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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Walk in Love: Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself

Who stated, returning hate for hate multiplies hate.

Adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

My message today is entitled, Walk in Love, Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself.

Let's bow our heads as we acknowledge God together.

Father in heaven, we're in your presence.

We already sense, Lord, that you have already spoken to our hearts.

Yet now, Lord, once again, we acknowledge you because we are about to open the Word of God.

And we ask that you would speak once more through your word.

I pray, Lord, that the message that we receive would be a message that you would take, that you would take deep into our hearts and may we walk from this place, inspired, challenged, and encouraged to be disciples of Christ, known for their love.

The human race, with all its variations of size and shape, with skin tone and eye color, so different from 1 another.

We all have 1 common characteristic, Just 1.

And what I mean by that is something that God himself instilled within the heart of the human creation.

An innate desire to be fully known and truly loved.

Again, it's a God-given yearning that He put within each 1 of us.

And Timothy Keller stated this well when he said this, to be loved but not known.

To be known and not loved, oh, that's the greatest fear.

But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.

It liberates from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.

It does with mine, because he's so spot on, to be fully known and truly loved.

So, So humanity, as we know it today, well, it's a group of living organisms trying to find their way through life As we interact with each other in this journey we call life.

And humanity has been around for several millenniums.

In fact, the Gospel writer, Matthew, describes humanity in the early centuries with this word.

In Matthew 9, verse 36, Matthew, as you know, 1 of the disciples, he recalls a time when there's a mass of humanity together.

And in Matthew chapter 9 verse 36 he describes the scene in these words, when Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

You get a crowd of people today in the 21st century, long, far removed from this.

And today, a multitude will be precisely consisting of the same type of people, harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Because at the end of the day, and I know that We have learned often the hard way, but returning hate for hate, that will not, will not make things better.

Returning hate for hate does nothing to emotionally support the harassed.

And much less does it uplift the helpless.

And so that being the ultimate reality, what then is a true Christian's response to the pain of the crowds, the people all around us who are in such dire need of help.

And it ought to be a response that cannot fail.

Because after all, a true Christian is a follower of God, a God who is almighty, he's all powerful, a God who can do all things.

And so a true Christian's response ought to be a response that cannot fail.

Jesus said it plainly, love your neighbor as yourself.

Here's a true Christian's response to the pain of a society, of a culture that is consisting of people harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus says love your neighbor as yourself.

And that's why the Good Shepherd commands.

It's not a strongly suggested, you know, opinion or recommendation or, no, no, no, no.

A command to love others regardless of race or background.

To love others regardless of one's faith and beliefs.

Love others regardless of how, of how, what their story is of how they moved into this country.

To love others regardless of how they dress.

To love others regardless of their skin color.

Not only in my life, but in observation, how easy it is to love those who are just like us.

I mean, we do like people who are just like us.

Maybe that's why Jesus said in Luke chapter 6, verse 32, he asked a rhetorical question.

You know those kind of questions that have an implied answer already.

He asked in Luke 6 32, listen, if you love those who love you, What difference does that make?

We don't gain the attention of our friends by our love.

When you think about it, it's almost like they expect it.

Because with friends, you have a mutual relationship.

We don't gain their attention by being loving.

And did you notice that The Bible never says, and if I'm wrong, you can point it out, show me where the text is.

But the Bible never says, love your friends.

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Walk in Love: Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself

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