Transcript (plain) — When Helping Someone Costs You Something

Dan: Welcome. It gets quicker, doesn't it? I felt a bit like the news on 10 because it was— well, welcome to today's Crowd Church. It's great to be here. Um, my name is Dan and I'm joined today by the wonderful Mike.

Mike: Yeah, nice to see you all. Thank you for joining us. It's, uh, great to be here. And, uh, we also have Ade with us who's going to be speaking to us as well. Ade, are you there?

Ade: I hope so.

Mike: Can you hear me, folks?

Dan: Yes, we can hear you, which is a fact. So Ade's remotely in the— I was going to say the other studio, but Ade's remotely in from Wales. And he's going to bring the talk with us today. So if you've not tuned into Crowd before, then we, in a minute, Ade is going to bring a talk. We're doing a series about Jesus the Revolutionary, which is— it's been a great series. So if you, if you like this, then you can go onto the website and there's loads of talks to look back and listen on. And then while the talk's on, feel free to put comments in any of the YouTube live streams. And then we come back, me and Mike and Ade will try to answer those questions. So it's, it's very— tries to make it interactive. It's not just coming, listening. Um, yeah. And, and next week, Mike, you're—

Mike: yeah, next week it is me. So I'm going to be talking about how Jesus creates a new culture, and I'm going to be talking about Jesus, um, when he washes the disciples' feet. So we're going to be looking at that. Yeah. And, um, looking at— there's also a parallel idea, or East Passage, when, um, Joseph, um, offers his brother— offers his brothers water to wash their feet. And there's some parallels between the two stories. So I'm gonna have a little look at that, um, and yeah, looking forward to it. Looking forward to hearing Ade, um, and what he's got to say today and having a chat about that.

Dan: Yeah, so I think, um, this is gonna be great. This is the story which perhaps a lot of you have heard of, even not if you're not read the story of the Good Samaritan. It's almost a saying, isn't it? Yeah, Samaritan. So I think without further ado, Ade, if you're ready, then let's listen to you. And like I said, any questions, put them in your comments and we'll answer them afterwards.

Mike: Thank you. Thank you very much.

