Thankful for our Neighbors

intro - talk about november, being thankful.

Gal 5:13-

Galatians 5:13–18 ESV

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

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pray

[pichere]

Being thankful for our neighbors is all about being thankful for relationships. That really is the macro take away from the most famous biblical teaching on loving your neighbor - the parable of the good Samaritan. You remember, it was there that the Pharisees asked Jesus, who just summed up the entire law with the command to “love God and love neighbor,” asked Jesus “just who is my neighbor?”

For centruies, followers of Christ have asked the same thing. Who is our neighbor? Is it those who live near us? Those who we like? Those who look like us, or think like us?

Yes. They are your neighbors. But not just them. The parable is given in such a way as to make clear the fact that it is those who look nothing like us, and who don’t live near to us, and who don’t think like us, and who we don’t generally like - they are our neighbors too!

And according to the parable, they are even better neighbors than those who are supposedly on our side.

I share that parable with you again, simply as context for Paul’s words to us today. You see, all too often, we think like the Jewish people of that time. We see people struggling, whether in practice or in a game, at work, at school, in life in general, and we assign blame.

“If they would have practiced harder that wouldn’t have happened.” “If they would have listened they wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.” “If they would just understand that there has to be personal accountability - after all, they deserved it!”

[picoffriends]

But think about how that changes when you like someone. When you are friends with someone, you aren’t so quick to assign blame, or to pass them by, are you? When you have a relationship with someone, you are free to forgive, free to be patient, free to be kind, and faithful, and loving.

You are free from the bonds of judgemental thoughts, and because of that, ready to be a real neighbor to them - to show them mercy.

Galatians 5:13 ESV

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

[verse13]

That is what Paul is getting at here.

That is what Paul is getting at here.

You see, our lives are spent like a currency. Each moment that we have contains the currency that we can spend on this world. And in those moments we are given the chance to spend that money on us - an investment that gives little return - or to spend it on others - an investment with eternal returns!

In other words, because of our freedom in Christ, and in light of that, are we going to spend our lives on ourselves, or are we going to follow the example of the one we claim to follow, and spend it on others?

[read] [flesh=for self]

Let me interpret that a little for us all today. Because we follow Christ, we are free - released from the obligation to live in a sort of survival of the fittest mentality. And because we are free, we can now live the way God intended us to live! In relationship with all those around us.

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After all, you don’t think God created all these people on the planet to all live for themselves, right?

Imagine a world without those great people who gave their lives for others. Imagine a world where there was no sacrifice for the great causes, or offerings made on the altar of freedom! Just try to imagine a world where no one ever did anything for anyone else!

It would be hell on earth. I say that, church, because it would be a world without Christ - a world without God.

And church, when we live our lives acting as if we are all that matters. When we forget to be kind. When we cut others down, when we wall off segments of the population of this planet, when we act as if we are somehow better than others for ANY reason whatsoever, we prove our lack of obedience to God’s word and His Spirit, and we enslave ourselves to a life that ultimately looks more like death.

[picofwomancaughtinadultery]

You have heard me mention this story before, but it bears repeating. You see, if we were meant to live for ourselves, if we were meant to be thankful for our own lives and not thankful for our neighbors and our relationships, then Jesus would have never stopped those men from putting that woman to death. And to take the example further, the fact that he didn’t hate those men, didn’t yell and chastise those men, proves that He sought relationships with them too!

Ultimately, we must understand that Jesus demands us to be grateful for all the relationships we have, and to further, strive to be thankful that we are called to live in relationship with the ENTIRE world!

Those who look different. Those who think differently. Those who don’t act like us, and those who do! Even those whose shortcoming seem so obvious to us!

We must stop enslave ourselves with our own judgemental nature - the flesh as Paul puts it - and start imitating the one who modeled tolerance and acceptance. The one who spoke of evil as being the act of purposely making a person feel they are less than the creation God intended them to be. The one who never excused us from the responsibility of being a decent human being but who gave us the tools we need to not have to shy away from the painful parts of being in the world.

But you can’t do that if you are living for yourself. You can’t live the life God wants you to live until you start being thanful for your neighbors, thankful for your relationships. Because, church, it is through those relationships that you can not only help to reshape this world, but it is there that you will see the very face of God!

Gal 5:19

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And we need to do that now more than ever church.

And we need to do that now more than ever church.

Have you ever wondered what all the vitriol, all the mean spirited talk and evil words of this life do to others? Seriously. I don’t mean how it shapes social debate, although it is clear that it does, I’m talking about the important stuff.

Have you ever even wondered how your words, and the words of others in this life, shape our children?

Church, when we pour into their lives envy, malice, idolatry, enmity, strife, fits of anger, division - all those things that the flesh calls out to us to produce. All those manifestations of those who live life not to be in relationship with others, but who live life for self. When we pour that into the lives of our children, and in fact, every child around us, we chart out for them a dangerous course through this life that is completely devoid of their God!

