Well, good morning, church family; it’s so good to be together this morning. I was thinking — about 20 years ago I was in college, and Pastor Joel, at the time, was our junior high pastor, and I was serving in junior high ministry. And we had this time that we took a bunch of junior highers out and they camped out at somebody’s house in the backyard, and then we’d go out during the day and we did service projects. And at some point during that trip, Pastor Joel came to me and said, hey, can I borrow your car for something real quick? And I said, yeah, no problem. And I said, wait a minute — and I needed to take about five minutes to give him a little bit of orientation. I don’t know if you remember the car that you drove in college, but I needed to say, hey, my friends had put some toothpaste under the door handle of the driver’s side, so that eventually meant that the door handle fell off, so you have to go in through the passenger door. And then, if the car starts making this sound, here’s what you do: just pop the hood, open it, it’s no big deal — wiggle these wires around, move this little thing, and it’ll get going, I promise. And after about five minutes of that, he was good to go, very confident, I’m sure.

But here’s the fun thing: I’m not a mechanic by any means — I just knew how to get my car working. I don’t even know if I knew what I was doing; I just knew what to do, right? Well, a few months later, I’m driving on this back-country road out kind of towards Turlock, and I see these hands out on the side of the road. It’s dark out; I pull over, and these two people were out there, and they said, oh, thank you for stopping — we’ve been trying to wave somebody down and nobody stopped to help us, and our car broke down, we don’t know what to do. And this was — they didn’t have a cell phone at the time, so they couldn’t call anybody for help; they’re just out in the country. And I said, okay — again, I’m not a mechanic, but let me see what I could do. And I opened the hood, and I just did all the same things I did in my car, and it worked. Their car started working. They were so thankful; they thought it was like a miracle. And I was like, yeah, it kind of was. And so even though I wasn’t a mechanic and I only knew a little bit, I was able to take what I knew and I was able to pass that on to somebody else.

And I think that’s so important for us to remember as believers: that no matter how much of God’s word you know, no matter how long you’ve been walking with Jesus — or how short — whatever you know, pass it on. Share it with somebody else. You could be a blessing to them in their life just based on the little bit that you might know.

The Series and the Big Idea

And so here we are in this series called “Pass It On.” In the first week of the series, Pastor Joel took a look at the discipleship relationship between the apostle Paul and Timothy, and then Timothy passing on what he had learned to faithful men, and those faithful men passing it on to others — four generations of discipleship, passing it on. And then last week we looked at Ephesians chapter 5 and the discipleship relationship between a husband and a wife, and the discipleship that happens in a family — on the home team. And today we’re going to take a look at the discipleship that happens between us as a believer and the lost — the person that doesn’t know Jesus yet. And if we’re going to learn to pass it on to someone who doesn’t know Jesus, then we need to learn from Jesus about how we can do that. And so we’re going to see that the key to reaching the lost begins with being a neighbor.

So let’s take a look at Luke chapter 10 as we walk through Jesus’s teaching, and we’re going to see how we can really apply this to our lives today. So let’s go together to Luke chapter 10, and I’m going to be starting down in verse 25. It says this: “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him” — that’s Jesus — “put Jesus to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And 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.’”

Now let’s pause right there for a moment. If I were to maybe put that into our context today, it might be a person asking Jesus, Jesus, what am I supposed to do as a disciple? And then Jesus would say, well, what’s the Bible say? And then the person says, well, I’m supposed to love God and love others. In fact, the mission statement of our church is that we would love God, love others, and make disciples. So that’s a great answer. But then comes this problem, because take a look at verse 29 and how the man responds. It says, “But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” Now again, the man’s not really interested in who his neighbor is; what he’s interested in is in justifying himself. In other words, he wants to check a box that says, I’ve done enough. I gave the right answer; let me just double-check that I’m doing enough, right? I don’t need to do anything else, nothing extra. So you tell me who my neighbor is, and as long as it’s the people that I think it is, then I’m doing enough, and that’s good, right? So he’s trying to justify himself. But what this does — it creates an incredible opportunity now for Jesus to elaborate, and for Jesus to clarify what it means to be a neighbor.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

And so Jesus now does that with a parable; he does it with a story. So take a look at verse 30. “Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 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.” Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You go, and do likewise.’”