Ade: So tonight's talk is called The Good Samaritan: A Cure for Tribalism. Now, when we talk about tribalism, what do we mean by tribalism? It is a cultural, political, or social loyalty to one's own group over others. It's like this us versus them mentality. Often it is blindly supporting one's own group, viewing outsiders with suspicion, hostility, and even discrimination. Now, psychologically, as human beings, we are wired for belonging. We tend to seek identity via group affiliation. And in the situation of tribalism, we have an in-group bias where we naturally favour, trust, and forgive those in our social circles. And then an out-of-group derogation where we negatively, or even view people outside this as competitive. So modern examples of this would include political tribalism, where people align to a specific political party regardless of their policies might be because, well, a family have always gone with this party and then viewing people who align to other parties as some kind of opposition, even moral threat. We've also got cultural tribalism where we have alignment based on shared interests. Now, if I were to walk into the Crowd studio in Liverpool and shout, "Yay, Liverpool!" or "Yay, Everton!" Depending on who's in there, I may not get a fantastically warm reception, as we have quite a lot of tribalism around competitive football teams, especially when they're both in the same city. Now, tribalism isn't all bad. On the good side of it, it fosters mutual support and teamwork and strong social networks. Unfortunately, it ends there, because very often this is limited to one's own tribe or group of interest and doesn't go beyond that. And when it gets really ugly, it can fuel social polarisation, conflict, and, and even violence. And finally, a couple of examples of this in the UK. There's been a lot of talk about tribalism in education, disproportionate power and wealth to those from a private school background. The 2025 Sutton Trust study showed about 7% of people in private school, but about two-thirds of the most senior servants, like senior judges or two-star generals and stuff like that, had all gone to private school. In fact, over 80% of the prime ministers in this country in the 50-odd history or so of them have come from a private school. During Brexit, the University of Bath just studied, and they, they show that this was the first time tribalism really took on to social media in a massive way that it never had before. They looked at thousands of posts, and they found keywords like Remainer, Brexiteer, or Remoaner, Brexit extremist. Remainers were categorised as arrogant elitist traitors, and, and Leavers were categorised as racist, ignorant, and uneducated. So there's a wonderful parable in the Bible which really breaks down these barriers and tribalism, and we're going to read it now. This is in the Book of Luke, chapter 10:25-37. The parable of the Good Samaritan. On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law, he replied. How do you read it? He answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. 'You have answered correctly,' Jesus replied. 'Do this and you will live.' But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbour?' In this reply, Jesus said, 'A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be coming down the same road. When he saw the man, he too passed on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, he passed on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him, bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He then put the man on his own donkey and brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took out two silver coins, gave them to the innkeeper, 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.' So if you were to look at this from a very high-level theological symbolism, You can take man as humanity beaten by sin, separated from God, the priest and the Levite as law and religion that cannot save us, and the Samaritan as Jesus who rescues us, pays the ultimate price to restore us. But we're not going to leave it there. We're going to actually dig right down into this parable and see what's really happening. And before we do that, there's some historical and cultural context we need to cover first of all. Now firstly, the Jericho road. It's a 17-mile mountain pass from Jericho to Jerusalem. Descends about 3,000 feet, and it is flanked by limestone caves on either side. This is a perfect opportunity and a perfect ground for ambush. People can just pop out from behind the limestone cave and surprise you. In culture of that time, it was actually nicknamed the path of blood due to the frequent ambushes by bandits. Another thing, Jewish law: if anyone touches a corpse, they are rendered unclean. In the case of a priest or a Levite, they will be disqualified from their temple duties until they had undergone a lengthy, expensive repurification ritual. And so seeing someone on the road looking dead This does not excuse them, but this is what was going through their mind culturally when they would have come into that situation. And then finally, to understand what is so revolutionary about this story, the Samaritan, why is it so significant that the Samaritan came to the rescue? We need to go back to the origin of this Samaritan. Now back in around 930 BC, so almost 1,000 years before the birth of Christ, there was a civil dispute among the Kingdom of Israel. Now it's made up of 12 tribes, and not long after the death of King Solomon, there was a dispute over heavy taxes. At this point, the nation split. 10 tribes went and formed the Northern Kingdom, and 2 tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remained in the south. And there were some of the tribes of Levi who served in the temples down there, remained down there as well, but mostly 10 tribes, 2 tribes. These 10 tribes in the north, around 722 BC, were conquered by the Assyrians. Most of those people were taken and they were scattered across the Assyrian Empire. The remaining tribes intermarried with the now Assyrians, and they became the Samaritans. And this is where the tribalism starts. Samaritans believed they were true descendants of the tribes of Ephraim, and Manasseh. The Jews just saw them as half-breeds corrupting their bloodline, definitely not, you know, definitely not Jewish. There were rival temples, so when the southern half of the kingdom who went into exile maybe 150 years after the northern half, when they came back from Babylon to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem or the walls of Jerusalem, they rejected help from the Samaritans. Now, the Jews worshipped at their temple in Jerusalem historically. The Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, claiming this was the original holy mountain. And in 128 BC, the Jewish King John Hyrcanus attacked Samaria and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. So