Category: Community (Page 2 of 90)

As a kid, I knew a lot of our neighbors. Most of them had kids my age and we played all the time in the street. Our parents were friends and we did things together at each other’s houses. We gathered, ate, laughed, and kidded. If a neighbor needed help, we helped; even if we didn’t agree on everything. It was what being a good neighbor was about.

I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that a company co-opted the concept of a “good neighbor” to build upon those nostalgic memories, good feelings, and good friends.

[Jesus said,] “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be the neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Luke 10:36-37

We seem to have lost a lot of that in our current day. I don’t many of my current neighbors – except for the few that post on the neighborhood Facebook page or those who also attend LifeBridge.

That is a loss, I believe, for society.

Scripture tells us that we should be good neighbors. Godly neighbors. Neighbors who not only help, but give of their own resources to help someone in need.

It should be a given that someone who follows God and His law would do this.

Sadly, it is not. And it hasn’t been.

Our text for today tells a familiar story. Jesus is tested by a lawyer. We know the story. But perhaps it’s lost on us who the first two to pass by the victim were. The first, a priest. The second, a Levite. If anyone should know God’s law; should want to help; should set the example; should be the epitome of doing what is right, godly, and neighborly; living out the concept of mercy – it should be these two!

Yet it’s not. It’s a Samaritan who does. A Samaritan who helps. A Samaritan who has a heart to act neighborly; to show mercy. A Samaritan who, as a group were despised by many Jews.

This was backwards. A reversal of the way things were supposed to be.

I wonder if we get the point.

When people look at us, do they know “we are Christians by our love;” by our actions; by the mercy we show; by the help that we give? Can they see in and through us that our heart is one of giving; of loving? Do we show in our actions what God shares in His Word? Are we not only good neighbors, but even better godly neighbors?

Many times, of course, the answer is ‘no.’ We get so tied up at our own things; in our own world; in our own business; in our own needs that we either fail to see those of others or we simply can’t get around to it.

What’s the way out of this? Probably the easiest thing we can do is to continually remember the godly neighbor Jesus is to us. We, who were so often beaten up by our own sins, by the world, and by the Adversary, that we were left for dead. Then Jesus came by, tended our wounds, showed us mercy, and upon that heaped grace; not only to restore us, but to prosper us unto eternal life.

We have a godly example because we have as our example God.

God not only told us how to be a good neighbor in His Word, but showed us how to be a godly neighbor in and through the person of Jesus through the cross and empty tomb. We have only look at Him and follow His example out of gratitude for what we ourselves receive.

Take some time this week to see who God puts in your midst. What neighbors He places around you who are beat up by the world and needs some help, needs some love, needs some mercy.

And then attend to them by showing them Jesus, not just in words, but in actions – out of love, out of response, out of gratitude. Be the godly neighbor, not just because we are called to be that, but because God has given us that in Jesus.

“Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being a godly neighbor and showing us love, mercy, and grace that we didn’t deserve. Grant that we, in response, show the same to all that You place in our midst. In Your holy and precious name. Amen.”

Scriptures

• Luke 10:25-37
• Psalm 31:1-3
• Psalm 41:13

There’s a lot in our passage today about sin; about being tempted; about helping others in their burdens and temptations; in keeping oneself pure amidst our own temptations; about bearing our own burdens; about sharing good things that we’ve been taught back with our teacher; about reaping what we sow – whether from the flesh or spiritual nature; about taking up opportunities for doing good – especially to fellow believers.

But the focus for us today is on boasting not in ourselves or in others but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ because that’s what matters; that’s the basis for all of the other things happening, all the other points in our message, all the other teachings in our lesson. If we boasted ourselves – in what we do and how we’re living – and how good we’re doing, and how we’re avoiding bad and evil, and how we’re helping others out; how we’re avoiding temptation; how we’re living the good life — if that is our focus instead of the cross of Jesus, we can get arrogant in our minds and in our actions. We can see in our actions reasons to get puffed up. We can see in ourselves and what we do or don’t do and hold them up with hubris rather than seeing God’s son Jesus who was held up in humility.

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Galatians 6:14

All of these items in our lesson are good great even to be commended; to be followed; to be emulated – but not to be boasted in. We boast in the cross of Christ because it is only in and through Him that any of the other things that we do or don’t do, not only matter but are possible through faith in Jesus. In Jesus are all things possible.

Good is to be sought and desired and followed only when we see that it is through the highest cost of the cross that our sin is forgiven; that we find a true heart motivation for avoiding temptation and that which separates us from God.

Works don’t get us to heaven; the cross does and because the cross has our desire for works is inevitable. A true understanding and belief in what Jesus did on the cross and through the empty tomb will invariably drive us at our very core to avoiding sin and zealously pursuing good.

Thanks be to God for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, because of Him the world has been crucified to us and us to the world, so that we are free to love and serve the world for God.

“Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son our Lord, Jesus, to us. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for enduring the cross, scorning its shame, for us and our salvation. Our boast is in You alone; always and only for Your glory and for the good of the world. We love you. Amen.”

Scriptures

• Galatians 6:1-10
• Galatians 6:14-18
• Psalm 66:1-4

Most people like a party. Surprisingly, even a pity party.

For some reason there are times that we like to feel miserable, alone, even abandoned. Playing the victim carries some status, I guess. Of course there are times when we’re not playing the victim but actually are. Times when we don’t just feel alone but are. When we’re in the moment it’s difficult if not impossible to tell the difference between what we feel and reality. Our perception, in the pain, often defines our reality. Our head may know truth but our heart make counter.

Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

1 Kings 19:18

In our text today Elijah has just been God’s servant in an amazing show of God’s power and might. God has used him to display His greatness to the leaders and people of the land in an explicit and undeniable way. Yet right after this he is threatened and runs away scared. When he talks to God he bemoans that he is the only one left who is faithful to Him. Elijah may well have felt that was true, even though it is likely there was evidence to the contrary.

And God showed him that what Elijah felt was indeed not at all true. Elijah was not alone. He was not abandoned. He was not the only one left who was faithful to God. God tells Elijah that He has preserved for Himself “seven thousand in Israel” (1 Kings 19:18) who have remained faithful to Him.

That’s not to say that Elijah didn’t feel alone. It’s God telling him he wasn’t alone. God’s reality is what matters no matter how we feel.

That doesn’t minimize our feelings or are hurts or pains. But it is a stark reminder that those things, though our reality, are often or seldom not true reality.

There are times that we may feel distant from God, abandoned by God, all alone. There are times when we feel our sins have pushed us so far from Him that He couldn’t possibly still be present with us, still forgive us ,still love us. That we are all alone.

But that’s not reality.

Through faith in Jesus Christ the reality is that He has preserved us for Himself forever. He is with us and we are not alone. Ever. We are not abandoned because Jesus was for us. Even in our pain He has given us the Victory.

1. When God displays His power and salvation, don’t run away.
2. You may feel alone, but you never are. He is with you.
3. It’s not about you. God preserves.

That is reality. That is what matters.

Through faith in Jesus we are preserved. By God. For Himself.

Remember this in your suffering and pain. Remember Jesus’ words that, “Lo, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

“Thank you, Lord God, for checking our feelings with Your reality. With Your care. With Your love. Help us to always remember that so that our feelings don’t trump Your Truth. Remind us that through faith in Jesus alone You have preserved us for Yourself forever. In Jesus name, amen.”

Scriptures

• Galatians 3:23-4:7