Who is my Neighbor

This passage is so familiar, I hesitate to read it, but I'm going to read it, because I want to talk with you about something I learned from a dear friend of mine, who said to me one day, "Every morning, I pray that today I might not add to anybody's burdens."

Now, I had never prayed like that. I hope I don't add to anybody's burdens, but, I thought, "That's a good prayer." That the Lord would help each one of us not to add to anybody else's burdens. Lord knows we have enough of our own.

"And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, 'Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'" Like some of the people who write to us, he wasn't really sincere. He was just trying to pick a fight. "And he said to him, 'What is written in the law? How readest thou?'

And he answering said, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.'" That's a good answer. "And he said unto him, 'Thou hast answered right. This do, and thou shalt live.'" Of course, the minute he started trying to do all that, he'd discover how dead he was and how much he needed salvation.

"But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'" That's a great way to either start an argument or stop one. "Well, what do you mean by dieting?" Just throw the question back at them. "Well, what do you mean by anger?" "And who is my neighbor?"

"And Jesus answering said, 'A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan,'" and I should pause to say that when Jesus uttered that word Samaritan, his crowd was shocked. You know, we read the parables, and we see such beautiful stories there, but he shocked them with these parables. A certain Samaritan— this would be like saying a certain Nazi came by and saw this Jew lying there in Germany in 1939.

"And a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and he went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.' Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?"

And I imagine there was sort of a silence for a minute or two because our Lord had cornered this fellow. "He that showed mercy on him," he said. He wouldn't say, "a Samaritan." "Then said Jesus unto him, 'Go, and do thou likewise.'"

God has so ordained that you and I cannot make it in the Christian life or in Christian service without other people. We are sheep and sheep flock together. We are members of the body and belong to each other. We belong to the same family. We're soldiers in the same army. We're stones in the same temple. We cannot make it alone.

And one of the great weaknesses of Christianity in America today is its individualism. "I have my devotional life and I read my Bible and I go to my church and God and I can make it together, and I don't need anybody else." That just isn't true. In fact, some of our songs kind of promote this. I know that song writers don't write songs to promote things like that, but sometimes they are so individualistic that we forget other people exist.

Now in this parable, our Lord is talking about relationships with people. My guess is that most of the problems we face have to do with people, they're people problems. We all agree with D.L. Moody who said, "I have more trouble with D.L. Moody than any other man in town." We do have more trouble with ourselves, but there are people problems. And our Lord says there are people in this world who hurt and there are people in this world who help.

And our concern as servants of the Lord is ministry. And we're interested in knowing how we can help people. Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God. That's what we're doing around here. Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God. And there's not a person here who this morning got up and deliberately said, "I'm going to hurt somebody today," because you aren't that kind of people.

In dealing with this problem of not being a hurtful person, in dealing with this matter of being a help to one another, let's try to answer four very basic questions.

Question number one: how do we hurt other people? I know that nobody got up and said, "I just want to hurt somebody," but how do we hurt other people? Well, there are people like these robbers who go through life just hurting other people deliberately. Someone has well said that in this story you have three kinds of people. There are those who say, "What's yours is mine, I'll take it." There are those who say, "What's mine is mine, I'll keep it." And there are those who say, "What's mine is yours, I'll share it." But it starts off with a bunch of thieves.

Now, we don't have to be violent people to hurt others. I suppose it's been a long time since we belted somebody. We don't get into fights like that. There's not a one of us here who would think of physically injuring somebody, unless we were defending ourselves. You know, it's possible to be violent with our words. I don't mean screaming and hollering, just cutting. Sometimes we hurt people just by the way we act, we just are violent in our attitudes, or our actions, or our emotions.

But I think more than that, we are probably more like the priest and the Levite than we are the thieves, because the priest and Levite hurt this person by neglect. They just walk by on the other side. That's easy to do today. We are exposed to so much hurt and violence. You almost hate to read the morning paper, this one has been attacked and that one's been robbed and so much going on. And it's very easy for us to get numbed to this. And so here comes the priest, and he goes by on the other side. Here comes the Levite, he looks at the fellow and goes by on the other side. We hurt people by neglect.

