Loving Your Neighbor 01-07-24

Overview: Pastor Williams reflects on the commitment he made as a pastor six years ago and renews his commitment to Christ, the Word, and the church. He emphasizes the importance of loving and ministering to others. He then discusses the parable of the Good Samaritan and the command to love one's neighbor. He explains that love should surpass personal preferences and should extend even to enemies and discusses Romans 15:7-13, which encourages believers to receive one another and emphasizes the hope found in Christ for both Jews and Gentiles. He challenges listeners to love their neighbors and build relationships. Transcription: There's something else that is worthy, in my opinion, of celebration today. It was six years ago, on this very date, January 7th, that I had the glorious privilege of preaching my first sermon as your pastor, six years ago today. And the sermon that I preached to you on that day was from 1 Timothy 2, verses 5-7. That's not our text for today, so don't bother turning there, but I wanted to remind you of what I told you then, because the title of that sermon was Commitments of Your Pastor. I made some commitments to you, or I laid out some commitments before you, one being that I would commit myself to Christ, because I am saved, because I am to testify about Him, and because I am appointed by Him. And so my first obligation is to Him and Him alone. Then I also committed myself to the Word, because the Word was the best place to learn about our faith and the truth. I committed myself to study the Word, to teach the Word, and to the best of my ability to live the Word. And then I committed myself to this church. I committed myself to love this church, to minister to this church, and to equip this church for the ministry. Now, six years later, I stand before you reading this list, looking at this list, thinking about the last six years, and realizing there are some places that I have fulfilled my commitments to you. There are some places where I could have done a little bit better. And so I stand before you on this day, recommitting myself to these same areas. First and foremost, to Christ, to His Word, and to you. I started because I am such a smart aleck and like to push buttons and make people get worried and see the fear in their face, but then I was like, well, they may not be fearful, they may be joyful, because I started to get up here and say it is with a heavy heart that this will be my last. And I was like, I better not, because some people might cheer, and then I get hurt, and my feelings hurt. But no, I am committing myself again to Christ, to His Word, and to love you, to minister to you, and with you, and to this community through us as a church family. And so if I can help you, if I can be there for you, if you just need someone to talk to, I want you to know that I love you and I am here for you. And I have zero plans on going anywhere. And so hopefully that doesn't break your heart, but I look forward to what God is going to do through Kings Grove Baptist Church in 2024 and beyond. We'll be in Romans chapter 15, verses 7 through 13. There's a story in Scripture of a man who was mugged. They beat him. They took everything he had. He laid there. They left him for dead. And down came another man, religious man, someone who would consider themselves to be a good person. And they saw this man beaten, broken, and he walked on by. Then came another man. This man, I believe, if I remember the story correctly, would have, in our terminology, been a pastor, been a minister, maybe a deacon. Someone who was a leader, someone who should have been looked to as a loving person. And the Scripture records them. Not only did they continue to walk, but they passed on to the other side of the road because they didn't even want to be near this broken and this hurting man. And then a third man comes by and he's a Samaritan. And Scripture makes it a point to tell us he's a Samaritan for this reason. Because the man that was beaten and left for dead was a Jew. The Jews and Samaritans weren't to have contact with one another. They weren't to associate. They weren't to even be friends at all. In fact, if a devout Jew was seen in the presence of a Samaritan and showing friendliness to a kindness and goodness to a Samaritan, then he would be kicked out of the church and ostracized from the community. It was that much of a division between the Jews and the Samaritans. And yet, this Samaritan takes this Jewish man, takes him to the local inn, pays for his rent, pays for his care, pays for his medicine, and leaves money. Whatever this man needs to get better, use this money and if there's anything left that I owe you, next time I come back, I'll take care of that then. And he goes over and beyond anything that the religious crowd did. Jesus is telling this parable and he asks this question at the end of that parable. Who would you say was that man's neighbor? And of course, the response from anyone who hears that story is the man who took care of him. The man who sacrificed to make sure that this broken and beaten and tore down person received exactly what they needed. Went out of his way, sacrificed to do so. Jesus tells this story after this command. Love thy neighbor. And that's exactly what we see here in Romans 15. Paul teaching. You remember we finished up in 14 where Paul is teaching on this liberty that we have as believers. That we don't have to see everything eye to eye. There's some secondary issues that we have some freedom in on how we do things. For instance, we just finished up Christmas, right? We have right over here at least one Christmas tree. I