Extending Love to Our Neighbors

Speaker 1:

Hi, I'm Brian Mosley, our team here at right now. Media loves serving the church. We believe the mission of the church matters and that unity in the church matters. Whether you're watching this message alone or with your leadership team, we hope that it is an encouragement to you. And in this session, pastor Ben Stewart reminds us that the Christian life is a life marked by love.

Speaker 2:

You got a copy of your scriptures. I want to read to you from First Peter chapter four, first Peter, chapter four. I'm going to start in verse seven. I want to read this passage to kind of load it into our minds. We'll pray and then jump into it together. One Peter chapter four, starting in verse seven says this, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of sins, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Well, father, thank you for a few minutes around your word. I pray you would help us. Would you quicken our minds, Lord that we understand it? And then, Lord, would you move our hearts so that we care about what you care about? And I'm just praying that our hearts would beat and rhythm with yours today and that our lives would be different because of that, that we wouldn't just absorb knowledge, but we would be transformed by it. So we're asking you for help, and I just want to ask you family, if you're up for it, to take a minute and you pray and ask him, say, Lord, please teach me.

And then if you would please pray for me, that the Lord would use me and I'd be helpful to you. Well, father, we love you and we trust you. Use this time and we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, when I was in my early twenties, there was a great deal of uncertainty about the future. And it wasn't just for me and my friends, it was global in scale. There was a stifling sense of anxiety and tension in the atmosphere. And this terrible sense of impending doom had a name, simple, terrifying name Y 2K.

Now for those of you under the age of 30 who haven't covered this yet in social studies, let me explain. Apparently computers at the time weren't designed to handle years. It began with the number two. And so we were told all of our technology would fail. No more a OL, no more MapQuest, no power to your flip phone. We'd be plunged into the darkness and it felt very grim. And in the midst of that, Hollywood just kept amping up the anxiety. There was all these movies about floods destroying the earth and ice destroying the earth and volcanoes destroying the earth. And every other movie was Will Smith being chased by zombies or robots or aliens. It was all very grim. And so my buddies and I, we would gather around the fire at night and we would start to talk about like, man, what's going to happen if this all goes down?

If this apocalyptic scenario is realized, well of course we're going to start a compound, but then the questions would come around, Hey, if we got one, unless you got a particular set of skills, you're just going to be an absorption of precious resources. And so this conversation became man who gets in. And as we would do that, we were like, well, obviously Rebecca and Mandy are going to get in. They're studying medicine. We'll need their expertise. Obviously I will get in. I was the only one that grew up hunting, so I knew how to stalk, kill and process an animal. I'm going to be there. But some other people, it was far from certain were like Poly-sci major, do you sow?

And we realized it was starting to get very Darwinian, pretty dark, and someone reminded us of the words of Jesus. Jesus said, when I was hungry, you gave me food to eat When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me water to drink when I was a stranger, you welcomed me. And they asked him, when did we do this to you? And he said, when you did it to the least of these, you did it to me. The love of the Christian overflows expected banks all the way even to enemies and to those who give you no direct advantage, your love extends even to them. So we read that and we're like, all right, well, that's our command from the king. We're going to love everybody and we're going to care for those who maybe don't help us in a direct way.

However, once we let people into our community, if they are healthy, they should contribute. And communities thrive. When everyone within it feels that responsibility to contribute, we're wired that way. It's interesting, obviously we survived Y 2K and it was in some ways a humorous sort of little thought exercise. We were in as young people, but it does point to something fundamental When there is crisis and uncertainty, what will we do? Will we blow apart or do we bind together? Is it every man for himself or do we extend ourselves out in love towards the other? Sebastian Younger writes about this in the book Tribe that on the verge of World War ii, Churchill found out that Germany's plan was to heavily bomb major cities believing that it would cause a panic and everyone would flee every man for themselves. And Churchill and his team were worried that it would work, and yet they were shocked when the opposite occurred.

