Searching For Life | Rev. Jeff Campbell, Guest Pastor

Devotional

Day 1: No List, Just Love: Loving Without Conditions

The Samaritan saw a bleeding stranger and acted immediately, no questions asked. He didn’t check credentials, political views, or moral résumés. His compassion bypassed every cultural filter. This story confronts our tendency to categorize people as "worthy" or "unworthy" of radical care. True neighbors don’t screen emergencies. They see need as the only prerequisite for love. To love boldly means dismantling invisible checklists that delay mercy. [33:01]

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. (Luke 10:33-34, ESV)

Reflection: What invisible "list" do you unconsciously carry that determines who deserves your help? How might removing conditions change your next encounter with someone in need?

Day 2: Flipping the Question: Becoming the Neighbor

Jesus reframed "Who is my neighbor?" into "Who acted as a neighbor?" The difference is seismic. One question keeps love theoretical; the other makes it actionable. Neighborliness isn’t about mapping demographics but embodying mercy. The ditch-dweller didn’t choose his rescuer—the rescuer chose to become his neighbor. Bold love leans into awkward, costly proximity rather than waiting for convenient relationships. [33:41]

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.” (Luke 10:36-37, ESV)

Reflection: When have you hesitated to help because you felt someone wasn’t "your" neighbor? What would it look like today to actively become someone’s neighbor instead of debating qualifications?

Day 3: Stop Justifying, Start Doing

The expert’s second question—“Who is my neighbor?”—was a stall tactic. Like us, he wanted to negotiate terms before obeying. But love dies in committee meetings. The Latvian churches’ mantra—“God said do it, so we do it”—cuts through self-justification. Bold love thrives in obedient action, not theological loopholes. Mercy delayed is often mercy denied. [34:19]

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you overcomplicating obedience to love? What’s one concrete step you can take this week without waiting for perfect conditions or clarity?

Day 4: Small Acts, Eternal Impact

A grieving child’s smile after Vacation Bible School revealed how tiny seeds of love grow forests of hope. The church didn’t fix systemic poverty or resurrect her father—they simply showed up. Bold love trusts that small obediences have cosmic significance. Eternal life isn’t just a destination; it’s the daily bread of ordinary kindnesses that resurrect hope. [38:06]

And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40, ESV)

Reflection: What “small” act of love have you undervalued? Who in your circle needs the gift of your unspectacular but persistent care today?

Day 5: Saved for Something: The Ripple of Rescue

The rescued man in the ditch likely became a rescuer himself. Salvation isn’t a trophy—it’s a baton. The Samaritan’s oil and wine weren’t just first aid; they were a contagion of courage. Every mercy we receive equips us to bleed compassion into others. To love boldly is to perpetuate the chain reaction Christ began on the Jericho road. [43:38]

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10, ESV)

Reflection: How has someone’s bold love toward you shaped your capacity to love others? What broken place might God be calling you to pour your “oil and wine” into this week?

Sermon Summary

Jesus begins with the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” and turns it back on the expert in the law: What do you read? The law names the heart of it clearly: love God and love neighbor. Jesus answers, “Do this and you will live,” because life is found not in arguing around God’s command but in living it.

The expert in the law follows up with, “And who is my neighbor?” The question reveals a desire to justify himself, to find the limits of love, to make a list of people who do not require full love of neighbor. The Samaritans sat at the top of that list. Jesus tells a story that makes the expert admit, even if he cannot say the word “Samaritan,” that mercy came from the person he wanted to exclude.

The Samaritan man carries no conditions into the ditch. The wounded man’s background, beliefs, identity, and possible mistakes do not matter more than his need. The Samaritan has no list. Jesus flips the question from “Who is my neighbor?” to “Who was a neighbor?” Love boldly is not about deciding who qualifies for care. Love boldly is about becoming the kind of neighbor who sees anyone in the ditch and responds with mercy.

The expert’s follow-up question also exposes a familiar habit. Jesus speaks plainly, and people raise a hand for one more question. The churches in Latvia offer another way: “God told us to do it, so we just do it. We don’t worry about how.” Jesus calls people to stop looking for loopholes around love and simply go do it.

The first church’s vacation Bible school shows how bold love gives life. A small, tired congregation offered what it could to neighborhood children, only to learn that one grieving girl had smiled for the first time since her father died. The church found that even one child’s smile made the whole effort worth it. Love grew a hurting congregation into a place filled with children and families.

The welcome at Glendale United Methodist Church shows the same kind of mercy. God uses a community that says all of who a person is is welcomed by a God who knows them by name. The man lifted from the ditch is left without an ending, but Jesus leaves room to imagine that he was never the same. Christ saves people for something: saved to love boldly.

