“BUILDING THE KIND KINGDOM” THE MERCIFUL GOSPEL
Luke 10:25-37: LIFEWAY QUARTERLY SPRING 2021 SESSION 1
I had not been at Wylie Baptist Church long, before Pastor Donny Harbers “drafted” me as a church representative for our Abilene-Callahan Baptist Association HOPE Camp. HOPE Camp is a mission of community churches to share the Gospel with indigent and at risk youth through a summer church camp designed to meet their needs and it is held at the Big Country Baptist Assembly in Leuders, Texas. As a Senior Adult minister I considered not going, but I knew Donny wouldn’t take “no” for an answer and with a big smile he handed me his sleeping bag. “I had it laundered and cleaned just for you! Our church needs you, those kids need you and you need them!” He said.
Leuders, Texas in July is a hot and dusty place. The BCBA is the oldest and longest operating Baptist Encampment in the State (if not the Country) and was built by Big Country Baptists at the height of the Second Great Awakening Revival in Texas. Perched along the Clear Fork of the Brazos and a stone quarry it is the only place in West Texas that I am convinced has no wind and the heat would be unbearable without the trees and a bit of water. The kids we were serving had been through a lot and had experienced much of the evil, abuse, and cruelty this world offers. The adults and other volunteers planned hard, worked hard, played hard and prayed hard for those children and poured their lives into them that week. By the second night I was exhausted. It was past midnight the dorm lights were still on, the boys in the top bunks above Camp Pastor Tim and me were wide awake and arguing over one girl and who she liked more (“she likes me more than you!”)… “Uggh!” I rolled my eyes and looked at Tim: “This is so JUVENILE!” Tim laughed: “Their youth Darrin, it’s supposed to be juvenile…” The last night of the camp we were all sitting outside the snack shack enjoying ice cream when a young 7th Grader named Cody asked me a question… “Mr. Ray, are they gonna have this camp next year?” “Yes, Cody.” “How about the year after that?” “Yes.” “And the year after that? How about then? Can I still come?” “Of course Cody you are always welcome. Why do you like this camp so much?” His answer stopped me in my tracks. “It’s the only place where people have been nice to me and treated me kindly.” It reminded me of something Brother Donny had often said: “We are the only Gospel, the only love the only compassion and grace of God that some people will ever see…” Since that talk, I do my best to go to Hope Camp every year, and share the love of God with these kids and show “the Kind Kingdom” that some of them have never seen but I have seen in the HOPE that they might come to KNOW how much God truly loves them!
Our lesson this week is a familiar story from Luke for many of us- The Parable of the Good Samaritan. In it, Jesus expresses the vast kindness and mercy of the Kingdom of God, exposes people’s hearts, and challenges/commands us to be kind- “to go out of our way” for our neighbor and build the “Kind Kingdom” through mercy in action motivated by a compassionate heart that has been transformed by His own kindness and grace (Titus 3:1-11; 2 Peter 1:5-11; Jude 1:17-23). He not only defines “who” is our neighbor but explains “how and what” it means to be neighborly as a subject of the Kingdom of God. Remembering our interpretive framework of Luke: Jesus and the Gospel are a gift from heaven, Jesus and the Gospel are a gift received by grace thru faith to all who believe, and Jesus and the Gospel are a gift to be proclaimed to everyone; we will see by our framework three practical and spiritual identifiers of what Jesus means by being kind and neighborly. We will see that the love of God expressed in kindness can be INCONVENIENT, must be INCLUSIVE, and will be INCORPORATING (see Lev 19:18; Deut 6:5; Rom 12:19-21; Eph 4:32; 1 Cor 13:4-8; Gal 5:16-25). Let’s take a look.
As Jesus continues His journey to Jerusalem, and the cross, the grave and His resurrection Luke shows the opposition by the teachers of the Law growing and becoming more hostile; this “expert” in the Law is most likely not expressing an honest interest in Jesus’ teaching but looking for ways to discredit and entrap Him. The expert is a Pharisee (due to his Old Testament question on eternity- Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife see Daniel 12:2). As in previous passages of Luke, Jesus knows the hearts of His critics and turns the question back on the questioner who correctly quotes parts of the Shema that a devout Jew would repeat twice a day (Deut 6:5 and part of Lev 19:18 by the First Century). But just because the expert knows the right answer does not mean he has put it into practice the way Jesus wants. Knowing the Law (God’s Commands) with one’s mind is not the same as knowing it in your heart or putting it into practice with your hands and proper affections. The expert is getting nervous now because his “test” of Jesus has now turned into his own testing of his heart by the Master and it shows his vain attempt at trying to justify his inactions by asking “who is my neighbor?” The expert wants to be “exclusive” in his selections. For him, his neighbors are to be others just like him (i.e. good ethnic Jews) but Jesus wants Him to realize that the Kingdom of God is inclusive of all who believe and follow Jesus’ commands (His interpretation of the Law- see Matt 5:38-48 specifically). We are to be kind and merciful to everyone and especially to people who are nothing like us- including “natural born enemies,” and sinners like we once were- we are to be kind like God has been kind to us (Rom 5:8)- and there is no better example Jesus chooses for His day to use than the historical hatred, and ethnic divisions between Jews and Samaritans.
