’s essential that we put time and effort into developing and maintaining our relationship with God – but the outcome and result of doing this should then be a desire within us to love and bless others and help them find what we have found.

And really the most effective way of doing this is by showing kindness and care to those around us – showing them that they are loved.

And if we show people that we care for them and that God cares for them – they will be much more open to hearing what we want to say about our faith.

So can I encourage all of us over the coming week to look out for people that we can be good Samaritans to. And if there are people we’ve been praying would come to know God – perhaps we can make a special effort to show them God’s love through our actions and a willingness to help them in any way that we can.

In the name of the living God. Amen.