The Art of Neighboring
Overview
Who Is My Neighbor?
When asked to name the greatest commandment, Jesus answered with two: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-31). The order matters. As Luther teaches in the Small Catechism, the First Commandment—that we fear, love, and trust God above all things—is the foundation for every other command. Our love of neighbor flows from, and depends upon, our love of God.
But who is our neighbor? In the parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37, Jesus defines a neighbor as the one who shows mercy. The Greek word translates simply as "the other"—any person, regardless of nation or religion, with whom we live or whom we happen to meet. While Scripture invites us to think broadly about neighboring (supporting missions and ministry around the world), we can easily miss the people God has placed immediately around us. A spouse is a neighbor. A child or grandchild is a neighbor. The family two doors down is a neighbor. Try this exercise: sketch your home in the middle of a page, draw eight squares around it for the homes nearest yours, and try to fill in (a) each neighbor's name, (b) something you could only know by interacting with them, and (c) deeper information about their life, hopes, or beliefs. In one study across many churches, only 10% of people could fill in all the names, 3% the second line, and less than 1% the third. You are not alone if those squares feel empty—but the call remains to take small, faithful steps toward knowing the people God has placed beside us.
The Obstacle of Busyness
The greatest obstacle to neighboring is usually time. We tell ourselves three lies: that things will settle down one day (they don't, unless we make them), that more will be enough (it never is, when our trust is in "more" rather than in God), and that everyone lives at this frantic pace (not everyone does, and we don't have to). Jesus shows us another way. After feeding the five thousand, He dismissed the crowds and withdrew to pray Matthew 14:22-23. On His way to Jericho, He stopped for a blind man crying out for mercy Luke 18:35-43. When His disciples tried to push children away, He welcomed them Luke 18:15-17. Jesus had purposes and places to go, but He was never too rushed to be interrupted by a person in need. After God, our priorities begin with our closest neighbors—family—and extend outward through prayerful discernment. You live exactly where you live for a reason; you have been placed among these particular people for the sake of God's kingdom.
Loving with Word and Deed
Our Christian forebears understood that neighboring sometimes costs something. During the Plague of Cyprian (249–262 AD), Christians stayed in afflicted cities to care for the sick—both believers and pagans alike—when others fled, and the practice of nursing took root in the church. The parabolani during the Plague of Justinian voluntarily risked their lives caring for the dying. When plague struck Wittenberg in 1527, Luther wrote that he would take medicine, avoid unnecessary exposure, and not tempt God by being foolhardy—but if his neighbor needed him, he would go freely. That is a God-fearing faith: prudent, not reckless, but not paralyzed by fear either.
Paul reminds us that love fulfills the law: "Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor" Romans 13:8-10. We are called to walk worthy of our calling with humility, gentleness, and patience, maintaining the unity of the Spirit Ephesians 4:1-6, speaking truth to our neighbors as members of one another Ephesians 4:25, and letting no corrupting talk come out of our mouths but only what builds up and gives grace Ephesians 4:29. "Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor" Romans 15:1-6.
Practical Next Steps
Start where you are. Learn the names of the people who live nearest to you—use a reverse address lookup if you have to. Write a note with your phone number and slip it into a mailbox. Call a neighbor and ask if they need groceries, medicine, or prayer. Offer a kind word and the Word of the Lord. Resist the lie that you don't have time for one more relationship; God has placed these particular people on every side of you. We are a people resting in our sovereign God, and we have an opportunity to be the voice of calm, the word of refuge, and the hands and feet of Christ to the neighbors He has given us.
