Gender and Identity

 What is "identity"? Google defines it as "The fact of being who a person is." It's a "fact" of "being". So according to Google, identity is based on fact, not opinion.

People may identify us a certain way, or by certain distinctions (like skin color, religious beliefs, academic accomplishments, popularity, physical ability, etc.), but how they identify us is not the same as who we are. Who I am is not defined by what other people think of me, because those are opinions. I may identify as "male" or as "white" or as "Christian", but those identifications are not the same as an identity. Identity is based on facts, but who establishes those facts? We'll come back to this in a moment.

What is "gender identity"? Once again, Google defines this as "An individual's personal sense of having a particular gender." Unlike "Identity", this seems to be more subjective - its a "personal sense" as it relates to gender. So unlike "Identity", "gender identity" is based on personal opinion.

This terms gets used a lot in our culture right now. The movement surrounding it has separated gender from biological sex so that it has become something you choose rather than something you are born as. Within this movement, gender "no longer means only male or female. Instead, gender now takes into account identity and expression." Previously, gender and biological sex were the same thing - it was what you were born as. But now, its based on your opinion and how you want to express yourself.

This causes a lot of confusion for people - both within the movement and outside it. You might hear terms like "Gender Dysphoria", which is "a clinical term for unease or dissatisfaction. Gender Dysphoria is the feeling that your emotional and psychological identity doesn't match the biological sex you were born with." What this means is that gender is based more on opinion (or feelings) than on fact. What happens when we allow our feelings to dictate who we are? Well, usually this means that "who we are" changes whenever our feelings change. This is hardly a healthy way to live. It means that we can never really be sure of who we are, even in terms of gender, because it is based in something that changes (our feelings).

This becomes even more of a problem when it comes to the transgender movement. If we base our gender identity on how we feel about ourselves, and then surgically change our bodies to fit that feeling, what happens when our feelings change? What happens if surgery doesn't fix the dysphoria? What happens when we want to change back (if we want to change back)? This is one of the major dangers of the movement: it teaches that how you feel about who you are is more important than how you were born. From there it pushes you to physically alter your body to match your mind. The consideration that it is your mind that needs to be changed is rejected altogether. Why? Because the movement teaches that your opinion trumps reality.

I have interacted with a few people who have been a part of this movement (they have since left). One woman expressed that complications in the transition process forced her to stop. She took time to reflect on her options at that point, and as she thought about herself, she slowly came to realize that her dysphoria was not a confusion of being born with a man's brain into a woman's body. In reality, she was confused because she did not fit into the stereotypes that our society put on women. And because she did not fit those stereotypes, she felt as though she should have been a man - hence why she tried to transition. She has since done a lot of research into the movement and found that much of what is taught about gender identity and transgender ideology isn't based in fact at all. And its causing a lot more harm than it need to by pushing people as it does.

Let's bring this discussion back to identity. We discussed in last week's post that biblical sexuality is strictly binary: there is male and there is female. The Bible points to sex and marriage being between a man and a woman. The two are made one flesh; they are whole, complete. Deviations from this “norm” are sin, and an abomination to the LORD (if you have questions about this, I would recommend reading the post and asking questions there). One of the problems faced with this rise in gender identification is that people usually identify themselves AS their gender. That is WHO THEY ARE. So if someone identifies as gay, or lesbian, or transgender, and then I come along and share that the Bible says homosexuality is sinful, I am not just condemning their behavior, I’m condemning them (from their perspective). I’m saying that they are a sin. Not that they are a sinner (someone who sins) but that they ARE a sin. So they feel attacked, and naturally get defensive. This is particularly so for people who claim to be a Christian while also claiming to be gay, or lesbian, or queer, or transgender. What's really happening in those cases is that these people are claiming to have two identities. On the one hand, their identity is in Christ as a child of God, and on the other hand they are gay/lesbian/queer/etc. This mixes reality with opinion, and those things don't go together.

What does it mean to have our identity in Christ? Well, I don't have a Google definition for you this time. Instead, let's look to the Bible for some answers.

John 1:12 - "Yet to all who did receive [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

So those who are in Christ as children of God. That is how God views them.

Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Colossians 3:1-4 - "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

When we come to Christ in faith, our old self dies alongside him in his crucifixion on the cross. Then we are raised to life with him with a new self, the new creation. Essentially, who we used to be before coming to Christ dies. It is gone. It is done away with. We are then given a new self, a new identity in Christ.

The problem with the current LGBTQ+ and gender identity movement is that it emphasizes our personal experience and our own ideas about who we are over God's declaration of who we are. When we come to Christ, we put our old selves to death. However we identified ourselves before coming to Christ dies. Every desire, every fantasy, every aspect of who we were (as sinners worthy of eternal damnation) is done away with and become new in Christ. The apostle Paul writes about this in his letter to the church in Ephesus. He says that if they want to become fully unified and mature in Christ, this is what needs to happen.

Ephesians 4:17-24 - "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles [non-believers] do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

The life of the Christian is in direct contrast to the way of living of the people around them. Romans 12:2 says it like this: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."

When we become Christians, we surrender ourselves, our whole selves, over to God. We die to who we used to be and become new in our identity as children of God. He changes us, transforms us, and renews us. Over the course of our lives He makes us more like Jesus. That means our identity is not found in our gender, in our orientation, in our skin color, or anything else. Those things do not define us. Our identity is in Christ, and who HE says that we are.

So as you're thinking about identity, are you going to base who you are on feelings, or on the reality of who God says that you are? I know we focused on gender in this post, but this topic goes beyond that. We allow lot of things to affect how we think about ourselves. We allow so many influences to dictate who we are. This should not be. If you are in Christ, then you are who God says you are. Period. Base your identity on that reality, and not on feelings, opinions, or anything that the world says about you.

If you are experiencing confusion about your identity, whether it be related to gender, sexuality, or something else, please reach out and talk about it. Don't try to find the answers all by yourself. Look to the Word of God as your source of truth, and talk to someone who can help you discover who God says you are. Amen.

Biblical Sexuality: Setting the Foundation

 This is a touchy subject in our culture today. Over the last two decades we have seen a massive shift in the cultural understanding of sexuality and gender identity. This shift has taken our culture very far from the biblical view of sex, marriage, and identity, and it has caused a lot of arguments within the church - to the point that many professing Christians have either walked away from the church or changed their beliefs to conform to the culture around them.

Before we get into what the Bible says on this topic, let me first say that whatever you choose to believe, I can guarantee that a quick internet search will find plenty of people who agree with you. It doesn't matter what stance you take, there are people out there who believe the same. Some of them even have nice-sounding arguments to back them up. Some point to science, some point to the Bible, some point to other religious texts, and some stick with feelings as their "proof". But as Christians (if you call yourself a Christian), we find our primary source of truth in the Bible, and we have to do everything we can to make sure we are reading and understanding it properly.

In this post I am going to go through some Old Testament passages that will show us God's original design of sexuality and marriage as well as some of the things God specifically condemned as wrong and immoral. From there we will look at the New Testament and see if there is continuity in what is taught there, or if God's plan for sexuality changed. Let's get started:

Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..."

This is a critical passage for the entire Bible. It establishes God's existence before the creation of the world, as well as His power and ability to create all things. It also establishes God's sovereignty over everything - that He is allowed to make the rules and decide what is good or not because He is the maker of it all.

Genesis 1:26-27 - "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'"

Here we find that God specifically created mankind differently from all the other creatures of the earth - in His image. We call this the "Imago Dei". The verse follows with "so that they may rule..." which tells us that the Imago Dei gives us some kind of authority over the rest of creation. We are higher than them. Additionally, we see that God specifically makes them "male and female". They are commanded to be fruitful, which means to have productive work (as opposed to be lazy and not doing anything), and increase in number, meaning to procreate, and finally to fill and subdue the earth. So mankind is given this mission to work faithfully, grow the population and act as stewards over God's creation, and all of this they are to do as male and female. Its not like its just "men's work" or "women's work". They are to work together toward these goals.

In Genesis 2 we get a more elaborate picture of God's creation of mankind. God made Adam first ("Adam" means "man" and also could mean "ground", which is interesting because God forms Adam out of dust from the ground), and as Adam was working in the Garden of Eden, God noticed that it was not good for Adam to be alone. PLEASE notice, this is before sin enters the world, and God is saying that already something is not good - Adam's aloneness. So, God goes about searching for a suitable partner for him.