you can see Tensions have gone beyond really opinion, are you pure Jew or not, to we're actually getting, this is getting really violent. And not long before Jesus' birth, somewhere around 6 to 9 BC, a group of Samaritans scattered human bones across the temple courtyard during the Passover, the Feast of the Passover, defiling it and halting the peace. This is tribalism at its most extreme. In this case, there are generations of hate for Samaritan versus the Jew, and this is why the Samaritan is such a significant hero in this story. Now, the story, the parable, it starts with a trap. Pharisee asking, "What should I do to have eternal life?" Now, in that culture, religious experts would quite often question a rabbi to try and expose flaws in their theology, potentially ruin reputation or prove their teaching unorthodox. And in this case, Jesus has already been saying some things which would have been considered unorthodox, and he really wanted to justify his actions while challenging what he is seeing as competition. Jesus beautifully turns the— this entire scenario around Answering a question with a question, 'What is the law and how do you read it?' This then forces the Pharisee to publicly answer his own question, preventing him finding fault in Jesus's theology. At this point, the Pharisee is on the back foot and he's trying to save face. 'Who is my neighbour?' Jesus then uses this parable to shift the issue from a legal debate to really the Pharisee's lack of mercy, and in doing so, truly defining neighbour and breaking down social barriers. So when the Samaritan comes and finds this man on the side of the road, he stops despite the cultural differences, tensions, the generations of hate, the killing each other, all that kind of stuff. Now Samaritans also use the first 5 books of the Bible as their law. So if he were to touch a dead body, he would also be unclean and have to go through any of the same rituals that a, um, the Levi or the priest would to be allowed, you know, back into his community. Not only that, the fact he stuck around on the Pass of Blood, he was literally endangering himself because he attends to this guy in the side of the road where at any moment someone could jump out behind him and mug him. And this is really in line with what we hear from Paul in the book of Galatians, which is, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female. We are all one in Jesus Christ. And also in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, Paul says, chapter 9:22-23, to the weak I became weak to win the weak. I've become all things to all people so by all possible means I might save some. I do this for the sake of the gospel that I may share its blessings. The Samaritan didn't care on that day, Jew or Samaritan, heck, or even Gentile. He saw a fellow human being in need and he acted, putting himself in further danger doing so. Next, he addresses the needs, but he does this at his own cost. So we're looking at bandages, oil, wine, time, putting him on a donkey, taking him to an inn. Now, the Samaritan, we assume, was on a journey, you know, that had some degree of urgency as he was traveling on a very treacherous part of the countryside, but all this went out the way. It cost him time, it cost him money. Leviticus 19:18 says, "Do not seek revenge or bear grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord." Samaritan here is really showing love by his actions, and we are taught to love our neighbour. Now, we're not taught to like our neighbour, we're taught to love them, and his actions here are selfless. They come at significant cost to him. These are actions of love. Jesus, in his ministry, he takes this a step further. In John 13:34, it says, 'A new commandment I give you: love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. Now that takes it further from being love your neighbour as yourself, because any love we have for ourselves— we're talking human love, we are talking, we are humans, we are not perfect, we are flawed— but God's love for us, that's not flawed. And the challenge is to love people with an unflawed love as God loves us. And in fairness, what we're seeing here from the Samaritan, he is certainly rising to meet that challenge. And finally, the Samaritan addresses future needs. So you might think, hey, this guy's done a really good thing. He found a guy half dead on the road, risked life and limb to patch him up, get him to an inn at great cost, we might add. Surely he's done enough. At this point, he pays the inn in advance and agrees to come back and settle anything else. And this is really in line with some of Paul's teachings in Galatians 6:2. He says, carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. Now, if you carry something, kind of hints that you're gonna— this is a sustained effort over some distance. It might be from one room to another, it could be from one end of the country to the other end of the country, but it's not pick it up, put it down. This is a sustained level of exertion. Further in verse 9 of Galatians 6, Paul says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." This Samaritan truly has not become weary in doing good, because he's not only intervened in what would have been a life-and-death situation, at great risk and great cost. He's now thinking of seeing this all the way to the end when a lot of people— well, as we saw, a lot of people didn't stop, let alone gone to this level of care. And let's face it, this level of love. Again, this is showing that flawless actions of love. So when we take a look at this parable, this story, and we turn the camera or turn the mirror on us. Which of the characters can we relate to? Like the priest and the Levite, are we making ourselves too busy to help? Are we using other responsibilities to let ourselves off the hook? It's a perfectly human thing to do, and we live very busy lives. Do we identify with the Samaritan? Are we helping regardless of these tribal differences? Are we loving our neighbour at our own cost? And are we carrying that love extensively through the tough times? Perhaps we're a mix, you know, I think we go through life, no one's perfect. Sometimes we're like the Samaritan, other times we're like the priest and the Levi. I like to strive to be like the Samaritan, but I can look back on my life and see times when I have been more like the priest and the Levite. I justified myself in being busy. At the end of all this, Jesus tells the Pharisee to go and do likewise. So speaking of Pharisee, let's not be like the Pharisee. Let's not justify our way and look for biblical loopholes to continue on doing things our way. Let's pay it forward. Let's go and do likewise. Thinking into the next week, is there something that you can do for someone outside your tribe that would be of genuine blessing to them? That's it from me, and back to the studio.