can't remember. We have two. We have two Christmas trees right here. Do you know that some churches would look at that and say that we're being sacrilegious because we have a Christmas tree in our sanctuary? That's a secondary issue. We don't do it the same way other churches do. They don't do it the way we do it. That's a secondary issue, right? And so we have this freedom in Christ where we can believe some things that are a little bit different as long as we're the same on the main issues about who Christ is and the character and nature of God. All these things. And so he finishes that up and then he goes straight into, even though you have this liberty, you should not allow this freedom to cause somebody to turn from their faith. That you should not allow this freedom to allow you, to cause you to do some things that hinders the faith of another brother or sister. And chapter 15 here continues that thought when he really presses into this idea of letting our love for those around us supersede anything else in our life. That our love for one another should go beyond our freedoms. That our love for one another should come before our preferences. And so I ask you this question that Jesus asked at the end of that story about the Good Samaritan. Who is your neighbor? Who are you showing love to? Scripture tells us if we show love to those who love us, what good is that? If we're only showing love to our friends and our family, what good is that? We're to love our enemies. And do you know what loving our enemies will do? It will turn our enemies into our neighbors. When Sarah and I were looking for a house several years ago, looking to move closer to the church, one of the places that we looked at was in Liberty. And do you know what their motto is for that town? Does anybody know? Liberty is "Where Neighbors Become Friends." Man, isn't that nice? Where neighbors become friends. The town of Liberty gets it. When we begin to act neighborly to those that are around us, that builds relationships instead of tearing them down. Romans 15 starting in verse 7 starts with a very familiar word in Paul's writings, Therefore, so let's go back a few verses. Let's go back to verse 5. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So how do we get to that point where we are unified in one mind and one mouth glorifying God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? How do we get there? Since we are to do that, therefore, we do that by 7-13. Verse 7 says, Therefore, receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy as it is written, For this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again He says, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people. And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Loud Him, all you peoples. And again, Isaiah says, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now again, we need to be reminded who Paul's talking to. The church at Rome. A church mixed with Jewish believers and Gentile believers. But then the Bible times, you were in those two classes of people. You were either Jew or non-Jew, which is Gentile. That was it. You were Jew or Gentile. And the Jews, the devout Jews, for the longest time believed that they were the only people of God. That unless you were a Jew, you weren't right with God. Unless you were a Jew, you had no hope in this world or the world to come. Unless you were a Jew, you were just out. And that's why the excommunication from the church was such a big deal for the Jew. Because if you kicked us out of the church, we were no longer Jewish. We weren't only getting kicked out of the church and the community, but now we're getting kicked out of heaven too. But Paul says throughout the entire book of Romans, for all have sinned, Jew and Gentile have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But he goes on to say that, but there's hope for all people, Jew and Gentile. Faith in Christ is what the hope that we have, no matter what our background is. He says, love your neighbor. In loving our neighbor, what do we do? We receive your neighbor. That's what he says in verse 7, Therefore receive one another. That word receive means to bring in, to allow them to see your heart. This stands in complete contradiction to our culture today, where we are trained from a very early age to keep everyone at arm's length. I can't let anybody see the real me. I've got to put this fake facade up there on Facebook and Snapchat and Twitter and all those other social media things that are out there. I've got to put the highlights, the best of the best, because if I ever let somebody truly see that I've got dirty towels laying all over my bathroom floor, if I let anybody see that I've got muddy paw prints running through my kitchen, if I let anybody see that I've got a sink full of dirty dishes and a laundry room full of dirty laundry that's been there for a few days, if I let everybody see my real life being chaos and messed up and dirty, then they may not like me. So I've got to keep them at an arm's length and put on this fake facade that, hey, I've got it all together, when in reality I'm struggling. Paul says, receive one another. Dirty laundry, dirty dishes, dirty lifestyle. Receive one another. And you say, how do you know he tells him to go that far? We shouldn't be doing the things of sinners. We shouldn't be hanging out with sinners. We shouldn't be going all that stuff. He said, what did he say? Receive one another just as Christ also received us. And how did Christ receive us? That while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I shouldn't look at somebody and say, hey, look, are you going to be a part