You know, it’s really interesting: the man asked the question, who’s my neighbor? But what Jesus does, rather than just tell him who the neighbor is — he said, which person in this story acted as a neighbor? Who was being a neighbor? And it was the one who showed mercy. And so today, as we walk through this and talk about what it means to be a neighbor, I want us to pause and make sure that we are open to receiving from the Lord whatever he might have for us — any place that he might want to convict, any place that he might want to poke or prod or push in the direction of how we can be people who love our actual neighbors. So let’s pray together before we walk through this.

Father, we thank you for the incredible teaching of Jesus. Lord, thank you for the vivid stories with which you taught the people, because, Lord, they’re helpful for us. We can get so much out of them; we can relate to parts of these stories and apply them to our lives. And so, Lord, we open ourselves up to you this morning. Lord, I open myself up to you. Would you teach me, and teach all of us, Lord, what you’re asking us to do so that we can prove to be a neighbor to people around us? So be with us, Lord, as we spend this time in your word. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

Understanding the Story

So let’s start by just briefly explaining a few things so that we get some key elements of this parable that Jesus is telling. We start out with Jesus introducing a man who’s going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. So we can assume that, because Jesus is talking to a Jewish man and telling him this story, that the man hearing the story kind of sees himself in the story or someone like him. So we can assume that this man walking down the road in the story is a Jewish person with Jewish values and Jewish beliefs, and that’s the person who finds himself robbed, beaten, and naked on the side of the road. Then we’re introduced to a priest. And of course, in their culture, the priests were the most respected people. These priests served in the temple of God; they were very respected, well-educated; they knew the law. And this priest sees one of his own people — and what does he do? He sees him and he ignores him; he passes by on the other side. So imagine, put yourself in our current context: if we told the story for us, imagine that you were beaten and robbed and left on the side of the road, and one of the pastors of your church saw you and passed by.

And then we’re introduced to a Levite in the story. And all the priests were also Levites — they came from the tribe of Levi — but not everyone in the tribe of Levi served as a priest in the temple; they had different roles, but they were still people that served the Lord in some capacity. So imagine in our context it’s somebody that serves faithfully every week at church, and you see them helping out and they have a heart for service — but they see you on the side of the road and they walk by.

And then Jesus introduces the third person: a Samaritan. Now understand, in their context, who the Samaritans were. We know from John chapter 4 that the Samaritans and the Jews — they hated each other. And in fact, when they would go to the area where the Samaritans lived, the Jewish people would often go all the way around it; they’d take the longer way because they didn’t want to pass through; they didn’t even want to talk to these people. But Jesus did — when Jesus talked to the woman at the well, that was a Samaritan woman that he went to, for that purpose. But when they hear “Samaritan,” the Jewish people would think: this is my enemy. This is the person that doesn’t worship the way I worship; they don’t believe what I believe; they don’t have the values that I have. So again, put this in our modern context, and imagine that the person who comes to help you — the person that comes to help you — is the person that has a different political leaning, holds a different worldview, has different values, believes different things, has a different religion, maybe even comes from an enemy place. And that’s the person who stops to help. That’s who Jesus is describing in this story; that’s what the people listening to the story would have heard. It’s the person completely opposite, nothing like them, that stopped to help.