Transcript
Hey, good morning. Welcome to our adult education hour. I'm very excited to be able to bring 0s
this class to you. It is not coincidental that as we were planning the adult education 7s
for this school year, it was planned back in August and it is not coincidental that right 15s
now we find ourselves at a time that we're going to study about neighboring and the art of 24s
neighboring, God knows exactly what's going on and He has a divine plan and divine purpose 30s
that we will be able to see unfold every single day and being a neighbor is part of His 37s
plan. And so we are going to dig into this right now into the art of neighboring before 44s
we begin, let us share a word of prayer. Lord, you have given in each of us as a human, 50s
a need for community and connection. Though connection may look differently at this time, 58s
we ask that you would inspire us in a way to be neighborly to those we know and open 64s
our eyes to the neighbors we have yet to meet. Give us a heart for your people and the 69s
opportunity to serve our neighbors. Father, we ask that you would use this time of study 74s
to strengthen our faith in you and to strengthen our call as your witnesses in our neighborhoods. 79s
We ask all of this in the powerful and blessed name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 86s
So let's begin this morning with talking about who our neighbor is or who is our neighbor. 93s
If you would open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, that is the first Gospel or 100s
first book in the Bible or in the New Testament of the Bible. Matthew chapter 22, Matthew 107s
chapter 22, we are starting with verse 36, Matthew 22, 36. Someone asked Jesus, teacher, 116s
which commandment in the law is the greatest? Jesus responded to Him, you shall love the Lord 127s
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the 132s
greatest and first commandment and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as 138s
yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. Now let's flip 145s
over to Mark chapter 12. So we're going to just flip over to the right by one Gospel, 151s
Matthew, Mark, we're going to go to chapter 12 starting in the second half of the 28th 158s
verse. So Mark 12, 28b, which commandment is the first of all? Jesus answered, this is the 164s
first. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God 174s
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 182s
The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment 188s
greater than these. When you read Exodus 20, when the commandments were being given and 195s
set up, the commandments began with a relationship or our relationship with God. They, the first 203s
commandments that we have from the Lord are how we relate to God. And then it moves to 210s
how we relate with our neighbors, how we relate with one another. The first commandment is that 217s
you are to have no other gods. So what is this? We shall have no other gods. Luther offers 224s
a really easy explanation in the small catacism. He says that having no other gods means that 232s
we are to fear, love and to trust God. That is the triune God above all things. This, this commandment, 238s
this explanation, this is the very basis of every single commandment that follows. So when we come to 247s
dealing with our neighbors, each explanation that Luther gives begins with we are to fear and love God 255s
so that. So that we don't harm or endanger our neighbor or so that we lead pure and decent 264s
lives, et cetera. But it's all hinging upon that truth that we are to have no other gods. All 274s
of our fear, love and trust is toward the one triune God. In the gospel of Luke, chapter 10, 282s
when the lawyer asks, and who is my neighbor, Jesus replied with a parable of the man who was robbed 291s
and beaten, left for dead. And after telling that story of who had helped the man, Jesus asked the 298s
lawyer in return, which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the 306s
hands of the robbers. And the lawyer answered the one who showed him mercy. Jesus said, go and do likewise. 313s
The Greek word for neighbor means a friend. It's any other person where two are concerned. It's the other. 324s
So it's not self, but it's the other. According to Christ, it's any other man irrespective of a nation or 333s
religion. It's with whom we live or whom we chance to meet. That is our neighbor. There's certainly a broad 342s
sense to the term neighbor. It's in scripture, we have a very broad sense. It's not incorrect to think of our 351s
neighbors in this way. It's not incorrect to think in that broad term. That's exactly how we're moved to 362s
support missions and missionaries around the world. It's exactly how we're guided by those concentric 369s
circles in Acts 1 verse 8. But we can easily get stuck into defining our neighbor only in that broad sense, 377s
or in those broad terms. And we forget that one spouse is a neighbor or one's child or grandchild is a neighbor. 390s
So what we want to consider right now is that people who are living in our neighborhood, like directly to the 402s
left to the right, people who are living right near us, they are our neighbors. We don't have to think only in these broad 410s
terms, but we can really bring it to the immediacy of our lives. So we're going to play a game. Isn't this fun? A game. 419s
We're going to do an exercise right now. So I want you to get out a piece of paper. I'm going to give you a moment here. Scramble, scramble, get your paper. 430s
