[Dan Preston] As many of you are aware, we've been engaged in a parenting class over the past few months in Cincinnati East. It's an excellent class. I highly recommend it to any church congregation that's thinking about having a parenting class. It's put on by Gary and Ann Marie Ezzo, accompanied by a book and a set of DVDs.  The specific name of the book is Parenting from the Tree of Life. Some of you may be familiar from the other work they've done. It's by the group Growing Families Internationally and Growing Kids God's Way, a parenting program we've gone through here 18 or 19 years ago, and I know a couple other congregations nearby have gone through as well. It's a good class. The reason that we cover a lesson on basic life courtesies. They presented it as a story of Crossing Over. Specifically, they talk about the story of the Good Samaritan.

We find that in Luke 10.  We will just kind of go through that very quickly – kind of summarize that. We won't read it verse for verse here.

Luke 10:25 – And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?"   So he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind."   

As you know, Christ said yes, that was correct, and the young man tried to justify his answer a little bit and said:

V-27 – "But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?"

Then Christ tells him the parable, the story of the Good Samaritan. We know, of course, that in that story at first a man comes down and is beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. Shortly thereafter a priest comes by and he sees this man laying there dead, nearly dead by the side of the road. Refusing to help, he crosses to the other side of the road and goes on. A little later a Levite comes by and does the same thing. He sees a man in need and he chooses to cross over to the other side of the road and leaves the man in his state of need. Finally, you notice what the Samaritan does:

V- 33 – But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. The Samaritan displayed the quality of compassion on this man who had been beaten and left for dead. The Samaritan does not cross over the road. He stays there. He sees to the man's needs – that they are attended to. Christ used this illustration to show that loving your neighbor isn't dependent on who you are, where you are from. It dependent on an actions. And that the actions of the priest and Levite show a conscientious and deliberate decision not to help.

Now the question I want to ask today is does crossing over matter for a Christian? I think there are a few questions that will come out of this then – we'll see. What does it mean to cross over? Are we guilty? Do we do that? Is it a problem? Who really cares? Why shouldn't we cross over? Finally, what shall we do about it? 

The first thing we need to do is to define what is crossing over. We know that, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, we know it was avoiding this person's need who was left for dead. We might extend that out a little bit and say, “Well, okay, we can't to do anything that's obviously wrong. We can’t blatantly break the Ten Commandments.” And I hope that those kinds of things go without saying. We know that. We understand that.

So today we're going to make it hard on ourselves. We're going to make it difficult. We're going to look at the little things that we face in everyday life – that might be ways we cross over and show inconsideration for others. To help us do that, we're going to take a little quiz. I know the ABC students love quizzes, or at least they're learning to this year, but I promise you that this is one that we're not going to pick up and take a grade. You can grade yourself. And it won't be near as hard as this past week’s Doctrines quiz. So I thought we could kind of all share in the joy. So we'll take a little quiz to see how and where are we good or bad at thinking of others. 

We'll go through five questions, so you can rate yourself on a scale of one to ten. If you are really good and never do the action described in a question, you can rate yourself a one. If that's something you need a lot of work on, and you're guilty of that all the time, you can rate yourself a ten, and of course somewhere in between. 

Question #1.  When in the bathroom, if you use the last of the toilet paper, do you always replace the toilet paper roll every time or do you leave it for the next person? So if you're great about that and replace it every time, you get a one.  If you always leave it for the next person, you get a ten or, more likely somewhere in between. 

Question #2.  When throwing out the trash and the bin is overflowing, do we play a skillful game of Jenga, to see if we can stack it all there without it falling over and making a mess that then we really have to clean up, or do we go ahead and take out the trash. So if we do a really good job, and we take out the trash every time we run across the scenario, you get a one.  Yes, this is something you need a lot of work on, you get a ten, or somewhere in between.

Question #3.  Switching gears, literally.  When in a parking lot, do we ever leave our grocery cart – or if you’re from down south, your buggy – just anywhere, in which case, you get a ten. Or, do you take it back to the cart corral every time? You get a one.

