Who Is My Neighbor?

Transcript from the final sermon script used for this message.

Good morning, church. Good to see everybody this morning. I see some familiar faces back there. Brother James, good to see you on your feet again. We’ve been praying for you.

And before I get started, I want you all to keep Sister Caroline and her family in your prayers this week. They’ve been carrying a heavy load lately, and sometimes the best thing the church can do is simply let somebody know: You are not carrying it alone. Amen?

Now... I’ve been thinking about something Jesus said. Something we know so well that sometimes I wonder if we’ve heard it so many times... we’ve stopped hearing it.

Matthew chapter 22. Jesus said: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

And somebody once asked Jesus the question we still ask today: “And who is my neighbour?”

So Jesus told them about a man lying wounded beside the road.

And some religious people saw him... and kept walking.

Then came a Samaritan.

But he stopped.

He saw the wounded man.

He cared about what happened to him.

He bound his wounds.

He put him on his own animal.

He carried him somewhere safe.

He paid for his care.

And Jesus asked: “Which now of these three... was neighbour unto him?”

The answer?

“He that shewed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said: “Go, and do thou likewise.”

Jesus didn’t ask us whether our neighbor agrees with us.

He didn’t ask whether our neighbor looks like us.

He didn’t ask where our neighbor was born.

He asked us—Will you show mercy?

And Romans chapter 13, verse 10 says: “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

We cannot call ourselves followers of Jesus and spend our lives looking for reasons not to care about people.

We cannot sing about the love of God on Sunday... and spend Monday through Saturday tearing people apart.

We cannot say, “I love my neighbor”... while gossiping about him.

Mocking her.

Ignoring their pain.

Walking past their need.

Deciding that somebody else’s suffering is none of our concern.

And John gets even plainer.

First John chapter 4 says: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.”

Now I didn’t say that. John said it.

You cannot separate loving God from loving His children.

You cannot look toward heaven and say, “Father, I love You,” while looking at somebody He created and saying, “But I have no concern for you.”

That does not work.

Our neighbor may be poor.

Our neighbor may be wealthy.

Our neighbor may be fighting addiction.

Our neighbor may be an immigrant trying to build a life.

Our neighbor may be a refugee who has lost everything.

Our neighbor may be disabled.

Our neighbor may be lonely.

Our neighbor may believe differently than we do.

And church... we do not have to agree with everybody to love everybody.

Love means I care about your welfare.

Love means your pain matters to me.

Love means when I see you lying beside the road... I stop.

Imagine what would happen if the church really lived that.

Imagine a neighborhood where nobody was forgotten.

Imagine a congregation where the lonely were noticed.

Where the hungry were fed.

Where the struggling were not judged before they were helped.

Where the stranger became a friend.

Where mercy became our reputation.

You want to change the world?

Then love your neighbor.

You want to heal your community?

Love your neighbor.

You want people to see Jesus?

Love your neighbor.

So this week... don’t just ask, “Who is my neighbor?”

Ask: “Who needs me to be a neighbor?”

And when God puts somebody beside your road... stop.

See them.

Love them.

Show mercy.

And then do what Jesus said:

“Go... and do thou likewise.”

Amen.