of my life? You've got to do this checklist. You've got to do this checklist. You've got to do this checklist. You've got to do this checklist. You've got to fit all these criteria. You've got to be born in the right place. You've got to talk the right way. You've got to look the right way. You've got to fit in with the crowd. You've got to make this much money. You've got to drive this type of car. You've got to live in this neighborhood. You've got to fit all of these checklists if you're going to be a part of my life. No. He says, receive your neighbor as Christ received you. How did Christ receive you? You were in the midst of your brokenness and your disease and your sinfulness. And He looked on you with love and compassion and grace and mercy. The same way that that Samaritan looked at that body that was broken there in the ditch and picked them up and carried them into the inn, we are to look at one another and say, let me tell you how your life can be fixed. Let me tell you how you can be cleansed. Let me tell you how I have received power, how I have received grace, how I have received mercy. Let me show you what my heart is. I love my Jesus. But you know what? Sometimes I mess up. I love my Jesus, but sometimes I fail. I love my Jesus and I'm grateful for everything that He has done for me, but sometimes I don't have it all together. Welcome to my life. Receive one another just as Christ has received you. If you're visiting with us this morning, I want to welcome you to a broken and messed up congregation. But I want to welcome you to a congregation that loves Jesus, is grateful for what He has accomplished on the cross, and loves you too. Welcome to Kingsgrove Baptist Church. We want to receive you in the same way that Christ received us. You say, well, I don't think I fit in here. Well, good, that's what we need. We don't need you to fit in. We need you to be something a little bit different than all of us are because God has a plan and purpose for you in this body. And if you do the same thing everybody else has done, then there's something being left undone. Welcome. We receive you as Christ received us unconditionally. There is nothing that will cause Christ not to receive us. If we will turn to Him in repentance for forgiveness and grace and mercy, He will receive you. He receives us unconditionally. He receives us currently. Not a future version of us. Let me go just clean myself up and then maybe I'll come back. He won't do it. There's no amount of behavior modification that you can do that will make you clean enough in the sight of God on your own. Because our best deeds are filthy rags in His sight. But He will receive you just as you are. He receives us currently. He receives us committedly. He is so set on receiving us into the family of God that He gave His life on the cross for us. He didn't just say, hey, you just come on, join the church, say this little prayer, and then get plugged in somewhere and then everything will be alright. I tell you, one of the things that I used to instruct my praise team at Jones Avenue when I was doing the youth there, I would say, look guys, when you're leading in worship, you can't take somebody where you're not willing to go yourself. Because it's really easy to get in here and do all the practice and all the rehearsing and we lose sight of who we're singing to and what we're singing about. It's really easy to let it become, for lack of a better word, a performance. It's hard to tell if you can't lead somebody in worship if you're not worshiping yourself. So I don't know if you all noticed that, when I sing up there, I don't stand still. If you notice, I don't stand still when I preach either. Because I'm thinking about what I'm singing about. When we sang this song just the other week, God's been good in my life. That hits me right here. When we sing the goodness of God, that hits me right here. And I don't sing on key all the time. I don't sing the right words at the right moment. I mess up. In fact, I tell people who sit beside me, I'm sorry if I mess you up. But I'm going to tell you this, I believe what I'm singing. And so maybe you're out here this morning, and you love to worship. And you love to hear the songs, and you like to sing, and you're just like, I don't want to go up there, and I don't want to be there. Come on. Come on. Sit beside me. We'll mess up together. But we'll sing for the glory of God because we believe what we say. We can't lead someone when we're not willing to go. And Christ said, let me show how committed I am to you. I will submit myself to death. Even death on the cross. And not only will I submit myself to that death, but I'll submit myself to be beaten. I'll submit myself to be spit on, and slapped, and crowned with a crown of thorns. I'll submit myself to carrying the very cross that I'll be crucified on. Not for those who are well. Not for those who don't think they need a Savior. But for the sinful. For the dirty. For the downtrodden. For the rotten. For the weak things of this world. For the foolish things of this world. I submit myself for you. Christ received us to the point of death on the cross. Because He was committed to us. And He is still committed to us today. Because you know what He's doing for you today? Brother Mark, you know what He's doing for you at this very moment? Scripture says. It's not my opinion. This is what Scripture says. He is at the right hand of the Father interceding for you. But not just Him. Miss Patsy, He's interceding for you. That back row back there, He's interceding for you. This third row, I was going to say front row, but hold on. This front row right here, He's