Question #4.  I was going to ask a question about, when you got to the end of the lane, did you ever cut anyone off, but I don’t want to embarrass Mr. Magee…. Number 4 – keeping with the parking lot theme, when we pull into a parking lot, do we keep it in the line every single time and never crowd or cross over, or do we just park where we need to because we know we're going to be in and out real quick? If you keep it in the lines every time, you get a one and if you cross over the lines or don't pay that much attention, not so good. 

Four questions down and one to go.  How are you doing so far?  I have to admit I was doing really good when I did this quiz. I was doing really well. I thought, “All right, I really got this.” Then came question number five.

Question #5.  When walking up the stairs, do I side-step around my neatly and clean folded laundry, leaving that for the laundry genie to put up for me, or, do I go ahead and pick it up, take it upstairs, put it away myself? Leave it for the laundry genie every time, you get a ten.  If you put it away yourself every time, you get a one, or somewhere in-between.

I have to admit on a scale of one to ten on this, I was probably at least a twenty-five. My thought is that, you know, doing the laundry – cleaning the laundry area and doing the laundry, folding it up, putting it away – that's just all part of doing laundry. That's just part of doing the job. For years, I thought…that's what I had, at least, told my wife – that it was, you know, the laundry genie's job – put the clothes away, put them in the drawer. So, when I took this test, something happened, and I realized in that moment, she was right. I had been crossing over all the time. She had done all the hard work really – getting the laundry downstairs – sometimes the boys are helping to do that – got it washed, separated, dried, folded – and all I needed to do was put it up for myself. She had done 90% of the work and there was one little thing that was left that I could do very easily, but I didn't. I was guilty. 

Now I won't ask for a show of hands, but how did you do? Did you have a spouse or partner nudge you  a little bit? I can tell you, by the end of this class a couple weeks ago, when we walked away, we were all rubbing our ribs, because we had felt it and we had been giving it, and you know, to be sure, there's plenty of guilt to go around for the little things that we do when we're inconsiderate of one another.   Even if you scored well on this exam, you might think of something else, for example, where you cross over. If you can't think of anything, ask your spouse or roommate. I bet they'll find something for you. 

So, now we know what we're talking about here – we're crossing over. The next question becomes, “Is that really a problem?” Does it really matter? Why does it matter? Why wouldn't it matter? Does God actually care and is that something that Jesus Christ is going to judge me on when He returns to earth?  Well, looking at Christ's example, it's probably a good place to start. 

Turn to I John 2:6, if you would, just as a reminder. It says:

1 John 2:6 – He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. So we know Christ is our example? We see that throughout the Bible. Paul mentions it in – 1 Corinthians 11 says, “Follow Me as I follow Christ.” So clearly Christ's example is the gold standard we must look at.

So let's now take a look at a few examples then. What did Christ do when He was presented with the opportunity to cross over? Let’s go to the book of Luke – Luke, chapter 6 – and start there. We'll look at a few examples from Christ to see what exactly He did in various situations.  Luke 6, and verse 6:

Luke 6:6 – Now it happened on another Sabbath also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. Now the religious leaders of the day had already had their eye on Christ, because He did a lot of this healing on the Sabbath, and they didn't care too much for this.  They felt this was not proper to do.

V-7 – And the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. But He knew their thoughts and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and he  stood. So Christ knew exactly what they were thinking. He knew they weren't going to be happy with what He was about ready to do.

V-9 – Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so and his hand was restored whole as the other.

V-11 – But they were filled with joy…no, they weren't happy about this. We were studying in the Harmony of the Gospels this week, and Mr. McCrady was pointing outthat, at that point in time, the Pharisees and religious leaders in the temple there, if someone was ill or sick on the Sabbath, they were permitted to do any treatment so that things wouldn't get any worse, but to ask for healing or anything like that was prohibited. They felt that was too much work on the Sabbath. For years they had been crossing over and ignoring people's needs.

V-11 – But they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

He knew what they were thinking. He knew what their reaction was going to be, but yet, in the face of that, He refused to cross over – to cave in – to an unpopular opinion. He knew the unpleasant scene that would unfold. He did it anyway. 

