MPC 4th February 2007.
February 4 - Luke 10:25-37 "Love Your Neighbourhood"
Derek Hanna MPC 4th February 2007.
A couple of years ago, I kept hearing stories like the one I'm going to read to you in a minute. Whenever they happened people acted shocked, as if they couldn't believe something like this could happen. What had society come to? But it did keep happening, on regular intervals, and while everyone acted surprised, a part of me knew that I shouldn't be surprised - we are retreating more and more from other people and relationships, and this is the natural result. The story I'm thinking of went like this.
A 94-year-old wheelchair bound woman is believed to have starved to death when her son on whom she relied daily to administer her medication, feed and care for her, was found dead in their Sydney home.
It took the guy across the road, who'd been living there for 20 years, one month before he thought something might have been up, because he hadn't seen them emerge. The only relationship that this man had with his neighbour, was to wave hello when he saw him going out.
Now I'm not blaming the guy across the road. But in the largest city in Australia, in one of the wealthiest and most well-educated countries in the world, we have people living such isolated lives, so removed from relationships, that it takes people a month to notice when something is wrong.
How is it, living in a country as educated as ours, as affluent as ours, people can be so isolated that when they die it takes a month for anyone to notice?
We build bigger houses and have smaller families.
We work longer hours to buy things for a family that we rarely see.
We have far more ways of communication (email, phone, mobile, messenger), but far less intimate and meaningful relationships with those who live right next door.
Jac and I have only been in our house for 2 weeks now, and we've met both neighbours either side, and they're lovely people. We had a good chat with both of them.
But after this initial flurry, I can feel myself slipping back into lazy habits. Life would be easier if we just kept a superficial relationship.
I'm in a new church, new job, new home, away from family - I've got enough things to contend with.
Surely it's better if I invest my time in the people within the MPC Church family.
There's a certain logic to that isn't there, a certain sound reason. But I have failed to ask one vital question - what is it that God requires of me? What is God's purpose for my life and relationships?
The answer to that question, and no other should shape our behaviour.
What is it that God sees as the purpose of my life?
It's a good question isn't it? What impresses a God who made the entire world, and who if he wants something can bring it into being with just a word? What can you do that might please a God like that?
And that is essentially what the lawyer, the expert in the law asks. "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
But the question isn't quite as innocent or genuine as it looks, and Jesus knows it, he's not blind.
Now our Lawyer friend is an Expert in the Law, a religious guru in Israel, so just like the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law, he knows exactly what Jesus reply will be because he knows the answer himself.
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
V.27 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength and with all your mind. That is, with every fibre of your being, love God. And followed closely behind that one, love your neighbour as yourself.
Easy isn't it - all you need to do to inherit eternal life is to live a life that loves God with every fibre of your being. Every thought you have must honour God, every act you perform must be in the service of God, every motivation for doing something must be pleasing to God.
So is Jesus asking too much? Does he expect something of people that they can never deliver?
Well, it's important not to misunderstand what Jesus is suggesting here. He's not saying that being right with God, inheriting eternal life, is something which can be earned by a good life - which is sadly what most of the Australian population think is the case.
If that were the case, then his life would have extended past the 33 years that he spent here before being nailed to a Roman cross. In fact, there would have been no need for the Son of God, for God himself to come to earth, to die the death that we should have died.
No, what Jesus is saying here is that if you are in God's family, if you are one of his people - your mandate, your focus, your energy in life should be poured into loving your God, and following from that, loving their neighbour.
It's not as if doing these things establishes or gets you into a relationship with God. It was Christ's death that got us back into relationship with God.
But that should not water down what those who walk with God are called to do - love their God, and love their neighbour with all of their being. These things flow out of a relationship with God established through Jesus death. They don't bring about a relationship.
Do this, Jesus says, and it's not just that you'll feel better about yourself, but it's that you'll have life the way it was meant to be lived.
We were created to live a life in loving service to our God and fellow man. If this isn't what your doing, you're not fulfilling your purpose in life.
So the lawyer provides an answer to a question that has been haunting mankind since they fell out of relationship with God - what is my purpose in life.
Answer: To love God and love your fellow man.
Wrong question. Right answer. (v.29-37)
But our expert in the Law misses the point in the story. He might know the letter of the law, but he's misunderstood the spirit of the Law.
