This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2919– What About My Neighbor’s Neighbor? - Luke 10:25-37

Putnam Church Message – 07/26/2026 The Good News According to Luke: “What About My Neighbor’s Neighbor?” Last week, our message was “Joyful Return, Insightful Response,” in which we learned to rejoice that you belong to Him. Today, we continue with our thirtieth-first message from Luke’s narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Today’s message is: “What About My Neighbor’s Neighbor?” Our core passage today is Luke 10:25-37, on page 1613 of your pew Bibles. The Parable of the Good Samaritan ²⁵On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” ²⁷He 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’^[^a^]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[^b^]” ²⁸“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” ²⁹But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³²So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two denarii^[^c^] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ ³⁶“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” ³⁷The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Opening Prayer Father, we come before You today grateful for Your Word, which searches our hearts and reveals both our need and Your grace. We confess that we often know more truth than we obey. We can quote Scripture, discuss doctrine, and defend our beliefs, yet still pass by hurting people on the other side of the road. Lord Jesus, teach us today what it means to love You with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Show us where we have drawn lines too tightly, where we have looked for loopholes, and where we have failed to see others with Your compassion. Holy Spirit, open our eyes, soften our hearts, and move us from knowing to doing. In the name of Jesus, amen. Introduction: Back to the Basics In 1959, Vince Lombardi inherited the Green Bay Packers at the lowest point in their history. The previous season, the team had lost ten of their twelve games. They were discouraged, disorganized, and defeated. So Lombardi gathered the team and announced that they were going back to basics. He picked up a football and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” From the back of the room, Max McGee, known as a cutup, replied, “Uh, Coach, could you slow down a little? You’re going too fast for us.” Lombardi laughed, but the point was serious. The most brilliant playbook in the world will not help a team if the players have forgotten how to block, tackle, pass, catch, and run. Sometimes, spiritually, we need to go back to basics too. By the time Jesus stepped into the public religious life of Israel, many of the most visible religious leaders had turned godliness into a complex system of rules, rituals, and loopholes. They had studied the Law, memorized the Law, debated the Law, and built fences around the Law. But in the process, many had forgotten the heart of the Law. Love God. Love your neighbor. That sounds basic, doesn’t it? But as Jesus shows us in Luke 10:25–37, the basics are not always easy. In fact, they are impossible without grace. In the previous message, “Joyful Return, Insightful Response,” the seventy returned from ministry rejoicing that even demons obeyed them in Jesus’ name. Jesus corrected their joy, reminding them that their greatest joy was not what they had done for God, but that their names were written in heaven. Now Luke moves us into a conversation with a religious expert who wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. This is a very different kind of encounter. The seventy came back rejoicing in grace. / This lawyer comes testing Jesus with a legal question. The seventy had gone out announcing peace. / This man comes looking for a debate. The seventy were learning to serve. / This man is trying to justify himself. And Jesus, as He so often does, takes the conversation deeper than the man expected. / The question begins: “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” But by the end, the real question becomes: “What kind of person sees suffering and moves toward it with mercy?” Or to put it in the title of our message: What About My Neighbor’s Neighbor? We will review four truths to understand the answer to this question. Main Point 1: The Wrong Question Reveals the Wrong Heart Luke tells us that an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus. / That matters. This man is not asking like a hungry soul seeking truth. He is not like the sinful woman who wept at Jesus’ feet. He is not like Jairus, desperate for his daughter. He is not like the father whose son was tormented. He is not like the seventy returning with joy. He is testing Jesus. / He asks, “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” At first glance, that sounds like a good question. But there is a problem inside it. He asks what he must do to inherit. Those two words do not naturally fit together. You do not usually work to receive an inheritance. An inheritance is given because of relationship. A son or daughter receives what belongs to the family because they belong to the family. This man’s question reveals confusion. He is thinking about eternal life as something to be achieved, earned, managed, or secured by religious performance. That was not unusual. Many first-century Jews assumed that as children of Abraham, they had a secure place in God’s Kingdom. The question then became: “What level of obedience proves I belong? How far must I go? What exactly is required?” Jesus answers the question with another question: “What does the Law of Moses say? How do you read it?” / That is masterful. Jesus does not reject the Law. He points the man back to it. The Law was never the problem. The problem was the human heart trying to use the Law for self-justification. The man answers well. He combines Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says, “Right. Do this and you will live.” Now, we need to hear Jesus carefully. Jesus is not saying the man can earn salvation by trying harder. Jesus is pressing the man to face the true standard. Perfect love for God and perfect love for neighbor would indeed describe a righteous life. The problem is that none of us has lived that way. / The man knows it too. So, Luke says he wants to justify himself. He asks, “And who is my neighbor?” There is a loophole...