Now I can think of some good excuses for the priest and the Levite, because I'm good at excuses. The priest and Levite could have said, "We've been up to Jerusalem working hard, been in the temple, we've been away from home for a whole week now. We got to get home. We've done our share." Heaven help us if when we walk out the doors of this building, we think we're through ministering. In fact, there's a lot of ministry that can be done right in this building and there's a lot that can be done outside the building.

Or the priest could have said, "Well, I know the Levite's coming behind me, he'll take care of it." You know, let George do it. Or they could have said, "Well, you know, those robbers might be just baiting us. They could be hiding someplace using this guy as the bait, and then they'll pounce on us. We're the Lord's servants." I can think of a lot of excuses they could have given except for one thing: they were not being very neighborly.

So, we can hurt people deliberately, like the thieves, or we can hurt people neglectfully, like the priest and Levite, or we can hurt people like the lawyer. The lawyer hurt by being evasive. I'm not saying that all lawyers are evasive. I'm grateful for Christian lawyers. There've been times in our lives we've needed them. This fellow was very evasive. And when I find myself looking for a reason not to be a neighbor to somebody, I better watch out. Something's missing in my life.

"Well, who is my neighbor?" Look. You know. Our Lord said, "Look, let's not talk about a nebulous subject like neighborliness. Let's talk about one fellow who's in trouble. Let's not be in the abstract. Let's get down to the concrete. Let's not go to some complex issue. Let's just get down to one simple fact. Here's a guy dying. He needs some help. And by the way, Mr. Lawyer, the issue is not, 'Who is my neighbor?' The issue is, 'To whom can you be a neighbor?' The issue is not, 'What is your duty?' The issue is, 'What is your opportunity?'"

Why do we hurt people? Well, how do we hurt people? Sometimes by neglect, sometimes deliberately, sometimes by evasion.

Question number two: Why do we hurt people? I'm sure these thieves thought that they were really making a steal here. They got his raiment, and they wounded him. I suppose they took all of his money and his baggage, his American Tourister luggage. You see, to them, things are more important than people. Now, when it comes to the point in your life and mine when things become more important than people, we'll start hurting people.

See, all that we have in the world are God, things, and people. That's all there is. You read Genesis 1, the whole agenda is there. There's God, and there are things, and there are people. And we're supposed to worship God, and love people, and use things. When you start worshiping things, you begin to use people to get the things that you want. And as a consequence, you become a thief. Sometimes we hurt people because things are more important than people. We want to get what we want.

Sometimes we hurt people because we hurt ourselves, we're fighting back. I've met a lot of Christian people who have wounds that have never been healed. I suppose some Freudian psychiatrist could explain all of this and say, "Well, it's your grandmother's fault, or your grandfather's fault." But there are a lot of people with wounds that just have never been healed over, and they fester occasionally, and they've got to fight back at somebody. Maybe they don't even understand why they're doing it.

Sometimes we're just plain prejudiced. That's why Jesus introduced a Samaritan, because the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. That's an understatement. They hated them. They prayed they would not be raised in the resurrection. God's not going to answer their prayer. [recording is garbled] I know we have have one lady who was a Samaritan who's going to be raised at the resurrection of the just. But you know we look down at people. Sometimes we say, "Well, you know, I'm more important than you are."

Everybody here in this room is made in the image of God. And the way we treat each other is the way we treat God. Let's do away once and for all with this crazy idea that we can please God and hurt people, that we can love God and hate people. Can't be done. If I claim to love God whom I have not seen, how can I hate my brother whom I can see? And so sometimes we hurt people because we hurt ourselves and we're fighting back unconsciously. Sometimes we hurt people out of prejudice.

