What Would You Do? (Luke 10:25-37)- Rev. Steve Leonard

It's great to be back with everybody today. At

the same time, it's a privilege and an honor

to be asked to preach anytime. I'll have to say

that I have done good with my retirement. I've

avoided any ministerial stuff as much as possible

and have tried to be a good granddaddy and a

good husband. and a good hunter and a good fisherman.

So I've enjoyed that very much. It's been great

also to sit under the ministry, whether I've

been sitting under Kenny or Jonathan or at my

church, and it's been a great honor to just hear

the word and just soak in stuff. I'm telling

you, when you're a minister, you do this all

your life, and every Sunday, if you're a senior

minister, every Sunday you've got a sermon prepared.

and you've got to present God's Word to his people

and stand as it were between him and his people.

And that's a daunting task. I don't care who

you are and I don't care how long you've been

in the ministry. It never is something you're

comfortable with. So it's great to be able to

sit at this time in my life and receive and that's

just been so good. Now I got one announcement

and Kenny didn't say any, he'd probably say shut

up if he knew what I was going to say. He didn't

say anything, but October is Pastor Appreciation

Month. And the color of appreciation is green.

Just to let you know that, that's Pastor Appreciation

Month. And that's just something that I won't

say anything else. My journey has been, since

I left Fairview, I spent four years in Virginia,

five in West Virginia, 13 in Louisiana, and then

nine more in Louisiana. The last nine years of

my ministry has been an independent church. We

started a church after the church got enough

of me and said it was time for me to be on my

way. Of course, I had other ideas about that,

but God knew exactly what he was doing and taught

me so much about his faithfulness through those

times. And I'm standing before you now as somebody

who has really been kind of gotten outside of

the church, not that I left the church ever.

but gotten outside of a framework of stuff that

we're familiar with and examined things from

what the Word says and just gone back to the

Bible. I've been enjoying this time so much because

I've just gone back to the scripture and let

the Word of God speak to my heart and let it

speak through me instead of trying to conform

to the ideals of men. And it's been absolutely

exhilarating. I mean, I preached for nine years

in blue jeans and tennis shoes and a t -shirt,

and I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Now, I did

wear a tie today. I'm trying to be thoughtful

of everybody, but I could be just as comfortable

in a t -shirt and tennis shoes and blue jeans.

And the pastor I sit under right now preaches

at barefoot, so you know there's no help for

me now. I do have my boots on. Let's pray. Father,

we're about to open your word. It is life. It's

about what living is for. And I pray, Father,

that you would talk to us today. I know that

there is so much in me that... is going to hinder

this. There's so much about me that's not right.

But there's nothing, nothing that's not right

about you. And there's nothing that's not right

about your Holy Spirit and how he comes to us.

And if there's one thing I ask today, Father,

is that you get a hold of our hearts. We get

so comfortable. And we get so in ruts. we want

you to be this great blade today and remove those

from our lives and bring us back to Jesus Christ

and who we are in him and Help us to live that

way Speak Your servants are listening in Jesus

name The word of God comes to us today from the

book of Luke, Luke chapter 10, beginning with

Luke 10 · chapter mention

verse 25. And behold, the lawyer stood up to

put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall

I do to inherit eternal life? Now notice, first

of all, the lawyer comes up, and I'm not gonna

say any jokes about lawyers, there's plenty of

that out there. The lawyer comes up, and in classic

lawyer fashion, test. Jesus. You got to see this.

There's arrogance here. It's a question, but

it's arrogance. And Jesus is about to show him

exactly what he means in his word. So that's

the preface here. He said to him, Jesus said

to him, what is written in the law? How do you

read it? And he answered, you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart and with all

your soul and with all your strength and with

all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

Can't you just hear him say that? And he said

to him, you've answered correctly. Do this and

you will live. And Jesus is ready to drop it

right there. This is what it means. But he desiring

to justify himself, you know, in the ministry

you meet all kinds of people and I remember one

lady that had been married two or three times

and she was on the third one I think and and

we were have we were visiting one time and she

and her husband good people live right behind

the church loved them but she was giving all

these excuses as to why she had divorced why

she was in the position she was in and I'm not

saying anything about divorce Both my kids have

been divorced, okay? I'm not saying anything

about divorced people, but I am saying this.

