Knowing vs. Doing – Luke 19:25-37 – Grant Vissers

Good morning. Hey, if you've got kiddos or if

you are kiddo would like to go to Sunday school, now's your

time. I see some running running out

of here. If any adults run out of here, I

won't take it personally either. Hey, on that note, are there any

turkeys in the oven? Like anybody?

Did anybody leave a Turkey in the oven and come to church and

like you gotta run to get it out by a certain time?

I'm seeing no hands. I don't know that I would put my

hand up to that question either. Anybody running out of here to

put a Turkey in the oven? No.

OK, great. Right on.

Good. Hey, it is.

It's good to have you with us. It's good to be together and to

worship together. My name is Grant and I'm one of

the pastors here at the church. We are in a couple of minutes

going to be into Luke chapter 10 and reading a story that is

Luke 10 · chapter mention

familiar, I think to many, many people, like both inside the

church and outside the church. We're going to read the parable

Jesus is teaching of the Good Samaritan.

But the interesting thing is that we're actually probably

going to spend more time on the lead up to that parable than the

parable itself. But you can find that in Luke

Luke 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 and it's Luke is about this far through your

Bible. And if you don't have a Bible,

we've got Bibles in the back of the sanctuary toward these doors

over here. And if you don't have one and

would like to take one of those Bibles homes, great, fantastic.

That's our gift to you. I'm not sure what all

translations there are over there.

There's a couple different options.

I'm going to be reading from the New International Version today,

but we're also going to have it up on the screen for you.

Before we do that, before we get into it, let me pray as we

begin. God, thanks for your love,

thanks for your grace, and thanks that you're with us.

Yeah, on a, on a weekend like today, on on a day like today,

on this Sunday, as we gather, we do want to pause and and be

intentional about saying thank you.

And so as we've sung, as we've prayed already, God thanks for

who you are. Thanks for who you've created us

to be and who you call us to be. And thank you that you've left

these teachings to encourage us and challenge us and convict us

in that direction. God, thanks for these are your

words. Thanks that you speak to us.

And so would you do that today? We pray in the strong name of

Jesus, Amen. So I don't know about you, but I

think, and I think I'm right on this, we live in a time when

it's never been easier to access information and consume content.

Like it is easy to find answers to every single question that

you might have. Like there's an answer to every

question. It might not be the right

answer, but there are answers to every single question that

you've got and it's at your fingertips.

So you can pull out your phone and you can Google or ChatGPT.

I guess now whatever answer, there is always something

constantly waiting for you, waiting for me, another podcast

to listen to, another sermon to listen to, another YouTube

video, go watch Google, social media, all of it.

This like weird mix of information and opinion, fact

and fiction, knowledge and experience.

And I think with the rise of AI and AI generated content, and I

don't know if you've dabbled in that world, it's scary, it's

only going to become harder to recognize what is true and good

and helpful from what is false and divisive and harmful.

And I realized that also it's not always that simple as what

is absolutely only false and divisive and what is good and

helpful. Sociologists called this age the

age of consumption, and it's this age where information

technology, where global networks shape both global

culture and economy and like immediate culture and economy,

real world, like your lived experience shaped by these

things. And, and it's increased our

awareness of what is happening around the world in some great

ways. It's given us the ability to

remain connected in real time across oceans, even into space.

It's also given the rise to things like the armchair expert,

to fact checking and to cyber condrea, which is a term better

known as Googling your medical conditions and then worrying

about what Google tells you. You now have.

That's the thing. I highly recommend you don't do

it, but everybody does. That's yeah, creates, I think

this environment though, for us at the end of the day where it's

easy to believe that we have access and possession of both

truth, what is right and morality, what is good.

But here's the thing. More knowledge doesn't

necessarily lead to more life. Right knowledge doesn't always

lead to right action or right living.

In other words, like I can know the right thing about something

and then not do the right thing I know to do.

I can know something but not have it change my life.

And I'll give you a very real world example for me, and it is

painfully ironic that I just picked up a cup of coffee.