interceding for me. Christ is so committed to proving that He loves you. That even this very day, He's praying for you. Praying for your life. Praying for your ministry. Praying for your purpose. Praying that you will step into that relationship with Him. Praying that you will receive Him and your neighbor just as He has received you. Receive your neighbor as Christ received you to the glory of God. What is the glory of God? The glory of God is the invisible qualities, character, attributes of God displayed in a visible and knowable way. We receive our neighbor so that we can reveal the glory of God to them. What is the glory of God? The fact that He would choose us and die for us. Someone like me. Someone like you. That He would receive you unto Himself. That's the glory of God. And when we receive our neighbor, we want to show them that just as Christ received us, He will receive them and so do we. Love your neighbor by receiving your neighbor. Secondly, by serving your neighbor. Matthew 20, 28, Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, to give His life a ransom for many. That's talking about Jesus came to serve, not to be served. He gave His life as I was just talking about. Wow, look at verse 8. Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant. He became a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God. The truth of God's Word has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. That every promise about the coming Messiah was fulfilled in Christ. Every coming about salvation is in Christ. Every promise that God gave us is found in Christ. The truth of God is found in Christ. And so when we receive our neighbor and we serve our neighbor, what we do is reveal the truth of God. What do you believe about God? What do you believe about God? Because it will show in how you serve your neighbor. If you believe God is only for you, that will show in how you serve your neighbor. If you believe that God's love is limited, that only a certain few can receive it, that will show in how you serve your neighbor. What do you believe about God? The truth of God, our beliefs about God will show in how we serve our neighbor. How we serve our neighbor will also confirm the promises of God. It continues in verse 8, "...come a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers." That to the fathers being the prophets. The promises that God made to the prophets was fulfilled in Christ. And he's saying when we serve our neighbor, what we're doing is confirming those promises of God. That Jesus is the Messiah. That Jesus will accept you. That Jesus will forgive you. That Jesus will forever be in your presence when He says, I will never leave you or forsake you no matter where you go, even to the ends of the earth. I am there with you. When we serve our neighbor, what we're showing is that they can be accepted, forgiven, and ushered into the presence of God. Here's a question. Do we believe that? Do we believe that? Do we believe that we are accepted by God? Do we believe that we are forgiven by God? Listen, do we believe that no matter where we go, Christ is with us? Because if we do, that will determine how we live and how we serve our neighbor. Because if I don't believe that, then every relationship I have will be self-serving. What can I gain out of this relationship? What can I get out of this relationship? How does this relationship benefit me? But if I truly believe that through the work that Christ accomplished on the cross, every person, Jew and Gentile, is accepted and forgiven, and God is present with us, then doesn't that change how I treat them? Because it becomes about them and not me. We all have that neighbor that just pushes our buttons, right? They don't cut their grass in time. They let it get too long. Their dogs keep barking all the time. Their chickens keep crowing just constantly. I mean, we all have those. If we don't have that neighbor, then maybe we are that neighbor. We all have those neighbors that just tend to push our buttons. And if I truly believe that God loves them enough to die on the cross for them, to accept them, to forgive them, and to be ever-present in their life, my mindset towards them changes. The clucking chickens, the barking dogs, and the tall grass are nothing when compared to eternity. If I care more about the temporal things of this world than I do their eternal salvation, do I really believe the promises of God? Serve your neighbor for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of God, and for the glory of God. And verse 9, that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. Glorify God. We serve our neighbor that God might be glorified in our relationship with Him. That they might see His mercy and receive His mercy. That they might see His provision. In verses 9-10, we see several Old Testament Scriptures that are quoted giving us the insight to understand that salvation in Christ was not plan B. Salvation in Christ was a plan from the very beginning. And that He provided salvation for Jew and Gentile all the way from the Old Testament, not just in the New Testament. That God wants a relationship with every single person no matter what their background is. And that brings glory to Him. The diversity that is in the family of God should be seen and experienced and be a leading push into culture. Because when we get to heaven, for those of us who put our faith and trust in Christ and we step onto that side of eternity and we enter through the pearly gates and we get to looking around, guess what? They're not all going to look like me. They're not all going to be good looking southern white men. Preacher, you said look like