Genesis 2:20-24 - "So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.' That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

"Suitable helper" is not the same thing as a sidekick, let's get that out of the way. The woman was made as a complement to the man. Adam was incomplete without Eve, and they were made to work together, alongside each other, in the commands God had given to them (be fruitful, increase in number, subdue the earth). If we lived in an all-male society, we would be incomplete. If we lived in an all-female society, that would also be incomplete. The biblical foundation for marriage and sexuality, at the beginning, was between a man and a woman, a male and a female. Their union as "one flesh" describes the original design of marriage - that a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam started out as one flesh, then woman was made from his rib, so that in marriage man is made whole again through unity with his wife.

Genesis 1:31 - "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day."

God looks over all of creation, including Adam and Eve and their union, and He declares that it is all very good. This is the natural order of things as instituted by God.

Moving forward, a lot happens between the Fall of man (chapter 3 of Genesis) the giving of the Law of Moses at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-20). Adam and Eve sin and are kicked out of the Garden of Eden, bringing both sin and death into the world - corrupting everything. People become totally depraved and wicked and God brings judgment against them with the Flood. He saves Noah's family in the Ark, along with the animals. He makes a covenant with Abram (Abraham) and his son (Isaac) and grandson (Jacob/Israel) to make a great nation from which will come salvation for the world. Jacob's descendants become enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, after which God delivers them to Mt. Sinai where He gives the Law to Moses to pass on to them, that they should live by these laws and decrees.

Most of us know the 10 commandments pretty well, but there were a lot of other commands regarding a wide variety of issues. In Leviticus 18 we see a long list of sexual sins that God found utterly detestable, including adultery.

Leviticus 18:22-25 - "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants."

The practices listed there, as well as the other listed earlier in the chapter, were common in the nations that lived in Canaan (the Promised Land that later became Israel). These nations saw nothing wrong with these actions, and they probably taught that they were good and acceptable. Yet we see that God finds them to be an abomination - one of the strongest words for condemnation found in the Old Testament. God judged these nations and drove them out of the land because of their sin and wickedness in practicing these things, and He says that these actions were not only wrong, but they defiled the people and even the land.

Two chapters later, in Leviticus 20, we find the consequences for those who practice these things. The ones mentioned in the verses above brought death to the practitioners. That shows the seriousness of these commands. God wasn't kidding around, He took sexuality and marriage very seriously. Perverting His design was not tolerated.

Every part of the Old Testament teaches that God's norm was for there to be men and women, and that marriage relationships was to be between a man and a woman. Whenever there was a deviation from this norm, there were problems that resulted. Abraham had to deal with Sarah's jealousy. Jacob had issues between Leah and Rachel. Samuel's mom felt neglected and outcast because her husband's other wife had many kids and she didn't. David was led to murder and adultery because of his lust for a woman other than his first wife, and the children he had from different wives caused a lot of trouble for the whole nation. Solomon's many wives led him away from God and into idolatry, which caused judgment on the whole nation. Whenever people deviated from God's design, it ended poorly and caused major problems. Did God outright condemn them for these choices? No. But they certainly faced consequences for deviating from God's design, and that is clear throughout the Old Testament.

Now let's move into the New Testament. Jesus, being the Son of God as well as a Rabbi, ought to have a similar idea about sexuality as we see in the Old Testament, right? He does.

Mark 10:2-9 - "And the Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?' They said, 'Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.' And Jesus said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.'"

This teaching is dealing primarily with the idea of divorce, but it nevertheless gives us insight into Jesus' perspective on marriage and sexuality. He even takes us directly back to the Mosaic Law AND creation! He points back to the Law of Moses to show that divorce was permitted only because of the hardness of peoples' hearts. Then He takes it back to the beginning when God first created male and female. His teaching clearly shows that a godly marriage relationship is between a man and a woman, as ordained by God at creation. The way He talks about marriage, being between a man and his wife, also demonstrates that this was the "norm". There is never a positive mention of same-sex relationships, in official marriage or otherwise. So we have male, and female, and them uniting together to form one flesh.

