Sermon June 3, 2018 "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself"
Overview
What Does It Mean to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself?
When a lawyer approached Jesus to test Him in Matthew 22:34-40, he hoped to trap Him into elevating some teaching above Moses. Instead, Jesus answered with the very words of Moses from Deuteronomy 6: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Then He added a second command "like it"—"You shall love your neighbor as yourself"—and declared that on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. To love God is to love Him with our entire being, refusing to compartmentalize areas of life where we want to remain lord ourselves.
Notice carefully: self-love is not commanded here—it is assumed. We are wired by God to care for our own bodies and welfare. As Paul writes in Ephesians 5:28-29, "no one ever hates his own body, but nourishes and tenderly cares for it." We eat, we sleep, we keep warm—all ordinary expressions of God-given self-care. This must not be confused with self-esteem. Scripture nowhere commands us to esteem ourselves; in fact, Romans 12:3 warns us "not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think." The popular notion that we must first build up high self-esteem before we can love others has no warrant in Scripture.
So what does loving the neighbor "as yourself" look like? The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 shows us. The Samaritan tended the wounded stranger's injuries, transported him at his own expense, and pledged to cover whatever further care was needed. He treated the beaten man with the same concern he would have wanted shown to himself. Jesus is calling us to be as concerned for our neighbor's welfare—their food, their needs, their happiness, their belonging—as we naturally are for our own. James 2:1-9 sharpens the point: when the well-dressed visitor receives the seat of honor while the poor visitor is told to stand aside, we have failed the royal law. The same concern we have for our own place must extend to the stranger walking through the door.
Held up as a mirror, this command exposes us. We do not love God with our whole being, and we are too often more concerned for our own comfort than for the neighbor who is hurting beside us. Yet the gospel does not leave us there. Christ has died for every failure to love—His "It is finished" covers it all—and in baptism He claims us and raises us new each day. Remember the principle: if God exhorts it, He empowers it. He does not throw us back on willpower or self-improvement; by His grace He moves us to love. So ask this week: who is the neighbor for whom I will carry the same concern I naturally carry for myself? Go and love them—and God is glorified in the action.
Transcript
Do you open your Bible, please, with me to the 22nd chapter of the book of Matthew. 0s
Questions? We all have them, don't we? And there is no better place to look for the answer than the 6s
infelible word of Almighty God. All throughout the summer, Pastor Maloneck and I want to explore with you 14s
a different question each and every week. And we're going to turn to that infelible story. 22s
Holy Scripture for the answer. The questions that we're going to examine, 30s
scripturally, are listed for you in your bulletin and they are a wide swath of various subjects. 34s
And we look forward to sharing those with you. So we start this Q&A summer series with this question 42s
today. And the question is this, what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? 49s
What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? 60s
Okay, let's get to work. Verse 20 or verse 34, please, of Matthew 22. 69s
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 79s
Who's the He here? He is Jesus. And this is a really interesting word translated 87s
in the English as silenced. Literally in the Greek it means to be gagged. 93s
So the image here is Jesus gagging the Sadducees. 99s
Now, the words, the response that he had given the Sadducees put them in a position where they were 104s
unable to have any kind of response back. The words of Jesus silenced the Sadducees, 111s
literally gagged them. Well, what was the question that the Sadducees had asked? It's a fascinating one. 120s
Look at verse 23, please. The same day, some Sadducees came to him saying, 130s
there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question saying, teacher. 136s
Moses said if a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow and raise up children for his 143s
brother. Now, there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died childless, leaving the 148s
widow to his brother. The second did the same, so also the third down to the seventh. 155s
Last of all, the woman herself died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be 161s
for all of them had married her? Really? Really? Is that a topic of conversation there among the 169s
people to that detail? What is that question? Tell us. That question tells us that this question is 180s
given to try and entrape Jesus to try and get him to say something that then they could use against him. 187s
Well, Jesus gives the response that in heaven were not married. And the gag is put on the 201s
sadducees. He proves the fact of the resurrection and the gag is put on the sadducees. And look at 209s
the response, verse 33, and when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. 219s
Let's not be only questioned to try and entrape him. We go up farther to verse 17 of our text. 233s
Here you've got the ferrisis. Tell us then what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not? 240s
That's a question of entrape. Jesus responds. 252s
Right into the emperor, the things that are emperor and the things that are God's render those to God. 256s
And what's the response? Response in verse 22. When they heard this, they were amazed and they left him 264s
and went away. Back to 34 now. When the ferrisis heard that he had silenced the sadducees, 275s
