Sermon Notes
Title: Who Is My Neighbor?
Text: Luke 10:25-37 AMP KJV NIV NKJV
Theme: Compassion
Teacher: Dr. Barry D. Lovett
Time: 5/15/11
File Under: Christian Living

 In the Parable of the Good Samaritan there are three main characters…a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. The first two would have been considered the most likely to be good neighbors, but they were not.

“There is a kind of arithmetic spawned in the counting rooms of Hell that is always interested in Christians reaching the masses but somehow never gets down to an individual man or an individual woman.  This kind of arithmetic always talks about winning the world for Christ but doesn’t think much about winning a neighbor for Christ. It’s a kind of arithmetic that makes it valiant and glorious to cross an ocean to reach someone for Christ but not very noble to cross the street to reach someone for Christ”     -Hadden Robinson

The Samaritan saw the wounded man and was filled with pity and helped the man. 

This story answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?”  The answer is simply this…Your neighbor is anyone WHOSE NEED you see and WHOSE NEED you’re in a position to meet. 

Your neighbor may be someone who is unknown, unfriendly, unlovely, ungrateful. 

On the surface all three of these men saw the same thing, a stranger who had been mugged.  But they really didn’t see the same thing.  Only the Samaritan saw his neighbor. 

            An important principle: What I am determines what I see. 

Christian love is subjective.  It does not reside in the personality being loved.  It resides in the person doing the loving. 

The same love that enables me to love my father in heaven enables me to love my neighbor on earth.  What you are determines what you see and what you see will determine what YOU DO. 

Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to see the queen.

Pussycat, Pussycat, what saw you there? I saw a wee mouse under her chair.

When you’ve got the heart of a pussycat, mice are infinitely more important than Queens.

Blindness to our neighbor’s need is an indication of what kind of heart we have. (who we are) It’s a heart problem, a lack of love for our neighbor has more to do with our love for God than for our neighbor.

If you love God you’ll love your neighbor and who is your neighbor?... Anyone whose need I see and whose need God has put me in a position to meet.  It’s as simple as that and it’s as difficult as that.

Digging Deeper:  Does the lawyer seem to think he has passed the test in vs 28?  Why does Jesus answer with a story instead of a straight answer?

For Further Reflection:  With whom do you identify most in this story? Why?  Who have been Good Samaritans in your life?  What makes a  Good Samaritan really good?  To Whom will you be a good Samaritan this week?