Finally, let's look at one of the major contributors to the New Testament, the apostle Paul. In the fifth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, we get a clear understanding of his views of marriage. This is already a long post so I won't go through the whole chapter here, but I encourage you to go and read it. At the end of the chapter he says this: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Paul also reaffirms God's original design for sexuality and marriage. There is a continuity throughout the whole Bible that the natural order of creation, the original design, was for sex and marriage to be between a man and a woman. Deviations from this design go against God and result in judgment. This includes things like incest, adultery, sex outside of marriage, looking at porn (lust), bestiality, and homosexuality.

My goal in this post was to establish a biblical view of sexuality - how God originally designed it. Over the next few posts we will look more specifically at what the Bible has to say about homosexuality and gender identity, how that affects us, and how we should interact with the world in light of this truth. It is important that we learn how to accept the the truth of God's written Word and share it with others without being hateful or judgmental (because it is not our place or our job to judge those outside the church). Instead, we need to learn how to speak the truth in love and with gentleness.

If any or all of this message has challenged you, upset you, or sparked questions for you, please share in the comments below and we can discuss it. Those of you who know me personally can also text, call, or message me on social media to discuss this further.

This is a huge issue in our culture right now, and the Bible teaches something that goes directly against what our culture believes. That means you are left with a choice - there is no middle ground - are you going to believe the Bible, or the culture?

God bless and His peace be with you all.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like...

 So I had to apologize last night about one of my earlier messages (I will be commenting on the related post to fix the error). We had done an activity where I put out a statement and yall had to determine if it was true or false biblically. Well, I had claimed one of those statements was false because I didn't think there was any part of the Bible that said that Jesus lived in our hearts. Then, this past week I came across Ephesians 3:17 - "so that Christ [the Messiah, the anointed one] may dwell in your hearts through faith...". That section of Ephesians goes on to talk about being filled with the fullness of God. Jesus is the Christ, so if Christ dwells in the hearts of Christians through faith, then I was wrong. And I'm sorry. The main challenge from that message was to read the Bible and know it. Clearly, I needed that challenge, too.

Moving on, I have 3 questions for you. Grab a piece of paper or pull up a memo on your phone - in some way write down your answers for these, please.

1. When you have money to spend as you please (not on essentials like bills or whatever), where does the majority of your money go? To put it another way, when you get to choose how to spend your money, what do you tend to spend it on the most?

2. When you have free time (time that you get to choose what to do with) what do you tend to spend most of it doing? School/work and sleeping don't count, so pick something else besides those.

3. When you have a choice, who do you choose to spend the most time with?

Once you have answered each of these questions, look over your answers. Your answers should give you a sense of what you value, or where your priorities are.

For me, the majority of my "spending" money goes toward snacks and coffee and stuff like that. Most of my free time goes toward videogames, social media, and TV. And the person that I choose to spend the most time with is my wife. From these answers you can see that I prioritize comfort/satisfaction, entertainment, and my wife over other things. What do your answers say about your priorities?

We're looking at two short parables from Jesus today, and they are found in Mark 13:44-46 - "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Jesus is using these parables to describe "the kingdom of heaven". What is He talking about with that phrase? Well, if you go back further in the chapter you'll find His parable of the Sower, where a man tosses seed out and it scatters across 4 different types of soil. He actually explains the meaning of this parable to His disciples, and says that the seed is the word about the kingdom, and the soil represents the people who hear the word and how they receive it. We can take this to understand that "the kingdom of heaven" is the message about Jesus - the Gospel.

With that in mind, let's look at these parables again. In both cases, we have a person who encounters the Gospel (the kingdom of heaven) and sells everything he has to obtain it. Whether it was the treasure in the field or the pearl, both people determined that these things were worth giving up everything they had to obtain. So what we find in these parables is Jesus demonstrating the value of the Gospel - it is worth giving up everything to obtain.

By these choices, we get to see their priorities. They valued those things (the treasure in the field and the pearl) and so they were willing to put everything else aside to get them.

Let's think about the treasure in the modern setting. Imagine you stumble across Blackbeard's treasure buried in the back yard of an old house. It's worth millions of dollars, so you go and sell your house and everything else you own so you can buy the property. We'll say it cost around $300,000. Well, now that you own the land, you can lay claim to the treasure which is worth millions. You gave up everything to obtain something of far greater value. That is the point Jesus is making in these parables. The kingdom of heaven, the Gospel, eternal life with Jesus, is worth far more than anything we could possibly get from this life or this world. It is worth sacrificing everything we have in this world to obtain. Later in the book of Matthew Jesus says this:

Matthew 16:24-26 - "Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?'"

