Let the Religious Read Carefully (Luke 10:25-37)

August 14, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Freddie Fender was going to fix his car himself.  He was tired of paying the high repair bills.  But Freddie did not read the instructions carefully, and after he was done with the job, it cost him twice as much to get it fixed right after he had fixed it himself.  Hilda Homemaker was a do-it-yourselfer too.  She was going to make a cake from scratch.  But baking was not her forte and she did not read the recipe carefully, so she left out some of the most important ingredients.  Thus, her cake fell flat in the pan and what was supposed to be an angel food cake, looked more like white brownies instead.  Harvey Handyman picked up a set of plans from the lumber company.  He was going to build himself the bookcase that he had always wanted.  But Harvey only looked at the pictures, didn’t even bother reading the instructions, and started sawing.  Though Harvey did manage to build his bookshelf, when it was finished it looked more like a rocking chair with shelves, rather than a the bookcase he had always wanted.

Though I realize that Freddy, Hilda, and Harvey may seem a bit comical to us, especially since most of us have had similar experiences in our lives, today these three fictional characters are teaching us an important lesson about being Christians.  And that lesson is simple, as Christians, it is very important for each and every one of us to read carefully the instructions of God’s word, learn them, take them to heart, and follow them carefully, because if we should try to be a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to our Christian faith, not only will it lead to a spiritual mess; it could ultimately lead to the spiritual disaster of eternal damnation.  This is why Jesus is teaching us in our lesson today just how important it is for us to read carefully.

Now, if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to open your Bibles to our lesson in Luke 10:25-37.  As you are opening to Luke 10, let me tell you a little bit about the do-it-yourself expert that comes to Jesus in our lesson.  He was an expert in the law; a religious do-it-yourselfer.  He knew a lot about his Old Testament Bible and he though he knew the way to heaven.  In fact, he felt that he was building his way there by himself through his own efforts at keeping God’s Law in his life.  So, when he asked Jesus for directions of how to achieve eternal life, he really wasn’t asking to find out the answer, he was asking to test Jesus and show Jesus that he, the expert, was already such a great guy who was already building his way to heaven that he didn’t actually need Jesus help.  Take a look at what Luke tells us, “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered: “ ‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25–29, NIV84)

Interestingly, there are still a lot of do-it-yourselfers who are just like this expert in the law.  They do not read carefully or understand what the Lord has to say in his Word, so what they wind up making is more like devil’s food than angel’s food.  They buy their Bible because it has God’s plan for salvation, but then they do not read it carefully or they only look at the pictures.  They go through a lot of religious motions, but when they are done, they have nothing that will stand before the Judgment of the Lord, and they end up paying a lot more than they would have had to.  Some religious do-it-yourselfers even stay away from church because they feel that their plan is already better than any plan that God can give them.  Though they may sometimes come to church to hear what God has to say, after they spend their hour in God’s house they go back home and keep on building according to their own plans anyway. 

Now, I know exactly what you are doing.  You are mentally going through our membership roster and thinking that so and so is exactly like this.  Or you are thinking how you wish that this person or that person was here to hear what Pastor is saying today.  Though I admit that it would be nice to have those specific people here to hear this message from the Lord as he calls us to read word carefully, understand it, believe it, and follow it, what is most important is that we who are hear carefully read and understand what Jesus is saying to us today.  For the application he gives us is simple.  He wants us to read his Word carefully.  He wants us to study his Word regularly.  He wants us to grow in our faith so that we understand that we are sinners who are saved by grace.  He wants us to understand that we are saved only by the Lord’s plan of salvation and not by any plan of salvation that we may have come up with on our own.  He wants us to read carefully so that we are always seeking to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul, and strength, and mind; so that we are always seeking to live our faith by loving our neighbor as ourselves.

