Love your (unlovable) neighbor

Joshua 2:8-21

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”

14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”

17 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”

21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”

So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

Sermon

Listening guide

Discussion questions

Intro 

Husband and wife. Both Christian. Different confessions of faith, different church bodies, different denominations. The wife was disappointed, even upset that she couldn’t have communion at the husband’s church. She complained, or at least expressed her disappointment, to the husband’s pastor. Then they wanted their baby baptized. They went to the wife’s church. The husband wasn’t allowed to attend the baptism.  

Most of us are pretty upset when this stuff happens in churches. Religion is often perceived as incredibly exclusive 

That’s nothing. I would put to you that we are way more exclusive on a daily basis.  

I think we like to imagine that we do much better including other people on a daily basis. I remember a previous neighbor. We had a little bit of conflict about our mailbox. We had one of these pass through driveways for his house and ours. For some reason, the mailperson wouldn’t walk up the driveway. So if we had people over and they parked in the driveway or we didn’t get the snow shoveled soon enough, the mailperson wouldn’t deliver the mail.  I know another person who lived in a duplex. They accused their neighbor of listening in on conversations and not mowing the lawn well. They disagreed so much that when I stopped by to say hi to the neighbor one time, he refused to talk to me.  

I think we imagine we include others because we act decently in public, but I would say we’re far more exclusive than inclusive.  

Discover 

God wants to help you deal with that today. The event is Jericho, two spies, and a woman named Rahab. This is a pivotal moment in the history of Israel.  

The Israelites have wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses is passing on leadership to Joshua. God has promised the Israelites the land of Canaan. The Israelites have traveled to the border so they can enter the land. The first step: what to do about Jericho. God intended to destroy Jericho. The promise of this event is, there is something that can be done to include people in God’s exclusive kingdom.  

There has to be a supernatural change. Let’s see what it is. Let’s discover God’s inclusive exclusivity  

Development  

Let’s start with this woman Rahab. She is up on the roof to talk to the spies. She is not what some would call an easy neighbor.    

• She is a Canaanite. The reason for this whole event is that the Canaanite people and more specifically the city of Jericho is set aside for destruction. This is a woman who God and his people fully intend to destroy.  

• Single woman 

• Prostitute 

That only makes her all the more remarkable.  

• As best we know, she is perhaps the only one to survive the attack on Jericho 

• She is one of Jesus’ ancestors (Matthew 1)  

• She is listed in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11), the only woman other Sarah  

You’ve got to look at Rahab and say, wow, look at how much God loves this person. This unlovable person. She is not the person we would pick for a neighbor, God picks her.  

God loves the marginalized. Jesus put it this way, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.” Matthew 21:31-32   

I would put to you that this is the beginning of real inclusive exclusivity.  

Traditional ways of thinking say good people get to be part of our tribe. Traditional religion even says, good works are enough to get you to God. And initially, this seems incredibly inclusive.  

When we say be good and you can be in, suddenly it doesn’t matter what family you’re from. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are. It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is. You can be in. That is pretty inclusive.  

You think, you can’t be a lawyer in many major law firms unless you graduated from one of the Ivy League schools. You can’t get into certain social clubs unless you’re a member of certain families. You can’t be part of certain political groups unless you belong to the right kind of people. These aren’t just social constraints. These are rules! There are plenty of groups that only let people in if they have the right education, the right family background, the right ethnicity, or the right social class.  

To come along and say, do good, be good enough, good works are enough. They get you in. They get you to God. That seems really inclusive.  

The problem is, this is really quite exclusive. It says, “good people are in and the bad people are out.” What about those of us with moral failures? What if I have made bad choices? What if I’ve messed things up even if I don’t know what I’m doing? Then we are excluded!  

The Christian message is exclusive. It is. I’ll admit that. Only people who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are welcomed by God and embraced by him.  

That message is exclusive. Good works are exclusive. Both approaches are exclusive, but the gospel is the more inclusive exclusivity. It says ‘It doesn’t matter who you are, or what your education is, or what your background is, or what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been at the gates of hell. You can be forgiven and embraced fully and instantly through Christ.'” 

I am sure Rahab got that message. There are plenty of other Bible stories that tell us God loves the marginalized.  Jesus and the adulteress person. Jesus and the tax collector. Elijah and the widow of Zarapheth.  