Taking up your cross is a symbol for offering up your life. When Jesus took up the cross, it was to walk up the hill of Golgotha and die on that cross for our sin. Jesus is saying that if we want to follow Him, we have to sacrifice our very lives. We have to give up everything. And if we are willing to do that for Him, we will find eternal life. When we put our faith in Jesus and accept the Gospel, we die to ourselves and become new in Him - born again. He gives us new life, a new identity, as children of God. We become coheirs with Him in the Kingdom of God and we have eternal life to look forward to. This is a far greater gift than anything we could gain from the world. The world cannot offer us eternal life.

So, the kingdom of heaven has far greater value than anything we might be asked to sacrifice for it.

The kingdom of heaven will last longer than anything we sacrifice to gain it. Money, time, resources, energy, desires, dreams, ambitions, thoughts, wills, emotions - all of these are worth sacrificing, giving up, to follow Jesus and gain what He has to offer.

Think about, what benefit is money in the next life? None. It does not go with you, ad it cannot buy anything in the next life, no matter where you're going.

What benefit is videogames, or sports, or TV, or fancy shoes, or jobs, or careers? These might offer you something in this life, like a sense of accomplishment, or enjoyment, or power or authority. But when you die, they are all left behind.

What benefit is time? In this life, time is limited. We are all going to die someday. Having more or less time here won't help you in the next life.

Jesus asks an important question: What benefit is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? The whole world is not as valuable as eternal life with God. So, if God asked you to give up your time, or your money, or your ambitions, for Him, and He offered you eternal life in return, wouldn't you accept that trade?

Everything this world has to offer us can satisfy only a small part of us, and that only for a time. God satisfies our whole being. The point of these parables is to show the great value of the Gospel, and what people who find it are willing to give up to obtain it. They are willing to give up everything they have because they can see the value in the kingdom of heaven.

Look back at your answers from earlier. What does your lifestyle say about your values?

Calendars, bank accounts, schedules - all of these can say a lot about what you truly value. This is because when you value something, your time, money and energy are put toward it. When you look at where you are spending your money, your time, and your energy, does it show that you value the Gospel? Does it show that you value God? Or does it reveal that your priorities are elsewhere?

Ask yourself this: What is eternal life with Jesus worth to you? What are you willing to sacrifice to follow Jesus?

According to Jesus Himself, the answer has to be everything.

No More Excuses - The Good Samaritan

 If you had to condense all of the commands of God throughout the Bible into just 2 commands, what would they be?

Most of you probably already know that the Bible has done this for us, and you jumped right into "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." If that's where your mind went, excellent, we are on the same page. These two commands basically sum up everything has commanded of us. Everything we do ought to come out of loving God with all our being and loving others.

Now, how many of you obey these two commands all of the time?

That's a harder question. It is one thing to know what God commands, and it is another thing to actually obey those commands on a daily basis.

It's probably safe to say there are some people in your life that you don't like very much. Maybe it is someone from school, a family member, or some internet troll. What does it mean for us to love these people as ourselves? I mean, what about someone we absolutely despise, or someone who is actively trying to hurt us? Are we supposed to love them, too? How do we do with that command to love our neighbor when the "neighbor" in question is an enemy?

Our passage today is Luke 10:25-37 - the parable of the Good Samaritan.

“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He 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.’ And he said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A wise man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, 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. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal 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.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You go and do likewise.’"

There are two basic parts to this passage; two major questions from the lawyer which get addressed. 

1. What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?

2. Who is my neighbor?

For both questions, Jesus responds with a question. In the first question, a lawyer (an expert in the Law of Moses) wants to know what he has to do to inherit eternal life. We might instinctively reply saying something like "There's nothing you can do to inherit eternal life. We're stuck in sin and there's nothing we can do on our own to earn forgiveness become right with God."

What is surprising to many people today is that Jesus doesn't go this way in His response. Instead, He asks the lawyer to look to the Scriptures. We see the lawyer respond with the two greatest commands, which sum up the whole Law, and says that if one follows these he can inherit eternal life. And Jesus once again doesn't reply with "Trick question, you actually can't do anything..." Instead, He says "Great, so go do it. Go and love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus agrees with the lawyer's interpretation. Perfect obedience to the Law of Moses would bring about eternal life.