And Jesus says, which one proved to be a neighbor? And it was the one who showed mercy. It was the Samaritan — the person most unexpected in the story was the one who actually stopped and helped. And Jesus says, “You go and do likewise.” Now, as I already mentioned, Jesus didn’t really answer the man’s question. The man’s question, as he tried to justify himself, was, well, who’s my neighbor? Jesus didn’t tell him a story that ended with, well, that’s your neighbor. Jesus ended the story with, who proved to be a neighbor? Who showed that they were a neighbor? And now you go be the neighbor. That’s what Jesus is encouraging this man to do. If we’re going to pass it on, if we’re going to disciple others, it means sharing our faith with people who are lost, who don’t know Jesus, who might be totally different from us — and we need to be willing to show mercy to them. What does it mean to pass it on to the lost? How does the parable of the Good Samaritan help us understand how we can do this the best way? And here’s the big idea for this morning: the best way that we can reach the lost and make disciples is by loving our actual neighbors. And how do you do that? You be a neighbor. You be the neighbor. That’s what we’re going to talk about this morning.

And as we look at this parable, the Good Samaritan proved to be a neighbor in eight specific ways. And when you hear the number eight, you might think, we’re going to be here all morning — but I promise we’ll go quick. Okay, eight ways that we can be a neighbor.

1. Notice Others

The first one is this: simply notice others. It starts with seeing. You’ve got to see people. Don’t be in such a hurry that you miss opportunities. Don’t ignore people who need your help. It says in verse 33 about the Samaritan: “And when he saw him” — it started from the place of just seeing. Now, the priest and the Levite, they saw also, but they chose to ignore. We need to see; we need to see the opportunity. They saw the man, but only the Samaritan saw the opportunity to serve and to be a blessing.

And the reality is, we live in a time and place, in a culture, where we have a lot of obstacles to seeing. Think about very simply: when you leave this place today, you’re probably going to get in your car, roll up your windows, drive straight down the road, not turn your head to the left or right — maybe only to cross the street — but you’re not going to make eye contact with the person next to you. Have you ever pulled up to an intersection and you look over and you’re looking at them and they look at you? It’s kind of strange, right? So you’re not going to look at anybody; you’re going to drive home, you’re going to go into your garage, shut the door behind you, and you’re home — and you didn’t have to talk to anybody or see anybody or say anything. And then if you choose to go outside, you go out back where you have a six-foot fence, right? There’s all these pieces of our culture, all these obstacles from just seeing people. We’ve set ourselves up in a way where we can’t even notice people and see the needs around us.

A couple weeks back I went with my parents to downtown Modesto and we took a tour of the McHenry Mansion — I don’t know if you’ve ever been in there; it’s a lot of fun. And we got to this one formal room with all this furniture, and the tour guide said, this is where, back in their time — you know, the 1860s or whatever it was — when people just dropped by and stopped at your home, this would be the place where they would all hang out and talk. And I don’t know if you have a room like this in your home that has really nice furniture that no one ever sits in — but they actually used it back then; that’s what it was for. And in their time and place, it was easier to just stop by and check on somebody. Today, with all the things that we have in our lives — whether it’s social media or texting — we have all these ways that we can potentially talk to somebody, but very rarely are we stopping by someone’s house and spending time with them and checking in on them. And so it’s so easy for us not to notice the needs and not to see the opportunities. And so we have to be intentional if we’re going to see the ways that we can help someone else. We can’t be in such a hurry; we can’t be busy doing other things and not have time for people.

But sometimes we do see, and we’re like the priest or the Levite: we see a need and we choose to ignore it. Ever been driving down the road and you see a person who is homeless and they’re asking for help, and you try not to even make eye contact? And sometimes it’s because we don’t know what to do. Sometimes we don’t know if what they’re saying is true — if we ask them questions and they tell us their story, we don’t know if it’s true or not. We don’t know if I give them money, are they going to use it appropriately? We don’t know how we can help or what we can really do that would make a difference. So we’re just uncomfortable — and believe me, I’ve used all the same excuses. Yet there’s needs all around us, and I’m hoping that by the end of our message today we’re going to see some practical ways that we can help. Why? Because Proverbs 3:27 says this: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Isn’t that convicting? If it’s within our power to help — if we have the resources and the time, when we can do something — we need to do it.

