The Moral Obligation To Love Our Neighbors

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

In this season of giving, all of God’s have an obligation to love. Will you answer the wake up call or hit snooze on being a good neighbor?

Introduction

As we know, if we desire to live in thanksgiving to God, we are commanded to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  In this season, when so many have been, and still are, hurting, we have both a civic and moral obligation to love.  For if we do not love, how can we say that we honor Him who loves us?  So as Fred Rogers once asked, “Won’t you be my neighbor?”

The Obligation to Love

In Romans 13:8, we will see that Paul spoke to the obligation we have to love.  Paul wrote, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

The imperative of love is a command mankind has received from God.  First, God commanded the children of Israel to love through the Mosaic Law.  Then God gave the world His only begotten Son, who commanded one to love.  Jesus said to the disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you…(John 13:34)”

God’s children ought to feel compelled to love because God first loved us when He did not have to (1 John 4:19).  God could’ve condemned mankind, but He chose to be gracious and merciful to us.  We shouldn’t want to be like the unforgiving servant who Jesus spoke of in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

We, God’s children, ought to feel compelled to love our neighbor because we are of God through our faith in His only begotten Son.  Therefore, as John said, we ought to feel compelled to strive to practice what is righteous, not what is unrighteous (1 John 3:10).  What is righteous is for us to help, support, assist, and uplift our neighbors–all of those around us.

Paul’s Wake-Up Call to Rome

With the season of giving in mind, and the obligation to love, I want us to pay close attention to what Paul’s words to the Romans in Romans 13:11.

The depravity of Rome

Paul wrote to those of the church in Rome, “Do this (love), knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”  To “be asleep” did not mean that one was physically asleep, but rather, they were spiritually asleep.

This statement from Paul served as a wake-up call to those in Rome.  You see, Rome was spiritually bankrupt–vile, depraved, and corrupt in its soul.  Rome was under the rule of a wicked emperor, Nero.  He moved against Christians with great disdain, first exiling Christians from Rome, and then viciously attacking and killing them.  

In its depravity, Rome was filled with much idolatry and lascivious living.  That is to say that the Romans worshiped idols, were given in drunkenness, sexual immorality, covetousness, and greed.  The Romans killed for sport and entertainment–see the history of the Roman Colosseum and their use of crucifixion.  

Ultimately, Rome was the picture of a society that was given over to a reprobate mind.  The Romans were a worldly society that didn’t live for God in a season when Paul called on it to recognize that God’s salvation was near.  

A spiritual choice of urgency to make

When Paul said that God’s salvation was nearer than when they first believed, we must understand that he spoke with great urgency.  This wake-up call was a warning for the Romans to change their ways.

-pullquote Romans 13:12-14-

After warning the Romans that the night was nearing its end and the beginning of a new day was near, Paul called on them to cast off their works of darkness.  Let us understand that when Paul spoke of God’s salvation being near, he was speaking of God’s deliverance from sin.  We should also understand that he spoke of God’s judgment as well.

Because God’s judgment is no laughing matter, Paul called on the Romans to put on the armor of light.  The armor of light is the armor of God, which Paul also spoke of to the Ephesians (Eph. 6:13-17).  

Paul told the Ephesians to put on the breastplate of righteousness, to gird their waist with the belt of truth, and to put on the gospel shoes.  He told them to also take the shield of faith with them, to put on the helmet of salvation, and carry with them the sword of the Spirit.  The Romans were being encouraged to turn away from immoral living and worship God in truth.

Worship of God was not simply about going to a temple or synagogue for worship.  Paul desired for the Romans to worship God faithfully in a Christ-like manner.  Therefore, he called on them to move with Christ-like grace, mercy, peace, and kindness, turning away from worldliness.  

He called on the Romans to be someone’s neighbor, rather than someone’s enemy.  This meant that Paul was calling for the Romans to honor others with love and to esteem (lift up) others.  

This left the Romans with an important choice to make:  continue in worldly living and be judged as a sinner by God, or live for the Lord and His salvation with charity.  I will remind you, this was a choice that Paul presented to them with great urgency.

God’s Wake-Up Call in the Present

I reference Paul’s wake-up call to the Romans because the alarm clock is going off in our world today.  The urgency that Paul spoke with, I and other ministers speak with today.  Now is the time for true worship.  Now is the time for sincere charity, giving honor, and esteeming others, rather than today’s worldliness.

In this season of giving, many are choosing worldliness.  Governing authorities have certainly continued the tradition of choosing worldliness.  We have governing authorities who continually show their desire to rule and to live as emperors, kings, and gods.  They continue to move against the less fortunate, rob from those in need, live by lies, and take God’s name in vain, going against His ordinance.

Rather than moral living, we, collectively as a society, are more depraved than those of Rome.  We are giving in to slaughter and killing without conscious or putting forth an effort to quell it.  We are also given in to lascivious living – drunkenness, sexual immorality, covetousness, and greed.  Moreover, we lie to each other, we cheat one another, and we steal from each other.  

