Go and Do Likewise

 

 GO AND DO LIKEWISE

We all must dread and avoid that dangerous situation wherein a person’s mind is accurately informed with biblical expositions on a merely intellectual plane while his spirit remains unaffected by the same truths.

No matter how mentally exercised an individual is in the knowledge of the Bible, the infallible teaching of our Lord stands sure, it is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing—Jn.6:63 The Lord refers not to the  Holy Spirit in that passage. He was using a figure. That which the Savior meant was that the spirit of a thing is the life of that thing. The flesh or body of a person is of no use without his spirit. The spirit is the essence of life. It is the spirit which animates and quickens anyone with life.

 

This figure the Lord used to teach His audience that unless they entered into the very spirit of His teachings, mere acquaintance with His outward form would profit them nothing. Notice that He said those words to a congregation that was closing in on Him only for the supply of earthly bread [Jn.6:26].

 

The same way, today, men pursue church activities and are conversant with many Bible verses but they have no true knowledge of what they are dealing with. Godliness is no means to gain. It is the way to truly be like God.

 

The multitudes “believed” in Christ because they saw signs. But when he began to trouble their conscience with penetrating words, from that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more—Jn.6:66. They were only admirers of the outwards benefits that accompanied the ministrations of Jesus. To ask any one of them if he believed, one would be readily presented with an answer in the affirmative.

 

The Bible says they believed in Him [Jn.8:30-31] but when He began to talk about things that went beyond externals, the word of God tells us that the same believers in Him took up stones to throw at Him—Jn.8:59

 

More often than not, the Holy Spirit has to work a great work upon our intellects. At salvation, the human soul experiences a spiritual crisis by which it becomes a child of God. But after that, there has to be an intellectual crisis too.

 

This is most necessary. Many who though plying the highways of doctrinal accuracy and logical acuteness have rushed onward with mere natural vehemence, wrecked enough havoc both upon themselves and upon the church of God until the Lord has had to stay their mad careers.

 

Bible knowledge and other religious activities, no matter how doctrinally correct are nothing but flesh, if we do not live them out in our daily experiences. It simply shows that we have not been quickened by the spirit of God’s teachings. One could be accurately familiar with Biblical topics only for mere love of action.

 

Touch the moral consciousness of that faithful ‘brother’ and you will find out that he only seeks animation via the flesh. Probe the depths of that ‘sister’s’ devotion and it will be discovered that her religion is only a form of godliness totally void of spiritual power. She may be faultless as far as academic details in Bible knowledge but is she able to triumphantly ride atop the ever insurrecting waves of profanity?

 

The outward form of our religion matters nothing where the battle is against the indulgence of the flesh [Col.3:16-20]. The Lord Himself must break down our pride and work upon our intellects until we can say with the apostle, and I brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. However we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing—1 Cor.2:1,6

 

We shall presently enter into our meditation by observing how a man of great intellectual acumen and of doctrinal correctness approached our Lord with the same and was answered by the Great Teacher according to his spiritual need [Lk.10-25-29].

 

The man, a Jewish lawyer, threw a question at Jesus with regards to the great spiritual theme of eternal life.  So proud was he of his academic grasp of the law, as it is with those who think they know it all, that he desired to openly sift the new Rabbi by flinging a question at Him before the multitudes.

 

The Lord took up the challenge and responded by asking our learned friend what he thought the law required. He thinking this to be an opportunity to further exhibit the product of his intellect accurately rattles off a number of verses from the law with great academic proficiency [Lk. 10:27]

 

Jesus Christ acknowledged him and even commended his answer but discerning the true need of the man, Jesus drags the issue to a realm over which mere acquisition of facts would leave a man destitute. Says He in effect, you have seen the flesh, now go your way and  enter into the spirit of what you theoretically know and approve. Do what you have said and you will have eternal life and not until then you will only remain a library of dead letters.

 

Becoming uncomfortable with the deep searching demand of the Savior, the lawyer vainly tries to justify himself and so gets himself entangled in another intellectual maze [Lk.10;29]. His last question as to who his neighbor was caused to fall from the lips of the infallible Master, the parable of the Good Samaritan.

 

It is with the Lord’s answer to this man that we shall presently engage our attention. May the Lord Himself lead us into the great storehouse of spiritual instructions enshrined within His words as found in the parable as we follow the thought. Then Jesus answered and said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half-dead—Lk.10:30

 

The scene opens with an individual traveling down from Jerusalem, the city of God unto Jericho [Outside God’s city]. He left Jerusalem where God is king, where he enjoyed the fellowship and oversight of other believers and where protection is sure only to descend for the world below, that low city of Jericho.

