Loving Our Neighbors: The Heart of God’s Commandments

Good morning, church. Thank you, Christina.

Glad to see all of your smiling faces this morning. If you would, pray with me.

Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for each other, and Lord, we thank you for your Word. We ask that you put a blessing on your Word and on us, Father. Lord, fill each one of us with the Spirit. Let us have eyes to see and ears to hear. Let us not be anxious or worried about anything, but take comfort in your presence, Father. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I throw that “anxious, worried” part in for me. Y’all are going to be fine.

I was talking to a Hispanic friend of mine a while back at work. I was telling a story, just kind of carrying on about something I’d done, and right in the middle of the story—hadn’t even got to the good part yet—he just hung his head and started shaking it. I said, “What’s wrong?”

He said, “I don’t know how I’m ever going to learn English working with you.”

I said, “What do you mean?”

He said, “Well, your English is broken.”

And I said, “You know, that’s a special kind of bad when somebody that doesn’t even fully understand your language knows that you aren’t speaking it correctly.”

So, the last time I gave the message, I made a reference to all the teachers we have in the congregation, and I said I was not a good representative of the Stokes County school system and made my apologies.

And I just knew if I thought long enough something would probably surface, and sure enough, sure enough, it did. I gave that message, and I thought everything went really well—and it pretty much did. Christina and me were taking a walk later that evening, kind of reflecting on everything. She said, “Well, you did real good.” You know, she was being supportive and such. And then she said, “We need to work on the word ‘specific.’”

I said, “Specific what?”

She said, “No, honey, I know what you mean, but that isn’t what you said.”

I said, “What did I say?”

And she said, “Well, you said ‘Pacific’—like the ocean.”

I was a little embarrassed. I was going to try to make some kind of clever comment that I was thinking about the beach, but the Pacific Ocean isn’t even on this side of the world.

I just hung my head, you know. And she said, “Hey, don’t worry about it. I don’t even think anybody noticed.”

That made me feel a little better. We got back home, and I snuck off and pulled up that video. I just wanted to see it. Sure enough, sure enough, where I was supposed to say “specific,” I said “Pacific.” And right when I did it, I saw two little gals up in the front start laughing and whispering in each other’s ear. And I said, “Well, so much for nobody noticing.” I think anybody that went to school probably picked up on that.

But we went on with the message. As I was standing outside with Pastor Chuck, shaking hands, one of those schoolteachers came by, and I said, “Hey, I owe you an apology.”

And she said, “Hey, don’t you worry about it. You’re fine. I don’t even teach English.”

And I thought, “Well, isn’t that the sweetest thing?” I said, “You know, that reminds me of something.”

She created and put into effect a loophole just to keep me right in her eyes.

And that right there—that’s grace. That’s a student of Christ. Amen.

And I’m going to quit carrying on and take a look at another student of Christ. Let’s turn in our Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. We’re going to go to verse 13. It’s the second-to-last verse.

So that’s Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13. And if you’re in the underlining or highlighting business, this would be a good one right here.

Verse 13 says, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

And I happen to really appreciate simplicity, and that’s as simplistic as it gets right there.

And that’s coming from the wisest man that ever lived—King Solomon. He wrote the Song of Solomon, he wrote Proverbs, and he wrote Ecclesiastes.

So he is not only summing up his life, which was eventful, he’s summing up three books of the Bible. He’s saying, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Now, to fear God is to have a reverence. It is not a knee-knocking fear, but more of a head-bowing love toward God.

It is to recognize that he gives meaning to every area of life. And if there is any area of life that he isn’t in, it has no meaning. If there is an area of your life you’re filling and God isn’t in it, that’s not fulfillment. It’s a distraction. A distraction that’s separating you from God and stalling your eternal purpose that he has designated for you.

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

And those commandments that he gives us are there to keep us in line with his Word in this fallen world.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind; that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” That’s Romans 12:2, which was actually our Scripture reading last week.

It was also part of Brother James’s lesson plan for our Sunday school class. And I’m very thankful for that class. He puts a lot of energy, a lot of time, a lot of thought into it. It’s a really good class. Y’all should come check it out.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind; that by testing you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” The test is: can you see God in what you’re doing?

If you can’t see God in what you’re doing, then it’s not his will.

Like I say, that’s where we wrap up that verse: we’re to keep his commandments, and I think those commandments were put here to help us along, to help us navigate.
And I want to look at one commandment specifically.

Let’s go to Matthew 22.

We’re going to pick it up there at verse 36. This is on the great commandment. To give a little backdrop to this: the Pharisees were kind of grouped together, and as a lot of you know, they had it out for Jesus. They wanted to get him in trouble with the authorities, and they wanted to make him look bad to the people he was talking to.

So to try to accomplish this, they pulled together some of their smartest, and their goal was to make clever statements to try to get Jesus crossed up—to try to get him trapped in his words in front of everybody.

But guess what? Jesus is the Word.

In fact, I want to go to one of my pastor’s favorite passages. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”

So these poor guys have gotten together in a battle of wits with the Creator of the universe—the very Word himself.

