SERVING - Luke 10:25-37 (FROM “RED LETTER CHALLENGE”)

Main Idea: I’m always amazed with how many rules are in professional sports.  The one that gets me every time is what constitutes a catch in the NFL.  The rules on that are so precise, that there are times when someone makes a ridiculously athletic play and it is deemed not a catch because the ball barely touched the turf when he landed, or he didn’t “demonstrate control” or because his right big toe touched a white blade of grass.  But the reason we have so many rules in sports is because people are always looking for a loophole.  If there is a way to get an upper hand, and the rules allow it, they will find it.  The same seems to be true of our devotion to Jesus and our service to him.  In our guilt, shame, and conviction…we will try to find a loophole to get out of what is clearly taught in scripture.  We are called to serve God by serving others.  And the passage here teaches us how to do it.

RELIGION LOOKS FOR LOOPHOLES, LOVE LOOKS FOR OPPORTUNITIES “Love doesn’t ask, ‘What can I get away with?’ Love asks, ‘What can I give away?’

RELIGION PASSES BY, LOVE STOPS BY. “You can’t love like Jesus from the other side of the road.”

RELIGION LOOKS FOR LIMITS, LOVE LIVES WITHOUT THEM. “If love had limits, the cross would have never happened”.

RELIGION DEFINES NEIGHBORS, LOVE BECOMES ONE. The question isn’t, ‘who is my neighbor?’  The question is, ‘Am I being one?’”