Let’s turn to another example in Luke 19.  As we begin to think about this we can think, “What are our reasons for crossing over?” What are our reasons? Luke 19, verse 1 – it says:

Luke 19:1 – Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. So tax collectors, at that time, were generally considered everybody's favorite person to be around. They had the reputation of being so honest, so generous…no, not so much.

V-3 – And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. So, you know, the man was short and he had to climb into a tree so he could see Him – Jesus Christ was going to be walking by.

V-5 – And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him. He didn't ignore him. He didn't pretend, “Oh, I don’t see him over there. I'll just keep going this way.” He didn't do that. He said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, "He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner." Now we're not told…was Zacchaeus actually guilty of being dishonest – and it would kind of seem to fit the story – it really doesn't matter either way. The perception of the crowd was that way. But could you imagine how Zacchaeus felt? I mean, if I saw Jesus Christ look up at me and say, “I’m coming to your house for dinner," I probably would have fallen out of the tree. At that point He would have had to heal my broken arm, so I could scurry home and get the house straightened up. Christ bestowed a great honor on Zacchaeus at this time. He could have ignored him. He could have gone by. He could have, maybe, told one of the disciples, “Hey, go get him. We’re going to stay over there tonight,” but He didn't. Whether Zacchaeus was dishonest or not, we don't know, but again, the perception is certainly that way. Christ didn't let what other people would think about what He did make Him cross over. He did the right thing. 

We’ll look at one more example from Christ, back in Mark, chapter 6. We'll pick it up in verse 30. This is an example where, at first, it might appear that Christ and the disciples are trying to cross over and get away, but we’ll read and we’ll see that's not the case.

Mark 6:30 – Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. He had just sent out the twelve. They had done many works. They had been preaching the gospel. They had come back, And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." He said, “You've been working hard. Let's go to a resort someplace and rest a bit.” For there were many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat. I've seen some of you, who served in this capacity. Let me put forth my thanks to all those who worked so diligently in this way – who worked so hard sometimes when we have a social, they don't get a chance to have snacks – things like that. So we see that was what was going on with the disciples right here.

V-32 – So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves. Then what happens?

V-33 – But the multitude saw them departing – so all those around them, had seen the disciples, had seen Christ, and had seen them leaving away – and many knew Him, and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion – we read in Luke 10:33, Christ was moved with compassion – do you see a theme beginning to develop here? He was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. So Christ saw the need for them to have a teacher, and He took that opportunity to go ahead and teach.

V-35 – And when the day was now far spent – so Christ had been teaching for awhile – His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place and already the hour is late. Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat." So the disciples were kind of the attitude, “Sorry about your luck. You should have brought lunch. Time to skedaddle. You all have to go home. Can't stay here.” What did Christ say? But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat." He said, “No, nothing doing. That’s not how it works. You give them something to eat.” Aside from the fact that Christ was teaching the disciples something about faith – in trusting Him – and that God would provide by a miracle, if necessary, I think there's another important lesson here. And that is that Christ is showing the disciples the need to have compassion – the need to have compassion. Sometimes you can't just do the easy thing. You just can't send the five thousand out, and say, "Go ahead and find something else to eat." We know, of course, the miracle of the loaves and fishes and Christ did provide for them. They needed – the disciples – at that moment of time, needed to stay on their side of the road and do the difficult work that had to be done.  

Matthew 23:23 – you don't necessarily have to turn there, but you know that verse well – where Christ said to the scribes and Pharisees, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, who tithe on mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and faith, you should have done these without leaving the others undone.” In their minds, the Pharisees were looking at the very measurable letter of the law sort of things – easily defined things – and doing them. They were missing the bigger point – mercy, faith, justice – you could say, compassion, as well. 

At this point you might think, “Okay, so Christ did all these things. He didn't take the easy way out. He didn't cross over. He didn't leave anyone hungry. But, you know, He had bigger lessons that He was trying to teach in each of these parables – in each of those actual events.”

