Loving Our Neighbor's Person
Minister: | Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: | 10/5/2014 AM |
Text: | I John 3,4; Lord's Day 40 |
Psalters: | 279, 384, 305, 370 |
- The sin forbidden.
- To kill is to take a life without having the authority to do so.
- Life is a gift of God (Deut. 32:39).
- The fall into sin brought death as God’s just and angry punishment of sin (the opposite of life).
- Thus anyone who kills another is destroying the picture (whether regenerated or not), and thus deserves death (Gen. 9:6).
- What is included in killing?
- To plot another's death, to consent to another's death, not to stop a killing when it is in our power to do so.
- We are guilty of killing even when it is "accidental" (Num. 35; Deut. 19), or through negligence (Ex. 21:29,30).
- This includes killing a soul - by enticing one into sin, by causing one to sin against his conscience, by not warning the wicked of their wicked way (Ezek. 3:18), or by starving a soul spiritually.
- This command teaches us that God judges to be murder all that leads to killing: envy, hatred, anger, desire of revenge.
- Murder touches God in three ways.
- God commands capital punishment to show the seriousness of this sin (Gen. 9:5,6; Ex. 21:12).
- To kill is to take a life without having the authority to do so.
- God demands that we love our neighbor, i.e., that we preserve his life in love.
- Love for the neighbor and brother is a calling (not an option) arising out of gratitude for His love.
- We may not say that we can’t (it is impossible for the unregenerate).
- The difficulty arises from our thinking more of our neighbor than of God.
- The pattern for our love is God's love (Matt. 5:43ff., Eph. 5:1,2).
- This love is a positive action, binding wounds, paying, being patient, gentle, kind (useful), loving mercy.
- We are called to show “pity” (mercy) to those God puts in our path (37), not just refrain from killing him.
- Use self-control (temperance) to restrain and control our anger (Prov. 13:10).
- Seek to pattern your love after God's love, and seek to resemble Him Who does good to all (Matt. 5:45).
- Love for the neighbor and brother is a calling (not an option) arising out of gratitude for His love.