|
DATE |
CHURCH |
SUBJECT |
PREACHER |
BIBLE
REF. |
|
15.07.07 |
All Saints Church |
How do you inherit
eternal life? |
Rev. Tony Higton |
Luke 10:25-37 |
|
Over the years I have spoken at meetings in
many places and many countries. On occasions I have had someone
come up to me to check out if I am orthodox. They tend to be
more Evangelical believers. “Do you believe in the authority of
the Bible?” is one such test question. When I say I do, I can
see a Brownie point being awarded mentally by the questioner.
Jesus had a similar experience (Luke
chapter 10 verses 25-37). One translation says a lawyer approach
him, which sounds like a local solicitor! No, this guy was an
expert in the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old
Testament.
He asked Jesus: "Teacher, what must I do to
inherit eternal life?" Jesus replied: "What is written in the
Law? How do you read it?" The lawyer answered: " '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, 'Love your neighbour
as yourself.'" Jesus responded: "You have answered correctly.
Do this and you will live."
Immediately, many people misunderstand
because they don’t clearly note exactly what Jesus said. Many
people think that the way to heaven is to love your neighbour.
But Jesus, in effect, was saying that is not the most important
aspect.
The most important aspect is to love God
“with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength and with all your mind.”
LOVE GOD
Many people outside the church are very
good, caring, hospitable people. They might be better than some
Christians. But they neglect what Jesus teaches is the First
and Greatest Commandment: to love God. They might ask God for
help but they don’t express their love, adoration and worship to
him, privately or with others in church.
No-one will inherit eternal life unless
they love God and express that love for him. Another way of
putting it is to love Jesus. He is fairly easy to imagine. God
is more difficult to grasp.
Can you remember a time when you suffered
unrequited love? You met some wonderful person and fell in love.
But the other person didn’t respond by loving you. It was very
painful. You were pre-occupied, off your food, dreaming of your
beloved, looking out for them, wanting to communicate with them.
It is one of the most traumatic human experiences.
God is by far the greatest sufferer from
unrequited love - ever. Millions whom he dearly loves, don’t
love him. And some of those who profess to love him are selfish
and unfaithful.
It would be unhelpful to say that I feel
sorry for God. That makes him too much on a human level. But I
find it incredibly sad that his love is so unrequited around the
world. In fact, the greatest motive for evangelism is to
encourage more people to respond to God’s love by loving him and
expressing love for him.
God doesn’t need our love. But he is love
and love calls for a loving response. We are called to love him
with all our heart (emotions), soul (the centre of our being),
strength (effort, which includes obedience: doing what pleases
him) and mind (meditation on him and discerning how to please
him).
But we are also commanded to:
LOVE OUR NEIGHBOUR
This is a real challenge: to love our
neighbour as ourselves. When the lawyer tries to get off the
hook by asking who his neighbour is, Jesus tells him the story
of the Good Samaritan. Let me modernize the story. A Jewish
Israeli was travelling down the road to Jericho (my wife and I
know the road well: it is still quite wild and remote). Suddenly
a group of men stopped him and mugged him, leaving him half
dead.
Eventually a rabbi comes along, sees the
wounded man, but he’s in a hurry to get to the synagogue, so he
walks on. Then another Jewish Israeli comes along, sees the
wounded man, but is afraid to stop because the muggers may still
be around.
Finally, a Palestinian comes along and sees
the injured Israeli. He stops, ignoring the risks, cleans up the
wounded Jewish man’s wounds, puts him on his donkey and takes
him to a local hotel, where he pays for him to stay and promises
to return to settle any further costs he incurs.
Through this wonderful old story, Jesus
challenges us, following on from regularly expressing our love
and worship to God, to show compassion and get involved with our
neighbour’s needs; to change our priorities in order to help, to
face any risks involved, to give practical and even sacrificial
assistance.
Jesus ended his story of the Good Samaritan
by saying “Go and do likewise.” In other words, in this passage
Jesus challenges both to love God and our neighbour. Then we
shall be confident of inheriting eternal life. But don’t forget
the first priority of regularly expressing love and worship to
God. |