This is what Jesus wanted for the do-it-yourselfer, expert in the Law, and in his love, Jesus was patient with him as he asked the expert to take a closer look at the law he knew so well and read it more carefully.  First Jesus asked the expert what he knew about the law and how he read it.  The expert gave a beautiful summary of the exact heart of God’s law and the purpose of the Christian life when he said in verse 27, “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, love your neighbor as yourself.”  However, Jesus longed to help him read more carefully and understand more thoroughly.  So Jesus told this man the parable of the Good Samaritan, which Luke records for us beginning with verse 30: “Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:30–37, NIV84)

With this beautiful parable Jesus explained what a life of faith is all about.  It is not about obeying the law point by point to build a ladder to heaven.  It isn’t about seeking to follow a path to eternal life that comes from our own imagination.  Rather, it is about reading carefully the instructions of salvation that the Lord Jesus recorded for us in his word and allowing these words to grow in our hearts.  It is about reading carefully the instructions of salvation so that our faith in Jesus continues to grow and to permeate every part of our lives.  Then when God’s Word so permeates our lives we will naturally begin to put our faith into action as we live and serve the Lord by loving our neighbor.

Though this parable makes it clear that our neighbors are really anyone who is need of our help; anyone and everyone we come into contact with in our lives, it is very seldom that our neighbors are the ones who are beaten and lying beside the highway.  Yet it is interesting how so many religious do-it-yourselfers react to their neighbors like the Priest and the Levite did in Jesus’ parable.  Though they go out of their way to be kind and do good when someone is watching, so often, it seems, that behind closed doors, they neglect their own spouse when he or she is hurting.  They neglect the needs of their children and their family, crossing on the other side of the street, because they simply cannot be bothered to get involved with such domestic situations.  Though they are ready to champion all sorts of causes to send food, clothing, or medical supplies to the starving children of countries ravaged by famine, countries destroyed by hurricanes and earthquakes, even countries ravaged by incurable diseases, their own personal lives are filled with sins that keep them from seeing the needs of those around them or even helping those in need and serving them out of love for the Lord.

But what about us?  How often don’t we act in the exact same way as the religious do-it-yourselfers that I’ve been describing?  How often haven’t we walked on the other side of the living room rather than take time to interact with our spouse or our children when they have been hurting?  How often haven’t we ignored the obvious cries for help from our next door neighbor or our best friends when they obviously needed a sympathetic ear to listen or simply a shoulder to cry on?  How often haven’t we closed our eyes or pretended not to see someone who needed our help in one way or another?  Too often we have acted just like the Priest and the Levite in Jesus’ Parable, which is why he shares this parable with us.  For the purpose of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is not so that we are motivated to be nicer to each other, but it is instead to cause us to read more carefully and understand that we cannot possibly keep God’s Law on our own.  We cannot possibly keep all of God’s commands perfectly as he demands, because we are constantly stumbling and breaking them all.  Even if we should have a good day and keep most of them, as the Bible tells us, as soon as we break even one of God’s commands we are guilty of breaking them all.  Then, in that moment, all of our own do-it-yourself plans for salvation come crumbling down before us and we are left with no hope of salvation but one.

It is in that moment that the Lord our God lifts our heads up and asks us to read carefully the simple instructions of Salvation, “God so loved the World that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV84)  These are the simple instructions that our God laid out for our salvation.  Though we cannot possibly keep God’s law, Jesus did it for us.  Jesus loved us so much that he freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection from the dead.  Jesus loved us so much that even when we were his enemies he died to make us his friends.  Now, it is through that love of Jesus that faith grows in our hearts.  It is through that love of Jesus that we seek to live our lives out of love for the Lord.  It is because we have been saved by faith that we can now seek to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind.  It is because the love of Jesus our Savior now lives in our hearts that we seek to live our lives loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.  It is because of that love of Jesus that we now seek to read carefully God’s Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.  For you see, it is only when Jesus love for us permeates our hearts and our lives that we live like the Samaritan did, showing love in our actions.  It is only when the love of Jesus permeates our hearts and our lives that we show love for our husbands, our wives, our children, and our families. 

