If there were a final exam for Christians at the end of their lives what would that contain?  What would the questions be? Would they be how many business you won, how many deals you made, or how popular you were?   I think in the end the final exam is going to be how well we have forgiven.  It was a test for Christ.  It was in the garden of Gethsemane when He was sweating drops of blood. He couldn’t handle it anymore.  Was it because of the cross?  No.  It was because He had to forgive those who brought about the pain, and He passed the test when He said on the cross, “Father, Forgive them.”  I think He passed the test because if He hadn’t passed it, we wouldn’t be here today.  Isn’t that right?  It was all because of forgiveness.  It’s about one who lays aside his righteousness and gives forgiveness.  Today, we’re going to talk about this form of test from a parable called the Good Samaritan.  But it actually didn’t begin out of a parable.  It began out of a test.  It starts off, “And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.”  And He said to him, “You have answered this correctly. Do this and live” Luke 10:28.  Emphasis is on ‘Do.’ This brings me to the first point.

1.    Life begins when we live out His principles, not just know them.  John 13:17 says, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”  It’s easy to come to a church where there is a lot of information, but if it just goes into your head and stays there it’s called information.  If it drops down to your heart that’s the second step where it goes from information to inspiration.  But it’s still not enough.  All it does is make you feel good, but you don’t change the world with that.  It’s not until it drops down into the soles of your feet and bleeds out of your fingernails where it becomes incarnation.  That’s when things begin to change.  ‘Do this and live.’  Blessings don’t come through the knowing but through the doing.  Otherwise we’ll know all the things about love and sing all the songs there are of love, but we won’t love when ‘push comes to shove.’  We’ll know everything about joy and sing songs of joy, but we won’t have joy in our souls.  We’ll know everything about forgiveness and say ‘amen’ to songs about forgiveness, but out in the world we can’t forgive.  Edgar Guest has a poem that goes like this, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day, I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.  The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear, fine counsel is confusing but example’s always clear.  The lecture you deliver may be very wise and true, but I’d rather get my lessons by observing what you do.  For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.”  So, the Lord says to this young man, “What’s the greatest commandment?” And he tells the Lord the answer and the Lord says to him, “Good, now go and do it.”  “But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (Luke 10:29)   And here Jesus goes into the story of the Good Samaritan.  We’re good at making excuses or justifications like him aren’t we?  Here, the Lord doesn’t answer him directly.  Instead he replies, “Which of these three do you think proved to be neighbor to the man who fell into robbers’ hands?” And he said to Him, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Go and do likewise’” (Luke 10:36-37).  Which one was the neighbor?  It was the one who showed mercy.  Jesus is going to talk to us today about mercy being given to neighbors.  It’s something we get to do, and I bet that’s going to be the test: the final exam of life.  How well did you forgive.  So, Jesus is making a distinction between your friends and your neighbors.  Forgiving and loving friends is not hard to do.  Being nice to friends is not hard to do.  So, what is the difference between a friend and a neighbor?  Here it is,

·     Friend: Someone you choose .

·     A Neighbor is someone God chooses. 

The test is going to be how well we have given mercy not to our friends but to our neighbors.   You may say, “Who are my neighbors?”

·     Strangers

·     Co-workers

·     Family members

Here’s a curveball.  Your family members are your neighbors.  You didn’t choose your sister, brother, mother, or father.  God chose them.  The final test is going to be how we treat our neighbors.  You may say, “But it’s really hard to forgive my neighbors and show mercy to them!”  Well, that’s exactly what the whole parable is about.  Yes it’s hard! Horribly hard.  It’s easy to show mercy to your friends, but terribly hard to show them to your neighbors.  I’m not here to tell you it’s easy.  But, if we’re going to have a gusty faith, there’s going to be times where we will have to get down in the dirt where the ‘rubber hits the road’ and walk out our faith.  Otherwise, it’s nice to sing songs about forgiveness but when it comes to reality we implode.  There has to be a gusty faith that is the foundation of everything we do.  It’s like Jesus is saying to this young man, “You know a lot of stuff, but you’ve missed the foundation.”  Instead, it’s about having mercy on your neighbor.   Let me give you three stages of forgiveness:

· Awkward

· Mechanical

· Natural

It’s okay if at first your forgiveness is in the first two stages—you’re trying, but don’t let it stop there.  If you want to forgive more naturally, here is what you can do:  Forgive more.  It’s hard for us to get to the third stage of forgiveness because we don’t forgive that much, do we?  Think about that.  How much did you forgive in these past two weeks?  Probably not a lot.  It’s because we’re not used to forgiving.  The more you and I forgive and ask for forgiveness it moves to something being natural.  When it becomes natural where you can forgive or ask for forgiveness here is what God does, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). 

