Loving Your Neighbor

Last week's sermon I covered the concept of being your brother's keeper. And in question we answered, who is our brother? And Jesus Christ showed that those who keep the will and do the will of His Father are our brothers and sisters and mothers. In that message we also recognize that the relationships we have towards our brethren is going to be different than the relationships that we have and maintain in this world around us at large.

Our responsibility in the Church is not only to look after the physical and the emotional needs of one another, but it is also, and I would say primarily, to guard and protect and hedge about the spiritual needs as we strive for our common calling and the goal of the Kingdom of God. So what I'd like to do this week, brethren, is to actually go back, because I did talk about our brother and I mentioned our neighbor, but I didn't go down that road specifically.

Today I'd like to go back and look at what the Scripture shows our responsibility to be as it pertains to those outside of the body of Jesus Christ. So today I'd like to talk about loving your neighbor. In Matthew 22, Jesus Christ gives us an illustration to consider as we focus on this point.

Let's go to Matthew 22 to begin with, and verse 35. Here Jesus has a multitude following him as he's teaching, and of course they're astonished about a number of the things which they are hearing. Matthew 22, beginning in verse 35, it says, "...then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, and saying, teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to them, you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." He says this is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And these two commandments hang all the law in the prophets. In other words, Jesus Christ is saying, you go back and look at the law and the prophets, you study what those words say, you apply them to your life, you will be loving God, you'll be loving your neighbor.

Now Jesus thought that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And that's a pretty tall order, isn't it? You know, I was thinking this week, it might have been a little easier if you just said, love your neighbor, and sort of just left off that as yourself part. Because you know what, we can love our neighbor, sure, you know, when times are good, when we feel like it, when it's convenient for us. But to love our neighbor as ourselves, that takes the matter to a little deeper level then, doesn't it? So what does it mean exactly?

Love your neighbor as yourself. Does that mean if I go out and buy that shiny new black sports car that I've always dreamed about, that I now have to go and buy one for my neighbor so he can be just as happy as I am? Is that really what it means? If you're my neighbor, you might say yes. But that's not exactly what it means. We can pick up a little more clarification in Matthew, chapter 7 and verse 12.

Again, what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Matthew, chapter 7, verse 12. Here again, the words of Jesus Christ. And he says, Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. So the basic foundation to loving your neighbor as yourself, as Jesus Christ commanded, is based on treating others in the way that we would like to be treated ourselves.

He was asking ourselves, how would I like to be treated in this circumstance? If I were in their situation, and then it's turning around and considering them and acting in the same manner. Loving your neighbor involves many of the same principles that we walked through as we covered being your brother's keeper. And so I'm not necessarily going to go back and lay that foundation again. But I would like to remind us that Philippians 2, verse 4, tells us we're to be looking out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. So loving your neighbor is about coming to your neighbor, not only in the good times, but in the difficult times as well.

Having their best interests at heart. Seeing where it is that you can help them and encourage them. You know, having them in the forefront of your mind, taking action where it's appropriate. That's loving your neighbor. Now, it should probably take a couple of minutes to ask and answer the question, then just who exactly is my neighbor? You know, who is my neighbor? Is he the person that lives next door and maybe the person that lives next door to them? Or is the scope of that broader even than that?

Jesus Christ told a parable which helps us to understand who our neighbor is. Luke chapter 10, if you'll follow me there. Luke chapter 10. We're going to look at the parable of the Good Samaritan, such as it's called. Luke chapter 10. You know the term good as it's linked to Samaritan isn't actually in the Scripture.

It's what's been attributed by those who read it. And it's attributed to the heading, but Jesus Christ said there is none good but God. So we're going to look at the parable of the Samaritan here. Luke chapter 10, beginning in verse 25.

It says, And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him. Like Jesus had a lot of questions coming from the lawyers. They tested him, asking, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said, well, what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? Jesus Christ is saying, you know the law. What is your understanding here? And so he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus said to him, You have answered rightly, do this and you shall live.

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? You know, who is my neighbor? Sort of like, you know, yes, I do want to do these things to inherit eternal life, but let's not get carried away here. Who exactly do I have to love? Who exactly is my neighbor? Maybe there's a loophole in the law here somewhere. Who is my neighbor? And Jesus answered him, verse 30, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now be chanced a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. And so you had these two individuals, both considered men of God, that come down this road, they see this bruised and beaten man, naked, bleeding, half dead. This is they passed by on the other side. Didn't even stop to help. And we might think, well, you know, how could that even be? How could these people, you know, pass by, just out of common human decency, another human being who was in need and who was in trouble?