The true marvel of the story is this. This incredible woman, Rahab receives spies. The prostitute receives the spies. It is the outsider who welcomes the very people who want to destroy her.  

This is the true marvel of the story. Not only is this woman welcomed into God’s family. She welcomes the very people who will destroy her!   

The Triune God loves unlovable people through people who are equally unlovable.  

Something incredible has happened to this woman and this lesson tells us what. In verse 12, the woman asks, “Give me a sure sign that you will spare our lives” (verse 12) The spies tell her back, “Our lives for your lives!” (verse 14) Which, if you’re thinking about it, 

They don’t give her a sign. They don’t give her a guarantee. I don’t know if they can. No one can buy back someone else’s life. No one can redeem someone else’s life. No one can save someone else’s life. No one, except for one.  

The woman hangs a red cord in her window. She doesn’t say so much, give me a sign, as a sign has been given to me.  

She says, I have been given a sign that I am forgiven and embraced, and because of that sign I will forgive you for wanting to destroy me and I will embrace you.  

A red cord she says, has been hung for me. A red cord.  

And how can we not think of Jesus. He was a hung on a cross bleeding. He is the red sign that declares she is forgiven.  

You see, that is what this story is saying. He is the true red sign.  

What happened to Rahab still happens to people.  

“In 2015, I met an Iranian science professor from a world-class university. I asked him how he came to be a Christian. He replied, “Through the ministry of J.S. Bach!” My new friend had been raised in a Muslim family. But when the Islamic revolution swept through Iran in 1980, he abandoned his familial faith. Alongside his scientific studies my friend was a semiprofessional flutist. Classical music was banned by the new government, so must lovers crowded into private houses to savor illicit sonatas. Before one secret concert, my friend reheared a Bach flute sonata with his musical mentor but was stopped a few bars in: “I cannot hear the cross of Christ in what you are playing,”, his mentor complained. My friend was bewildered: with 1little knowledge of Christianity, he had no idea what his mentor meant. But the challenge  struck with him. Gradually he began to apprehend the profoundly Christian fabric of Bach’s works; and when he frist walked into a church a few years later, he sensed the same reality.  

Before one concert, this man reheared a Bach flute sonata with his instructor. His instructor stopped him a few measures in and said, “I cannot hear a 

My friend was troubled. In Iran, he had witnessed the full force of religious coercion. He had converted from Islam to Christianity partly as a reaction against that force. Now a Christian, he longed for others to come to know Jesus.  

See, everyone has a set of exclusive beliefs, and Christianity has exclusive beliefs. Which set of beliefs leads to the most inclusive behavior? I submit this. Take moralistic religion into the center of your life, and you’ll feel superior to people who aren’t religious. Take secularism into the center of your life, and you’ll feel superior to all those foolish religious people. Take the gospel into the center of your life, and you’ll be humbled before people who don’t believe what you believe. 

The Triune God loves unlovable people through people who are equally unlovable.  

Action 

Hang your rope. Or to put it a way we might say it, carry around that sign that lets you know you’ve been loved and you need love. Sometimes loving your unlovable neighbor is not so much about saying, let me love you. It’s simply saying, I need love just as much as you. That’s what Rahab says, and look what God does for her!  

You and I, believers in Jesus, we can’t weaken, downplay, or minimize our religion. It can’t just be a personal thing.  

At the very core of our faith is the simple conviction, I’m a sinner and I need love even more than you.  

What I am asking you to do with that is, I’m asking you to love me not for anything in me, but for something in you. I am asking you to make a commitment to me because of you, not because of me. I am asking you to make a sacrifice to me because of you . I am asking you to express love toward me because of you, not because of me.  

And you know what it is when you and I do something that is not motivated by the other person, or the world around us and what they perceive, or even by our own personal gain, but is solely driven by some altruistic, higher purpose, some sacred action?  

That’s religion. It can never just be a private thing.  

Yes the Christian faith is exclusive. Absolutely. But it is the only one driven by not by what can I do for you, or what can you do for me, but what has been done for us.  

And that is an amazing thing. It is absolutely amazing when God loves unlovable people through other unlovable people.  

Love your neighbor ... courageously

Matthew 14:22-36

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Listening guide

2 things to handle fear that lead to courage 

“Take courage” 

First thing _________________________

“It is I” 

Second thing  _________________________

Love your neighbor ….. courageously   

Discussion questions

Sermons

How did you do loving your neighbors this week? Bold challenges

·        Spend to store up eternal treasures. Your heart will never have treasure until you spend. 

