Loving neighbors as you Love Yourself

Matthew 22:36: "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
37: And He said to him,"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."
38: This is the greatest and foremost commandment.
39:The second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."


It has been a difficult summer for me to minister and share the word with my neighbors and friends. Many of the people I have been sharing with have had difficulties themselves or with family members who have been using alcohol. There has been many anger issues in these families, and divorces and people fighting depression and many of them have financial problems and they have problems keeping a job. I have been showing care and concern and tried to reach out to these people. Often they realize that they have a problem, but it has such a stronghold in their lives that they can't give it up.

I have spent the last couple of weeks praying about what to do about the situation. One of the prayers has been for Christ to somehow show me why people are drawn to the bar even though it is causing so much hardship in their families lives.

A couple of weeks ago two people gave me part of the answer and both shared an example of a TV show called Cheers. Paul Cobb wrote on Facebook that the bar was called Cheers and that real joy could only be found in fellowship with Christians and is only found through Christ who strengthens us and we all have a desire to belong to a fellowship, but those who seek it in a tavern will only find a counterfeit fellowship. Later that week, I went to the bank and Robin Groll handed me a printout from Christianity.com which was talking about the same thing. It also mentioned the show Cheers and that people like the fellowship they receive their, and that they can talk about anything they are doing, even if it is shocking because there it will be acceptable to most.

Later in the article it shared a testimony about a marine who accepted Christ. He used to curse severely, got drunk frequently, got into fights, was sexually active with several women, and he hated going to chapel.After he surrendered his life to Christ, he admitted that he missed that fellowship with those friends because in the church he had no one to admit his faults and struggles with, because people would judge him.

Christ wants to give that fellowship to his church. The tavern is a counterfeit or imitation, It dispenses liquor and not grace, escape from your problems and not reality. The bar becomes busy not because people enjoy alcohol and its effects, but because God put into the human heart the desire to know others and be known, to love and be loved. The church needs to become that place where people can come as they are and share their faults and still feel loved by others.

It also explains about the church in Philadelphia in Revelation which is the church of brotherly love. It explained that we need to show affectionate love to each other and it reminded us that we who have been born again have all come from the same spiritual womb. And we all have God as our heavenly Father.


Romans12:13: contributing to the needs of the saints, practising hospitality.
14: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15: Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

In the phrase contribute to the needs of others, it doesn't necessarily mean just whatever we give Sunday morning in the offering plate. There are many needs in the family of God that never get met, because we don't really get close enough to get to know each other so we don't see the needs of others. It may not always be a financial need. It may be a need of supporting others or giving of your time.

Genuine hospitality. In the article it says we should pursue hospitality. This word in Greek means kindness to strangers. Two things that are explained in the article are that hospitality should not be thought of as entertaining others. It is a good thing to invite friends or family or those who you feel comfortable with over for a party or a meal, but what Paul is challenging people to do is to come up with ways to reach out to people who are strange or unknown to us. God wants us to think about new unreached people and how we can reach out to them. We somehow need to get out of our comfort zone. I recently read a blog that Pastor Cliff's sister Kim wrote about a new church she has been going to and in the first couple of weeks she has been invited to two homes for meals and also another person invited her to their home for coffee. This is an example of the impact we can have on others by reaching out to strangers with hospitality.

Gracious Forgiveness. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. It is sometimes hard to forgive those who trespass against us, but it is required of God to do it. One of the things I exercise when I am angry at others, is that I begin to pray verses that will cause them to grow in the Lord and as I begin to do that, the focus goes to Jesus and not toward the bitterness I have towards others. I pray positive verses for them such as the ones found in the books written by the apostle Paul, that people will grow in knowledge and they would keep their thoughts on Christ, then I also pray those prayers for me. I can then watch Christ do the work of reconciliation in them and me.

Rejoice when others rejoice and weep when they weep. We need to rejoice when others are happy about things that are going on in life. I know this older person and every time someone tells her something she should be happy about with them, she almost always ends the time with a negative thought. When people cry, we should cry or feelsorrow with them. Many times as Christians we hide our sorrow or crying as though we are ashamed that we are showing weakness to others, but I am always reminded of the shortest verse in the Bible right after Lazarus died. It consists of two simple words. Jesus wept. If our shepherd cried , why are we to hide our tears and sorrow from brothers and sisters in Christ. In order to follow this example to the fullest, we need to get to know others better, especially our fellow neighbors. We can not get to know their joys or sorrows by just waving to them when we go to the mailbox. We all need someone to share these truths with and our faith should begin to move us in pursuing them. If we do not reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ in these ways, they will look outside the church to feel the void of loneliness they are experiencing, and many will choose that Cheers atmosphere which is the counterfeit fellowship to fill that hole in their hearts.

Now we our stuck with a challenge. Where do we begin to make the difference. Let us begin right here in the church. Let it begin with us. As new people come through our doors let us not become comfortable with just us, but let us pray how we can get out of our comfort zones, and get to know the people who God has drawn to Himself. I am grateful to the Cambridge Springs Christian Missionary Alliance church family that they have made great progress in all these areas that were mentioned in this article, and I am continuing to pray how God can use me to share the good news with my community so the taverns will not have all this negative control over all these hurting families.

The article ended with this prayer that I would like to echo:

Our Father, thank you for calling us out of the world and into your family. Teach us what it means to truly love each other. We pray that your love would continue to unite us and that your Spirit would continue to break any barriers that might separate us. May we be your people with a loving purpose, Quick to reach needs, eager to reach out to strangers, help us to bless those who our enemies, rejoice with those who rejoice and help us to weep with those who weep. Fill us to overflowing with your love so the world will see Jesus in us. In Jesus' name. Amen.