Love Your Neighbor

Love Your Neighbor
Luke 10:25-37 | Sermon Recap & Discussion Questions

Jesus compels us to love our neighbor, not by guilt, but in response to the way he has loved us: totally, courageously, and sacrificially.

1. Totally (Luke 10:25-29)

Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 7:7-13 shows that God loves us in the same way he commands us to love him in response. He loves us with his mind (“chose,” v. 7). He loves us with his heart (“treasured possession,” v. 6). He loves us with all his strength (“mighty hand,” v. 8). And he loves us with his soul (“steadfast love,” v. 9). The only way we can love the way we are supposed to is to give up trying to do it on our own. All of our love comes in response to God’s love for us.

II. Courageously (Luke 10:30-33)

Loving courageously means loving even when it is risky. The fourth character mentioned in this parable is a Samaritan. The very name would have caused Jesus’ Jewish audience to cringe. Jews hated Samaritans and Samaritans hated the Jews. Actually, the Samaritans were despised by both Jews and Gentiles as “half-breeds.” It was certainly a risk for this Samaritan to stop and help this Jew who had been robbed and left for dead. Courage is not a feeling; it is a choice. It is a choice to walk by faith not by sight. We must walk by faith by accepting Jesus’ love for us. It is only when we truly believe he loves us that we will be able to love ourselves and others as we are called to. 

III. Sacrificially (Luke 10:34-37)

Perhaps when we fail to initiate love to others in need it is because we think we do not have what it takes to truly help. First, we must know that Christ, who gave everything in order to save us, will surely not withhold anything we need in order to obey his call to love others. Second, we must make use of the other people and organizations God has connected us with in order to provide help where we are unable. Third, we must know that it will cost us something in order to love others as we should, but we have a God who loves us totally, courageously, and self-sacrificially so we can be assured that he will always provide everything we need.

Discussion Questions

1. Totally:
   a. Does the idea of being motivated by guilt rather than love resonate with you in any way? If so, how? Why do you think that is?
   b. How might guilt actually keep you from loving others?
   c. What is the only way to be free from guilt?
2. Courageously: 
   a. Pastor George mentioned that we sometimes adopt a false idea that, as Christians, we should hate ourselves rather than love ourselves. Do you sometimes find yourself thinking that way? 
   b. How does loving yourself enable you to you love your neighbor? 
   c. How is hating self actually opposed to the gospel?
3. Sacrificially:
   a. How does the gospel demonstrate sacrificial love to us? 
   b. In what ways does Christ’s sacrificial love enable us to love sacrificially?