God takes the events of your life and converts them into a benefit for your future.  But it’s only

2.    At the point of forgiveness and acceptance is when God starts to convert the event into what will benefit you and your future.  Until this point occurs, God cannot  work things together for your good if there is bitterness in your heart.    Only when we can tell God we forgive and accept will He begin to convert the events of your life and change your future.  It’s like the saying, “Forgiveness cannot change the past, but it will certainly change your future.”  Now, getting to this point will take you through a valley of pain and grief.  But, it’s at the point of surrender where we allow God to take the scraps of our lives and turn it into what feeds the multitude.   Jesus had to surrender too.  It was when He was in the garden of Gethsemane.  Mark 14:34-36 says, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death.  Remain here and keep watch.  And He went a little beyond them and fell to the ground… ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me, but not what I will, but what You will.’”  Have you ever been so deeply grieved that your soul was ready to expire?  Have you ever gone through something in your family that was so tough, that you just didn’t have it in you anymore?  Your soul wanted to just die.  Jesus was grieved in the garden.  He could have done any of the following: given up, ran away, or called down a legion of angels to destroy His persecutors.  I was thinking about what I would have done if I was in His shoes, and I think I would have done the third option.  And if it were you, I think you would have also done the same.  If Jesus went through grief so will we.  But we are people who know Christ and I want you to know that you and I will have to carry the cross.  Another saying comes to mind, “It’s always easier to preach the cross, then to carry it.”  It’s easier to tell people what they should do until it comes to back to ourselves.  However, God talks to us about having a gutsy faith.  It’s in Joshua 1:9 where He says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed for the Lord is with you wherever you go!”  You may not like what happened in your past, but don’t grovel over it. You have to learn to forgive and let go!  It’s going to take courage.  I say it this way, “Don’t like your past? Stand up and walk out of your history.”  If you’re in a place where you rehearse and nurse your past, it will stay that way.  Walk out of your history and move into your next season of life.  You may say that you can’t forget what he did or she did, and it’s so hard.  I know it is, but God will help you.  So, how do we survive, and how can we overcome?

3.   We live or die one thought at a time.  Whenever that thought comes you have to die to it. When something bad happens to you, how many times do you rehearse it in your mind? Maybe ten, twenty, or thirty times.  You have to win over that one thought at a time.  That’s why the Bible says in 2 Cor. 10: 5, “We are destroying speculations and everything raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”  We either live or die every time we have a thought that reminds us of something we’re upset about.  Someone once said, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a reputation. Sow a reputation, reap a destiny.”  Can I encourage you to pray this prayer, “Lord, may my thoughts please you today.” 

The ones that will be the contents of your final exam will not be having mercy on your friends but mercy on your neighbors.  Often those neighbors are in your own family or church.  Remember, your friends are the ones you choose.  Neighbors are the ones God chooses.  How are you doing with them?  The final exam in life will be I bet, how well you have forgiven your neighbor.  It was the same for Jesus. Here’s the cool thing: the final exam won’t be at the end of your life, it’ll be every day.  You’re in the midst of your final exam.  Do well.  Jesus left us an example, and He’s given us the courage.  How are you doing with your neighbor?  Forgiveness is not a gift for our neighbors, it’s for us.  As we forgive, it frees us, and we pass the exam.  It is then that God can use those events to give you a better future.  Let God convert those events by your forgiveness so you can have freedom and hear the Lord say, “Well done thy good and faithful servant, you passed the test!”  That’s the kind of person we want to be.  Amen

Discussion Questions:

1.   What is the difference between a neighbor and friend?

2.   What neighbors do you need to forgive?

3.   Of the three categories of forgiveness discussed, which do you fall under?

4.   How can you forgive more naturally?   

5.   Do you tend to live or die one thought at a time?