Dan: Thanks very much, Ade. That was a great talk. I especially love the bit of history there. I know there were some comments from Alicia and from Sharon. It really helps to work out where you're— I'm just signalling to Mike, his microphone. It really helps to see why Jesus picked those three examples, those three people, doesn't it?

Mike: Absolutely. I thought that was great. Really, really good. Really, I really like that, um, historical, um, you know, explanation and stuff like that. Really puts you in the picture.

Dan: Yeah.

Mike: Um, because it's that easy, because so many stories, to just read a story, go on to the next one, go on to the next one. But to get, you know, this, this, um, to get a picture of what it was like on, on that road of blood and things like that. Yeah, that, that really helps me. Yeah, really, really good. Really, really enjoyed it.

Dan: Yeah, I, I like the, um, the fact that the Samaritan himself was in danger. Never even— that never crossed my mind. Yeah, that he might be in danger of being, you know, robbed as well. It was just like, oh, interesting that he, he didn't just put his time and his money there, he put his sort of body there as well, didn't he? He risked himself.

Mike: Yeah, yeah, risked everything. Yeah. Um, there was loads of things that I've wrote down, and some of the things I wrote down you then spoke about, um, which is great. Um, so one of the things I put down is— this is just a bit random, but you know if you found someone's wound and you poured oil and wine on I mean, I know we're talking a long time ago here, but I wouldn't be thanking anyone if someone poured oil and wine all over my beaten up body. I don't know, Ade, whether you have any historical, whether you know what that was for or why they did that.

Ade: For the wine, it would be the alcoholic content to help clean the wound, right? The oil. I'm not sure, I didn't look into that part of it.

Dan: Yeah, yeah, put you on the spot there with your history.

Mike: Yeah, um, but what, what are the other things that I was, um, I've always felt really, really challenged by that Galatians, uh, 6 verse, um, that you read out, Ade. Um, carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. Because I suppose one of the things I think is that, you know, like, our lives are busy, aren't they? Very, very busy. And, um, being kind to somebody else, almost at times, you know, when I'm not on a good day, it feels like I just haven't got energy. And what, you know, sometimes when I've got a lot of energy and I've got, you know, I've got a lot of time off or something like that, I feel like I have the capacity then to be able to help other people. But what Paul is saying in Galatians is what we are called to do is not just these occasional acts of kindness where you are giving out of your surplus, if you like, Um, but what Paul is asking us to do is to take on each other's burdens. And, you know, the way I, the way I think about it is, you know, the, the idea potentially of me saying to you, Dan, right, you've got 100 grand left on your mortgage, I'm gonna take 50 of that and add it to mine. And I'm just gonna bear that burden for the next sort of 30 years, um, to sort of try and lower the burden on you. And I just think like that, you know, it's maybe a bad example, but that whole idea of taking on each other's burdens is, um, is, is a real challenge, um, you know, a real challenge to me to, you know, to— it's difficult, isn't it?

Dan: Yeah, it is. Yeah, I like— I do like that example because it takes— sometimes we can just be, what can we do in our spare time? Like you said, didn't you? You know, but, but the Samaritan there goes, it's more than that, isn't it?

Mike: Yeah.

Dan: And when Jesus talked to the, the, um, the ruler, it was, well, you know, he knew that he knew the law.

Mike: Yeah.

Dan: Um, but, but where— yeah, what— who's our tribe? And who's out of our tribe that we're prepared to, to do that, that extra mile. I was looking up, um, the— when Jesus does the talk, the Beatitudes, and, and part of that he says, you know, if someone, someone hits you on the cheek, give him your, you know, other cheek. It's, it's more than just um, getting out the way when there's trouble. It's more than just helping someone there. It's helping someone like the Samaritan and then giving the money to the innkeeper. Yeah, he does that. There's that extra mile there, isn't it? That's what it sort of reminded me of. Yeah, yeah.

Mike: Because I mean, this story would have been inspiring if he just stopped and just Yeah, yeah. And, and left and walked on. Yeah, that still would have been quite inspiring. Yeah. As you know, as a, as an act. But, but he's actually placed the man on his own donkey. Yeah. And that's— but it's, it's taking the load upon himself, isn't it? He's taken that burden upon himself, you know, and, and used his own donkey's energy to take them, take them out. And then, and then provide the funds for his But it's after— it, it, you know, it's really inspiring.

Dan: And, um, and he's checked that he's, he's put in place to check that he's okay.

Mike: Yeah, yeah.

Dan: Afterwards, isn't it?

Mike: It's—

Dan: yeah, you know, we don't do— we do Crowd because we want to tell you, we want to tell us that the gospel— this is the— yeah, this is life-changing. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ is just It's his, his love that he pours into us, and he shows it us through, through us, through the Bible. And, and we learn more and more about his, his, the stories. Um, and Crowd isn't somewhere to, to give us loads of rules and tell us off, doesn't it? It's hopefully this is just to challenge. And, um, every week I get challenged. Yeah, I get challenged. What can I do? Not to, to love and to be an, an active, an active love, something that's not just, um, I'm going to give this example. You know, we might, someone might come to the door and, and say, you know, we want some money for this charity. And you think, well, that's a great charity, I'll give some. And I give some, you know, every month, what wherever it might be. And there's nothing, there's nothing wrong with that at all. That's great if you've got that to be able to do. But sometimes that can be a very sort of passive thing, can't it? It can just, um, help our conscience. Yeah, conscience just settles a little bit. Oh well, I've done my something, and, and it's good, you know, it is. But, but I think my challenge for me, and perhaps for, for you this week, is where's our active challenge? Where's our active love? Yeah, yeah, going to be, you know, yeah, yeah, with our neighbour.