·        Share substance that satisfies.  If body of Jesus is broken for you, we’ll break for other.

Couple chances to love neighbors and it was hard

·        I messed something up

·        The “how is our communication” conversation

·        The “what about masks” conversation

·        Met a few acquaintances for a drink. We’re trying to become friends. I was genuinely afraid I would say something foolish.

It is hard to know what to do towards other people. That’s part of it. That's why we’ve heard, “spend, share food”. It’s hard to actually do what we even know we should do.

·        Are you afraid of getting sick? Just interacting with some people might be dangerous to your health.

·        Are you afraid of losing your job? You don’t have to mess things up to lose a job. You can be the wrong age, the wrong ethnicity, the wrong education, or wrong in countless other ways.

·        Are you afraid of your kids losing their education? The challenge is greater than ever to raise kids who will be good members of society when education systems are understandably changing fast.

·        Are you afraid of losing friends? I don’t even know where people stand anymore. What if I bring up the wrong issue? We might never talk again.

Today

Jesus says here is what you do when we face all sorts of danger. This is Matthew 14. He walks on the water.

The event is pretty straightforward. Jesus fed the 15,000-20,000. They have finished eating. The disciples head home.  The disciples work pretty hard to get the boat across the lake. Jesus has stayed to say goodbye to the crowd. It takes him a few hours. He walks out on the water to them. That’s what terrifies the disciples.

The disciples see Jesus. They say, “it’s a ghost”. They’re terrified. They “cry out in fear”. (verse 26) And Jesus wanted them to face it “Take courage” (verse 27)

“take courage”. Good leaders, thoughtful people, have said this forever. Joshua led the Israelite armies. He said, “Be strong and courageous”. Confucius said, “Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.” I’m more of a Disney guy myself. Last year the great line of the new Dumbo, “Find your courage!”

Jesus says two things about courage. They’re both super things. Let’s get this from Matthew 14:22 and following. If you’ve got your Bible look at Matthew 14.

Development

Two things about courage.

The first thing I would say is you can only have courage when you face danger. There has to be fear for there to be courage.

I think you should notice that the disciples don’t fear the waves and water. Did you catch that? “26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.”

For the ancients especially, the sea was the ultimate symbol of uncontrolled power. It was wild. Life was full of many tests and trials. The wild of the ocean was the worst. The sea didn’t frighten the disciples. The spiritual force coming to the boat frightened the disciples.

They thought Jesus was a ghost. They did not fear the water. They feared this supernatural force. What was Jesus up to?

It’s easy to think, these were ancient people. They had a god for everything. It’s easy to think they had to deal with the spiritual forces involved. Someone might use the life of Jonah as an example. There is a story in the Bible of a man named Jonah. He is on a ship in the middle of the storm. The sailors told Jonah to call on his god. Someone reads that and they say, see, they say, everything was spiritual for ancients. Everything was supernatural for the ancients.

That’s just not true. The sailors did tell Jonah to call on his god. Before they did that, they threw everything possible off the ship to make it lighter. Life was not all spiritual. Then Jesus showed up.

Jesus is saying the only way to handle the tests and trials is to address the spiritual stuff. The disciples needed to consider the God of heaven and earth! They needed to pray to the Lord Yahweh who rules over all things. They needed to give attention to the king of the universe and his direction in all things. They had to bend their knees. They had to hang their heads. They had to raise their hands in prayer. They had to address the spiritual.

If the sea is the ultimate symbol that life is uncontrollable, there is no doubt everything else, everything else is our world is outside our control. We are constantly in danger. There are serious supernatural forces at work. We should be a little afraid.

Jonathan Haidt is an atheist psychologist. In 2006, he wrote the book The Happiness Hypothesis. He makes up two people, tells us a little story about them, and says, you pick who you would rather be. First person is Bob.

“Bob is 35 years old, single, white, attractive, and athletic. He earns $100,000 a year and lives in sunny Southern California. He is highly intellectual, and he spends his free time reading and going to museums.” Person number 2 is Mary.

“Mary and her husband live in snowy Buffalo, New York, where they earn a combined income of $40,000. Mary is sixty-five years old, black, overweight, and plain in appearance. She is highly sociable, and she spends her free time mostly in activities related to her church. She is on dialysis for kidney problems.”