Well, you know, as humans, we're quite good at making excuses as to why we can't do something right now, or how somebody else could perhaps come along and take care of something that we really should be accountable for. You know, you can kind of maybe imagine here, the priest, seeing the naked and bloody man, might not have wanted to defile himself. And he served at the temple. He was a man of God, and after all, this man might be dead. Or what if he picked him up, if he wasn't dead, and he helped him, and he dressed his wounds, put him on his animal, and the man died in his hands, essentially.

Well, now that priest would be defiled. He would be unclean. He would have to go through that, you know, hassle of the ritual purification. That takes time. And after all, he's an important man. He has places to go, people to see. And he just didn't have time for all of that. Somebody else surely will be coming along this way, and so he passed by on the other side of the road. Next, you have the Levite come along, and the Bible does at least indicate he went and took a look.

And I suppose it'd be sort of like if we're flying down the highway and there's a wreck on the side of the road, we're pretty good at rubbernecking. You know, we're going to take a look and at least see what went on, and hopefully we'll stop if there's no police or anybody on scene. But the Levite took a look, but the naked and bloody person, you know, he could have been a Gentile for all he knew.

Again, somebody that he would be defiled if he went up and touched and handled in that way. Surely someone else would handle it. And so again, he too passed by on the other side of the road. And we would say, well, that's not very neighborly. Well, the parable continues. Again, this is a parable. In verse 33, Jesus said, And so Jesus Christ, as he's telling this parable, he didn't just pick people at random.

He was actually selective in the characters that he lined out in this parable, and he did so for the purpose of making a dramatic statement. The priests and the Levite would have been considered, obviously, honorable individuals of the Jewish society of that day. But the Samaritan, I mean, everybody knew about Samaritans. They were considered half-breeds. They were considered, you know, less than honorable people, idolaters. And as the woman at the wealth at the Jesus, well, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

So he used the priests and the Levite for a point of emphasis. And now the one having compassion, the Samaritan, he uses for emphasis as well. He's making a point. Verse 34, again, the Samaritan, He actually inconvenienced himself to take care of what it was that was the need of his neighbor, to take care of his own goods, his own possessions and time, and invested, if we want to call it that, in that man.

So Christ asks, who of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves? Verse 37, and the lawyer said, He who showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. Go and do likewise. So the point that Jesus Christ is making here is that everyone is your neighbor, not just our immediate neighbors or our friends or our countrymen.

We're expected to treat everyone, every human being, the way we would want to be treated ourselves. And after all, as the parable began with, this is part of the requirement for obtaining eternal life, loving your neighbor as yourself. We can talk about loving our neighbor, but have you ever been on the receiving end of being loved by a neighbor? You know, having a neighbor intervene on your behalf. I mean, that feels pretty good, doesn't it? A number of years ago, we were, as a family, we were heading over to Missoula, Montana.

It was the weekend the congregations over there would get together for the Sabbath, and then Pentecost on Sunday. And a lot of you here used to make that journey over there as well. And we're going back a number of years, and we're driving down the road. We're going up over the mountain pass in Idaho there, and as we summit and start coming down the other side, we're listening to the radio, which actually had the cassette of the church hymnal playing.

And I just remember the words and the song and the church hymnal just started slowing down and slowing down. And if you think of a tape when it's playing and it's turned way down in terms of speed, it's... until it stops. And we just kind of looked at each other, and suddenly the gauges all started jumping around, and the car died.

And fortunately, we're pointing downhill, and we wander around a couple more curves, and there's a pullout, and we pull off on the side of the road. Well, we're in the middle of nowhere. There's no cell service. I couldn't even call Mike Ims for help. He was the first person I was thinking of. Mike, help! But, so, no cell service. Car's dead, and I'm thinking, well, we at least need to jump, and hopefully we can flag somebody down.

So I get out, and I stick my thumb out. And this is I-90. There are cars going by. And I'm standing there, and I'm thinking, because these cars are going by and going by, you know, what's wrong with me? I'm wearing a shirt and a tie, a clean shaven. I didn't think I looked too threatening, but nobody wanted to stop. And eventually Darla and the kids get out of the car, and Darla came up with the brilliant idea of using our children to stop traffic.

