Love That Leads to Life

Desiring to justify himself, he said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor?

Again, he sought to put Jesus to the test, but every time this happens, Jesus turns it right back around. He has now been tested. He has been found wanting. He wants to justify himself. He wants to prove himself. Who is my neighbor? I believe what he's really asking is, who is deserving of my love, or who do I get to discount and limit my love? Who will have eternal life? Those who love God and love their neighbor. He wants to know who is my neighbor. Who do I get to avoid or dismiss? It's a loophole tactic. How can I decide, how can I prove, how can I justify that the people I really don't like aren't my neighbors so I don't have to love them? This is so easy, it's terrifying. To find a simple reason not to show love. How they look, how they act, where they're from, who they're with. How quickly do we decide someone is gonna get the cold shoulder or be dismissed? Who is it that we would decide is not worthy of our love? When we look into a room, and we all do this, let's just be honest. When you walked in this morning, did you look around and think, wow, there's a lot of people who are not like me? We regularly walk into a place, especially if you don't know, you're not familiar, you see the others. It's funny, a lot of young people come, they look around, they say, there's a lot of old people. A lot of old people come, they say, oh, look around, there's a lot of young people. We're just prone to see the others. They're image bearers, they're not others. They're image bearers, made by the same God. to be like one another. Church, as we think about this command, first and foremost about us, Christian maturity is marked by our ability to be charitable while also clear with our convictions. Christian maturity is marked by our ability to be charitable while also holding to our clear convictions. This is important because our culture is divided over race, religion, free speech, gender, sex, marriage, all areas clearly informed by scripture. Christians are not supposed to shun others because of their views. We're to love. We're to show compassion. The only people scripture tells us to avoid are people who are professing Christ and misrepresenting Christ by either their beliefs or their practice. Those aren't neighbors, those are false teachers. The neighbor here that's worthy of your love is someone who's not professing Christ but has a whole different worldview, a worldview which we should look at and say there's compassion if we think they're wrong. Disagreeing should lead us to have compassion. We create loopholes because we want convenience. We create loopholes because we have prejudice. Looking back to that Romans 15 passage that Ben read earlier in the service, Romans is the great theology letter in the New Testament. It is the grand systematic theology. You walk from the sinfulness of man to the justification that God provides us in Jesus Christ, to the grand mountain where Paul can only say, holy, holy, holy God. God is great and worthy of worship. And then the practical application, beginning in verse 12, The main emphatic application is found in chapters 14 and 15. The word welcome. We're saved to be a welcoming people. If you wanna know if you've graphed Romans and all this rich doctrine, how welcoming are you? How welcoming are you? How firmer are you in the truths of God that you can easily welcome people who believe different than you, who have different convictions than you, who walk and talk and act and look different than you? Let's just read the passage again.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Jesus Christ. that together you may with one voice glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another.

How? There's a qualifier.

As Christ welcomed you for the glory of God.

