Love Your Neighbor
Anchor Verses
- Luke 10v25-37
Introduction – Who is my neighbor?
- Luke 10v25-37
- Who is my neighbor?
- Justified hatred
- “He was an obviously reckless and foolhardy character. People seldom attempted the Jerusalem to Jericho road alone if they were carrying goods or valuables. Seeking safety in numbers, they traveled in convoys or caravans. This man had no one but himself to blame for the plight in which he found himself.” (Barclay)
- ii. Think of all the excuses that they could have used:
- “I’ve got to get to the temple and perform my service for the Lord.”
- “I’ve got to get home and see my family.”
- “Someone really should help that man.”
- “If I’m going to serve at the temple I can’t get my clothes bloody.”
- “I can pray for him.”
- “He brought it on himself, he should have never been alone on such a dangerous road.”
- “He never asked for help.”
- ii. But all of these are simply excuses. “I never knew a man refuse to help the poor who failed to give at least one admirable excuse.” (Spurgeon)
Analysis – The Mission Field Isn’t Far Off – It’s Over the Fence
- It’s easier to watch an infomercial for starving children and send a check than to tend to the needy within our own city. Why?
- They put themselves there!
- Perhaps it’s true – is that how God looks at us when we’ve fallen into a pit of our own sin?
- They put themselves there!
- Kitty Genovese
- 28-year-old bar manager who had been robbed, raped, and stabbed to death outside her apartment building in Queens in 1964 while 38 people watched or listened to her screams outside their apartments but did nothing to stop the attack.
- the attack lasted 35. Not one called the police, even though Genovese was screaming, “Please help me. Please help me.” And why not? “I didn’t want to get involved,” one neighbor said.
- This didn’t take place in our modern cell-phone-induced apathetic existence – this took place in 1964 at the height of the civil rights movement, a year before protests over the Vietnam War, a time when social activism was at its peak
- So why did this happen?
- Research suggests the more people who are witness to a problem actually decreases the response with the mindset being that people assume others will respond
- So why did this happen?
- 28-year-old bar manager who had been robbed, raped, and stabbed to death outside her apartment building in Queens in 1964 while 38 people watched or listened to her screams outside their apartments but did nothing to stop the attack.
Application – As Yourself
- Spurgeon’s sermon focused on caring for the poor
- A major problem in England at the time
- Our current plight is not a financial divide – but a political one
- “Christian ethics begins with revelation while philosophical ethics starts with reason; the former possesses the truth while the latter pursues the truth.”
– Henlee H. Barnette
- “Christian ethics begins with revelation while philosophical ethics starts with reason; the former possesses the truth while the latter pursues the truth.”
- Breaking Divisions
- Aligning yourself to a political party first forces you to constantly justify your position against an organization led by imperfect people
- Aligning yourself with Christ first allows you to be aligned with our perfect creator and then participate in a world we accept is imperfect
- “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
– Martin Luther King Jr. - Our goal is not to convert people to our side of the political spectrum
- None of this matters if we don’t see the inherent value in human life
- Do you believe their life has value, or do you simply see them as obstacles?
- Until we fully embrace the fact that every single person on this earth has intrinsic value, we cannot fulfill the command to love our neighbor.
Sermon Questions
- In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus challenges us to rethink who our neighbor is. How does this parable push us beyond justifying our actions or making excuses for not helping others? Can you identify situations where you have avoided helping someone because they “brought it on themselves”?
- The sermon discusses the concept of local versus international missions, suggesting that sending money abroad may be easier than serving those in need nearby. Why do you think it’s often more challenging to help people in our immediate communities? How can we overcome these challenges to better love our neighbors right where we are?
- The idea of breaking political or ideological divisions is central to the message of loving your neighbor. How does aligning yourself with Christ first, rather than a political party, change how you view and interact with others, especially those with different views? What practical steps can you take to love people who may seem hard to love?