How can we be someone’s neighbor if we do such things against them?  True love is absent from the hearts of many today, as we don’t give honor to another, nor do we esteem another.  What reward is there for us if we choose not to honor God because we refuse to honor our neighbors with grace, mercy, and the uplifting love of salvation?

How to be a Good Neighbor

This is a wake-up call for all of us today as the Lord’s salvation is nearer today than when we first believed.  This is a season for us to rebuke our works of darkness, worldly living, and move to put on our armor of light.  This is a season where we must shine in the darkness of the day and live for God.

Follow God’s commandments of love

For us to put on the armor of light, Paul stated, “He who loves another has fulfilled the law (Rom. 13:8b).”  He echoed the teachings of Christ, who laid the foundations for us to be able to obtain God’s reward.

In Matthew 22:36-40, when Christ was asked what is the great commandment.  Jesus responded that one should love the Lord with all their heart, mind, and soul–love God wholeheartedly.  Jesus then said that the second is just like the first with one loving their neighbor as they would love themselves.  On those two commands, Jesus said hung all the law and the prophets.

The way to honor God by loving our neighbor has been made crystal clear for us by the Lord.  We simply must follow and keep God’s commandments of love.  The commandments of love are what Paul shared in Romans 13:9 when he mentioned some of the Ten Commandments, which were given to the children of Israel.

If we were to take a look at the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:3-8, we would come to see that they are broken down in two parts.  The first part of the Ten Commandments focuses on giving honor to God.  

In those commandments, we see the familiar commandments to Israel to not have any other gods before the Lord.  The children of Israel were commanded not to carve any images or to bow down and worship other gods.  They were also commanded not to take God’s name in vain, which is to say that one shouldn’t move under His name falsely.

The second part of the commandments, which Paul referred to in this scripture, focuses on loving a neighbor.  For example, we all know very well the commandment of one honoring their father and their mother, don’t we?  So, if we desire to honor the Lord, let us look at His commandments about how to be a good neighbor and then put forth the effort of following them.

Be faithful to your neighbor

Paul first references the commandment that one should not commit adultery.  Now, if you were to look at the order of the Ten Commandments, you will notice that he took this commandment out of order.  Why did Paul do that?

 Adultery, of course, is the act of one choosing to cheat on another.  In other words, adultery is the chosen act of unfaithfulness.  Because faithfulness is behind this command, that would make this an incredibly important command to keep.

While we often think of adultery being a commandment for marriages, the fact that Paul includes it here while speaking about loving a neighbor shows the importance of being a faithful neighbor.  If we are to strive to be a good neighbor, we ought not cheat our neighbors.

Being faithful to your neighbor and not cheating them led Paul to refer to the other commandments.  Paul called up the commandment, “You shall not murder”.  Of course, when we think of murder, we think of one taking the physical life of another.  Yet, there are more ways to be violent than physical violence.

We can abuse one mentally and emotionally by manipulating and trying to control.  Prejudices and stereotyping have been a form of murder that has long hurt those who share the same color of skin as me.  Systems and institutions created before many of us were born, and while we have been living, are still causing much of the suffering we’re seeing in this land today.

How can one consider themselves a good neighbor when keeping jobs and food from others?  How can one consider themselves a good neighbor when one chooses not to give others an opportunity because of what they look like or where they may be from?  How can we say we’re a good neighbor when we will mistreat others because they don’t share the same beliefs?

With this in mind, Paul referred to God’s commands, “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet”.  We cannot be a good and faithful neighbor if we’re adamantly working against each other!

To the Colossians, Paul wrote, “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him (Col. 3:9-10).”  Again, we must learn to be faithful to each other, and we can start by learning to be honest with one another.

Much of the animosity present in this land comes from a deep-rooted history of one working against another in both word and deed.  Where honor lacks, there can be no respect.  When there is no respect, there can be no love.  Where there is no love, there will be strife. 

Band Together in Neighborly Love

If we are going to make it through this season, it will only happen if we come together in neighborly love.

In Romans 13:10, Paul wrote, “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  This is why neighborly love is so important!  As Paul told the Corinthians, true love does not behave rudely, nor does it rejoice in wickedness.  True love rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

In this season of giving, we absolutely must strive to be better neighbors.  We must learn to cherish and honor each other with great neighborly love.  

So, as Paul encouraged, we must cast off the works of darkness.  Those works today that are desperately pitting the poor against the poor.  Those works that continue to pit race against race must be cast off.  You must put far away from you those workers who continue to fan the flames of hatred – the workers of darkness.  Do not let wicked company corrupt your soul.

As I said last week, God shaped and molded us for far better than what we see present in today’s world.  Many have chosen to go in the way of Cain, despising and hating others.  Striving against each other has done nothing but hold us back from greater blessings.

We must not go in the way of Cain; we must go in the way of Christ.  As Paul said, let us “put on Christ” as the Lord shaped and molded us to live together and flourish (Rom. 13:14; Gen.1:28).  Therefore, let us choose to be faithful to each other.  Let us choose to be each other’s neighbors today!