Do we welcome one another in a way that reflects how we believe Christ welcomed us? Do we believe Christ welcomed us because we were worthy? Or do we believe Christ welcomed us while we were sinners? Before we move on, let's be very clear. Every human being is our neighbor. Every human being, regardless of gender, ethnicity, language, social class, all made with the same dignity, the same honor. Sin does not remove the image-bearer status, and to that we say, praise God. Our love for God removes loopholes. Our love for self creates them. Our love for God removes the loopholes for who we decide is that image bearer, that neighbor. Our love for self is what creates them. Two questions we could ask. How quickly are you to make a judgment on someone else to dismiss them? How quickly do we automatically dismiss someone because of their affiliation, the way they look, the way they act, the way they talk? How easily do you give yourself an exception to one of God's rules? As we pause here, the proper use of the law is to point out sin. If you're not a Christian this morning, we're so thankful you're here. We're looking at God's law together and everyone in this room should be thinking, I do not love God as he is worthy. I have not loved every neighbor as they deserve. What makes me a Christian is not that we've perfected this law and that we love God all the time in every way or that we love our neighbor every time every way. is that what makes you a Christian is that you see you failed and you do not try to justify yourself. You see you failed and you look to the only solution God gives for not loving him and that he sent his son to love us. He sent his son to die for the ways we've resisted his love. He sent his son for our sin. Instead of seeking to justify ourselves and give an answer now, we look to Jesus who forgives us and declares us righteous. even though we've sinned. The Christian message isn't clean yourself up enough so that you are in eternal life. The Christian message is we cannot wash ourselves enough. We cannot take care of that poison. What we can only do is look up to Jesus who died so that he can wash us, he can consecrate us with his blood. The only solution to sin is to believe. Believe in Jesus Christ. Please not leave here without talking to someone about what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. Christian, if you profess Jesus and do not do likewise, the warning is you may have false hope. This is a prove, show me religion. We are not saved by works, we're saved for works. We're saved by believing in the one gospel I just presented, but Jesus can be very clear and James is very clear. The whole New Testament is very clear. If we say we believe in God and there's no fruit, there's no works, it's dead, it's false. We're not earning salvation, but it is a show-me religion. A third question. Do you love like a good neighbor? Here we are, the rest of the passage, the most well-known part of the passage. After the lawyer tries to justify himself, who is my neighbor? He's looking for loopholes. Jesus replies,

a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down the road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he said on him, his own animal brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of him. And whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.

Looking at the lawyer,

which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers. He said, the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise.