So she took the roll of paper towels and unrolled several squares and wrote a big SOS on it. And I think Austin was probably 12 at that time, which would have made Tabitha about 5. And we had them get on each side of that banner and said SOS and stand out there, you know, in the hoods up. And who could resist a couple of kids begging for help? Pretty quick order. Somebody did stop a young man in a truck, and he had jumper cables, and so he jump-started our vehicle.

And then as soon as you take the jumper cables off, our car would die. And we noticed pretty quick the alternator was dead. Wasn't charging the battery. So how were we going to get where we're going, or even back to town? We weren't sure. This young man, though, had an idea.

He said, I tell you what, my truck's diesel, I have two batteries. What he did was he unbolted one battery out of his truck, and he put it into our vehicle. And he took our dead battery and put it in his truck. Well, his battery was quite a bit newer than ours. And I said, well, that's pretty nice of you. Let me pay you for your battery. And he said, no, no, I wouldn't hear of it. That's what neighbors do. And we were at least running on a full-charged battery heading down the road.

He says, I'll follow you. He kept behind us for about 50 miles until he jumped off at his exit. And all the way to Missoula, we were just running on the reserve energy of that battery with no charging going on. And I'm watching the gauge just slowly drop and drop, voltage drop. And so we're not running any air conditioning, even though it was a hot day. Everybody was sweating, as I recall. We get off the freeway, Missoula, and we pull into the lot where we're having church services and into a parking space, and the car died. And there wasn't even enough juice to roll up the windows.

But again, this young man, who I didn't know from anybody, he didn't know us from anybody, stopped in, lent us the help when we needed it. And I believe that was God's blessing. He was a neighbor who acted neighborly and helped us in a way in which we could not even help ourselves. So being on the receiving end of neighborly help, it feels good. And frankly, I appreciated it to the point that it reminded me how important it is to help somebody else in their time of need, whether they're a stranger to you or not. Loving your neighbor is not all about money. It's not all about writing a check. We Americans are pretty good at just sort of taking the checkbook out and writing a check for a need here or a need there.

And that has its time in place, and that is helpful, so I'm not discouraging that. But it can almost become too easy. It can almost be sort of a sterile way to deal with situations around us. Loving your neighbor sometimes requires getting your hands dirty, getting involved directly, giving of your time and your energy and your efforts in a way that maybe you know, if you put it on the schedule, it's just kind of inconvenient. But it's helping maybe with food out of your cupboard or clothes out of your closet or other resources that you might be able to offer in that way. Loving your neighbor is helping them to fix a blown-off roof, catch a runaway cow, done that a couple of times.

It's feeding someone who's hungry, and that's what it means to love your neighbor. I recall a few years ago, it was actually the first couple of years after my father-in-law had his stroke, there was a neighbor that lived directly across the street from Darlene, and he's a mechanic. And probably 15 years ago, he opened a shop there at his home, mechanic service, and the first couple of years after my father-in-law's stroke, he would work on her truck whenever it broke down, free of charge except for parts.

And he had employees, he had people he was paying, and he would put them to work to work on her vehicle, and again, all he would charge is parts. He said that was the neighborly thing to do. So I began to try to look for ways to repay him wherever I could as well, because frankly, that was a big favor even to me.

And it's most basic form, the Ten Commandments, and specifically the last five commandments, focus us in on the necessary elements of loving our neighbor. Notice Paul's words here in the book of Romans, chapter 13. Romans 13. Getting verse 8, again, we have a summary of what it means to love your neighbor in the last half of the Ten Commandments.

Romans 13 and verse 8. Here Paul says, Oh, no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. So as Christians, there is a debt load that we are to carry that's not credit card debt, it's not payday loans. It's the indebtedness that we have to love one another. Because again, love is the foundation. We covered that last time. God loved us, which is the reason that he sent his son, and we could be saved. And that is why we were still in our sins.

Love needs to be the foundation by which we see our neighbors as well, in the way that God sees them, which is potential sons and daughters in his kingdom. If we're members of the body of Christ, I've got spirit. We need to see our neighbors as God sees them. Carrying on in verse 9, here Paul says, For the commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

He says, Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And so just as we would not want anyone else to violate any of these commandments against us, that is the mindset and the nature in which we should live in love towards our fellow man as well.