The problem is, nobody can obey God's Law perfectly. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all mess up at some point. And that's why the apostle Paul, elsewhere in the New Testament, says that the Law of God shows us our sin - when we fall short it shows us how much we need Jesus. And here with this lawyer, Jesus is trying to show the lawyer his shortcomings.

So then we get to the lawyer's follow-up question, and it shows us where his heart is at: "And who is my neighbor?" The passage tells us he is trying to justify himself. He is trying to set a limitation on who actually counts as his neighbor, because if it just the people who live next door to him, then perhaps this guy really has followed the whole Law. Maybe he has a shot at inheriting eternal life. If it includes more than just the people living next door, though, well then he might be in trouble.

We like to put addendums and caveats on the rules because it makes us feel better. Think about a "speed limit" for a moment. Unpack those words - speed limit. Its a limit on how fast you are allowed to go on a road. According to the law, you are not allowed to go any faster than that limit. And yet most drivers treat is as a suggestion, a general guideline. As long as you're within 5 mph of the limit you're good, right? Wrong. That's not what the law says, and anyone who goes above the limit is technically breaking the law.

Now, I know what you're going to say, "Michael, everyone drives a little over the limit, I'm just following the flow of traffic. A cop isn't going to pull me over if I'm only going a few miles over the limit. As long as I'm not being reckless the cops aren't going to care." We make all these excuses so we can feel better about the fact that we're breaking the law. A small infraction is still an infraction. Maybe you make these kinds of excuses for copying a friend's HW, or cheating on a test. Maybe you make them for other rules in your life. Why do we do this?

Because it makes us feel better. It makes us feel as if we are not actually doing anything wrong. But Jesus' reply breaks through all of that. The lawyer wanted to justify himself by putting a limit on who counted as his neighbor, but Jesus didn't let him get away with it.

In the parable we find this ambiguous man beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of the road. The first two people to come across him are religious leaders. A priest and Levite would have known the Law, and that they were commanded to love this man and care for him. As leaders they were meant to set an example for others of obeying God's commands. But what do they do? They walk around him and continue on their way. They leave him for dead. Where is their compassion? Where is their love for this man?

Then a Samaritan shows up. For context, Samaritans were half-breeds in the eyes of the Jews. They were half-Jewish and half-something else. Their ancestors had married non-Jews and for that they were looked down upon by "full-blooded" Jews. In addition, they didn't practice all the same things the Jews did from the Law of Moses (partly because they weren't allowed in the Temple), which made the Jews look down on them even more. So, racially and religiously, the Samaritans were hated by the Jews. And likewise, the Samaritans hated the Jews back. There was a lot hatred between the two groups.

Yet what does this Samaritan do? Does he walk on by? No. He stops and shows compassion and love to this beaten man. He makes tremendous sacrifice to go out of his way to make sure this man is cared for. He sacrifices his time, his money, and his resources. The "half-breed heretic" demonstrates what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

So, Jesus asks the lawyer, "who was a good neighbor to this beaten man?" The lawyer has to respond with "the one who showed mercy" - the Samaritan. So Jesus reaffirms his earlier command: "Go and do likewise." Go and show mercy to those who need it.

The application from this is simple. We should follow the example of the Samaritan. He came across someone in need, and he sacrificed his time and resources to care for him. How often do we come across people in need and make excuses as to why we don't need to help them?

We come across a homeless person and assume they will just use our money for drugs or alcohol, so we don't need to give them money.

We come across a kid getting harassed in school, but we don't know them very well so we don't need to step in and help. Its not our business anyway.

We see another student struggling with a class, but we don't have much free time anyway so we don't have time to help them.

The point of this parable is to show us that excuses don't work with God. If we know the good we ought to do, but do not do it, then for us it is sin. We need to stop making excuses for not having compassion on people. Everyone is our neighbor - our family, our friends, our actual neighbors, every other student and all the teachers and faculty at school, the baristas at Starbucks, and even the trolls on the internet.

Jesus' command at the end of this parable is to show compassion to the people we encounter in our everyday lives, even if it means we have to make sacrifices to help them. It's a hard command, but it's the right thing to do. It is the righteous thing to do. And it is what God wants us to do.

So, go and do likewise.