Sometimes just out of plain ignorance. We don't know we're hurting them. That's why Matthew 18 is in the Bible. If your brother has offended, you go talk to him about it privately. Don't carry it around forever. Don't let it grow and become a cancerous tumor in your soul. Get it settled. Life is too short to have enemies and carry things like that around. Life is too short to sap your spiritual strength with festering wounds.

Sometimes we hurt people just out of ignorance. We're in a hurry. We're like the priest and the Levite. I know I have done this. I should have stopped and been thoughtful, but I'm in a hurry to get to the studio, or in a hurry to get someplace, a bookstore, you know, it's so important. And you probably looked at me and said, "Well, there he is. He's on the run again."

Sometimes we hurt people out of fear. We don't want them to get too close to us. We want to keep people at a distance. The tragedy there is we start wearing masks. We don't want people to get too close. They might see we're wearing a mask, and so we keep them at a distance. And one way to do this is just to be like a porcupine. You know, the closer you get to them the more prickly it becomes.

I have a an editor friend who is grossly overweight. When I say grossly, I mean grossly overweight. And one year I was at Founder's Week, and Dr. Vance Havner was there at Founder's Week and he's a delightful person. And he went up to my friend and he said to him in his own inimitable style, he says, "Son, have you ever thought of going on an onion diet?" And my friend said, "Well, I never heard of an onion diet. What does it do?" "Well," he says, "you don't lose any weight, but it keeps your friends far enough away from you they can't see how big you are."

Well, I think some of the saints are on an onion diet. They want to keep us far enough away so we can't say, "Look, what about this?" And yet we need each other, don't we? And we belong to each other. Why do we hurt others? Sometimes because of fear. And yet the person we don't want to get close to may be the very one who could be the best blessing for us. You never can tell.

Which leads us now to another question. How can we help others? None of us here wants to hurt. How can we help others? Well, of course, the Samaritan shows us how to help others. It's wrapped up in— in four little words: compassion, contact, care, cost.

Compassion, he had compassion on him. It starts with love. This word compassion is often used in the Gospels, and it doesn't just mean a passing emotional feeling. The Greek word puts it right down here in the pit of your stomach. It's talking about the yearning of the deepest part of your viscera. He didn't just look and say, "Oh, I feel sorry for that guy." Compassion is the kind of attitude Jesus has had toward us. When he looked upon the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. We're so busy today, we don't look at people long enough to be moved with compassion.

Then contact, it says he came where he was. I wouldn't be going to heaven if Jesus had not come where I was. He came where I was. He came as a baby. I was there once. He came into the situations of life. I'm there. He came to my sins. He came where I was as a sinner. Contact. Now he was taking a risk. Those robbers could have been hiding, and ready to pounce.

Care, he poured in oil and wine. That was the only medicine he had. He couldn't call the paramedics. And he cleansed the wounds, and he poured in the healing ointment, and then he put him on his own beast. He rearranged his whole schedule. I'll confess to you the thing I guard with more jealousy than anything else is my time. My time is more important to me than anything else because that's all I can give to God. All I can give to God is my body and my time. That's all I can give him.

And I've always got deadlines. There's always jobs to be done. And quite frankly, I don't like to rearrange my schedule. Neither do you. You make plans. Ah, but then along comes somebody who needs a neighbor. And you have to rearrange your schedule. He spent an extra day there and he took care of the fellow.

Compassion, contact, care, cost. He pulled out his wallet and said, "Here's some money, if you need some more, I'll take care of it when I come back." You know, advice is easy to give. Someone says advice is cheap. If you get sued for malpractice, it's not too cheap. But real compassionate care is costly. John Henry Jowett, who followed Campbell Morgan at Westminster Chapel in London, said, "Ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing."

And quite frankly, ministry gets more and more costly. It really does. We have our work to do and we do it, and we thank the Lord for the privilege of doing it, and we enjoy doing it, but that one-to-one ministry to people who are in pain, one-to-one ministry to people who hurt emotionally, spiritually, it costs something. Of course, all this is a picture of the Lord Jesus, isn't it? He had compassion on us. He came where we are. He paid the price and he says, "Now when I come back, I'll take care of all the rest of it."

