When it comes to being a neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves when we place our neighbor before ourselves...

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans to begin to answer the third question that we are going to look at in this series, which is “How should I be a neighbor?”

Yesterday, we looked on as the Apostle Paul commanded followers of Jesus throughout history to owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. As followers of Jesus, our relationships should not be driven and motivated by slavery to financial or emotional obligations. Instead, the only debt or obligation that should weigh on our lives and drive the motivation of our lives is the obligation to love one another.

Paul then explained that when love is the driving and motivating force behind our lives, the result is that we will live a life that is in line with God’s commandments. When followers of Jesus willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first out of a selfless and other-centered love for one another, we do not wrong to our neighbor and we fulfill God’s requirements of how we are to relate to one another. And it is in these verses that Paul reveals for us the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we are to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first. Today, we will see Paul transition to reveal a third area where followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission that willingly places ourselves under others by placing others first in Romans 13:11-14:

 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Paul begins verse 11 by providing a timeless reason why followers of Jesus throughout history are to practice a lifestyle of submission to government and are to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first out of a selfless and other-centered love for one another. And that reason was “knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” But what does that mean?

When Paul uses the phrase awaken from sleep, this phrase refers to a state of thoughtlessness, laziness, lethargy, and sluggishness. This morning, have you ever been there? Have you ever been in that place where you wake up in the morning, of after a nap, and you are in an incoherent daze and have no desire to do anything? We have all been there at some point in our live, haven’t we? For some of us, that could be right now. And not only can we find ourselves in an incoherent daze of lethargy and laziness physically; we can find ourselves in an incoherent daze of lethargy and laziness spiritually.

And that is exactly where some of the members of the church at Rome were. And this morning, that may be where some of us are when it comes to our relationship with Jesus and your relationships with others. You may not give much thought or effort into your relationship with Jesus or your relationships with others.

Maybe you are at a place where you spend time with Jesus when Jesus fits into your schedule or when you feel like you need Jesus to come through for you. Maybe you are at a place where you spend time investing in relationships with others only for what you could get from others, not for what you could give to others.

Paul’s response to the members of the church at Rome, and followers of Jesus throughout history, who had become lethargic and lazy and lived life in an incoherent daze when it came to their relationship with Jesus and others, was this: Wake up! We need to wake up. And the reason why we need to wake up is become salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

By salvation, Paul is referring to the end of God’s story here on earth, when Jesus Christ will return to defeat selfishness, sin, and death, and when we will experience the fullness of the relationship with God that we were created for.  Every day here on earth is a day closer to Jesus return. And while we do not know the exact day and time when Jesus will return, we are to live our lives in a constant state of expectancy for His return.

Paul then explains that we are to wake up and live in expectancy of His return by laying aside the deeds of darkness and putting on the armor of light. Paul’s point here is that in light of Jesus return, as followers of Jesus we are to rid ourselves of the deeds that flow from a life of moral and spiritual darkness.

Instead of thoughtlessly and lazily living a life that is led by our old selfish and sinful nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by attitudes and actions that are selfish and rebellious, as followers of Jesus we are to live a life that battles moral and spiritual darkness with the weapons that God has given us as a result of his transformational activity. As followers of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence and power, His word in the letters that make up the Bible, and prayer, just to name a few of the many weapons that God desires us to actively and thoughtfully employ in our lives so that we would live a life that reveals and reflects Jesus’ activity in our lives.

And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we are to practice a lifestyle of submission to Christ’s commands. Instead of submitting to our old selfish and rebellious nature, we are to live a life that is submitted to following the message and teachings of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s point is that as we wait for Jesus return, we are to live our lives in light of His return by embracing a lifestyle of submission to His commands. In verse 13 and 14, Paul explains that whether it is our actions with what we eat and drink; whether it is our actions sexually; whether it is our attitude and actions in our relationships with one another, we are to conduct our day to day lives in a decent manner that follows the message and teaching of Jesus by submitting ourselves to His teaching. Instead of submitting Scripture to our thinking, we are to submit our thinking to Scripture. 

Paul concluded this section of his letter with a command that summarizes verse 11-14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”? The word provision here, in the language this letter was originally written in, literally means to make thoughtful plans in order to meet a need. In addition, the word flesh here refers to our old nature apart from Jesus that is dominated by the evil and destructive power of sin. Lust, simply put, is a desire for something that is forbidden.