Then he says, “If you had to bet on it, you should bet that Mary is happier than Bob.” (Haidt, Happiness Hypothesis, 87)

Do you see what that is? Do you see how big the difference is? You might love California, you might hate California. Don’t say that to my wife. Do you see that though? Life is uncontrollable and you must address the supernatural.

We cannot master success, achieve accomplishments, and solidify relationships to a place of safety. We don’t know our own hearts, the heart of our spouse, or the hearts of our friends. There is a slime, a crud in the deep darkness that will suddenly come up and bite any of us.

You can only have courage if you face the danger. You must deal with the supernatural. That’s the first super.

The second thing about courage. It’s really hard to define courage. Courage is best pictured as the middle between fear or frozen and recklessness. If you never tell anyone that you are a follower of Jesus, that’s fear. If you tell a pastor but not anyone else that you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, that’s just fear. But if you walk around telling all your coworkers, and your bosses, and your neighbors, hi my name’s Pete and I believe in Jesus as my Savior and Lord, do you? That’s not courage, that’s just recklessness.

It’s amazing because, in just a moment here, Peter is going to get out of the boat and walk on the water to Jesus. What makes him do that?

Jesus says to everyone in the boat, “Take courage. It is I”. When Jesus says, “it is I” what he says literally is, “ego eimi”. “I am” The translators don’t write that because they know if you’re reading along and it says, “Take courage. I am” you would say, well of course he is. Did the disciples survive? That’s what you would say.

But what Jesus is doing here. When Jesus says, “I am” he is claiming the name of God as his name. When God called Abraham to follow him, he said, “I am.” When God called Jacob to go down to Egypt, he said, “I am.” When God came to Moses in the burning bush, he said, “I am who I am”. When God came to Moses and gave the 10 commandments, he said, “I am, I am, the compassionate and gracious God”. What is Jesus doing? He is announcing himself.

But it’s weird. It’s just odd.

If I walk in the house at the end of the day, I might say, “I’m home!” or “Hey gang, I’m here.” Sometimes I’ll say something like, “hey, it’s me.” Or when I walk in the bedroom late at night and someone says, “Whose there” I’ll say, “It’s me”. I never say, “It is I”.

There is something incredibly personal, incredibly beautiful with these words. Because Jesus is saying, I’m not satisfied with calming a storm. I’m not satisfied with stopping your tests and your trials. He is saying, I want you to know me in the middle of your trials.

Let’s talk about those fears for a moment. What are your greatest fears? What are your greatest nightmares? The loss of your health? The loss of your kids? The loss of job? The loss of our intelligence? The loss of friends? Not becoming something? Not getting married? What are the things that keep you up at night?

On the cross, Jesus Christ took the ultimate nightmare. The ultimate nightmare is to be alienated from God. If there is a God and you were made by God, unless Jesus Christ does something about the way you’ve lived your life, you will be lost, and that’s the ultimate nightmare.

The ultimate poverty, the ultimate loneliness, the ultimate death is to be lost, is to be alienated from God spiritually forever, and on the cross, Jesus Christ experienced that cosmic alienation. He took your greatest nightmares on.

He says to you, “It is I.”

Do you know how this becomes your courage? I know some of you probably get tired of me telling stories from Lord of the Rings, but in this case you have to let me because the hobbits are all about courage.

There are two great little heroes in the story, Sam and Frodo. There’s a place where Sam, who is Frodo’s faithful companion, has been defending him. At one point, he gets him out of a tower by saying, “Here I come!” (He sounds almost like Jesus - “It is I”) He fights and he gets Frodo out, but they’re on their way to the end of their quest and he’s scared. One night, we’re told he looks up into the sky.

“Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart … [Then,] like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even [Frodo’s] ceased to trouble him.… he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.”

And my friends, that is real courage. It’s not when fear fades.

When you grasp a real beauty, a real strength, and a real power in the midst of your trials, your fears, and your greatest nightmares, then you can begin to have a new heart.

That's our second super. A super power.

Action

So will you join me in this? Let’s love our neighbors … courageously

This kind of courage makes all the difference. Let me just give us one example.

There is a woman in the Bible named Abigail. Abigail was married to Nabal. Nabal means fool and he did a good job of living up to his name. We don't know how long he embarrassed her with his rudeness and drunkenness, but it probably seemed like forever.

The man who was anointed to be the next king, David, was hiding in the hills nearby. They protected Nabal’s 5,000 or so animals. Protected them from raiders, thieves, animals, and the like.

