July 16, 1995	Be a Good Samaritan, Anyway	Amos 7:7-17

Colossians 1:1-14

Luke 10:25-37

In our lesson from the book of Amos, the prophet finds himself in the presence of the Lord. And God shows Amos a wall that has been built perfectly plumb, straight and true. Every brick had been placed with care, precision, and purpose. And then God showed Amos a plumb line, a tool used by brick layers, even today, to measure how their work is progressing. If the wall is plumb, the plumb line will show it. But if the wall is crooked, if it is unbalanced and leaning too far to the right or to the left, the plumb line will quickly show that, as well.

And God told Amos that he was going to put a plumb line in the midst of Israel; that he was going to judge how straight and true that nation was. God was going to check to see whether the people were putting their lives together with care, precision, and purpose, or whether their lives were crooked, unbalanced, and leaning too far to the right or to the left. And God already knew what he would find in the nation of Israel. God already knew that he would find injustice. God already knew that he would find violence, and corruption, and faithlessness, and worldliness. And like a good brick layer with a plumb line inspecting his work and finding it faulty, God warned Amos that he would have to tear the wall down and start over again. The day was coming when Israel would be in turmoil: the major cities would be ruined; the holy places desecrated; and the political leaders faced with rebellion.

So, Amos responded faithfully to what the Lord had taught him and began to spread the news to the people of Israel. But, as you might expect, this started to raise a ruckus among the religious leaders of Israel who got much of their power from the nice and easy relationship they had with the corrupt king. As long as the religious leaders had looked away from his unconcern and contempt for the poor; as long as they looked away from his corrupt policies and injustice; as long as they ignored the king's personal sins and immorality they would continue to enjoy the position they had in society. They didn't want to rock the boat. And, so, as you might expect, when these religious leaders found out that Amos was out there rocking the boat they sent their leader, the high priest, Amaziah, to speak with Amos. And Amaziah called Amos in and told him, "Go away, you seer! Go back down south where you belong and shoot off your mouth there, if you want to. But leave us alone here because this is our turf and you're messing with our livelihood and we were here first."

So, Amos replied to the high priest and spoke the word of the Lord, warning him that because he refused to hear the truth, "Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will certainly go into exile, away from their native land." And the amazing thing is, as one follows the rest of the story, this is exactly what happened in the years to come.

Now, stories like these were not put into the Bible for our entertainment, or as filler, or as something to base a TV movie on. They were put in there for us to ponder upon, to remind us of the questions we need to keep asking ourselves as we build our lives. And for us, this morning, those questions might very well be (1.) Who is building our life? (2.) Where do we get our sense of what is true? and (3.) What must we do to inherit eternal life?

As we look at the first question, we might worry a bit, I think. Who is building our life? If you go into the living rooms of America, today, you quickly realize without any hesitation that the one major influence upon our collective morality, values, ethics, and way of life is what is playing on TV. Our children, our young people, even adults are being formed and reformed by what is being fed to us through the miracle of lucified glass, otherwise known as picture tubes, and vibrating paper membranes, otherwise known as speakers. And like the religious leaders of Amos' day who enjoyed an easy relationship with the powers and principalities in exchange for their silence; don't believe for one moment that today's media, electronic and otherwise, would have it as easy getting into our minds if they were really rocking the boat with the powers that be. If an Amos came along today, bearing the truth that the Lord wanted America to hear, and if it really had the potential of rocking the boat, would anyone ever hear what Amos had to say?

I was talking to someone the other day who said that they believed in God; that they really loved Jesus; but didn't go to church because they could get all the religion they needed from watching TV on Sunday morning. But the danger is this: unless the local church gets the support of the people, what's left? Media religion, controlled by the powers and principalities of this world!

Who teaches us? Maybe you say that the schools teach us. But, what is taught in the public schools, today? Reading, writing, and arithmetic. That's good. We need to know such things. Learning history is good. Learning calculous is good. Learning science is good. But, what about what is right and wrong? Can a teacher tell a child that sex before marriage is wrong? No. Instead, we tell children that if they're going to do such a thing they should take the proper precautions to avoid STD's and other things that may come along unexpectedly. Can a teacher take a bible and read it to his/her class? No. Instead, we tell children that they can read anything they want to, as long as it conforms to the accepted moral norms of the local community, whatever they are. Can a teacher tell a child that faithfulness in marriage and celibacy in singleness is a good thing? No. Instead, children get their heads filled at home by TV with stories of infidelity, rape, murder, incest, shootings, and the like. With such limitations and with such competition from other influences, how can the schools, even good schools, teach anything to our children that really is important to the building of their lives? If someone like Amos came along and wanted to tell our children something from the Lord, how long would he last if he did it in the schools?