Have you had enough time? I hope so. And you're going to want a pen. So make a little chart like this. Looks kind of like Brady 442s
and you can write your address on it. That would be just fine. But this represents your house. And then in each of these squares surrounding your house, 459s
you are going to write down three things. The first thing, and this is for every single one of your neighbors. Most of us, we sit in a neighborhood and we have people on every side of us. 471s
If you live on a street where you don't have one directly behind you, think of the people who are on the street. The next house that would be behind you. 485s
So use this as a guide, but use your discretion. You know where you live. You know where your neighbors are. But try to get these eight boxes here. For each box, you're going to write the name of the person who is your neighbor. 497s
You can do first name first and last either way is fine. But just fill out the name for all of your neighbors. The next thing that we're going to do is we're going to write something about this person that you can't really tell just by the street view, right? You don't, you have to have interacted at some point with this person to gain this information. 513s
So, for example, I have a neighbor who lives right here. She owns a dance studio in Arlington and she has a sister who lives in Wyoming. I would not know those details if I did not have an interaction with her at some point. 540s
So, in this square, I would fill in her name. I would fill in those two details. And then third, what I would write down is some in-depth information that I would know or that you would know about your neighbor only after connecting with him or her. 558s
So, deeper information about them. Career plans, what motivates this neighbor to do what he or she does? What are their spiritual beliefs or practices? This is anything meaningful that you have learned by interacting with them. 577s
So, take a moment and if you don't get it done right this second, that's okay. But work through this over the next couple of days. And see if you know, if you can fill those squares out with all three of those items. 596s
If you can't, don't fret, you're in good company, only 10% of people who were in a study to do this amongst several churches across the United States, only 10% could fill out names for each of these squares. 615s
That's just the name. Three percent could fill out that next criteria which was to write something about this person that you could only know if you had at least one interaction with him or her. 633s
And then less than one percent can fill out a line C for every single home. So, less than one percent of people who were in this study could fill out detailed and more in-depth information about their neighbors. 646s
But this is not a reason to be disheartened and it's not a reason to give up on knowing our neighbors, right? It's given up before we start. There's no reason to do that. 666s
We take baby steps and we're going to begin by learning our neighbors names. I'll come back to this in just a moment. 677s
But the bottom line in who our neighbor is is that we're really missing out on an opportunity of connection and we're missing out on an opportunity of impacting our immediate community for God's glory when we're only considering our neighbor as someone out there in the broader term or broader sense. 685s
So, we want to really hone in and think about who our immediate and direct neighbors are and how we can have an impact for the kingdom of God with those people. 711s
So, if we were to consider our typical experience right now we're in interesting circumstances but if we were thinking about our typical experiences in the day today not in the context of our current state of affairs, the greatest obstacle that we have to neighboring is time, right? 724s
I speak for myself here but I don't know that I am completely alone. Time is so often our greatest commodity. I don't have time. I don't have enough time for this. I don't have enough time for that. 746s
We have jammed so much into our schedules that were overwhelmed by what we have already committed ourselves to and adding in being a good neighbor it just seems nearly impossible, right? 761s
I don't think I'm alone in this but I certainly will claim this for myself. We already relate to people, right? It's kind of asking or telling ourselves I don't need another relationship. 777s
I don't need another person to have to think about, do I, right? And we know of all the relationships that we're already trying to juggle, trying to keep in contact with people, let alone adding eight more people, eight more relationships to build. 792s
It seems overwhelming but one of the blessings that we have at this time and one of the blessings that we can find in social distancing and in the cancellation of outside activities is that we have a chance to step back, we have a chance to consider what we have packed our lives with and we can ask ourselves what do we spend in the past? 814s
How am I spending my time? Technology really should have or could have freed up a lot of time for us in theory but instead of using that extra time to worship more or to be in his word more or to build more relationships instead of doing that instead of connecting with our neighbors more, we just jammed more activities, more tabs. 844s
We ask ourselves more things to do into our calendars and when we live our lives at this warp speed, just put our heads down, go, go, go, we just have to push through when we're in that mode of living, we miss out on so many opportunities and we miss out on the richness of life that God has blessed us with. 874s
