Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself

Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself

Romans 13:8-10; Leviticus 19:18; Luke 10:27

A plain sweater, white canvass sneakers, a warm smile and a simple song welcomed us every day to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Fred Rogers became a PBS legend. A few months ago Fred Rogers passed away but his work will live on because he did his best to be the kind of person that every child would want for their neighbor.

As a child I watched Mr. Rogers and as a parent I watched it again. Over the years not much changed with the show; it was the same house, the same trolley to take you to a world of make believe, the same puppets [King Friday the 13th] and the same opening song. Every episode Mr. Rogers always asked the same question in his song: “Would you like to be my neighbor?”

Leviticus 19:18

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord. [God said it/Moses wrote it]

Luke 10:27

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. [Jesus quoted it to a lawyer]

Romans 13:8-10 [in your lap]

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. [9] For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [10] Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. [Paul explained it]

Becoming a Christian should affect every area of our lives/relationships especially!

• With God

Eph. 2 says we are God’s enemy until we’re saved, our sin separates us from Him. When we get saved, we’re reconciled to God! “peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinner reconciled!”

Getting saved will affect our relationship with…

• With believers

Before you were saved you may have felt uncomfortable around someone who was on fire for God, but not now! And you can love believers even if they weren’t Baptist.

What would I be if I weren’t a Baptist? Ashamed!

We don’t have to dot every “i” and cross every “t” exactly the same way to love our neighbor believers!

Getting saved will affect our relationship…

• With enemies

Before, our attitude was, “I’ll get even”… “revenge”

Guy said he and his wife had a kissing relationship…he’d say good morning, she’d say kiss my grits!

The Bible says to love our enemies, do good to those who abuse us!

Getting saved will affect our relationships!

There’s a word which appears 5 X’s in our Romans passage…Love! The key to all Godly obedience/the key to fulfilling God’s law!

If your Christian life were a door swinging on 2 hinges, they would be:

Loving God

Loving your neighbor

All the rest of Christianity swings on those 2 hinges!

Love Thy Neighbor…God said it, Moses wrote it, Paul explained it, Jesus quoted it, so what does it mean.

Luke 10:29 [the lawyer answers Jesus]

But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

Neighbor= “one who is near”

We think of the people w/ the loud music and annoying dog! But in the Bible there’s a wider application because to God, the whole world is one big global neighborhood…we’re all in the ‘hood!

And our world gets smaller and smaller as technology has allowed us to cross oceans not only in ships, but on planes…we could go to St. Louis today and be around the world tomorrow, or just go home and fax them instantly, and now w/ the internet, well…! [email/instant messaging]

Really, our neighbor is anyone we meet who has a need!

Text: Rom. 13

v. 8 “Obligation”

Paul says something negative, then something positive.

Negatively: “owe no man anything”

Some have supposed this is saying a Christian should never go into debt of any kind…borrowing. If that were so, then why does the Bible give us guidelines for borrowing and lending?

Sermon on Mt.— Matthew 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

Matthew 25:27

Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. [interest]

So, what IS it saying here? The Bible forbids charging exorbitant interest rates/taking advantage [wish discover and visa went by that!]…and, the Bible forbids borrowing money for things which are unnecessary…but nowhere is borrowing categorically forbidden.