And why? Because God notices. God sees. In the book of Genesis there’s a woman named Hagar, and Hagar was experiencing some really difficult family drama, and there’s this moment when God shows her great love and mercy, and she gives the Lord a new title: El Roi, which means “the God who sees.” God saw her. Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re the person in need — maybe you’re experiencing incredible suffering and difficulty and challenge, and maybe this morning you just need the encouragement to know that God sees you. He sees you. When God came to Moses in the burning bush, he said, “I’ve seen the oppression and the affliction of my people.” God sees. And maybe — just maybe — God is going to use someone else in this church to be a neighbor to you, and to be the person who meets your need and shows you mercy. We need to see; we need to notice others.

2. Empathize with Them

The second thing we need to do: not only see them, but we need to empathize with them. We need to look past our differences and see someone in their condition. Think about what led them to be in the situation that they’re in; put yourself in their shoes. It says that this man who saw the man who had been beaten — the Samaritan — it says that “he had compassion.” So not only did he see, but he actually then felt something for this man; he had compassion. He didn’t close off his heart. How was he able to have that compassion? I think you have to empathize with someone a little bit; you have to consider their situation; you have to listen; you have to see what led them there. And in this parable, the Samaritan is not helping another Samaritan — he’s helping a Jewish person who’s totally opposite him; they consider themselves enemies. But what did Jesus teach in Luke 6? Jesus said, “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” How do you develop a heart for your enemies? You pray for them; you get to know them; you listen to them; you try to empathize with them; you have compassion for them. And the people that you might need to show mercy to might not just be someone who’s homeless and on the side of the road. It might be the person you work with. It might be someone who doesn’t have any economic need, but man — maybe they need someone to pray for them; maybe they need somebody to speak into their life. And maybe they’re the person at work you see as an enemy, that just drives you crazy. That might be the person that you need to be a neighbor to. Who are the people that God has placed in your life? We need to have eyes to see and look for the places that we can not only feel something but take action.

3. Intervene in Their Lives

And that leads to the next thing, which is: intervene in their lives. Go to those who need your help; don’t just feel bad for them; don’t stop there — go to them. It’s not enough to see someone and feel bad for them; we need to then respond and do something; step into their world. Last week I was talking to somebody in our church, and she was late to church, and the reason she was late is because she was dropping somebody off at an AA meeting — an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And I thought, wow, that’s awesome: she saw a need, and she helped, and she responded, and she took someone so they could get help. You see a need — step in, meet it, do something about it to help someone else. Colossians 3:12 says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” That’s who we should be. When we see people who are hurting, we should empathize with them, and that should move us to action; it should move us to step into their life and do something. Jesus said, if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who’s my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will not lose their reward. Jesus said even a cup of water in my name — just doing something that simple might be enough; that might be a way that you show mercy. And in fact, one of our Local Reach partners does exactly that: the Vine House. It’s a great little place in downtown Modesto where they simply work with people who are homeless, people who are hard on their luck, having a hard time, and they simply offer them water; they offer them a cup of coffee; and they share God’s word with them; they engage them in a Bible study and they talk to them about Jesus. But it starts with just sharing a drink, sharing a cup of coffee — something very simple, in Jesus’ name.

4. Give of Your Prepared Resources

And that leads to the next thing: if we’re going to love others and engage them as neighbors, we need to give of your prepared resources — show compassion by giving of your prepared resources. It says about this Samaritan man, not only did he go to him and bind up his wounds, it said that “he poured on oil and wine” — these were valuable things in their culture. Listen to what it says in 1 John 3:17: “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion — how can God’s love be in that person?” We need to be able to use the resources that God has blessed us with to be a blessing to other people. Use what God has given so that I can give it away to others, and show them mercy, and show them compassion, and care for their needs.

