Engage in your opportunity - “Becoming the best neighbours on Earth”

21 June 2009

This week’s study was prepared by Pastor Andrew Chin

Introduction

Ever feel like God was overlooking you? That you were assigned to be one of the normal people? That God was not going to ‘use’ you. Well that’s not how God feels about it.
God’s mission is more than just what happens ‘overseas’. God’s mission involves God’s activity everywhere in the day-to-day of ordinary life…including right here in Sydney in the middle of your life
To fulfil God’s mission we need to understand His call for us to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’- wherever we are!
We are called to be the best neighbours on Earth!
Read Luke 10:25-37

3 Qualities of the best neighbours on Earth!

1. They Break the Boundaries

When the expert in the law asked Jesus “Who is my neighbour?” his motivation behind the question was to “justify himself”.
The problem is that at the heart of the question is this: “Jesus, how far does my care need to go? What are the boundaries of my compassion?”. “Who do I ‘need’ to care for?” “Who does God ‘require’ me to love?”
But these commandments are not meant to be understood from a “boundaries” perspective.
The boundaries mentality is an unhealthy attitude to have towards faith. If we are constantly asking “How far do I ‘need’ to go God?”. “How much do I ‘need’ to do?” then we’re on the wrong track…
Like a husband asking his wife, “What do you need me to do?” or “What chores do I need to get done?” i.e. “What is my bare minimum required to appease you?”
That kind of an attitude doesn’t please the missus. That attitude doesn’t please God either…
To be the best neighbours in the earth, we need to break the ‘boundaries’ mentality. We can no longer ask: “How far does my care or compassion need to go?” or “Who do I need to love?”.
Story: Recently at a seminar, I heard the story of a 65 year old man named Bill who happened to hate his neighbour. His neighbour was an alcoholic who abused his wife. Bill was disgusted with him and didn’t want anything to do with him.

One day, Bill felt like God prompted him to bring a meal to his neighbour. Hesitant at first, he ignored the prompting. When he told his life group they urged him to obey God’s prompting. So Bill decided to obey, he brought the meal to his neighbour and that sparked off a friendship.

The neighbours’ wife started coming along to Bill’s church, and after a while started bringing her husband along. It was pretty emotional a year later when
Bill had the privilege of baptising and embracing his neighbour who had finally made a decision to come to faith. Where else can such things happen but in the Church? Who else can do such things but Jesus Christ and his love and grace? Bill broke the boundaries mentality and God used that to save his neighbour, someone whom Bill thought was beyond hope! And it all started with a meal…
Let me ask you, what is the surface area of your compassion?
How is God challenging you and I to break that boundaries mentality particularly when it comes to compassionate love for people?
How many injured people both here and overseas have missed out on experiencing the compassion of Christ through you and me, because they have fallen outside of the surface area of our compassion?
The best neighbours on Earth break the boundaries mentality!

Next, we need to replace it with a different attitude.

2. Compassionate love is part of their identity

Matthew Henry: The Priests and Levites were… “Men of professed sanctity, whose offices obliged them to tenderness and compassion, who ought to have taught others their duty in such a case as this, which was to deliver them that were drawn unto death; yet they would not themselves do it…”

Jesus himself said of the Pharisees in Matthew 22 “Do what they tell you to do, but don’t do what they do”…
Before I point the finger at the priest and levite, I must confess, how many times have I done that? Opportunities for compassion that we squandered?
If Jesus were here today, would he also say to the crowds: “Do what those Christians tell you to do, but don’t do what they do”? Forbid it so…
Now the problem was this…
For the Priest and Levite, they limited ministry to the temple, compassion was not part of their identity. It was more like a job, not who they ‘were’. Which is why when they were clocking off from duty, they did nothing.
We sometimes can respond like the Priest. Sometimes we have a “Not interested” attitude which can blind us to opportunities for compassion. If only we slowed down enough to see the need, we might not miss God’s opportunities to help an injured neighbour.
Sometimes we can be like the Levite, see the extent of this man’s situation, and then to do nothing about it.
Once again, I find myself repenting before God for doing the same thing in the past. Seeing the need in detail, but doing nothing…

Matthew Henry writes again:

“It is sad when those who should be examples of charity are prodigies of cruelty, and when those who should by displaying the mercies of God, open the bowels of compassion in others, shut up their own.”

