Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

In one paragraph

This message was the second half of a two-week series on the great commandment. The pastor walked through the parable of the good Samaritan to answer the question of who our neighbor is, then turned to what it actually looks like to love that neighbor, both those outside the church and those within it. The lawyer's question in Luke 10, "who is my neighbor," was not an innocent one. He was testing...

Read together

1. Ephesians 2:8-10 quoted in full to frame salvation by grace and good works as the basis for loving neighbor
2. Luke 10:25-37 the parable of the good Samaritan, used as the key text on who our neighbor is
3. Matthew 5:14-16 quoted to call the congregation to be a light before people so they glorify God
4. James 4:14 quoted on the brevity of life as a mist, in connection with the Memento Mori
5. Proverbs 14:4 quoted to illustrate that deep relationships are messy but fruitful, like oxen and a barn
6. Romans 8:28 quoted personally as a verse clung to during ongoing illness, on God working all things for good
7. 2 Corinthians 12 God's words to Paul quoted: my grace is sufficient, my power is made perfect in weakness
8. Matthew 16:24 quoted on denying self, taking up the cross, and following Jesus

Talk about it

1. The pastor described a neighbor as 'anyone you're in contact with' and said each of us was placed in our local context by God for a reason. Who are the specific people God has put in your path this past week, and how intentional have you been with them?
2. The sermon defined agape love as sacrificial and active, and offered a rule of thumb: if it doesn't cost you something, it isn't agape love. Where in your life right now does loving someone actually cost you something, and where might it be more comfortable than that definition allows?
3. The pastor said the best evangelism happens in the context of relationship and that people generally have to trust the Christian before they trust Christ. How does that land with you, and what does it change about how you think about sharing your faith?
4. The C. S. Lewis quote from The Weight of Glory said there are no ordinary people, only immortals we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit. How does seeing the people around you as eternal beings shift the way you treat them day to day?
5. The pastor was honest about a years-long health struggle and said experiencing weakness drew him closer to God and to his brothers and sisters in Christ in a way he had never experienced before. Has there been a difficulty in your own life that opened you up to that kind of community, or is there something keeping you from being that vulnerable with the people around you?