FOURTH QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #7
NOVEMBER 18, 2023
“MISSION TO MY NEIGHBOR”

 

“He 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’; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27, NIV).

Luke relates two stories about two men, one, a “certain lawyer,” and the other, a “certain ruler,” in Israel. They came to Jesus with almost identical questions: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The ruler added the adjective “good” to teacher.

To the lawyer Jesus asked, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” And to the ruler He replied, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” He did this to draw forth from the ruler the conviction that Jesus was no ordinary teacher. He was God.

In answer to Jesus’ question, the lawyer replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . and your neighbor as yourself.”

But in response to the ruler’s question, Jesus spelled out the letter of the law: “You know the commandments; Do not commit adultery, . . . Honor your father and your mother.”

It’s easier to see how similar these two stories are by making a side-by-side comparison.

 

	“Certain Lawyer” Luke 10	“Certain Ruler” Luke 18
Questioner	Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?	Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus’ response	What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?	Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments; Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother.
Answer	You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus' response	You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.
Response	(But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’	And he said, All these things I have kept from my youth.
Jesus' response	Story of good Samaritan; Question: Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?	So, when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.
Response	He who showed mercy on Him	But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
Jesus' conclusion	Go and do likewise.	And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

Note: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4, KJV).

These two men were respected “Seventh-day Adventists” in their day. They understood the imperative to keep God’s commandments, and the lawyer summarized God’s law in two precepts: love for God and love for one’s neighbor. When it came to Bible knowledge, these men knew the truth, but had it settled in their hearts?

“The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ’s day was that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness. In all human experience a theoretical knowledge of the truth has been proved to be insufficient for the saving of the soul. It does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness. A jealous regard for what is termed theological truth often accompanies a hatred of genuine truth as made manifest in life. The darkest chapters of history are burdened with the record of crimes committed by bigoted religionists. The Pharisees claimed to be children of Abraham and boasted of their possession of the oracles of God; yet these advantages did not preserve them from selfishness, malignity, greed for gain, and the basest hypocrisy. They thought themselves the greatest religionists of the world, but their so-called orthodoxy led them to crucify the Lord of glory.” -- Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 309.

Jesus recognized the hidden heart issue and appealed to the lawyer by relating a recent incident involving a man who was attacked and robbed on the road to Jericho. The priest and Levite mentioned in the story were present to hear its retelling. But the hero of the story was not a religious leader but a Samaritan man, who inconvenienced himself considerably to help the stranger.

To the certain ruler who claimed to be a commandment keeper, Jesus admonished him to sell his belongings and give to the poor.

In these two stories is illustrated God’s agape love for us. The reason Jesus spent so much time healing and ministering to the sick, poor, and needy, was because He was a living representation of His law in action.

Jesus’ point to both men was clear. It isn’t enough to profess belief in the commandments or of God’s agape love. That proves nothing. The real evidence that we believe and appreciate these magnificent truths will be revealed in the lives of those who seek to help and bless others continuously. Self must be crucified in Christ, not only on select occasions when we wish to make a good impression on others, but in the times when no one sees, when no one knows, when no camera is recording, when no one will ever come back to say thank you or notice.

God gives because He loves. It is His nature inherently. Our inherent nature is to conceal the selfishness in our hearts from others and even from ourselves. The Pharisees once asked Jesus (in amazement), “Are we blind also?” (John 9:40).

The answer was and is, Yes.

Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man in John 9. And after this man was healed, he said, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25).

 

“Look upon Jesus, sinless is He;

Father, impute His life unto me.

My life of scarlet, my sin and woe,

Cover with His life, whiter than snow.”

—F. E. Belden

 

~Patti Guthrie