How prepared are you to help someone else? You might actually be more prepared than you think. Let me give you an example. In the trunk of my car I have a little box I keep back in there. If I open up that box, what I’m going to find is I’ve got a first aid kit, and jumper cables, and a battery jumper thing — I learned my lesson from when I was in college, okay? So I’ve got all this stuff in there that I got, maybe, to help me. But then if you change your thinking, you realize: oh, actually, I’m now equipped to help someone else. I can now step in and help somebody else, and show them love, and show them mercy, and care for them. And maybe you think, well, I don’t have a whole lot of resources; I don’t have a lot that I can give. Or maybe you’re in a place of, I’ve already given it all away. Here’s the beauty of being a part of a church family like ours: your resources extend far beyond what you personally have in the trunk of your car or in your bank account or in your home. You’re connected to the body of Christ, and there’s endless resources when it comes to the Lord. We’ve got a whole bunch of ministries and people that we partner with as a church that can be a blessing — things right here on our campus as well.

One of our Local Reach partners is the Modesto Gospel Mission — an incredible organization in our community. And as I was thinking about the Gospel Mission, I was reminded of something I used to do, and my challenge for myself this week is that I’ll start doing this again: I used to keep little business cards in my car that had the address and contact information for the Gospel Mission, and when I saw somebody in need, I could offer them maybe a bottle of water, and talk to them, pray with them, and give them that card and say, if you go here, they can help you; they can help you turn your life around; they can help you get back on your feet. And I know that what happens when they’re there is they’re not only going to receive that help, but they’re going to learn about Jesus. Maybe you have that; maybe you have some bus passes with it, and you can say, hey, get on the bus, you can get there. Maybe you take them yourself. There’s all these ways that we can partner together with organizations that we’ve vetted and we trust in our community.

Something else I was thinking about: when you leave church today and you go home, or when you leave work and you go home, what are the places along your commute? What are the restaurants along your commute? Or maybe you could get a gift card and have some gift cards in your car, and when you see somebody who needs a meal and they’re on your way, you can stop and say, hey, I’ve got a gift card for you — you can go right there, in that building, and get some food — because you’ve already planned for it; you’ve already prepared for it; you’ve thought about it. Maybe you offer to go have a meal with them. You see, a little bit of planning, a little bit of thought, a little bit of creativity, and we can be really effective at caring for people and meeting their needs with the resources that God has given us.

Something else we have that’s right here on our campus — right over here in the portables — is a little place called Olivian’s Closet. And I’ll share just a practical way that this worked out in my life just a couple months ago. I was in my office and somebody came in; they said, hey, do you speak any Spanish? And I said, I speak just a little bit. And so I got to come out and I got to meet this young couple — this husband and wife and their newborn baby. And in talking with them — and they didn’t speak any English — in talking with them, I came to learn that they needed food, and they needed clothes, they needed diapers. I had to use Google Translate to figure out how to say “diaper.” But I spent about an hour with them, and I took them over to Olivian’s Closet, and I was able to help translate and help them get what they needed and just be a neighbor to them in that moment. We all have those opportunities, and our church is full of resources that we can tap into; we just have to be intentional. One of our best resources is right here in the back parking lot; it’s called Good Sam — it’s literally named after the Good Samaritan in this story. And every single month, 500 families receive groceries at Good Sam — 500. And in fact, there’s so much food that Good Sam gives food away to other churches and other ministries to bless more people. In total, every single month, Good Sam gives away enough food for about 10,000 meals. Ten thousand meals — that’s incredible. You have that resource; that’s one of your ministries. We have all of these things that we can point people to — and for Good Sam, you could help arrange the appointment; you could go with them; you could pray with them. We have endless opportunities to be a blessing to the people in our community.