To stop and smell the roses is really not meant to be a cute little saying and it shouldn't be a momentous occasion to be able to appreciate what is around us and the blessings that we have. 898s
There are three little lies that we often tell ourselves about our busyness and about our schedules and about why we don't have time to know our neighbors. 916s
The first thing is that we like to tell ourselves that things will settle down one day, they're going to settle down, the truth is that they don't, they don't settle down unless we make it settle down. 930s
I know I've said so many times if I can make it through next Tuesday, then things will settle down. I remember saying that about last summer, oh, if when summer comes, I'll just, things will kind of quiet down and I'll be able to get this, this, and this done. 945s
But summer came and summer went and I'm still here going, it didn't slow down, it didn't slow down, right? So we like to think that things will settle down one day but they don't settle down unless we make it a priority to settle things down. 962s
Another lie that we try to tell ourselves is that more will be enough. This falls right into line with the class on contentment that Pastor Eibel had a few weeks ago when we put our faith in the more, instead of putting our faith in God, instead of putting our trust in God, right? 978s
Fear, love and trust God above all else, all other things. When we're putting our faith in the more of life, buy more, do more, be more, we are always comparing ourselves and we're always looking to what is newer, shinier, better, and we don't have contentment because we are focused on the world. 1000s
And we're focused on what we do or don't have in the world instead of focusing our attention on the Lord, instead of focusing our lives to the Lord. 1024s
The other lie that we tell ourselves is that everybody, everybody lives like this. Being busy, living life at a frantic pace, it seems to be the way of our culture and we tell ourselves, well this is just how life is but it doesn't have to be. 1038s
We don't have to live in frantic busyness, right? We don't have to exist in that way and not everyone does. But we're going to look at Jesus. We're going to use Jesus, our attention focused to Him as our example. He had places to go. 1059s
He had things to do. He had an agenda of sorts certainly but he didn't power through his agenda at all costs. Let's go to Matthew 14. 1079s
So we're just flipping back a couple of pages here. Matthew 14, where he has just fed the 5,000. So he's just been with a crowd. He's been serving. He's been ministering. 1092s
And then what does he do? Let's look at verse 22. It says immediately. He made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. 1106s
Jesus took time to pray. He made it a priority to spend time with the Father. He certainly could have continued to stay with the crowds. He certainly could have continued in the boat with his disciples. 1125s
But he sent them on. He sent the crowds on. And then he took time with the Father himself who is not too busy to be in the presence of the Lord. 1144s
Now let's flip over to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. So we are going to see, I'm trying to find my verses. 1157s
Let's go to chapter 18 verses, or starting in verse 38. So Jesus was on his way to Jericho. He was heading there. The crowds were starting to surround him. And a blind man heard that Jesus was passing by. And the blind man shouted out to him, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus, those who are in front of him, sternly ordered him to be quiet. 1171s
But this blind man shouted even more loudly, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him. And when he came near, Jesus asked him, what do you want me to do for you? 1198s
He said, Lord, let me see again. Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has saved you. And immediately the blind man regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God and all the people when they saw it, praised God. 1214s
So Jesus was heading on. He had an agenda to get to Jericho. The crowds were around him. He certainly could have kept keeping on, keeping his head down, plowing through, go, go, go. But he was needed. And he was okay with being interrupted. And he was okay, stopping. 1231s
And listening to what this blind man needed. And he was okay with stopping and offering a ministry, offering a healing to this man. 1251s
And the reaction and what happened after that was that the crowds saw. The crowds saw that this man had been ministered to. They saw his healing and they praised God. 1267s
It did what it needed to do. It healed the man, but it also gave a witness and a testimony to the power of God and the people were able to praise God for it. 1281s
Let's keep in Luke 18, but we're going to go back a couple of verses to verses 15 through 17, where it says people were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. 1294s
But Jesus called for them and said, let the little children come to me and do not stop them. For it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. People kept bringing their children to Jesus. And his disciples wanted it to stop. 1310s
They had an agenda for him. They knew he had more important things to do that he had more important things to get done. But he said stop. Don't stop them from coming to me. Let the children come to me. 1327s
He took the time. He allowed the interruption into his agenda to take the time to minister and bless these little children. 1342s
