Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:06 Welcome to village church, sermon Q and a pastor Michael, here with you. I'm with pastor Craig and with pastor Alex on May 16th, 2021, we preached a sermon about being a good neighbor. So pastor Craig, I have a question for you. Can I be a good neighbor, but not share the gospel? What's
Speaker 1 00:00:23 The, yeah. So it's a good question. I'm I'm kinda caught on this question because we have a tendency to think to ourselves. If we fit into the category of good neighbor, we must necessarily speak about Christ to our neighbors now in and of itself, that is a very good idea. They should know that you're a believer. They should know that you're a follower of Jesus Christ, but they shouldn't know it just by your words. They should also know it by your actions. And it's interesting when Jesus is asked the greatest commandment of all, he boils down all of the 10 commandments, basically into two categories. The first one is, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. And the second is like, it love your neighbor as yourself. So there's a part of, um, loving God that is reflected in how we love one another almost, almost to the point where they're, they're very close to being equal because he said the second is like it.
Speaker 1 00:01:14 So it's very, very close. So I think, uh, it's interesting that we don't just love in word, but we also love indeed. And when you read in scripture and you read about what it means to be a good neighbor, Jesus actually was asked this question, how do I be a good neighbor? And instead of telling people, well, you just need to tell about me, which he has done on several occasions, right? He literally sent out 700 disciples saying, go tell people about me, right? This is the great commission go into all the world, preach the gospel, tell people about me. You are my witnesses. I mean, he's doing that all over the place. However, when he's asked the question, who is my neighbor, or what does it mean to be a good neighbor? He gives a story of a good Samaritan. Now, you know the story of the good Samaritan, he's on a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho.
Speaker 1 00:02:02 This is about a 40 kilometer journey. And it's about a, I think it's like 2000 feet drop. So it is very steep. I actually have bicycle disks and it's, uh, I think I did one rotation on my bicycle and it was just coasting the rest of the time. So it is a very dangerous place. The water flows off of the mountains in Jerusalem and creates these big things called watties. And in these waters, in these big crevices in the ground, like people could live, people could hide and you have bandits there and they wait for people to make the journey. And then they steal from them. This is the illustration. Jesus gives. It's a very real illustration because people know people get ripped off on this journey. This guy gets ripped off. He gets passed by by two people that you would think should stop and help to put it in our context, probably pastors, you know, you'd think that they should stop and how
Speaker 2 00:02:54 Exactly
Speaker 1 00:02:55 He uses us as the bad guys. And he said they didn't stop and help. But the one person did was a Samaritan and the Samaritan was half Jewish, half Gentile. So they were half-breeds. They were the brunt of every joke. They were, you know, the, the Polish, you know, the Polish,
Speaker 2 00:03:11 You would use your Canadian jokes <inaudible> so
Speaker 1 00:03:20 This Samaritan though, they were not looked highly upon. So Jesus chooses the Samaritan who stops and helps this guy that got beat up. He says, he, he healed him. He, he, he treated his wounds with oil and, and wine. He helped his, the hurt go away, the pain go away. And then he takes them to a place where he can like a pseudo hospital where the owner of the place looks after him. And he pays for him. And he says, if he needs to stay longer to heal, send me the bill and I'll take care of it. And then he asks, which of these three people was a good neighbor. And of course the answer was the one who showed mercy. And then he said, go and do likewise. So I think we share the gospel absolutely inward, but we also share it indeed, because he doesn't say, go and preach the gospel.
Speaker 1 00:04:08 In that instance, he says, go and be a good neighbor. And when you get to the book of Romans, there's a great passage in the book of Romans in chapter 13, where Paul, the apostle is writing. He says, oh no, anyone, oh, no one, anything except to love each other for the one who loves has fulfilled the law. And this is what we were talking about yesterday, the law for the commandments. Now listen to this, don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't covet. All of those ways that we treat our neighbors, he says, and any other commandment are summed up in this word. Here's what it is. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is fulfilling the law. So I think the answer to the question is, can I be a follower of Jesus and not necessarily share verbally the gospel with my neighbor?
Speaker 1 00:04:57 The answer is yes, because as I live in a way that loves my neighbor, I am sharing the gospel. Now, given the opportunity to share the gospel, I should take advantage of it. They should know that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, not just by the things that I do, not just by the way that I treat my property and, and, uh, help my neighbors and show up when there's an ambulance in front of my neighbor's front lawn. But I want to make sure that I'm also, uh, making sure that I speak the truth and demonstrate the truth. That's great.