 In Luke 6, He was trying to teach that the Sabbath Day was made to do good on. To Zacchaeus, He was trying to show salvation was available to all, possibly even a dishonest tax collector. It was available to all who would repent and follow God. Or, the disciples again, maybe He was trying to teach them a little something about faith. And it's arguable, I suppose, that those are bigger lessons there. But if you read the story of Christ, you will see in all the examples, He was not one to ever cross over. He was not ever one to see a need to do good and not do it. Over and over again, Christ showed compassion. He showed compassion. He took time to do things that, quite honestly, were easy for Him – with His power to feed five thousand, that was no big deal. To heal the sick – easy. For Him it wasn't difficult, but it meant so much to someone else. It meant so much to someone else.

I think, clearly, we can conclude that Christ – God in the flesh – cared about other people. He did not set an example of crossing over for us. Still some might argue, “Well, we have it. You know, we'll take the big things that He did. He fed thousands. He healed. He did all these great miracles. And what can I do?”  I mean, if I can see an example of seeing someone laying dead on the side of the street, of course, I'm going to help him. It's a major life saving event. Of course, I'm going to help him. But, of course, it's all these little things – replacing toilet paper, parking my car within the lines, you know - those little things, are they really expected of us?

There’a a short little section of scripture, right in the middle of the book of Matthew – Matthew, chapter 10. We see some instruction that Christ gave the disciples right before they went out. So, kind of putting things in perspective, this would have been just before the story we read in Luke 6. He gave them these instructions, they went out, and then we saw the story Luke 6. Let's pick up what he says to them before we head on their way. It’s in Matthew 10, and it’s in verse 40 – starts in verse 40. It says:

Matthew 10:40 – He who receives you receives Me and He who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.  Now, if you’re here in the AM, Mr. Metzel mentioned this. To be a prophet, or to prophesy, doesn't necessarily means to foretell, does it? We covered this quite a bit in ABC this year. It means to be an inspired speaker. It means to say something inspired – the message of God. It says: And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. Then notice what it says in verse 42:

V-42 – "And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple,” assuredly I say to you, “he shall by no means lose his reward."

Now here He's applying this example, specifically, to those who would receive the disciples and give them what they needed with a cold cup of water. But I think it sets a broader precedent – a broader example. It's the little things. It's the little things we do for one another that set an example – taking out the trash, putting our shopping carts away, even putting up my own laundry sometimes – okay, all the time. It's the little things. It's an attitude of gratitude.

Can this really help us on our journey to the Kingdom? The answer is yes! Yes, it can. It's not so much about the physical act, but it's the attitude of a converted heart – showing compassion, gratitude and thanks toward one another – to put it on the other side of view – from crossing over. Could not doing the little things keep us out of the Kingdom of God? Maybe not because of the physical acts themselves, but if it's representative of how we think – that we don't take a moment, that we don't take time to think – whether it be our spouse or someone we don’t know – if we don't take time to think of others, and only think of ourselves, that is indeed a very big problem.

So helping out people – no one would argue that that's something good to do, would they? I don't think so. But is crossing over…is this actually a sin? Our default definition of sin is usually I John 3:4 – the transgression of the law, or lawlessness. Well, there's another definition I’d like to look at, and that’s down in the book of James – James, chapter 4 – and we’ll pick up the story in verse 13. You’re probably very familiar with this one.

James 4:13 – Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." But now you boast in your arrogance.  All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Scripture tells a story about people who are making a big business plans, and they fail to seek God's input. Can we see a much broader parallel here? If we make a plan, or maybe we fail to make a plan, because we don't check ourselves with the way that God would have us think. Instead we just do what we want. We cross over. If we're guilty of knowing to do something good, and we don't do it, the scripture says, “That's sin.” That’s sin.  If we don't take a moment to think about the next guy down the line, to think about their needs, if we're so focused upon self that we don't think of others, then we can be guilty of sin.

