Love Your Neighbor as Yourself (What It Means & What It Doesn't Mean)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. It seems there's a battle going on, on who gets to control the dictionary. Who gets to define what love is?

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who says, no, love is bad, or I don't want love, or I'm against love. Nobody's going to say that. Everyone says love is good, love is what we want, but clearly people have different definitions of what that looks like.

Well, if love is divine, and it is, if God is the author of love, then I believe that God gets to define love. Since the scripture says about him in 1 John 4, verse 8, that God is what? God is love. So turn, if you would, to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 19, love thy neighbor.

Yeah, most people probably think Jesus came up with this quote. Well, he did say it, but Jesus is not the originator of this statement. Love your neighbor as yourself. This actually comes from the book of Leviticus.

So Jesus, when he says that in the gospels, Jesus is actually quoting Leviticus, and Leviticus has a context. So let's find out what it is. Leviticus chapter 19, starting in verse 17. The scripture says, you shall not hate your brother in your heart.

You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord. You know, there is somebody thinking to themselves that statement of verse 17, you shall surely rebuke your neighbor. And they thought, well, that doesn't sound very loving. Well, we're going to explain this point number one in this message.

What I want to do, I want to start out with this passage. What's the context? What does it mean? And then number two, we'll get into how love is being distorted in the day and age we live in because it is.

And then finally, point number three, the application of how you can put it into practice. Okay, we should love our neighbor.

Great.

But what does that look like? What can we do personally? What are some practical ways we can show love to our neighbor? First, let's just see a raise of hands. Who knew that this verse, when Jesus said this, you knew Jesus said it.

Who knew that Jesus was quoting Leviticus? Get a raise of hands if you knew that. Okay, so about three people. And you probably heard me say that on Wednesday night too, right? So, but yeah, this is true.

Leviticus 19 verse 18. Love your neighbor as yourself. Here's what I find amazing. The most relevant phrase in the church today. Love your neighbor as yourself. It comes from a book that most Christians find to be irrelevant.

So what's this passage about? Leviticus 19 verse 17. Let's start there. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. But it says we are to rebuke him. So what's that about? Is that a contradiction? How do you, okay, you're not to hate him, but you're to rebuke him.

Some people would see a conflict here. What's this about? Well, sometimes things happen in life, don't they? People in this life will do you wrong. Sometimes even in the church, someone might do you wrong.

And really, there's not much you can do about that. You really can't control the behavior of your neighbor, co-worker, friend, family member. You can't control other people. What you can control is how you respond to it.

What some people do, and this is common, we've probably all done it at times. We take those hurt feelings. Somebody said something. Somebody did something. We take those hurt feelings, and we just bottle it up.

And then over time, the animosity just kind of gets worse. And then we interpret everything this person says that did us wrong. We interpret everything they say or do in the worst possible light and things.

It gets worse and worse until finally you realize one day you do have hatred in your heart. Well, what's the scripture telling us? That no matter what someone has done against us, doesn't matter what it is, we are to not harbor hatred in our heart.

When we do that, when we hold on to bitterness, you've heard this before. It's like taking poison and expecting the other person to drop dead. It's only going to hurt you when you hold on to bitterness and hate in your heart.

So what should we do then? Well, the scripture is telling us what to do. The person who wronged us, we are to go to them. We are to, if they really did you wrong, you should admonish them. Leviticus 19 .17 says you shall surely rebuke your neighbor.

You know that I've said it many times. If you can let something go, the best thing to do is just let it go. And maybe somebody didn't really mean to offend you. Maybe you took it the wrong way. Those types of things, let it go.

But sometimes we say we've let it go, but we really haven't. In those cases, it's best just to confront the person. I'm not saying be confrontational, but just go to that person and tell them how you feel or what they did.

Just talk it out. Don't go up to them and start yelling at them or say something unkind. But we want to do what? Resolve the issue. Not let it fester. We should use the wisdom of Proverbs 15 verse 1, which says a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

You know, sweeping things under the rug, ignoring it, it's not going to make it any better. It's best just to go to that person and talk to them. Isn't this what Jesus said in the gospels? In Matthew 18 verse 15, Jesus said, Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

Don't go on Facebook and post about how terrible they are. Just tell him you and him alone. And if he hears you, you have gained your brother. And when that happens, I found that it actually brings you closer together.

You know what Christianity does? It turns enemies into friends. So this is not just the mature way to handle conflict. It's the Christian way to handle conflict. When believers follow biblical principles, yeah, it will often draw us closer together.

Even someone who you think, yeah, we just, our personalities clash. But if you talk about it, that is a bridge to friendship. So that's what we should do.

Amen.

Do you believe that's what we should do? I think so. Verse 18 says you shall not take vengeance. Clearly, this is what we shouldn't do. Why? Romans 12, 19 says vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Sometimes when people do us wrong, we want to get back at them.

And I think that's the natural response of the flesh. You know, they hit me, I hit them back. They say something, I shoot right back with an insult. And this is just human nature. Or worse, you could do something even worse.

Some people plot and plan on doing very harmful things. Scripture says don't do that. God will repay. If somebody has truly wronged you, hand it over to God. He can deal with them a lot better than you can.

When we try to take matters into our own hands, what do we usually do?

Fail.

Yeah, fail.

Or, yeah, when we fail, it just makes it worse. So let's turn to Luke chapter 10. Just want to expand on the meaning of this statement. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is how we should interact with people.

These are the biblical principles. But just remember that term, love thy neighbor.

I want you to remember that.

It comes from Leviticus 19, verse 18. Or at least remember Leviticus, okay? That will surprise some people. And you'll look like you know the Bible, too. Did you know that actually comes from Leviticus?

Okay.

So you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Well, who is my neighbor? Someone was thinking that. Okay, I should love my neighbor, but who is my neighbor?

You know how it goes. Sometimes we look for ways around things. Well, I know that's the right thing to do, but we try to get around what God's word says. Here's what the Jews did in the time of Christ.

What does Leviticus say? Do not bear any grudge against the children of who? Your people. So the Jews, this law was given to Israel.

Love your neighbor.

That means I need to love my fellow Jews. Non-Jews, I can hate them. Well, that's how they felt. Non-Jews, they're dogs.

I hate them.

Samaritans, we really hate them. So that's what we do sometimes. We see something in scripture, and we sort of connect some dots that maybe aren't there, and we maybe not even intentionally look for ways to get around what God's word says.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Well, yeah, but not all these people.

I can hate them.

You're missing the whole point. So this parable that Jesus tells, the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus is responding to a lawyer who asked that question. Well, who is my neighbor? Let's look at Luke 10, starting at verse 25.

It says, and behold, a certain lawyer, or it would also be called a scribe, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, What is written in the law?

What is your reading of it? So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And he said to him, You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, Who is my neighbor? So he's not getting it. Or maybe he is getting it, and he just doesn't want to listen.

Verse 30, then Jesus answered and said, Notice Jesus doesn't tell him specifically. He's telling him the story so he can realize it himself. Jesus answered and said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by on the other side.

They didn't want to help this man. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went in and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said to him, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?

And he answered and said, He who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. So that statement by the lawyer in verse 29, Who is my neighbor? Jesus doesn't give a straight answer. I think Jesus knows if he gives a straight answer, this guy is going to come back with some verse from the law out of context, because there were verses where the Jews were to remain separate from the Gentiles.

And that's often what it turns into, just a back and forth of, I get this verse and you have this verse. So what Jesus did is he tells this story, because as you know, the Jews had disdain for anyone who is not Jewish, and they especially despised the Samaritans.

So in this story, Jesus is calling him to think differently. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.