Bible Studies
How God Teaches Us to Love our Neighbor
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. Both the O.T. and the N.T. are replete with teaching about the responsibility we have to love our neighbor.a. In Lk. 10 a lawyer summarized what needed to be done to inherit internal life as "loving God and loving one’s neighbor.”
b. Jesus said, “Do this and you will live.”
2. The responsibility was clear, the “how” perhaps less so. The lawyer questioned, “And who is my neighbor?” 3. How do we teach people to love one another in a world characterized by hostilities so intense that we cut each other’s heads off? 4. How do we communicate to our children that they should love their neighbor? 5. How does God do it? His children are characterized by intense hostilities, murderous actions, and hatred. What can be learned from His method?Discussion:
I. God taught Israel by reminding them of their “alien (NIV) experience.”A. Ex. 22:21: “You shall not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.” Other translations use the word “stranger” or “sojourner” for NIV “alien.”
B. Ex. 23:9: “Do not oppress an alien; you ourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.”
C. Lev. 19:33-34: “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as ourselves, for you were aliens in Egypt.”
D. Deut. 10:19: “And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” Loving the alien is evidenced by giving him food and clothing (v. 18).
E. Deut. 23:7: “Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in his country.” Interesting that this prohibits abhorring our oppressors.
F. Deut. 24:17-18: “Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.”
II. Why should we be good to aliens?A. Because we know how it feels. We know the alien’s soul. So we won’t persecute foreigners; we won’t abhor them; we won’t oppress them; we won’t judge them unfairly; we will treat them as we treat ourselves; i.e., we will love them.
B. Even those who are our oppressors we will not abhor.
C. God teaches His children to love by calling to their remembrance their experience of “how it feels to be an alien.”
1. We teach our children following this same model.
2. How often have we reasoned with our children about how they should treat others? Our reasoning went something like this. Do you remember when so and so did something to you (stole from you, said something mean to hurt your feelings, hit you, blamed you, etc.)? Do you remember how it felt? Is that the feeling you want to bring on another?
D. But most of us have not lived as aliens.
1. We might reason that the people of Israel are “Our Spiritual Heritage,” but we are quite distant from the feelings of being aliens.
2. Most of us experience some fear of going to another country. That anxiety might help us understand the alien feeling just a bit.
3. Maybe you have been in a neighborhood where you felt “different,” unaccepted or where you felt like you didn’t belong. The message that you were getting from the “natives” was “we don’t want you here.”
4. Is that the way you want to feel? Is that the way you want your children to feel? Is that the way you want your children to make others feel? Is that the way you want to make others feel?
5. Is that the message that God wants us to communicate to aliens? Is that consistent with the message of the gospel?
E. We have felt a little of this when we have visited a congregation that was unfamiliar to us.
1. One of our first assessments is “They weren’t very friendly” or “They were friendly.”
2. We evaluate each other that way, “Don’t we?”
III. The church of the first century struggled with how to love one another.A. They seemed to have had less trouble loving Hellenistic Jews, Samaritans and eunuchs than they did Gentiles.
1. Some difficulty with Hellenistic Jews (Acts 6).
2. Not so much with Samaritans.
3. Not so much with Eunuchs.
B. But these transitions were leading up to how to love Gentiles (Acts 10).
1. God communicated directly to Peter.
2. He hesitated.
3. But finally gave in so that he communicated the gospel to the Gentiles of Cornelius’ household.
C. But how to love Gentiles was still problematic.
1. Stemming from Paul and Barnabas and their preaching to Gentiles. Some Jews incited the women and leading men at Pisidian Antioch and persecution resulted.
2. When they returned to Syria Jews from Jerusalem came down in protest requiring circumcision and observance of the law of Moses.
3. Gal. 2:11ff refers to a time when Peter would not eat with Gentiles. Barnabas, himself “was carried away by their hypocrisy.”
4. Yet the message of God was acceptance.
IV. Our government struggles with policy issues of how to love one another and we struggle with personal issues of how to love one another.A. We are struggling with what to do with all the children coming over our borders from Central America. Have we forgotten that we are all aliens, historically immigrants from other countries?
1. On July 25 President Obama said, “Children who do not have proper claims and families with children who do not have proper claims at some point will be subject to repatriation to their home countries.” “Send them back.”
2. George Will told Chris Wallace on July 27 that the U. S. should welcome these children (52,000 since last October). “We ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America, you’re going to go to school and get a job and become Americans.’” Will said, “We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 per county. The idea that we can’t assimilate these eight-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous.”
B. And as men are beheaded by terrorist organizations we respond by saying, “We ought to go over there and blow them all off the map.” Probably motivated by outrage over a murder. But who are you going to blow off the map? Will there be no concern for the innocent? Are we protesting so-called “pin-point” strikes for some blanket effort?? Let’s punish everyone because some are evil. Will that work?
C. At least we are concerned about it. Some who have no moral compass are not.
V. How does God teach us to love our neighbor?A. He taught Israel by reminding them that they were once aliens.
B. He taught the lawyer with a parable (Lk. 10:30-37).
C. He taught us with the sacrifice of His Son.
D. He has taught us to take the message of reconciliation to the world (2 Cor. 5:18-21; Matt. 28:19-20).
1. We were aliens (Eph. 2:11-19).
2. Now we are no longer aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints.
E. Do we really believe that God works today in the affairs of men? Then we must publicize his message and we must act upon it. Let us see our day as a day of opportunity rather than a day of defeat. Let us see it as a day of opportunity rather than a day of rejection. Let us see it as a day of opportunity rather than a day of retaliation.
Conclusion:
1. How has God taught you to love your neighbor? 2. How are you teaching your children? 3. How are you teaching others?