Paul is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to not make plans in order to meet the forbidden desires of our old nature that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion. Instead of taking the time to make plans to do something that is forbidden physically, sexually, or relationally, as followers of Jesus we are to be spending our time willingly placing ourselves under the leadership of Jesus by placing Jesus and His message and teachings in the forefront of our lives.

And it is here, in this section of this letter, that we discover a timeless answer to the question “How should I be a neighbor?” And that timeless answer is this: When it comes to being a neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves when we place our neighbor before ourselves. You see, to love our neighbor as ourselves is to place our neighbor before ourselves. And when we place our neighbor before ourselves, we will do no wrong to our neighbor and we will fulfill God’s requirements of how we are to relate to our neighbor. When we place our neighbor before ourselves, we also place ourselves under the message and teachings of Jesus. And, as we have talked about throughout this series, that is what matters most to Jesus.

What matters most to Jesus is that we live a life that loves Him with our total being and that demonstrates our love for Jesus by loving our neighbor like Jesus. And when we love our neighbor as ourselves; when we love our neighbor like Jesus, we are perfectly positioned to be the vehicle God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to those around us as we live a life of faithful obedience to Jesus.

We will live a life of faithful obedience because our faithful obedience flows from a life that loves God with our total being and the loves our neighbor as ourselves. And that is what matters most to Jesus. What matters most to Jesus is to be a neighbor that reveals our relationship with Jesus through how we love and treat our neighbor that leads us to be able to lead our neighbor to a relationship with Jesus.

So here is a question for us to consider: How are you doing when it comes to loving your neighbor as yourself by placing your neighbor before yourself? What are some ways that you can love your neighbor as yourself by placing your neighbor before yourself? What are some ways that you can put this truth into practice in your home, with your family, at school, in your workplace, and your relationships?

Because the timeless reality is that when it comes to being a neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves when we place our neighbor before ourselves...

"How should I be a neighbor?"

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together in a sermon series entitled “Won’t you be my neighbor”. During this series our hope and our prayer is to answer three specific questions. Our hope and prayer is that we would answer the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” “Who is my neighbor?” and “How should I be a neighbor?”

We launched into this series by asking the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” In other words why should followers of Jesus be a neighbor to the people around them?” To answer this question, we spent our time together looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew, where we discovered the timeless reality that we should be a neighbor because being a neighbor is to be what matters most to Jesus.

Last week, we spent our time together asking the question “Who is my neighbor?” To answer that question, we spent our time together looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke, where we discovered the timeless reality that when it comes to being a neighbor, we are to view and love everyone as our neighbor.

We ended our time together by recognizing that a natural question that could arise at this point could be “Well Dave, if that is the case, if everyone is my neighbor, then how am I supposed to love everyone as my neighbor? How should I be a neighbor?” So this week, I would like for us to spend our time together by beginning to answer the third question that we are going to look at in this series, which is “How should I be a neighbor?”

To begin to answer this question, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans. So let’s jump into this section of this letter, which a man named Paul wrote to early followers of Jesus, beginning in Romans 13:8:

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Now to fully understand, what the Apostle Paul is communicating in these verses, we first need to understand the context in which these verses take place. The book of Romans was written by the Apostle Paul to early followers of Jesus who lived in Rome, Italy. And the point of the book of Romans can be summarized in one simple statement. And that statement would be that the message of the gospel reveals the reality that God is right.

In Romans 1:1-17, Paul proclaimed that God is right. God always has been right; God always will be right; and the extent that we are right when it comes to living in a right relationship with God is directly related to the extent that our heads, hearts, and hands line up with what God believes is right, because God is right. And this reality is revealed to all humanity through the message of the gospel.

The message that that while all of humanity was created for a relationship with God and one another, all of humanity selfishly chose to reject that relationship, instead choosing to love our selves over God and others. And it is out of our selfishness that we do things that hurt God and those around us, which the Bible calls sin. The message that reveals that God responded to our selfish rebellion and sin by sending His Son Jesus, God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

The message that reveals that Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb dead as a door nail, and was brought back to life as a result of the Holy Spirit’s transforming and supernatural activity in order to be our Lord and Savior. The message that provides the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

After the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans, Paul begins to reveal the reality that the fact that God is right is not only based on who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do. Beginning in Romans 12, Paul reveals the reality that the fact that God is right is also revealed by how followers of Jesus practice their faith. When followers of Jesus live a life that genuinely and authentically puts into practice the message and teachings of Jesus, we are used by God to reveal that He is right. 