Another story is when Jesus was on his way to help Jairus's daughter and that emerging woman in the crowds. She touched his cloak. 1353s
And Jesus stopped everything. He had an agenda. He was going to help the daughter of Jairus and he stopped. And he took the time to speak with the woman. And he ministered to her first. 1364s
And he took the time to hear her whole story. She told him everything that she had gone through. And he didn't rush her. And he didn't say I have somewhere I need to be. He took the time to get to know this woman and to minister to her. 1379s
He didn't rush through life. He didn't rush through ministry. This is something for us to really consider. We have been given a blessing truly where we can take this time. We have been given this time where everything or most things have been canceled where we can really consider what is important in our lives. 1398s
We can schedule around that. And then we can see exactly how being a neighbor fits in exactly where it should. When we return to our day-to-day routine, our comings and goings, we can see and really consider now. 1424s
We can use this time to consider how we can get to know our neighbors and how we can be neighborly in relationship with them. 1442s
As we're considering this and how we want to lead our lives and what is important, I do want to affirm for you again that first commandment that we shall have no other gods than the triune god. 1451s
That means that at the core of our priorities, God is first. He is the first and core priority, no other gods. After that, we look to our immediate neighbors who are our family, our relationships with our family. 1466s
After that, we set our priorities with prayerful discernment. We consider exactly where God is calling us to be. 1483s
I would like to lift up for you right now that you live exactly where you live for a reason. You've been placed there around the people you're near for a reason. 1495s
How can we minister in our own neighborhoods? That brings up that question that how can we be a neighbor at this time? 1507s
Now we're going to come back to this getting to know you exercise. We're filling out names. What if we don't know names? 1521s
What if we don't have information about these people? What if we've lived next to someone for several years? 1528s
All of a sudden we want to walk up and say, hey, I haven't spoken to you in seven years, but I want to be your neighbor. That might feel kind of awkward. 1539s
But again, what we're given in this time is an opportunity to get to know our neighbors. The awkwardness of introducing ourselves to a neighbor of seven years, it's really lifted from us. 1548s
It's removed by the sheer need of connection at this time. If we don't already have a number for someone, can we use technology to get to know? 1564s
Can we do a reverse address look up to see, okay, I live at this address. This would be their address. What's their name? Use the white pages, not the actual book of the white pages. 1576s
I don't know that they make those anymore, but the whitepages.com. Use that. That would work just fine. Find out who is on every side of you. 1590s
If you already know, use technology. Use your phones. Use email. Call them. Talk to them. Could we possibly wash our hands right a note? 1598s
Wash our hands again. Deliver it into their mailbox or at their door with our information on it. And then answer when someone calls us to talk. 1614s
We can find ways to connect with our neighbors even when we're wisely practicing social distancing. We are at a critical point in our lives. 1626s
We have to be aware of the importance of our neighbors. We have to be aware of our neighbors. 1639s
We have to be aware of our neighbors. We have to be aware of our neighbors. We have to be aware of our neighbors. 1684s
But during the plague, both Christians and pagans died. But it was the Christians who stayed. It was the Christians who stayed in the afflicted cities even when the pagan leaders and the physicians fled. 1691s
And it was the Christian neighbor who was ministering and taking care of his Christian or pagan neighbor. There was no discernment over who deserved treatment, who deserved care. 1706s
The Christian looked at each of his neighbors and cared for each one as he could. The plague of Cyprian was another pandemic in the Roman Empire from 249 to 262 AD. 1721s
The tradition and profession of nursing actually came out of this plague. It came out of this time. At this time, the church established a benevolent function of tending to the sick. 1737s
And the deaconesses cared for the sick poor. The plague of Justinian from 541 to 542, which also had reoccurrences, it popped up until 750 AD. So that's a 225 year span of when this plague would pop up at different times. 1751s
That was when we found the parabolony, which that word means persons who risk their lives as nurses. These were members of a clerical brotherhood who voluntarily undertook the care of the sick and the burial of the dead knowing that they could die. 1773s
It was this order, they weren't monks, but they were a clerical order, a Christian people who took this upon themselves to care for the people around them and to bury those who had died in the plague. 1792s
In 1527, there was a deadly plague that hit Martin Luther's town of Wittenberg, and he wrote, I shall ask God mercifully to protect us, then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. 1808s
I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. 1826s
If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person, but will go freely as stated above. 1839s
