LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR

Introduction

-{Luke 10}

-I am not a marketing expert, but I do know that they try to come up with concepts and commercials and sayings and jingles and logos that capture the ears and eyes and are easily rememberable so that their product stands out and people think of them when they have a particular need.

~What’s so funny is that because they did such a good job of it, I still remember commercials and sayings and jingles from when I was a kid.

~So, if you’re old like me, you might remember that Calgon is an ancient Chinese secret; I remember you’re not supposed to squeeze the Charmin; I remember Wisk took away ring around the collar; I remember that only you can prevent forest fires; I remember that relief is spelled ROLAIDS

-One set of commercials that might be rememberable today are all the State Farm ads. I might be partial to them because Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers introduced us to the discount double-check. Of course, there’s always Jake from State Farm in his khakis.

~But they’ve used the same jingle for many years: LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, STATE FARM IS THERE

~The people on the commercials sing that and all of a sudden a State Farm agent appears. They’re telling you that if you get their insurance and you have any problems, they’ll be there for you in a flash to help you with whatever you need. They’ll help fix whatever trouble you’re in. They are like a good neighbor.

-That might be the claim of State Farm, but Christians are called to a greater neighborliness than even this. Unfortunately, this is so antithetical to the society that we live in right now—a society so wrapped up in their phones and their gadgets and themselves that they will not step outside of themselves to help people in their greatest time of need.

-For example, just a few weeks ago, there was a woman who sexually assaulted on the public transit train in Philadelphia—I mean literally in front of tons of other people-. But what did the other passengers in the train do? Did they help the woman and intervene? No. Did they call 911? Nope. The other riders in the train held up their cellphones and merely pointed them in the direction of the attack.

-What in the world? What’s wrong with you people?

~But sadly, maybe not in such an extreme, even we Christians have gotten away from what it truly means to love our neighbor.

-Jesus ran into that with the religious leaders of the day, and He used a parable to undercut the self-righteous justification that they used for their inaction.

~What He teaches is that when someone possesses eternal life it will lead them to love and to act as a true neighbor to everyone. Truly, like a good neighbor, the believer in Jesus Christ ought to be there.

READ LUKE 10:25-37

I just want to discuss how we can be a neighbor in the biblical sense:

1) Right perspective is important

-An expert on the Mosaic law wants to try to trip Jesus up and maybe make Him look like a fool in front of the people, so he asks Jesus the biggest question that there is—how do you get saved? He was probably hoping Jesus would say something that he could argue against. But Jesus turned the question back to him—what do you think Mr. Law Expert?

~Strangely enough the law expert gives a right answer—love God and love your neighbor.

-Now here, we evangelicals get a little tripped up by Jesus’ answer, because Jesus agrees with Him. If you love God with all you are and love people like yourself, you will live. We’re like—time out Jesus, nobody can love God or people like that. Well, that’s kind of the point. And that’s why we need Jesus. Because the inverse of this is then true—unless you have 100%, all of the time, loved God and loved people you will not live.

~No human other than Jesus has loved God and loved people like that. Therefore, all are condemned without a Savior.

-This was supposed to be a time when the law expert did a little self-reflection and thought (oh oh, I haven’t loved God or people like that, I’m in trouble—what am I supposed to do?) That is the perspective he needed. But that’s not what he did. Instead, it says that he tried to justify himself—he wanted to try to prove that he is that righteous. His perspective was the desire to prove that he really doesn’t need saving.

~He conveniently skips the first of those commandments—he doesn’t want to expose himself for not loving God will all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. So, he moves to the second commandment to try to prove—yeah I’ve done that.

~So now, still trying to test Jesus and trip Him up and trying to justify himself, he asks the question: Fine, who is my neighbor?

-That’s what came out of his mouth, but what the law expert is really asking is: what must a person do in order to qualify as a neighbor who is worthy of my love? What category of people do I consider a neighbor that I have to love them like that?

~In the law experts’ perspective, the answer is: I’M SUPPOSED TO LOVE PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST LIKE ME. PEOPLE JUST LIKE ME ARE MY NEIGHBORS.

