A Prepared Bride 13 - Loving Your Neighbor 1 – Luke 10

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." Luke 10:25-37 NIV

In this account, Jesus causes an expert in the law to reveal that he knows what is right. As James would later write,

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. James 4:17 NIV

In order to divert attention away from his own disobedience, this expert in the law throws out a question to which he expects no answer. However, Jesus has an answer in the form of what we refer to the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In this parable, Jesus revels the man’s own heart, lays bare this expert’s hypocrisy and strikes to the very heart of prejudice and religious snobbery.

The point that Jesus is trying to make to him and to us is that we must love one another. John, the apostle whom Jesus loves, wrote,
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 NIV

There is a popular saying,

"No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main. - John Donne - Meditation XVII.

Paul stated it this way.

From him (Christ) the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Eph 4:16 NIV

In other words, we, in Christ, are to function as the body does. No one part is more important than another and all are necessary, together, to function correctly. Also, the individual parts grow as each parts does what it is supposed to do.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 1 Cor 12:12 NIV

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Cor 12:14-27 NIV

As members of the Body of Christ, we do not have the luxury of picking and choosing the parts that we want in the Body. There is no “spiritual plastic surgery” where by we can replace a body part we are not particularly fond of.

Paul gives us a unique perspectivbe on what Jesus established what we know refer to as “the Lord’s Supper”. Paul asked this question,

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. 1 Cor 10:16-17 NKJV

From these references, we have come to refer to this event as “Communion”. The Greek word used for “communion” is koinonia - "communion, fellowship, sharing in common"* which can also be translated “fellowship”.

In continuing to make reference to “A Prepared Bride” and the New Jerusalem, I have written about repairing and maintaining the walls of our city both corporately , i.e. the church, and individually. The first wall having been presented as worship or loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. Fellowship is the second of the four walls.

Using the illustration of Communion, Bob Mumford once taught that true fellowship or true communion was “breaking off a little piece of yourself and sharing it.”

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it… 1 Cor 11:23-24 NIV

Jesus took the break and broke, symbolizing for us that His body would be broken for us.

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." Luke 22:19 NIV

Representing His own self, Jesus broke the bread and gave it to His disciples and they ate. A sacrifice is not a sacrifice without giving. Have you heard the story of the chicken and the pig that were so grateful to the farmer for his care for them that they decided to give him a breakfast of fresh ham and eggs. The chicken was making a contribution but the pig was making a sacrifice!

Too often fellowship, in the Christian church, has more to do with coffee and donuts and with laying down our lives for each other. We schedule times of “fellowship” between Sunday school and church or after the Wednesday night prayer meeting but there is very little true communing going on.

One of the reason for this “barely scratch the surface” type of fellowship is a fear of being “found out”. A number of years ago, John Powell wrote a book entitled “Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am?” Essentially, the answer to the question is this, I am afraid to tell you who I am because of I tell you who I am and you don’t like who I am, I got nothing left!

If we erect a facade behind which we can hide our true selves and we discover that someone does not like that façade, we can just simply make the necessary changes or construct an entirely new one to be accepted, included allowed in.

I can see that this is going long today, so let bring this to a point and continue with my next entry.

We cannot grow, we cannot mature, and we cannot fulfill our destiny in God without a vital, life-exchanging relationship with the Body of Christ, the Church. This is not a set of rituals or religious practices to assuage our guilt but the pursuit of giving and receiving from other members of the body – breaking off a little piece of ourselves and sharing it.

If you are not a part of a living, breathing, growing gathering of believers, then seek one out. If you are someone who is just going through the motions, fulfilling a religious obligation, then repent and get serious with God. You will find Him eager to assist!


*(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)