you. Right. Good looking southern white men. No, there's going to be some African Americans in heaven. There's going to be some Jews in heaven. There's going to be some Asians, Hispanics, every tongue, every tribe, every skin color, every culture, everyone who puts their faith and trust in Christ will be in heaven. The church on earth should reveal that. When people who are outside the church look into the church, there should be zero discrimination. There should be zero judgment. There should be zero looking at and saying, well, they only want... Listen, I have a problem. This is personal preference. I'm going to tell you that up front. This is personal preference. I have a problem with churches who only go after college students. You should go after all people. Not just one group. Don't discriminate by age. Don't discriminate by skin color. Don't discriminate by financial background. Don't discriminate by language. Don't discriminate, period, in church, in your homes, on your job sites, because that is nowhere in Scripture. The love of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, the glory of God is for all peoples at all times. And it's been provided for since the very beginning. We see His provisions in verses 9-10. We see the glory of His foreknowledge in 9-12. He knew there would come a day when we need to be reminded of who the love of God is for. It's for everybody. Lastly, as I close, I'll do this very quickly. Receive your neighbor. Serve your neighbor. Pray for your neighbor. I'm going to read verse 13. It says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. What a powerful prayer that is. When's the last time you really prayed for your neighbor? Really prayed for him. True prayer. Pray like this, God, I lift up my neighbor to You. Call him by name. Don't say just neighbor. Lord, I pray You'll fill them with joy. That You'll fill them with joy inexpressible and full of glory. God, I pray for them that You'll fill them with peace. The peace of God that surpasses all understanding. Lord, I pray that You'll fill them with hope. That they may know what is the hope of His calling. The riches of His glory of His inheritance in the saints. Lord, I pray that You'll fill them with the power of the Holy Spirit. That kind of prayer for your neighbor. Here's the honesty that we can have with one another this morning. When I think about my physical neighbors, I've got somebody right there on my right, somebody on my left. I've got three houses. If I stand on my front porch, I've got three houses that I can see right there across the street. This hasn't happened in my house. But to be honest with you, I barely know the names of my neighbors. If I don't know their names, how can I pray for them? I think one of them's name is Jerry. But these words, I pray for Jerry. Lord, You'll fill them with joy. You'll fill them with peace. Fill them with hope and fill them with power. It might come out of my mouth. I feel like if we're honest with one another, that's true out here too. I may be wrong. I may be wrong. Many of you have lived in this community a lot longer than I have. You might know your neighbor. How often do you pray for them? You've got to pray with them. Lord, if we really want to love our neighbor, we have to receive them. Let them in. I have to serve them. How can I help you? I have to pray for them. Love your neighbor. Let's stand together for our time of invitation. This is a heavy sermon to start off 2024 with. But I honestly believe if Kingsgrove Baptist Church is going to be the church that God intends it to be in 2024, loving our neighbor is a key part of that. Do you love your neighbor today? How do we respond to an invitation like this? Number one, if you've never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, then I want you to know that He will receive you, that He has served you by submitting Himself to death on a cross, and that He is praying for you because He loves you. He has proven that. I encourage you, I invite you to receive Him as your Lord and Savior this morning. If you're a child of God, if you've placed your faith and trust in Him, then He is calling us, He is commanding us, He is instructing us to receive, to serve, and to pray for our neighbors because we are to love our neighbor. Beloved, I want to encourage you in this as well. That is your physical neighbors, those who live beside you, close to you. But it's not just them. You are to be a neighbor to your community. Beloved, I encourage you to be a neighbor to your church leadership. Pray for me in this way, that I'll be filled with joy, that I'll be filled with hope, that I will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray for your deacons in that way. Call them out by name. Receive them, serve them. Pray for them. And I will commit myself to you in this way, that I'll pray for you in that way, that I'll pray that you are full of joy, full of hope, full of peace, and full of power of the Holy Spirit. And here's what I truly believe to the bottom of my heart. As Kings Grove Baptist Church, if we'll begin to do that, if we'll begin to love our neighbor, by this time, 2025, Kings Grove Baptist Church won't be the same. Six Mile won't be the same because the glory of God will set down on this place. I truly believe that with all of my heart. So you come, this altar's open, there's maybe a neighbor you need to pray for, family member, friend. Maybe you want to acknowledge Christ as your Lord and Savior because you understood for the first time this morning how much God loves you. This is Pat Sue Plays. You come, this altar's open. I'll be down front. Love to pray with you as well. You come.