This is the purpose of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan.  It is not a story to teach us how to live a Christian life.  Rather it is a story asking us to take a closer look at God’s Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.  For when we read His word carefully, we find the story of our inability to keep his commands.  We face the facts that the wages of sin is death.  Yet we are confronted by the unimaginable grace that the gift of God is eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.  Now, moved by that love, we seek to show our love for the Lord our God by living in love for your neighbor.  Though there are religious do-it-yourselfers who understand Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan as a “how to” manual of a Christian life, because we have carefully read it, we understand what it truly is.  It is a parable to show us how we cannot earn eternal life in our own way.  Rather we must rely on the Lord our God and his salvation.  Then, moved by the grace of our Savior we will naturally live our lives in love, serving the Lord our God, even as we show our love for him in how we love our neighbor. 

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

How Great Is the Love the Father Has Lavished Upon Us! (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 March 14, 2010
Theme: How great is the Love the Father Lavished upon us!

Dear friends in Christ.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1, NIV) When the Apostle John first wrote these words toward the end of the First Century, he was writing to remind Christians of the core of their Christianity. He was writing to assure Christians who were suffering under false teachers who were constantly claiming that Jesus wasn’t really the Christ, the Son of God, or the Savior of the Word. He was writing to Christians to assure them of the love that their heavenly Father had poured out on them by sending Jesus to be the Savior of the Word and give his life so that by his death and resurrection, all our sins, be they open and rebellious or hidden and even self-righteous sins, be forgiven. Though these words, which the Apostle John wrote at the turn of the first century are not the words of our text today, they do serve as a wonderful theme for the message of our Father’s love that Jesus conveys in his parable today! As Luke tells us, “Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1–3, NIV)

Now, when all this took place, Jesus was the East side of the Jordan River, a good day’s journey away from Jerusalem. He was teaching the people in the area known as Perea, which was where the tribes of Gad and Ruben had staked their claim to their inheritance. He was teaching the people who had gathered there all about the love that their heavenly Father had lavished upon them by sending him as the Messiah, the Savior, who would shortly give his life as a ransom for all people, when the Pharisees and teachers of the law once again reared their ugly head. They were the ones who didn’t believe that Jesus could possibly be the Messiah because he wasn’t righteous enough. They were the ones who believed that when the Messiah came he would be a righteous judge who would punish and destroy all the open sinners while he hung around with them and praised them for their righteousness. But Jesus did none of these things so they did what any jealous and disgruntled person would do. They complained about him and his association with the riff-raff and in doing so, they sought to shake the faith of those whom they saw as tax collectors and open sinners.

But Jesus knew exactly what they were up to so he began to tell them this parable: “Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:11–24, NIV)

With these beautiful words, Jesus spoke directly to the heart of those whom the Pharisees called the tax collectors and sinners as he revealed to them the lavish love that their heavenly Father had bestowed upon them by forgiving all their open and rebellious sins. For even though they were like the son who had gathered up all he had and left their Father’s house to go out and squander all his blessings in open and rebellious sins, these were the very people whom the Lord Jesus, their Savior, who had called them to faith, and assured them of their forgiveness through their faith in him. These were the very people whom the Father waited for as he stood at the end of his drive way looking longingly down the road for the day when they would return to him. These were the people for whom the Angels in heaven rejoiced because they had come to faith and repented of their sins and through that faith had received the full measure of the Father’s love, because they had trusted in Jesus as their Lord, Savior, and Messiah.

Well, these same people whom Jesus spoke to with his parable are no different than you or me! For the truth is how many of us haven’t done the very same thing? How many of us haven’t taken our share of the inheritance and then wandered away from the Word of God? How many of us haven’t faced difficult and troubling times, like the young man in the parable did, and we came back to ourselves, repented of our sins and then returned to our Father’s home where we might grow in faith through the means of grace, which is the gospel in the word and in the sacraments? In fact, just think about it, how many times haven’t you wandered away from the Lord and watched your spiritual life fall apart as you kept yourself separated from him? How many times hasn’t it happened that you continued on in your sinful ways until finally you hit rock bottom, finally coming to your senses, and returning to the Lord for his forgiveness? How many times hasn’t it happened that even as you repented of your sins your heavenly Father ran to you, threw his arms around you, kissed you and welcomed you back as a son or daughter of his family? How many times hasn’t your heavenly father lavished his love upon you as, through faith in Jesus, he forgave each and every one of your open and rebellious sins against him? How many times haven’t you been the one for whom the angels in heaven rejoiced because you repented and returned to the Lord?

