World Communion Sunday!
Introduction:
A. After we had been married about 3 years we
bought a
car that was a couple of years old; it was
new to us.
Not too long after getting it, it was
parked out on
the road, beside our house, and someone
keyed it!
Why?
B. When preaching in Indianapolis one Sunday,
someone
stuck tooth picks in my car lock and broke
them off!
Why?
Luckily, they
only did it on one side and I was still
able to get in
on the other side.
C. How can a mother throw a baby in a trash can
and leave
it to die?
D. How can a boy-friend beat up and kill his
girl-friend and her child?
E. How can someone kill people in worship and
burn their
church?
F. How can anyone do something bad to someone
else or even kill another person?
G. I'm going to suggest that they don't
care! They don't care about the other
person, only themselves.
H. There are two types of sins committed by not
caring:
the sins of
commission and the sins of omission.
Trans.
Jesus taught a parable concerning caring, and in it, I believe we can see both types of sins. Let's look at this parable this morning and see what we can learn from it.
Prayer
Luke 10:25-37
I. First, we see the sins of commission played out in the action of the thieves.
A. The thieves didn't care for this man; they
only cared for themselves.
B. They saw him only as something that stood
between them and the money that they wanted, so they beat him up and left him for dead!
C. There are a lot of people today who don't
care for
other
people. This moves them to commit
all
types of sins
trying to look out for themselves: child
abuse, theft,
murder, adultery, lying, cheating,
posting something hateful on
facebook, etc.
D. Jesus was clear we are to care for other
people. That is why he told this parable!
Also: One of the two greatest commandments is
"Love your neighbor as
yourself."
Mark 12:31
E. If we care for people and Love them with God's Love, we won't commit these sins; it is only when we fail to care and to love that we do these things.
II. The second type of sin of not caring, the sins of omission, is found in the religious leaders!
A. These also sinned because they really didn't care for this man as much as the other things they had to rush on to do!
B. Jesus told this parable to people who would
have looked very hard on the thieves for the sins that they had committed, but they too were
sinning with their non-caring
attitude!
1. It wasn't what they were doing that was
wrong!
2. But what they weren't doing!
C. They too failed to care, and it was showing
up in their actions or rather lack of action!
James 4:17 "Anyone, then, who knows the right
thing to do and fails to do it,
commits sin."
D. One way this sin surfaces today is through
indifference!
1. Indifference is when we do not care enough about people and what is going on around us to do something about it!
2. We don't care whether our church meets needs
or
not so we don't
take part in its ministries!
3. We don't care what happens to our friends after death, so we never invite them to church or talk to them about spiritual things.
4. We don't care when people have physical
needs, so
we just look
our for ourselves and expect everyone else to do the same.
E. Jesus was clear this attitude was also sin.
III. We instead need to care and be trying to make a difference!
A. That's what the Samaritan did! This person saw a need and
set out to "make a difference" in that need!
B. That is what we are to do today!
C. As we see needs, we are to set out to
"Make a
difference"
with determination, care, and love.
D. When we do this, God is pleased with us just
as God was with the Good Samaritan.
E. This attitude is just the opposite of
"Don't Care," but this attitude says, "I care very
much, and because of that, I
want to make the effort to help where I can."
F. If we will set out with this attitude to
"make a
difference,"
we will find that we will make a
difference for
God and the good of people!
1. We’ll find ourselves teaching, or otherwise
serving,
in the church to help people grow
spiritually
in their lives.
2. We’ll find ourselves working in ministries of
church
like the Thrift Store and free food shelf because we care and want to make a
difference.
3. We’ll find ourselves wanting to support
ministries
through our church that meet needs
across
Missouri and the world Options Pregnancy
Center,
United Methodist Committee on Relief,
Volunteers
in Mission, Mozambique missions in
Africa,
Heifer International, The Gideons, and
many
more, and through these ministries we will
make
a difference for good in our world!
4. We’ll find ourselves considering how who and
what
we
vote for will affect others, and how what we
post
online will affect others.
5. We will find that if we care it will affect
all
aspects
of our lives!
Conclusion:
A. Which do we relate to best in this parable
today?
1. The thieves? We
don't care for others, and it comes out in the hurtful things we do
to others.
2. The religious leaders? We don't care enough for
others, and it comes out in the things we
don't
do that we should.
B. Both of these are why Jesus came; this is why
we need very much what God did for us through Christ!
C. As we encounter Christ at the table this
morning with
Christians all across the world on this
World
Communion Sunday, let's let Christ help us
to care
this
morning so we can leave today a little more like
the
Good Samaritan and a little more determined to, by
the
grace of God, make a difference in our world,
starting
with the community where we live!
Prayer of Confession
Service
of Communion
