BEING A NEIGHBOUR

Basic attitudes a disciple is to possess.

It is important that all believers should know that God through His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness as the word of God says in 2 Peter 1:3.

It then follows that, believers who truly are converted and living by the power of God have the ability to live a life of love even to those whom they know are their enemies.

God has called us to this kind of live; a life of love.

Now Luke turns from mission and discipleship to basic attitudes the disciple is to possess. In a series of three passages he addresses attitudes toward neighbour, spending time with Jesus and prayer to God. The grouping is important. It suggests connections among the various relationships.

How we respond to our neighbour and how we walk with God are connected; in fact, both Jesus and the lawyer connect the two concepts in Luke 10:27-28.

Ethics is not an abstract question of options in a particular situation; it is a matter of character developed through a walk with God and a focus on Jesus. The Parable of the Good Samaritan (10:25-37)

Most of us sense that power and possessions are really meaningless life goals. Surely there is something more.

 

In this passage a theist asks Jesus how one can inherit eternal life.

This Jewish lawyer knows that God exists and that he is accountable to that God, so his question is particularly focused:

"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

 

If God exists, then the goal of life must be related to his purpose for us.  And this is how we know that we are doing His will.

 

The lawyer responds well (v. 28) by citing Deuteronomy 6:5, a text that has become known as the "great commandment": "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and, "Love your neighbour as yourself." This text could well be called "the law of love."

 The reply shows that the issue is not action per se but the heart. Do I love God fully? That is the starting point. Everything else grows out from that relationship.

This is a relationship of trust and devotion, a truth that lies at the heart of Jesus' reply and explains why Jesus' approval is not an endorsement of works righteousness. When Jesus says, "Do this and you will live," he is saying that relationship to God is what gives life. The chief end of humankind is to love God wholly. We were designed to love; but to love well, we must love the right person; (God first). Here is the definition of life that brings life. And the product of our love for God will be a regard for others made in his image, those whom God has placed next to us as neighbours. The New Testament often connects one's relationship to God to one's response to others (Mt 5:43; 19:19; Jn 13:34-35; 15:8-12; Gal 5:14; Col 1:3-5; 1 Thess 1:1; Philem 6; Jas 2:8; 1 Pet 2:17; 1 Jn 4:11). To respond to the law means to love God. To live by the Spirit means to love and do righteousness (Rom 8:1-11).

why do they refuse to help? Do they fear being jumped themselves? Do they fear being rendered unclean? The text gives us no reason. As is often the case, the bother and discomfort of helping have kept the man dying on the road. Getting involved is costly, and for many the investment is too high. But to refuse to help is moral failure.

 

To love God means to show mercy to those in need. An authentic life is found in serving God and caring for others. This is a central tenet of discipleship. Here human beings fulfill their created role--to love God and be a neighbour to others by meeting their needs. Neighbours are not determined by race, creed or gender; neighbours consist of anyone in need made in the image of God.

About God and Love

1)     1 John 2:5
But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
1 John 2:4-6 (in Context) 1 John 2 (Whole Chapter)

2)      1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 3:1-3 (in Context) 1 John 3 (Whole Chapter)

3)      1 John 3:10
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
1 John 3:9-11 (in Context) 1 John 3 (Whole Chapter)

4)      1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:7-9 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

5)      1 John 4:9
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1 John 4:8-10 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

6)      1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:9-11 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

7)      1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:11-13 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

8)      1 John 4:16
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:15-17 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

9)      1 John 4:20
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
1 John 4:19-21 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

10)  1 John 5:1
[ Faith in the Son of God ] Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
1 John 5:1-3 (in Context) 1 John 5 (Whole Chapter)

11)  1 John 5:2
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
1 John 5:1-3 (in Context) 1 John 5 (Whole Chapter)