In Romans 12 Paul revealed the timeless reality that followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of worship that pleases God. Paul explained that followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of worship that pleases God through our response of surrender. Paul explained that followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of worship that pleases God through our response of service. And Paul explained that followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of worship that pleases God through our response toward other Christians.

Then, in Romans 13, Paul begins to reveal the timeless reality that followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission.  When Paul uses the word submission, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first. And in Romans 13, Paul reveals three areas where followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission.

In Romans 13:1-7, which we looked at throughout the “Vote for Jesus” series, Paul revealed the reality that followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission to the government. And, it is in this context, after providing three reasons why followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission to the government, that Paul transitions in Romans 13:8 to address a second area where followers of Jesus were to practice a lifestyle of submission.

Paul begins verse 8 by commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. Now the word owe here literally means to be under obligation to meet certain moral or social conditions. Paul’s point here is that as followers of Jesus, the only obligation that should be the driving and motivating factor in our lives is love. As followers of Jesus, our relationships should not be driven and motivated by slavery to financial or emotional obligations. Instead, the only debt or obligation that should weigh on our lives and drive the motivation of our lives is the obligation to love one another.

Paul then explains that when love is the driving and motivating force behind our lives, the result is that we fulfill the law. When Paul refers to the Law, he is referring to the first five letters that are recorded for us in our Bibles, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or Torah. The word fulfilled means to bring something to a designated end. Paul’s point is that the person who practices a lifestyle of love that willing places ourselves under others by placing others first, will live a life that is in line with God’s commandments.

And to reinforce his point, in verse 9, Paul points the members of the church at Rome, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to the seventh, sixth, eighth, and tenth of the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses for the Jewish people. In addition, Paul reminds the readers of this letter of God’s command to the Jewish people that is recorded for us in a letter of our Bibles, called the Book of Leviticus, in Leviticus 19:18.

To understand what Paul is communicating here, let me ask you this question: If you loved your neighbor as yourself, would you ever sleep with their spouse? Kill them? Steal from them? Desire what they had? Wish that they did not have what they had? Would we ever sin against one another if we lovingly placed ourselves under them by placing them first? No we would not.

And that is Paul’s point here. Paul then hammers his point home in verse 10 by stating that love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Paul’s point is that when followers of Jesus willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first out of a selfless and other-centered love for one another, we do not wrong to our neighbor and we fulfill God’s requirements of how we are to relate to one another.

And it is in these verses that Paul reveals for us the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we are to practice a lifestyle of submission to one another. As followers of Jesus, we are to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first. Paul then transitions to reveal a third area where followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission that willingly places ourselves under others by placing others first in Romans 13:11-14.

Tomorrow, we will discover what Paul will say next…

When it comes to being a neighbor, we are to view and love everyone as our neighbor...

Last week, we were looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. During this event from history, a lawyer responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by asking Jesus a second question. "And who is my neighbor?" We talked about the reality that the lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus because there was great disagreement when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.

You see, in the Jewish culture of the first century, Jewish rabbis often taught that the Jewish people were to love their neighbor and hate their enemies. We see this in another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the book of Matthew in Matthew 5:43. In other words, Jewish people who were right with God were under obligation to love other people who were insiders that were right with God, but Jewish people did not have to love people who were outsiders who were not right with God.

So there was great debate when it came to who was an insider and who was an outsider. There was a great debate when it came to who was right with God and who was not right with God. There was great debate over who needed to be shown love and who did not need to be shown love.  There was great debate when it came to who should be considered a neighbor. And now Jesus was being forced by this lawyer to enter into this debate. Luke then reveals for us how Jesus entered into this debate in Luke 11:30-32:

Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Luke tells us that Jesus replied to the lawyers question with a parable. Now a parable is an earthly story that is designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. Jesus began this parable by explaining that as a Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. To fully understand the context of this parable, however, we first need to understand something about the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

You see, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a dangerous road frequented by robbers. The road descended 3,000 feet over 17 miles. This road would be very similar to traveling from Golden Valley to Bullhead City. There were many places along the road where robbers could hide in wait of unwary travelers and attack them by surprise.

Jesus then explained that the Jewish man who was on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by robbers who robbed him, beat him, stripped him naked and left him half dead on the side of the road. The robbers left this man on the side of the road to die of exposure or attack from wild animals after taking everything that this man possessed.

