What it is that attracts you to someone? What is it that causes you to want to be friends with a particular person?
What do you like about people? If I asked you to write down characteristics that attract you to others, you would probably write words like honesty, positive, kind, loving, warm, patient, trustful, an encourager, listener, understanding, a sense of humor, faithful . . . and so on.
What’s not on the list? Skills, abilities, or how someone looks really are not important in whether we like them or not. In fact, we all know someone who is great looking, has loads of talent, but who also has a rotten attitude. We don’t like to be around those kinds of people.
Your Attitude is the most important thing that makes you attractive or unattractive to other people. I read a funny story about President Abraham Lincoln that shows how our attitude affects even our physical features.
An adviser to Lincoln recommended a particular person for a cabinet position, but Lincoln balked at the suggestion. He said "I don't like the man's face." "But, sir." said the adviser, "he can't be held responsible for his face." Lincoln replied, "Every man over forty is responsible for his face." Who you are and how you think can be read in your face too.
Chuck Swindoll said that he’s convinced that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it.
Now think about it. God loves you, no matter what. But do you know what makes you attractive to God? Your attitude in your choices and in managing yourself and God’s resources is what makes you attractive to Him.
Have you ever wondered about Jesus’ math when He said the two mites the widow gave was more than all the giving of the wealthy? After all, the giving of the wealthy really added up to something. Without their giving the Temple couldn’t have continued in operation. In a big operation, what good are a couple of pennies going to do?
Jesus explained it very well, and you know what it boiled down to? Attitude! He said, “They gave out of their surplus, but she gave out of her poverty.” Jesus is saying it’s not the amount of giving, but rather, what is given up.
Her attitude was the key, not abundance. Genuine giving that pleases and attracts us to God is the result of a warm, loving heart. You see, you can give without loving. But, you cannot love without giving.
Luke 10:25-37 is the story of the Good Samaritan. It’s all about attitudes. There are three attitudes we see in this story. Which attitude is yours?
Luke 10:30 (NIV) 30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
You might think this is certainly not talking about Christians. Not us. We would never, ever be a thief. Greed is involved when you deliberately steal, and greed isn’t in our Christian vocabulary. It’s always out. Forget it!
But what about your attitude? Does God own everything? Is He the owner of everything, and does He provide all the resources we need for life? Does He let us manage them for Him? Do you believe this?
On your outline I’ve printed MANAGER and OWNER. A manager is one who realizes that God owns everything and we are privileged to manage it. An owner is the person who doesn’t realize God owns everything.
I’m going to give you some words to write down under one of those two headings. You put them where you think they belong. Here’s the words: Manager Owner Thankful Pride God’s Kingdom My kingdom Transient (pass it on) Permanent Please another Please myself (Me oriented)
Do you understand how important your attitude is to God? What these thieves and robbers did even the world opposes. But in the spiritual realm, how do you stack up? Are you a manager of owner?
If you make $500 this week, how much of it is God’s? Immediately your mental calculators tell you, “Why $50 is God’s.” No! If you think that you have the attitude of the thief.
How in the world can you love God with only 10% of yourself? Everything we are, every breath we take, the life we live, the car we drive, the job we have, the house we live in, the children born to us . . . all are God’s.
Luke 10:31 - 32 (NIV) 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
Unlike the robbers, the priest and Levite would never rob anyone. They’re very religious . . . on their way to the Temple to fulfill their duties. There was a Mosiac law that said if they came in contact with anything dead, they were ceremonially unclean, and couldn’t do their work in the Temple.
They come walking along on their way to church and see the man lying there—he’s right on the road. But he wasn’t moving. He looked dead. He could be dead. Don’t even think of touching him to find out. They had things to do at church.
There are Christians who go through life with the attitude of, “Don’t bother me and I won’t bother you. I’ll live in my circle, and you live in yours. Don’t you come into my circle, and I’ll not intrude into your circle.”
John Maxwell called this “picnic area Christianity.” The family goes to the public picnic grounds, spread their blanket, enjoy their picnic, get up, fold up, pick up all their trash, put in the trash containers, and drive away pleased as punch with themselves . . . and they’re done with that picnic area.
We think, how nice. But there’s more to it than that. Somebody had the foresight to put the picnic area there in the first place. Someone planted the trees; put the tables there, the rest rooms and trash cans.
What we need to hear is this: everything you and I enjoy today is either a direct blessing from God, or an indirect blessing left by somebody else for us to enjoy. Sometimes the trash cans need to be replaced.
A lesson of Christian attitude you should learn is that you are not only responsible to take care of yours, but you are also responsible to take care of others and the next generation.
Every person who has gone on before with this attitude, contributed to you and who you are. Now you are responsible to give and to leave for those after you are gone. Don’t have the attitude of the priest and Levite.
Luke 10:33 - 35 (NIV) 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and 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.’
I want to note some similarities between the priest, Levite, and Samaritan.
A needy man was lying in the road. Though they had the same problem, they handled it in different ways.
The priest and Levite moved on. Their attitude was, “What mine is mine, and I’m going to keep it.” The Samaritan stopped and helped. His actions said, “I’m just a manager of God’s resources. What’s mine is yours, and I’m going to give it to you.”
I hear all the time, “Pastor, I just can’t give.” No, no, no. Every person has the opportunity to give . . . time, talents, wealth, knowledge, abilities. Cut it out thinking you can’t give. That’s simply not true. Everything has to do with your attitude.
All of them were busy people. All of us are busy. I don’t know a single one of you who doesn’t complain about having too much to do.
It’s the most common excuse I hear when we ask someone to do something. “Pastor, I’m just too busy. I don’t have the time.” Now stop for a minute. What have we been saying in this whole message?
It’s all in your attitude! Are you are a manager of God’s resources; is all that you have is His; and are people are more important than things? If so then you will give, and you will help, and you’ll be available when, during the normal course of life, people and needs intrude into your agenda.
The priest and Levite were legalistic religious people, and the ceremonial laws forbade them from touching a dead person.
The Samaritan had racial reasons. He could have said, “These Jews don’t like me. In fact, they despise me.” When a Jew saw a Samaritan, he often called him a dog.
So the Samaritan had two attitudes to overcome: First, racial prejudice. He had to look beyond the stigma to see the needs of a human being. Second, his own conveniences.
Look at what he did. He gave up his donkey and walked. He gave a lot of his time, even though it is obvious he was going somewhere for some reason. He gave his energy. He gave his money.
Too often we look at ourselves and our situation and we don’t think we can do anything. There’s so much you can do if you have the attitude of being a manager for God. What’s important is what you do with what you are and have today.
With the right attitude you can minister right where you are, and with what you have. As a Christian, you, too, are a minister.
When you are a manager for God, opportunities are going to come to you at what seem the most inopportune times . . . I promise you.
The priest was the first one there. According to v.30 the man was already ½ dead. He must have been ¾ dead by the time the Samaritan got there. When you see the need, take care of it right then.
The question for us: Luke 10:36 (NIV) 36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
When we come to the end of life, the question will be, "How much have you given?" not "How much have you gotten?