She was justifying everything she had done. She

is justifying why she had left, how intolerable

her husband had been, and all this stuff, wishing

to justify her actions. And I just stopped her

and I said, look, repent. All you have to do

is repent and say, Lord, help me. Don't try to

justify what you've done. Listen to the Holy

Spirit speaking to you instead of coming up with

all these excuses. Admit that you're a sinner.

That's all she had to do. And Jesus received

sinners. Jesus came for sinners, like me. The

lawyer desiring to justify himself said to Jesus,

and who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, a man

was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and

he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat

him and departed. This is New Orleans. This is

Chicago. This is Greenville. Now, thugs everywhere.

This is why I have concealed carry permit. I'm

not packing now, but that's why I have it. leaving

him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going

down that road and when he saw him, he passed

by on the other side. Okay, by chance, Pastor

Steve was driving down that road and he saw the

guy and he passed by on the other side. Or Reverend

Jones was going down that road and he saw the

man and he passed by. So likewise, a Levite,

when he came to the place and saw him, passed

by on the other side. So we've got a pastor,

now we've got a theologian, a church worker,

an elder maybe, I don't know, saw the problem,

didn't want to involve himself in the problem.

So he avoids the problem. How easy is it to close

your eyes and not see the problem? How easy is

it for you and I to cross by on the other side

and not stop and help? How easy that becomes.

In a world of cell phones, in a world where we

can justify our actions, Now listen, I want to

make something really clear because I want to

make a point today about helping people, but

I want to make something really clear. Ladies,

you're exempt from most of this. Point to your

husband. But guys, you're not. Ladies, I don't

expect you and God doesn't expect you to put

your life in danger by stopping and helping somebody

that could take advantage of you in any way or

anything like that, okay? But you still need

to listen to the sermon. But guys, I'm speaking,

I'm preaching to you, and the Holy Spirit is

too, okay? So likewise a Levite when he came

by, passed on the other side. But a Samaritan,

as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when

he saw him, he had compassion. I don't know if

we can get this analogy really. as good as it

was back then, but to the Jews, you've heard

this a dozen times. To the Jews, the Samaritans

were derped. You don't touch a Samaritan. You

don't have any dealings with a Samaritan. They

are the people, if you rub up against them, you

might get a mark on you. You know what I mean?

They're the kind of people that stink. They smell.

They don't bathe right. They don't take care

of themselves. You don't want anything to do

with them, and you better not play with them

or dance with them or anything like that with

them. there was a separateness there between

the Jews and the Samaritans and it was based

on ceremonial law and the fact that for centuries

there had been animosity between those who had

left and married intermarried with the pagan

tribes and had this mixture of religion the Samaritans

versus the Jews who had been pure. Jesus comes

in the middle of all this mess and uses us American

to shame the Jews. And you think about what he's

saying. And you can fill the blanks in. I don't

have to say anything to you. You can fill the

blanks in about who he's talking about here.

In every culture, there are cast, there are differences.

There are people who we don't want to be part

of. We don't want to be around. But what if that

person comes up and changes your time? And what

if that person comes up and gives you a cup of

cold water? How do you feel now? He went to him

and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

Then he set him on his own animal and brought,

put him in his pickup truck, took him in his

Mercedes or whatever he's driving and brought

him to an inn and took care of him. And the next

day he took out two denarii and gave them to

the innkeeper saying take care of him and whatever

more you spend I will repay you when I come back.

Now that's care, that's real care. that's personally

involving yourself and somebody with need, that's

love. That's neighborliness. You know, I love

coming back to the South. I've been in the frozen

North of West Virginia. I've been where there's

a culture that's so much different from mine.