Mike: Yeah, and I, you know, I totally agree with you, Dan. And I think like you were saying about Crowd Church wanting to be a place where we share the gospel, and I think when you, when you hear about the Good Samaritan, you can, you can probably go into one of two camps, I think, and maybe others. But you can either feel condemned because you think, I don't do that, I do only stick to my tribe, and I don't like reaching out to other people because they're different, and, um, it's awkward when I try and cross tribal boundaries and, and speak to people who aren't like me. Or— so that's one camp you can be in. You can just feel not good enough. I read the Good Samaritan. I'm not like the Good Samaritan, therefore I'm not good enough. There's another, um, place you might be, whereas you hear it and, and you just go and do it. So your heart is still, I don't want to do this, but you hear that story and you just think, I'm a rules person, you tell me that's what Jesus commands, I'm just gonna go and do it. And your heart's not in it really, but you just hear the command and you're just a doer and you just want to get on, you just want to do it. And I think the challenge here is to be someone who is— who has a heart that is growing to be more like the Good Samaritan. And so I think a good place to be for me, having heard that story, is to say Jesus, I am not like the Good Samaritan yet. I'm not there. And I think that's a really good place to be. And like, Jesus, I need you to come and help me to become more like him so that my reactions can become more like his. And I think, I think that's a really good place. However, I do think in this story we do have the gospel, because I was thinking as this story was going on Imagine what the guy who was healed would think and feel after this has happened. So after this has happened, he's been— he finds out, let's just say for argument's sake, what happened, that two people were passed and the Samaritan stopped and did everything. How is he gonna feel? Well, he is going to feel incredibly grateful. It's more than likely going to have a big impact on the way he treats other people outside of his tribal lines. And you see, the reality is that we are in this story, but the place that we are is we are the person who got beat up. Yeah, we're the person who got beat up, and Jesus came along and rescued us and gave his life for us. And I think the way we become more like the Samaritan is by focusing on the fact that of what Jesus has done for us. And in this story, we can, um, sympathise with the person who got beat up. We were that person. We were dead. We were on the side of a dangerous path, and Jesus came and gave his life— not just the back of his donkey, but gave his life to save us. And as we focus more and more on that, Jesus through the Holy Spirit can transform us to be a little bit more— yeah, the Samaritan. Yeah. Um, but it's a process.

Dan: Yeah, yeah.

Mike: And, and it's, it's only going to finish when Jesus returns. So I mean, which isn't the get-out-of-jail card, it's not at all. You know, we want to be more like that now. Yeah. But it's a process. Um, but it starts with saying, Jesus, I'm not like that. I recognise in this story that there's a command, but my heart isn't there yet. I— but I recognise I need to be. So, so come and change me. Come and help me.

Dan: Yeah, that's, that's brilliant, that, Mike. Um, we've got loads of, of comments coming here. Um, so Um, Sharon's put on that they talked about not being too— being too busy to reach out to people. What if people are being busy doing what God has called them to do? How do you balance all these things? And, um, Ellis has said, well, the priest would have been— would have not been allowed to do his duty as he'd been unclean, but was still wrong using that as a reason not to. By helping, he would have fulfilled his duty. More. Yeah, it's a great response, isn't it? It didn't— it didn't— uh, it might have made him unclean, but he just— just— it meant he had to go through that ritual. It didn't— it didn't stop him. Yeah, it was some duties override. Don't know what we've— we've been called to do, or what our job— job is, if you like.

Mike: Yeah.

Ade: And when you think about it, no matter what we do, no matter what we're doing in church or in ministry, we are called to fulfil law of Christ, you know, as Paul talked about in carrying each other's burdens, and that law is love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul, and love your neighbour as yourself. And you have to ask if we are busy, and let's say, you know, I've been involved in churches for 20, 30 years, and it's easy to get busy getting stuff done that you need to have done, and you can see people want to talk to you, but I've got to do this task. And yeah, there's a balance to find. You can't stop for every single person, but at the same time, you can't shut yourself off to the point where you only focus on the tasks that are in front of you. Now, I'm probably going to go into a touchy subject here, but very often in my experience in churches, about, if you're lucky, 10% of people do 99% of the tasks around there. And there is a challenge of getting more volunteers to help, to help carry one another's burdens, you know, kind of put the chairs out, make the tea afterwards, all that kind of stuff. I think if we had a greater spirit of that, it would be easier for the people who are really busy to be able to stop and make time. But yeah, it's, you got to call it, you have to do it. You can't not do it, but then, you know, it's a, it's a tough one.

Dan: Yeah. Alicia says, I sometimes find it easier to do certain things for people outside of my tribe because a lot of the people I love have grown up with the belief that accepting help is a, is weak or a sign of weakness. Um, so it's actually easier to do stuff out of the tribe. That's interesting, isn't it?

Mike: That's really interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, uh, yeah, that's a really good point. Really good point.

Ade: I guess if you're the black sheep in your tribe, then it's got, you know, then it will be especially feel more natural to actually do things outside of your tribe. Certainly, I felt like that at home growing up, in school growing up, in lots of situations where I actually find it easier to go and help people I don't know because I'm not going to get rejected by them, or I'm not going to get a certain response I've become conditioned to. Because, hey, in my case, I was an English kid growing up in Ireland in the '80s, that wasn't a great place to be. And yeah, I think there is, you know, we're talking about tribalism and we're generalising, but I think in some cases, yes, it's almost like the anti-tribalism where, yeah, you know what, it's easier to go and help these people who I have nothing in common with because, you know what, they don't judge me, they're quite happy and they don't nitpick.

Mike: Yeah, that's a really good point. And I've heard, I was speaking to a friend of mine who was saying a very similar thing. Um, to that as well, Ade. Just that, you know, whenever I think about this particular friend of mine, he, he always seems to have a heart for people who are on the outside. Um, you know, it's been really, really inspiring for quite a few years. Um, and, and then I asked him about it and he just said, you know, part of the reason um, why he does it is because these people don't reject him. He said, these people, um, you know, welcome me. And often when I, you know, when he tries to connect or help other people who are maybe a little bit more in the in-crowd, I suppose, if he finds that they tend to reject him a little bit more, which is just an interesting point.

Dan: Yeah, well, a lot of the comments uh, following this are sort of around that. So Ellis says, the injured man had to allow a man who was a rival to help him. Um, and then he said, I think giving help is easier as you're the one in control and aren't relying on people who have the best intentions but aren't necessarily 100% sure what to do. Um, and, and Alicia said, at different times I've been more or less receptive to receiving help giving it has been easier, um, and it usually feels quite good. With receiving it, sometimes I get hung up on whether I deserve it, um, and there's quite a lot of comments here. Sometimes it's— it can be very hard to, to receive, can't it? It can be hard to be in that— we're in that place, and, um, sometimes we can't do anything about it. Like the Samaritan, he was— I don't know, we presume perhaps he's plenty unconscious, he's just got to receive help. And sometimes we're Oh, am I worthy of this, this help? And it is a tricky thing to— it can be a stumbling block, I think, can't it? You know, am I worthy of this? And, and yes, you are. God, um, God loves to help, even when, you know, we've talked lots of times about, you know, blessing. Sometimes it might be you might get— you might be— get something or give something. Well, I didn't— I didn't need that, but God loves to bless. And, and that could be the same with um, given as well. Sometimes it's not necessarily need that thing, but to be that person that can bless and that person to, you know, can be to receive. I hope that makes sense.

Mike: Yeah, perfectly. I think, you know, but being, um, being able to receive, um, you know, to be able to do that well, you've got to believe that you don't deserve it and that it is a gift. And therefore it is a gift, you know. If, if you start to think you deserve it, then, you know, that just becomes down to your behaviour and whether you're having a good day or a bad day. And if you're having a bad day, you don't deserve it. If you're having a good day, you do. And, um, you know, the reality of our faith is that that we were dead and that we did not deserve it. And Jesus has, um, you know, Jesus has blessed us with a free gift of grace. And it is— it's difficult because we are wired to, to earn things and to, um— so yeah, I, I can recognise the challenge. And for me, you know, I know that my pride often gets in the way. Um, I want to feel like I've earned something. I don't want to be in somebody else's debt. Um, you know, I know— I don't know, I don't know whether you do this, Dan. When I'm working sometimes, um, you know, I, I might do a little bit extra occasionally when I'm feeling good, and a customer may think, oh no, no, no, I'm going to pay you for that, I'm going to pay you for that, because they don't want to be in— yes, never want to be in someone's debt. Yeah, do they? Um, so then it becomes difficult to do anything good for people, you know, that is above and beyond.

Dan: Yeah.

Mike: What they're paying for, I suppose.

Dan: Um, yeah, well, Ellis says that as well. Sometimes if someone does give you something or does help you with something, then there's that worry then you're dependent upon them.

Mike: Yeah.

Dan: Um, and, and I think in some ways when we're looking at, at needing stuff from Jesus, we need to realise that we are dependent on him.

Mike: Yeah.

Dan: Um, and that's a, that's a big step to take, isn't it, that we, that yeah, we need you, God. Um, when it's people helping and giving, then there is that responsibility to be potentially not patronizing or not, um, putting down someone by, by giving this. Yeah, there is— it's a tricky thing. We can have that superiority, can't we, that, you know, I'm able to give. Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mike: And I just think that comes down— it does come down to your heart. As human beings, we kind of get it when somebody is being kind or when somebody is trying to— yes, but, you know, have that sort of saviour complex. I remember, I think I've said this story on, on Crowd before, but I was once gardening for, um, one of my customers and I came out of the garden and I went to the van, and I was on my way back from the van, and I saw this lady. Um, and what was quite clear was that she was like, um, what I, what felt like it was clear to me that she was a drug addict, you know, potentially homeless. And as soon as I saw her, um, my— I, I took a wide berth. Around as she was walking down. And I took a wide breath and walked into the garden. And I did this whilst listening to a Christian podcast, whilst preparing a sermon for that I was going to be preaching. And I got into the garden and I just thought, I just thought, oh man alive, how far am I from where I want to be right now? And I know that there's lots of people who are very, very different to that. There's lots of Christians who, um, and I know people like this, who, whose, whose heart when they saw that woman would have been drawn towards her, and my reaction was to move away.

Dan: Yeah.

Mike: Um, when I went back into the garden, I thought, do you know what, I, I, that was the wrong thing to do. And I thought, and I, I corrected myself, and I thought, no, what I need to do is I need to go out, I need to bless her. But it all of a sudden started feeling a bit awkward now. Yeah. Um, and what I did was that I, I started read— I was reading at the time about Jesus and his reaction to the man with the— the— who had leprosy, when he healed the leper. And the more and more I focused on Jesus and the way he reacted to the leper, the fact that his reaction was to reach out to the leper and to touch him and to heal him. The more I focused on that, I felt like God was using that to be able to change my heart slowly to my, uh, towards, um people who are outside of— outside of my, um, you know, who weren't like me, I suppose. And so God was changing my heart. And it was only, um, it's only through that and through revelation of that that our heart changes. We can all read this story and go and do it. We could just go and find someone who's random, who looks different to me, and going give him some money or something like that. We can all do that. But, but the challenge is that Jesus wants us to be— Jesus, in Romans 8, it says that God is changing us into the likeness of Jesus. Everyone, everyone who has confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord, he is changing you into the likeness of Jesus. But it's a slow process for some of us, for me. And so by focusing on Jesus we become more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit uses us to transform us. And so day by day, I have found that my heart has, has started to change slowly, so that my reactions, which is what I want to change, my reactions become more like his. Um, and you know, that's sort of in answer to what you were saying, Dan, because sometimes someone can be kind to you and you just don't feel loved you don't feel like they love— are, are loving you. Um, and then somebody else could do the same thing and you just know that, that they are for you and that they love you. Yeah. And it's their heart. Yeah, it's a heart. And, and, you know, that's what I want to change, and that's what I hope for people who are listening, who tune in and, and listen to Crowd. That's, that's our hope. That's what we pray. We pray that the Holy Spirit is using this to change us more and more into the likeness of Jesus so that we can be more like the Samaritan, so that our reactions can be more like the Samaritans.

Dan: I'm reminded of the, um, the— not the parable, but the story that Jesus told of being in the temple and seeing the Pharisees and the rich people putting in their money and, you know, making a show of it. And this lady comes up and puts in just it's in the Bible, it says a mite, you know, just the smallest amount. And Jesus said, well, she, she is the one that gave everything. That it's not about, um, what we do, sometimes a show of it. It's the— what's, what's that? What, you know, what is our heart like? How was our heart reaction? There was— came out of church today and there was a homeless guy at the gates And I thought, well, he's on to a winner, isn't he? Because everyone comes out of church and goes, I've got to do something, you know, I've just, I've just heard in there. Um, but the reason I mentioned that is, where's— how was our response? Is our response out of guilt?

Mike: Yeah.

Dan: Well, look, where are you? Know what, what's behind me?

Mike: Yeah.

Dan: Um, or is it— is he changing our hearts? And that's why— yeah, that's what I want, that God slowly, you know, changes our heart to, yeah, to help to outside, help outside of our tribe and help because we want to.

Mike: Yeah.

Dan: Um, because he's changed us, because he's done so much for us. Again, isn't it, it's looking at Jesus. If, if we realise how much he's done for us and it's so little, even if we give everything, it's so little.

Mike: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think You're dead right. Focusing on Jesus is, um, is the only way that our heart's going to change. I think there's also an interesting, interesting idea worth just momentarily pausing on, is, is that at the end of this, Jesus gives the command to go. So given everything that we just said, given everything that we just said, I do think it's important to recognise that if, if you're waiting for a fuzzy feeling in your heart before you go and do these things, then you're going to be waiting a long time. There's still going to be always— and I bet in the Samaritan's heart, a little bit of fear. Yeah, a little bit of, this is the right thing to do, but I'm on this dodgy road and it's going to cost me a lot. And, you know, this could cost me my life. And so I do think there's a challenge to go and do it, and our emotions will follow, uh, to go and do it. And, um, you know, in, in, in being obedient, God will help you to have everything that you need, um, when it comes to, you know, whatever it is that you've, you've gone outside of your boundaries to, to try and help someone because you just felt like it was the right thing to do. Um, and even if it's still— your heart doesn't quite feel right, I still think it's, it's worth taking a step of faith and saying, God, my heart isn't right there yet, but I'm trusting you that this is the right thing to do, and I'm going to do it anyway. And I'm trusting that you are going to you know, make up the shortfall here. Yeah.

Ade: Yeah. It's the original pay it forward story, isn't it? You know, where, you know, we see the Samaritan for absolutely, he's got no good reason to go and, you know, attend a Jew lying there on a road. Heck, this is the path of blood. It could have been a trap. He went and did it anyway. I know we're talking about receiving help and feeling like, oh, someone maybe not wanting to it. Taken to the context of Paul when he talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, one body, many parts. Well, we all have different functions in a body, so we're going to need help with some things. Some things are obviously generic, anyone can do, but other things we have unique giftings and abilities which all come together for a greater good as a community, as a church, as a wider society. It's been designed that way. So it's been designed the way that we need to rely on each other. It's been designed that way that we should be treating everyone as our neighbour, especially if they're different, because our abilities complement each other. They're not things to have conflict and competition over. They're building blocks that we can bring together and be a great, you know, where many parts can be a greater whole.

Dan: Yeah, absolutely. Um, that's— yeah, I was just thinking of the example of a marriage. If you're both identical, you're going to have, you know, well, it's impossible, isn't it? But you're going to have problems. It's the fact that we're different makes a marriage and makes a family work, that, that you've all got your own strengths. And it's allowing, allowing people to give to you when, you know, when you need it. And then, and I've been convicted to, to give to others, um, as well. And, and like you said, Mike, it's, it's a commandment. We've got to not wait for that prompting, but just, just do it.

Mike: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, Jesus isn't going to command something that he has not He has not given us, um, what Jesus has given us, what we need to be able to do the things that he has commanded us to do. And when we make that decision to do the things that he has commanded us to do in order to honour him, in order to honour him, then, you know, then he is with us. He's given us everything we need, um, It doesn't mean that the outcome is going to be exactly how you'd hoped, um, but you know, you are not on your own, um, and you have everything that you need, um, to be able to do it. Um, yeah.

Dan: Hey, is there anything else? We're coming, um, very close to finishing now, and we're— afterwards we'll have Live Lounge, so if you want to come and join us as URL that we put in the comments, and it's a bit like a Zoom call, just a bit like, I think Ade said, like the coffee after, at the end of the meeting, just to chat, chat to meet us, if you've got any other questions. But before we do finish, Ade, is there anything else that you'd like to say?

Ade: Yeah, when we look at biblical teaching and even Paul uses the example of there's the milk and there's the meat, the meat being the really complicated things, but you've really got to graduate to that. This is milk. This is simple. This is something we can read once and do minutes after. So what you've heard here tonight, think about it. Think, not only reflect on it, but think, how can I do this tomorrow and the day after and the day after? How can I If I'm already doing this, how can I do this better? Because this one, it's an easy one and it breaks down barriers. It makes the world a nicer place to be in time.

Dan: Alicia's put a brilliant comment right at the end that says, I love the one body, many members concept and I think it helps combat comparison thinking. Oh, they're doing more than me. What can I do? It's not a competition, is it? No, it's just love. We're all different.

Mike: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's, it's a really good analogy and, um, yeah, yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, really like that, Alicia.

Dan: Well, thanks, thanks everyone for joining in on, on the comments today. Thanks so much, Ade, for that talk. That was brilliant. Yeah, really good. Um, and we will see you next week and Mike will be here.

Mike: Yes, I'll be here. Looking forward to it.

Dan: Uh, bringing the talk. Yes. So again, if you've got any questions, anything, just email in crowd@crowd.church. If you want to look at different talks, the website's been updated now and it's even easier to search and see everything that's there. So have a look around. If you've got any prayer requests, you've got any prayer requests, then please send them in. We'd love to, love to pray for you. And if you want to join us now, well, in the next couple of minutes at Live Lounge, then That'd be great to see you.