And so he's got a follow-up question for Jesus. And the question (v.29) is, who then is my neighbour?
Now on the surface that seems like a fair question. Jesus has just confirmed that this man needs to love his neighbour to inherit eternal life, and so he wants to know who his neighbour is. Innocent question? I don't think so.
The Expert in the Law question is like when Jacqueline will ask me to do the vacuuming. She'll say, "Derek, can you vacuum the floor please?" And my response as a loving and caring husband is, "Of course, dear."
Now all good so far, but it's the follow-up question that reveals where my heart is on this request. My follow-up question is "Would you like me to do upstairs or downstairs?". Now that seems like an innocent question doesn't it? But the motivation is not so innocent.
You see, what I want Jacqueline to say is either upstairs of downstairs - even though I know that she'd like me to do both. My question is aimed not at serving my wife and fulfilling the spirit of the request - my question is aimed at reducing my workload.
And this is precisely the tack that the expert takes in trying to justify himself (v.29). He doesn't want to know who he can love, he wants to know who it is he doesn't have to love. It's an excuse not to love.
And so this is Jesus; illustration of the problem in the lawyer;s thinking.
(v.30) A man was travelling down from Jerusalem to Jericho. About 17 miles, about 3000 feet down, rocky terrain, lots of hideouts for criminals, and sure enough he falls foul of them. They take his clothes, they give him a good beating and they leave him to die.
(v.31) Now it just happens that luckily a Priest was heading down that way, coming back from the temple in Jerusalem I'm guessing. Here is the ultimate Israelite, the embodiment of the Law, the one who intercedes for Israel before God - and what does he do when he gets to the man in need? He passes by on the other side of the road. (v.32) And he's closely followed by the Levite. A man who was also pretty special in the religious scene of things. A little different from a priest, but he still served in the temple, and was a sort of mediator between God and Israel. But when he comes across the dying man, he does exactly the same thing - goes out of his way to avoid him.
So just notice what's happening in the story so far. Jesus has introduced us to two characters that we're supposed to like, a Priest and a Levite. The top of the pecking order in Israelite society, men who knew the Law of God. When these two walk onto the scene we are supposed to cheer, because hope has arrived.
So these two are experts in everything to do with the Law (just like the lawyer), but they have no mercy, no compassion.
Their love for themselves was greater than their love for the dying man.
(v.33) And so the next character that Jesus introduces is one of the most hated characters in all of Israel. If you were here last week you would have heard about Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan women in John 4. And when Jesus introduces the Samaritan in this story, our stomach should drop and our heart feel heavy, because trouble has really arrived. No doubt those listening to the story probably thought the robbers were Samaritans, so this guy's probably just here to clean up. If the Priest didn't help, and the Levite didn't help, there's no chance of the Samaritan helping... but there is a difference with the Samaritan.
The difference with the Samaritan is this - he sees someone in need, and he has pity, or compassion on him. Without a thought for himself, without a thought for his own safety, for the background of religion or race of the dying man, he does 6 things: crosses the road to him, bandages his wounds, pours oil and wine on him, puts him in his own donkey, takes him to an inn and takes care of him. So much so that the next day when he leaves he gives the innkeeper two days wages, which would last about three and a half weeks at the inn and makes sure he's looked after.
Why is it that he does this? He didn't have to. There was no law saying that if you see someone in need and don't help then you are responsible. He was under no compulsion to put himself in danger, to lend out his trusty donkey, to pay for an inn and provide care for a person he didn't know. I suspect he didn't have insurance on his donkey for this guy to drive.
What is the difference between the Priest and the Levite on the one hand, and the Samaritan on the other? The first group know that there is no written law binding them to act and so don't, as where the Samaritan is not prompted by compulsion, but pity/compassion/mercy/love.
So who is your neighbour? Who do I need to show love to? No, that's the wrong question.
(v.36) Who is it, Jesus asks, that acted as a neighbour? That is, who showed love in this story? It's a no-brainer. Even the "expert in the law" can get it right. (v.37) It was the one who had mercy.
You see, the wrong question is, who do I need to show love to. But the right question is, who can I show love to, who can I have compassion on, who can I show mercy to, who can I reflect the character of my God to at this immediate point in time.
The point is, that's meant to be the absolute distinctive of the people of God.
We love because we have first been loved...