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Key Takeaways

1. Love carries no list of exceptions. The Samaritan does not first investigate the wounded man’s worthiness, story, or identity. Need becomes the only condition that matters. Bold love begins where the habit of sorting people into acceptable and unacceptable categories finally dies. [33:01]
2. Jesus changes who into how. The expert wants to know who deserves neighbor-love, but Jesus asks who acted like a neighbor. The shift is searching and personal: the issue is not the boundary of someone else’s claim on mercy. The issue is whether a person becomes merciful when another person is in the ditch. [33:20]
3. Stop negotiating with clear commands. The follow-up question is an attempt to justify the self after Jesus has already spoken plainly. Faithfulness sometimes requires fewer explanations and more obedience. God’s call does not always provide every resource or outcome in advance, but it still calls for a response. [34:19]
4. Small acts of love can restore life. A modest vacation Bible school became a place where a grieving child smiled again. The church could not fix every loss, but it could offer love faithfully for one week. God often gives life through ordinary acts that seem small until their hidden fruit becomes known. [38:25]
5. Christ saves people to love boldly. The man rescued from the ditch likely carried that mercy into the rest of his life. Grace does not merely pull people out of death; grace gives them a new way to live. Those who have received undeserved mercy are called to become neighbors who extend it freely.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[27:43] - Prayer and the Call to Love Boldly
[28:52] - The Road from Jerusalem to Jericho
[30:10] - What Must I Do to Have Life?
[30:56] - Who Is My Neighbor?
[32:31] - The Samaritan Who Showed Mercy
[33:01] - Becoming a Loving Neighbor
[34:19] - Stop With the Follow Up Questions
[36:35] - A Church Learning to Love Children
[39:36] - A Welcome That Heals People
[41:45] - All of Who You Are Is Welcome
[42:48] - Saved to Love Boldly

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 10:25-37
“And behold, a lawyer stood up to 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 he answered, “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 him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said 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 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 out two denarii 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.” [30:10]

Matthew 22:37-40
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” [30:38]

Leviticus 19:18
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” [30:38]

Observation questions

In Luke 10:25–37, what question does the expert in the law ask after agreeing that people should love God and love their neighbors?
Which people pass by the wounded man, and what does the Samaritan do differently from them?
How does Jesus change the expert’s question from “Who is my neighbor?” to a question about being a neighbor? [33:20]
What details show that the Samaritan helps the wounded man without first deciding whether he deserves help? [33:01]

Interpretation questions

The expert asks his question while trying to justify himself. What does that suggest he may have wanted from Jesus, and why does the story challenge that desire?
Why might Jesus make a Samaritan—the person the expert would have wanted to exclude—the one who shows mercy? [32:31]
Jesus says, “Do this and you will live.” How can loving God and loving neighbors be life-giving rather than merely another religious duty? [35:54]
What is the difference between asking, “Who qualifies as my neighbor?” and asking, “How can I be a neighbor to someone in need?” [33:20]

Application questions

Most people carry some kind of “list” of people they find difficult to love. Who might be on that list for you—because of their beliefs, behavior, background, politics, or the way they have treated you? What would it look like to bring that list honestly before God? [31:48]
Think of someone in your daily life who may be “in the ditch”—hurting, lonely, grieving, overlooked, or overwhelmed. What is one practical act of mercy you could offer them this week?
When have you felt God’s call to love or serve someone but responded with more questions about timing, resources, fairness, or whether it would make a difference? What might simple obedience look like in that situation? [34:19]
The small vacation Bible school could not solve every problem, but it gave one grieving child a reason to smile. What small act of care might feel too ordinary or too limited to matter, yet could bring life to someone? [38:25]
In what ways can this group or church become more clearly welcoming to people who have been hurt, excluded, or made to feel that they do not belong? [40:29]
Each person has received mercy from God in ways they did not earn. How might remembering God’s mercy toward you change the way you respond to the next person who needs compassion? [43:37]

Sermon Clips

70s

#UnconditionalLove

“So a couple of thoughts on loving boldly from this parable. First, the Samaritan man has no conditions before he offers help to the man in the ditch. He knows nothing about the man, and nothing matters other than his need. In other words, the Samaritan man has no list. Second, to answer the question, who is my neighbor? Jesus flips the question and instead asks, who was a neighbor to the man in the ditch? Who was a neighbor in the man to the ditch? It's not about who we choose to love as our neighbors, but about how we become the loving neighbor to anyone in the ditch. It's not who we choose to love or not love, it's who we are as loving neighbors to everyone.”

44s

#LoveBoldly

“And it's a fictional story, as I said. So, like Jesus, I think it's okay if we dream a little bit about the rest of the story. After he woke up in his hotel room healed from his wounds fed, clothed, what do you think he went on to do next? Well, one, I imagine he was never the same. And I'm guessing he went on to love others boldly the way the Good Samaritan loved him without even knowing him. We are all saved for something, saved to love boldly. May we all go and do likewise.”

38s

#VacationBibleSchool

“We realized that if we had offered that vacation bible school for only that one child, it was worth it. It gave life meaning for all of us. By the time I left that church, about seven years, a little, maybe a little over seven years later, there were kids and families everywhere, and four families were expecting. And here is the picture of the last vacation bible school I got to be a part of.”

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