That was the very message of the Father’s love that Jesus proclaimed to the tax collectors and sinners who were gathered around him as he told them how the Lord God their heavenly father had forgiven each and every one of their sins. Yet the Lord Jesus did not stop his lesson of the Father’s great love there, rather, as he continued the lesson he began to speak of the great love the Father longed to lavish upon even the self-righteous Pharisees and teachers of the Law, if only they would throw off their self-righteous ideas and turn to him, their Savior, in sorrow and repentance. As Jesus continued in his parable, he said: “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:25–32, NIV)

With such a simple transition, Jesus begins to speak to the Pharisees about the very love that the Father longs to lavish upon them, if only they would turn from their hidden and self-righteous sins! For with these words, it is very clear that Jesus is speaking to the very people who had been with him and had lived in his house. They were the Son who had stayed at home and served their Father, but sadly, as the years went by they began to rely more on what they were doing for their Father rather than what he would do for them. They began to put their faith and their trust in their own actions and their own righteousness and they no longer saw their own need for a Savior! Thus, when they saw the Love that their Father was lavishing on these tax collectors and sinners, they as angry as the brother in the parable, because their Father did not punish or even annihilate these sinners, nor did he recognize their great efforts to be holy and righteous in the Father’s eyes by their own works. They felt that they deserved so much more because they had been so faithful as they slaved away for their Father and refused the temptations to go off and indulge in open sin, while all the time they continued to condemn others for the very sins that were hidden in their hearts, as they sought to live an outwardly righteous life!

But before we speak too harshly against the Pharisees and teaches of the Law, perhaps we should take a look at our own lives and ask ourselves the question, “How often haven’t we acted exactly like they did?” How often haven’t we been upset when someone who has been away from worship for months or even years, suddenly begins to come back and is welcomed home without any questions asked? How often haven’t we felt that we were so much better than they, because while they were out indulging in whatever sins they were, we were safely at home serving our Father in his home and living under his roof? Or how often haven’t we acted so offended when we heard about the sins that so and so has been engaging in and then hurried to self-righteously pass on this juicy piece of gossip to the next person on the grape vine? Or how often haven’t we spoken extra harshly about this sin or that sin so that no one suspects that it is the very sin which we have hidden away in our own hearts? How often haven’t we acted just like the older son in the parable and just like the Pharisees who spoke against Jesus?

That is why Jesus ends his parable with an open question for both the Pharisees to contemplate as well as you and me, for as he says, “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:25–32, NIV) What he is asking is simply this; “Will you rejoice with the angels in heaven, with my Father and even with me over those who repent? Will you turn away from your own hidden sins and self-righteous behavior, repent of your sins, and live? Will you place your faith in me as your Savior and through that faith receive the great love your Father wishes to lavish upon you as he forgives even your hidden sins and self-righteous behavior?”

As I look at you today, I know that this is the very thing you have already done! As I look at you today, I see a congregation of Christians who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. As I look at you today, I see a group of people who have been lavished with the Father’s love and been washed clean of every spot and satin of sin. As I look at you today, I see a group of people who have given their lives to the Lord and through faith in Jesus and through that faith are striving to remain in that love on a daily basis as you continually go to the Lord in repentance and receive the assurance of his love in the forgiveness of all of your sins.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1, NIV) When the Apostle John first wrote these words toward the end of the First Century, he was writing to remind Christians of the core of their Christianity, and we are using them today to remind us of the great forgiveness our heavenly Father has poured out upon us! For through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we have the great assurance that each and every one of our sins has been washed away. Through faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior, we know that our heavenly Father has lavished his great love upon us. Through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we know that we have been forgiven of our open and rebellious sins as well as our hidden and self-righteous sins. Through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we now strive to live in that love as we live our lives in service to the Savior. May the Lord God, your heavenly Father, continue to assure you of his love as you daily grow in your faith and your trust of Jesus Christ your Savior.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN