Believers demonstrate their love for God by extending grace to others.
OPENING
- Whom do you regard as your neighbor?
- What motivates you to love them regardless of their attitudes toward you?
READ LUKE 10:25-29
- “Love your neighbor” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- What are the subtle differences between these statements?
- What is the relationship between loving God, others, and ourselves?
- How does a person’s view of themselves impact how they love God and others?
The lawyer faced two options:
1. A person is justified before God through Jesus’ righteousness or
2. A person is justified by his or her own merit.
- How does self-righteousness come from comparing ourselves to others?
- How does this comparison expose what we are reliant on for salvation?
READ LUKE 10:30-35
- What types of people are generally viewed as outcasts in our society?
- How would including them in this story impact how we understand this parable?
- What barriers might have kept the priest and the Levite from stopping to help the beaten man?
- What might keep a person from going the extra mile when helping someone else?
- How do you think Jesus might respond to the reasons named for not going the extra mile to help another person?
READ LUKE 10:36-37
- What emotions are found in the man’s response and Jesus’ command?
- How might those same emotions be expressed today?
APPLICATION
- In the coming week, where might you have opportunities to demonstrate your love for God by loving others?