A Men’s Event, A Wedding and A Sermon

I had a pretty eventful weekend last week and it really tied together in a big way by Sunday evening.

On Friday, I went to a men’s event where a man from South Africa charged our men to stand up for their wives, their families and ultimately for God. It was a great reminder and chilling to see men willing to commit to being change in our nation that continues to drift further away from Christ.

On Saturday, I watched some friends of mine get married and I was stunned when I saw them looking at each other as they read their vows. They looked like the happiest people on the planet in that moment. It was a wet day, but the heart-felt ceremony, the family together and so many other details made the day pretty special.

On Sunday, our pastor spoke of two very difficult chapters in Revelation where God will judge the earth. It’s a pretty difficult message but the challenge was again to take our faith seriously because we are called to live lives committed to the Gospel. We are called to love and help those whom God loves so that they will avoid an eternity away from him.

I felt like I was given a picture in my mind from these three events:

In the Bible, the Church (with a capital C) is the Bride of Christ and Jesus is the Bridegroom. The Bible calls for all believers to set their lives aside for the sake of the Gospel. We are called to no longer live for ourselves, but for him. We are to live for our Bridegroom. This relationship, calls for a full commitment, whether as living sacrifices or even dying for our faith as so many believers around the world are today. (over 150,000 Christians died for their faith in 2008)

But when we look at Revelation, the final few chapters end in a wedding. I love these words from Revelation 19:

7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;

8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” [1]

In my mind, I was taken back to the wedding I saw this weekend from my thoughts in Revelation. Whether symbolic or literal, when Jesus returns, a wedding will take place. Jesus will be together with His Church forever. In my head, I see our Bridegroom who sacrificed everything to make a way to be with His Bride. I see a Bride who has made herself ready by following after her Bridegroom in obedience and sacrifice. The Bride loves her husband and there is this moment of anticipation. As my friends, who spoke their vows and looked at each other with all the love possible in a moment, our moment will be one we have all been waiting for. Jesus, having proven himself to his Bride through his saving sacrifice stares in love at His Bride who has suffered because she has loved him.

And, this wedding day will be just the beginning. Revelation 21:4-5 states:

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” [2]

This will be a day to remember for eternity and it will be worth everything we sacrifice in this life and more. However, I am then reminded that the day is not here yet. We have a mission and a job to do because we love him. We have a Bridegroom to follow after and He is worth our very lives.


[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Re 19:7–9). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Re 21:4–5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)

LUKE 10:30    Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

31        Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32            So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33             But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

34        He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35           And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

36        Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37        He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

When we look at our lives, how do you think we compare in Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan?

A lot of times, we look at this story and we do imagine ourselves as the Good Samaritan because we actually have within us the desire to help people.  However, if we are honest, and we look at our day to day actions, a lot of times we find ourselves as the priest or the Levite. 

Notice that Jesus mentions the religious people before he mentions the Samaritan.  I feel like that the order is important.  Let’s look at what a priest, Levite and Samaritan is.

PRIESTS in the Old Testament

• The direct descendants of Aaron
• highest of Jewish officials
• the priests received the parts of the offerings not consumed by sacrifice, the firstlings of flock and herd, and a tithe of the levitical tithes
• Teaching
• Anointed kings
• Spoke to soldiers before battle

LEVITES in the Old Testament

• Descendents of Gershon, Kohath and Merari
• Levites were dedicated to an auxiliary ministry for the priests, especially in regard to the manual labor of caring for the tabernacle
• Transported and guarded the tabernacle
• Assisted in worship at the temple
• the Levites were supported by the tithes of the people
• the Levites had permission to reside in forty-eight cities set aside for their use.  Surrounding each city an area of pasture-land was marked off for them.
• The Levities were scattered in these cities to keep the knowledge and service of God alive.

SAMARITANS in the Old Testament

• Regarded by Jews as neither fully Gentile nor fully Jewish
• Their name was a term of contempt among the Jews.  Jesus was called a Samaritan and a blasphemer at His trial
• Samaritans were considered apostate to the Jews because while they observed the Torah strictly, they believed they were bearers of the true faith of ancient Israel which contradicted Jewish teaching.

The order is important in which Jesus mentions the type of people:  the priest, the Levite and the Samaritan.  Jesus first lists the person who knew the law the most, (the Priest), then the Levite who would be the second most aware person to honor God’s law because Levites serve in the temple, they are in the community, continuing to make people aware of God’s law and finally, the good Samaritan is listed.  The Samaritan’s theology isn’t quite right and there are times in their past where they opposed the Jews, but this Samaritan, also someone who follows God’s law, is considered an outcast.  However, he chooses to love his neighbor.

So how does this apply to us?  We respond as a church culture with an expectation.  If someone has a problem, we normally refer them to the pastor, or the staff, the deacon, or even someone who is involved with a ministry.  While this isn’t always a bad thing, sometimes what we do, if I speak in terms of the parable, we point people to the priest (the pastor), or the Levite (church staff, ministry leaders, etc.) to help them.  We believe the job of service belongs to the religious leaders or those who get paid, but what I believe Jesus is showing us here, is that it really is our job too.  Sometimes, religious leaders will miss the mark and everyday people who choose to make a difference for the sake of someone else, reaping the spiritual benefits of making a difference for others.

As Christians, we can learn and debate Scripture, trying to pinpoint the time of the Rapture or arguing about predestination, and we can get caught up in the religious aspect of who we are.  We can be asked by others to pray, serve God in certain roles in the congregation, but miss opportunities to make a difference to the lost.  We just walk on by.  When we truly see the role of priests, Levites and Samaritans, it’s not too hard to see ourselves in any of these people if we are honest.

The bottom line is, are we willing to let God teach us through service?  It’s not going to always be easy.  There is risk involved; you may lose time or money; you may find yourself not having the words, but many times, we gain more from making a difference in someone’s life than it ever really costs us to do so.  God shows us His heart when we choose to make a difference. 

When you forgive someone, when you give hope to the hopeless by your intervention, you reflect the very actions of the Cross.  You forgive because you were forgiven.  You bring hope to the hopeless because God gave you hope in the first place.  You rescue because you were rescued.  When you invest in someone’s life, it’s because God first invested in you.  You are demonstrating the very nature of grace given to you by Jesus Himself. 

Matthew 5:16 [ESV]

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.