Love Your Neighbor!

For Friday, January 20, 2023:

Matthew 5:20 NLT, Jesus speaking: “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

Jesus didn’t have a lot of time for the Pharisees. They had memorized all the laws. They faithfully observed traditions (some of which were made up.) They held a high and mighty position in the Jewish pecking order, but they had forgotten how to love their neighbor. In short, Pharisees took care of #1 but ignored the teachings about being helpful and loving.

Pharisees all should have known Leviticus 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

In Luke ch. 10 Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” and he responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, someone from another country with a different religion. Though they had little in common, the man from Samaria did his best to help the injured Jewish traveler, paying for the man’s care out of his own pocket. Samaritans were (unjustly) despised, and this one made the right humanitarian decision to be helpful, to do the right thing. By the way, a Jewish Priest and a Temple worker both passed by the injured man but did nothing, making the Samaritan look like a hero!

Heaven will be filled with souls who know Jesus and are nice, kind and helpful. We should all strive to be among them!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Tonight I’ll be teaching about War vs Peacemakers on the Jesus in the City Fellowship’s Facebook live-stream, 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central. Hope you can tune in!

Love!

For Thursday, October 20, 2022:

1 John 4:19 GNT: “We love because God first loved us.”

Jesus declared a New Covenant with his people, an event predicted by the prophet Jeremiah. “‘The day will come,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. I will put my law in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33)

This New Covenant involves a total change of heart, so that God’s people are naturally pleasing to the Lord, and that requires love – loving the Lord and loving your neighbor. Surprisingly, until Jesus taught this, caring for others was uncommon. The point of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan was that Jews were ignoring the injured traveler. That needed to change.

We should do what Jesus did and fulfill what Jesus taught. We should be nice, caring and helpful, just like our Savior. Jesus’ love for each of us is a non-negotiable plank in his platform.

Jesus taught, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

The World is Your Neighbor

July 05, 2010 Monday Message:

If your church follows the Common Lectionary, you’ll hear about the Good Samaritan next Sunday. Luke 10:25-37 You know that this scenario never actually happened; rather, Jesus is using a parable or story to illustrate how the kingdom principle, ”love your neighbor,” ought to work. But to whom is the teaching directed? Let’s dig inside the story.

When studying the Bible, you should always consider context. In other words, where was Jesus along his ministry timeline? With whom was he speaking? What happened right before this?

The Good Samaritan parable is a response to a question from an “expert in the law.” 2000 years ago, civil law and religious law were intertwined, so the lawyer asking the question was perhaps a Pharisee or a Rabbi, maybe a judge. At that time, the religious establishment thought they knew all there was to know about God, and they sure didn’t welcome the intervention of this itinerant carpenter. In a way, asking Jesus what is required to inherit eternal life was a trick question. They were hoping that Jesus would give an incorrect answer.

Instead, Jesus answered their question with a question of his own: "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"

The lawyer’s answer was what we now refer to as the Summary of the Law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength – and love your neighbor as yourself.” The trick hadn’t worked.

As the narrative unfolds, our lawyer digs a little deeper. Still hoping Jesus might slip-up, he queries, "And just who is my neighbor?"

And that’s when Jesus unpacks the parable of the Good Samaritan. While it’s a good lesson about loving your neighbor, the diatribe is more a chastisement of the Pharisees, a dressing-down of those keepers of the law, the ones who knew the letter of the law but had no love for their fellows. You see, Samaritans were considered “unclean” by the Jews, although they claim common ancestors. They probably were “brothers” in a way, but the Pharisees had no time for them, or for any others not in their sect. But Jesus says we need to intentionally cross social, economic and religious barriers to serve our neighbors who may look, dress and speak differently than we do. Remember that Jesus wants us to share the Good News with the world!

Jesus concludes by asking the lawyer which neighbor showed more love. It’s almost a rhetorical question, the answer is so obvious: “The one who showed mercy.”

And Jesus sends him off with the admonishment, “go and do likewise.” The character of God is unchanging. And like Paul Harvey used to say, “That’s the rrrrest of the story!”

For Him!

Norton Lawellin