Love does no harm to a neighbor, and in fact, in addition to that, it seeks to do the good for the benefit of our neighbor. Now, if you look in your Bible, I can only see mine, but my Bible in verse 9, where it says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, is in quotations. That's in quotations because it is quoting from another source in Scripture. You go back to Jesus' words where it says, You love your neighbor as yourself.

That is in quotations as well, because that comes from yet even a source earlier than that. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 19. See the origination of this phrase. Leviticus 19. We're going to see how this terminology was used and actually applied as it related to ancient Israel. Now, in Leviticus 19 and the second half of verse 8, you'll see this 18. You will see this quote. Leviticus 19 verse 18. The last half says, So if we back up now to verse 9, we can begin seeing how this concept was then used in practical application.

So Leviticus chapter 19 beginning in verse 9. The instruction says, So those individuals that had something to offer, they had crops, they had a vineyard, they were actually to make provision for the stranger and those in need. Now, you notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say go out and harvest it for them and then hand it to them. There was still accountability for the stranger and the poor and those in need.

You were providing something, but as long as they weren't incapacitated and had the ability, they then had to take personal ownership in this as well and go gather in provision for them. It's similar to what we do in Africa because there are many needs in Africa, frankly, much more than money could ever cover. The United States has been pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Africa for decades and decades, and the result is very little get down to helping the people, and much of it, frankly, is lying in the pockets of some pretty rich people.

But the way we do business in the Church, except for a few rare cases, we don't necessarily make a habit of just handing out money to people as a way of solving their problems. The fact is, if you want to ruin someone, just get them accustomed to waiting for the handout.

What does that do? That destroys the work ethic, and it establishes an expectation that's unhealthy. And so where we can, we try to find places that we can help people help themselves. So we invest in things like scholarship funds, where young people can get their education, and it will allow them then to go on to better jobs and rise above their circumstances. We try to help someone get a start with a business loan. They can take that and purchase equipment, and then they have to pay it back, and it goes to help somebody else get started in some way that would be useful.

Sometimes we can purchase a piece of equipment whereby a congregation has ownership of that, and they can come and work and then produce something that can be sold or traded that would benefit the congregation in that way. But in terms of just handing out money, it really doesn't happen, except for some very isolated and rare cases of actually needing to help someone in a dire situation. Because, again, once you start handing out money, it changes the whole culture and the work ethic, and it's frankly a disservice in the long run to those who actually are seeking to help.

Look for ways to help them help themselves. And I think that's the principle we see here in verse 9 and 10 about allowing someone then to come in and glean your fields. You are providing provision, but you're giving them opportunity to help themselves as well. Verse 11 says, You shall not steal nor deal falsely nor lie to one another, and you shall not swear by my name falsely, nor shall you profane in the name of the Lord your God.

I am the Lord. You shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. Don't hire somebody. Guarantee pay and then withhold that for a period of time. They're there. They need it. Give them what they've earned. Verse 14, You shall not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God.

I am the Lord. You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. Again, as you would like to be treated, that is how you would treat, then, your neighbor. Verse 16, You shall not go about as a tail-bearer among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

So this is the way that life was to function in Israel as God intended. He intended them to love one another, to watch out for the good of one another. And I guess the question today is, how are we doing? In the aspects of loving our neighbor as ourself, how are we in the Church of God doing? Are we looking in on the sick? Are we looking in on the elderly in this cold weather? I mean, we have neighbors that are vulnerable, just as our brothers and sisters in the congregation are vulnerable in this way as well. Are we watching after them? Are we helping the poor and the needy? You know, in this day and age, there are a lot of social programs that are set up and designed to help those who are in need, and those are good things. Contributing financial support to those organizations is a good way and a noble way to help those who are in need. You know, I can't physically, myself, go and prepare meals and then go serve them in the community to those who have needs, but I can help to support those who are doing those things. But, brethren, again, let our good towards our neighbors not be limited to simply writing a check.