Speaker 0 00:05:25 As you're talking, I was thinking about our, like where we live and I know the faith and the church of every person around me. Um, not because I asked. Um, but because it was very apparent by things they did where their kids go to school. What happens in Sunday mornings? Just passing conversations or I was at church or was it this thing? Or, uh, I also know, um, it's interesting. Cause if they are generally religious in any way, I know where they are, if they are a religious, but they're really into modern social movements. I know that they're very clear. They have, they have a sign on their window and, um, uh, interesting. Like there is not, we do not have one mean biting, cutting neighbor, like at all, like they're really, I mean really great people all around, like really love them. But the ones I don't know are the completely irreligious ones because they don't have anything to talk about. So they don't, they only talk about work or life or whatever. And it's interesting that like, just by me being in this neighborhood for six years, I know everyone around me, their religious like inclination based on what they say, um, what they put up in their windows and their signs in their houses or what they don't say. It's very interesting. If, if I found out that two of my neighbors on our cul-de-sac were believers in Jesus Christ, I would be so mad right
Speaker 2 00:06:48 Now. I'm like, you have been a Christian, you love
Speaker 0 00:06:51 Jesus. And you have like one of them, like you've stayed in doors and I've seen you three times, that's it like in your, you're not ill. Like, that's really like, that's your, and it's interesting though, because, uh, the ones who like are just professed Christ are honestly the best neighbors, like on our street. They're really incredible people. And, um, and it's, there is one person in our neighborhood that, um, has gone out of their way, the whole family to love so well, um, that when somebody got cancer, they were the first one they called. Um, they are the only ones in our neighborhood because they've been there long enough that if they w he had talked about doing can just kind of a Bible study, he's the only one who could do it. And anybody would show up because he is loved. So faithfully consistently, uh, he has always been there. He's always been helping. I mean, it's interesting that his general posture has opened up, uh, everybody for a conversation.
Speaker 1 00:07:41 I love that because, uh, one of the phrases I said yesterday is you, you may not be able to bring your neighbor to Jesus, but you can do a lot to prevent
Speaker 0 00:07:49 It. Totally. Yup. Yeah. And then I, what I find interesting is like a Paul says, and I can't remember where maybe these pastors here can help me figure out the text. Um, he talks about like, pray for me for an open door for the gospel. I know that he's in prison and he's praying that the Lord he's praying, asking that, uh, that, uh, pray for him, that he be able to share the gospel while he's there. But he, he says, pray for an open door. Even Paul knows it's not always the right time to share the gospel, uh, because you can share it at the wrong time and heart and a heart that there's a context. And that your discernment tells you when the door is going to be open.
Speaker 1 00:08:22 That's the holy spirit at work within us. And I know, um, I got to give you one more story in the, in the scriptures. There's a story of when Paul and Silas ended up in jail, they are prisoners chained to the wall. And it's interesting. The Philippian jailer, the story is, is an amazing story about this jailer, who there's an earthquake, the doors fly open, you know, the story, and all the prisoners now are freed. They can go free. And he's fearful because not only will Rome take his life, they'll, they'll cut his family down, everybody related to him. And so he want to see this. So he's about to take his own life. And Paul says, don't worry. We're all still here. And I'm amazed by that, because number one, how did the prisoners, why did the prisoners run? Why did they stay with Paul?
Speaker 1 00:09:07 But the number two is what drew them to stay with Paul. Yeah. And you can read about it in scripture, he's actually in jail and what are they doing? They're singing. And they're praising the Lord. It shows jail over that man to death. Exactly. And I find it. I feel like if you have the spirit of God inside of you, it's not like you need to make an effort to stick tracks on doors or, you know, take every hour, your neighbor comes along and you preach the gospel to them in one word. I think it's more than that. I think there's, there's an attractiveness to our personality that, that faith pulls people in. Especially like you said, when they're in times of desperation.
Speaker 0 00:09:43 Yeah. Imagine that guards like, just panic in that moment and that how gracious, uh, Paul and those people were, how they chose jail. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:09:52 And then, and then they go to the house and instead of his, his family being wiped out, they're all saved and baptized that night. That's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 0 00:10:01 I think that's a great way to end. I wanna thank you for joining us. And, uh, we hope this is encouraging for you. We have more questions to come on sooner. QA sell fuel. You'll join us.