The next line is I might know my headache is caused by

dehydration, but I still take Advil with coffee instead of

water when it hits. Like I might know what is right

and then still not do it. I might know that eating a whole

pint of ice cream won't lead me to a better sleep, but I still

do it. That that's like, that's like a

meat example. That's not like a general Hey we

all do like that's a me example. You might know that you need to

budget. You might even know how to

budget, but then don't let it actually change the way you pull

out your wallet and spend day-to-day.

You might know that your kids are gonna grow up fast or

grandkids are gonna grow up fast, but still you prioritize

work or TV or screen time and checking out when you are called

to be present. You might know that regular

prayer and reading your Bible is foundational flourishing of

faith and life, but you let business push it aside and don't

get around to doing it. You might know that God has

designed you for rest, and yet you keep working through the

weekends and don't prioritize healthy Sabbath like we know,

but we don't always do. Knowledge alone is never gonna

lead to true life transformation.

I can intellectually assent towards something.

I can work hard at it. I can know the thing and I can

still not have that thing transform how I live.

And that's I think in part why Paul says, listen, I can have

the gift of prophecy. I can fathom all mysteries.

I can have all knowledge. I can have faith that can move

mountains, but if I do not have love, I am nothing.

Today's passage is one of, I think, the most well known

parables of Jesus. And it's known, like I said,

inside the church. It's known outside the church.

It's got language that's permeated and kind of exploded

outside of Christianity. The parable has taken on a life

of its own, meaning of its own. To be a Good Samaritan can

simply mean to just be a good person who generally does the

good right thing to help out other people.

But here's the thing. Just because a parable is known

doesn't mean that it's lived out well.

And I might even argue that this parable, though it might be the

most well known of Jesus's teachings or one of, is probably

the least lived out or one of the least lived out.

And so this is where we're going to start.

On one occasion, the text begins.

On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.

And if you have a Bible you can highlight that stood up to test

Jesus teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal

life? What is written in the law?

He replied that's Jesus. How do you read it?

He that is the expert in the law.

Some other translations might say lawyer, he answered.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,

with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your

neighbor as yourself. You have answered correctly,

Jesus replied. Do this and you will live.

Do this and you will live. What must I do to inherit

eternal life? Sounds like a great question.

It sounds like an honest conversation question leading to

hopefully honest conversation about how life is intended to be

lived and what might it mean to inherit or gain or live into

eternal life. It's a great question, but

here's the thing. It comes with the wrong

motivation. Here's, like I said, an expert

in the law, which is also a lawyer.

Now listen, like this isn't a chance to beat up on your lawyer

friends, OK? This is an expert in the Jewish

law. It's an as.

He's an expert in understanding, in knowing it and in its

interpretation how you are to think about it.

So that's why many translations just say an expert in the law.

And like I said, he's got a great question, but he has the

wrong motivation. The expert in the law, he's not

asking the question because he genuinely wants to hear Jesus

answer. What must I do to live into your

Kingdom? What must I do to have eternal

life? He's asking a question in order

to test or trap Jesus, he says. It says he rises to test him.

Now, we could spend all of our time on this one line, but we

won't, I promise. What's your posture, though,

when you come to Jesus? I think that's just one question

that each of us needs to ask of ourselves, probably over and

over again. Is that one of humility and

earnest attempt to learn and to sit and to understand, or, or is

it one that rises to test or to prove or to get something from

Him? Do you treat worship as a

bargain? Like if I do this then God will

you do that? Like I, I need you to do for me,

God. Would you if I do?

We ignore Jesus's commands but still expect his blessing in our

lives. Do we demand proof while

withholding our our devotion? How do we engage with who Jesus

is? So an expert in the law, he

rises to test Jesus. What must I do to inherit

eternal life? And Jesus responds with a

question of his own. What is written in the law?

He replied, how do you read it? And I almost think that this is

a moment in Jesus life. He says, hey, listen, OK, expert

in the law, You want to play this game, I'll play your game.

