July 28, 2024 // Luke 10:25-37 // John Piccolo
Finding The Good Samaritan.
Intro: Name, History
I was raised in a Catholic home and attended 6 years of elementary education in a Catholic school. I’m from western PA south of Pittsburgh. My father worked for the Pennsylvania railroad experiencing several periods of layoffs putting our family in tight financial situations early in my life. He held down two part-time jobs to pull us through. Back then there were limited government programs. I remember having government issued cheese, puffed cereal, powdered milk and butter.
I was not raised with a silver spoon. I understand what it means to have less.
My spiritual journey has been a long race starting when I was baptized at Neffsville Mennonite Church near Lancaster in 1974. Yes, that would calculate to 50 years ago this coming October for you all doing the quick math. Let me add that I had graduated from college that spring. Now do the math.
I have tripped, fallen and have been broken, but each time He has been there as I pulled myself up one more time experiencing His loving grace to continue on. My continual prayer is to finish the race strong, serving Him, just like the Apostle Paul spoke of, with the remaining time He has granted for me.
By the world’s standards, I have been blessed with a decent hand in life. I have a beautiful loving wife of 48 years, three children and five grandchildren.
I live in a free country, have had good employment over the years and retired in good shape except for the ten pounds I need to lose.
But not all are so fortunate in life. We live in a broken fallen world do we not?
* Finding The Good Samaritan
If you will, please turn to Luke 10:25-37
READ
Let’s unpack this shall we.
This man did not create his situation. We can assume he is or was a true victim. He is in need of help or benevolence.
I do know a little about helping others through benevolence. At my past church I restructured and ministered a benevolence program for 5 years.
It was challenging because of the discernment needed to sort out the true needs and for a lack of a better word “the users.” I actually had a naughty list that I used for repeat user’s or abusers of our church’s generosity.
So many of the cases with which we were presented were directly or indirectly a result of “sin and or a sinful life style.”
It might have been related to alcohol, drugs, morality issues, greed, lust of all kinds. Or in some cases it was related to divorce, family instability, and/or mental health related to guilt.
We did encountered cases of Illness, true mental health and employment issues. There were some serious needs there. However, often times it was simply poor life choices.
We helped many individuals, but the saddest ones that would tear me up were when children were involved and became victims without choice.
I recall one time we bought coats for all the children of Riverside attendees. I witnessed how poorly many of the children were prepared for winter regarding clothing.
We had to delivery four coats to a family that consisted of an alcoholic father and four children. They had little to no furniture and slept on the floor on mattresses. It was an appalling condition. While at the apartment we discovered that there were actually five children. There was a little girl about 4 to 5 years old that was almost like a feral animal. I can still picture her in my mind.
I almost cried on the way home after the visit. It still haunts me to this day.
The father never brought her to Riverside because she was so uncontrollable. The mother was in and out of jail for drugs and barred from access to the children by court order. We did intervene by alerting family services and eventually they removed the children.
Did you ever notice that when you see the St. Jude or Shriner’s Hospital commercials that you tear up inside a little.
Often in these benevolence cases the children are the real victims as I mentioned earlier.
Yes the Children
This man in the story Christ tells us about was dealt a bad hand. We find him as a true victim.
So he is lying there half dead and three people come along.
First a priest comes along and walks on the other side of the road to avoid him. Then a Levite who serves the priest did likewise.
It is so easy to look the other way or just pass by isn’t it? We all know there can be risks. You may ask, could the robbers still be there?
About 44 years ago, I was confronted with a similar situation.
MY STORY
3 minutes
So getting back to the scripture, the third person, a Samaritan who was hated by the Jews and maybe they felt the same about the Jews, found this man still alive. He took him carefully to an inn and paid the inn keeper to care for him agreeing to pay any additional cost on his return. Take note that the inn keeper was also of a benevolent mindset. He did not know if the Samaritan would return. I think we often overlook that possibility in the story. The Samaritan was the good neighbor.
Finding the Good Samaritan.
Many of you know we started this church in Matthew and Leslie’s backyard and eventually moved to a Bethlehem location at another church’s facility. It was a less than desirable arrangement regarding the available time on Sunday and cost.
We had been searching high and low for an alternative location. Thankfully, God opened the door for us at Liberty. In over a hundred years we are the first church to enter these halls to gather for worship. This was new for Liberty, and an unbelievable blessing to us from God.
But why here?
Why did He open the doors for us here while closing all other others?
Perhaps because this is our mission field.
Remember those children I spoke of before? There are around 2,000 children or budding adults at Liberty each school year. There are also stressed out teachers and staff. There are many heart wrenching stories within those students, teachers and staff that sit in the very seats you are sitting in today.
Have you noticed that as a church we have not established support for any established missions program?
Yes we have passed out $250 gift cards the past two years to over 50 students. That has been well received.
I was part of that with Nico. Some of the stories of those students are gut wrenching. Unfortunately, time and confidentiality do not permit me to detail them.
Now we are about to move that program to a different level.
Why?
Let’s look at some of God’s messages and commands to us in this area.
*SLIDES
- 1. Leviticus 25:35. “If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. In our case that may mean of a Vine and or seed group member.
- Deuteronomy 15:11. “ There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” Here God is opening it up to more than just Vine and or Seed groups. Notice the word command.
- Isaiah 58:10. “And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness.” The last two years we have given out gift card to Liberty students do you think we brightened the darkness here with these selfless acts?
- Proverbs 11:25. “A generous man will prosper, he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” We will benefit by helping others. It could manifest in a wide array blessings not just material.
- Proverbs 19:17. “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.” Two things here; when we are benevolent it really is to God.
Let me finish the hitchhiker story.
2 minutes
*Let’s move over to the new testament.
- Matthew 25:44-45. “They will also answer, “Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” That just confirmed the Proverb 19 verse 17 we last read. This is a tough one. How many opportunities have we passed on in our lives? This is not about guilt but a call to action going forward in your life.
- Luke 6:38. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” We again can’t expect material gain but feel confident that God will bless benevolent action in your life.
- 3. Acts 20:35 “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus himself said, “It is moreblessed to give than to receive.”
Gifts 1 minute
But here is the key verse,
Ephesians 2:10. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
This includes all of us and God has prepared these opportunities beforehand. We need to find them.
Finding a Good Samaritan
It’s time for us to roll up our sleeves and get our hands a little dirty!
Let me introduce you to FinD.
Families in Distress
Families in Discipleship
Please see slide show by clicking above circle labeled “Save.”