See, this is such a god-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God. 1847s
Martin Luther stayed during a plague. He knew that he was called to be a minister. He was called to be a Christian leader and a Christian neighbor to those in his town. 1856s
He didn't act foolishly. He didn't go out with no precautions. He didn't go where he was not needed. 1868s
But he also did not fear helping his neighbor. He did not fear caring for those who needed to be cared for. 1877s
You have the word of God on your lips. You have it written in your hearts. Your neighbor needs you right now. 1887s
We are a people who are resting in the Lord. We are a people who have faith in our sovereign God. 1899s
And so we can bring that to our neighbor. We can continue to glorify God. We can continue to bring His word to those who need to hear it. 1907s
We have an opportunity to use this time that we are in to reach out to those who are around us. Call up your neighbor. 1921s
See if they need groceries. See if they need medicine. See if they need prayer. We all need prayer. 1931s
So they certainly need prayer. Offer them a kind word. Offer them a word from the Lord. 1940s
Romans 13. We can go there. Romans 13. We will kind of hang out in Romans for a minute here. 1948s
So we are going to go past the gospels, past the book of Acts. We are going to find ourselves in that first letter from Paul. 1956s
Romans 13 verses 8 through 10 says, oh, no one, anything except to love one another. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 1965s
The commandments you shall not commit adultery. You shall not commit murder. You shall not steal. You shall not covet. 1977s
And any other commandment are summed up in this word. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. 1983s
Therefore, love is fulfilling the law. When we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will minister to them. 1993s
We will have that word that they need and we'll be able to put others before ourselves. And it's not done for selfish ambition. 2002s
It's really done to connect with those around us and to impact their lives in the kingdom of God and for the kingdom of God. 2011s
Let's go over to Ephesians. I guess I said we were going to park it in Romans for a moment, but we're going to move over to Ephesians. 2022s
So you're going to pass first and second Corinthians and Galatians. And then we're going to find ourselves in Ephesians chapter 4. 2030s
We're going to do a couple of chunks of verses here. Starting in verse 1, Ephesians 4, starting in verse 1. 2038s
Paul wrote, I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called. 2047s
We have all been called in the Lord with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 2055s
making every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 2065s
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. Let's jump down to verse 17. 2077s
Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord. You must no longer live as the Gentiles live in the futility of their minds. 2089s
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 2098s
They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves in licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 2104s
That is not the way you learned in Christ. For surely you have heard about Him and were taught in Him as truth is in Jesus. 2111s
You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self corrupt and diluted by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to clothe yourselves with the new self, 2121s
created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Come down to verse 25. 2132s
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors for we are members of one another. 2140s
Verse 29. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is useful for building up as there is need so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 2151s
At this time, it truly is that word of God upon our lips that no evil talk, no fretting, not worrying. 2164s
We are not a darkened people, we are not a frightened people. We are a people of God and we have His word to bring to our neighbors. 2175s
And that may also be the word that we bring in our social media context and to our social media neighbors. 2185s
We have that word and that is the most loving thing we can do for our neighbors. 2196s
So now let's go over to Romans 15, Romans 15 verses 1 through 6. 2202s
We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2213s
Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. 2219s
For Christ did not please Himself but as it is written, the insult of those who insult you have fallen on me. 2224s
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. 2230s
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2239s
My brothers and sisters, we have an opportunity in this time of need and in this time of uncertainty to be the voice of calm, to be the voice of peace and to bring that word, that word of restoration, that word of healing and that word of refuge to our neighbors. 2258s
Along with that, let us consider how we can help our neighbors with our hands and our feet. 2281s
Practicing social distancing, of course. Practicing prudence and wisdom in how we relate and connect with people. 2288s
But how can we help our neighbors? How can we bring that word and bring that glory to God to our neighbors? 2296s
Thank you and I look forward to next week. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. 2308s
I would be happy to answer anything Maloneck at lwlc.com. God bless. 2316s