Jesus says to love our neighbours, and includes enemies in his definition.  In this week’s story Jesus confronted the reality that Samaritans and Jews were neighbours yet enemies, and said that his followers need to love and serve one another beyond such divisions.

Elsewhere, he says it quite clearly: love your enemy.  Turn the other cheek.  Go the extra mile.  My favourite part is where he says, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”

Loving your friends is nothing special, but loving your enemies is special indeed.  It’s hard, it’s messy, it feels very risky, compromising and vulnerable.  But when we avoid loving our neighbours and enemies, we live in isolation, fear of the unknown and misunderstandings.

One mayor told a church leader: “The majority of issues that our community is facing would be eliminated or drastically reduced if we could just figure out a way to become a community of great neighbours.”

It’s hard to know what to say, do, when life gets messy, and especially when our love isn’t returned.  It’s easy to just give up and say Jesus’ command is too hard to follow.

But that can be explained simply enough.  We haven’t got enough practice loving those closest to us, who aren’t our enemies, in order to be ready for loving our enemies.  Loving our friendly, similar neighbours is good training for the big leagues.

So – start by just finding out – Who is my neighbour?

mapthumbDownload the attached Block Map.  You are in the middle of the grid, and think of the other squares in the grid as your neighbours across the street, beside and behind your home.  Or if it’s more appropriate, think of it as your workplace, and the squares as neighbouring cubicles.  Then write in each square:

  1. Their Name(s)
  2. One Fact About Them
  3. Something Deeper – A hope, dream, fear, challenge, etc.

Try and complete the grid as much as possible, and discuss with your group.

We meet for coffee every Wednesday night at Starbucks in the Chapters Store in Ajax, in Durham Region just East of Toronto.  Maybe we’ll see you there?

Ryan Sim - November 12, 2013

Tuesday - Study It - God in Worship

This week, we’re exploring how a church community should be committed to connectedness to God in worship. Humans will never be more connected to God than in the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. The Bible includes the book of Revelation, which recounts John’s vision of the kingdom of heaven. Here’s what he described about angels, and then humans: Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE Lord GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Revelation 4:8-11) Even in the kingdom, there is worship. The word may not appear in this reading, but the core meaning is there. Worship means “to give worth to something.” And the words “you are worthy” are right at the beginning of the words the elders say in their heavenly worship. You can tell what someone values by how they spend money, time. You can see what’s worth their limited resources. Worship is spending our limited time on God. It’s an expression of love. In our Marriage and Parenting courses, we introduce the five love languages. Some communicate and receive love through words, touch, acts of service, time, and others through gifts. In the same way, we can show love to God through various “languages”. Worship includes prayer, and music, confessing sins, asking forgiveness, reminding ourselves what we believe, reading the Bible together, and more. All aspects of how communities of Christians worship. These are all ways to communicate God’s worth in our eyes. You can see it in this reading. The elders say, “You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power” but then they tell him why: he is the creator of everything. He knows all this, of course. But this is a time for humans, mortals, to feed that back to him. To acknowledge he is at the cetner of our lives, not the periphery, and we’re not going to deny it. Question: How do you know someone values you? What do they say, do, or not? Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.

From Series: Becoming Like Family | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

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