However, by chance a priest happened to be traveling on the road to Jericho when he came upon this half dead man lying on the side of the road. This priest was a Jewish religious leader who was a direct descendant of Aaron who had the position, privilege, and responsibility to lead the Jewish people in following the Jewish sacrificial system. This religious person would have been considered right with God and would have been the insider of insiders. In our culture today, this man would have been like a Senior Pastor of a church.

Yet, when this insider of insiders saw his fellow Jewish man beaten, naked, and left half dead on the side of the road, he responded by moving to the other side of the road. This insider of insiders responded by distancing himself and walking right past his fellow Jew to instead continue on to Jericho. 

Jesus then explained that just by chance, a Levite happened to be traveling on the road to Jericho when he came upon this half dead man lying on the side of the road. This Levite was a Jewish religious leader who was the priest’s assistant and was responsible for the less important tasks at the Temple. In our culture today, this man would have been like an Associate Pastor of a church.

Yet, when this insider saw his fellow Jewish man beaten, naked, and left half dead on the side of the road, he also responded by moving to the other side of the road. This insider also responded by distancing himself and walking right past his fellow Jew to instead continue on to Jericho.  Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from history in the crowd listening to Jesus as He has this conversation with this lawyer. I want us to place ourselves in this scene for a minute. If you were there in the crowd listening, would you think that these insiders were very loving to their fellow insider? If you were there in the crowd listening, would you think that these insiders were acting like insiders when it came to having a relationship with God?

Or, if you were there in the crowd listening, would you think that these insiders were acting like outsiders when it came to having a relationship with God? How would you have responded to what these insiders did when it came to their fellow insider? Would you view these Jewish religious leaders as being very neighborly to their fellow Jewish neighbor? You would have been disappointed in them wouldn’t you? Jesus then continued His parable by revealing a third character in verse 33-35:

  "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. "On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'

Now if you were a Jewish person in the crowd listening to Jesus parable, at the moment Jesus referred to a Samaritan, you would have gasped in disbelief. You would have gasped in disbelief because of who the Samaritans were. You would have gasped in disbelief because of how Jewish people felt about Samaritans. You see, Samaritans were people who lived in Samaria. And at one time, Samaria was a part of the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Then, in 722 B.C., the Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In order to help control the regions that they conquered, the Assyrians developed a strategy that involved deporting large numbers of Jewish people and replacing them with large numbers of people from the nation of Assyria. The Assyrians who moved to Samaria worshipped false gods and simply added the worship of the One True God to their worship of their false gods.

Over time, the Jewish people began to intermarry and adopt the religion and culture of the Assyrians. The Samaritans rejected all of the Old Testament except the first five books and refused to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Instead, the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt Gerizim in 400 B.C.

Now as you might imagine, the Jewish people did not respond well to what was happening in Samaria. And over time a great deal of animosity built between the Jewish people who lived in southern Israel and the people who lived in Samaria. The closest cultural comparison to how the Jewish people viewed the Samaritans would be that the Samaritans were viewed in a similar way to how a black and white married couple would have been viewed in the southern United States in the 1950’s.

The Jewish people came to view the Samaritans as “half breeds” and wanted nothing to do with them. So, if you were a Jewish person you would have gasped at Jesus introduction of a Samaritan into this parable. Samaritans were viewed as outsiders. Samaritans were viewed as people who were far from God. Samaritans were viewed as those who did not need to be shown love. Samaritans were not viewed as being neighbors. Instead, Samaritans were viewed as the enemy ethnically, culturally, and religiously. And as a result, Jewish people did not believe that they needed to be neighborly to Samaritans.

However, this Samaritan did six different things for this injured Jewish person that demonstrated that he loved this Jewish person as a neighbor. First, the Samaritan took the risk to engage the injured Jewish man. After all, the robbers could have been hiding in the distance waiting to attack him as well. Second, the Samaritan took the risk to bandage the wounds of the injured Jewish man. Third, the Samaritan took the risk to anoint the cuts with oil and wine, which would have soothed the wound and disinfected the wound. All of these actions would have taken time and would have exposed the Samaritan man to potential danger.

Fourth, the Samaritan took the time and effort to load the man on his mule while he walked alongside the mule. Fifth, the Samaritan took the time and effort to take him to the inn in Jericho. And sixth, the Samaritan took of his own resources to provide care and comfort to the injured man by staying the night and paying for his future care by giving two days wages. In the culture of the first century, two days wages would have paid for the injured Jewish man to stay at the inn for twenty four days in order to recover from his injuries.

