Neighbors: Who is Our Neighbor
Neighbors • Sermon • Submitted
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· 97 viewsInstead of trying to determine who is and who is not our neighbor, we should spend our time treating everyone as our neighbors.
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome!
It is good to see everyone in the house of the Lord this morning.
This morning if you would, start turning in your Bibles to .
In just a moment we are going to be reading a portion of a passage from , specifically we are going to be reading verses 25-29.
And this morning we are going to be continuing on with our series regarding neighbors.
For the last couple of weeks we have looked at some of the qualities in us it takes in order to be good neighbors, but this morning we are going to be looking at who our neighbor is.
And we are going to be doing so in the context of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan.
So, this morning, if you have found in your Bible, I’d invite you to stand with me as we read.
Again, I will be reading .
The Bible records . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered: “ ‘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, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
Experts in the Law
Experts in the Law
So, this passage starts out like so many of Jesus’ parables to, him having to deal with one of the “experts in the law.”
Again, verse 25 tells us . . .
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Which in itself is a very good question.
It is a question that I hope everyone here has receive the answer for already.
But, you may be here and you may have the same question, what do I need to do in order to inherit eternal life?
Well, the Bible gives us the answer to that question . . .
The Philippian Jailer asked that same question and the response he got was . . .
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Paul also taught us on the subject of salvation in his letter to the Romans . . .
9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
In a nutshell, salvation comes in our belief and faith in Jesus Christ, nothing more and nothing less . . .
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.
So, if you are here this morning, I would strongly encourage you to consider where you stand with God right now.
And if it is anywhere other than in the center of God’s will, I would also strongly encourage you to do whatever the Holy Spirit is leading you to do, in order to correct that situation.
Maybe you need to come and ask forgiveness.
Maybe you need to come and ask direction.
I, personally do not know, but the Holy Spirit will tell you if you are willing to listen, which is not what our “expert in the law,” here had in mind.
He wanted to try and trip Jesus us and find a loophole in Jesus’ plan of salvation.
Being an expert in Jewish law, this man would have know what we call the Old Testament backwards and forwards and top to bottom.
He had dedicated his whole life to it, so he knew exactly what the Old Testament had to say about Eternal Life and he also knew that Jesus knew what it said as well.
So, he is trying to bait Jesus a bit here when he asks “Teacher,” -Notice he calls Jesus “teacher,” trying to butter him up a bit.
“Oh, wise teacher . . .what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
So, Jesus knows what he is doing so he throws it back to the man . . .
Luke 10:
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
And the guy is starting to think he’s got Jesus where he wants him now.
Part of him was hoping Jesus would tell him something new that he could use against Jesus, claiming that Jesus was contradicting the Law with these “new and radical teachings.”
However, he was well prepared for this response as well, because immediately when Jesus threw it back into his court and asked him what the Law had to say about it he replies . . .
27 He answered: “ ‘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, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”
Sound familiar?
You see, this command to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind was not new.
The command to love our neighbor as ourselves was not new.
It had always been.
The only thing that Jesus ever did was put it in the proper perspective.
This is what I mean by that:
The Jewish Law had 613 commandments.
613 commandments that the people were supposed to be following with some ranking higher than others, but a total of 613.
So, in essence to the 10 that God actually gave Moses, the Jews had added 603 to them.
And being a people who were more concerned about following rules than following God, they became consumed with which ones were the most important and which ones they could let slide.
And typically the ones that they liked the most or were the easiest to follow, they said okay and the ones that they didn’t like very much, they kind of pushed those down to the bottom of the list.
Which sounds an awful lot like many in the 21st century church as well.
We as a people love rules and regulations.
It makes life more orderly.
It tells us how to act.
This is true in society and in the church as well.
Every denomination has statements of beliefs and big books of rules that its members should follow.
And that’s all fine so long as they do not contradict God’s Word and the people agree to them.
But what tends to happen is follow the rules REPLACES following God.
The Manual becomes more important than the Bible.
Folks, rules are important but if we are truly following God we are going to naturally do what God requires.
Which is exactly why Jesus reduced following the commandments down to 2, love God with all your being and love others as yourself.
If we do those two things, then we will naturally follow the rest of GODS commands.
Key word here is “God’s commands,” because a lot of times we tend to add a lot of things to the rules that are nothing more than yokes placed around people’s necks.
