“When God Becomes Our Neighbor”
Romans 13:8-10
When Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa was a young boy, he had a life changing experience because of a display of God’s love flowing through another person.
You see, in South Africa, at that time, if a black person and a white person met while walking on a path, the black person was expected to get off the path and allow the white person to pass by.
And as they were passing by, the black person was supposed to nod their head as a gesture of respect.
One day, Tutu and his mother were walking down the street when they noticed a tall white man, dressed in a black suit, walking toward them.
Before he and his mother could step off the sidewalk, this man stepped off and allowed Tutu and his mother to pass by.
As they passed by, the man tipped his hat in a gesture of respect to Tutu’s mother.
Tutu was shocked and asked his mother, “Why did the white man do that?”
His mother explained that the white man was an Anglican Priest.
That he was a man of God, and that’s why he did what he had done.
Tutu would later say: “I decided there and then that I wanted to be an Anglican Priest too.
And what is more, I wanted to be a man of God.”
If a follower of Christ had not shown young Tutu the love of God, would all that Bishop Tutu has accomplished through his ministry ever have happened?
Love is powerful, to say the least.
Love changes us.
Love transforms.
Love saves.
And God is LOVE.
We don’t know the result of the love we allow to flow from God through us to others, but there will be a glorious unfolding of it someday.
Paul says: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”
Isn’t that cool?
I just love that.
What an amazing way to put it.
Paul has been instructing the Christians in Rome to pay taxes and to have no debts not only because of the possibility of punishment if they don’t pay, but as a matter of conscience…
…because it is the right thing to do.
But then, he says something really, really radical.
He says that if there is anything that followers of Jesus Christ owe to another person, it must be nothing other than love.
And this love, as the Christian mystics put it, “has two feet: Love of God and love of neighbor.”
One can’t go without the other because the love of God is inseparable from the love of neighbor, and this is because God has become our neighbor.
And from this perspective, loving our neighbor means: “If our neighbor is hungry, feed him or her.”
“If our neighbor is thirsty, give him or her something to drink.”
If there are people who are sick, hurting or suffering or alone in the world—do what you can to help alleviate their pain.
As Jesus says, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these…you did for me.”
All this is not rocket science!
But it’s also not easy.
And I think part of the reason is that love has gotten so confused for us that a lot of us are pretty much always thinking of ourselves…
…always in the mode of “what’s in it for me.”
But that’s not Jesus’ kind of love.
That’s not the agape or unconditional and unmerited love of God.
Think about it.
We owe God everything—from the water we drink to the air we breath, but God came to earth in the form of Jesus to prove that He’s not a collection agency.
And the way God proves this is by paying Himself back with the self-sacrifice that He makes through Jesus on the Cross.
Our infinite debt to God is so real that Jesus paid the price.
And if we accept Jesus’ cancellation of our debt and give ourselves to Him, then we can live as people who don’t owe anything to anybody except to love one another.
And loving one another isn’t something we do out of guilt or indebtedness.
It’s not a burden.
It’s done in gratitude for the great love Christ has shown us.
“While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
I suppose that is why God’s kind of love involves loving—even our enemies!
But in order to love others, we really have to be able to love ourselves.
Not too long ago, I had one of those little “aha” moments.
I had been thinking about how, as a young person, I did a lot of things that I knew I shouldn’t do—just to try and “fit-in.”
And when I thought about my motivation for doing these things, I realized: “Wow. I didn’t think very highly of myself.”
I mean, let’s face it.
At times, we can be pretty hard on ourselves.
We are often judgmental, condemning, and merciless when it comes to our thoughts about ourselves.
In the Upper Room devotional a couple weeks ago Amorelle Brown wrote: “Why can’t I be the loving person I want to be all the time?”
“On a particular day when I had snapped for the third time in a row at an unsuspecting loved one, the condemning thoughts were about to flow.
Then a new thought interrupted: “You can’t give what you don’t have.”
She goes on, “It was as if God were telling me that if I could love myself the way God loves me, I would be able to more fully love others.”
And she’s right.
Our ability to love others does have a lot to do with loving ourselves.
I mean, God loves us more than we could ever imagine, sins, warts and all.
God loves us so much that God took all the stuff we do, all the sins we commit, all the written code that stands against us and nailed it to the Cross!!!
Therefore, we can live debt-free.
But, we do have a debt to pay—and that is to love as Christ has loved us.
Think about it, Jesus came into the world in order to save us—not to condemn us.
God isn’t merciless towards us.
God isn’t unforgiving.
Why are we?
As Amerelle puts it: when we have a genuine love for ourselves: “forgiveness, grace, hope, peace, joy” we have “enough to share.”
And this can only occur as we choose to accept, more and more each day—and every time we have a negative thought toward ourselves—the love God has for us.
And the same goes for loving others.
When we look at others, no matter how ugly their actions can be…
…no matter who they are or where they live…
…and meditate on the love God has for them—we can’t help but love them.
“God loves that person so much that He died for them.
The very least I can do, is love them as well…
…is seek to see them the way God sees them…
…or just love them because I know—no matter what—God loves them with the same love God has for me.”
And because of that knowledge, because of that intentional seeking to love other people we will be more likely to try and do nothing to harm that person.
As Paul says: “Love does no harm to a neighbor.”
That’s also why, in order to love, we must be humble.
And the more humble we become, the more love we have to give.
Humility is not out for oneself.
Humility doesn’t try and push others around.
True humility is one of the most beautiful things in this world.
Think about that Anglican Priest in South Africa who, because of humble love, did not take advantage of others like he could have--due to his race.
Remember when Jesus was talking to His disciples about what true greatness looks like?
He said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
True, unconditional, agape love.
What does that look like?
It looks like Jesus.
And what did Jesus do, although He was God—He humbled Himself to death, even death on a Cross.
He fed the hungry.
He took care of the sick.
He loved the sinners.
He spent time with the outcastes, the lepers, and all those on the margins of society.
He got to know them.
He made friends with them.
In doing so, He changed their lives.
That is what we are to seek to do and be as well.
You know what the word Christian means?
It means, “little Christs.”
We are to be Christ to the world.
And, if we can wrap our minds around this—being Christ to the world, means that we see Christ in everyone we come in contact with—and treat them as if they were Christ Himself.
You know, in our society we tend to think of fulfillment as a matter of getting everything WE want in life—whether it be a Mansion, cars, boats, lots of money—whatever.
But the true path to fulfillment in this life comes through giving ourselves away in service to others.
It seems to me that if we find happiness elusive, perhaps one place to look is at how well we are doing at loving other people.
One thing I always tell people about volunteering at the food pantry…
…and I got this from someone at the Soddy food pantry…
…I tell people, and it’s so true, that “If you volunteer for the food pantry you will never go home thinking: “Why did I do that today?
What a waste of time.
I wish I hadn’t done that.
You will always leave happier than when you arrived.”
I think we can only find fulfillment in life if we can learn to practice the “Love” that never fails.
You know, when you and I accept Jesus Christ’s grace-filled offer to be our Lord and Savior, Christ not only comes to live in our hearts, He becomes our neighbor as well, and I think that is pretty neat.
How about you?