You see, as Martin Luther King famously pointed out in his sermon on this event from history: "I imagine that the first question the priest and Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But by the very nature of his concern, the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”After telling this parable, Jesus then asks the lawyer a very pointed question. Luke reveals for us Jesus question in verse 36:

 "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"

Now this morning can you imagine the scene as Jesus asked the lawyer that question? Can you imagine the tension that would have been present? Can you imagine the tension that comes from knowing the right answer but not liking the right answer? After all, Samaritans were outsiders. Samaritans were far from God. Samaritans did not need to be shown love. Samaritans were the enemy. Samaritans were not viewed as being neighbors and were not viewed as needing to be treated as neighbors. Can you imagine how long it took for the lawyer to provide the answer to that question? Luke then reveals how the lawyer answered Jesus question in verse 37:

And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

This morning, did you notice the lawyer’s response? I mean, he could even say the word Samaritan, could he? Instead the lawyer stated "The one who showed mercy toward him." However, Jesus does not let the lawyer off the hook, does He? Instead, Luke tells us that Jesus commanded the lawyer to go and do the same. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved.

You see, Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved because love is not a noun. Love is a verb. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved because love is proved, or demonstrated by our actions. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samaritan loved because being a neighbor is not about location or racial or ethnic identity. Jesus commanded the lawyer to love just like the Samarian loved because being a neighbor is about our actions regardless of location or racial or ethnic identity.

And it is here, in this event from history, that we discover the timeless answer to the question “Who is my neighbor?” And that timeless answer is this: When it comes to being a neighbor, we are to view and love everyone as our neighbor. The timeless reality is that being a neighbor is to love everyone as our neighbor, because when we love everyone as our neighbor, we provide the proof that we love Jesus with our total being. Being a neighbor is to love everyone as our neighbor, because when we love everyone as our neighbor, we reveal and reflect the love of Jesus to our neighbor. And being a neighbor is to love everyone as our neighbor, because when we love everyone as our neighbor, we are doing what matters most to Jesus.

You see, what matters most to Jesus is that we live a life that loves Him with our total being and that demonstrates our love for Jesus by loving our neighbor like Jesus. And when we love our neighbor as ourselves; when we love our neighbor like Jesus, we are perfectly positioned to be the vehicle God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to those around us as we live a life of faithful obedience to Jesus. We will live a life of faithful obedience because our faithful obedience flows from a life that loves God with our total being and the loves our neighbor as ourselves.

And everyone is our neighbor. The people that live next door are our neighbor. People who are just like us are our neighbor and people who are nothing like us are our neighbor. The obnoxious guy or that girl who is so full of herself that sits next to us in class is our neighbor. The brownnosing coworker that we always covering for because he does not get his work done is our neighbor.

Now a question that arises at this point is “Well Dave, if that is the case, if everyone is my neighbor, then how am I supposed to love everyone as my neighbor? How should I be a neighbor?”

Tomorrow, we will begin asking and answering that question....

A timeless question that provokes a timeless debate...

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Won’t you be my neighbor”. During this series our hope and our prayer is to answer three specific questions. Our hope and prayer is that we would answer the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” “Who is my neighbor?” and “How should I be a neighbor?” Our hope and our prayer is to answer these questions in a way that enables and empowers us to live our day to day lives as a follower of Jesus in a way that is a neighbor to those that God has already placed in our spheres of influence who are far from God in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to them.

Last week, we launched into this series by asking the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” In other words why should followers of Jesus be a neighbor to the people around them?” To answer this question, we spent our time together looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. And it was in this event from history that we discovered the timeless reality that we should be a neighbor because being a neighbor is to be what matters most to Jesus.

We ended our time together by recognizing that a natural question that could arise at this point could be “Well Dave, that sounds great, but who exactly am I supposed to consider as my neighbor. I mean are we talking about the people that live next door? Are we talking about that obnoxious guy or that girl who is so full of herself that sits next to me in class? Are we talking about my brownnosing coworker that I am always covering for because he does not get his work done? So who do I have to do this for? Who is my neighbor?”