September 7th, 1940, for 57 consecutive days, German bombers flew over London dropping thousands of tons of explosives in residential areas. And not only did it fail to produce mass hysteria, it didn't even trigger individual psychosis. Psychiatric hospitals saw their admissions go down. Psychiatrists watched in puzzlement as longstanding patients saw their symptoms subside. One doctor remarked chronic neurotics are now driving our ambulances. And one doctor who studied it afterwards said, when people are actively engaged in a cause, their lives have more purpose and it improves mental health. And he says, it's irresponsible to suggest violence is a means of improving mental health. But the findings show that people feel better psychologically when they're more involved in their community that we're built for this. When crisis comes, we band together as a community for a great cause. This is how Christianity got to us. If you look at what happened in ancient Rome and 1 65 ad under the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a massive plague hit Rome, and by the end of it, it had wiped out somewhere between one fourth and one third of the entire Roman Empire.

And then in 2 51 ad it happened again, massive ravaging of Rome. And for many Romans what they did when a plague broke out, they broke out, sorry, bye. And you ran to the hills to eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow you were dead. And yet after this, when all of that subsided, the population of Rome was considerably more Christian. Why is that? Well, Rodney Stark talked about it in his book, the Rise of Christianity. He said for two reasons. Number one is that Christianity had better answers for why they're suffering in the world and for hope beyond it, we had the truth and people needed it in times of difficulty. And number two, the Christian value of love had been trained to express itself and loving kindness to others. Tertullian wrote it. It's our care for the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of our opponents only look, they say at how they love one another.

Julian, the apostate, the emperor who longed to stamp out Christianity said, I'm trying to destroy these people, but he said, these godless galileans, meaning they didn't worship the pantheon of Gods. He says they not only care for their own sick, but ours as well. He said, I'm trying to stamp 'em out and they're so nice. And by the end of that Christianity where before the pandemics there was one Christian for every 250 pagans. By the end there was one Christian. For every four Christianity was advanced. How? Because when times got hard, we loved well that we taught the truth about who God is, why they're suffering in the world and how it's dealt with. And as we spoke, the truth we loved, well, we were full of grace and truth because that's what Christ is and that's what we are. So in Washington DC it's really interesting.

Our church, just by way of survey, we did a survey recently 35% of the people in our church. This is our first church ever. And the average age of our church is under the age of 30, which kind of matches the city. I don't know if your mental map of Washington DC is young, but it is, which I don't know if that encourages or terrifies you, that the government's run by young people, but it is, and we're watching all these young people come in and are interested in faith. There's a search for truth that's very encouraging for pastors in the midst of a difficult day and what are they going to encounter? What's interesting that these are difficult and trying days in first Peter, Peter was writing to people in difficult and trying days. Persecution was just starting to break out when he wrote this book and it was difficult.

Christians were being maligned and slandered. In the midst of that, there's a natural tendency to just turtle up and get out of the world. And yet the Christian, when times get hard, we love well. And you see, Peter tells them in the midst of persecution in verse nine, above all, excuse me, verse eight. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. If you want a wooden translation of it, he literally says towards one another, keep having a stretched out love, which is a weird way to say it, but that word we translate here, earnestly is the word enos. It means to stretch out. It means a love that is steadfastly pursued and persist despite difficulty. It's interesting. In Rio, in the Olympics in 2016, in the Women's 400 meter finals, it was billed as youth verse experience. Shana Miller from The Bahamas was a young emerging star, and she was racing against Alison Felix from the US who was trying to crown her career with a fifth gold medal.

And as the race began, Shana came out of the blocks fast. She was winning the whole time. But in the final kick, it looked like Miller was going to overtake her. And as they came to the finish line, young Shana in a desperate moment, just flung her body at the finish line, total yard sale, and one by seven, one hundredths of a second. That is EP 10 that is stretched out that Peter's saying, family, when life gets hard, that's when we activate. And what do we do? We don't pull back. We extend. We extend in love, right? This is what Jesus said in Matthew 24, because lawlessness has increased. The love of many will grow cold. He says, when it feels crazy and out of control, people will stop loving. But then he says, the gospel will be preached to the ends of the earth.