We get in our head that every single Christian in the world should look and act just like us.
And if they don’t then something must be wrong with them.
Well, if we are going around judging people on their outward appearance, the problem is not with their heart, the problem is with ours.
So, the point is, don’t be like this guy trying to replace following God with following rules.
However, surprisingly enough he gives Jesus the correct response . . .
Again, verses 27-28 . . .
27 He answered: “ ‘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, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
27 He answered: “ ‘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, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
Did you see what Jesus did there on the end of verse 28?
He tells him he has answered correctly and then tells him, “do this and you will live.”
In other words, you know what it says not get out there and do it.
“Put your money where you mouth is.”
“Be a doer of the word and not a hearer only...”
And that’s where many more sometimes get hung up as well.
They know exactly what the Word says and know exactly what God expects, but they won’t do it.
They won’t
Instead of being obedient to God, they want to argue and debate every single little detail, regardless of how weak their argument actually is.
They are just like our expert in the law, who thinks, ‘I’ve got him now . . .”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
The key here is that he was not interested in learning something new, he was simply looking for a way to “justify himself,” to justify his inaction, to justify his disobedience to God.
After all, “how can I love my neighbor when I don’t even know who that is?”
Is my neighbor other Christians?
Is my neighbor the people in my church?
Is my neighbor the people in my community?
Who is it Jesus?
Now, this is just me, this isn’t in your Bible but I can just picture Jesus kind of shaking his head, sighing, and rolling his eyes a bit.
Thinking, “here we go again,” and begins telling this man a story, a parable . . .
The Good Samaritan
The Good Samaritan
He starts out . . .
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
Luke 10:30-
So, we have a man who was traveling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and the assumption is that this man was a Jew and he is robbed and beaten.
He was in pretty bad shape, they had took all his money, his clothes and the severely wounded him and left him for dead, which is bad enough.
However, as time passes this guy is laying there on the side of the road and a priest comes by.
Hallelujah! He’s saved, surely this priest will help him.
After all, this is a man of God!
Not so much . . .He’s more concerned about himself and passed by on the other side.
So, the guy is still laying there and now a Levite comes by.
Hey, this guy is a Godly man, he watches over the Temple.
Surely, he will help out.
Nope . . . He’s more concerned about being ceremonially clean, after all what would people think if they saw him helping this man out!
So, he passed by on the other side.
So, basically at this point the church has failed this man.
They were more concerned about themselves and their four walls to step out and help someone in need and they were more concerned about their image than helping others.
And this is a sad fact in the United States today.
We have churches that are so inwardly focused that they will not come off one dime or lift one finger to help people in need.
It is all about them and building their own little kingdom.
We also have churches today that want to be known as the big church, the rich church, the glorious church that they don’t want to have anything to do with the hurting, the homeless, the hungry, the needy.
That would tarnish their image too much.
And I say “church” here because it is the collection of the people that inhabit these buildings, but these are not the Church that is rooted in God.
These are simply clubs that gather together to puff themselves up.
In another parable Jesus tells us. . . .
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
However, all hope for this man is not lost . . .
33 But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
Now, the thing about this Samaritan was that he probably knew what it felt like to be rejected and abused by society because the other Jews didn’t like the Samaritans.
They considered them unclean, called them things like “dogs” and “half-breeds.”
Would not even be around them.
So, if anyone had a reason to be angry and to not help the man, it would have been the Samaritan.
But here’s the thing, the Samaritan was a follower of God.
He not only knew how it felt, but he also had God’s law in his heart.
Which prompted him to take compassion on this man and care for him.
You see, it was not just on his lips, it was in his heart.
Which is the point that Jesus was trying to make with this so called expert.
Jesus asks him . . .
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:36-
Again, the command to go and do.
Altar Call
Altar Call
What about us this morning?
We have covered a lot of ground here and I believe that there are many different needs here this morning.
Maybe you need to come into a relationship with Jesus this morning.
Maybe you need to renew that relationship.
Maybe you need to stop being a hearer of the Word and become a doer.
Maybe you need to change your attitude about others.
Maybe it is something totally unrelated to the message but God has put it on your heart.
I don’t know what each person needs, but I do know that God can meet that need, if you will allow Him.
If you will submit yourself to Him and grant him access to your heart.
God is willing this morning, if you will come. Will you do that today?