Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the Old Testament lesson appointed for the day. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

For over 300 hundred years—from the death of Joseph to the birth of Moses--the Israelites thrived in Egypt. What began as a family—became a great nation. But the tides of history changed and Egypt forgot about Joseph and they feared his descendants and so they enslaved the Israelites and put their children to death.

The Bible says that “the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.” God heard their cries and remembered his covenant with their father Abraham and he called Moses to speak his words of deliverance:

I am the LORD and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people and I will be your God.

Faithful and true to his promise—as he always is—that is exactly what God did—the LORD brought the Israelites out of slavery by the might of his outstretched arm—the LORD destroyed their enemies in the waters of the Red Sea—and the LORD set their feet on the path to the Promised Land.

I say this by way of introduction so that you will understand where the words of our text today stand in salvation history. God delivered his people. God set them free. God destroyed their enemies. By his mighty act of redemption and deliverance—the Israelites were God’s people. And as his people—they were redeemed and set free to live very different kinds of lives than the people around them who did not know God as the LORD of salvation.

When Moses spoke the words of our text today to the redeemed people of God, again and again he prefaced how they ought to live their lives with the words: I am the LORD your God. I am the LORD your God. I am the God of your salvation.

And because of who I Am and because of who you are --your lives are to be radically different than those who do not know me as Savior. You are to be concerned for the poor. You are to be merciful to the helpless. You are to live justly. In your common life together and in your life in this world: you are to love your neighbor as yourself.

These words are not only true for God’s ancient people, the Israelites—but they are true for all of God’s people—including us sitting here today.

The LORD has set us free from slavery to sin and death by the outstretched arms of Jesus upon the cross. In the mighty act of judgment that took place there, God counted his Son guilty of our sins-- and pronounced us “not guilty” in him-- as an act of pure grace. He has drowned our enemies of sin and death in the waters of Holy Baptism and has fed us on our journey to heaven with the manna of life in Holy Communion.

Truly he is the God of salvation—he is the LORD—and we are his people—and our identity as the redeemed, sanctified people of God is to be visible in how we live. Not to earn a place with God—not to work out our own deliverance—these are already the accomplished facts of salvation history in Jesus Christ! Instead, we hear these words to us today and we endeavor to live the life they describe BECAUSE God is our Savior and BECAUSE we are his redeemed people. The Bible says:

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my just decrees and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my just decrees; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

I have always wondered to myself, how different really is my life and the life of my family and the lives of the members of this congregation than our friends and neighbors who don’t know God as the LORD of salvation. Yes, we go to church on Sunday. But are our values and priorities and hopes and day-to-day lives really that different from the nice folks at work and in our schools and down the street in our neighborhood who don’t know Jesus?

Do I teach my children a different measure of what is a successful life than to simply make as much money as possible? Do I have a different family dynamic than each of us isolated in our own electronic cocoon? Are my choices in clothing and possessions and leisure time and entertainment affected in the least by the fact that I am God’s child—or does my life look like that of an unbeliever?

God speaks to his redeemed people and clearly says that we are not to adopt the ways of the world around us—for the Israelites it was the Egyptians and the Canaanites—for us it is the sinful, unbelieving world around us. We are to reject their values and priorities—and instead we are to live distinctively different lives than those around us who are not Christians. The Bible says that as:

Aliens and strangers in the world, we are to abstain from sinful desires, which war against our soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Living as aliens and strangers in this world—walking according to the statutes and just decrees of the Lord and rejecting the ways of the world-- is not a matter of wearing a distinctive kind of clothing and rejecting technology as the Amish believe—it is not a matter of living behind the walls of a monastery or withdrawing from the world as Catholicism and various protestant groups would have us do.

Instead, we are called upon by our redeemer God to be in the world but not of the world—taking for ourselves the values of our heavenly Father who has adopted us into his family—having his attitude of care and concern for those around us. The Bible says:

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.

Not only did God deliver his people from slavery and destroy their enemies—but he cared for their physical needs during their entire sojourn to the Promised Land. The Bible tells us that he provided food and water in the wilderness and that their clothing never wore out and their feet never swelled during those forty years. God materially provided for his people—and so his people were to provide for others.