It's important we do roll up our sleeves, get our hands dirty on occasion, physically do what it is that you can do, but know your limits as well. When we consider the parable of the Samaritan, the Samaritan gave as he was able. You notice he didn't whip out the credit card and go into debt, okay, for his neighbor, but he did help as he could. He gave of what it was that was his resource. He took the man, he poured oil and wine on him, he bandaged him up. These were things he had with him, put him on his own animal, took him to the end. In the end, he didn't give money directly to that man. He paid for his accommodation and housing in that way, but in a way that was specifically needed. So I just say there's ways that we can help others without necessarily contributing to what perhaps would be an underlying problem. We need to be wise as servants and harmless as does as we consider those things. The guy in the street corner holding the sign that says, I'm not going to lie, I just want to buy beer, is not going to get a cash handout from me. Thank you for being honest. I appreciate that. The person smoking a cigarette probably isn't going to get a cash handout from me. I don't smoke, I can't afford to smoke, nor would I want to. I can't afford to help him either. But the same person, if they are hungry, give them food. All right? I've gone through the Burger King drive-through before and brought a meal. Maybe that was a disservice. I'm sorry.

I brought him a meal before, I'll just say that, from drive-through and handed it to him. If somebody is cold, go to Goodwill, buy a coat, and give it to them, look for those ways that you can help them. I remember a message that Rick Rep gave years back about the fact that he carried around power bar in his car. I thought, you know, that's such a good idea. For years, I've tried to do that now, just keep an extra power bar or two in the middle console and hand that out the window to somebody who's looking for something on the corner. My wife handed out cans of cashew nuts and other things, but there's just simple things that we can do to contribute in a way that is hopefully helpful, but not necessarily contributing to what might be an underlying problem. But again, brethren, know what your limits are. If somebody needs a warm place to stay, I'm not necessarily going to invite them into my house to spend the night, okay? Give them bus fare or help them to the shelter, make a donation to the shelter. There's various ways that we can help out in doing these in a right and proper way. I would say beyond perhaps an isolated incident of helping, if it's going to be sort of a regular thing, we need to kind of then know what is the underlying reason that this person continues to need help and not just blindly, you know, throw out cash. Because again, we don't know what it is we might be contributing to or supporting, but look for ways to help people help themselves. Now, the second point with the Good Samaritan, or the Samaritan, is that he willingly helps someone who could not help himself. And so the Bible does say, if someone does not work, neither shall he eat. And so again, it comes back to what is that person's willingness to do something for themselves. Understand that people fall on hard times. Okay, that's a reality of this life, and so we don't want to be cold-hearted in that way. And it is a judgment call as to what each person is going to do individually. But again, I recommend investigating the reason behind if there is indeed an ongoing situation before investing in yourself beyond a light level of assistance. There are some who actually make a living, all right, off the charity of others. And, you know, you go to Africa, and there are people who give. Well, if there are going to be people who give, there have to be people who receive. So you have professional beggars in that way who are there simply to receive from those who give. So again, knowing what you're doing, who you're giving to, and if it goes beyond an initial level of assistance, is important. But remember the parable. The Good Samaritan is an illustration of the type of thing that is necessary to obtain eternal life. The lawyer asked, what shall we do to obtain eternal life? And then Jesus Christ went into that parable. Loving your neighbor, looking out for the needs of your neighbor is essential. Matthew 25, verse 31. Here again, the words of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 25, verse 31. It says, When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the only angels with Him, and then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him, He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand with the goats on the left. And then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. And you notice again, the illustrations in the Bible isn't necessarily, you gave me money. Someone's hungry, feed them. Thirsty, give them a drink. Help them see after their immediate physical needs. Verse 36, I was naked, you clothed me. I was sick, you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry? To see you thirsty? Give you a drink. When did we see you a stranger, and take you in? Or naked, and clothe you. Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them, assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. Then He will also say to those on His left hand, apart from me, you cursed, and to the everlasting fire, prepare for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not take me in. Naked, and you did not clothe me. In prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you? And He will answer them, saying, assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Loving your neighbor as yourself is important. Being your brother's keeper is important as well. The love of God dwells in us, brethren, we will then be doing those things that express that love. How we care for one another, how we care for the world, is a matter of God's love and His character being developed in us. Final scripture is Galatians 6 and verse 9. Galatians 6 and verse 9. Apostle Paul says, let us not grow weary while doing good. He says, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Brethren, let us remember to do unto others, as we would have them do unto you, love your neighbor as yourself. In doing so, you'll be demonstrating the love of God in Christ, which abides also in you.