What God Expects, Not What He Inspects - Who Is Your Neighbor?

Do you love your neighbor? Love - that's a big word. Love is the fulfillment of all of God's laws. It's greater than any spiritual gift you could have. It's the reason God put us here on earth. It's even what Jesus said would confirm that we are his disciples. LOVE. But let's be honest. It's not always easy to love those around us, is it? And yet a Christian is supposed to be different. So, for the next few weeks we're going to see what Jesus says about loving our neighbor—truly loving our neighbor.

Let's begin with asking the question who is your neighbor? There was a guy who was notorious for cleaning according to what his parents would inspect, but not necessarily what they would expect. In other words, he would do things like fold and put away the dirty laundry, put away the dirty dishes thinking they were clean, and loading the dishwasher with liquid dish soap. Things looked tidy on the outside, as long as all the closets and doors remained closed. What seemed neat and clean was often only surface level clean. Again, that’s the difference in doing things that you think people would INSPECT versus what they EXPECT.

Jesus got a response a lot like this when he told someone to love his neighbor as himself. When the man heard it, his first response was to ask Jesus about actions that God would inspect, instead of about the heart that God expects. You and I can fall into the same mindset, and if we do, we not only miss one of Jesus's most important teachings, but we will miss out on fulfilling our purpose. Today we will be using Luke chapter 10 for our text. Before we get into God's word let's pray. PRAYER

The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus's more familiar stories. Jesus told this parable in response to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The man who asked Jesus this question was a pharisee, an expert in the law.

We usually think of the Pharisees and religious leaders in the gospels as the villains of the New Testament because they were so antagonistic toward Jesus, but we forget that these men had spent years studying the Torah which was the first five books of the Old testament—the Bible of that day if you will. They were consumed with following God's laws with precision, often adding more rules to ensure they would be perfect in their obedience. This man knew all about God's laws. He even memorized them. The problem was that he completely missed the point.

Luke 10:25-28 – “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”26 “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”27 He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” 28 “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”

So, this expert in the law approaches Jesus to discuss what might appear to be a simple question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus began to draw out the truth by questioning him. And of course, being the expert in the law that he was, the man answered correctly. He knew what was written in the law, and he zeroed in on the two commands that Jesus had identified earlier as the two greatest commandments, when another expert in the law, asked a question to test Jesus.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.” So, the man knew the law by heart.

But now came the challenge: Jesus told him to obey the law. What Jesus is telling us in this is that knowing what God's word says doesn't matter much if we choose not to follow it. In fact, the more we know, the more responsible we are for obeying what we know. This religious leader knew very well what God's commandments required, and he was responsible for obeying them - or not.

The man who asked Jesus the question was more focused on outward actions, but the real purpose of the law was to show us that we can't do anything to be right with God. The law is meant to point us to a Savior beyond ourself: Jesus Christ.

It is kind of like memorizing the Ten Commandments. We can memorize the Ten Commandments word for word and know them forward and backward, but if we don't follow them, we are getting nowhere. It will never be possible for us to live up to God's perfect law, much less be worthy of eternal life with God. But I thank God for his mercy which is when God gives us what we don't deserve. Even though this Pharisee would never be able to live up to God's perfect law, he still wanted to give it a shot.