Neighbors: What Is Love?
One of the memories that I have as a child was watching
television. Every day we could turn on our TV set, wait a few minutes for it to
warm up, turn the dial to the correct channel for PBS, adjust the rabbit ears
on the top of the unit, and as easy as that we could be transported to this
magical neighborhood where Mr. Rogers’ lived. A neighborhood where everyone was
kind to each other. An idyllic place where this soft-spoken, kindly man in his
50s/60s was able to mesmerize us by talking about the most ordinary things,
such as how mail is delivered, how to tie tennis shoes, etc.
And it seemed that every famous person that I knew lived in
the same neighborhood as Mr. Rogers. At least he called them all his neighbor
as they came on the screen to talk to us. And if this remarkably beautiful
neighborhood was not enough, Mr. Rogers would also take us to visit the
Neighborhood of Make Believe where we could visit with King Friday, Queen Sara,
Prince Tuesday, X the owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, and, of
course, the neighborhood Trolley.
While Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood was a place of love and
peace, the Neighborhood of Make Believe had problems that needed to be solved,
characters that got mad at each other, missing items that might have been
stolen or lost. This neighborhood, that was supposed to be one of make believe,
was in fact more like our own real neighborhoods, except the people that lived
there were mostly puppets. Mr. Rogers would always help the people in the Neighborhood
of Make Believe solve their problems with his quiet confidence and gentle
nature.
People loved to watch Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood because they
loved Mr. Rogers. Why? Because we could tell that he loved us. Even if he
didn’t know us, we could tell from his demeanor on our television screen that
he truly loved us. From the moment he walked in the house singing, “Won’t you
be my neighbor,” until the moment he said he would see again, we were wrapped
in love.
Today we begin a series on being neighbors. Why neighbors?
Because Jesus said that the two greatest commands are these: love God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. In
other words, to Love God and Love Others. God’s Word makes it clear that we are
to have an authentic love for people, for our neighbors. It is to be the
foundation for all our works in the Christian life.
1 If I speak
human or angelic languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a
clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I
can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And
if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to
boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is
patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not
conceited, 5 does not act improperly, is not
selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love
finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things. (1 Corinthians 13:1-7, HCSB)
Authentic Love
Because this passage of scripture is almost always read at
weddings, many people mistakenly believe that this is about love between a
husband and wife. The truth is that these are instructions for how we are to
treat all people. Our love for others is the most important thing. 1
Corinthians 13:13 tells us that while all things may pass away, faith, hope,
and love will remain and that of these three, the greatest is love.
We are to be a people of love. We are to love intently. We
are to love unselfishly. We are to love even those that are unlovable. Why?
Because while we were filthy, disgusting sinners, God loved us enough to give
His Son to die in our place. Our love must be sincere as Romans 12:9 says.
One of the reasons that the church has declined over the
past few decades, is that the world has not seen this real, authentic love. The
church has not treated others with the same love that God has shown to us.
Instead we tell people that we see as sinners that they are not welcome at our
church. We create a list of sins that we consider so disgusting that we refuse
to associate with people that have displayed them in their lives. They come to
our churches and realize instantly that the church has judged them and shunned
them when we are only called to love them.
If we don’t have love, we have nothing. Think of it this
way: you go for a job interview with a Fortune 500 company having written a
fantastic resume detailing all of your best skills and traits, yet you arrive a
bathing suit and flip-flops. None of the other stuff is going to matter to the
interviewer. They will most likely end your interview immediately because while
you have everything else that qualifies you for a job in the high-end business
world, you have dressed yourself for the beach instead. We must dress ourselves
in love.
God is Love
1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. In fact, we could
replace the word love in 1 Corinthians with God’s name and it still means the
same thing. Listen:
1 If I speak
human or angelic languages but do not have God, I am a sounding gong or a
clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I
can move mountains but do not have God, I am nothing. 3 And
if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to
boast but do not have God, I gain nothing. 4 God is
patient, God is kind. God does not envy, is not boastful, is not
conceited, 5 does not act improperly, is not
selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 God
finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 He
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things.
Our goal should be to love others with the same love that
God shows to us and to them.
Fake Love
Destroys
When authentic love is shown in every area of our life,
people notice. When we attempt to fake our love for others, they notice that as
well. Fake love destroys the mission and purpose of the church. Fake love is
hate wrapped in a veil of acceptance. What do I mean by fake love? It is when
we put on a happy face and display love for others when we are in church or around
them, but our actions and words actually show something other than love.
Let me be more pointed. A white person that says, “I am not
a racist. I have black friends. I don’t have anything against them, but I just
don’t understand why the majority of black people do _________.” Or someone
that says they love everyone and then does everything they can to stop people
of a certain religion or race from entering their country. Or when someone says
they love everyone, but when a lesbian or homosexual walks in the door they
suddenly find somewhere else to be.
Authentic love does not have qualifiers. Authentic love is
unconditional. Authentic love welcome everyone. Authentic love seeks to get to
know the heart of others so that we can better understand their hurts, needs,
and longings. At Elevate Church, we want to have authentic love for all people
regardless of their past, present, or future lifestyle.
Challenge
As we move forward in our study on Neighbors, I want to give
you a challenge to display your love to your neighbors by praying for them
every day for the next 20-days. To make this easier for you, we have set-up an
account with pray4everyhome.org. If you go to this site and register an account
with your email address and your physical address, you will get an email every
day with a list of 5 of your neighbors that you can pray for.
After 20 days, you will have prayed for 100 homes around
your address. The email will list their names and address. This will give you the
opportunity to actually learn the names of your neighbors. The email will also
include a short 2-3 sentence prayer suggestion so you can simply read the
prayer or say one of your own.
During our commitment time, I want to ask you to commit to
God that you will begin to pray for your neighbors and that He will help you to
show true, authentic love to each of them.
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