~With that answer he can justify himself—yeah, I can do that.

-But through the parable, Jesus completely turns that on its head. First, you notice he doesn’t describe the characteristics of the man leaving Jerusalem who is a victim. He doesn’t say if the man was Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, handsome or ugly—because none of that matters. These types of categories don’t determine someone’s worth as a neighbor.

~And then, Jesus casts the religious leaders as the villains, and a Samaritan (who are hated by the Jews) as the hero. Then Jesus forces the law expert to come to the conclusion—not pointing to the victim but the villains and heroes: who was the neighbor?

-You see, the question WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR is the wrong question and exposes the wrong perspective—who is worthy of my love?

~Jesus says that’s the wrong question. The real question is: WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO BE A LOVING NEIGHBOR? HOW CAN I BE A NEIGHBOR TO EVERYONE AROUND ME?

-So, the obvious answer to the law expert’s question is everyone is your neighbor. But the more important point is what are you going to do to prove that you are a neighbor? The law expert’s perspective is self-righteousness. The right perspective is to ask what can I do to be a neighbor?

2) Love is sacrifice

-In looking at the parable proper, a man travels down the mountain from Jerusalem, heading west to Jericho about 17 miles away. Even under Rome’s Pax Romana sometimes the roads could be treacherous to travel alone, and thieves beat the guy up, steal all his stuff, and leave him for dead.

-A priest and a Levite, religious leaders—those who are to be pious and holy and represent God—do absolutely nothing to help the man.

~There has always been a lot of speculation on why these religious leaders go out of their way to avoid the man. Some say that maybe because they didn’t want to be made ritually unclean by a dead body. But there’s a few problems with that. First, the guy wasn’t dead. Second, they were leaving Jerusalem, not going to Jerusalem, so ritual uncleanness wouldn’t have affected them. Third, even the Old Testament makes it clear that God prefers acts of mercy rather than ritual sacrifice. In Hosea 6:6 God clearly says:

For I desire steadfast love [mercy] and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6 ESV)

So, this means ritual uncleanness shouldn’t have been a motive.

-But here’s the thing when you read the parable. In the parable itself Jesus never gives their motives. Why? Because their motives don’t matter. There was someone in need, and they should have been a neighbor and helped that person out. But they didn’t. That’s what matters—that’s the problem.

-Fill in the blank with whatever reasoning you might think is the reason for their inaction, but the bottom line is that they were unwilling to sacrifice their time and resources to help. They could not be bothered to give assistance. They did not want to be a neighbor to the man.

-This is clearly antithetical to the Scripture that these religious leaders would have given lip-service to. I mean, you have verses like Micah 6:8 that says:

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 ESV)

-DO JUSTICE. LOVE KINDNESS. To fulfill those requires sacrifice. Sacrifice of time. Sacrifice of resources. Sacrifice of plans. But the religious leaders couldn’t be bothered.

-But then the Samaritan comes along. He sees this man in need. Again, we know nothing of the victim here, but it didn’t matter. The dreaded Samaritan saw someone who was in deep trouble, and he sprung into action. He didn’t just pass by the other side of the street like the religious leaders. He didn’t get out his cell phone and point it at the guy and post it on social media: HEY, LOOK WHAT I SAW TODAY in between all of his selfies.

-You know, this Samaritan may have been on a timetable and needed to get somewhere. It doesn’t indicate the direction he was going, so maybe he was going to Jerusalem to conduct business, or maybe he was leaving Jerusalem and was on his way home. Either way, he had things to do and people to see. But he chose not to ignore that man in need.

~Stopping and helping may have inconvenienced him, but that didn’t matter. And that’s convicting because I know I don’t like to be inconvenienced. I am very much a task-oriented person—if I have a task I want to work on the task, and I like to get the task done.

~The Samaritan may have had tasks that needed to be done. But he didn’t let that stop him from doing what was right.

~Being a neighbor may mean some sacrifice in going against our natural inclinations and allowing ourselves to be inconvenienced.