Jesus by His parable deftly exposes this man’s heart with his prejudices and self-righteousness showing him the error of his presuppositions and judgments. Jesus shows that the expert’s enemy (a Samaritan) is just as capable of displaying righteous actions as two fellow pious Jews are of omitting it. What’s the difference? What defines the ability of one’s actions to display compassion and mercy over ignoring the needs of others? In the Kingdom of God it is not mere rule keeping, the nearness of the Law or pious/religious upbringing but the condition of the heart- either malformed and incapacitated by one’s sin and fear or transformed courageous and capable by grace through faith in the love of God. Jesus shows that the “inheritance” of eternal life is available to anyone who receives Him and by faith puts Jesus’ commands as God into practice even when doing so is inconvenient.
Kindness goes out of its way- goes all the way when necessary for the good of another. Twice Jesus describes the inaction of two people (Priest and Levite) in the story with “passed by” (v.31-32) while repeating twice that only one the Samaritan “came up to, and went over” to this man. The Samaritan prioritized the injured man’s needs above his own, using his own finances, and interrupting his schedule to help. It should not be lost on us in the story how dangerous a decision it was for the Samaritan to stop and help this man- one is left wondering how “far away” the robbers really might have been. It was more than just convenient for the Priest and Levite to keep going; it was safer but the Samaritan put his own safety at risk to help the man. I have a friend who demonstrated the same kind of courage and compassion.
I had a wonderful and large hearted missionary friend, Dr. Bruce Kniegge who had his own “Jericho Highway Robbery” experience. Bruce and his wife Katie worked for 20 plus years with the CCA (Christian Chiropractor Association) in Latin America serving the medical needs of the poor and disabled in numerous villages and cities. One time, while they were returning from a mission they had to travel down a deserted mountain road. Bruce, some visiting missionaries, and their Bible study group were suddenly ambushed by bandits. A bullet struck Bruce while he was trying to drive away and lodged in his eye only a few millimeters from his brain. The bandits blocked them, robbed them of the few dollars they had and took 70 lbs worth of medicine that the mission was going to distribute. They then reloaded their guns to execute everyone never suspecting that Bruce, bleeding profusely would stomp on the gas, ram them out of the way and drive off. By God’s grace they made it 9 miles down the road in the dark to a guarded mountain resort… And the first person to pull Bruce from the car and give aid was a Ophthalmologist and Trauma Surgeon who “just happened” to be vacationing there!
No one would have blamed Bruce or Katie if they never did foreign mission work again, but 9 months later after surgery and being fit with a prosthetic eye they headed off to the Andes to continue their ministry of compassion. I met Bruce a few years later on his first return from Bolivia back to the states. I found a man that defined for me what Christian Compassion and mercy really looked like. After traveling by train, plane and automobile for more than 24 hours to get to our mission’s conference, Bruce and Katie refused to rest until they had set up a temporary clinic at the camp for the visiting missionaries and guests and had made sure “his chauffer” (me) had a full chiropractic adjustment! “Kniegge” stands for kindness and I don’t think “convenience” was ever a part of his vocabulary. The love of God was inclusive for Bruce and he treated everyone the same… He included all people in his medical practice with arms of compassion wide open to every need he came across- payment and even gratitude were optional.
We live in a world today where political divisions are used to define people, but that is something Jesus never did. Jesus’ Kingdom is inclusive of all who call upon His name, repent and believe. It is okay that the world sees Christians as “narrow minded” when it comes to scripture, it is good that we stand up for what we believe in but it is bad when everyone and their dog knows loads more about what we are against than the vast grace of God and what we are for. It is bad when others have no clue about the Good News of the Gospel that has changed and transformed us and can change and transform them too. It is bad when we let our differences do more of the talking and the division than our love, compassion and mercy in Christ by our actions do the uniting and the healing this world and even the church desperately needs. It is okay to be accused of “narrow-mindedness” but may it never be said of Christ Followers that they are “narrow-hearted” and devoid of mercy and compassion.
Jesus’ parable exposed the expert in the Law’s exclusivity of his legalism and the spiritual danger of convenience of the expert’s thinking one is doing no harm to our neighbor when we simply ignore their needs. While at the same time Jesus’ story shows that the Kingdom of God is inclusive because of God’s grace and that the inconvenience of doing good to one’s neighbor eliminates sins of omission and reveals clearly the compassion of God that dwells in His followers’ hearts. Jesus shows us what truly makes a neighbor and defines the neighborly relationship is the love of God incorporated in one’s heart and being acted out upon and directed towards others and their needs.
How can we bring unity in a divided world? How can we practice the 11th Commandment (John 13:34-35)? How do we make a difference in our community, in the places our feet, our walkers, our wheelchairs, our “social media accounts” take us every day? How do we begin to share the Gospel? Quite simply, indiscriminate kindness; the same kindness Jesus has shown us and incorporating it as a part of our daily living as we join Him on Mission in building the Kind Kingdom. I am convinced we can go a long way in stopping people’s loathing by living loving kindness to our neighbor- to everyone without prejudice. What are ways we can be kind today?
Please know I am praying for all of you. I have received my second vaccination and am working right now with our care and retirement facilities to re-launch our in person off-campus Sunday Schools soon. I am excited about the prospects! Please don’t worry, we will do all things possible to follow safety measures and these written lessons will continue as long as there is a need. I love all of you, and am looking forward to our next step together… Keep praying- REVIVAL is coming- let’s wait upon the LORD patiently as The Holy Spirit brings it!
Love to you all and all the Best! Darrin.