THE ART OF NEIGHBORING
“HOW can I be a good Neighbor?”
1st Corinthians 9:20-23
So we began a new series of messages last Sunday I have titled “The Art of Neighboring.” Last week we looked at the story of the Good Samaritan and we said that there are often several things that seem to keep us from helping other people. First of all there is geography. A person is different to us because they grew up in a different location, have a different accent—in other words they are not like us. Perhaps they do not sound like us. There is race. Their culture or their skin color is different—in other words they do not look like us. There is worship. Their religion and the way they worship does not match ours. In other words, either their God is different or they do not see him in the same way as we do.
So what we saw last week was that the Samaritan, who was the most unlikely person to do so, overcame these barriers to help someone with a great need. And in doing so he answered a question we have been asking for centuries... WHO is my neighbor?
ANSWER: My neighbor is anyone I can be a neighbor to.
So I think that when we are making a decision about being a neighbor to someone, there are several questions we must learn to ask.
• Is someone in need?
• Does the person know Christ? (Good to know whether they do or not)
• Is this an opportunity to show the love of Christ?
• Do I have the resources necessary?
Now there are two other passages of Scripture here for us to consider. One is known as the Great Commandment. In the study of the Good Samaritan the lawyer ask Jesus this question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus then flipped/bounced the question back to him and said, “What do you read in the Scripture?” He replies with these words. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength them with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is known as the great Commandment and Jesus’s response you will remember was “do this and you will live.” Love God. Love people. Treat your neighbor as you would want to be treated.
The second passage is Matthew 28:18-20 and we refer to it as the Great Commission. This passage comes at the end of the gospel of Matthew. It is as though Jesus has called one final meeting with his disciples before he will leave Earth and He says-I’m leaving and I want you remember this one thing. “As you go out into the world, take the gospel to everyone.” The gospel is the good news, the fact that God has done something in Jesus Christ that we could not do for ourselves. That is why it is good news. Because without Jesus we are completely lost.
So these would be two of the most important Scriptures in the Bible. One sums up all of the law of the OT and the other contains His final instructions for every believer-to take the gospel with you wherever you go. Now-stay with me-because while both of these commandments are extremely important, we are still left with a lingering question. HOW? He has given us the WHAT-WHAT are we to do? We are to be a good neighbor. But now HOW do we do it? And that is the question Paul answers in this passage.
So two of the individuals who refused to stop and help the Samaritan both were thinking just how little can I do and still get into heaven? How little can I do to get by? I want heaven but I don’t care as long as I get there by the skin of my teeth. Whatever that means. ? But we come across the great Apostle Paul and he seems to be asking just the opposite. HOW much can I do for Jesus? Paul said I only preach one thing and that is the cross of Christ. The cross of course is the ultimate picture of commitment, right? This is where all the sin of the world was taken care of. All placed on Jesus … all at one time … so it was not just the physical pain Jesus felt; it was also the spiritual pain as well. Paul points to the cross and he reminds us that life is not about how little we can do but rather but how much we can do for Christ. Paul wants to show us how far he was willing to go to reach someone for Christ. Look at what he says. “I am willing to minister to those who are under the law and also to those who are not under the law.” Here he was speaking of Jews and Gentiles. Now if you are not familiar with the term Gentile, just think of non—Jews. But the differences in the first century were huge. There was a difference in the clothing they wore, the holidays they observed and their religious beliefs. This was actually a dangerous practice for Paul to do what he was doing. He tells us in fact in the book of Romans just how dangerous it was.
In that passage is speaks of the sin of coveting and Paul admits something there… (Romans 7:8-11) He says I would not have known that it was wrong to covet if the Scripture didn’t tell me so. To covet means to strongly desire to have something someone else has to the point that you will do about anything to get it. It is a sin and the 10th commandment tells us clearly... Do not covet. But apparently it was natural for Paul, as it is for many of us, to covet. We see something and we don’t just want it—we waaaaant it—I gotta have it. It is a natural impulse for many of us and so because it is natural, we think there’s nothing wrong with it. Paul says, but now, I know it’s wrong …. Why? Because the Scripture says it’s wrong.