5. Humble Yourself

But something else we have to do — and this is the next point — is you have to humble yourself. We have to humble ourselves. We have to lay down our pride; we have to set aside our comfort and put someone else’s needs above our own. It says in verse 34 about the Good Samaritan: “Then he set him on his own animal.” This Samaritan, when he saw the man in need and he bound up his wounds — he didn’t just leave him there, but he took him somewhere else to get help. And he didn’t make him walk or limp; he didn’t put him on a mat and tie a rope around him. He said, no — you ride on my animal. I’m giving up my seat for you; I’ll walk. How often are we thinking that way, where we put someone else’s needs above our own, at personal sacrifice to ourselves? That’s what we need to do. Philippians 2:3–4 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” We need to look at ourselves in the mirror every day and remind ourselves: we are not better than anyone else. One of my mentors used to say that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Before Jesus, we’re all the same; we all need him; and we have to serve others in a place of humility.

When I worked at the school, I used to teach a missions class for high school students, and one of the concepts that we would talk a lot about is how you enter into another culture — especially a third-world culture, where you might be dealing with extreme poverty: financial poverty, spiritual poverty, economic poverty. And when we come in as Americans, we can’t come in with the mindset of: I’m the wealthy, rich American who knows all the right answers, has everything figured out, and I’m the solution to all your problems. We can’t go in like that. We have to enter in with a posture of humility — coming in where we’re eye to eye; we’re there to listen and to learn and to share and to build a friendship and share Jesus. It begins with humility. 1 Corinthians 10:24 says, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” We have to seek the good of others, and that means relating to them.

One of my favorite movies is the movie McFarland, if you’ve ever seen it before. Kevin Costner plays a washed-up football coach — it’s a true story — and he ends up at this school right here in the Central Valley, and he’s the cross-country coach. And they go on, at the end of the movie — spoiler alert — they win the state championship. But how do they get there? They get there by him humbling himself and entering into their world. You see, he came from Palo Alto, and it was a totally different society and economic place, and he enters into this community where he didn’t understand what it meant to be in a Hispanic family and to work in the fields before school — and that’s what these kids were doing. And so he has to humble himself, and he begins to work alongside them, enter into their culture, enter into their life — and then he’s able to effectively coach them and lead them and take them to victory. That’s got to be our mindset. That was the mindset of the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul said, “I became all things to all people, that I might win a few” — not that he might win everyone, but that he might win a few. He entered into their world; he humbled himself; he became like them. And that’s exactly what Jesus did for us: he entered into our world; he became one of us; he humbled himself from heaven and came to earth. We have to follow his example.

6. Befriend Them

The next thing I see that the Good Samaritan does here, and that we need to do, is: befriend them. We need to befriend them. Take the time to care for others and foster a relationship. It says about the Good Samaritan that “he brought him to the inn and took care of him.” Again, he didn’t just drop him off and leave; he took care of him; he was there to continue caring for this man’s need; he spent time with him. And what happens when you spend time with someone? You build a friendship; you establish a relationship; you build trust. And we need to do that according to the example of Jesus. Jesus in John 13:34 said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” How did Jesus love? What was the way that he loved? Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In other words, he loved us and he cared for us even when we didn’t deserve it. So if you want to follow his example — if you see someone who’s in need and you think, they don’t deserve your help — that’s the person to love. That’s the person to go after; that’s the person to befriend and to spend time with and share with; that’s the person who needs Jesus. Make a friend; spend time with them. Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.” I love that. Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow have a competition — and somehow we removed our sin nature so pride wasn’t involved — and we could each week come in and go, here’s all the ways that I loved somebody, and we try to outdo each other in showing love? Wouldn’t that be awesome? That’s what the Scriptures are describing and teaching. That’s the kind of attitude we need to have — not for building up ourselves, but for truly caring for other people. Try to outdo each other in showing love.