We don't love because we think we're good people.
We don't love because we think we are racking up points with God.
We don't love because we think that without us Mitchelton and Brisbane would be lost.
Israel was meant to love because they were loved by God. And they failed. By doing as little as they could.
Now as followers of Jesus we're called to love the Lord our God and love our neighbours. Because we want to. From the heart.
Which is what we want to encourage this year... with our Love Your Neighbourhood theme. Not just limiting it to your neighbour on either side. But your whole block. Your whole neighbourhood. Because if we Christians aren't doing that, then we're not really being what we're called to be.
Have you experienced the love of God in the death of the Lord Jesus? Then love your neighbourhood.
Are you keen to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Then love your neighbourhood.
We love because that's what people know us by...
That's what Jesus is saying over in Jn 13:34-35. A new command he gives, that we love one another. It is by this love, not only for those in our MPC church community, but those people we come in contact with day to day, that people are going to know that we are Christ's disciples.
The reason we love our God is because we know what he has done for us.
The way we show we love our God, is by loving those we come in contact with day by day.
And so this year at MPC we want to encourage one another to actually start doing it. Loving our neighbourhoods. In practical ways. In small things. That show love, compassion, mercy, kindness, patience to those we come in contact with. Whenever and however we can.
Because we're not like the expert in the law who wants boundaries on who he has to show love to, and who wants to limit the amount of love that he has to show.
The love that we are going show around Mitchelton this year is often going to seem small, it's going to be baby-steps at the start, it's often going to seem like it's getting nowhere.
But the love that is going to come out of MPC is going to have no strings attached, it's going to be creative and sacrificial, and in this - it's going to be a testimony to the goodness that God has shown us in Christ.
So what are we planning?
Most of us feel like we're not the Billy Graham of the world, and that we aren't going to able to hold Evangelistic Crusades in our streets to convert the masses. Which is fine. Because that's not the point of the campaign.
When Jesus is asked what it means to love your neighbour, his answer is not to present the Two Ways to Live tract to someone. His answer is about someone who lives out the love of God to someone they come across in a ditch.
So here's the first tip in the MPC Love your Neighbourhood campaign. When you see one of your neighbours and they say Hi, don't go into a sweat and try to explain the Gospel to them. Just say Hi.
Next time you see them have a chat.
The time after that have another chat.
The time after that ask them whether they'd like to come and have dinner.
Build a friendship, build some trust.
Here's tip number 2 in the MPC Love your Neighbourhood campaign. It's all about starting to build a sense of community with the neighbours that live around you. So once you've followed step 1 and you've made a few friends that you have a chat to, we're going to encourage as many people as we can to host street parties. Nothing big; just some cold drinks, a barbecue and that other green stuff that some people eat. Not big, not flashy, not confronting - just friendly. Maybe your street does that kind of thing already? If they don't, we Christians should be the people who start it. Because we take Jesus seriously. And we love our neighbourhoods.
Tip number 3 in the MPC Love your Neighbourhood campaign. Next time you mow the front of your lawn, why not do both your neighbours' lawns as well? If they ask you why you did it - just tell them that it's part of the Love your Neighbourhood campaign that's running at your church this year, because we want to love our neighbours.
And when they see that you mean business... and as the love in your neighbourhood grows... then down the track there's going to be an opportunity to explain why. In a natural way. And hopefully, late in the year, to invite them to our Love Your Neighbourhood service.
We want to create networks and friendships by genuinely loving the people around us. Building bridges of trust. So when they ask questions about life and God; when they go through the struggles of life as they will inevitably do; when they look to get their kids baptised because it's just what you do - they are going to come to you and ask what all this God stuff is about.
Opportunities and friendships like that can not be manufactured. It takes time, hard work and plenty of love.
We want every Christian in MPC to be a person who loves their neighbourhood. And there are countless ways to do that. We've only thought of a few. And there's no guarantee it's going to be easy. But we want to do it... because we want to show the love of God to people that we have been shown.
It's because we love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind and strength that we are going to love our neighbourhoods.
So when they ask those big questions, as everybody does at some stage in their life, they are going to know someone who actually has the right answer.
What is the purpose of life? To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbour as yourself.
And where do I start? By trusting in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And finding that new heart by the Spirit that's going to motivate me... to love my neighbourhood.