This is a parable, and if we take this parable out of its context, it's mere moralism. It's just go be a good neighbor. The focus and the role of this parable is to help this man realize his loopholes, is to help him not create these loopholes. Let's look, we assume the man who's coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho, most likely a Jewish man. Along the way, he falls into robbers, he's beaten, he's robbed, he's left half dead. Now by chance, two more people come by. the priest and the Levite, religious leader. They're going to pass by this man. They both walk by, they both see him, and then they both conveniently remove themselves as far as possible and get on the other side of the road. They saw their fellow image bearer. They should know this is a fellow image bearer, one of their own kinsmen. And they avoided the man. Okay, they didn't go by and kick him or make sure he had any other spirit change around. But they avoided him. Beaten. They represent the unloving neighbors by going along their business in the most convenient way. They embrace their comfort and convenience. They simply didn't stop. And they represent the unloving neighbors. Really, what I think they represent is the men who are so consumed with self-love, they have no room for other love. They're too busy, they're too important. Maybe the man is too gross, too difficult to take the time. What is lacking with these two men as a stewardship of God, who made them in his image, made the man who's beaten in his image. Yes, we are our brother's keeper. We're all one humanity, one race in Adam. We can think about this well from afar. The Chinese Uyghur people, abused, oppressed, enslaved in China, those are our fellow image bearers. different religion, different ethnicity, different language. We should see and know and have compassion, praying for their right treatment, praying for them to have freedom to worship in freedom even the wrong God. They're being mistreated by a harsh government. We look upon and think about their burdens and we should have compassion because they're fellow image bearers. We should even look, upon the Chinese governing officials. And while we're outraged with the way they're treating these other human beings, we should have compassion. They're believing a lie. Different people, different ethnicity, different language, different nation, made in the same image, and they will face their creator. We should pray for them to repent. And so we pray for our governing officials, we pray for their governing officials that they would repent and know God and promote peace among all peoples. The Ukrainians under attack, we should be burdened for these fellow image bearers. We should pray for them. The Russians who are attacking, they're also image bearers. Sacred life is being lost. We should be praying for both governments, both peoples, both nations with compassion. Those folks are far away. It's somewhat easy because what that's gonna require of us is possibly a financial gift to an organization that'll help, a time of prayer. The challenge for us is actually to love those who are nearby that we might pass by. Again, by faith we come to Christ And in every way, our faith is meant to be shown, lest it be dead. It is to be demonstrated, lest it be dead. There's a third person on the road, the Samaritan. Verse 33, we've looked at the Levite, the priest, they represent unloving neighbors. They also represent, I believe, just self-love. Here we see the Samaritan, he's a different third character. As he journeyed, he came to where he was and noticed the same thing. He came to the same place, he saw him. The difference is, instead of passing by, he had compassion. Now, in order to really appreciate this, we understand who the Samaritans are. They live in a different area from most Jews. They're distant cousins. They have a different worship. They believe in only the Pentateuch. There's an animosity between the two. It's kind of like our version of Hatfields and McCoys, only it's worse. It's a religious commitment against one another. Jesus has chosen the person that the lawyer would most despise to be the hero. to be the one who should teach him. What does the Samaritan do? He has compassion. He's not close of kin. He's not a neighbor. And since he lives next door to him, he simply sees another image bearer. He has compassion. And notice it's costly. He takes his time. He walks instead of his riding on his own animal. He goes and says, I will pay whatever it is. That key first step there, compassion. We've seen it a few times. Jesus in chapter seven saw a widow weeping over her only son and he had compassion and raised that child to life. The place we see compassion is the father and the prodigal son. He saw his son walking from afar and had compassion and ran out to him. In both instances, compassion is a stirring up within us to see someone who is hurting, to see someone who's in need and to act. It's an internal care that leads to loving action. As you think about this, what if, hypothetically, I'm sitting on the couch, been a long day at work, and my wife comes and tells me I feel distant. I decide I'm just gonna keep watching TV or doing whatever I'm doing. I have no compassion. I'm not being a good number, I'm not being a good husband. If she were to come and say, I feel like we're distant, it's been busy, and I'm too busy, I'm passing by the other side. I lack compassion. What if you see a friend who's burdened? You can tell they're broken, they're hurting. And you decide, I don't have time to really deal with that today. You have no compassion to listen to them, to care for them. Let's get a little more gritty. What if you saw someone who's having a strong disagreement, with whom you have a strong disagreement, who's in trouble? They have different views than you on race or religion, gender, marriage, vaccines or masks, different political party. Are we more likely to dismiss them if they're in trouble? Are we more likely to pass by on the other side because they are of that other group, unwilling to listen, unwilling to have compassion. We're called to be peacemakers. We cannot be peacemakers if we do not see others as fellow image bearers and have compassion. I've only gotten to compassion so far, not even the action of sacrifice. Friends, we have real neighbor problems in our culture, and Jesus here is presenting a real solution for us as a church. Don't pass by and dismiss other human beings. See them for who they are, fellow image bearers who are worthy of compassion. Christians, we are called to true religion, which is caring for the widows and orphans, those who are vulnerable, those who are in trouble. I can think of a few categories to wrestle with this in terms of who would be our neighbor, who we should really prioritize and think about. First, the unborn. Our country is a culture of death, seeking to murder millions of innocent lives who are still in the womb. Babies are not valued as persons in our culture. Secondly, humans are being mistreated because of the color of their skin. They're treated as less valuable because of an appearance. Or women