-But that wasn’t the only sacrifice that the Samaritan made. It says that he stopped and bound up his wounds and poured oil and wine on them—wine as an antiseptic and oil to promote healing. Where did those things come from? The Samaritan used his own supplies to take care of the man.

~And then he let the man ride his animal while he walked the rest of the way, paid for the man’s stay in the inn, and then paid extra for the rest of the man’s care. The Samaritan used his own supplies and money to make sure that this stranger that he didn’t even know gets taken care of.

~The Samaritan made personal sacrifices of money and resources and time, and it may have even thrown his schedule off a bit—but he was willing to make the sacrifices so that this man got the care that he needed.

-Love your neighbor as yourself. AS YOURSELF! How would you want to be treated in the same situation someone else is in? How would you want someone to show love to you in the same situation? If we’d think it would be great for someone to make sacrifices for us, then shouldn’t it be expected that we make sacrifices for others?

-Here’s the lesson—Jesus says that we are to love our neighbors, and the way that we love our neighbors is by making sacrifices for their good.

3) Faith is action

-Jesus closes this parable asking the law expert who was the neighbor, because that’s the right perspective—not whose my neighbor, but how can I be a neighbor? The law expert is backed into a corner. In front of all these other people he can’t deny the one who loved their neighbor. So, he admits it’s the man who helped the victim—he can’t even bring himself to say the word Samaritan.

-Then Jesus says GO AND DO LIKEWISE. Here is this dreaded Samaritan that acted more like a believer in God than the religious people who claimed to believe in God. So, who is the one who actually believed in God? Who is the one who actually demonstrated faith through obedience? The Samaritan or the religious leaders? Obviously, the Samaritan—so, go and do likewise. Your actions speak more about your faith than your claims do.

-Now, I know we’re walking a tight rope here, because first Jesus says that if you follow those commands you will live, and then he says to go and do likewise. All of this sounds like a works-based salvation, but we know that salvation is grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

-Again, unless you love God perfectly and love people perfectly, you fall short. And since no one can do that, all are judged. That is why we need a Savior. Jesus died on the cross because we didn’t love God perfectly and didn’t love people perfectly, and we can’t here on this earth.

~So, all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. But listen, Jesus’ brother James has something to say about claims of faith that don’t result in fruit. If your claims of faith don’t lead to a lifestyle of faith, then your claims to faith don’t hold a lot of water. Faith leads to action.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22 ESV)

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14–17 ESV)

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19 ESV)

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:26 ESV).

-You love your neighbor by putting your faith into action. Yes, you are saved by grace alone, but the salvation of grace is never alone, it is a changed heart and mind leading to changed attitudes and actions toward other people. We don’t get it perfectly, but praise God there is a Savior who cleanses us from all of our sins.

Conclusion

-You know, one of my favorite shows as a kid was Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers had a neighborhood, and Mr. Rogers wanted everyone to be a neighbor. As far as Mr. Roger is concerned, it didn’t matter who you were, what you were like, what traits you had, you were going to be his neighbor. But the thing is, Mr. Rogers acted like a neighbor.

~Something that he did on the show that may have gone over most of our heads was the fact that not only did he do his actions, he also narrated his actions. And something so simple as narrating the fact that he was feeding his fish was actually an action of loving his neighbor. There was a blind 5-year-old child that wrote him a letter that said, “Dear Mister Rogers, Please say when you are feeding your fish, because I worry about them. I can't see if you are feeding them, so please say you are feeding them out loud.”

~So, from then on, he would walk up to the tank and mention that he was feeding the fish. One small, insignificant act that was an act of love toward one of his neighbors.

~Oh, that we would all be neighbors like that.

-Harvest Baptist Church, lets make it a beautiful day in the neighborhood for everyone around us. Let’s be loving neighbors. Wouldn’t it be cool if our community found out that LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, HARVEST BAPTIST IS THERE.

~Christian, maybe you want to come to the altar and pray that God help you love your neighbor as yourself.

~But maybe you haven’t trusted in Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved and receive that gift of eternal life.