Title: Love of Neighbor / Proverbs 3:27-31
The text records the duties that those who have attained wisdom should perform.
Verses 27-30...Love your neighbor.
Verses 31-35...Do not envy the wicked, and do not follow their deeds.
The saints are living a spiritual life in the world at the same time as they live together with their neighbors in the world. Many of those neighbors are poorer and meaner than we are. We, the saints, have a duty to care for them.
1 John 4:20...<If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar, and he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. That is, to love God, and to love the Lord.
The Lord also says in Matthew 25:40, “As you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me.”
*** The principle of neighbor love?
##### 1. We must not delay our love for our neighbors.
Texts 27,28...<If your hand has the power to do good, do not spare to give to the one who deserves it; if you have it, do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go and come again, tomorrow I will give it’...>.
1) To say that we love our neighbor is to show kindness.
Moody...< Lot of love is at the tip of the tongue, true love is at the tip of the finger.>
Love is giving by hand. will be giving Lips alone are of no value.
1 John 3:18...<Children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and truth.>
James 2:16...<If any of you said to him, "Go in peace, keep warm, and fill yourself up, and don't give him anything for his body, what good is it?"
I hope we can keep this lesson.
Let's start small.
2) Do it when your hands have the power to do good.
Text 27...<If your hand has the power to do good...>
We don't always have power in our hands. One day, our hands will lose strength. lose ability Of course, the power here is multifaceted. It could be money. It could be wisdom. It could be power. But the important thing is that these forces cannot last. Money will come and go. Power collapses overnight.
In other words, do it when you have to.
It means to do it when God has given it to you. If everything I have belongs to God, shouldn't I be doing good?
----- So, in a book, I saw a saying, <You should never call it relief, but sharing.>. Yes. It's not about saving, it's about sharing. How can we be saved even if it belongs to God? It is to share. Only those who do good with such thoughts can do good.
But among them, there will be people who say, <I'm not in a good position...>. But is it really?
no. Let's give love when we have to.
--- I saw a beggar picking up cold rice at the subway entrance at the seminar in Seoul. 10.000 won zoom. You have to do it when you have to.
3) This virtue must not be spared.
Text 27b...< Do not spare to give...>
The Hebrew word <to cherish> means..., <to restrain>.
Therefore, if you feel pity for your neighbor and want to help, do not suppress your heart. If you think you want to do it, do it at that time.
--- How many times have we broken these words?
*** Some pastor's principle of salvation --- Beggers who come to the house a lot... Will you help them all? It is said that all the disabled have helped. But healthy people did not help.
4) This 善行] should not be done.
Read verse 28....
----Let me explain....
One rainy day outside a furniture store in Pittsburgh, a lame grandmother was browsing things. No one paid any attention to him, but one of the clerks went out and said, "Grandma! Come in to avoid the rain and have a look.> he said. Grandma refused, saying she was waiting for the car. However, the clerk forced the grandmother to come inside, gave her his chair, and told him to sit down and wait. When the grandmother finally saw the car arrived, she took a business card from the clerk and left. After a while, a letter was delivered to the clerk.
< I am Carnegie, and I am grateful for the kindness to my mother, and I will purchase all the furniture in the mansion.> ---Hesed 87p Yehwa
##### 2. You must not harm your neighbors.
1) Do not harm the neighbors who live in peace.
Read verse 29...
The meaning of <I live in peace>... <I live by believing in you...>. It is a sin to harm a friend when he believes and has no doubts at all.
---The proverb...<The ax you believe in will cut your foot.>
How many such cases? I must not betray anyone who believes in me.
2) Do not quarrel with neighbors without cause.
Read verse 30...
12:18...< If it is possible, as far as it is possible, be at peace with all men.>
結論
In our daily life, we meet many poor people who are waiting for our touch. On the stairs of the underpass... At the bus stop... At the overpass... Or in the station waiting room... And around our lives...
When you deal with them, are you truly showing mercy and compassion to them as a child of God? - Amen -
( 1994.3. 16. Samil Night )