still being treated and presented as sexual objects. not valued for the right reason. The elderly, seen as burdens because they're not productive, not valued for the wisdom God intended them to give us. To be very clear, the problem in our culture is not that one group's hating another group. According to Paul, it's that we're hating everybody and being hated by everybody. We hate God, we hate one another. When we find reasons to hate one another, the gospel saves us from that. The gospel calls us out of that to love even those we find unlovely. As we consider those three problems or those four problems, the unborn, the ethnically different, the woman, the elderly, we're called to be transformed in our minds, to see them as God declares them to be, to treat them as God would have us. Every human being is made in God's image. We're called to love them. The unborn babies need protected, and you know who else needs prayed for? The doctors who are aborting those babies. They're image bearers, too. Our brothers who suffer because of an ethical, cultural, or physical difference, we're to be watchful to protect and embrace and declare the full equality of every human being. Our sisters who are objectified, intentionally shown value only because of sex. Can we just think for a second, I'm gonna pause, The satanic twist to say a woman should be valued for sex and then despise pregnancy. What a satanic twist in our culture to objectify women to only objects of sex and not to value the pregnancy that God combined with that. Women are made as equal image bearers to exercise dominion with men, to have the same work and labor. Question for us to ask, how do we speak of others? Let's just start with the words we use. How do we speak about others? How do we speak to others? One of the most important ways we represent God, Christian, is by being image bearers, who treat other people like image bearers. All right, so let's think about how we might find loopholes. What if there are enemies? The radical command of Jesus is not to treat your neighbor like yourself. The radical commitment of Jesus is to love your enemies. The radical love is not to care for the guy who's just beaten up who's like you. That's loving your neighbor. The radical ethic of Jesus is to love the person that you have a right and a rational reason for despising, an enemy, someone who has your ill intent. Jesus has to love them, which means we greet them, we pray for them. We cannot create the loophole as if someone is an enemy and think we have the right to pass by. No, the call is to compassion. If we look at the actions, notice what he does. He takes the man, he balances wounds, he pours oil on him, he gives him care, he gives him his own animal, he walks alongside of him, he gives his money, he gives his promise. I wanna say here, I think this falls under the category of hospitality. He can't take him home, but this is hospitality. He's sharing his life with him. He's sharing his own self, his energy, his finances. He is sharing his own life for the betterment of this man. He is the one who absorbs the loss. He pays for it all. I'll be very clear. This Samaritan did not fall in love with a man half dead on the road. He loved him. He was busy too, he took the time. He counted the cost and he decided it was worth it. He made promises because that's what love consists of. How should you love your neighbor? What should you do? What we've all been waiting on, what should I do? Because Jesus says this, what should you do? One, show hospitality to your neighbor. Think of ways of sharing your life, inviting your neighbor, the person who lives next to you, the person you work with, the people you know. Show hospitality, invite them into your own home. Share a meal with them, listen to them. One way of showing hospitality, greet them with kindness, honor them. Do not let hatred of an idea keep you from loving the person. Invite your neighbor into your life. Win them over with kindness. Keeping distance will only keep them in a worldly way of thinking. Praise God, God did not keep us at a distance while we were sinners. Invite your neighbor to be heard. One of the clear ways to love your neighbor is to share the gospel. But share the gospel with someone who you're willing to listen to. Share the gospel with somebody you're willing to share your life with. And finally, one of the most powerful ways we love our neighbor is by praying for them. Notice how Jesus ends. Who do you think proved to be a neighbor? This man who tried to test Jesus has now been fully tested over and over again. We don't know what he does. We don't know what happens next. Did he finally repent, believe in God, and have eternal life? We don't know. But notice, Jesus doesn't even answer the question, who do I not get to love? It's how do I love somebody well? The Samaritan models what love is. He showed love. Will this lawyer turn from testing God? Will he, having been tested, will he now seek to be justified by God? Have you wrestled with this? I pray we're feeling tested. That is a proper response to God's word here. We've been wrestling with the law of God. Do we love our neighbor as ourself? Have we really considered that there might be somebody we treat as an enemy who we should love as our neighbor? Is there somebody we are intentionally trying to dismiss, avoid, pass by, rather than show compassion? If you want to know how to love your neighbor more, it is going to take the hard work of intentionally seeking your neighbor. But I want to give you a solution that's actually more important, more powerful. To love your neighbor more, you need to love God more. This command only makes sense as we see ourselves in God's image and others in God's image. This command only works out as it is flowing from a love for God. And know how you're going to love God more? By knowing how much he loved you. It begins with God's love for you. Christ dying for you. Christ declaring you his bride. Christ embracing you into the family of God. It begins with receiving God's love, growing in our love for God, and then pouring out towards others. The question this morning, what will we do having seen we failed the test? Well, we try to justify. or will we repent? Ask God for more love for neighbor, more love for him. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you did not look upon us dead in sin and leave us. We thank you that you set your love upon us. You made promises to save us from the very beginning. We see now in Christ how you have answered the great question, how will God be just? The one who punishes every sin and yet still declares some forgiven. We thank you that we see that in Jesus Christ. He died for our sin. He died for the way we've hated you and hated others. We thank you that we can be forgiven. We thank you Lord that you also work in us so that we love you. We love you more. We love our neighbor. We love them as we love ourselves. We pray that you would teach us more of your love so that we might love you more. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Let us respond with our song of response. More love to thee, O Christ.