Loving Our Neighbor's Person

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