Then it was time to shear the sheep. Sheep shearing time is a time to be generous and hospitable.

David asked Nabal for some supplies. Nabal accused David of disobedience and insurrection. The chosen future king!

David was ticked. He prepared to battle Nabal. One of the servants ran to Abigail, told her. She packed up food for many men and ran to David. She begged his pardon and forgiveness.

David praised God for using her to rescue him from sin.

Friends, Jesus is on the other side of every conflict. Sometimes, it won’t work out and you won’t be able to stick with your neighbors.

But very often, I can tell you. The more you hear him say, “it is I” the more courage you’ll see. The more together you and your neighbor will be.

Love your neighbor ... spend

1 Timothy 6:17-21

Sermons

Did you use your block map this week? Love your neighbors  

Let’s be frank. It mostly comes down to two things: time and money.  

We gave away free ice cream in our front yard Friday afternoon 

But last weekend we went to a graduation party and there was an ice cream truck! It was awesome!  Who do you think felt more loved? My neighbors, or us?  

Adventure  

What are you getting by spending? 

Paul writes to Timothy, and Jesus tells us a parable so we can get so much more. And you know what, along the way so will our neighbors.  

Development 

Paul says this:  

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 

I don’t think I need to tell you that Americans are rich. If you have a net worth of $100K, you are in the top 10% globally. If you have a net worth of $1 million, you are in the top 1% globally. That’s not income, that is net worth. If you live in this area and you own most of your home, you’ve paid off the mortgage, you’re net worth is more than $100K.  

Still, I know “rich” has to do with buying power and how I perceive life. I don’t feel rich as a pastor and the father of 5. I’m pretty sure I am.  

Let’s get really plain. There are a few of us who are financially in a tough spot. But you know, if I ask so many how things are, people will say they’re blessed. Or they’re well. Busy. Poor in time. But we’ve got more than enough money to get by. I haven’t had to help anyone get significant financial assistance during the pandemic. Not housing, not utilities. Not even significant groceries. I don’t know if we’re rich. We’ve got more than enough! 

The Bible almost says more about generosity than really anything else. Hope is mentioned 185 times, faith 246 times, love 733 times; generosity: 2285 times. (JD Greear, “A Generous Spirit”, 2011) You know what means?  

Money matters. What you do with your money matters.  

So what’s he saying? Spend your money. Be generous. You’ll actually be saving! It’s amazing. “In this way [the rich] they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”  

You see what Paul does there?  

He doesn’t say, money doesn’t matter. He draws on something. He knows people want treasure. He says “they will lay up treasure.”  

I bet a lot of you have seen the movie series “National Treasure”. It tells the story of a man named Benjamin Gates. His family knows some secrets about this treasure that has been hidden since the Revolutionary War. He commits a good part of his life to the search for treasure. As the movie plot goes, he eventually finds this incredible treasure.  

Before we get there, there is this scene where Ben and his dad are fighting. His dad says, stop it, just stop searching. There is a clue, then another clue. Then he says, “There is no treasure. I wasted 20 years of my life. And now you’ve destroyed yours.” He lost his wife. His lost his job. He lost his son.  

He was captivated by treasure. He was inspired. Awed by it. Enthralled by it.  

You’ve got to have more than wealth. You’ve got to have treasure. Your search for wealth will never do it. You’ve got to discover treasure.   

There is nothing wrong with wealth. Some of the richest people were and are Christians. Job. Abraham. David. Solomon. Joseph. Lydia. Philip Ng in Singapore. Karl Albrecht of Germany. Paul wouldn’t say these words if there weren’t enough rich Christian people. 

There is only one way to get real treasure. Spend what you have. Then you’ll save. What do I mean? Jesus puts it this way today.  

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”  

Do you see what happens here? This is crazy, isn’t it? The guy discovers treasure in a field. So he buries it and buys the field. Wait a second, why did he buy the field?! No one knew it was there. Just take it! And even more, what does he do? He sold all he had. Why!? No one else wanted the field. See? This is the surprise. This is the twist.  

First, these men have an epiphany. Both of these men are illumined. They see a value that other people don’t see. They understand something of value and beauty is there that other people miss. They have the insight. They have the revelation. They’re illumined. They understand it. 