You want to speak this language, I'll speak your language.

He can do it. I shouldn't try to speak the

language of a lawyer or or like an engineer or some of these

other things I got no business doing.

But this is like he's pushing against this expert.

He says, OK, you wanna come with this question and I think Jesus

knows his heart with this motivation.

What do you say is written? What do you see there?

What is written in the law? I'll play your game, the lawyer

answers. Love the Lord your God with all

your heart, soul with all your strength, all your mind, love

your neighbor as yourself. These two lines here the lawyers

response are typical response to this question in Jesus day.

Many experts in the law would sit around discussing and

arguing and debating this very question and leading to this

very answer. The lawyer quotes 2 verses from

Deuteronomy 6 and from Leviticus 19 that were commonly squished

together like this to answer Jesus or the answer the the

question what must I do to inherit eternal life.

They were also put together to actually, at the end of the day,

represent the law and the commandments, all that the

people of Israel had to do and all they had to follow.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,

with all your strength. That's from Deuteronomy, and do

not seek revenge. Do not bear a grudge against

anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.

I'm the Lord your God. That's from Leviticus and so the

lawyer, what I want us to see here gives the correct answer,

but I also want us to notice Jesus response because Jesus

doesn't say to this guy, hey great, you answered correctly

like a plus. You get the reward.

Here's eternal life, you win the prize.

You know the right thing to say. This isn't A+ on the exam.

She just doesn't say, hey great, you passed the test.

What he does say is do this and you will live.

Don't just know it, he says, do it.

Allow it to actually transform your life.

In Leviticus 18, which many believe that Jesus is quoting

from here, it simply says this. Keep my decrees and laws for the

person who obeys them will live by them.

Do this and you will live. Jesus knows that knowledge of

the law doesn't necessarily mean living by the law.

To know something is not the same as daily committing to do

the thing that you know to understand is not the same as to

put into action. The expert of the law knows what

is technically correct in the eyes of the law, but Jesus knows

and is pushing against the fact that He probably isn't living it

out in the way that it was intended.

The man hasn't let it shape his heart in his mind, hasn't

changed his life. To know about Jesus is not the

same thing as knowing Jesus. Last week, Justin left us with

this great quote from William Barclay, who says that to listen

Christianity, it's not just about knowing Jesus, but knowing

Jesus. He says it's not just about

knowing Christ, it is about knowing Christ.

And there's a difference. To do that, Barclay says,

requires not earthly wisdom, but heavenly grace for a crowd.

Puts it another way, he just says having the right answers

does not mean that one knows God.

He's a little harsher and to the point.

He says just because you know the right answers does not mean

that you actually know God. Listen, I think this is one

thing that pastors especially have to wrestle with every

single day of our lives. There's a difference between

knowing about something and knowing the person.

There's a difference between knowing about scripture and

allowing scripture to actually transform your heart and your

mind. And there's a reason why, like I

will always have a Bible up here with me when I preach.

And even though we're reading from a screen or highlight, I've

got stuff all over the place. Like for me, this at the end of

the day of saying to to someone this morning, like at the end of

the day, all of the lights could go out.

All of the power could be shut off.

You take away iPad, take away tablets, take away screens,

lights, everything. Like we sit under this, this is

what we have, but knowing about this is not the same as allowing

what is here to transform your heart and your mind and your

life. And so I want to simply ask you

this, like, do you know about Jesus, or do you know Jesus more

than that? Are you known by Jesus?

Do you experience his presence? CS Lewis family famously said

that about the Psalms as a whole, one of the books in the

Bible. He says that in it, in the

Psalms there I find an experience fully God centred,

asking of God no gift more urgently than his presence, the

gift of himself, joyous to the highest degree, he says, an

unmistakably real. But that's the thing that he's

pursuing here, an experience that is wholly God centred, not

me centred and asking God no gift more urgently, nothing

else. Accept his presence.