To understand this concept with more clarity, let’s go back to the dialogue between Jesus and the expert…
The expert asked Jesus?: “Who is my neighbour?” But Jesus question to him was: “Who was a neighbour to this man?” So the question behind the question isn’t ‘are you loving the right people’, but are you a loving person? Do you love like a neighbour does? Is love a mark of your character? This is what matters to God.
Following Christ is not a part-time or a full-time job. We don’t clock on and clock off when it comes to ‘loving our neighbour’.
Story: the usher who wasn’t meant to be on and in the middle of welcoming a newcomer to the church; realising that he wasn’t on that week, he left the newcomer mid-conversation! The newcomer was a pastor who had no hard feelings about it, but still!!
Story: According to an article in Christianity Today India that a colleague of mine mentioned- Gandhi grew interested in Christianity when he was a young man practicing law in South Africa. He studied the Bible eagerly especially the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. Deciding to attend a church service he was stopped at the door: "Where do you think you're going, kaffir?" an English man rudely asked him. Gandhi replied, "I'd like to attend worship here."
The church elder rudely replied, "There's no room for kaffirs in this church. Get out of here or I'll have my assistants throw you down the steps." What would have happened if that elder demonstrated compassionate love?
The reporter writes: “This infamous incident forced Gandhi to never again consider being a Christian, but rather adopt what he found in Christianity and its founder Jesus Christ”.
Gandhi: "Oh, I don't reject Christ. I love Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ."- ouch…
Compassionate love must be part of our identity. When it is, we will see and take advantage of the opportunities all around us.

James Fraser:

“It is all IF and WHEN. I believe the devil is fond of those conjunctions… The plain truth is that the Scriptures never teach us to wait for opportunities of service, but to serve in just the things that lie next to our hands… The Lord bids us work, watch and pray; but Satan suggests, wait until a good opportunity for working, watching, and praying presents itself- and needless to say, this opportunity is always in the future… Since the things that lie in our immediate path have been ordered of God, who shall say that one kind of work is more important and sacred than another?”

Do you believe God is calling you to full-time missions? Don’t think that ministry begins when you arrive at that place. Ministry is right in front of you. What are the opportunities God has placed next to your hands to do while you are still here?
Do you believe God is calling you to stay in secular work or ministry here, and is not calling you to full-time missions?
Don’t think that ministry is just ‘over there’ or begins when you are at “such and such” a place. Ministry is right in front of you. What are the God opportunities before your life right now? The broken and injured people He wants to restore through you?
On their way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus and the disciples stopped at Samaria after a long walk. The bible says Jesus ‘wearily’ sat by the well. Now Jesus is tired, hungry, thirsty, and culturally it would have been a “faux pas” to even talk to the Samaritan woman (known to be living in an immoral lifestyle) who comes to the well. Great time to have a break? There are more than enough reasons to not only ignore her, but to avoid her… But you see, Jesus just could not help Himself. He could not refrain himself from showing love to this woman who had most likely experienced rejection from men and from the local community. So he began to reach out to her in her need. The disciples came with lunch and they must be Asian because they urged Jesus to eat something, and Jesus said: “I have food you know not of”, “Who brought you lunch?” they asked, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me”…

So much of Jesus’ ministry was to people while he was on the way…

Compassionate love is not a casual responsibility.