The Israelites were forbidden to farm in such a way that there was absolutely nothing left in the fields or vineyards after the harvest. Instead, they were leave grain and grapes behind so that the poor and those who were traveling through could be fed. God had not blessed them with “soil and sun and rain” only for their own enrichment—but also to meet the needs of others. God expects the same of us.

Again and again the Bible tells us that we are to work so that we have something to share with the needy—that we are to look to the interests of others—and that we are to share what we have. God’s concern is that all people would be provided for.

But there is another part of these farming precepts that more directly applies to our own spiritual lives besides meeting the material needs of others. By leaving a part of their harvest behind, the Israelites also learned to trust God to meet their needs.

We need that reminder today—especially in a time when most Americans are using all their resources for themselves plus whatever they can borrow on credit card. Giving a portion of what we’ve earned to others--helps them—but it also helps us learn to trust God to meet all our needs which he has promised to do. We can count on his mercy-- and so we have special concern for those who are dependent upon our mercy. The Bible says:

“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, they were absolutely helpless—they were dependent completely upon the mercy of God who heard their cries and saw their need and came to their rescue. And because the Lord was merciful to them—they were to be merciful to others.

So it is with us. We were born into spiritual slavery. By nature, we were deaf to the voice of God-- and we were blind to his goodness. If our deliverance and salvation depended upon us in the least, we would remain separated from God forever. But God had mercy on us in Christ and came to our rescue and brought us to himself. And because we are the recipients of his mercy—we are to be merciful to others.

The hired servant needed his wages at the end of the day so that he could feed his family. The deaf could not hear and the blind could not see. And all of them were dependent upon the mercy of those around them—they were dependent upon those who had greater power than they did.

When we find ourselves in a position of power—far be it from us to oppress our neighbor or take from our neighbor or deal falsely with them. Rather, we take our guidance from the Lord who was merciful to us—and so we are merciful to others. There are people all around us who need a kind word from us and who need a helping hand—who do not have the resources we have. We are not permitted as Christian people to turn our backs on those who stand in need of our mercy—and we are not permitted to ignore those who need justice to be done for them. The Bible says:

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

When the rulers of Egypt began to recognize that the people of Israel were growing into a great nation within the borders of Egypt—they commanded the Hebrew midwives to put the male children to death as soon as they were delivered. But the midwives feared God and would not obey and so as the number of Israelites continued to grow, the Egyptians enslaved them and put harsh masters over them and made their lives bitter.

God did not turn a blind eye to these injustices but protected the lives of his children and set them free from slavery. And because this was the kind of God they had in the LORD, the Israelites were called to act justly and be impartial and speak the truth and let go of vengeance. So it still is today for God’s people. The Bible says:

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

The LORD is the Creator of mankind. He is the Redeemer of the world. And because every person has been created by God and because the blood of Christ was poured out upon the cross for all people, every person in the world—has dignity and worth in God’s sight—no matter their gender or ethnicity or age. Christians were the ones who brought slavery to an end. Christians were the ones who hid the Jews. Christians were the leaders of the civil rights movement in our country. And Christians are the ones who uphold the value of the lives of the unborn and the disabled and the elderly.

To love justice- and speak the truth- and stand for the rights of every member of the human family- these are distinctively Christian activities for we are called upon by our Savior God to love our neighbors as ourselves. The Bible says:

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Everything that we have talked about this morning: living lives that are set apart for God—being concerned for the poor- and merciful to the helpless- and acting justly-- can be summed up in this last verse: love your neighbor as yourself. Love them in what we say—love them in what we do—love them from our heart. Love for others is the fulfillment of the Second Table of the Law—love is how we are called to live in relationship with others—love is what we have failed so often to do.

But there was One who got it right—who was concerned for the poor and the broken and all those who needed mercy—who came to the aid of those set upon by enemies and he healed their wounds and paid the price for their restoration to health. He revealed himself in a story about a Good Samaritan—his own story. Jesus entered into our dangerous world to come to the aid of those who, by nature, are his enemies. He poured his life’s blood out upon for us upon the cross and by his wounds we are healed. His resurrection has delivered us to a safe place in our Father’s house where we no longer have to fear even death.

He showed mercy to us. And to the lawyer that day who wondered who his neighbor was-- and to us sitting here this day who ask ourselves, how would the LORD have us live: Jesus says: Go and do likewise. Amen.

And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.