How? Because some of us won't get colder. We will start to burn hotter. And we say, this is our moment in a cold and unfriendly and angry world. Behold how they love one another. Look at them and lemme tell you something, we need this. We need this to survive. I remember when I was a youth pastor in Texas started, I had a youth ministry of just a handful of kids and I was teaching 'em the gospel. They were coming to faith in Jesus, but then they would scatter to their different high schools and the peer pressure was just too strong and they would break. And I learned early on as a minister, I can't just give them the gospel of Jesus Christ, this vertical connection I have to really help create a vibrant, loving counterculture for them to live in one where they love one another dearly and that love radiates like a fire that gives warmth and light to those around them.

So we love with a stretched out love, which incidentally, we all want this to be true. You want us to say this at your funeral? And guess what? We'll, someone's going to get up there and go, you know her. She never met a stranger. She was so kind to everybody. She was the best neighbor you'd ever want. Oh man. He was always there to help somebody. If they needed to move, he always had to pick up ready. He just cared for people so deeply they're going to say it. You just don't want people in the crowd to go, huh, I don't remember. Am I at the right?

You want the people in the crowd to have tears forming in their eyes because they go, I got a story too of how when life was hard for me, they loved, well, this is what the Christian does we love, right? Why does it require a stretching out? Why does it require effort? Well, he says, since love covers over a multitude of sins, what does the Christian do in difficult days? We stretch out in love and we stretch out with a sin covering love, and you go cover up sin. Some of you go, what does that mean? I'm supposed to put a lid on it. I know where the bodies are buried. I helped to bury him. Is that what you're saying here, that we sort of suppress truth out of some twisted sense of loyalty? What are you trying to advocate here? Not advocating, concealing people's transgressions.

The Bible is replete with those who conceal a sin will not prosper You confess and forsake to find mercy. This is the Christian way, right? What I think Peter's doing here is the same thing James does. They're quoting Proverbs 10, Proverbs 10, verse 12 says, hatred stirs up strife, but love covers over offenses. And if you notice the proverbs using fire imagery, if you want to stoke a fire, what do you do? You do what all men love to do. You fiddle with it, poke it, and prod it and relentlessly mess with it until it's aging. And he says that's what hatred does. It looks at somebody and says, all your offenses, every annoying thing you do, I just think about it, dwell on it, bring it up, post it, retweet it, burn this whole thing down.

But if two logs are getting too hot, what do you do? You know this. If it's time to put the fire out, you just separate 'em. You two, put that log over there, put that log over there and the fire starts to go down. Or if you're real serious about putting a fire out, what do you do? You smother it, deny it oxygen, and the flame goes out. And what he says here is, Hey, loving, stretched out is going to be difficult. Why? Because people are sinners, and sinners are annoying, right? I tell my staff that all the time, every time we're trying to handle problems at the church, I was like, this would be so much easier. It just wasn't for these freaking people, man. It's people.

But what he's saying is, I'm not denying you a sinner and we're not denying sin. We're going to talk about it. But when I focus on you, I'm not going to let the worst about you be the lead story about you. That's the difference. That's what tears us apart. But I can get the whole theology. If you're beautiful in the image of God and have dignity, even if you disagree with me and I'm going to confront you about your sin, but I do it, why not to destroy you not to win, not to own you, but to rescue you. That's what Abraham Lincoln did. Edward Stanton was his enemy. Edward Stanton made fun of not just Lincoln's policies. When he was running for president, he made fun of his face. I know that's hard to imagine, just angry political discourse. But it happened long ago in America.

And then when Lincoln became president and it was time to fill out his cabinet, when he got to the critical role of Secretary of War, he tapped Edward Stan and people told him why they'd do that guy trashed you. He said, I think he's the best of this job. Did you hear the things he said about you? And Lincoln said to one woman who's in particular distress about it, he said, how do I destroy an enemy? He said, you destroy an enemy by making them your friend. And Stanton stood the bedside after LinkedIn was lost, and he wept because that man loved him and that love changed him. That's our story. Love changes the sinner. And so we love and we love stretched out and we don't deny sin, but we don't make it the lead story, particularly in our churches. I love the old movie Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr.

