Love Thy Neighbor: More Than a Driveway Wave

Luke 10:25–28 NASB 2020

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

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB 2020

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Prayer of Illumination

Gracious God, As we turn to Your Word, quiet our hearts and open our minds. By Your Holy Spirit, shine Your light on the Scriptures we read and hear today. Help us not only to understand them, but to be changed by them— that we might love You with all that we are and love our neighbors as You have first loved us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Introduction: Loving Our Neighbors

Most of us have garage-door neighbors.

We pull in, the door goes up. We pull out, the door goes down.

Maybe there’s a wave. Maybe a quick “How’s it going?” But that’s usually it.

We know what they drive, but not what they’re carrying. We live next to them, but we don’t really know them.

And honestly—that’s comfortable.

But when Jesus says, “Love your neighbor,” He’s not talking about a driveway wave. He’s talking about compassion that moves toward people— even when it’s uncomfortable.

Because loving your neighbor isn’t about how close you live to someone… it’s about how close you’re willing to get.

Jesus calls us to love our neighbors regardless of closeness or comfort. The Christian who is living comfortable is rarely loving sacrificially.

That brings us to a question Jesus was asked— a question that sounds spiritual, but reveals a deeper issue.

Point 1: The Question of Eternal Life

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25)

This question wasn’t asked out of sincere curiosity. It was asked to test Jesus—to trap Him and discredit Him. Jesus was a threat to their system and their control.

So Jesus responds with a question of His own: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

As an expert in the Law, he knew the answer.

All the way back in Leviticus 19:18, God said:

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Jesus isn’t raising the bar. He’s reminding him of the heart of the Law he already claimed to know.

But here’s the problem.

The question assumes eternal life is earned. They believed keeping the Law was enough.

Jesus redirects the focus from performance to God’s purpose.

Yes, the answer is found in Scripture—but the intent of the man’s heart is still, “What must I do?”

He believes he can save himself through his own works and earn eternal life—revealing both the problem and the truth about how eternal life is actually received.

Point 2: An Inheritance Is a Gift

Eternal life flows from relationship, not rule-keeping.

Obedience to God matters. The Law is good. God gave it because He cares about us.

But God gave the Law to people who were already sinners. The Law was never meant to save—it was meant to reveal our need.

Inheritance is received, not achieved.

Eternal life is for those who acknowledge they are sinners and trust in God’s grace alone.

Grace exposes the limits of human effort.

The response the expert should have had was, “How can I do this? I can’t on my own. I need help. Show me the way to eternal life.”

Grace is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We cannot save ourselves so Christ does it for us.

Human effort can only take us so far. But when God is involved, nothing is impossible.

Genesis 18:14 ESV

Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

And when grace is received, it always leads somewhere—it leads us to love God with everything we are.

Point 3: Love God with Everything

Loving God involves total devotion—heart, soul, strength, and mind.

God doesn’t just want parts of us. He wants all of us.

Every part of your life—your thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and actions—is meant to be shaped by love for God so we can share Christ through our love for others.

If we declare Jesus as Lord, then nothing is withheld from Him.

The old hymn I Surrender All, written by Judson W. Van DeVenter back in 1896, really says it all. The words are simple, but they’re powerful—and they’re just as true today as they were then. This song has stood the test of time because the message still hits home for every generation. Listen as I recite the words from verse 1. I’m going to go slow because i want you to take these in and allow Christ to work through them.

All to Jesus, I surrender; All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all, All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

Our vertical relationship with God shapes everything else. When we live for and love God, it will shape every relationship we have with others.

Before we can love our neighbor, we must love God deeply and personally.

Look at what God has done for you. He sent His Son so we could have an authentic and personal relationship with Him.

Jesus rose so we could be changed and made new. He never leaves us or forsakes us. And He has prepared a place for us forever.

God gave us His everything and didn’t hold anything back. The least we can do is surrender our hearts and live to loving and serving Him.

Point 4: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Loving others is the visible expression of loving God.

Let me start with this.

When I was being prepped for emergency surgery, a nurse was caught off guard by my attitude. And trust me—this wasn’t a calm moment. I was bleeding so much I had a washcloth on my nose, and everything felt uncertain and chaotic.

He said, “I’ve never seen someone this peaceful and joyful in circumstances like this. How do you do it?”

And right there—no sermon, no stage, no perfect setup— I got to tell him about Jesus.

And here’s why that matters.

I didn’t argue him into faith. I didn’t preach at him. I simply let the love and peace of God show through me.

When God is our priority, His love becomes visible. And loving others is one of the clearest ways the world sees who God is.

God is love, and He is the source of love—so we cannot show God to others unless His love is first living and active within us.

“As yourself” becomes the measure of our love.

When Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” He assumes something important—that we are learning to receive His love for ourselves. And that’s not always easy.

Some of us struggle with guilt, regret, and shame from our past. But Jesus didn’t just die for the world—He died for you. Learning to love yourself isn’t pride—it’s faith. He loves you right where you are.

Now, this doesn’t mean we ignore our flaws or stop growing—we are all a work in progress. Loving ourselves means we stop letting guilt, shame, and regret control us and instead surrender them to Jesus. When we learn to receive His love for us, we’re finally able to share that same love with others. You can’t give away the love of Christ if you haven’t first received it yourself.

We must take action to express that love to others. This will take us out of our comfort zone. It will stretch our faith. But where you are in your faith journey right now is not where God wants you to stay. He always wants us to strive to deepen our walk with Him.

Love is shown through actions, not intentions. As disciples of Jesus, our calling is to spread the seed of the Gospel however we can so that it may bear much fruit.

Point 5: Grace Makes Obedience Possible

No one loves God or others perfectly.

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

We cannot obey God’s law perfectly, so it cannot lead us to eternal life. That’s why we need a Savior—one who could keep the law perfectly on our behalf.

We will mess up. We will make mistakes. We will sometimes fail to love God with everything we have. But He understands us, and through His death, His forgiveness wipes the slate clean.

Psalm 103:12 ESV

as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

North and south eventually meet, but east and west never do—you just keep going. That’s God’s picture of how far He removes our sin from us. His love doesn’t run out, and His forgiveness never ends.

Salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our good works are not enough to save us. Jesus alone saves us, and trusting in His sacrifice is the only way to eternal life.

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The Holy Spirit empowers us to live out this love.

We cannot live this out on our own, but God has given us the Holy Spirit to live within us and shine His love through us to our neighbors.

People need Jesus, and our mission is to allow God to work through our actions so others may be reached for Him.

This Week’s Takeaway: The life Jesus gives us moves us to love God fully and love our neighbor self-sacrificially.

Conclusion

So the real question isn’t, “What must I do to earn eternal life?” The real question is, am I striving—or am I receiving?

Eternal life is not something we achieve through effort. It is a gift we receive by grace through faith.

And when we truly receive that grace, it changes us. It changes how we see God, how we see ourselves, and how we see others.

We begin to love God with all that we are, and we begin to love our neighbor—not out of obligation, but from a heart transformed by Jesus.

So today, will you stop striving and start receiving? Will you trust God’s grace and allow Him to shape how you love Him and how you love others?

Next week, we’ll continue this encounter and see a powerful picture of what it truly means to love our neighbor. Next Sunday, I’ll also introduce a couple of practical tools we can use to love our neighbors. My prayer is that God would open our eyes to the people around us and give us the courage to love them as Christ has loved us.