 

That he went down as we read in the passage is indicative of that man’s moral declension and he could be readily identified as the type of a faltering saint. When a man begins to distant himself from the city of God [the church] and the communion of the saints, he lives the only place of security and strays into that region which is governed by the wicked one [1Jn.5:19].

 

It should surprise no one then that this traveler fell among thieves. The whole world outside God’s city until today lies within the power of that prince of spiritual robbers whose mission statement is to kill to steal and to destroy—Jn.10:10. Thus we find that our wandering friend is robbed, stripped of his clothing, wounded and left for dead.

 

Ah, the sadness of it. He was stripped; he was mercilessly divested of that garment that distinguished him from the thieves themselves. The man was disrobed of the dressing that indicated authority, the garments of will-power was ruthlessly ripped into shreds! More so, he was wounded, wounded for his own transgressions and bruised for his own iniquities.

 

Think again, wasn’t that the beginning of your wounds? A man with no will-power is naked and already exposed to shame. The ability to say ‘no’ when you ought to and ‘yes’ when you should keeps you safe. But where the will is destroyed, then you become disobedient and disqualified for every good work [Titus. 1:16] you may admire good and entertain fancy ideas about Christian perfection but the will to achieve this will be lacking [Rom.7:15]Friend, your garment is torn. One careless move and Satan has ravished you, stolen your joy, destroyed your mental powers, stripped you of all authority, frustrated every purpose of God for your life and left you insensitively exposed to the mockery of the world!

 

Now half-dead, your heart is only stirred when you hear spiritual messages but you have no power, no will to return or respond to the truth of what is been taught. Except for occasional stirrings of your spirit, your Christian joy is gone away from you. You are on self-exile from home.

 

Ah, pitiful condition, sorrowful estate, not welcome among thieves as one of their own and not able to return to Jerusalem, not exactly dead and precisely not alive. Presently you are mixed up in your mind and without direction in your life, all noble purposes prostituted and forgone and yourself only yet to be openly identified with baseness! It is only a matter of time.

 

Brethren we must guard our hearts with all diligence lest the picture becomes true of us as well. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side-- Lk.10:31. Ah, we must begin to thank God, the steps of a priest approaches. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings. But wait!  The priest passed by on the other side and he did see the wounded man.

 

Does this surprise you? Yes it may, but only because you looked at his garment and acknowledged his title. The true fact about him is that he also came down that road and his foolish action of neglecting a needy soul for whatever reason proved that within him also was a repulsive moral declension.

 

But he didn’t know it, or at least he didn’t acknowledge it. He still had his garments on and though he was a priest, intercession for this one soul wasn’t worth the trouble. He was on missions to Jericho, there were multitudes awaiting his priestly intercession in Jericho. Besides why would such a venerable ‘minister’ of the Most High God want to identify with one who has fallen and that openly on the streets!

 

What would a one-man aid ministry add to this great minister when he could be a priest over a whole city? [Judg.18:19-20]. No, it is no great deal if this one soul perishes for the minister must assume the pulpit in the great city of Jericho in a few minutes time.

 

Dear Pastor, why do you always ask for the numerical strength of a congregation before you honor her invitation? Would you really be of use to a great assembly if you saw nothing worth taking your time in a smaller gathering? Why do you want to establish your church and your presence in the major states and their capitals when you are aware of the biting necessity for gospel workers in the obscure villages? Is your ambition so great that you will neglect the obviously needy for the showy populace?

 

Ah the deception of it, wherein is the love of Christ and the command to restore a brother in a spirit of gentleness? Does it not bother you that the same person with whom you praised the Lord, prayed and shared the communion presently lay spiritually inert and destitute of the spiritual joy he once possessed? Why seek to be justified at the expense of another man’s spiritual welfare? Why desire to promote your righteousness and pursue a public image when the same person for whom Christ died fails and falters? Would the devil gladly loose one of his own the same way you neglect one of the Lord’s?  May the Lord open your eyes to see.

 

But all hope was not lost. Another clergy man was coming down again and this time we may expect help from the one who knows God’s law. But oh! Not again, he passes unto the other side! Why? Didn’t we rightly identify him to be a Levite? Yes, he was and therein lay his problem. He knew enough Bible verses to prevent him from touching the wounded. He could accurately quote seven reasons from the lips of Moses as to why even merely touching the wounded would be a contaminating influence on his personal reputation.

 

Yet at heart he was no different from the injured. He arrived at the place. The same place where the other man lay exposed to the sun. But he passed on; he would be late for Bible study if he delayed any longer. Besides, pride of knowledge tells him he might get defiled if he touched the man at all.

 

‘Oh Lord, I know not my own heart, please help me, search me to see if there’s any wicked way in me.’ The priest and Levite not only disgraced the calling of God upon their lives, they failed to acknowledge that they could have been in that fallen man’s stead. They were on the same road and on the same spot where the calamity befell the wounded fellow. Oh how true it is that sometimes when we behold judgment upon others they were meant to tell us what we ourselves deserve [Lk.13:1-5].  

 

Alas, ancient Israel though openly idolatrous mourned out of heartbreak because a tribe was fallen in Israel but professing Christendom not only shows indifference but will go as far as fighting each other over the inheritance of the fallen while the real enemies remain in the land, on the streets and yes in our hearts! [Judg. 21:2-4].

 

We must be careful, not to boast but to watch over our own hearts with diligence. The good Book says, let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he falls—1 Cor.10:12. That piece of advice will be of immense benefit for all those who are apparently righteous than Jesus. Rather than help, the priest and his fellow Levite judged the man as careless and worthy of the treatment which he received before they hastily passed on.

 

But the thieves knew better. They had no need of the garments of those titular men. Their dresses and titles could not conceal their hypocritical hearts. The Prince of robbers, that dread lord of darkness, knew that to attack and undo them would be to remove the robber’s access and influence in Jerusalem.

 

By their sure steps the thieves knew that the men were already conversant with Jericho and they had enough of its influence in them as demonstrated in their action of neglect in the face of a life and death situation[Matt.5:46-47]. The man without title whom the thieves attacked was more dangerous and they had to close in upon him when the chance presented itself.

 

May we all learn from this. The true testing of our profession does not come to us in the sanctuary. It is a matter wholly reserved for the streets. The priest and the Levite must be sent outside Jerusalem to be examined according to divine standards. Men do not slide under the watchful company of saints, within the city of God [Matt.26:33,35] but no sooner are they by themselves than their real character surfaces [Matt.26:56].

 

Those men didn’t think anyone saw them but how true the contrast! Omniscience sees clearly where the eyes of man cannot and each action is been penned only to be revisited on a later day. My dear brother, we must be careful with our actions. The vision of He who continues as Superintendent over the great Crystal Sea can never be blurred no matter how men try to ruffle His knowledge with the unholy mud of hypocrisy.

 

Every true believer in Christ Jesus must have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God—2 Cor.4:2 We are called to renounce and not merely denounce the hidden things of shame. The priest and the Levite would certainly have found it easy to preach in Jerusalem against the very things they eventually did on the streets. May the Lord save us from so vile a religion.

 

But wait! Another man was drawing near but as it is we cannot depend on him, he was a Samaritan, a man from a denomination with whom we have no dealings. He surely would not look in the direction of a fallen Jew. But please observe that, he did not come down, or merely arrive at the place as was said of the first two. Rather it is said that he journeyed, He was passing through the world but was not of the world.

 

How many who are not of our persuasion are journeying the pilgrim way. We hate them and will have nothing to do with them and that because we take ourselves to be the standard of righteousness. And so it is that when a person doesn’t belong to our group and does not prostrate before our subjective views, we cannot accept him as one of Christ’s.

 

Listen, all believers need not necessarily agree on every single detail. One thinks he may eat only vegetables and the other is capable of giving thanks over meat. Why can’t we rather accept one another? The Lord has broken down the middle wall of partition within his church why do you seek to rebuild that unholy fence again? May the Lord give us wisdom to forsake trivialities at the expense of unity in the body of Christ.

 

Coming closer to the injured, that non-Jewish fellow, the Samaritan had compassion—Lk.10:34. At the arrival of a humanly unapproved foreigner, an attribute of God is mentioned. A fruit of the Spirit gains expression in an unrecognized, unsophisticated, unappreciated brother. Amazingly, this virtue was demonstrated by one who hails from a race with whom Jews have always maintained a bitter feud. The Samaritan was a true son of the Father of mercies and God of all comfort--2 Cor.1:3, who loved us even while we were still sinners and therefore were His enemies [Rom. 5:8]

 

The Samaritan went to the fallen Jew and applied first aid. First things must be done first. He went to him. Accurately discerning that the man was already half dead, he went to him. He didn’t wait for the injured to ask help.

 

Even the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost [Lk.19:10]. No man would be saved if the reverse was the case [Rom.3:11]. Adam has not that faculty to return to God, Jehovah it was who came seeking his rebellious creature [Gen.3:9]. The Good Shepherd didn’t wait for the lost sheep to re-trace its steps He took the initiative to find the silly creature [Lk.15:4-7]. The Spirit came to convict the world of sin, of judgment and of righteousness [Jn.16:8]. The world left to its own wisdom will never think that way [Rom.8:7].   

 

Bro, are you waiting for that fallen man to come to you before you know what to do to help? Then be advised, that is not the way of God. The power to do so has been prostituted in him. Your love is being awaited by a needy world, by some faltering saint, by some avowed sinner.

 

Pride in you must give way if anything is to be achieved. See that teenager in your group, observe that young man in church. Note carefully the kind of questions he asks. But he shrinks away from opening up or freely asking in church. Have you considered it? Isn’t that because he thinks you will consider him unholy if he comes to you? He will not come to you. You appear much too respected to be approached with the kind of problem that is biting the youngster. Take the initiative, go to him; he has a story to tell.

 

The Samaritan went to the wounded Jew and instead of making sport of this man’s predicament or announcing his fall on the hills of Jerusalem; he went to him and seeing his critical condition, began to apply first aid. It would have been a golden opportunity for a Samaritan to mock the nakedness of a Jew but how different was this man’s heart. He went to him!

 

Does your brother have something against you? Go to him and settle the scores. Has your fellow fallen from his first spiritual love to Christ and you still discern the capacity for life in him? Brother, risk the ridicule or danger involved, go to him. His speech may be spiritually incoherent because of the gravity of his fall and the deepness of his wounds but wouldn’t your heart rejoice to find his heart-beat pulsating with cries of I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget your commandments—Ps.119:176

 

Go to him. Apply first aid. You may not be a professional preacher but you can assure him of the love of God and of your love and concern for him. His heart will not fail to respond, love to the undeserving is a rare quality and where it is found, the recipient never forgets and will forever be apt to bless God for such a one as you.

 

Covering his wounds and pouring oil and wine, the Samaritan used everything within his disposal to preserve the life of the fallen, and all this he did on the street, imperiling his own life, putting himself in the fallen man’s shoes thereby admitting that the same could have happened to him.

 

Even more than that, he carried the wounded Jew and set him on his own animal. There on the wild road, on that lonely route. In a place and a situation that hurried away the steps of a priest and a Levite, the Samaritan was neither afraid nor ashamed to identify himself with this fallen fellow.

 

If Jews had met him there with the wounded, they may cast stones at him before asking any questions. If Samaritans met him first, they’ll certainly tongue-lash him. If the thieves chanced upon him they may strike him and he may both die and lose the wine, oil and animal.

 

In spite of all these, he carried the wounded, he gathered the man to himself, and as the body of the injured was bleeding with blood, the heart of the Samaritan was bleeding with mercies. Can you picture him as he collected the Jew from the ground to himself? Oh, see him standing as he carried his fellowman, watch him as the problem of the injured became his problem too. Despite all the odds, He lifted him, he carried him. He wouldn’t proceed without the man. Whatever he had to do, wherever he was going before now, this man’s life was worth more than all.

 

Let Jews come and cast stones, let Samaritans disown him, let thieves come and undo him, one thing is certain. As long as he was alive himself, he would never willfully watch life expire in another person. Though the reason for potential danger with men, he standing there carrying the wounded was about the best picture of the man taken from on high.

 

Oh my sister, see how compassion for us costs God! Whenever we are suffering, God Himself is suffering. Do you realize this? Uncle, do you realize this?

 

‘Holy Father, help us to do the same. Beyond all denominational distinctions help us to realize that if one part suffers, the whole body suffers with it. Give us this wisdom oh Lord, lest we continue in our mad rage against one another’

 

Unless somebody did something a human soul was at risk of loss of life. Jerusalem itself was in danger of losing one of its sons!  The Samaritan knew and rightly felt that the same kind of life that was pulsating in his own veins was about to expire in another man but he wouldn’t let it.

 

Let the thieves come, he’ll gladly give up the oil, the wine and his animal. But now there was work to do. He wouldn’t leave the fallen Jew to be baked by the sun. He carried him, he gathered the man to himself as his own. He gladly collected the foreigner as his own responsibility.

 

But alas even the thieves cannot come now. In the case of the priest and the Levite, they didn’t attack because there was nothing to gain from those, but in the case of the Samaritan God’s restraining hand was upon them and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?—1Pt.3:13

 

Looking around for help with the wounded man in his hands, his heart was wailing and groaning with unutterable cries for help in the struggle to save a God-given life.

 

And though no human soul was there to render assistance, God was with him. The Pharisee may be content to announce his own good deeds in the temple [Matt.6:1-4], the Samaritan was happy to serve unseen and unapplauded.

