X.LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
81.The Second Greatest Commandment 
X. Love your neighbor as yourself. Read Mt 7:12, Mt 22:39, Mk 12:28-34, Lk 10:25-28
All three gospels have the words "Love your neighbor as yourself". The gospel writers probably were impressed having heard that these two commandments are the greatest. It is also important to know that this command comes from the law of Moses, 
NIV Leviticus 19:17-19
17 "`Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. 
18 "`Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. 
Who is my neighbor? And what means love your neighbor as yourself?
Now read Lk 10:29-37.
We all have a small circle of people we might great sacrifices for, parents, children spouse, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, a long term friend. I know few who will, for people outside that circle, make sacrifices, not help or be charitable towards, but give the kind of help that costs something tangible. And of course there are people who will not make sacrifices even for those in that circle.
Somebody wrote a book titled "The Selfish Gene". The premise of the book is that no one really sacrifices for another. What really happens is that we sacrifice for people who carry some of our genes. Your parents siblings and children carry about half of your genes. Your grandparents, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles all carry about a quarter of your genes. Strangers of course carry none and neither does your spouse.
The selfish gene theory does not explain why some people do make sacrifices for people who do not carry their genes, particularly spouses. It also does not explain why some people will do nothing for some people they are related to. But we tend to have strong relationships and attachments to our spouses. Sometimes we have very poor relationships with those we are related to due to conflicts. But there is something to this theory or why else the proverb "Blood is thicker than water"?
The point is that if we can whittle down the concept of neighbor small enough we can care for these people for relational reasons. We might be willing to think,” I will look out for the family." And once in a lifetime we might have enough compassion to help a stranger. But, there is no end to the number 
of strangers, and no end to the help they need. So we have every reason to minimize the number of our neighbors.
But Jesus tells us in the parable of the good Samaritan that even people we are in conflict with are our neighbors. In fact Jesus laid a trap for the teacher of the law by letting him answer the question "Who was a better neighbor?" with "The one who had mercy." To this Jesus adds "Go do the same."
So then, are we to impoverish ourselves and work ourselves to death to provide for all the needy people there are? If you have no spouse and children you could. I have never seen it happen. If you want to be perfectly righteous go and do this. You can not find any justification in the words of Jesus for not doing exactly that.
God will most likely not let you. God will not likely let you die serving others for two good reasons. First, if you love others as you love yourself it follows that you should love yourself as you love others. Will you really starve while feeding others? Will you die of exposure after sheltering others. I think even the very needy will share with you what they have. 
Second, I believe God only lets the worthy ones die for Him. In fact I think God will only let the worthy ones serve Him in any fashion. God needs no one's help. He can do anything, and do it alone. If you are still living in sin you are not worthy of Him Why should He vindicate your choice to live in sin by letting you die for Him? But, if you turn away from sin and die for Him by living a lifetime for Him He might let you actually die for Him. 
As I write this I think of Mother Teresa. She died for God, not by being a martyr, a victim of persecution, but by putting her self to death by living her life, all of it, for God.
Honestly, I struggle with this command. I don't think I am doing it right. This is where I am with it. I am married with children. In accordance with the scriptures and soberly judging myself, I could not stay single without being greatly tempted. With marriage comes children. I don't believe that it is a sin to use birth control, but the scriptures lead me to believe that the woman so gifted with children is to make the raising of them the priority in her life. Some may disagree. I'm over it. 
Having a spouse and children I must provide for them. This is where it gets tricky. What level of provision am I to provide? You can argue that the teaching of Jesus precludes us looking down on anyone as being less than we are. I should probably illustrate this but not now. If so then what justification do I have for giving my family more, much more than some other family? And there are families with no more than the clothes they wear and no assurance that they will eat anything at all tomorrow. I have spent more than a hundred dollars dining out with my family and my parents. How 
can I do this knowing that people somewhere will starve to death today? This used to bother me more than it does today. After a few decades you stop thinking about it.
On the other hand must my wife and children live at a bare survival level when they are surrounded by people having ever so much more than that? In the eyes of the unbelievers I would be insane to do so making Jesus unattractive. But, this is not real important. In the eyes of most other believers I would be insane to do so making them think I have psychological issues. What most believers think is not real important neither. In the eyes of people really trying to follow Jesus this would be insane, or is it? 
I hope every Christian makes the acquaintance of one family who are clearly going without in order to serve the Lord as they have been called. It is not by self denial however, it is by inadequate pay. There are people in the ministry who themselves, their spouses and children: wear handed down clothes or clothes others give them, eat mostly carbohydrates instead of meat, never eat out, drive old marginal cars, have no health insurance, do not get the best health care, have no dental care, live in cramped drafty housing in a neighborhood O would move out of, and on and on it goes.
These people shame me. If they can do without why must I have. I'll guess that most of the children raised by these people will be close to God, love and respect their parents. What they will not have is any respect for the so called Christians who came to church many Sundays, provided themselves and their children with everything that their neighbors or the kids at school have, and knowing that the minister's family went without some or most of these things, did not share. God have mercy on us sinners.
