Love Your Neighbor
Love Your Neighbor
"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. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:16-17)
As we move from the Great Commandment of loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength to "loving your neighbor as yourself", we learn that the second commandment is the natural overflow of the first. The same love that represents the very nature of God is also the same love that flows out toward all those who He created in His image and likeness.
The Bible teaches these two foundational realities that we should always remember:
First, God is love. (1 John 4:8,16)
Second, God shows no partiality. (Acts 10:34, Rom. 2:11)
This means that God already loves us before we love Him and He seeks the well being of each of us without having favorites among His children. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17).
We need to see with His eyes that every soul is precious in His sight...for we do not know who will become His children and we who are His children are to love with His love.
When a religious lawyer came to Jesus, who was supposed to be an expert in the Law, he asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responded by asking him what he ultimately understood about the Law. The man shared rightly from the Law of Moses and Jesus affirmed this but Jesus knew his heart was not in alignment with his answer. So attempting to justify himself, he went on to ask Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In response, Jesus tells the amazing and unforgettable story of the Good Samaritan...
Jesus told him about a man fell among thieves on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (also known as "The Bloody Road") and was stripped of his clothing, was wounded, and left half dead. He was completely hopeless and needed to be rescued. Jesus tells of two religious men who noticed him but walked right past him on the other side. Then he tells of a certain Samaritan who walked by and sees the wounded man and went to him and cared for him to the fullest extent.
Interestingly, the Samaritans were known to be a half breed among the Jews and were therefore rejected by the Jewish community as a whole, which include the religious Jews.
In this story, Jesus brilliantly answered both of the questions that this lawyer asked.
Jesus revealed three types of people in this account of the Good Samaritan:
The REJECTED: The one who knows he is dead.
The RELIGIOUS: The ones who think they are alive.
The RIGHTEOUS: The One who gives life to the dead.
Many read and hear this story without first identifying with the wounded person on the side of the road. We must first see how we are the one that needs to be rescued and how the Good Samaritan is a type of Jesus.
Once we recognize that Jesus came to our personal rescue that He might save us when we were dead in our sins and trespasses, we can then respond to the Good Samaritan and do as he did. So first, we must see the manifestation of God's love toward us...and then, we can see our imitation of God's love through us toward others.
It is only when we personally receive God's love that we can practically reflect God's love to others.
This is why the Apostle John stresses that we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and that we cannot truly love God while showing any kind of hatred toward another brother.
It is amazing when we consider how the Good Samaritan cared for the man and how close it beautifully matches and parallels how our Lord came to us and loved us and rescued us.
Here is the Picture of Christ’s Love...where Jesus act as our Good Samaritan:
v. 33 - Jesus journeyed from heaven and came to us.
Jesus saw us and had compassion on us.
v.34 - Jesus healed us and took care of us.
Jesus poured the oil of the Spirit over us.
Jesus set us on a rock and brought us into His fold.
v.35 - Jesus graciously paid the debt for us.
Jesus departed with a promise to come back again!
Once we know how much we are forgiven and given a second chance at life, we will receive God's Spirit and we will naturally have a God-given love to care for the neighbors around us.
We are to live a life of love where Christ uses us to reach the wounded sinners of the world from our neighborhoods to every sphere of influence where we encounter another neighbor.
Here are Three Ways to Love:
Freely we receive, freely we give.
As Paul writes to the Philippians, "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:1-5).
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. 5:14)
Consider how to put into practice the command to love your neighbor:
1. Do you regularly preach the gospel to yourself and remind myself of your need for Jesus?
2. How are you allowing God's love to overflow out of your life in your daily rhythms?
"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. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:16-17)
As we move from the Great Commandment of loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength to "loving your neighbor as yourself", we learn that the second commandment is the natural overflow of the first. The same love that represents the very nature of God is also the same love that flows out toward all those who He created in His image and likeness.
The Bible teaches these two foundational realities that we should always remember:
First, God is love. (1 John 4:8,16)
Second, God shows no partiality. (Acts 10:34, Rom. 2:11)
This means that God already loves us before we love Him and He seeks the well being of each of us without having favorites among His children. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17).
We need to see with His eyes that every soul is precious in His sight...for we do not know who will become His children and we who are His children are to love with His love.
When a religious lawyer came to Jesus, who was supposed to be an expert in the Law, he asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responded by asking him what he ultimately understood about the Law. The man shared rightly from the Law of Moses and Jesus affirmed this but Jesus knew his heart was not in alignment with his answer. So attempting to justify himself, he went on to ask Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In response, Jesus tells the amazing and unforgettable story of the Good Samaritan...
Jesus told him about a man fell among thieves on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (also known as "The Bloody Road") and was stripped of his clothing, was wounded, and left half dead. He was completely hopeless and needed to be rescued. Jesus tells of two religious men who noticed him but walked right past him on the other side. Then he tells of a certain Samaritan who walked by and sees the wounded man and went to him and cared for him to the fullest extent.
Interestingly, the Samaritans were known to be a half breed among the Jews and were therefore rejected by the Jewish community as a whole, which include the religious Jews.
In this story, Jesus brilliantly answered both of the questions that this lawyer asked.
Jesus revealed three types of people in this account of the Good Samaritan:
The REJECTED: The one who knows he is dead.
The RELIGIOUS: The ones who think they are alive.
The RIGHTEOUS: The One who gives life to the dead.
Many read and hear this story without first identifying with the wounded person on the side of the road. We must first see how we are the one that needs to be rescued and how the Good Samaritan is a type of Jesus.
Once we recognize that Jesus came to our personal rescue that He might save us when we were dead in our sins and trespasses, we can then respond to the Good Samaritan and do as he did. So first, we must see the manifestation of God's love toward us...and then, we can see our imitation of God's love through us toward others.
It is only when we personally receive God's love that we can practically reflect God's love to others.
This is why the Apostle John stresses that we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and that we cannot truly love God while showing any kind of hatred toward another brother.
It is amazing when we consider how the Good Samaritan cared for the man and how close it beautifully matches and parallels how our Lord came to us and loved us and rescued us.
Here is the Picture of Christ’s Love...where Jesus act as our Good Samaritan:
v. 33 - Jesus journeyed from heaven and came to us.
Jesus saw us and had compassion on us.
v.34 - Jesus healed us and took care of us.
Jesus poured the oil of the Spirit over us.
Jesus set us on a rock and brought us into His fold.
v.35 - Jesus graciously paid the debt for us.
Jesus departed with a promise to come back again!
Once we know how much we are forgiven and given a second chance at life, we will receive God's Spirit and we will naturally have a God-given love to care for the neighbors around us.
We are to live a life of love where Christ uses us to reach the wounded sinners of the world from our neighborhoods to every sphere of influence where we encounter another neighbor.
Here are Three Ways to Love:
- SEE people through God’s eyes
- SERVE people with Christ’s heart
- SHOW people the Spirit’s power
Freely we receive, freely we give.
As Paul writes to the Philippians, "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:1-5).
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. 5:14)
Consider how to put into practice the command to love your neighbor:
1. Do you regularly preach the gospel to yourself and remind myself of your need for Jesus?
2. How are you allowing God's love to overflow out of your life in your daily rhythms?
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