I remember singing Dixie and crying. I was in

West Virginia and it was so different up there

in Charleston. Oh my goodness. I longed for the

South where I could come back and you could put

your finger up and just wave at people. My daddy

told me when we were growing up, you can wave

at men but you can't wave at women. That's the

rule. Unless they wave at you first and then

you can wave at them. And the rule is, you never

pass somebody in an older vehicle when you're

driving down the road because you don't want

to shame them. You want to stay behind them.

I don't care if they're going 25 in a 45. You

never pass them on a two lane road. That's just

the rules. That was how we were raised because

you know what that taught me then? That taught

me to care about people that didn't have the

V8 engine and the fancy car that I was driving.

That taught a lot of stuff. And parents, I don't

care how old your kids get, you're teaching them

every day of your life because they want to please

you more than they want to please anybody on

this earth. And they'll always want that. There's

a lot to be said about what you teach your kids.

So take care of him. I'll repay you. Which of

these do you think proved to be a neighbor to

the man who fell among the robbers? He said the

one who showed him mercy Jesus said to him you

go and do likewise Well folks I What what we

want to be about is first of all show this Jesus

cares. Jesus cares. He cares for you. And he

cares for you whether you're the rich man. It's

harder to enter heaven than for a rich man to

go. It's easier for a camel to go through the

eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter

heaven. He cares about rich people. He cares

about poor people. He cares about sinners. Jesus

cares. And Jesus says for us to go and do likewise.

And what I'm wanting to proclaim to you today

is that God can take your heart and make you

somebody who cares. Maybe you're a hard butt

like I've been. My son, I remember when he was

15, he said, I can be a hard butt. If you want

to be a hard butt, I'll be a hard butt too. I

don't want to be, and I thought myself, and that's

not the words he used, but that's what he meant,

okay? We're in church. But it's possible for

you to harden your heart. Sometimes we think

it's probably easier for us to harden our heart,

because when our heart's not hard, that makes

us vulnerable. And one of the things we fight,

we hate. Men, especially eight, is to be vulnerable.

Emotionally, with our spouse, or socially, with

other people. It's hard to be vulnerable. It's

hard to open yourself up and really listen to

what the Holy Spirit is really telling you. I

had an experience. I was driving up from Interree.

We're staying down at their little place at Interree.

gets fixed. If anybody knows a good plumber,

I'm all, I'm in the market. Every plumber in

the Piedmont of South Carolina has got six weeks

worth of business ahead of him. So we're, we're,

we're needing plumbers. But anyway, I think I

got somebody I don't know. So we're down at Interree.

We got a little double wide trailer. I always

joke with Eunice when we first got married. The

country song was out at that time. I'll make

you the queen of my double wide trailer with

the polyester curtains and the red wood deck.

I'd sing that to her just to mess with her because

that's where I wanted to live, you know, in a

double wide trailer with all that good stuff.

Well, now I'm living in a double wide trailer.

I love it. And I tell her all the time, it took

45 years to get you in a double wide trailer.

And we're happy. But we're down at Ennery and

I was driving up to Spartanburg coming up 26

and I had I thought about preaching on another

sermon. Kenny had asked me to preach. I go to

Sam's every couple weeks to get our stocks and

supplies. I was driving to Sam's and there's

this guy that's at Sam's. I got off 26, come

down 29, turned in there at Sam's and there's

this guy that's right there. I don't know if

you've been to Spartanburg Sam's. Just about

every single time I've been there in the daylight,

this guy sits on the corner. He doesn't have

a sign or anything. He's sitting in a wheelchair.

