The Good Samaritan: Learning True Compassion | Guest Speaker Lance Ward

What does it truly mean to "love your neighbor"?

In this Sunday evening lesson, guest speaker Lance Ward shares a personal and practical message from Luke 10:25–37, examining the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Rather than simply retelling the story, Lance challenges us to honestly evaluate our own hearts and consider whether we show Christlike compassion—not only to fellow Christians, but also to the world around us. 

Through Scripture and personal reflection, this lesson explores how true compassion often requires:

•  Sacrifice 
•  Time 
•  Inconvenience 
•  Generosity 
•  Love in action 

Key Scriptures:

•  Luke 10:25–37 
•  Matthew 22:37–40 
•  1 Corinthians 13 
•  1 John 3:17–18 
•  Galatians 6:2 
•  Colossians 3:12–17 

May this lesson encourage you to grow in mercy, love, and compassion as you seek to become more like Christ each day.

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Speaker: Guest Speaker Lance Ward
Church: Milwaukee Avenue Church of Christ
Location: Lubbock, Texas

#Bible #GoodSamaritan #Luke10 #Compassion #ChristianLiving #ChurchOfChrist #BibleStudy #Sermon #LoveYourNeighbor #MilwaukeeAvenueChurchOfChrist

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:13

Good evening, let us see everybody here tonight. I have my Bible open to Luke Ten. And if you mark it, I promise we will eventually get there. Luke chapter 10. I guess I look nervous in the back because Nate was talking to me. I am nervous. I was thinking, why don't you get up here and do this? But he does that all the time. So that wasn't a good comeback. It was very encouraging, though. I think every time I get up here, I'm always I'm always working on stuff. Hey, Lance, you want to get mic up? No, no. I'm not good with technology. I thought about bringing Jamie's iPad up here, but if it fizzles out and I have no Bible, uh not good with technology. So I got my note cards, old school. I love it. Just bear with me. I think we all struggle with something in our lives. We all have struggles. We maybe not tell anybody, but we all have a struggle. We're always striving to be Christ-like, but we're always falling short. Humility, patience, anger, the temptation of the world, works of the flesh. We all have struggles. For me personally, I believe I have about three to five things I'm always working on. I know for sure I have a lack of patience. It's in my top five, it's probably number one. But something I never thought would become first came to the top. Compassion, mercy, love. I've been struggling with this lately. Not for the brethren. I have compassion for the brethren, but when it comes to the world, my thinking is karma, play stupid games, you win stupid prizes, an eye for an eye, evil begets evil. That attitude is not what Christ teaches. He taught love. We read that in the scripture reading tonight. Thank you, Keith, for that very long reading. The scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, love. Matthew 27, 37 to 40 says, And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind. This is a great and first commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. And I know the scriptures. Psalm eighty six fifteen, but you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. James five eleven. Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Matthew five, seven, blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Galatians six two, bear one another's burden and so fulfill the law of Christ. There's many examples in the Bible of compassion. Jesus healing the lepers, the woman at the well, at the tomb of Lazarus, raising the widow's son, feeding the five thousand. So when I think of compassion, I go to Luke 10, and that's what we're going to read tonight. Is a story of the Good Samaritan or the parable of the Good Samaritan. We're going to go Luke 10, verse 25. And behold a lawyer stood up, put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? And the answer said, 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 them, You have answered correctly, do this, and you will live. But he desiring to justify himself and to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? 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. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levi, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan as he journeyed came to where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion. 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. And the next day he took two dinera and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, The one who showed him mercy, and Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise. And so I've realized reading this story. I think we all know this story. I'm not the good Samaritan. Sometimes when Jamie and I are driving, we see somebody break down, we like, is that somebody we know? Is it one of the brethren? I don't know what cars you all drive. But think about in your daily lives when you're driving, somebody has a flat tire, somebody's broken down. Oh, I gotta get somewhere. I know for sure if I was on the way to church, I wouldn't stop for anybody. I don't want to be late. If it was a brethren, hey, no problem. But for somebody else, I wouldn't stop. That's what I need to work on. I will talk about the story a little bit. All three of those individuals saw him. They passed by on the other side, the Levite, the priest, the two that you thought would would help. That's a Levite, that's a priest. I don't know how much they went out of their way to bypass the man that had been beaten and robbed. It just said they crossed on every side of the road. But with the good Samaritan, it says he saw him, he had compassion. I'm not going to get discussion about the Jews and the Samaritans, but they did not get along. And so if anybody was not going to stop, it'd be this guy. No way would this guy stop. It says he went to him. That took work for this gentleman. That took work. He bound up his wounds. Again, work. He poured on him oil and wine. That's his own oil and wine. That's expenses. He set himself on his own donkey. Inconvenience. That guy did not plan on walking. He has a donkey. He brought him to an inn. Again, an inconvenience. Maybe this guy was already going to be at his destination. He did not plan on stopping for the night. He took care of him again. Inconvenience. The next day, again, time lost. He paid the innkeeper and said, Whatever more you spend, I will repay you. This took time, inconvenience, expenses, trust in the innkeeper, and follow-up. This this story truly shows compassion. And this is something that I'm always working on. And I thought maybe I can bring this to lesson tonight. I know we all have things we're working on, and if we really want to work on it, if you're a guy, you probably come up here and talk about it. I don't know what decides the preachers, what they preach on. But for me, I'm always thinking about stuff, and this is something that just popped up. Again, Lance is preparing a lesson a couple of weeks ago. This popped up, and something I want to talk to you guys about. And I want you to think about your daily struggles. And maybe if this is something you struggle with, well, you're in the same boat as me. I'd like to close with a passage in Colossians three twelve through seventeen. Colossians three twelve through seventeen. All right, Colossians three, twelve through seventeen. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Rang with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord forgave you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, in which indeed you are all called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs for thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to God. Giving thanks to God the Father through Him. There's just some things I want to say tonight. I hope it's beneficial to you. Uh, every time I get up here, I always want to do something that's uh I guess Lance is working on not being funny, being more serious. That's a struggle too. Maybe top five, maybe number six. But I always want to do something that benefits everybody in the congregation. And maybe you have some struggles. Uh maybe you need to talk to the elders about some of your struggles you have. For me, compassion, not for my brethren, but so much compassion for the world. I've been watching the news lately, TikTok grills, and I just see the hate the world has for people. And I don't understand it. And I think I've fallen in that trap that I just don't have the compassion I should. I hope this lesson was beneficial to you. And I want you to think of these things as you daily walk in your life to be like Christ. Let's stand and sing.