It must be etched into the fibre of who we are.
How would your life be different if your identity was marked by compassion? I urge you, make it so.
Would your colleagues, strangers, classmates, fellow believers or family notice the difference? How?
Call out to God to give you and I His heart, and let Him mould it as we demonstrate His love to our world. In other words, engage in your opportunities. Be the best neighbours on Earth through compassionate love

3. They demonstrate genuine and practical love…

Unlike the priest and the levite, the good Samaritan sees the need, and feels deep pity and compassion for the man.
It doesn’t matter that this man was a Jew. The Samaritan simply saw a man in need. He didn’t judge him but simply began to act on his compassion in a genuine and practical way.
He didn’t start talking to him about Jesus, or provide him counselling, he didn’t lend him his chess set, although those things are helpful at different times. Instead, he understood what the man’s need was and did something about it!
He:
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Soothed the man’s pain with oil…
Disinfected the man’s wound with wine…
Put the man on his donkey while he walked- putting himself in a position of discomfort.
Took him to a safe place to recover, where someone would care for him.
He paid for his needs.
Saw him through to recovery.

Two things are very obvious about the Samaritan, his love was genuine and his care was practical
Story:
James Fraser describes one of his journeys to Namkham, near the border of Burma and China. He met some Christians from the tribal peoples.
He says this:
“If I sing or pray in Chinese, they cannot understand a word- but that makes no difference! They like me to do it. They do not judge you by the learning of eloquence of your ‘discourse’, but by what they see of you personally. If they see that you love them and like to be with them, they love you in return.”
This is a beautiful description not only of those Christian tribes people, but of humanity. At the heart of it, it matters little how eloquent we are, but whether we truly love people. Genuine love and its power to touch broken people is so underestimated by the average Christian, but so highly regarded in God’s word.
Jesus not only had true love and compassion for the people he ministered to, but he also took time to understand their needs. That’s why he didn’t pray for the blind to hear, and the deaf to see! Or those who were demon-possessed to rise up and walk! Jesus was incredibly practical! When the 5000 had no food what did he do? Keep preaching? No…He fed them.
I wish I had understood this truth a lot earlier, and stopped playing games with evangelism. But rather live the principle of love! You can witness without love, but when you truly love you do both anyway.
I think back with embarrassment many years ago when a friend of mine phoned me in deep need because his girlfriend wanted to break up with him. Sobbing over the phone, what he needed was a listening ear, comfort, and maybe some advice. Because of my foolish naivety I shared the gospel with Him instead, and still sobbing he prayed the sinner’s prayer. How terribly insensitive of me? I completely missed his needs. Thank God things worked out in the end!
I recently reconnected with an old uni-friend of mine who needed a friend and someone who could just be with him and listen to him. I saw and understood his needs, and out of love I was able to help and support him. I was also able to share with him what I sensed God was speaking into his life, and encourage him with hope for his life. Big difference…
The best neighbours on earth genuinely love people and they seek to understand their needs, and try to meet those needs in practical ways.
Why? Because that is what love is truly about- helping the other person in their need because we genuinely care for them as a person.
As we genuinely love people, what do they need? Do they need us to help comfort them and soothe their pain? Do they need us to disinfect their wounds, preventing a situation from getting worse? Is God prompting us to bring them to a safe place where they might recover?
Let your love be genuine and your compassion practical. That’s the kind of love that Jesus was teaching this expert and the crowds to have, not some theoretical concept, but a gritty and real kind of love.

Conclusion

Will you cry for your neighbour? Will you pick up the crippled man?
There are too many injured and broken people who have had too many priests and levites walk past them not offering them any help. They are longing for someone to come, kneel beside them, tend their wounds, and help them get back on their feet: spiritually, physically and emotionally. They are at your workplace, on your train, sitting in your class.
I have good news for them… We’re about to walk past… And when you and I walk past them and see their needs, we will break the boundaries! As loving people, we will show them the genuine and practical compassionate love of Jesus.
Man, the joy of seeing broken and hurting people restored! Even greater joy when we see them go and do the same for others! Can you see it church? I can!
Will God turn up when you help your neighbour? Yes He will!
Can we be a church that demonstrates to the world what it means to be “the best neighbours on Earth”? Yes we can and yes we will! And it starts with you… Will you start today?

Christian Life