 

Sir, you may be the only means of restoration to a dying soul. Never neglect an opportunity to do good. The opportunity may never present itself again. It is not beyond imagination that poisonous tongues may lash their venom at you but you cannot be hurt. They will only bark but God will restrain them from inflicting bites. No, God is with you. He aids you and will continue to do so unto the end.

 

Sister, have you seen into the heart of God? Do you know He Himself suffers when we suffer by virtue of a fall? How then will you help your fallen sister? The great clergy men are in pursuit of crusades and giant revivals. God is interested in forsaking the ninety and nine that haven’t strayed to seek the lost one [Lk.15:4]. Marvel not at this, it is the way to true revival, that lost one if restored will be of immense value to the sorrowing Shepherd and of tremendous help to others than the collective theories of the ninety and nine.

 

The Samaritan set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn. This quiet loving brother brought the fallen to the innkeeper and said, take care, be gentle with him, he has already discovered his erstwhile lovers to be false, he has known his foolish habits and desires to be broken cisterns that can hold no water capable of quenching his perverted thirst, he has met with enough condemnation and rebuke already. Please take care of him.

 

The Samaritan had already taken care of the wounded man to the best of his own ability and now he would call on the innkeeper to do the same with the touch of expertise, while he himself goes ahead in his pilgrim walk and visiting the injured from time to time as shall be possible to him.

 

Likewise we must always commit the things or persons the Lord has committed into our care back into His hands [2Tim.1:14]. There they are safe. We are only tools in the hands of the great Worker and never to presume to take His place in another person’s life by imposing ourselves upon him. It is good that we give ourselves to our brethren but we must not fail to also continue to commit them into the hands of the Lord and to encourage them as much as lies within our power.

 

‘Oh, great comforter, comfort him, heal him by guiding into all truth as You are a specialist in this And for me work in my heart so that I will be willing to avail myself to the service of sacred use. To render assistance with all that You will require of me. Take whatever is mine that you may use and please know that I’ll gladly give whatever you require if it suits the purpose of salvation and restoration.’

 

Neither the priest nor the Levite ever met or enjoyed the ministry of that tender Innkeeper, they were whole in their own sight and needed no tender care [Lk.5:31]. To illustrate their wicked actions with a modern day scenery, they can be likened to professing believers who while driving along a road encountered a man who had fallen as the victim of a ghastly motor accident and when asked to help convey the injured to the hospital, the first responds, Oh, am sorry but I can’t do that, I am going on missions as you can see I am a minister and this is a church vehicle.  A second is asked and he replies, Ah, I would have loved to help but I received distinct directions to use this vehicle to proclaim our forthcoming church crusade. I’m sorry but obedience is better than sacrifice. Until a third person not laying claim to Christianity comes and without being asked hurriedly applied his brakes and carried the wounded in his vehicle to the hospital That is the picture of what we are discussing.

 

Beloved, all things work together for good to them who love God and those who are the called according to His purpose [Rm.8:28].  That Scripture gains expression and finds fulfillment in the case of the wounded Jew whose wandering God turned to good by leading him to the place of tender care.

 

A man may be a preacher and be alien to the ways of the Holy Spirit and a simple brother or sister who may not be titled or generally recognized but safely trusts in the Lord may know how to resort and even lead others to the care of the Holy Ghost whenever the need arises.

 

Our Lord finished His message and asked his listener a question. Notably, the man listening to Him though a Jew, was not taken in by any of the Jewish clergy men mentioned during the message. The one thing that impressed him was that supernatural attribute of God as gaining expression in a human being.

 

Note well that he didn’t say, ‘the Samaritan’ in response to Jesus’ question. The ancient hostility between Jews and Samaritans was still in his mind, but inescapably, he nevertheless identified that Samaritan saint by the unnatural attribute of mercy which he demonstrated, and in so doing acknowledged the superiority of the spirit over the flesh, the life over the dress and the substance over the shadow.

 

So it is that whenever we preach the Word of God nothing of our brilliant discourses or clever arguments or logical acuteness affects the listener like being able to present God for who He is from the pages of the word of God.

 

We cannot reach any soul with the double edged sword using mere mental knowledge biblical or no biblical. Spirit must touch spirit for anything of eternal value to occur. Even when we enunciate the word of God correctly, the power to affect any soul must come from the Lord and the Lord only[Acts.16:14].

 

God is  Spirit and they that worship or serve Him must do so in spirit and in truth [Jn.4:24] Mere natural intelligence will not suffice. Men will readily read you than they do the Bible. Your actions preach with great eloquence louder than your mouth or your brain. Your attitude can drive a soul away from God or draw that soul to Him forever.

 

The lawyer having understood this was told by the Lord and the instruction applies to us as well, Go and do likewise May the Lord give us wisdom.