So this week, as we continue in this series, I would like for us to answer the question “Who is my neighbor?” What is so fascinating about this question is that this question is not a new question. As a matter of fact this question was asked of Jesus during His life on earth. We see this question asked of Jesus in an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. So let’s jump into this event from history, which Luke records for us in Luke 10:25:

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Luke brings us into this event from history by explaining that as Jesus was engaging in a conversation with His disciples about a short term mission trip that they had just returned from, a lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test.  Now this lawyer, who were also known as a scribe, was an expert in the Mosaic Law, which is contained in the first five books of our Bibles today, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or Torah.

When Luke says that this lawyer put Jesus to the test, he is revealing for us the reality that this lawyer was trying to trap Jesus with a question. This lawyer was setting a trap in hopes that Jesus would incorrectly answer the question in a way that would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people. Luke then reveals the question that was posed to Jesus in order to trap Jesus: "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

The lawyer’s question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: Jesus, what must I do so that I can experience eternal life in Heaven with God? What must I do to be right with God so that I can obtain a ticket to Heaven?” The reason why this question was a trap was due to the fact that there was great disagreement when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.

Now here is a question to consider: Has anything changed? This morning is this not the question that is still asked today? And do not people argue and debate the answer to this question? Doesn’t the answer to this question still end up offending someone? Maybe this is a question that you have? Maybe you are wondering “What must I do to experience a relationship with God?  What must I do to be right with God so that I can obtain a ticket to Heaven?”

You see, regardless of whether or not you buy the whole Bible, Jesus, or church thing; regardless of how often you have attended church in the past; regardless of the fact that you may feel like you do not know and do not feel that you can ever know about whether or not the Bible or church is real or relevant; regardless of all the bad experiences that you may have had with Christians and churches, this is a question that resonates within us.

This is a question that will cause us to stop and think. Is there a God? And if there is a God, who is God? And if there is a God, how do I get right with God? However, while the lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus, the lawyer was not prepared for what Jesus would do next, as we see in verse 26-28:

 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" 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."

Luke tells us that the lawyer responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Deuteronomy. The lawyer quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew Schema, which was the Jewish people’s confession of faith. As we discovered last week, the schema would be recited by all Jewish people as part of their daily prayers and was committed to memory.

This answer would not have surprised those listening and would have seemed like the right response. The idea of loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a sense of total commitment. In our culture today, we would communicate this concept by saying that we should love God with our total being. In addition, this lawyer also quoted from another section of a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Leviticus.

And in the lawyers answer, we see the lawyer reveal the reality that we were all created for relationships. We were created for relationships, vertically with God and horizontally with others in a community of love and acceptance. And because we were created in His image, we show our love for God by how we love others. That is why the message and teachings of Jesus and the Bible make it clear that we show our love for God when we love our neighbor. Conversely, we show a lack of intimacy with God when we are indifferent or hostile toward our neighbor.

Luke tells us that Jesus, hearing the lawyers answer to his own question, responded by affirming the lawyers answer. And in affirming the lawyers answer, Jesus quoted a section from a letter in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 20:11, the prophet Ezekiel reminded the Jewish people that the Lord had given the Jewish people His commandments to reveal His nature and character and the nature and character that the Jewish people needed to possess and display in order to live in relationship with Him.

And here we see Jesus quote this Old Testament passage as a command to the lawyer. Jesus basically says to the lawyer “You answered your own question correctly. Now make sure that you are living your life in obedience to your answer. To be right with God so that you can obtain a ticket to Heaven make sure that you are living your life in obedience to the Lord’s command to love the Lord with your total being and to love your neighbor as yourself, because you will show your love for the Lord by how you love your neighbor.” Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from history as this lawyer. Place yourself in his shoes. You have just tried to trap Jesus with a question in a way that would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people. However, Jesus just turned the tables on you in a way that forced you to answer your own question and that made Jesus look even better in the eyes of the people. You are this lawyer. What would you be thinking at this point? How would you be feeling? How would you respond? We see the lawyer’s response in verse 29:

But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Luke tells us that the lawyer responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by asking Jesus a second question. "And who is my neighbor?" However, Luke reveals the true motives behind the lawyers question with the phrase wishing to justify himself. Now this phrase literally means to wish to vindicate himself.

You see, the lawyer recognized that Jesus had turned the tables on him. The lawyer recognized that his plan to trap Jesus had backfired. And the lawyer desperately desired to vindicate himself. So the lawyer doubled down in his attempt to trap Jesus.  The lawyer is basically saying “well Jesus if the Law says that I am supposed to love my neighbor as myself, who is my neighbor? And who is not my neighbor? Who do I have to love as I love myself? And who can I not love as I love myself?”