Then secondly, they realize there is no halfway way to get it. There’s no trying things out. There’s no incremental. There is all or nothing. They’re going to have to risk everything. They’re going to have to lose everything. They’re going to have to sell everything. They look at that race car they wanted since they were a kid and say, even this, I won’t keep.  

An absolute transformation has taken place. Can you think how awesome that treasure must be? I think of the example of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf.  

“Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf, a German nobleman who was born into great power and privilege and lived from 1700 to 1760, was one of the founders of the Moravian Church. Over the years he spent his wealth down to practically zero doing good deeds, pouring himself out for others. Why? What happened that motivated him so radically? As a young man of nineteen, he was sent to visit the capital cities of Europe in order to complete his education. One day he found himself in the art gallery of Dusseldforf gazing at Domenico Feti’s Ecce homo, a portrait of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. This image of the suffering Lord was very moving to Zinzendorf. Underneath the painting the artist had penned an inscription, words that Jesus might say to any one of us: “All this I did for thee; what doest thou for me?” (Timothy Keller, Jesus the King, pg 166) 

Zinzendorf gets something. He gets the difference between real treasure and fake treasure.  

Fake treasure tries to prove its own value and its own worth. Fake treasure looks shiny. It might look impressive. It might look good. 

Real treasure proves your value. Your worth. Real treasure says, you my owner, my master, my Lord, you are worth something. You are worth more than you ever imagined.  

What does Jesus say? “The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He serves you.  

God may be his Father, but as a man he serves you, his owner, his lord. He proves  

He proves your value and worth. How can you not spend all the treasure he is?  

Spend what you’ve got and save. Save yourself. Save others.   

Can you do that?  

This lesson has nothing to do with earning forgiveness, acceptance, and eternity. Nothing to do with that.  

There is something God says you must do to receive forgiveness, acceptance, and eternity.  

There’s nothing you can do to earn it. 

Imagine you’re a light switch. Turn on the light switch on the wall. It seems to bring on the light, but it doesn’t. What turns on the light is the power. The light switch simply is a channel of the power. It has no power of its own.  

This is one of the most important distinctions both in Christian teaching and your own Christian experience. There are things to do to receive God’s gifts. 

The total commitment is the way in which it’s received but not earned. That man found the treasure and he sold everything he had. What is that?  

Repentance. Commitment. Letting go of everything.  

It’s not a spend to get saved. It’s not even a spend for saving. It’s a spend and be saved.  

Some of my most favorite people spend more than they even have. (KL, DK) I remember one of them was offended that I offered to pay for his coffee when we had breakfast. Offended! That I bought coffee!  

Action  

Let’s spend and save. The people around us might be more loved than we could imagine. Just as important, we’ll lay up treasure for real life. Spend and sav

Love your neighbor

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Listening guide

How am I going to treat you?

“Let both grow together”. (verse 30)

“ Let them grow to the harvest” = “forgive them to grow until the harvest.”

_______________, don’t ______________________ your neighbors.  

Discussion questions

What’s a humorous story from your neighbors you can share?  

Jesus described his own mission in different ways. Read the passages below and discuss Jesus’ mission. Do you have a passage you like that tells Jesus’ mission? 

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)  

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,     because he has anointed me     to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners     and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)  

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)  

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17) 

In the Bible Jesus carried out his mission in many places: from Capernaum down to Jerusalem and many places in between (see the maps below). In that way, his life and work were very different from ours. He didn’t have only one “neighborhood” or “community” to work in his own life. Still, Jesus conducted very intimate, personal ministry (see below). What do we learn about Jesus’ ministry from these and similar events?  

He was in the home of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31)  

He healed a paralytic in his “home” (Mark 2:1-12)  

He had dinner with Levi (Mark 2:15)  

He was invited into the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42)  

He met with Nicodemus at night (John 3)  

He drank water with a woman at a well (John 4)  

Just as Jesus had a mission, the Bible clearly states his followers will have a mission. From the passages below, how do you summarize the church’s mission? As a follow up to that question, the Bible says very little about how we carry out that mission. Should we tell our neighbor in our front yard or theirs? Should we go to foreign countries? Should we get a YouTube channel? What do you see as your role in the church’s mission?  

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)  

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15-16)  

 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:46-49)  

 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) 

One way that the Bible suggests us thinking of the people we should serve is our neighbor. In fact, he says all of God’s law can be summarized this way: “30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.” When he says the word “neighbor”, what do you think that means? 

