We are to love...who?
Notes
Transcript
Love your neighbor
Love your neighbor
This week we are going to looking into what it means to love your neighbor. This may seem pretty straightforward for most, but have we ever thought about loving our neighbors in these perilous times? There have been numerous things about loving our neighbors, but I want to kind of dwell on this subject. I did not care for the definition from dictionary.com this time as it did not go well with what the Bible says about neighbors. It’s definition says “a person living near or next door to the speaker or person referred to.” While it is a good definition, the Bible says so much more about what a neighbor is.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary says this about the word neighbor;
Neighbor (שָׁכֵן, shakhen; רֵעַ, rea'; γείτων, geitōn; περίοικος, perioikos; πλησίον, plēsion). A general, relational term used in the Old Testament, often for a person in close geographical proximity (Gen 11:3; Prov 3:29). Hebrew words translated “neighbor” are also often translated “friend” or “another” (1 Sam 28:17; 2 Sam 13:3; Jer 3:1; 3:20). By covenantal association, one’s fellow people of God are also “neighbors” in the Old Testament (Exod 20:16–17; Deut 5:20–21; Psa 101:5; Lev 19). The New Testament understanding of neighbor is built upon this concept (Luke 10; Mark 10; Matt 19). Jesus stretches the application of neighbor as stated in Leviticus to include everyone, even one’s enemies (Matt 5:43–44). “Neighbor” in the New Testament may also refer more directly to one’s fellow Christians (1 Cor 10:24; Eph 4:25; Jas 4:12).
So you may be sitting there thinking, ok, what does that have to do with me? Well, let’s start off in the Old Testament. In the book of Exodus. This is a familiar passage to most of us, but we need the reminder sometimes. Exodus 20:16-17
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
If you are not familiar with this, this passage is from the ten commandments. God had spoken to Moses and had given the law to Israel. One of the things we need to notice in this passage is that we are not supposed to bear false witness against our neighbor. We have talked about this before, but when speaking about someone, we need to make sure that what we are saying is truthful. Actually, let me rephrase that a bit, because we don’t need to go about talking about other people. But if we must talk about someone, we need to make sure that it is ok that we do that first, then we must make sure that what we are saying is true. It used to be for the ancient Israelite law that the judgment of a person’s guilt or innocence was based on testimony by faithful witnesses. False witnesses would undermine that thought. Look at it this way, if what you are saying was said about you, would it be edifying?
Then we move on to see that we should not covet their things. You know, this is a little hard sometimes. Today it might be called keeping up with the Benjamins. We see that they have better things than us, and we want what they have and will do anything in our power to get them! The Bible warns us to not do that!
Proverbs 3 tells us a few other ways that we are to be treating our neighbors. Proverbs 3:27-30
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
Do not say to your neighbor,
“Go, and come back,
And tomorrow I will give it,”
When you have it with you.
Do not devise evil against your neighbor,
For he dwells by you for safety’s sake.
Do not strive with a man without cause,
If he has done you no harm.
What about the New Testament? We already know that there is information that the New Testament says. Let’s look at that.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
So, first, we see that Jesus is talking to the crowd and the Pharisees would have been there. The first verse of this section says, “YOu have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’”. Have you ever thought about that? Have you seen in your bible where it says to hate our enemies?
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.
See, the pharisees were taking this verse and twisting it the way that they wanted it to work for them. We too must be careful to not twist scripture. But Jesus is telling us that we should love our enemies. That way we are like our Father is. That is what it means here when it ssays to be sons of your Father in heaven, it means to be like our Father.
You know what else that Bible tells us about our neighbors?
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
See, we are not to love ourselves, according to this scripture, but we are to love out neighbor just like we love our selves. We want the best for ourselves, why do we not want what is best for our neighbors?
You know, I think, that Mr. Rogers had it right when he sang a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhoood. Especially when he said “Would you be mine, could you be mine, won’t you be my neighbor?” See, he did not meet a stranger, he attempted to show kids and adults that everyone is our neighbor.
VeggieTales had a video called Love Your Neighbor. It had a catchy song to it as well. It says
“He has a shoe, and I have a pot, but when we look deeper, there’s more that we’ve got. God made us special and now I can see if you’re special to Him, then you’re special to me. Love your neighbor, when someone helps you then you’ll understand, when you love your neighbor, loving means lending a hand. When you see someone who’s hurt or in need, maybe it’s time to perform a good deed. And when you’ve finished you’ll find that it’s true, when you make them feel better, you’ll feel better too. Love your neighbor, when someone helps you, then you’ll understand. When you love your neighbor, loving means lending a hand.”
Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.
Did you know that when Paul was giving this information he was quoting from Zechariah 8:16?
These are the things you shall do:
Speak each man the truth to his neighbor;
Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;
This means that we need to speak the truth about others.
So what does it mean to love your neighbor? We need to show them mercy, where we act in kindness and generosity to anyone in need without regard to who they are or what they deserve and regardless to the personal cost to ourselves.
Our love for our neighbors should reach all the way out to our enemies and our love should increase until we are will ing to lay down our very lives for others.
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Now, love is not always dramatic, but it should show itself in simple acts of generosity where we give from what we have to meet the needs of others. Now, we should not be careless, and not take precautions. But we should be loving. We should be caring for our neighbors.