LOVE GOD AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
Luke 10: 1-42
Key Verse: 10:27
“You shall love the Lord your God … and your neighbor as yourself.”
From the previous passage, Jesus showed his disciples the two extremes of Christian life: glory and suffering. Jesus showed them the marvelous magnificent glory of his majesty as God on the mountain of transfiguration (9:28-36), and Jesus showed them the real world of suffering and torturous torment from demonic possession (9:37-42). We Christians may have a problem reconciling these two extremes of life: majestic glory and agonizing suffering. We try to live either in fake glory by avoiding suffering, or we take on the suffering of Christ but without any joy in our souls. Jesus taught his disciples how to resolve these two seemingly irreconcilable opposites of glory and suffering. He said to them and us: “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men’” (9:44).
Jesus, who usually spoke gently, said very strongly and very seriously, “Let these words sink into your ears.” Since the Bible is the word of God (2 Ti 3:16), everything in the Bible is important. But relatively speaking some things are clearly more important or central to the teachings of the whole Bible. What is the Bible’s central or main point? It is the cross. It is Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. This is the gospel. Paul also teaches us that the gospel is of first importance. It is “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, … that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3,4). We call this the centrality of the cross, or the centrality of the gospel. Therefore, to truly study the Bible as God intends, we must always keep the centrality of the cross in mind. If we do not, we are not really studying the Bible, but just studying some nice sounding moral teachings to make ourselves feel better, or to judge others who are not doing so. Therefore, when reading or studying the Bible, we must always keep the centrality of the cross as the main thing.
Today’s passage, Luke 10, has three main events: Jesus sends out the seventy-two (1-24); the parable of the good Samaritan (25-37); and the difference between and Mary and Martha (38-42). We especially learn what Jesus says is the most important commandment and the second most important. It is to love God and love your neighbor. Let’s study these three events to see how to love God and our neighbor.
First, Love God and love your neighbor because Jesus is the Lord of the harvest (1-24).
Let’s read verse 1 together, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.” This event is similar to the sending out of the Twelve in Luke 9:1-11. In that passage, Jesus sent the twelve apostles to preach the gospel through Galilee, but these seventy-two men were sent throughout the larger region of Judea. Just as the Twelve were associated with the twelve tribes of Israel, so the seventy-two may be associated with the seventy nations listed in Genesis chapter 10. It is clear that Jesus wants to reach the world through his disciples. This is a preview of the world mission command which Jesus gives all Christians in Luke 24:47-48, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” In a sermon, John Piper said, “Jesus’ suffering was for propitiation; our suffering is for propagation.” Propitiation is an unfamiliar word, but a very important word. It means that out of his love, Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved on the cross so that we can receive God’s forgiveness. Because of our sins, we are doomed to eternal condemnation in hell. Only Jesus can save us. But we can propagate the gospel message when we share the gospel with others. This is why Jesus sent out the seventy-two, and why Jesus wants to send each of us out. When we share the gospel of salvation with others, we are loving God and our neighbor.
Let’s read verses 2 and 3 together, “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Let me ask you four questions.
1. What is “the harvest”? The harvest is the world.
2. Who are “the laborers”? They are Christians, those who love Jesus.
3. Who is “the Lord of the harvest”? Jesus is the Lord of the harvest.
4. What does it mean that Jesus is the Lord of the harvest? It means that only Jesus can save us from our sins. Apart from Jesus we’ll not be harvested for salvation but for eternal destruction. It also tells us how much Jesus loves us.
When we know Jesus as the Lord of the harvest, we can understand why Jesus wants laborers. Are you willing to be a laborer in Jesus’ harvest? If you said, “Yes,” then you must know that a laborer has to do one thing. What is it? Labor. A laborer has to work hard, often with no immediate or visible harvest. In addition to hard labor, there is also danger, because Jesus sends us as “lambs in the midst of wolves.” Practically speaking, those we pray to harvest for Jesus may not be cute lambs, but nasty wolves. The gospel is a message of love and peace, but many whom we bring the gospel to will respond with hostility like wolves. Also, as gentle lambs, we can’t make people convert by coercion or manipulation. We can only share with them the gospel and pray for the Lord of the harvest to work in their hearts. In verses 4-8, Jesus gave instructions similar to those he gave to the Twelve when he sent them out (9:1-6). The point is similar: only trust God. Jesus repeated these instructions twice, because we human beings always have great difficulty to trust God. But we must trust God, because only Jesus is the Lord of the harvest. We are only Jesus’ laborers, so we should not act as though we can harvest or save anyone. In verses 8-12, Jesus repeats again what he had instructed the Twelve. It is their message. Jesus even repeats the same phrase twice in verse 9 and 11. What is it? “The kingdom of God has come near.” The gospel message is never primarily to improve our behavior. But it is always to repent so that we believe the kingdom of God.
In verses 12-15, Jesus named three ancient cities that had received God’s judgment--Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon. Jesus used them to warn three cities of his time, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. The people in these cities personally heard Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of God, and they felt Jesus’ compassion and love for them, and they saw with their own eyes Jesus’ miracles and healing. Yet they rejected him. Jesus could only pronounce “woe” to them, for they would be judged even more severely. Let’s read verse 16 together, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Here, Jesus warns and encourages all people to listen to his laborers who proclaim the gospel, for when they reject the messenger, they also reject both Jesus and God.
In verses 17-24, Jesus and the disciples rejoiced. First, the disciples rejoiced in the victory of their evangelistic campaign, when they only trusted God and when they only gave the message of the kingdom of God. They especially rejoiced that even the demons submitted to their authority in Jesus’ name. The disciples were so happy that they could defeat some nasty demons. But Jesus said in verse 20, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Success in ministry can come and go, but substantial and real joy is found in our eternal salvation. Therefore, it is a sin for a Christian whose name is written in heaven to have no joy, simply because of some petty burdens and grievances.
