Love your

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RELATIONSHIPS Series Sermon: Love Everyone as Your Neighbor 9-24-17 By Pastor Brendon Lee

Jesus’ challenge to love God is more than enough to captivate our thoughts, but then he adds the simple command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” EXPERIENCE THE TRUTH Jesus Is having yet another discussion with a religious lawyer, who asks Jesus a question other had asked – It was a popular question. But he asks only out of a desire to show his religiosity. He asks questions not for the answers but for showing off his own intelligence. The man asks Jesus, “How do I inherit eternal life?” The answer Jesus draws from the man is familiar: “Love the Lord your God will all your heart and soul and strength and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” “You’re right,” Jesus said to the man. “Do this and you will live.” The crowd possibly looked at the lawyer with a “that’s so simple, why are you wasting our time?” gleam in their eyes. The lawyer’s embarrassment must have been obvious. He has not come off looking nearly as impressive as he had hoped! Will he quietly walk away, as so many have, shaking his head in amazement at Jesus’ wisdom? Not this man! Instead he tries to justify his first question with another question. You can almost see him, red-faced and flustered, stammering out, “Umm, well then, who is my neighbor?” What kind of question is that? Isn’t it obvious who your neighbor is? Will Jesus even justify this with an answer? But Jesus does answer. He tells a story—an unforgettable story—about an injured man lying beside the road that goes from Jerusalem to Jericho. The crowd stirs as He tells about a priest and a temple assistant who passed by without stopping to help the injured man. They’re too important, too busy, too holy to touch this stranger beside the road. Some in the listening crowd would have expected these self-important men to act. Then Jesus brings another character into the story, a Samaritan who is walking down the road. The Jewish crowd to who Jesus was speaking didn’t like Samaritans, and Samaritans didn’t like Jews either. Historical disputes had turned into cultural divides and personal distrust. For this Jewish crowd, a Samaritan would be the enemy in the most of their stories and the punch line to many of their jokes.

Jesus describes the Samaritan’s actions: He stops; he bandages the injured man’s wounds; he puts the man on his donkey; he takes the stranger to an inn, where he pays for his continuing care. As Jesus finishes, the unveiling of the unexpected hero of this story must have hushed the crowd. In the silence of that moment, Jesus looks at the lawyer whose question had prompted the story of the good Samaritan. The Lord gently asks him the loving question, “Which of these three is a neighbor?” The way the lawyer answers tells you he’s forgotten about impressing the crowd. Now it’s just him and Jesus talking. “The one who helped him.” (Based on Luke 10:25-37) The story should capture every fiber of your being. If Jesus teaching here doesn’t change the way you act towards others, I doubt anything will. 1. The value of loving everyone 2. The value of loving someone We can say as Christians, I love everyone, but until we meet the needs of someone, we don’t know love. Love that speaks in grand terms about loving everyone yet does nothing to meet in practical ways the need of the person who stands in front of you is not true love. Love that meets the needs of people who are close to you and yet looks on those outside its circle with prejudice is not true love either. The story about the good Samaritan teaches that I cannot limit the extent of my love. Anytime I limit the word neighbor to some group smaller than everyone, I’ve missed the meaning of Jesus’ words. 1. We limit our love because of our differences Jesus shocked those who listened to His story, when he made the Samaritan the hero of the story. For Jesus to answer the question, “WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?” with a story of a Samaritan made it clear that there are no limits to our Love. Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:43-44, “You have head that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” When Jesus said neighbor he meant everyone! Whichever person or group that would be Samaritans for you, Jesus meant them. This seems so simple. Why is it even important to talk about? Because the moment I take it upon myself to limit the extent of my love, I’ve slipped away from God’s kind of love. I’ve descended to a merely human kind of love.

God’s love is an “everyone, everywhere, all the time” kind of love. Human love is “some people, some places, some of the time” kind of love. Some of us are better at human love, but none of us are able to express God’s kind of love in our own power. That’s the point. God wants us to depend on Him for the power to love. So He challenges us to love in a way we can only accomplish through daily dependence on His power. 2. We limit our love because of our fears It was a great risk for the Samaritan to help the stranger. There were robbers on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, deep descent through the desolate country. Seventeen miles long and descended 3,000 feet, and robbers would lay on the side of the road as injured while others wait to trap them. There was a risk for the Samaritan. It’s always a risk to love. First century to twenty first century. Whether you are on your way to Jericho, Plano, Desoto, Hugo, Tishimingo, or Mexico, it’s always a risk to love. C.S. Lewis made a profound observation, “to love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglement s, lock it up safe in a casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken, it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” You may have experienced deep hurt because you made the choice to love. It would only be natural to tell yourself I’m never going to open myself up to that pain again. No one wants to be wounded. Lewis’ statement reminds us that there is an even deeper hurt to be found in not loving than in taking the risk to love. If you choose not to love, not only will you be hurt, but the people you choose not to love will be hurt also. Take the risk to love. Take that risk and set aside differences. Take the risk, and begin to love someone whom you’ve stopped loving or have refused to love. God knows that when we refuse to love, bitterness and a feeling of emptiness grow in our hearts. No hurt or misunderstanding or sin that has been brought on you could be worth the greater hurt of refusing to love. Love is the greatest risk you’ll ever take. It’s a risk to love, but it is the one risk worth taking more than any other. Keep in mind: the one relationship you can truly count on is your relationship to Jesus Christ. Lean on your relationship to Him as you take a risk to love others. Others may disappoint you, but Jesus will never fail you. No one is outside the bounds of my love. Luke 10:27, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Who is the person in my life that I need to take a risk to love?