So Paul knew he must be careful in this area, not to drift into sin. There were many people in the NT who were divided over what you could eat or drink I’ve told you before that I don’t drink alcoholic beverages. You may or may not agree with that conviction but it’s my conviction. However, if I’m seated at the table with you and we share a meal and you order an alcoholic beverage, I’m not going to get up and leave the table either. But as Paul would say I must be careful that I am not flirting with disaster---temptation---you know, you play with fire and you will get burned.
What Paul was saying is that he wanted to help others so he would become like them. You can act interested in a conversation even if you’re not but at the same time he was saying I will help, but I refuse to allow myself as a result of my helping, to fall into sin. He would go to almost any extent to reach someone for Christ but he would not cross a line of course and sin. Nor does God want us to. Jesus made every effort to reach everyone, to the point that he was labeled as a friend of sinners; a friend of prostitutes, a friend of tax collectors, who were basically thieves. He went further to say that he didn’t come to help those who are healthy; he came to help the sick. Mark 6:16-17.
Then in verse 22, Paul added another class of people to whom he would minister. He said he would minister to those under the law and does not under the law and now he says I am willing to become weak to those who are weak. Let’s face it. It is not a goal for most of us, especially the guys, to look weak if we don’t have to. We want to look strong, right? In fact most of us know people who will surround themselves with weak individuals just to make themselves look stronger. Paul says just the opposite. I am willing to make myself look weak if it will help me minister to that individual. Paul goes on to say I have become all things to all people so that I may by all means save some.
So Paul was giving us some pointers here to help us reach those who are different. To help us reach ANYONE we can be a neighbor to. So let me give you some thoughts here. What I would call this is learning to connect through similarity. Here is a phrase to think about. Similarity opens to the door to witness/share. To influence someone for Christ. Similarity breeds trust. Trust breeds influence. Look at what Paul did here.
1. Paul changed his name. Saul was a Jewish name. But since he wanted to reach non-Jews, he changed it. I’m going to Mississippi so I’m gonna change my name to Bubba or Billy Bob. ?
2. He wore similar clothing. He learned to speak their language. He lived like they did. He ate what they ate. He drank what they drank.
3. Paul respected the law. Especially if he was with a Jew who followed the law. Respect is a key word. Instead we often want to quickly tell everyone, everything that is wrong with the way they believe. Paul says “don’t do that.”
4. If Paul was with someone who was weak, he would become weak. What Paul was looking for was common ground.
5. Learn to ask, what can I do to share common ground with this individual? What do we share in common? Once you find it, you are on the path to reach them for Christ.
There is a popular the family of a family who on Christmas Eve were headed to church; that is everyone in the family except Dad. Dad didn’t care for church and felt like everyone there was just a hypocrite. And besides this whole story of God becoming man was just a bit too hard for him to grasp. On this Christmas Eve it was especially easy for him to stay home because it was cold and snowing. He even tried talk his family out of going. But they went anyway. So dad is home siting by the fire when he hears a noise outside his window. A small bird was trying to get into the house and kept running into the window. The bird kept going from one windowpane to the next but of course couldn’t get in. Not much he could do but he thought well the shed is open and perhaps he could sort of shoo him into the shed till the snowstorm was over. So every time the bird came to a window he would try to direct him to the shed but the bird would just go to another window. Now the man looks more like a snowman than a person because the snow is coming down so hard. So he made one last attempt to chase the bird into the shed. But birds don’t understand people. They are afraid of people. Then he had a radical thought … if I was just a bird, even for just a moment I could lead this bird to safety. Follow me. Fly this way. Then he began to realize the beauty of the Christmas story/the gospel. God became like us/similar to us so that he could connect with us. And we must do the same.