See, when Jesus says do this and you will live, I think what he's

doing is holding up a mirror to this guy.

Like Jesus wants this man asking himself like do I do the thing I

know to be good and true and right?

Like, probably not, At least not all the time.

It's not in the way that maybe I'm intended to, but there's no

humility or conviction in the Lord.

Like Jesus isn't saying, yeah, go away and just do all the

things. Jesus is holding up a mirror to

say no. Actually, at the end of the day,

you can't do all the things. You're gonna run around trying

to do them. You're gonna run around trying

to stack up credit and earn grace, and he wants this lawyer

to step back and actually think and consider and realize and be

humble. But the lawyer doesn't do that.

The lawyer does none of it. The lawyer double s down so, but

he, the expert in the law, the lawyer, this guy, he wanted to

justify himself. That's a dangerous game.

And so he asked Jesus, who is my neighbor?

I think the guy should have quit while he thought he was ahead,

but he wanted to justify himself.

See this lawyer, like he's looking for an out now.

He wants to know who Jesus considers a neighbor.

And it could be that he's just still trying to test Jesus and

catch him. Like maybe he's gonna say

something and slip up and, you know, say something that we can

consider heretical. I think it's deeper.

At the end of the day, only a righteous Jew could be

considered a neighbor by another righteous Jew.

That was the worldview. Neighbor wasn't just who you

lived next door to. It wasn't like whoever was in

proximity to you who was around to be considered a neighbor, you

had to both be righteous law observing Jews.

I think the lawyer knows that he hasn't loved his neighbor.

I think what the lawyer is really asking is this is who do

I have to love and who can I get away with not loving?

He's trying to create these categories.

We can say, great, I can love these people, they're easy to

love and I don't have to love anybody else.

He wants to shrink the pool of who is considered a neighbor to

make it as comfortable for him as possible to do the thing that

he knows to do. If he can shrink that definition

of neighbor as small as he can so it fits within his own

comfort, his own worldview, then maybe he can love his neighbor.

And I think that's something we need to wrestle with.

Because if my neighbor looks like me and sounds like me and

believes what I believe and isn't awkward and doesn't use a

leaf blower on Saturday mornings and doesn't borrow my tools, I

can love that neighbor. That's an easy neighbor to love.

But I think what we're going to see is that that's not how Jesus

calls us to live out this this commandment.

That's not the life that Jesus is challenging us toward.

And so again, I come to these questions as I'm wrestling

through these texts, like what actions am I trying to justify?

What do I try to justify in myself?

What do you try to justify? And how you follow Jesus in

order to make it as easy as possible for you to put

everything and everyone into these categories and boxes where

you can in fact do the thing. What or why have I Haven't I

done the thing I know to be good and right and true?

Do I justify my own understanding?

Do I justify my own actions? Do I justify my own definitions

of people? Like at the end of the day, the

lawyer is looking for a reason to exclude.

He's looking for a reason to not love his neighbor.

He's trying to get away with the least expectation on his life

from Jesus. Don't let your desire to be

right outpace your desire to love others.

Well, we can get caught up in being right and thinking that we

are right and knowing that we are right and executing the

things in the right way and we can miss the whole point.

Don't let your desire to be right outpace your desire to

love others. So Jesus responds with the

parable, says this a man who's going down from Jerusalem to

Jericho, that's a dangerous walk.

When he was attacked by robbers, they stripped him of his

clothes. They beat him and went away

leaving him half dead and then a priest happened to be going down

the same Rd. And when he saw the man, he

passed by on the other side. So to a Levite when he came to

the place and saw him pass by on the other side.

But a Samaritan has he traveled, came where the man was, and when

he saw him he took pity on him. Here the Samaritan went to him

and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

Then he put the man on his own donkey and brought him to an inn

and took care of him. The next day he took out two

genera and gave him to the OR gave them to the innkeeper.

Look after him, he said. And when I return, I'll

reimburse you for any extra expenses, any extra expenses you

may have. And then Jesus asked this

question. Which of these three do you

think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of

robbers? Which was the neighbor?