And Jude Law, they're sinners and yet you can tell they get on each other's nerves, but they don't make each other's sin. The lead story, Jude Law's character has a gambling problem. Sherlock Holmes struggled with cocaine, and so they helped each other. Don't spend your money here. Hey, let's get you moving towards a positive activity. They tried to help restrain the sin in each other's lives, but they never lost sight of the great gift they were to each other. We need us. We're wired in difficult days to have community chasing a cause. So are people a hassle? Yes. But isolation is worse. And we all know this, and I could put the stats up, but it's worse for our mental health. That's why in Los Angeles and Virginia in both legislation was just passed, banning cell phones from schools. Now, I want you to catch that Governor Newsome in California and youngin in Virginia agreed on a set of facts.

They saw the data that this intense usage of social media is isolating our kids. And that isolation's bad for their development. It's killing our society. And both of 'em are trying to change it. Jonathan Hyatt, who studies young people, says among this young generation, time with friends is down 65% from 2010, not from when you were a kid. So there's something happening with our kids. And Jonathan Het, who is an atheist, wrote in his book, the Anxious Generation. He says, I've got to stop writing as a social scientist. And he said, I want to write as a fellow human being who's felt overwhelmed personally and perpetually since around 2014. And he talks through all the anxiety that's ambient in our society. And he says, I've been struggling to figure out what is happening to us. And here's the line. He says, I think I can best convey what is happening to us by using a word rarely used in the social sciences spirituality.

He said, this phone-based life is bringing spiritual degradation. And as he wrestles with the answer, he said, we need a shared sacredness. He said, there's something about human beings when they come together from different varied backgrounds and assemble together and don't just assemble, but assemble to elevate each other, to think about high things and beautiful things and true things and redemptive things. It's a shared sacredness that satisfies the human soul. And then he writes like what the Christians do when they sing together, they're desperate for what we have. We need this. We're built for this. Don't deny this. Lean in and love us. What does it look like? Verse nine, show hospitality to one another without grumbling this stretched out. Love the sin. Covering love. Love strangers like family. That word hospitality is the word Enos. Philos like Philadelphia, brotherly love. I love you like family.

A xenos is a stranger. I don't know you. The Christian is marked by treating the stranger like family. Where is Peter getting these crazy ideas? Well, he had a front row seat when Jesus was walking into town and the gospels tell us, a teacher of the law who lived there in the town wanted to test him, wanted to challenge him how things went back then you didn't have TVs, you didn't have internet. And so if you wanted something exciting to watch, you'd watch rabbis argue. And whoever won took the honor of the other person. It was kind of like the ancient version of a rap battle. It's very exciting. And so if you read the text, this young rabbi comes up to Jesus to test him. And the way you would do it is you would ask a very general question. They'd give a general response.

You'd ask a specific question, they'd give a specific response. You get more specific, they'd get more specific. And then you get down to a place of disagreement. Then you fight it out to see who wins. And so this young man comes up to Jesus, not looking for truth, not looking for answers, not looking for help. He just walks up and goes, Hey, Jesus, I got a question. And people are like, oh, oh. And they gather around, let's go. And the guy goes, what's the greatest commandment? And Jesus is supposed to give a general answer. And Jesus who's always messing with people goes, well, you studied the law. What do you think? That's not what you're supposed to do, the guy's like. But then he tries to get back on the rails. He says, you're supposed to love the Lord, you God, all your heart a certain way, love your neighbor as yourself takes Deuteronomy. Leviticus puts 'em together. It's actually a really good answer. Love God, love your neighbor as yourself. And then Jesus is supposed to ask him a more specific question and on they go. But Jesus goes, yeah, do that.

And then this guy's kind of messed up because suddenly if he says, I have, all his neighbors are there, so they're going to be like, really? Do you remember that Bob, when he loved you as much as he loves himself, I don't remember that loses honor. But if he says, I haven't, he confesses his sin. He's a weak, frail human being. He loses honor. So he's trapped. So the text says, seeking to justify himself. What does that mean? He's still trying to fight away to win the fight. He goes for a detail. Well, who then's my neighbor? What do you mean by neighbor? And what he was assuming Jesus would say is a Jewish person. And so he could say like, well, I love Judaism. They're like, he does love Jews. And that would be it. But Jesus goes, there was a man walking from Jerusalem to Jericho starts telling the story, which is not what you're supposed to do, which again is very annoying, but also interesting because again, no TVs in the story time.