Jesus also rejoiced in God’s sovereignty, that the gospel is hidden from those who were proud for nothing, but is revealed to those who have child-like trusting faith (21,22). Jesus completed the evangelistic campaign with a profound word of blessing. Let’s read verses 23, 24 together, “Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’” The great prophets and priests of the Old Testament yearned to see and hear Jesus the Messiah. But these great heroes didn’t have this chance. What a blessing it was for the disciples as well as for us to see Jesus the Messiah and hear his life-giving words in the Bible.
Second, Love God and love your neighbor with the compassion of Christ (25-37).
Let’s read verses 25-28 together, “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he answered, ‘You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’” This dialogue between Jesus and a lawyer shows that the lawyer had studied the Bible deeply and was able to find two verses from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, which best summarizes all of the commandments of the whole Bible: “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself”. The Bible seems to consist of many rules and regulations, but actually our main duty is to love God and love our neighbors. Love doesn’t make us feel overburdened or unhappy. It was God who first loved us with his overflowing blessing, especially with his lavish gift of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins. When we truly receive God’s love, it’s only natural for us to respond by sharing his love with others. Love involves all one is as a person, including emotions, thoughts, decisions, and energy. When we love God with all our emotions, we’ll not fall into what’s called “dead orthodoxy” or religious formality, and others can feel our peace, and love, and joy. It’s really not possible to love God with all our hearts and at the same time be crabby. When we love God with all our minds, Christians can defend the gospel at the highest levels of scholarship. When we love God with all our decisions, we’ll not be pointless or make decisions to satisfy our sinful desires. When we love God with all our strength, we’ll have zeal and enthusiasm. I could write many messages just thinking about how we can love God in all of these different ways. However, the problem for Christians is not about loving God, but about loving our irritating neighbor. God is so patient and gracious when we serve him, but neighbors can be rude and selfish. After serving them with all our hearts, they may be unthankful and stab us in the back and in the front.
The lawyer asked, “And who is my neighbor?” He might have been burdened about serving his obnoxious sinful neighbor, so was hoping that he could limit the definition of a neighbor to just a few good friends. Jesus responded to his question by telling the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. The point of this parable is to show us how to love our neighbor. In the story, a man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by robbers who left him lying wounded in the road. A priest and a Levite, who were representatives of God, passed by on the other side of the road, ignoring the helpless man with many excuses. But a Samaritan, who was despised by the Jews, had compassion on the man, bound up his wounds, brought him to an inn and took care of him, and promised to pay to take care of his full recovery. In verse 36-37, Jesus asked, “’Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You go, and do likewise.’” With this story, Jesus shows what it means to love our neighbor. More than that, the Good Samaritan was a neighbor to someone in desperate need. Instead of answering the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus redirected the question, “To whom can you be a neighbor?” Wherever people need us, we have an opportunity to be neighbors and show the mercy of Jesus. To love our neighbor, we need to know the compassion of the Good Samaritan and the compassion of Jesus. Without compassion, we’ll have no patience, power, or perseverance to love anyone.
Third, love God and love your neighbor by listening to Jesus first (38-42).
The third story in Luke chapter 10 takes us to a small village where the sisters Mary and Martha welcomed Jesus and his disciples into their home. Let’s read verses 38-42 together. “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’” In this story, Jesus teaches us that in order to love God and our neighbor, we must first spend time with Jesus in personal devotion. Especially, we need to take time to listen to Jesus’ words deeply and apply them personally. Then we’ll be equipped for service. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Mary and Martha are often contrasted as Mary’s worship verses Martha’s work. However, Martha’s hard work wasn’t the problem. Jesus valued hard work. We should be hard-working laborers for Jesus’ harvest field. We should also work hard to serve others like the Good Samaritan. So, the problem wasn’t Martha’s hard work. The problem was Martha’s priority. Imagine Martha’s situation. Jesus, the Son of God, and his twelve disciples were coming over to visit. Obviously a good hostess should prepare well when God is coming over for dinner. What would you do if God was coming to your house for dinner? Including Martha’s family, this would total sixteen dinner guests. Perhaps it should be a gourmet meal with exquisite decorations, and this was also a time to do some extra cleaning and dusting. However, in the course of preparing an elaborate meal that Jesus did not need, Martha neglected to spend time with Jesus and listen to what he had to say. Martha got mad at her sister Mary and blamed her for not helping. However, Jesus defended Mary’s action as choosing the good portion. Figuratively, Mary got the spiritual ‘beef-stake’ while Martha only caught the crumbs. Martha lost her priority of loving Jesus and listening to him, and so she became a grumpy and highly irritated worker. So Jesus said gently that she was “anxious and troubled about many things.”
In this passage, we learn that we love God and love our neighbor when we are hard-working laborers in Jesus’ harvest field. We also learn that we love God and love our neighbor when we have the compassion of Christ in our souls. No one can love his neighbor by his own strength, and no one can love his neighbor without the love of Jesus in his heart. This is because our neighbor who needs our love the most is very often like the wounded man left dying on the road with a bad smell. Who can love such a neighbor? Only Jesus can. And only those who have tasted Jesus’ love can. Therefore, to love God and love our neighbor, we need to spend much time listening to Jesus like Mary. Christians who don’t listen to Jesus become like Martha, who is quite an unpleasant Christian. But Christians who listen to Jesus like Mary can work hard and love their neighbor. May God bless you to love God and love your neighbor joyfully.