Title Do You Have Neighbors?
Contents
title; Do you have a neighbor? (Luke 10:25-37)
The neighbor from the Lord is the neighbor who saves with the love that He incarnated, suffered, and served even to the point of dying on the cross for those who were enemies with God.
All mankind is the neighbor of the Lord who gives rest to those who labor and are heavy laden. The Lord is the neighbor of many sick people, demon-possessed people, and souls who have died because of their sins. As it is said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did it for the Lord.” He is a neighbor of the least of them. Just as he waits outside the door for the prodigal son to return, so is the prodigal son He is the Lord who wants to save the souls of his neighbors even though he is going through tribulation, persecution, suffering, and contempt.
1. Do you have neighbors?
Neighbors are by their side, but not everyone is a neighbor. When we know that the Lord loves us and we can love our neighbors with that love, we have neighbors.
No matter how many people he has for the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life, and selfish ends, he has no real neighbor.
Like the lawyer in the text, there is no true neighbor to those who try to show themselves as righteous, that is, those who seek their own righteousness. Those who live by the grace of the Lord have neighbors because of the Lord.
Neighbors must be there. Neighbors are related to eternal life. A certain lawyer tempted Jesus and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “How is it written in the law?” The lawyer answered, “With all your heart, You said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus answered, “Your answer is correct; do this, and you will live.”
He says that those who love their neighbor as themselves will enjoy eternal life. Those who say that salvation is by faith, so works do not matter, misunderstand faith. Faith without works is faith without purpose and dead faith. Obviously the purpose of faith in the cross of the Lord Jesus is to save us from all our sins and to kill the sinful lusts of the flesh and live by the Holy Spirit.
Neighbors are related to God. He who has a neighbor has faith, and he who has a neighbor knows the love of Jesus by realizing and experiencing it. Those who have neighbors are those who truly love God, and by loving God in the Lord Jesus Christ, they become true neighbors of Jesus.
The more people who love God and know the grace of Jesus, the more they come to know themselves and their neighbors. In other words, you can see the soul of the neighbor, see the reality of the neighbor, know the truth of the neighbor, and see God who can save the neighbor. Those who know the love, power, and authority of God and can use it through faith.
If Almighty God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, shows us only the dead realities of our neighbors' souls, and does not give us the wisdom and power to save them, our neighbors we know will suffer more. It is the grace and power of the savior who lacks nothing to save the whole world.
2. But the example of the one who has no neighbor
This is a warning to those who know that they have a neighbor and know how to live for their neighbor that they do not have a neighbor.
The priest and the Levite had no neighbors. In today's text, the priests of the temple and the Levites from the tribe of priests escaped the man who was killed by a robber and was abandoned on the road. They teach their neighbors and the law every day in the temple, but in reality they met their neighbors who were about to die, but they turned away from them because they had no neighbors in their hearts. Their piety was formal, and their fame was only a pretense. They were weak people who did not have basic life postures. They cannot be social leaders.
The world, social change, and the construction of an ideal society they speak of are mere theories, and it is difficult to put them into practice. Even today, there are not many such people in many parts of society. It sounds like they will do anything for their neighbors with grandiose words, but in reality, there is no neighbor who is loved by the Lord at the center of them. .
3. Example of a Neighbor
The Samaritan, despised and despised by the Jews, has pity on his neighbor who was killed by a robber, heals his wounds, and promises to cover the cost of treatment and subsequent expenses.
A true neighbor is someone who realizes and experiences the love of the Lord. The more we give thanks to God and love God with all our heart, mind, and character, the more we love our neighbor as the Lord loves ourselves.
no conditions We understand and have compassion on our neighbors, serve with faith with the love of the cross with an attitude of true service, and bear the burdens of our neighbors. The enemy will also love unconditionally. Even where there is persecution and hardship, they visit for their neighbors.
Verse 33 - Did a certain Samaritan come there on his journey, and when he saw him, he had pity on him/ Did he have pity on his neighbour? Those who have eyes to see their neighbors with the heart of the Lord are those who have neighbors. When we can love with the love of the Lord, that neighbor is a true neighbor. Not for selfish purposes, not for the purpose of raising one's own honor, not for the sake of each other's selfish purposes, but purely for the sake of saving the neighbor, a person who cares with compassion is the one who truly has a neighbor.
Verse 34 - Come near, pour oil and wine on their wounds, bind them up, put them on their own animals, and bring them to an inn to take care of them. Those who have neighbors will rather save them because they see saving their neighbors more than their economic, social, personal, and personal losses. We are glad to suffer for our neighbors, and we are grateful that we can have compassion on and love our neighbors on behalf of the Lord with the love of the Lord.
35- The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, “Take care of this man, and if you have more money, I will repay you when I return.”
Jesus asks 36- In your opinion, which of these three would be a neighbor to the man who was struck by a robber? 37- He said, "He showed mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
Do you have real neighbors? A person without a neighbor has no purpose in life. Neighbors are associated with eternal life. Neighbors will be more numerous as they are full of the grace of eternal life. Neighbors are related to God. The closer you get to know and experience God, the more your neighbors will become. Like the Lord, he will forsake himself for his neighbor. I will go the way of the cross. I will bear the hardships with joy. A place with neighbors is a place where sin overflows, a place under Satan's control, and a place where tribulation and persecution exist. It could be a barren wilderness. It can be a place of hurt and pain. It can be a place of discouragement and discouragement, a place of pride and debauchery, a place where injustice and lawlessness reign. He who truly loves his neighbor's soul, no condition can block the way for his neighbor.