They're like, okay, yeah, this is, and he starts telling the story and he's like, guy was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho. So windy road, down the mountains, usually in Jerusalem, you're transacting business. That means you got money and there's a lot of switchbacks. It's a dangerous road. It would be like the street. Our church is on U Street. If I said, Hey, he was out at U Street at 1:00 AM, the next sentence is not going to be, and he had a lovely time. We all know where this is going. Jesus is like, Hey, this guy was wandering from Jerusalem, Jericho. They're like, uhoh again. He got robbed. You're like, you're darn right. He did. And he got beat up and left for half dead. And then what happens? Priest comes by, oh, thank God. But he sees this guy. And now remember the original question, who is my neighbor?

This guy's on the ground says he's unconscious. How do you know who somebody is? Will you listen to him talk? They got an accent like this. They're from Boston. You know where someone's from if you can hear 'em talk. And they stripped him half naked. How else do you know where somebody's from? You see what they're wearing? Got a big belt buckle, big boots on, right? Big 10 gallon hat. They're from Massachusetts. So I got to look at what you're wearing and listen to you talk to figure out, do I help you or not? Are you one of me or are you one of them? And Jesus just took it out. It's like CSI. They're like, oh my gosh, who is this? Guy goes, how are you going to find out? Is he supposed to help him? And priest walks by, it's too hot. I'll get involved.

Bye leaves. Who comes by next? Teacher law, right? I don't want to mess. He didn't mess with it. I'm not messing with it. Who's the next person you expect? Next person you expect is a good Jew, right? That'd be the next person coming from Jerusalem to worship. Good Jew comes. Oh, he's going to help him. Oh, the guy like us is going to be here of the story. Yay. And Jesus goes, Samaritan, we hate those people. Samaritan comes and then Jesus slows it down, walked over to him, dressed his wounds, poured oil on him, bandage him up, put 'em on the donkey, took him to hotel, got him situated, paid the money, gave extra. I'll come back later and check on him. Jesus just keeps going way past. And then Jesus flips it and says, let me ask you a question. Which one was the neighbor? And the guy can't even say the word Samaritan. That's apparently Alaska.

Yes. So do that. Yes. So do that. Don't let them destroy the church with us as and thems right now, there's a bigger story playing out here and we got to discuss ideas, but we got to love really well because love is what turns enemies into friends. Love is what creates a counterculture. Love is the vehicle through which truth is spread. So we love one another without grumbling. We don't have time to get into this, but grumblings an amania. Amania is a word that sounds like what it sounds like. Like pow pop, something like that. Grumbling is gonzo in Greek. Isn't that great? It sounds like grumbling. Love your neighbor and love your enemy. Treat a stranger like a friend. And some of us are likeso, this guy. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Peter saw that coming. Love him, right? Because love is what precipitates life change.

Lemme tell you something. It's been powerful. People showing up at church in DC there's not a lot of applause. Like, oh, you went to church. That's such a great choice. There's not a lot of that. But you show up at church, man, we got a couple, most of our church is under the age 30. We got a couple in their sixties. They stand out front and one of 'em ask people all the time, would you like a hug? Which sounds like the last thing you'd hear in dc. People armor up, power tie, power soup, power handshake, take over the world. And he's like, would you like a hug? And I'm telling you, he's at like 35%. They're like, I would like a hug. Like men, women, children. And he and his wife just invite strangers to lunch. So many people have come to our church and come to Jesus because he hugs first and then sits and hears their story and then shares the gospel with 'em.

We got a couple at our church that gives free babysitting to a lot of these young kids that need it. We had somebody, her car got hit, wrecked a car, she wasn't going to be able to get to work. Somebody at her church just gave her a car. We got a girl at our church. She lost her parents tragically. And so she decided every holiday, she just put together a little group at our church, people who had lost one or both of their parents. So you won't be alone on the holidays. We didn't ask her to do that. It's not officially in the bulletin. She just loved We had a girl. We rally our volunteers to tell Jesus stories before church starts. And people tell stories like this. This is where I get these from. They all sit around and tell stories. I had a guest come one time, and by the end of it, everyone's telling stories about what God's doing in their life.