What troubles me the most are remarks like this: "well they are used to going without", or "He should have done something else for a living." They would be used to it if they were not seeing the material things that people around them have, the clothes the family wears and the cars they travel in. If God has called someone to serve would you really want him to refuse to go into ministry?
I think God would have us make the close acquaintance of His servants who are going without so that two things might happen to us: that we might be moved by compassion to provide for others some of what we think we need, and to have our minds and hearts changed with regard to what we think we need.
82.Be careful what you do with your anger. See Mt 5:21-22
“Raca” is a word of contempt. It is derived from a root meaning "to spit." It is derived from the Chaldee word reka, which means, worthless. I think a contemporary translation might be “idiot”. What is 
translated as “You fool!” might better be translated as “you jerk” or a stronger term not repeatable here. The idiot is ignorant. The jerk is callous and evil.
Jesus would have us know that hatred, name calling and murder are all in the same continuum. They are just different degrees of the same thing not different things. When you hate someone you want them to be injured. When you murder someone you both want and carry out the injury to them. If the only difference between your hatred and murder is lack of the means or fear of punishment then it is not your righteousness that prevents you murdering someone. Something external keeps you from murdering someone you hate. If that external restraint were to be removed you might very well murder them. If it your will to murder someone you are well down the path to murdering them.
Regarding anger Jesus tells us that our anger will make us subject to judgment. Judgment is different from guilt. The question is what did we do while we were angry? I can't believe that Jesus condemns all anger for God the Father is reported as being angry many places in the scriptures. See Leviticus 10:6, Numbers 11:10, 22:22, 32:14, Deuteronomy 1:34 and who knows how many other places. Of course what is right for the Father may not be right for us. He does have authority to bring to life and to kill. We do not. Did Jesus ever get angry? See Mk 3:5. Jesus was angry. See Mt 15:3-9 and 23:13-35 It would seem Jesus was angry. So anger in itself is not sin for Jesus was free of sin.
What we might do in our anger may be sin. See Ephesians 4:26 In your anger do not sin. not let the sun go down while you are still angry. If because we are angry we hate someone, or say injurious things to them or about them, or if we are in fact violent we have gone from anger to sin. We need to remember to control ourselves when we are angry so that we do not sin.
Some people have quite the temper and may react to certain events in great anger before they have time to consider their actions. I have done this. But usually I have time to consider my choices. If a severe temper is your burden ask God to help you control your thoughts, tongue and actions when you are angry. Learn to count to ten before reacting to your anger.
Anger is also a way by which evil spirits torment us. I remember a time when I felt little emotion. I was neither happy or sad, and generally emotionless. The exception was anger. Rage was lurking just below the level on consciousness in me. I could get incredible angry in no time. This did not make sense. So I thought, and I don't know why, that if it does not make sense there may be spiritual warfare going on. I may be under attack. So I started rebuking the demons around me. With time the ever lurking rage subsided.
The way I rebuked demons was this: I would say this out loud but quietly, “If anyone is following me around who is not from Jesus, I rebuke you in His name. Depart from this world and never come 
back.” Those who belong to Jesus do have the authority to rebuke demons. We only have that power because we belong to Jesus. So I rebuke them in His name, that is with His reputation and authority. Believing I have the demons on the run with these words I send them far away. Jesus sent a legion of demons into a herd of pigs. I don't know why he did this. I send them right out of the world. Having sent them out, order them not to return. Why should they be allowed to return to torment me or someone else?
Another facet of the anger problem is bitterness. Bitterness is related to hatred and anger. In bitterness we feel that we have been subjected to an injustice. We want vindication and vengeance. If we brood on the injustice we suffered we will become bitter. The bitterness will run our life. Hatred and anger will be near us and love and forgiveness will be far away. We have all suffered injustice. We also need to remember that we have created injustice ourselves. If all the unjust are to be punished we must remember that that includes us. If we want to be forgiven rather than be punished then we must grant that to others as well. So Jesus says to you, “How severely shall I punish injustice?” Not being stupid we respond, “Lord, please punish not but have mercy and forgive.”
When we recite the Lord's prayer we are asking God to forgive us as much as we forgive others. If we are not forgiving we are cursing ourselves every time we pray that.
83.Don't Offend People More than Necessary. Read Mt 17:9-13, Mt 15:10-14, Mt 21:14-17.
The truth will offend people. Even innocent people are in error. When the truth is revealed they see it as contradicted what they now to be true. This will offend them. Yet we must always be revealing the truth. Today a lot of people are offended by what the Bible says about homosexual sex. When you share what God has said many people will see you as mean spirited, bigoted, and a homophobe.
Our hope is not that we hide the truth so as to not offend people. We hope that the Holy Spirit will speak to their hearts. They will sense inside themselves that this new truth being revealed is the truth. With time they will come around. We need to be patient.
There are many things that are not as heavy as the truth. WE have opinions, prejudices, affinities and aversions. These things are a matter of individual preference many times. They are not important. Don't offend people with these. Be careful what you do and say. Perhaps God is planning to use you to draw a certain person to Himself. If you offend this person over something inconsequential you are obstructing the will of God. We will be an obstacle plenty of times. But when we have a choice let us not offend people. 