So, we need to ask the question, again, "Who teaches us?" Is it the Bible? Is it really from our fellowship with Christians who are struggling with what it means to serve and love and be faithful to God? Is it really from our one hour or two hours spent in the church every week? Are we taught by our daily walk with God? How will our lives measure up to God's plumb line when he lays it against our soul? Who is building our life.

But, then there is the second question, that is a lot like the first one, "Where do we get our sense of what is true?" In our Epistle lesson for today, the Apostle Paul tells the Christians at Colossae that he thanks God for them because they have heard and accepted the word of truth, the gospel, that has come to them." And Paul went on to tell them that "all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth."

John Wesley, who with his brother Charles founded the Methodist Movement in England during the last half of the 18th century, taught that our knowledge of the truth must involve our willingness to examine scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. To know what God wants for our lives, we read the Bible. We ask what the church teaches about it. We examine what God is saying to us in the midst of our lives. And then we ask, "Does it make sense?" It is from a process such as this that United Methodists and other Christians have learned what is true. It is from being in touch with scripture, tradition, experience, and reason that we aren't led astray by every fad, fancy, or voice that comes along.

Nevertheless, there are voices in life that try to tell us that what we know as truth is not true, at all. There are those voices that tell us, "Come on! You only get to go around once in life! Do your own thing! Have fun! Don't worry about consequences! Just do it! As long as it doesn't hurt anyone else it's ok! Everyone else is doing it! It's the 'in' thing to do!" Voices like this are powerful. They're hard to ignore. Yet, they're not God's voice. And it's God's voice we need to be listening to. So, who's voice are we listening to? Where do we get our sense of what is true?

But, the last question that I would like to pose this morning is important, as well. It was the question that was asked by an expert in the law in order to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus asked him, "What does the Law say?" And the lawyer answered, "Love the Lord you 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." Jesus told him that he had answered correctly. But the lawyer asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" And we are told that the lawyer asked Jesus this because he felt that if his neighbors were only the folks who lived next door he would be doing ok. As long as those neighbors didn't include the people who live across town, as long as those neighbors didn't include folks who are sinners or foreigners or "not like us" or whatever, he would be doing ok. But, Jesus didn't let him off the hook. Instead, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. And from hearing this story the lawyer realized that make ourselves neighbors to others by how we treat them. If we show love to others, if we show mercy and kindness, we become neighbors in a very real and positive way. But, if we do not do these things, we have done nothing to further the kingdom of God. If we do not do these things, we are not living as disciples of Jesus Christ. If we aren't doing these things, we are not really living by faith, nor are we really hearing the word of God in our life and we're really showing the world who our real teacher is. We're really showing the world where our sense of truth is coming from. But, if we love our neighbor, especially that guy down the street who certainly doesn't deserve it, then the message is clear who our Teacher is. If we can love and care for our neighbors, even those folks who are different from us, or disagree with us or get angry with us, then we show the world who our real Teacher is. If we can love those who hate us, and be a good Samaritan, anyway, there's no mistake who our real Teacher is, and where our sense of truth is coming from. It is then that we are living our faith. It is then that our faith becomes real and alive and vital. To be a good Samaritan, anyway, defines who we are, it demonstrates which way we're heading, towards eternity, or towards the things that are only made of dust.

I am reminded of the story of a quiet, little man, a vendor of fruits and vegetables, who passed by a woman's door every day. One day the woman picked up a small notebook near the spot where the man's wagon had stood. On the first page she was surprised to find these words: "For His Body's sake, which is the Church." Throughout the book were bible quotations and many notations like these: "The following were absent from Bible School last Sunday. Be sure to visit them." "Ask about the sick baby." "Leave fruit for the blind lady." "Speak a word of cheer to the old crippled man." "Invite the new family to church services."

The next day the woman handed the book to the humble fruit peddler with the question, "I wonder if you dropped this yesterday?" "Yes, indeed," was the answer. "It is my book of reminders, as I call it. Thank you very much!" The woman then explained that she had glanced at the contents and expressed her surprise at their unusual character. "Well, he answered, pointing to the first page, "this is my motive, my reason, for doing things: 'For His Body's sake, which is the Church'." Then with an illuminating smile he added, "You see, it keeps my soul out of the dust."

What can we do this week to keep our soul out of the dust? Be a good Samaritan, anyway? May God bless as we strive to be faithful to God in our lives!

Amen.