Luke 10:25-37 (the story of the Good Samaritan), specifically verse 29, show us how hard it is to love our actual neighbors. “29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”” What do you think are some of the reasons it so hard to love our actual neighbors?  

The Bible shows that wonderful things can happen when we love our actual neighbors. For example, Mark 2:1-12. What wonderful events happen to Jesus’ neighbor?  

It’s much easier to love our neighbors when we actually know their names. Below is a tool called a “Block Map”. You can fill in the names of the people on your block. If you don’t have a “block”, you can write out a few networks of people in the next table.  

Sermon

During the pandemic and the protests, one of the things I keep asking people – when I get to talk to them, that is – is what are you taking away from this time?  

I’ve heard a bunch of different responses. I’ve been surprised by all the people who have said, “People are s-t-u-p-I-d". I don’t want to be crude. That’s just what they say.   

First part of me says, yup, sure are. The Bible says we’re sinners. We’re hostile to God and to one another.  

The other part of me says, I don’t know what you mean by that. I don’t know if you are for or against masks. I don’t know how you feel about protests. But what do you intend to do with that conclusion?  

I asked one of them, so, what are you going to do about that? They didn’t know. And that, that concerns me.  

I suppose you could ignore people. Criticize them. Condemn them. Reject them. If you are that person, I might stay away from you or put you down. If the only thing, or even the main thing, you think about people, is they’re s-t-u-p-I-d, I’m not sure you can treat them well.  

I know we all find this an incredibly hard time. I’ve got all these thoughts swirling in my head, all these questions and concerns. Then you make a choice. I think, anything but that! How could you be so …. 

What should I do with you? How am I going to treat you? Jesus answers part of that question today. For the next few weeks we’ll take a look at different aspects of this theme, “Love our Neighbors”.  

Today we have one of the many parables of Jesus. These are really short stories. They try to tell us how God’s world works. They’re always surprising us. You know you’ve got the parable wrong if there is no surprise. And I think this is a pretty good one.  

Jesus says, there is a field. We can imagine the field is the world. Wheat and weeds grow together in the field. To understand the story better, I think it helps to know that the weed is zizania, or darnel. It actually looks a lot like wheat. Here comes the first surprise.  

Jesus says, “Let both grow together”. (verse 30) I know a lot of you like gardening. If you want to see what weeds and flowers growing together look like, you can come to my house when we’re done. I doubt any of you gardeners leave the weeds in your garden. Jesus leaves them both.  

This is not what most religions and ways of thinking to do. Jesus says people are the weeds and the wheat. What most people want to do is, what do most people do? They pull out, they kick out, they separate out, and they remove the “people of the evil one”. Whoever they are.  

To get a sense of this, there are lot of examples in history. If you’re a resident of Europe in 1095, the people to separate out are the Muslims living in Jerusalem. If you’re a Spaniard living in the 1470s, the people to kick out are the nonCatholics from the country of Spain. If you’re an Iraqi living in the 2010s, they might be the residents of certain Christian settlements. If you’re a Communist living in China in 1950, they might be wealthy landowners. If you’re a Nazi in Germany in the 1940s, they might be the Jews.  

This is nothing new. They saw Jesus as the Messiah. They thought he was this great and awesome king. And maybe you think it is time for me to deal with the Romans, or the Jewish religious leaders, or the Samaritans. He says, I sense you want me to be kind of a Joshua and drive out these other leaders.  

This is why there is such a push for tolerance. There is a little oppressor in all of us. Know anyone who has shunned someone from their family? Sure.  

Jesus is saying so much more than tolerate.  

The reason life has so much misery in it is so much worse than you think it is. You think it’s those people, whoever those people are. Every time, every age, every place, has its those people.  

The truth of it is far worse than you realize. Reality itself is broken. At the very roots of reality, there is an evil. At the very roots of the psyche and at the roots of our society and at the roots of reality itself, the roots of the natural and even the supernatural fabric of the universe, there is an evil, a cancer, that’s eating out the guts of the way things are.  

The only way to rip it out is to destroy everything. Literally everything. Jesus has to rip out the roots of the natural and supernatural universe to get rid of this evil.  

He says, you are not the great revolution of life. I am the great revolution of life. I’m the one who is going to change everything.  

It’s not enough for you and I to imagine a new government, new tax code, new non-profits, or new religions. It’s not enough to say, the world would be better if we just got rid of those people. Imagine everything restored. Imagine justice in the courts, mercy on the streets, hope in the homes, and love in the hearts.  

That is the judgment Jesus is going to bring at the end of all time. If we hurry to judge now, we’ll just ruin things. We’ll destroy everyone. No one will flourish. There will be no wheat producing a great harvest or crop.  

You know what the solution is? It’s not tolerance.  

Jesus doesn’t say it specifically, but he hints at it. Let me show you. When he says, “Let them grow to the harvest”, do you know what he actually says? The word “let them” actually means “forgive them”. What Jesus says is, “forgive them to grow until the harvest.” Forgive them. You know what that is? That’s a spiritual revolution.  

Jesus is not saying, “tolerate evil”. He isn’t saying “accept evil”. Jesus says as strongly as anyone, if something causes you to sin, cut it out. Get rid of it. If someone sins against you, don’t ignore it. Go and tell them. Call them out. If someone calls himself or herself a believer, yet they refuse to actually follow me, kick them out. Don’t call them a believer. Call them an unbeliever.  

But Jesus is the absolute, total, and complete sacrifice for sins. He is dead and risen for each and every sin. The Jews and the Romans oppressed, kicked him out, and pulled him out. Even more, he lost his Father. On the cross, he cried, my God, my God. What does that mean?  

Each and every sin is actually paid for, eliminated, and needs to be handled in a way that the person can actually receive forgiveness. I learned about a powerful example from the Holocaust.  

“After the defeat of Hitler’s Nazi regime in World War II, Holocaust survivor and Christian Corrie ten Boom returned to Germany to declare the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. One evening, after giving her message, she was approached by a man who identified himself as a former Nazi guard from the concentration camp at Ravensbruck, where she had been held and where her sister, Betsie, had died. 

When Corrie saw the man’s face, she recognized him as one of the most cruel and vindictive guards from the camp. He reached out his hand and said to her, “A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea! You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk. I was a guard there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein, will you forgive me?” About this encounter, Corrie writes: 

“I stood there—I whose sins had again and again been forgiven—and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place. Could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking? It could have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I ever had to do . . . I had to do it—I knew that. [The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. . . . ] But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. “Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. 

 “As she reached out her hand to the former guard, Corrie says that something incredible took place. She continues: 

 “The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. “I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!” . . . I had never known love so intensely, as I did then. But even then, I realized it was not my love . . . It was the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer, Thomas Nelson, 2020, pp.19-20)  

Forgive, don’t oppress your neighbors.  

So what are you going to do what person you feel is so dumb?  

Jesus has given us an incredible resource. Let me see if I can show us. Imagine a situation with a friend, a neighbor or a coworker.  

One of the things a Christian can always say is, we don’t know, I don’t know, we could be wrong, and I could be wrong. No matter what the topic is – masks, politics, school openings,   There is a man in the Bible called Job. He lost his family, his wealth, and his health. His friends all told him, “You must have done something terribly wrong. Curse God and die.” In the end of the book, God tells the friends they were wrong the whole time. He never tells Job if something was wrong. God is the only one with a true outsider’s perspectives.  

At the same time, there are so many good and true and beautiful things that we do know, and we should talk about them. Justice should reign. Truth should ring out. Mercy should flourish.  

This is what the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus gives us. It lets us avoid both zealotry and passivity. Zealotry is what happens when we say, this is the only way we can be accepted by God and the other people. That’s not true. Jesus says, “let them grow together”. I’ll figure it out. And yet Jesus says, “let them grow together”. Grow into what is good and true and beautiful. Passivity is not the answer. Just as Jesus is risen from the dead, we grow in a new life.  

Avoid both zealotry and passivity as you love your neighbor. 

Will you join me in loving our neighbors? 

Some of you are really great neighbors. You’re living forgiveness with your neighbor whether or not they want it. Thank you. And I hope you get a chance to share your stories.  

Most of us frankly aren’t.  

Jesus doesn’t say it explicitly in this lesson. What he says explicitly is, “I’m the great farmer and harvester. And someday I’ll get to collect a great harvest.” He hints at the way to get there. It’s letting the weeds and the wheat grow together. It’s forgiving the nonbeliever. It’s growing together with your neighbor. 

Will you join me in loving our neighbors? And I bet we’ll see a harvest more awesome than we’ve ever known.  

Forgive, don’t oppress your neighbors.