Good, Beautiful and Kind: Don’t Miss the Moment
Speaker: Josh Jansen
Read: Luke 10:25-37
More than likely we would all desire to live in a world that is good, beautiful, and Kind. But, in reality, we live in a world that is fractured and full of sin. It is in this condition because of our failure to love as the Bible commands. If the greatest commandment is to love, then the rejection of this commandment must be sin and not just a violation of the law. Love is actually the essence of the law and what it means to be human. But sin causes us to turn inward and to miss the moments that require us to display the love of God.
Jesus uses the story of the good Samaritan to define neighbor for the expert in the law, and to illustrate how one can be so self-absorbed with busyness, selfish plans, partiality, and one’s own agenda that the opportunity to show the kind of love He was describing is overlooked.
Although, the lack of love is easy to justify, it is never right. It is destructive and leads to pervasive sin. But we can restore our fractured world by choosing to love like Jesus and by seeking to meet the needs of others even if they are different from us.
Reflection Questions
What resonated with you as you listened to this sermon and reviewed it?
What do you think it means to love your neighbor as yourself?
It was said that the lack of love has fractured the world. What does this mean to you? Give some specific examples of how this may have happened?
In what ways do we try to justify ourselves when there are opportunities to show love, but we do not?
Read Luke 10:30-32. What are reasons the Levite and priest may not have stopped to help the injured man?
If, as it was said, the essence of biblical love is helping people who are not like you, how would you say you are doing with loving people who are different from you? What specific things, if any, could you do differently?
It was said that the mark of a disciple is someone who can look at the most broken person and view them as a mirror of what life was like before they experienced the mercy of God. What does this mean to you?