they gathered together. And what was the purpose of their gathering together? The purpose of their 287s
gathering together is to come up with another question. And what's the purpose of the question? 295s
Look at the very next verse verse 35. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test 301s
him to test him. They want a response. They want to see is that the correct response 309s
and if it's not in accordance to how they define correctness, they then can use that 319s
right against Jesus. They put him to the test and they want a failing grade. 326s
Here we go on. Teacher, verse 36, which commandment in the laws, the greatest, he said to them, 338s
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your 347s
mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. So when the lawyer poses the question and says, 352s
teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest, what is that they want out of Jesus? They want 358s
Jesus to elevate himself above Moses. They want Jesus to elevate some unorthodox law that they 364s
could then point and say, look at him elevating himself above Moses. And what does Jesus do? But 372s
Jesus shares the very thing that Moses says, do to run away the sixth chapter. He shared the very 379s
words of Moses right back to that. And he says, this is the greatest and first commandment. 389s
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. In other words, 402s
love God with your entire being, your entire being. Verse 39, and a second is like it. 409s
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the law and the 425s
prophets. You shall love your neighbor as your self. What does that mean? What does that mean? 438s
Notice here. Self love is not commanded. Is it? It's assumed. Self love is not commanded. It's 455s
says, love your neighbor as yourself. That's an assumption, then, that you love yourself. 468s
Can self love become sinful? Of course it can. But is self love necessarily sinful? No. 481s
Each of us do a host of things every single day that is an expression of self love. 493s
There's an expression of caring for ourselves. I intend to eat more today. 501s
And to eat more today. That self love. Now can that become sinful if it turns into gluttony? 509s
Well, of course. Right? But it is a form of self love to eat. I intend to sleep tonight. 520s
Can that become sinfulness of laziness? If I simply say, I'm going to sleep all of tomorrow away. 529s
And I can I intend to do that. In fact, every single day, can that become sinful? Of course it can. 539s
But the fact that we care for our bodies by sleeping, that's a form of self love. We do a host of 546s
things each and every day that is a form of caring for ourselves. Don't we? Self love here is not 555s
commanded. It is assumed that that is what we will do because we are wired by God to care for ourselves. 563s
That's how God intends us to act to care for ourselves. I think of how the apostle Paul puts it 572s
in Ephesians the fifth chapter. He says this, in the same way, husbands should love their wives 581s
as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, 588s
but nourishes and tenderly cares for it. That's an expression of self love. It is raising the 597s
evident. It is raising of how God created us. God doesn't command self love. He assumes it. 606s
That we indeed will be a people that care for ourselves. Self love then is not commanded. Self 615s
now careful here. Because self love is not self esteem. Self love is not self esteem. 627s
There is nowhere in Scripture where Scripture exhorts us to a steam ourselves. 644s
No where. In fact, Romans 12 chapters says this, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone 653s
among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober 663s
judgment. You see, there is the belief that in order for us to truly be able to love other people, 672s
we have to first have a very high self esteem about ourselves in order for us to then be able 681s
to love other people. So we have to have a high self esteem in order to love others. 690s
But a Scripture never commands us to a steam ourselves. Do you see the fallacy? 702s
Of that belief? Self esteem is not, for self love is not commanded. Self love is assumed. Self love is not self esteem. 710s
So what is the self love that we are to have, that then we are to love others with that same type of self 728s
love. I think Luke 10 is helpful here. Luke 10 is the parable of the good Samaritan. 740s
Remember, a fellow is going from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers come upon them, they leave him 750s
for half dip. So he's laying there. He's been robbed, he's been beaten, he's dying there on the road. 756s
The priest comes along. The Scripture tells us that the priest did what? Help him? 764s
Nope. Walked on the other side. Leave it comes along. Scripture says, 771s
leave it helped him? Nope. Walked away on the other side. 778s
Then he got the Samaritan. He comes along. The Samaritan comes along. 786s
And 10s to the wounds of the man puts the man on his own animal. 794s
Takes the man to the in, arranges for his care, gives the inkeeper money and says, 800s
when I return, if the bill is more than two denariah, which is what he gave the inkeeper, 808s
which is equivalent to two days' worth of labor, two days' worth of work, he says, if the bill is 815s
more than that, I'll pay it. Jesus, then, telling the story, he poses this question. 821s
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the 830s
one was the was the neighbor? Well, the answer is evident. Isn't it? 838s
For you see, that man was caring for the one who had been beaten and robbed. That man was 845s
treating him as he would want to be treated. That man was treating that person who had been injured. 855s
The same way that if somehow, if he was in that situation and could help himself, 864s
he would do the very same thing. That is a picture of concern for the other that gets at the 871s