He's got one artificial leg. He's just sitting

there. He's never said anything to anybody, never

made eye contact with me or nothing. He just

sits there. So I go to Sam's and I'm thinking,

you know, preacher, you're thinking about preaching

on the Good Samaritan and about caring for people

and you're about to drive, right? by this guy

that's sitting on the corner. So I came back

out of Sam's and I came back out the driveway

and I pulled into the parking lot and I stopped

and I got out and I crossed over the road and

I said, how you doing? My name's Steve. He said,

I'm Wayne. I said, tell me about yourself, Wayne,

what's going on? He said, oh, I'm just trying

to get enough money to eat. He said, yeah, he

said, the police let me sit out here if I don't

have a sign. He said, McDonald's lets me store

my wheelchair in their shelter. And he said,

I said, where are you staying? He said, I sleep

in a tent with another guy over a couple blocks

away. And I said, OK. I said, what do you need,

Wayne? And he looked at me and he said, you know

what, I really, he said, Walmart has a policy

that they'll let, he said, he told me, now this,

I may be wrong, but this is what he told me,

has a policy that if you just stay overnight,

they'll let you sleep in the parking lot and

leave then. He said, boy, I'd love to get a little

minivan. I said, well, I don't have a little

minivan. Wayne, I'd love to help you. He said,

that's okay. He said, that's fine. I talked with

him a while, and let me tell you, as a pastor,

you'd meet all kinds of people with their hand

out. And the churches that I've been part of

have had a policy from right here on up. I mean,

we had two people drive in one time when Eunice

and I were here, and they were in an old, old

beat up car, and I don't know, they were a mess.

But anyway, we tried to help them out, get them

on the road. the church did. So, there's a problem

with getting old because if you get off on a

subject, you're gonna forget where you were supposed

to be, but I'm okay. I was singing in the, I

know y 'all probably heard me, I was singing

the second hymn there and I didn't realize there

was a stanza, so I'm, you sing the first verse

and I just jump right into the second verse and

I'm singing loud and bold and everything and.

doesn't sound right because the choir is singing

something different and I'm thinking, you idiot,

you need to read a little better and so I'm sorry

about messing everybody's singing up. But I finally

got back on track. So anyway, Wayne, Wayne just

needed help. That's all he did. He's homeless.

And you know, you don't have to look past Fountain

Inn. You don't have to look past Simpsonville.

You don't have homeless people. I remember when

we were living in Charleston, Nathan and I would

get up in January, the walleye and the sauger

would start spawning and they would run real

early and they were a night feeder. So there

was this creek called Campbell's Creek that went

into the canal river right across the road from

where we lived. So we would drive and park on

the interstate frontage road. we'd cross under

the bridge and we'd walk out the sand bar and

we'd fish under the lights from the interstate

and there's four or five guys that would do that.

We'd catch sauger and walleye but as you go under

that bridge there was always two or three people

that were sleeping under the bridge. That's where

they slept. That's where they had. And I'm talking

about when I was going fishing out there I had

five millimeter thick neoprene chest waders and

I was cold. And the ice would form on the rod

guides. And these people were sleeping on concrete

under the bridge. The homeless are everywhere.

And Jesus said they'll always be poor with you.

There's always, always going to be the poor.

And I know, I know, they made bad decisions,

didn't they? They drank a little bit too much

wine, didn't they? They got involved in drugs.

They made terrible decisions and they're paying

for it now. But you can't stop there, folks,

because the same people back in Jesus' time,

there was plenty of wine to drink back then,

and plenty of people got sloppy -dog drunk drinking

wine, and they lost their jobs, and they lost

their families, and they became alcoholics, and

they couldn't make a living, and they ended up

on the street. And there was plenty of beggars

that just were begging for some crumb to fall

down so I could put something in my starving

stomach. Just some place. And Jesus cared about

the people that made bad decisions. I look at

Steve Leonard's life, and I see a man who's made

some bad decisions. Why on earth, Lord, have

you loved me through those times? And I'll tell

you why. It's so I can show that love and that

compassion to the people that I live with today

that have made some bad decisions. So the question

before you today is, you see somebody on the

side of the road. You see somebody homeless.

You know a family that needs help. It's real

safe. It's real easy. To say the church is gonna

do or the government is gonna do or this person

is gonna do You say to yourself I'm gonna get

dirty That's where the change is going to occur

That's what Jesus Christ is all about because

when you have a personal relationship with the

God of the universe through his son, Jesus Christ,

it changes you. It changes your heart. And it

smashes the stone that makes up our hearts. And

that's what we need today in the church. That's

what we need today. We need revival. And we need

to be uncomfortable. And we need to ask Jesus

what. would you have me do? What would you do?