Once again the lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus. The lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus again because there was great disagreement when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.

You see, in the Jewish culture of the first century, Jewish rabbis often taught that the Jewish people were to love their neighbor and hate their enemies. We see this in another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the book of Matthew in Matthew 5:43. In other words, Jewish people who were right with God were under obligation to love other people who were insiders that were right with God, but Jewish people did not have to love people who were outsiders who were not right with God.

So there was great debate when it came to who was an insider and who was an outsider. There was a great debate when it came to who was right with God and who was not right with God. There was great debate over who needed to be shown love and who did not need to be shown love.  There was great debate when it came to who should be considered a neighbor. And now Jesus was being forced by this lawyer to enter into this debate.

Tomorrow, we will see how Jesus entered into this debate...

We should be a neighbor because being a neighbor is to be what matters most to Jesus...

This week we have been spending our time together answering the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” In other words, why should followers of Jesus be a neighbor to the people around them?” To answer these questions, we have been looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew.

We looked on, as crowds continued to gather and grow around Jesus temple, an expert in the Law approached Jesus to test Him with the question “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law? In essence, Jesus was asked “What’s most important” from God’s perspective?

 Jesus responded to the Sadducees question by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Deuteronomy. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew Schema. Now the Schema was the Jewish people’s confession of faith. The schema would be recited by all Jewish people as part of their daily prayers and was committed to memory. This answer would not have surprised those listening and would have seemed like the right response.

However, Jesus did not stop there. Instead, Jesus continued His answer by departing from the Schema to quote a seemingly obscure verse of the Law that is found in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 19:18. But why would Jesus make this connection? And what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?

We talked about the reality that to love someone as yourself is simply to ask “If I found myself in a similar situation or circumstance that my neighbor finds themselves in, what would make me feel loved by someone else?” And then that is what we do for that person. That is what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. 

What is significant here, however, is the fact that not only did Jesus seem to be changing the Schema by adding this verse; Jesus also added that this verse held equal weight and significance as the Schema.

The idea of loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a sense of total commitment. We might communicate this thought today by saying that we should love God with our total being.

So, on the one hand, the most important thing is to love God with our total being. On the other hand, however, Jesus did not say that we could love God with our total being and be indifferent or hostile to our neighbor. But why would Jesus add this seemingly obscure statement that was not even a part of the Ten Commandments, or the Schema?

To understand why Jesus made this connection, let’s take a minute and look at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 John. Notice what John, who was the person who had perhaps the closest relationship with Jesus while He was here on earth, wrote in 1 John 4:20-21:

If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Now, let’s let that sink in for a minute. If anyone says that he loves God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. Wow. That’s strong stuff. John explains his strong statement by reminding us of the reality that if we cannot love our neighbor, who was created in God’s image and is right in front of us, we are unable to love God, who we have not seen. Or have we?

You see, even though we have not seen God, His relational image is imprinted on each one of us. We all desire to be in relationships. We were created for relationships, vertically with God and horizontally with others in a community marked by love and acceptance. And because we were created in His image, we show our love for God by how we love others.

That is why Jesus did not make this an either/or proposition. It is not an either/or proposition; it is a both/and proposition. We show our love for God when we love our neighbor. Conversely, we show a lack of intimacy with God when we are indifferent or hostile toward our neighbor.

If that was not enough, Jesus hammers this point home by saying that “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”.  But what does that mean? During Jesus day, and still today, the letters that make up the Old Testament of the Bible were classified into three main sections; the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets. In addition, the letters that make up the Old Testament of the Bible take most of what we call the historical books, like the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, and classify them under the Law.

In essence, what Jesus is saying is that all of the commandments of God can be summed up in these two interconnected commands. But how can that be? Can we just ignore the rest of the Scriptural commands? To help us wrap our minds around this principle, let’s take a minute and think of how we view  the concepts of obedience and sin.

If what is most important to God in terms of obedience is loving God with our total being and loving our neighbor as ourselves, then what is sin? Wouldn’t sin be the opposite? A great definition of sin is that sin is the love of self over God and our neighbor who was created in God’s image. 

So, if we loved God with our total being and loved our neighbor as ourselves: When we show our love for God by loving others, would we sin? Would we lie? Cheat? Steal? Murder? Gossip? Slander? Be divisive? Commit adultery? Be involved in pornography?