heart of self-love. Because what self-love is being concerned for our 883s
own welfare, it's assumed in Scripture. So if we are by nature concerned with our own welfare, 894s
and Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself, then this is a call to love the neighbor 907s
with the same concern for their welfare as you have for your own. We are to be as concerned 919s
with our neighbor's happiness as we are with our own. As we are concerned about what it is 936s
that we are going to eat, we should have the same level of concern for our neighbor, 947s
wondering whether or not they have enough to eat. As we look at our own lives and our 954s
concerned with our daily needs, we are then to look at the neighbor and to be as concerned 963s
about the needs of the neighbor as we are of our own. Self-love is assumed. God says, I've wired you 973s
to be concerned with the care of yourself. You will be concerned about things such as eating, 983s
such as sleeping, such as MI Warm at night. You will be by nature concerned about that, 991s
and Jesus says, now love your neighbor with the same concern for their welfare as you have for your own. 1001s
For your own. There's an amazing, amazing picture, isn't it? That has nothing to do. It has nothing to do. 1015s
With having to get enough self-esteem about ourselves so that then we will be able to love 1027s
somebody else. Nothing to do with that. Nothing to do. It has everything to do. 1034s
With each of us are concerned about ourselves. Let's have that same concern for the other 1043s
welfare. I think of James, the second chapter. James gives us this beautiful, beautiful picture, 1054s
this beautiful example. My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really 1065s
believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? And he gives an example. For a person with gold rings 1073s
and in fine clothes comes into your assembly and a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in. 1082s
And if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, have a seat here, please. 1091s
Well, to the one who is poor, you say, stand there or sit at my feet. 1099s
Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 1106s
And listen to how he goes on. You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the 1117s
neighbor as yourself. In other words, if you are concerned about yourself and where you would sit 1132s
and how you would fit in, you are to have that same concern for the person who comes, 1148s
who is perhaps poor and dirty. Because as you love yourself, you are to show the same concern 1158s
for the other. You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, 1172s
you shall love your neighbor as yourself. What's the temptation in our sinfulness? 1180s
The temptation in our sinfulness is to think to ourselves, preach it, 1191s
preach it, because boy, I've got five people in my life and the way that they treat me, 1198s
hey, let the mirror shine upon us. Let the mirror shine upon us. Let the text do, 1204s
what God wants the text to do. And so the mirror shines on us and what is revealed. Do we first, 1215s
love the Lord with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul? In other words, do we love 1222s
him with our entire being? The mirror of God's Word shows us how short we fall on that. 1227s
And how we all move to the tendency to compartmentalize our faith, to say, 1237s
Lord, have your free reign of Lordship over every area of my life, save these. Save these. 1243s
Because I want to be Lord here. I'll be Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. 1251s
You're an entire being and the mirror shows how we fall short. Second is like it. You shall love 1262s
your neighbor as yourself. And so then we begin. We let the mirror look at us instead of saying 1272s
yes, that person, the mirror shines upon us for self-examination and we look at and we say, 1279s
am I more concerned about my welfare? 1292s
Then the neighbor that I know is crying right now. Am I more concerned about me? 1299s
The mirror shows our sinfulness and there's no good word there. 1318s
The gospel shows us our Savior and there's a glorious word there. 1324s
For Jesus Christ has died for all of our sin, all of it, 1332s
including how we don't love the Lord with all of our heart-minded. So how we don't love our 1338s
neighbor as ourself. When Jesus Christ went to the cross and said, it is finished. 1343s
That was a taking of all of our sin in all of its entirety with its extent and height and 1349s
breath and depth, paying for it all, claiming us in the waters of baptism as Lincoln was 1357s
claimed this morning and raising us new each and every day in his forgiveness and grace, 1365s
empowering us each and every day to the newness of that which he calls. 1374s
Beloved, remember the principle, if God exhorts it, he empowers it. 1382s
If he says, love me with your whole being, he doesn't put us back upon ourselves but in powers us. 1389s
If he says, love your neighbor as yourself, he doesn't throw us back on ourselves and our self-improvement programs. 1399s
But he moves us by his grace and empowers us to that expression. We'll that be perfect 1409s
this side of heaven, absolutely not. It is only when that old Adam and old Eve in us, the 1416s
hearts from us on that day when we stand before the Lord in the glorious reality of heaven, 1423s
when death comes that old Adam and old Eve, it departs and we will live in the beauty and purity 1429s
of heaven itself. Until that day we will struggle but the grace is amidst our struggle, 1437s
there is God and His empowering action and His empowering word. What does it mean? 1444s
To love your neighbor as yourself, let me ask it this way. 1458s
Who is it today? And who is it this week? Who is it that you are going to have the same 1467s
concern for their welfare? As you have for your own welfare? Who is it? 1481s
Go forth people of God and love your neighbor as yourself and God is glorified in the action. 1497s