They actually have a law. It continues.

And we're gonna get to this, replied the one who had mercy on

him. Jesus told him, go and do

likewise. See in response to the question,

Who is my neighbor? Jesus tells a story.

So I think he knows, I think just knows full well this guy's

trying to get away with his least as possible.

He wants to know who exactly he has to go into love.

And I'm gonna blow up that worldview and show him what

loving your neighbor actually looks like.

And so he tells the story and the story challenges the lawyers

understanding of who qualified as neighbor.

That's one. And it reveals the lavish

generosity that is meant for life inside the Kingdom of God.

That's too. So we've got three people who

pass by this half dead guy on the road.

The 1st 2 are Jews, law observant Jews.

We've got a priest and a Levite. Those are people and professions

who worked in the temple and they're confronted by a choice

between duty and duty. OK, They're presented with a

choice between duty to the law, what is required of them by the

law, and duty to this half dead man.

Between what is right according to the law and between what

would save potentially this man's life.

Because if they touch him according to the Law, if they

touch him, they themselves become unclean and cannot do

their job at the temple as priest and Levite, and so they

pass by on the other side. They choose duty to the Law and

instead it's the Samaritan who turns and chooses to help this

half dead man. And that should shock and

challenge the lawyer and and it should challenge us too,

Samaritans. And we've talked about this for

a few weeks, but just to catch everybody up, we're considered

by Jews to be ceremonially unclean.

You don't don't associate with them.

Alright. So therefore they were socially

outcast and they were religiously heretical.

Wrong Religiously, the very opposite of the priest and the

Levite. And yet it's the Samaritan, this

one who is ceremonially unclean, socially outcast, religiously

heretical, who Jesus chooses to make the hero of the story.

In the end, Jesus asked, which of these three do you think was

the neighbor? Which of these three and that

the lawyer goes the one who had mercy on him.

Jesus says go and do likewise. See, this guy, this this lawyer

couldn't even bring himself to say the Samaritan.

That's how deep this divide had run.

He's like the kid who like obstinately says fine, but like,

you know, they're not going to do the thing they've just agreed

to do or sorry when you know it's, it's not sincere, He says.

The one who had mercy on him, I guess fine.

And here's Jesus who just simply says go and do likewise.

Go and be like that guy. Go and live your life like this

Samaritan. Go and live your life like the

one who is socially outcast and considered to be logically

wrong, heretical, but who chooses to love this person and

crosses the street and actually tends to his wounds and takes

care of him. Does the thing, See, here's what

I see in this. The lawyer asks this question,

who is my neighbor? That's like a limiting question.

That's a question that is looking for category.

Jesus takes that question, who is my neighbor?

And asks who was the neighbor? That's a different question.

Life inside the Kingdom asks who was, who is who is acting?

How can I be the neighbor not who do I need to love again?

Like which one of you is close enough to consider?

Like my how many doors down does that go on my street?

Like can we just get some categories here?

Now it just says go and be the neighbor.

Go and do the thing. Life inside the Kingdom of God,

I hate to say it, friends, does not revolve around you.

Doesn't. And that's a hard lesson for us

to learn. And it's one that I need to

learn over and over and over again.

Like it's just hard. But it doesn't.

Asking who is my neighbor still at the end of the day puts me in

the driver's seat. I'm in control.

I can control who I consider to be my neighbor and who I don't.

Who I want to love and I don't want to love and who I want to

serve and I don't want to serve and how I am toward people.

Like everything can still revolve around me and my life

and my control and my comfort when I ask who is my neighbor?

But who was the neighbor? Especially when it's paired with

Jesus. Go and do.

That releases control. I gotta surrender it.

I'm no longer in control. I'm no longer the one defining

who is neighbor and who is not. I'm no longer the one picking

and choosing who I go and love. I don't get to determine who I

extend grace and mercy toward and and who I exclude.