How can we help others? I suppose I've got to keep my eyes and my ears open. I've got to be sensitive. Even when I go to church, I'm anxious sometimes just to get out. You know, you're in a crowd so much, you're with people so much that you're really glad for some privacy. And maybe you don't go through this, but those of us who have been called of God to be in the public spotlight, we face this constantly with people coming up and asking about this, or talking about that. And there are Sundays when you just feel like, during the benediction, sneak out.

But then you never know, there might be somebody there and you might be their last hope. It tugs at you sometimes. There's a tension sometimes between, "Lord, if I see one more crowd, I think I'll collapse," and "Lord, maybe there's somebody here that needs me."

Tuesday I flew out to Denver to speak to a couple hundred preachers at a luncheon. By the way, I bring you greetings from Kurt Wells and Mike McGuire who met me at the airport, and we skidded down the highways in the snow. And after the meeting was over, I hung around like I usually do at the front and one by one, people were coming. Some wanted sample magazines and some wanted this or that, and occasionally there was somebody who said, "You know, I've got a need."

Which leads us to the fourth question: what will happen if we start helping others? What will happen if we start helping others? Well, for one thing, we're going to be a blessing to others. I was reading in Genesis 12 this morning where God said, "Abraham, I want you to get out and I'm going to bless you, and you shall be a blessing."

You know, the greatest thing in life is not to get a blessing, it's to be a blessing. The greatest thing that could happen to you today would be for someone to look at you and say, either to you or to himself or to the Lord, "You know, I'm grateful for you. You've been a blessing to me today."

So if we start helping others, we're going to be a blessing to others. And something is going to happen to us. Now, God has so ordained the Christian life that the only way to get is to give, the only way to go up is to go down, the only way to reign is to serve. That's the way God made it. We're not going to change it. That's the law of the Medes and the Persians, and it's always going to be like that. God has ordained that your mind grows by taking in, but your heart grows by giving out. Now it's always going to be like that.

And the most miserable people in the world are those who keep things to themselves. The happiest people in the world are those who share with others. And so something happens to us when we start caring for others. We become more like the Lord Jesus. And we don't go by on the other side, and we don't make excuses like the lawyer, and we don't make excuses like the priest and the Levite.

But something else, it's hard to believe that this little story that was told in a little country centuries ago is being a blessing to people today. I don't know who this Good Samaritan was. I have a feeling this could well have actually happened and not just simply been a parable. But be that as it may, this one man who took care of one man has been a blessing to millions of people down through the ages.

Oh, you say, "If I help my neighbor, if I help somebody at Back to the Bible, if I try to be compassionate, what difference does it make?" It makes a lot of difference: to them, to you, and to the whole world. A deed of compassion done in Lincoln, Nebraska, is like dropping a stone in a puddle and those circles just start to go out and you touch the whole world. Mary came in and anointed the Lord Jesus, and Jesus said what she's done is going to be told throughout the whole world. Don't lose the perspective of Christian ministry. The work you are doing and the ministry you're having is having an impact on the whole world.

So I close where I began. None of us here today wants to hurt anybody. May the Lord help us to have the sensitivity that we need— I need it— the patience, the kindness, so that we can go through today and everyday not adding to anybody's burdens. Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God. And the purpose of Back to the Bible is not that we might be ministered to, but that we might minister.

Grant to us, Father, that kind of compassionate heart. I confess that sometimes I can be selfish. I've made my plans. I don't like to be interrupted. But Lord, help me to be more like the Lord Jesus. Help us all not to add to anybody's burdens. May there always be in the ministry of Back to the Bible, this continued atmosphere of concern. Not just concern for our people listening to the radio and people who write us letters and people who read our literature, not just concern for the ministry overseas, but concern for people right in this building. So, grant to us, oh God, a compassionate, caring heart. And make us more like the Lord Jesus. And may He be glorified. For it's in His name we pray. Amen.

The Lord bless you. Have a good day.