Jesus Changes the Neighborhood
Proverbs 3:27-35
Ill. Catherine Booth was the "mother" of the Salvation Army. "Wherever Catherine Booth went," said Campbell Morgan, "humanity went to hear her. Princes and peeresses merged with paupers and prostitutes."
One night, Morgan shared in a meeting with Mrs. Booth; and a great crowd of "publicans and sinners" was there. Her message brought many to Christ. After the meeting, Morgan and Mrs. Booth went to be entertained at a fine home; and the lady of the manor said, "My dear Mrs. Booth, that meeting was dreadful"
"What do you mean, dearie?" asked Mrs. Booth.
"Oh, when you were speaking, I was looking at those people opposite to me. Their faces were so terrible, many of them. I don't think I shall sleep tonight!"
"Why, dearie, don't you know them?" Mrs. Booth asked; and the hostess replied, "Certainly not!"
"Well, that is interesting," Mrs. Booth said. "I did not bring them with me from London; they are your neighbors!"
I. Your Friends.
27-28 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. 28 Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it"--when you have it with you.
• These verses speak openly about those who we have regular contact with.
• It is important that we catch not only the subject of these verses, but the direction of the wise relationship.
• It speaks of having an opportunity to give or do good to our friends and doing or giving it without delay.
• A true friend is one who seeks good for the other person.
• I believe based upon this text and other text, a true friend is one who seeks, not only the good, but the best.
• A true friend will seek the best for his or her friend at great sacrifice.
• Pro_17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
• A true friend is not hot or cold in the friendship. It is not a situation of them being nice to you when you are alone with them, but when other “friends” are there, they pull away from you.
• A true friend definitely will not choose to lead you to something hurtful or evil.
• That would not be a Godly friendship, and God is calling you to be a true friend.
• A true friend is better than family in some situations.
• Pro_18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
• A family member sticks with you by nature, by kin, without choice, but will hopefully stick with you.
• A friend has chosen to stick with you by choice. That is a dearer sentiment.
• I love those particularly who stick with me, not because they are stuck with me, but because they have chosen to love me.
• Being a good friend is being Christ-like. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
• Rom 5:7-8 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• There you see a sacrificial giving to you when you least deserved, because God chose to love you.
• That is the friendship style He is calling you to be towards your friends.
• The difference Jesus should make in your life is that you seek the best for your friends and not lead them away from God.
II. Your Neighbors
Pro 3:29-30 Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.
• Now I am distinguishing between a friend and a neighbor. You might say, this applies to strangers.
• I am speaking about people you come across, may be acquainted with, but are not in your social friendship circle.
• I believe this passage is particularly speaking about those who are different from us.
• The Bible is clear on how we are to live with strangers. God loves strangers.
• Haddon Robinson said. "Your neighbor is anyone whose need you see, whose need you are able to meet." A neighbor is someone who says, "What is mine is God’s and what is God’s belongs to my neighbor because my neighbor belongs to Him."
• In Matthew 25:31-40, when Jesus was telling about the Judge honoring those who loved Him in this life, one of the things He mentions in verse 25 was, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
• When they asked when Jesus was a stranger and they welcomed Him, He responds in verse 40, “When you did it for the less noticed, least deserving, the most different, the most unlikeable, you did it to Me”
• There was a story that circulated a few years ago of a popular high school girl who heard a noise coming from a locker at school. She opened the locker and found a small freshman who some of the bigger guys had put into his locker.
• She not only freed him from the locker but befriended him. She stopped the bullying in his life.
• Why? Because that is what Jesus would have done, she said.
• I saw this story on a news show.
• When they interviewed this boy, they asked him what he had done that turned these bullies against him?
• What egregious thing did they consider unforgivable and justifiable in being cruel to this boy?
• He answered as truthfully as he knew how, “Just being different.”
• This wise father, the wisest man in the world, Solomon, tells his children, “Don’t be evil to people who are different. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.
• Don’t be cruel to someone just because he or she is not like you and your friends.”
• The difference Jesus should make in your life should be how you treat strangers, people who are different and people who you don’t know very well.
III. Your Enemies.
• Sometimes the shoe is on the other foot. You are the one who is being bullied. Look…
Pro 3:31-35 Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in his confidence. The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous. Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.
• There is something satisfying about vengeance.
• Ill. The story is told of a soldier who was fighting over in Iraq who received a letter from his girlfriend that said she was breaking up with him. In the letter she also asked for him to return the picture of herself that she had given him, because she needed it for her bridal announcement.
• The soldier was heartbroken and told his friends about the breakup and about her request. Someone came up with this idea -- the whole platoon gave him pictures of all of their girlfriends and told him to send them to his ex-girlfriend with this note, "For the life of me, I can’t remember which picture is yours, so please remove your picture from all of these pictures I’m sending and return the rest of them to me!"
• (From a sermon by David Owens, "Better Than Revenge" 2/16/2009)
• But God has called us to something higher than revenge.
• Sometimes when you are being bullied, you can really see what the bully is.
• If you can quit focusing on what the bullying says about you, you will understand the person of the bully much better.
• Jesus Christ should make a difference in how we respond to bullying.
• Jesus said it Himself, “You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” Matthew 5:43-47.
• I am going to put my translation on this passage, so please bear with me.
• “You have heard it taught, you are supposed to love those who are nice to you and hate those who are mean to you. I am calling for another way. I say, love those who are mean to you and pray for those who bully you, and then you will be most like your heavenly Father. You see, God gives love to those who love Him and those who despise Him by sending rain on both when they need it. If you are only nice to those who are nice to you, what kind of testimony of God is that? Don’t the most wicked people in the world do that? If you only speak to those who speak to you first, aren’t you just acting like those who don’t know anything about God? Plain old sinners do that much. But I call for a better way, a way you can act like me.”
• Our Wednesday night adults have heard this many times, “When you are offended, hurt, in pain, frustrated or angry, you have the greatest opportunity to be a witness of Jesus Christ.”
• You have the greatest opportunity to be like Jesus Christ, who did His greatest work when he was offended, hurt, in pain, frustrated or angry.
• Listen to me, youth and adults alike. This isn’t the sign of a mature Christian.
• This is the call for every Christian.
• This isn’t deeper living or something for spiritual giants. It is part of our basic Salvation feature package.
• 1Pe 2:20-25 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
• Instead of using the Tim White translation, I am going to defer this scripture to Eugene Peterson in The Message:
• What counts is that you put up with it for God's sake when you're treated badly for no good reason. There's no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you're treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God. This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
• He never did one thing wrong,
• Not once said anything amiss.
• They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.
• Jesus should make a difference in your life, if you have truly experienced Him.
• He should make a difference in how you treat your friends, always leading them upwards.
• He should make a difference in how you treat those who are different, always leading them inward.
• And He should make a difference in how you treat your enemies, continuing to live onward.
• Being this kind of Christian can make a big difference.
• Ill. There was a little girl who had a very large collection of dolls heaped on her bed. A guest in her room one day asked herd "Do you love dolls" Then, with tender loving care, she spread out the whole collection for the guest to inspect and admire. The guest asked her, "Which doll do you love the most?"
• She hesitated, then said, "Promise not to laugh if I tell you." He promised. She picked a ragged doll with a broken nose whose hair had mostly come off, and one arm and leg were missing. "This is the one."
• "Why?" the visitor asked.
• "Because if I didn’t love this one, nobody else would."
• (From a sermon by Tim Zingale, "An Encounter with God" 1/19/2009).