Nothing revolves around me when we're wrestling out who is, Who

does? How am I to become the neighbor

that at the end of the day, is something that demands of me,

and what it demands of me is lavish generosity.

So here's the second thing that I want us to see from this

parable. The Samaritan doesn't just do

the bare minimum. The Samaritan doesn't just go

and like, OK, this like, dude, like I you're are you awake?

Like I'll feel for a pulse and then like, OK, you're still

breathing. Great.

I'm gonna go on my way isn't just like roll them over into

like recovery position if you're ever in lifeguarding, like you

know what that's looking like. Like no he.

He is generous over and abundantly generous.

He redirects his entire journey, a journey that I want to

remember or remind you of, like from Jerusalem.

And Jericho was a dangerous one. He stops himself.

This dude could have been a plant by robbers, but Roberts,

like, well, if we attack this guy, then we're gonna get more

guys. They're gonna come and they're

gonna stop, and we're gonna get them too.

Like, that's life on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

And so he stops. He sacrifices his own safety.

He redirects his entire journey around helping this individual.

He pays out two days wage worth of money for his care and

promises more when he returns if more expenses have been

incurred. He is overly generous with this

guy. Here's the Samaritan.

He's like I said, he doesn't do the least.

He does what is over the top, what is lavishly generous from

one person to another. And there's got there's no

labels on it, there's no social status attached to it, there's

no religion, there's no expectations.

There's just one human being helping another human being in

need. Friends, I gotta tell you.

Like generosity is the currency of the Kingdom of God.

How do we know that the Kingdom is living out amongst us and in

our lives? And I had to say, how much are

we learning to be and to live and to act generously toward

others? Generosity is the currency of

the Kingdom of God. Everything revolves around it.

And it should look like generosity to those who at least

expect it. Like we're not called just to be

generous toward people who believe what we believe and who

look like we look and who share my political beliefs.

Like it's like, that's easy. That's an easy call.

The Christian is one who goes and does likewise.

The Christian is one who goes and who shows lavish generosity

to the stranger, to the last person who would expect it.

Christians should be the most generous people in the world.

Why? Because God has been generous

toward you and toward me. When.

When you're the one broke in and lying on the side of the road.

When you're the one in the pit of your own desperation and

despair. When you're wrestling out your

own sin and the heavy weight of guilt and shame that rattles

around inside the human being. When I'm the one lying on the

side of the road, Jesus is the one who comes and doesn't just

check your pulse and kick you on your way, but who wraps you up

and who puts you on a donkey, and who rides you to the end,

and who takes care of your wounds, and who bandages and

men's you, and who pays for your life with a cost.

Jesus is the one who pays for your healing, and Jesus is the

one who ensures your wholeness and your life and you are

flourishing. And it's with this lavish

generosity. And so Christian knew me.

We are called to live with that same lavish generosity because

Christ first loved and was generous with us.

Let me pray got on this Thanksgiving Day.

It's not lost on us that we have so much to be thankful for.

So yeah, we do wanna pause and give you thanks for who you are

and for how you are toward us. Thanks that you are one who is

generous, thinks that you're the one who men's our wounds and

binds up our brokenness. Thanks for that.

You're 1 Jesus through your death and resurrection, who

conquered sin and death, and that because of those moments

and because of that reality, we can live knowing that sin and

death are defeated. Look out for the little pieces

of death that still rattle around in our hearts and in our

minds and in our souls. God, would you chase it away

with the light of your life and Kingdom.

Push out and against the darkness and God, would we

become people who push against the darkness in our world?

Not in some like arrogant kind of, well, you know what's best

kind of way, but because we're generous, because we crossed the

street and because we go to the broken God, would you turn us

into this neighbor? Would you make us people who are

generous with those who would last expect others to be

generous with? To God, on this day like

Thanksgiving weekend, we thank you for the cross.

We thank you for the gift of life that we have can enter

into. We think that death doesn't have

the last word. And we thank you that you're

with us. In Jesus name we pray OHS.