One guy led his boss to Christ, this guy that the other. At the end, my friend looked at me and goes, what was that? Was that church that was like kind of, I mean the service hadn't started yet, but yeah, it's kind of the church to be in the church. And he's just like, this is crazy. Yeah, it is. One girl stood up and she was at her job, and we do community groups. We rent spaces where about a hundred people can gather and do bible studies midweek. She said, I was walking out of my job, lonely alone, and I just saw happy people walking into my building. So I just turned right back around, keyed back in and followed the happiness.

And they letter her to Jesus because we love strangers. That's what we do. And look, I'm not talking about we America or we, whoever I'm talking about like you and me. Do your neighbors know you love them? Do you lean in at your church and care? Do you step in and say, you know what? My kids are grown but yours aren't. So I'm going to help you do. We care about each other when time gets hard, we got to be like this because it's the stewardship. That's the last piece. As each has received the gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. We don't have time to get into all this, but his grace came to me and I deliver it to them. So I'm just giving people what I, it's like when my kids buy me a gift, dad, I went to the store and bought you this action figure. Oh, thank you. Is this for me? Whose money was used to purchase this idea?

But I love it. They used my money to buy me something, but it came out of love from their heart and I love it. And Peter gives us this idea, love with a stretched out love that covers sins, cares for strangers, and do it at the end. He says, by God's grace and for God's glory. Where does Peter get this idea? He watched it. He watched his hero stretch out in love. And why did he do that? He did it to cover your sin mind while we were enemies. He loved us and he took strangers like you and me and he made us family. He gave us his name and he gave us grace even when we didn't deserve it. And he did it for his glory so he could put a new song in our mouth. And all Jesus is saying to us is, do that.

Do that. The world needs to see that everybody's turling up, everybody's scared, everybody's uncertain. The world needs to see a love like this. And we have it. We're just distributing to them what we've been given. This is what the Christian does. It's interesting. Tom Holland, the historian, not Spider-Man, wrote a book called Dominion. And he tells you at the beginning of the book that he's not a Christian. He got bored at church and left. He was more interested in the pagan nations than he was in the nations in the Bible. And yet, as he read them, he said he was shocked by all the values I hold dear about. Human rights were laughable to ancient cultures. Spartans didn't care about your human rights. If a baby was infirm, they pitch it over a cliff. And he said, I realized everything I think is right and beautiful and good in the world didn't come from these ancient societies of Greece and Rome or any of them.

He says, everything I think is valuable comes from Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I don't want that to be true, but it's, and then he proceeds to do a sweep of human history and show everything beautiful and good that we adopt in our modern world comes directly from Jesus. It's one of the most important books in the last 50 years. And in the midst of it, he tells the story of how the Nazis hated Christianity because Nietzsche hated it. He believed in survival of the fittest. And so he said, human rights is the phantom of the dignity of man foisted upon us by Christianity. He loved the Greeks, not in spite of their cruelty, but because of it. He said Christianity because they focused on the feeble and feeble themselves. And Ner Kimler, the commander of the Ss, was charged with wiping out Christianity.

And this is what he said, harping on and on, that God died on the cross out of a pity for the weak and the sick and the sinner. Then they demand that the genetically disease to be kept alive in the name of the doctrine of pity that goes against nature and the misconceived notions of humanity. They said, when life is hard, we crush the weak. And we say No. When life is hard, we love and we love well. And himmler's in the dirt and Hitler's in the dirt, and Jesus Christ reigns over the nations. That's our king. And his love changed. Rome, his love changed history. His is the dominion. His is the power, his is the glory. And all he's saying is, join me in Let's ride family. Let's love. Well,

Speaker 1:

Ben helped us to see what it means to love well, which is to love our neighbors as if they're family, to make friends of our enemies by the love of Christ. I pray that you and your church are known in your community for the love you display to others.