Sometimes we will have to make a small sacrifice to not offend people. Make it. Sometimes we will 
need to make a significant sacrifice to not offend people. In Mt 17 Jesus is asked to pay the Temple tax. It was two denarii, equivalent to two days wages. A man could feed his family for two or more days with such money. Jesus perhaps thought of the poor to which the money could be given. He found a way to satisfy all propriety while not making someone else go hungry. We might be able to do the same or perhaps not. Ask God what to do. 
84.Lend to those who want to borrow from you. Give to those who want a gift from you. Read Lk 6:30-31, Mt 5:42.
I have thought that Lk 6: 31 interprets Lk 6:30, but that might be wishful thinking. Certainly there is nothing that weakens the words in Mt.
If any of Jesus words are crazy these are them. In America there are a lot of people who learn that they can have everything you have just by asking for it, they will take it all. They may think you are insane. They may think that they were lucky to find such a fool.
I have met people that if they learn they can tell a clever lie everyday and get money from you they will tell you a lie everyday and maybe more than one.
There are three things that keep this from happening. The first is God Himself. They can't take everything you have if He stops them. How might He stop them? Who knows. For Him it would be easy. When will He stop them? Who knows. 
Second, if we are to live by this rule then we have apply it to everyone including our spouses, children and parents. If say my wife asks me to give her everything I have then I would have to do that also. Unless Jesus sees our spouses and children as our subordinates and of not account, which He seems nowhere to do, then this applies also to them. Clearly He says we should give help to our parents. See Mk 7:10-13.
Third, we just don't do it. WE say "Jesus, this is crazy, or else you meant something else." We must not tell God that we are not going to do what He says.
Now let's put the shoe on the other foot. Suppose we have lost our jobs, and spouse,, children and I are homeless. WE have run through all our money and all the help our friend, and relatives are ever going to give us. It is a cold winter's night and your wife and you are concerned that at least one of your children will not survive out of doors. You approach a true follower of Jesus and ask them to help you out. You tell them the truth about your situation. Now how would you want them to interpret these verses?
Would you be satisfied if they said, "That command is crazy. People will clean me out if I give to 
everyone who asks." 
You say "I won't take everything you have. I just want to get my wife and kids in doors tonight"
They say "My wife asked me to give her everything I have so I consider everything to be hers, so I have nothing to give you."
You say, "Can you call your wife and ask her to help me?"
They say "I'm a follower of Jesus, but this command is crazy and I just don't do it."
You say "Is it really crazy to help me get my family indoors tonight? If Jesus were standing here asking you to help us out, somehow, would you tell him no?"
So how would you interpret these verses now? You would want that follower of Jesus to make a sacrifice so that your family can survive one more day.
I think you will agree with me that to those who ask us we should give what they need to survive one more day and maybe even more. Jesus gave His life for us.
Maybe on cold nights I could call our local shelter and tell them to ask some of their clients (for whom it would be appropriate and safe) to stay the night with my family so that the shelter would have room for others. I won't know until I ask.
85.Let people take advantage of you. See Mt 5:38-41, Lk 6:29.
How often we have heard these words of Jesus "turn the other cheek". A little background might be in order. The law of the Roman empire was that is a soldier of Rome asked any civilian to carry a burden for them they were required to carry it for one mile. They picked Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross. He had to do it. It was the law. Jesus said to carry it two miles. 
I am not any kind of expert on clothing in first century Palestine. I assume that men wore some kind of loincloth because Jeremiah refers to one. In this passage Jesus refers to the tunic and the cloak. The cloak would double as the family blanket. According to the law of Moses the cloak, if given as a pledge, had to be returned by night fall.
Jesus starts in Mt with the law of Moses that calls for punishment to be equivalent to crime. God can do this to. If He punished us fairly for our sins where would we be. Oh and add this: He gets to decide what is fair. Remember He is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. At the very least He would have to cast us away from Him forever and in such a fashion that we could never sin again. More likely, because He made us and made us capable of sin, He may require a real punishment 
fitting for those who rebelled against His authority. That would be the lake of fire.
But God does not do this if, and only if, we belong to Jesus. If we belong to Jesus we need to do what He said and imitate what He did. Jesus lets people take advantage of Him. WE sinned. HE suffered on the cross for it. In His justice we should let others take advantage of us.
Sometimes we have disputes with people. In these disputes both people might honestly and rightly believe themselves to be in the right and due some kind of judgment. Suppose one is a follower of Jesus and the other not. Suppose the one not being a follower of Jesus, and having not received justice from us, decides that Jesus has not made us honest. Having not made us into honest people he never accepts the gospel and is ultimately lost. Wouldn't it be better for us to have given him the justice he honestly thought he should get and maybe a little more? Now, we don't know that it will workout that way, but we also don't know that it won't. But for Jesus name, reputation and honor it would be better to grant others fair justice, even if it does not seem fair to us, so that they go away thinking that Jesus really does change people. But of course, if in fact He is really powerless to change us, we won't.