Or think of the last time you sinned. If we really and honestly think about it, were we not motivated by a selfish love, a selfishness, which led us to sin? The timeless reality is that nothing in the letters that make up the Bible can be truly obeyed if we are not following Jesus words here.

In addition, when we are living lives of love with God and that show our love for God by loving our neighbor, not only will we be living lives of obedience, we will also be reflecting His image to a world that is looking for that type of love and relationship, thus fulfilling the great commission that we looked at last week.

And it is here, in this event from history, that we discover the timeless answer to the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” in that  The timeless reality is that being a neighbor is to be what matters most to Jesus, because when we are a neighbor that loves our neighbor as ourselves, we provide the proof to our neighbor that we love Jesus with our total being.

Being a neighbor is to be what matters most to Jesus, because when we are a neighbor that loves our neighbor as ourselves, we reveal and reflect the love of Jesus to our neighbor. And being a neighbor is to be what matters most to Jesus, because when we are a neighbor that loves our neighbor as ourselves, we are doing what matters most to Jesus.

You see, what matters most to Jesus is that we live a life that loves Him with our total being and that demonstrates our love for Jesus by loving our neighbor like Jesus. And when we love our neighbor as ourselves; when we love our neighbor like Jesus, we are perfectly positioned to be the vehicle God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to those around us as we live a life of faithful obedience to Jesus.

We will live a life of faithful obedience because our faithful obedience flows from a life that loves God with our total being and the loves our neighbor as ourselves. And this morning, that is what matters most to Jesus. What matters most to Jesus is to be a neighbor that reveals our relationship with Jesus through how we love and treat our neighbor that leads us to be able to lead our neighbor to a relationship with Jesus.

Now a question that arises at this point is “Well Dave, that sounds great, but who exactly am I supposed to consider as my neighbor? So who do I have to do this for? Who is my neighbor?”

Next week, we will spend our time together asking and answering that question...

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?

This week, we are asking and answering the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” In other words why should followers of Jesus be a neighbor to the people around them?” To answer these questions, we are looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew.

Yesterday, we looked on a s a group of self righteous religious leaders began to confront Jesus as they believed that their power and positions of authority were threatened by Jesus. As the crowds continued to gather and grow in the temple, an expert in the Law approached Jesus to test Him with the question “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?

This expert in the Law, a scribe, was a professional student of the Law who often served as a judge and defender of the Law in the religious courts of the day basically asked Jesus “Of the 613 commands of God in the Old Testament of the Bible, What’s most important from God’s perspective?” Today, however, we see that Jesus response once again caught the religious leaders off guard and without a comeback. Let’s look at Jesus response together in 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.' ³⁸ "This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' ⁴⁰ "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

 Jesus responded to the Sadducees question by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Deuteronomy. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew Schema. Now the Schema was the Jewish people’s confession of faith. The schema would be recited by all Jewish people as part of their daily prayers and was committed to memory.

This answer would not have surprised those listening and would have seemed like the right response. However, Jesus did not stop there. Instead, Jesus continued His answer by departing from the Schema to quote a seemingly obscure verse of the Law that is found in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 19:18.

But why would Jesus make this connection? And what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? You see, to love your neighbor as yourself is a nice bumper sticker or is a nice slogan on a coffee mug, but what does it look like to love your neighbor as yourself?

Now to love someone as yourself is simply to ask “If I found myself in a similar situation or circumstance that my neighbor finds themselves in, what would make me feel loved by someone else?” And then that is what we do for that person. That is what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. 

What is significant here, however, is the fact that not only did Jesus seem to be changing the Schema by adding this verse. In addition, Jesus also added that this verse held equal weight and significance as the Schema. You see, the problem for these self righteous religious leaders, and for us today, is that Jesus did not say that these two commandments were an either/or proposition. Jesus did not give us the option to be on the fence, uncommitted, apathetic, or an agnostic toward God as long as we loved our neighbor.

The idea of loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a sense of total commitment. We might communicate this thought today by saying that we should love God with our total being. So, on the one hand, the most important thing is to love God with our total being. On the other hand, however, Jesus did not say that we could love God with our total being and be indifferent or hostile to our neighbor.

But why would Jesus add this seemingly obscure statement that was not even a part of the Ten Commandments, or the Schema?

Friday, we will look at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible that will help us understand the connection and discover the timeless answer to the question “Why should I be a neighbor?”