But, is that even reason enough? Is even that reason enough? Is it reason enough to say, “Well, okay, I don't want to be guilty of sin?” Certainly, we don't want to be guilty of sin. But if we just tell – for an example that was brought up in the parenting class – if we tell our kids, “Don't run in the hallway, and they do, and they get a spanking. And if all they ever learn is that running in the hallway gets them a spanking, have they really learned anything? No, we need to have a moral reason why – why. Why don't we want to sin? In the example of running in the hallway, we want to tell our children, “We want to be careful that we don't hurt someone else, we don't knock over widow Jones there.” Or, “We want to be respectful of the people that are coming through the hallway – that we don't bump into them or be rude to them. 

If the lessons that we teach our children don't have reasons, and if the lessons we learn ourselves don't have reasons, we wind up with a trained seal effect –jump on command, swim, dive get the fish, whatever. But if we don't know why, have we really learned anything? 

The principle is the same for adults.  If we decide, “Well I need consult with God over any big decision I make in life, whether it be a business plan or some other such large decision in life, and well, I don't want to skip out on that because I don't want to be guilty of sin,” have we really learned anything?  I think that’s where we take it to our next step. I think that’s where we can begin to think, “How can we apply this lesson?” How can we apply the principle of thinking of others and not crossing over? Let's go to John, chapter 13. Should there be some sort of deeper motivation for us to consider others?  John 13, verse 34. He says:

John 13:34 – "A new commandment I give to you…. At this point the disciples might have been thinking, “Ah ha, this is what we have been waiting for. The Messiah has come and now He's going to give us a command – “Charge! Take the temple! Maybe assemble an army to march on Rome and this is this new command that we’ve been waiting for.”  But what's He say? "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you – that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

If we leave a pile of trash, if we leave our car parked, taking two spaces, if we don't put the toilet seat down, if we don't put our laundry away, are we showing a lot of love for one another? Not so much!  That then begins to lead to even a bigger problem. When we begin to let those little things go, we quickly find ourselves neglecting the big things too, don't we? You’ve probably done it. You’ve probably had it done to you – just one little thing. Sometimes, after a while, it’s the way arguments start.  One little thing gets on your nerves and goes unresolved, then the next thing comes, then the next thing come and it begins to build. It begins to build. We can't be that way. In Luke 16 we are told that if we're faithful in little, we will be faithful in much, and if we're unjust in little, we'll be unjust in much. Once we start doing that, division and infighting can occur. If we get to the point where we spend more time focusing on what divides us, and what separates us, and not the things we have in common, how recognizable are we as disciples of Christ?

Now I'm not saying that anyone who commits some small little act of inconsideration is unworthy of the Kingdom of God. No way. As Mr. Magee pointed out, people make mistakes, for all sorts of reasons. We need to be gracious. My wife was gracious to me this morning. I was sitting on the edge of the bed reviewing my notes, and she was in the bathroom, and she said, "What are you speaking about again today, dear?" And I told her. And she said, “Uh, just wondering. Did you leave the toilet seat up?" "Yes, I'll be right there." A little later on I went in, and low and behold – this is a true story – what do know? There's no toilet paper left. Now, I don’t know who was guilty of that, but we all make mistakes. We all mistakes.

But how, then, can we avoid letting these little things become big things. How do we let these little things – these little acts of crossing – over become big things? One simple answer is, “Don't ever do them.” It's a little harder than that. These little things can begin to cause strife amongst parents and children – behavior issues that we talked about in class – but the example extends to adults as well. They can cause issues.

Certainly, we must have love for one another, but I think we can take it a little step further. Let's turn to Philippians, chapter 2, and verse 1. It says:

Philippians 2:1 – Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy – so if we have these things in common – if this is in us – fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.  Being like-minded – thinking like the other person thinks, thinking about what the other person might want. Do we have any of our Sabbath School kids – level 4 – in here today? Anyone? What was your memory verse today? I see some people looking around. I’m trying not to call any of my progeny out. The memory verse for today was Matthew 7, verse 12. It’s the one that Mr. Magee turned to, but we'll go and look at it one more time. It never gets old. It’s something that we need to remind ourselves of constantly. Matthew 7, verse 13. You might keep your finger there in Philippians 2. We’re going to come right back here in just a minute.  
 
