What About Your Neighbor? Do They Matter?

What about your neighbor? Do they matter?

Luke 10:25-37

Introduction-

I am so glad you joined us this morning!

I pray that the Lord would speak a word into you … that you would receive what He has for you.

We have been in a series call “Instructions for Christian Living”

We have centered into our relationships- Ultimately and most important our relationship with the Lord. Our relationships with those close to us- our family, close friends, those we work with.

Today looking at casual acquaintances and those that we have contact with and maybe don’t even know.

What if any responsibility do we have with them? The title of the sermon is What about your neighbor?

What about those we just come in contact with? Do they matter?

Do we need to be concerned about how we treat them?

How we interact with them? Does the Lord hold us responsible for people we do not know?

Prayer-

If I were asked what your responsibility is as a Christian, what would you answer me?

Would you answer that you have to be kind?

You have to give money to good causes?

Be in church often?

Tell everyone about Jesus?

Live a morally pure life?

All of these are principals and actions that should be found in a believer, but here are the words from Jesus Himself on what our responsibility is to be called a Christian or “Christ follower”

Luke 10:25-27 Read form Bible

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

To have eternity with Christ, we have to be a Christ follower, a believer of what Christ did for us. “Christian.”

The responsibility in Jesus own words… Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your strength and all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself.

How we doing? ( Wait a moment)

Loving God with every part of us?

Loving people around us as much as we love ourselves and do for ourselves?

This expert (lawyer) so to speak in the law, the one who was trying to trick and cause Jesus to stumble is not impressed with Jesus identification of a believer.

This self proclaimed expert who was trying to justify himself asked Jesus not about loving God with all his being, but challenges him on who is my neighbor- who do I have to love as much as myself?

Jesus who is never phrased by the so called experts- tells him the story of the Good Samaritan-

Luke 10:30-37 Read from the Bible

An Unnamed man is traveling down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (which is narrow and known for robbery) is attacked and robbed. He is beaten and left for dead.

(3) Recorded People approached this beaten man

(1)Priest- (Holy man) he went on the other side of the road.

(2)Levite-(Temple worker) he went on the other side of the road.

(3)Samaritan- He went to him, bandaged him, carried him on his donkey, gave money to an innkeeper and promised more when he returned if the man needed it.

Which of these were neighbors? Compassionate? kind? Sensitive to people’s needs?

Even the expert had to admit it was the one who had mercy and showed love and compassion to the man.

Jesus says “Do likewise”

It is easier to love and care for those that look like you, act like you, or are your friends…it Is not normal to expand that love and mercy to people we only have an acquaintance with. Even family and friends can have trouble loving others like they love themselves because there are some people who love themselves too much and others not so much.

Where am I going with this morning?

You have to be intentional on treating others right

You have to be prayed up and ready to intervene for others even if it means to be inconvenienced in your busy day.

That Samaritan did not leave his house thinking he would help save a man’s life but when it came to push and shove he was willing the risk to do it.

Priest could not touch that man- If he was dead, he would have defiled himself by touching a dead man and would not have been clean to enter the temple- (Church)

He was more unclean in God’s eyes by not helping that man than by maybe touching a man who could have been dead.