Won't You Be My Neighbor?: Week 2

2019-09-15 

Pastor Jonathan Falwell 

Key Verse: Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Last week, we specifically said we must love everyone. Those like us and those not like us. Those near and those far. Those we like and those we do not like. Today, we’re going to talk about the practical. How do we love them?

So, how do we love them?

Matthew 5:43-48 (NKJV) You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighborand hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

1. Be a blessing
   1. Vs 44b …bless those who curse you…
   2. “Bless” is the Greek word, “eulogeō” – blessings on, praises on…
   3. Our responsibility as Christians is to show God’s love to a hurting world, even to those who hurt us

Eph 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

“The true test of genuine Christianity is how believers treat those whom they are naturally inclined to hate or who mistreat or persecute them.”[1]

1. Be a servant
   1. Vs 44c …do good to those who hate you…
   2. “Do” is a verb, passive Christianity never changes things

1 John 3:18 (NKJV) My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

• “Deed” is the Greek word, Èrgonwhich means “to toil (as an effort or occupation); by implication, an act:—deed, doing, labour, work.”[2]

1. Be a prayer warrior
   1. Vs 44d …and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…
   2. Eph 6, 1 Tim. 2, James 5 all command us to pray for others
   3. Why? Because our prayers for others reflects God’s character of loving others and showing mercy.[3]

1. Make your Father proud
   1. Vs 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
   2. John Walvoord said, “While sinless perfection is impossible, godliness, in its biblical concept, is attainable.”[4]

1 John 3:23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

[1]Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew(Vol. 22, pp. 114–115). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

[2]Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew(Vol. 22, pp. 114–115). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

[3]https://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/prayer-fasting-and-meditation/how-to-pray/intercessory-prayer/

[4]J. Walvoord, Matthew: Thy Kingdom Come(Chicago: Moody, 1974), 51.