Matthew 7:12 – Therefore whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Are we like-minded? Do we think alike? Should we think alike? Sure, as long as we're thinking the way Christ would have us think. And if we do, are we going to be thinking about others ahead of ourselves?  I think so. I think so. We're going to want others to treat others the way that we want them to treat us – the golden rule, as we often learned it as.

Going back to Philippians – in chapter 2 – we’ll pick it up in verse 3. It says:

Philippians 2:3 – Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. In a world of me, we need to put others first – not just love them, not just treat them as our equal. We need to put them above us. We need to esteem them better than ourselves. When we do this, this is a point when we can really begin to grow. Continue on here in verse 5 – it says:

V-5 – Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. If we begin to think this way, if we begin to put others above ourselves, now we're getting somewhere. We can begin to have the mind of Christ in us. …who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God – Christ – co-equal with God – co-eternal – but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. He took a huge step down to come down here and be man and be God in the flesh. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He didn't just not cross over. He didn't just be nice or be fair, even though crossing over would have been much, much easier. He stuck around. He did the hard work.  He fed the thousands. He healed the sick. He esteemed a tax collector. He stuck around and did the hard work of dying for you and me. He manifested what this love should look like by esteeming us rather than Him.  It's not just an attitude of helping out someone in need. It's not just looking at other people as equals It’s an attitude of esteeming others better than ourselves – of showing love and respect and honor for one another.

This leads us to just one minor little thing. Right? How do we do it? How do we do that? How do we avoid crossing over the path? How do we avoid taking a path that leads…that starts, maybe, as a small inconsideration, but leads down to a path to a much bigger problem – the problem of not thinking of others – not considering others above ourselves. How can we put into practice the mind set that will keep us from crossing over? Like with most of Christianity, it's not complicated. It's simple. It’s just hard to do.

I remember a particular Bond movie, where the bad guy left Bond on this island, surrounded with alligators, and he was going to let him have this slow terrible death, and Bond is sitting there, and Bond saying, “Okay, you’ve got to help me out. Give me a hint. How do I defeat these alligators?”  I guess, to be honest with you, I wouldn’t be a very good evil super villain, because I'm not that imaginative on, you know, these elaborate schemes for him to die. I probably would have just shot him or whatever. But he tells him…he says, "Oh yeah. It’s easy. You just reach inside his mouth and pull all his teeth out, and he's harmless."

It's simple. It's just hard to do – to think about others before we thing about ourselves. But we can do that when we start reflecting on the example that Christ left. When we think of all those little things He did, we can ask ourselves, “What sort of changes do I need to make? How do I want to find the garbage?  Do I enjoy pulling into a parking spot, thinking, “I'm ready and able to get out of my car and run in the store real quick,” only to find a shopping cart taking up this spot?” What are the real tangible things that you and I can do on a daily basis? Maybe it is doing those things. Maybe it is putting up my own laundry. Maybe it's calling a shut-in. Maybe it's preparing a meal for someone who is not able to do so for themselves, or we know has had a very difficult week because of some personal trial. Maybe it's just listening to a friend who wants to talk. Maybe you know the story, or more likely, maybe we think we know the story. We assume motivations, as Mr. Magee talked about. We find a reason to walk away – to cross over the other side of the street to get away from an uncomfortable situation. Whatever it is, it starts with this: Make the conscientious, intentional choice not to cross over. It's that simple. We have to choose to have compassion – to have concern, to not take the easy way out, because it is so critical – so critical – that when Christ returns, He finds us so doing – that we are recognizable as His disciple with the love that we show to one another – not just one another, but for the entire world around us.

Turn to one last scripture in Psalm 8. Psalm 8, and we’ll pick it up in…we’ll just read verses 4 and 5 – a very familiar scripture.

Psalm 8:4 – What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit Him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

We are nothing, yet God honored us. Jesus Christ esteemed us better than Himself to the point of death.  What better example of not crossing over could we ask for? So let's honor the sacrifice of Jesus Christ by esteeming others better than ourselves, so that we might truly have the mind of Christ in us.