7. Overflow with Love

That leads to the next point, which is: overflow with love. Overflow with love — go above and beyond to keep showing care and love for those in need. Look at verse 35: it says, “And the next day” — again, after they had spent time together — “the next day he took out two denarii” — which is about two days’ wages — “and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him.’” So not only has he personally cared for this man, now he’s going to leave, and he wants to make sure that the man continues to be cared for. And so, out of his own pocket, he gives more — above and beyond — to keep caring for this man. How are we going to do that? For us to do that, I think we have to have the mindset of Christ. And this is what Jesus taught; this is what Jesus said in Matthew 25:35: “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.” And Jesus goes on to teach: whatever you do for the least of these — whatever you do for others, you’re doing for me. So how am I going to develop a heart that overflows with love and goes above and beyond? I need to see Jesus when I see other people. When I see someone in need, I need to see Jesus, and I need to serve them as serving him. And if I do that, I have the mindset of Christ.

8. Re-Engage Them Afterward

And the last thing is this: re-engage them afterward. Don’t just move on; check back in to see the progress and continue care. Look at how the Samaritan ends this statement with the innkeeper. He says, “And whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” Don’t miss it — he’s going to come back. He has personally cared for this person; he has taken him to an inn where he continued to care for him; he’s given out of his own resources; he’s given above and beyond; and he says, hey, if you need more, I’m going to give you more — I’m coming back. He’s going to re-engage him afterward. Maybe you help someone in our community, and the best thing you can do is circle back around: come back and share with them some more; see how they’re doing; check in on them. Another one of the great organizations we partner with in our town is the Redwood Family Center. And maybe you know a woman who simply needs shelter and a place to go with her kids, and she’s in trouble, and you take her there and you tell them about what they do and you get her plugged in — then don’t just walk away and forget about her. Come back; see how she’s doing; check on her; circle back around.

You know, one of the easiest ways we can do this: so often someone says, hey, can you pray for me — and they share a prayer request, and you say, yeah, I’ll pray for you. And so often we forget to pray. But if you do pray, circle back around when you see them again the following week: hey, I was praying for you — how did that go? That’s one of the best ways that you can show that you actually care. Re-engage them. Why? So that when the person says, why are you treating me like this? Why are you caring for me? Why are you showing me love? — you can share 1 John 4:19: “We love because he first loved us.” I’m doing for you what Jesus did for me. Let me tell you about him; let me tell you everything that Jesus has done for me. It creates an opportunity; it opens the door for us to share about Jesus. It doesn’t guarantee that that person is going to become a Christian — we’re just planting seeds and being faithful and watching God work. Because you know who God is — here’s what God says about himself in Ezekiel 34:16: “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.” That’s who God is; that’s who we serve; we need to follow his example. Galatians 5:14 says, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Be a Neighbor — Pass It On

So, church family, by loving your actual neighbor, you are passing on the love of Jesus to them, and loving them opens the door to share the good news about what Jesus has done for you and who he is. You want to reach the lost? You want to pass it on? Be a neighbor. So, church family, here’s what I want us to do — this is going to require a little bit of participation. We’re going to summarize these eight action steps that the Samaritan took, and we’re going to read these aloud all together; we’re going to put them up on the screen. So let’s go through, starting with the first one. The first thing he did is: notice others. Empathize with them. Intervene in their lives. Give of your prepared resources. Humble yourself. Befriend them. Overflow with love. And re-engage them afterward. And what you’ll find is that when you’ve done those eight things, you will have proved to be a neighbor. Pass it on — be a neighbor.

Let’s pray. Jesus, we thank you that literally the book of John essentially says that you became a neighbor. You came to earth; you tabernacled; you dwelt among us; you became a neighbor to us. And Lord, you befriended us and showed us a love far beyond anything that any of us can give. Lord, that you laid down your life for us when you died on the cross — and Lord, the story didn’t end there, but you are alive; you are risen; you are alive today and working. And Lord, we submit ourselves to your work. We want to be good neighbors to people around us. Lord, help us to love others and to point them to you. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen. Church family, I’ll be out at the Welcome Center — I’d love to say hello, and if you need prayer this morning, we’d love to pray for you in our altar room. Have a great morning.