Pastor has gone over that pretty extensively on Wednesday night. I’m pretty thankful for that study as well. It has enlightened me quite a bit. I’ve gotten a lot from it. Y’all should come check it out. It’s a good study. Although, we’re going to skip this next week for everything that’s going on.

But let’s pick it up there in verse 36. “Teacher”—they’re talking to Jesus—“which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And Jesus said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”

“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

There is a lot right there. But I specifically want to concentrate on verse 39, because honestly, that’s where I’m missing it. That’s where I have fallen short myself, in reflection.

To elaborate just a little bit: he’s saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I actually looked up the Hebrew translation for the word “neighbor.” Seeing as how I struggle with English, I don’t know if I should be approaching Hebrew, but it’s “re’a.” When they say “neighbor” in the Hebrew, it means the person standing or sitting beside you in society. Not really your family members—so, in other words, everybody in here who isn’t your family is your neighbor.

Seeing that, I had to ask myself: do I love my neighbor as much as myself?

If I was to answer that honestly, I would say no. I fall very short of that.

I pretty much fit it in when it fits. My schedule comes first. What I’ve got going on comes first. I’ve got natural responsibilities—family and work and so forth—but the rest of the neighbors, what they’re doing, falls in where I can fit them in. That’s just how I carry on my business.

But as Pastor Chuck was saying last week, love is a verb. It’s an action word. I’ll admit, I had no idea—verb, noun, and so forth—I wouldn’t know it, but I get it: it’s an action word.

And I think one of the smartest things we can do, any time we’re chasing something down and trying to understand it, is ask: what did Jesus do, or what can Jesus teach us?

So what does Jesus teach us about love? What action did he show to show us what love even is?

Well, he was sacrificed on the cross. That’s probably the ultimate sign of love. But before he even did that, he sacrificed himself to his neighbors. He healed them. He fed them. He taught them.

In fact, he gave them all of his time.

When I read Scripture and I read anything about Jesus, I think the only time he ever snuck away was when he was in prayer or meditation to the Lord God. Other than that, he was always a servant to the people. He gave them his time.

I think that’s what all our loved ones want: our time.

Our spouses—that’s what they want and appreciate the most: our time. It doesn’t have to look any certain way. I don’t think some moments are more “dressed up” than others. But at the end of the day, they just want our time.

Our kids and our grandkids—same thing. They just want you to play with them. They want you to be in their proximity. They want your time.

Your best friend—he wants you to go fishing. He wants you to come by and watch the game. He just wants you to spend some time with him. Fellowship.
And what does our Father in heaven want?

He wants us in his Word. He wants us in prayer. He wants us meditating on his goodness. In short, he wants us to be present with him. He wants our time.

So yes, I’d say love is an action word. The action of giving your time is a testament of your love.

So isn’t that what we should all do for each other? To love our neighbors as ourselves is to give our time.

Not just here in service—though this is good and accomplishes a lot—but also the Sunday school opening, Sunday school itself, and Wednesday night.
And our Sunday Fun Days, you know.

A lot of these things—like Sunday Fun Day, for example—here lately it’s been board games. To be honest with you, I don’t care much for board games. They’re good once I get into them, but it isn’t something I’d seek out. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about the fellowship. It’s about putting your time in together.
Let’s go to John chapter 13, verse 34.

Honestly, that’s a lot of what I’d like to see. I’d like to see us fill these buildings up—the church and the fellowship hall, our Sunday school classes. I’d like to see the parking lots full.

People drive by on a Wednesday night and don’t know if we’re having service or if the cleanup crew is here. That’s not a good testament about us.

It’s not that we aspire to be a mega church. It’s not to serve pride or vanity.

Verse 34 says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” All people will know.

That’s how we can witness to our community. Be a light to each other and be a light to our community.

Now, I live in a practical manner, and I know we can’t make it to everything. I surely can’t. I know some of us can’t drive at night. I know some people have children and your own schedules. I know there are work schedules.

But I’d say, practically, that everything we can involve ourselves in—the fellowship of one another and the study of God’s Word with one another—will serve us.
And I know we can’t keep these commandments perfectly. I know we can’t keep the Law perfectly.

I’m going to read here from Romans. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?” “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us right now.”

So no, we can’t keep the Law perfectly. But we’re supposed to try, out of gratitude and obedience for our salvation. And where we fail, our Redeemer will stand in our place and we will be justified in the eyes of the Father. Amen.

Friends, we’re going to open the altar this morning.

If you’re being moved in any way to dedicate yourself to the Lord or to rededicate yourself to the Lord, to ask forgiveness for any sin that is separating you from God, to dedicate or rededicate yourself to your neighbors, to your friends, your family, your congregation—

Or if you’d simply like to come up to the altar just to give courage to the rest of us, to pray over us—

As for us, we are going to serve the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our mind. And second, just like it, we’re going to love and serve you more so than ourselves.

Are we righteous enough to do this? Absolutely not. But we have the love of the Father, and we have the redemption of the Son, and we have the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, whom I pray moves all of you.

I thank you all this morning.

I invite anyone who is being moved by the Spirit in any way—this is your time to come to the altar.

And I thank you.