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

But when we pour into their lives envy, malice, idolatry, enmity, strife, fits of

Gal 5:22

But church, when we pour the Spirit of God into their lives - when we model for them what God wants us to look like - we set them on course to live that life with Christ!

And let me tell you, when you are truly thankful for children, or neighbors, or strangers - when you become truly thankful for every person that YOUR GOD chose to put on HIS earth, then AND ONLY THEN will you be able to live a life that bears out those fruits to this world!

You will fulfill the whole law, according to Paul. You will love your neighbor - everyone you meet, everyone you see, everyone God puts in your path - as you love yourself. And church, you will then be free indeed.

[loveandbeloved]

“The greatest thing that we can do is help somebody know that they are loved and capable of loving.”

And in that freedom, church, we will find our true purpose.

When I was first asked if I would be interested in being the Chaplain for the football team six years ago, the coach made it clear to me that they couldn’t afford to pay me. To which, I responded that I wouldn’t take it even if they could.

He looked at me kind of funny, and asked why I wouldn’t take any money. I told him that if I took any money, it would only show these young men that people care about you when you pay them. That everything in life is transnational. That every relationship we have must have some payoff for ourselves or why even start it anyway!

I looked at him, in that moment I tried to be tough, which generally is a bad sign that I am about to prove that sometimes I am not so tough. But I looked at him and told him that my real job is to prove to those young men that they matter. That they are worthy of my time. That they deserve my attention. That they matter enough for sacrifice. That in the grand scheme of things, no matter what other things I could be doing, nothing is as important in those moments as convincing those young men that has, and WILL ALWAYS provide people in their lives who will love them, and show them that they too are capable of loving others.

Phil 2:1

Philippians 2:1–5 ESV

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

We all have that opportunity every day.

We have the chance to become thankful for our neighbors, regardless of our agreement with them. Thankful enough to stop backbiting, to stop putting them down, to stop eroding the very Spirit of Christ in our lives and in our world! TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE! TO STEP INTO THE ARENA TO WHICH WE ARE CALLED BY GOD HIMSELF! TO PUT AWAY CHILDISH THOUGHTS, CHILDISH WORDS, HATE-FILLED SPEECH AND HATE-FILLED LIVES! TO OWN UP TO THE VERY INHERITANCE THAT WE ARE SO EAGER TO GRAB ONTO WHEN STARING IN THE FACE OF DEATH!

CHURCH WE MUST LIVE UP TO THE SACRIFICE OF OUR GOD! WE MUST SHOW HOW THANKFUL WE ARE FOR THIS LIFE THAT WE NOW LIVE, BY BECOMING THANKFUL FOR THOSE OTHERS IN THIS WORLD FOR WHOM HIS SACRIFICE WAS MADE!

IT ISN’T JUST FOR US! IT IS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD! AND THE MORE WE PUSH PEOPLE AWAY, THE MORE WE SPEAK AND ACT IN HATE INSTEAD OF LOVE - AND HONESTLY THE MORE WE TOLERATE AND PROP UP THOSE THAT DO, THE FURTHER AWAY FROM GOD WE PUSH OURSELVES AND THIS WORLD!

WE MUST PUT AWAY VAIN CONCEIT! PUT AWAY SELFISH AMBITION! STOP LOOKING ONLY FOR YOUR OWN INTERESTS - OR THE INTEREST OF YOUR CAUSES - AND RECOGNIZE THAT THERE IS A WHOLE WORLD WAITING TO LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND THEIR GOD!

A WORLD WAITING TO KNOW THAT THEY ARE LOVED! A WHOLE WORLD THAT DESPERATELY NEEDS TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE CARES, AND THAT IN THE MIDST OF WHATEVER THEY MIGHT BE EXPERIENCING THAT GOD IS THERE!

They need a relationship with God, but that can only start with a relationship with you.

So if you are thankful for God, and thankful for your neighbors. If you truly are a follower of Christ. Make His joy complete.

Be of the same mind as Him. Loving everyone. Sacrificing for everyone. In humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Look out for others, and their interests, not just your own.

Live in relationship with them. One which starts and ends with God.

[godislove]

One that starts and ends with love.

I want you young men - everyone here - to know something today. I love you. I am thankful for you. And if for some reason these are the last words you hear from me, I want you to know that no matter what you see in this life. No matter what you experience. No matter what direction the world around you turns, you have a choice. You have a voice. You have a God. Even if everything around you crumbles, there is no reason to turn to your left or right. Keep following Jesus. Keep living like Jesus lived. Sacrifice. Live a life that begins and ends with love.

You don’t have to be right. You don’t have to win.

All you have to do is love.

Never forget that the only way to drown out the voices of evil in this world is to love louder than they can hate.

If you do your best at that, it will always be enough.

[invitation]