WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Welcome to the Awakening Church Podcast. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:11.599 We exist to awaken this generation to new life in Christ. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.039 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.399 To find out more, go to awakeningchurch.com. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:28.079 We are in just a two-week series called 167 hours, and we've called it this because this is how much time you have after you log off of this sermon. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:34.000 About you have 168 hours every week, and 167 of them are coming up after this sermon. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:35.439 And here's what we said last week. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:42.960 We said the best way to spend your 167 hours is to love God and love your neighbor. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:51.439 And this comes from Jesus' greatest commandment found in Matthew 22, where he says to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:58.159 He actually equates these two commands as the greatest thing you should prioritize across your 167 hours. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:00.479 What should you be prioritizing? 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:07.519 What should you be doing at work with your family on your own, loving God and loving neighbor? 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.840 And we said last week, Jesus is actually, he's actually not saying anything new, which is strange. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.959 He's actually hyperlinking us back to the Old Testament. 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:23.359 He's causing his original audience to read backwards and us today to read backwards, to go back to the Old Testament. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.000 So last week we were in Deuteronomy 6. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:34.400 We took the command, love God, and we looked at it through the Old Testament to see how we might uh understand it more in our current day. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:38.879 And today we're gonna look at love your neighbor and we're gonna go back to Leviticus. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:44.959 And I know you woke up this morning, you were like, I am hoping we have a sermon on Leviticus. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:46.879 Like, this is what I'm dying to hear. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.920 Well, your wish has come true, your prayers have been answered. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:57.439 What does Jesus mean when he says in Matthew 22, 39, love your neighbor as yourself? 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:01.200 When he's saying that, what are the original audience members thinking? 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:03.920 What scripture is he hyperlinking back to? 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:08.639 This command, I think it's just been used a lot during this season. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:10.400 I don't know if you've seen it as much as me. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:12.400 Might be just a pastor thing that I've seen. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:27.280 But as we navigate everything from the racial justice issues in this country, the election year, judgment over COVID practices, about mask wearing and social distancing, I have seen this command supplanted across all of those issues. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:33.280 Love your neighbor regarding race issues, love your guardian your neighbor regarding public health issues. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:42.400 This command has been appropriated across all of these different subjects, but it's caused me to notice this slight nuance with this command. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:48.400 This slight uh temptation we can fall into when saying love your neighbor. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:49.840 It has to do with the internet. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:57.360 The internet has this subtle way of making everything we interact with on it about us. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:07.520 Because most of our interpretation of the internet or the way we intake the information on the internet happens through personal profiles and our own IP address, our own devices. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:12.879 We kind of think all the information that comes at us is about us and for us. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:18.159 And so we end up kind of using the love your neighbor command in a strange, self-centering way. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:20.560 And here's what I mean: it's this sneaky. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:25.680 We can make major issues about how people perceive us. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:34.800 A lot of people call this virtue signaling, which is the public expression of certain opinions, intended to demonstrate your own moral rightness. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:39.840 Like, I'm gonna say this on the internet so that people perceive me to be a good person. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:48.400 And it slowly separates the appearance of being a loving person from actually being a loving person. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:57.039 There's this weird separation the internet creates where we can make people think we're loving without actually doing loving actions. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:09.599 I've been thinking about this as I'm looking at this stuff that many of us are posting right now, and also connected to some stuff I've been reading, especially by this writer Gia Tolentino, who has this book of essays called Trick Mirror. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:12.400 She's a writer for The New Yorker, she's not a Christian, but she says this. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:22.399 She says, you don't need to have directly suffered at the hands of some injustices in order to be invested in invested in bringing that injustice to an end. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.680 But the internet, it brings the eye into everything. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:35.439 The internet can make it seem that supporting someone means literally sharing in their experience, that solidarity is a matter of identity rather than politics or morality. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:42.639 This framework, which centers the self in an expression of support for others, is not ideal. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:53.199 Tolentino says she's a Filipino American and she says, it's like me taking the Black Lives Matter movement and making it about my Filipino American experience. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:59.439 She's like, I don't have to make it about that to really fight for justice for black brothers and sisters. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:00.879 I don't need to make it about me. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:05.519 But you see, the internet has this subtle way of making it about ourselves. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:07.120 This is what I mean. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:11.199 I've seen this trend in my generation, and I've been guilty of it. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:17.839 Where the trend becomes the expression of love replacing the action of it. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:27.199 See, we have to be careful to not just be expressing loving things with leaving the actions of love behind. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:30.800 To appear loving has supplanted loving actions. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:38.160 And also, can't there be really loving people who aren't even on social media, who aren't saying anything about being a loving person? 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:40.480 Can't they also demonstrate love? 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:47.199 You see how love your neighbor has turned into more of a catchphrase than an actual activity in our lives? 00:05:47.439 --> 00:06:01.920 I remember kind of thinking about this like even 14 years ago, I was on a Christian college campus, and there were these banners everywhere, and the Christian college banner said, Engage the culture, change the world. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:04.639 It was like their mission statement. 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:11.519 Now, there's some good to that, but it it kind of has me thinking, is that really the mission of the church? 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:18.079 To engage, quote unquote, the culture and to make it this vague statement that we must do. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.360 You see, Andy Crouch, he's this journalist, he said this. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:28.399 Our mission is actually not primarily to quote unquote engage the culture, but to love our neighbor. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:36.160 And look at this: our neighbor is not an abstract collective noun, but a real person in a real place. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:46.079 As much as I have posted about abstract collective nouns, about people groups that I care about, that I think the Bible cares about, by the way. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:55.600 Immigrants, persecuted Christians, sex trafficking victims, these are all, as much as we can care about them, vague abstract nouns. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:05.519 And we have to move away make the move of not just loving generalized groups of people that we receive from a timeline. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:09.040 We have to love literally the person in front of us. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:12.160 The real person in the real place. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:19.680 What happens when your social media feed is reflecting liberal values, but a Trump supporter is in your family? 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:27.759 What happens when you've been posting critical opinions of the welfare system and then someone in your community group is benefiting from it? 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:36.319 What happens when a real person in a real place, then we're forced to obey this command, not just project this command into the world? 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:36.800 Yeah. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:41.680 This is what I call the beautiful inconvenience of your neighbor. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.279 The beautiful inconvenience of your neighbor. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:57.759 As much as you can try to appear loving, at some day, some point and some time, some real person is gonna come into your life, and you'll be faced with obeying this command to love your neighbor or not. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:15.680 And so as we transport back to the Old Testament, I want this in our heads that the purpose of Jesus saying this and hyperlinking us back to Leviticus is to try to activate us to actually love someone, to actually love someone that we might feel uncomfortable loving. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:22.079 Love your neighbor as yourself is an invitation to make love specific and real. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:24.399 Specific and real. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:28.319 And so as we go back to the Old Testament, we're gonna look at three questions. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:32.080 Who do we love, how do we love, and why do we love? 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:33.919 Let's start with who do we love? 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:35.759 Jesus says, love your neighbor. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:37.759 Well, what is a neighbor? 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.960 Let's go back to the quote that he's actually quoting from. 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.600 It's in Leviticus 19, verse 18. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:50.960 And if you've got a Bible, I would love for you to be in Leviticus 19, just because we're going to be marching through a pretty sizable amount of the text. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:57.440 So Leviticus 19, 8, 17, and 18 says this, you shall not hate your brother. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:08:58.320 Sounds good. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:08:59.360 It sounds like a good start. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:05.759 Not hate your brother from your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:07.120 Isn't that interesting? 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:15.360 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but look at this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:17.039 I am the Lord. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:22.000 When Jesus was saying this command, um, it's in the Gospel of Matthew. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:26.080 The Gospel of Matthew, we talked about this last week, it's primarily to a Jewish audience. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:30.240 So when they heard Jesus say this, they weren't thinking this is some new teaching from Jesus. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:33.600 They were like, oh, he's quoting Leviticus, which is the law. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.200 Leviticus, if you're in your Bible, it's the third book in your Bible. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:38.480 It's really early on. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.879 Happens right after Exodus. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:47.679 And it's actually, the book starts with the people of Israel at the foot of the Mount Sinai. 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:51.279 And they are unwilling and unable to meet with God. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.240 They don't want to be with him because of their own stubbornness. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:55.919 They want to live their own life. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:06.399 And this book, Leviticus, is actually a generous set of guidelines and provisions from God to allow his people to live in his presence even amongst their own sin. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:18.480 It's by obeying these laws outlined in Leviticus that the people of God have a gracious accommodation from the Lord to welcome those people into God's presence even in their own sin and unrighteousness. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:21.679 This is how gracious God is and how good your Old Testament is. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:31.440 In Leviticus, we see that one of the ways that the people are going to live with God in his presence, even in their own sin, is by obeying this command you've just looked at. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:33.440 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:37.600 As you love your neighbor, you'll be living within the presence of God. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:38.960 Well, who is this neighbor? 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:42.080 What does this word mean in the Hebrew? 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:48.000 It's quite simply, your neighbor is the person nearest to you, no matter the circumstances. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:53.120 And I get this definition from how broad the text is in Leviticus. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:05.519 Looking through the whole chapter, chapter 19, actually, we realize that Leviticus 19, 18, what I just read to you, love your neighbor as yourself, is not an isolated solo command. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:14.879 It's actually the summation and the climactic moment of an entire body of text talking about how to love another person. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:20.080 In other words, it's the summation of many commands, not a solo command. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:34.080 And what we see throughout all of Leviticus 19 is that there's all these different Hebrew words for neighbor that's just repeated, and it's almost like the author is like grabbing at all these different words to try to help you understand. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:36.240 You need to love literally everyone. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:37.679 I'm just going to give you a few of them. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.120 They'll be right below me on the screen. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:52.080 Fellow citizen, sojourner, neighbor, people, person, brother, all through Leviticus 19, as you read those different English words, those are also different Hebrew words just grasping at different kinds of people you'll run into. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:12:12.480 And then as it builds and builds and builds, the verses I read to you earlier, 17 and 18 of Leviticus chapter 19, that closing section, the author deploys four of those six words that are used across the entire chapter as almost this literary, climactic, theological moment to say, love everybody. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:23.759 It doesn't matter who's in front of you, it doesn't matter what they are, it doesn't matter where they come from, if they're a fellow Israelite or not, if they are your literal next door neighbor or some random person you run into. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:30.000 If it's a family member, if it's not a family member, love your neighbor as yourself. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:38.480 It's this massive climactic moment to say, your neighbor, man, it is the person nearest to you, no matter the circumstances, that's who you love. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:43.200 There is no one that you will come across that you are not to love. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:47.360 Everyone is welcome to your loving action. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:50.399 So if that's the who, then what's the how? 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:51.759 How do we love? 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.679 And that's where we have to jump before this passage. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.960 Because that's the quote, and I like I said, it's not an isolated command. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:12.559 And so you're if you're in Leviticus 19, 18, just jump back to verse 9, and you'll see that the first provision for how to love a neighbor is all the way back a couple paragraphs in verse 9 when it says you're going to give generously. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:13.600 How do you love? 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.639 Very first and foremost, it's about giving. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:23.679 It's not about withholding, it's not about posturing, it's not about bringing to these things, uh, all these things to be about yourself. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:26.879 When you love another person, it's going to involve giving. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:31.440 It's going to involve moving out of yourself to provide for somebody else. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.440 Look at Leviticus 19 9. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:34.559 It says this. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:42.799 When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of the field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:46.960 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:47.919 Look at this. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:50.879 No, leave them for the poor and the foreigner. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:52.720 I am the Lord your God. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:14:05.519 Now, you might be like me and have no idea about agricultural societies, but it's also pretty simple if you just read this, that the profit of a farm is not to be taken a hundred percent. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:15.039 In fact, the uh instructions here are that you should not take everything that you have, that actually everything you produced is not for you. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.039 And this is now uh to us today. 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:27.360 Everything you do and work for, the rewards you get from it, the extra time and the extra money is not all for you. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.879 Instead, it's to be used to give to your neighbor. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:36.559 You know, when you love someone, if you love your neighbor, your money will go where your mouth is. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.919 Jesus put it very simply in the Gospel of Matthew, 6 21. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.559 It says this, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:15:02.159 So again, if you're on social media saying, love your neighbor, but you're not moving your treasure towards any of those particular neighbors, Jesus would argue, Old Testament would argue, the witness of the Bible would argue, you don't really love your neighbor if you're not giving generously. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:11.120 This is gonna look like a lot of different things, but can start as simply as tithing to awakening, to the church, to the local church, whatever local church you're part of. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:13.200 We hope it's us here at Awakening. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:14.080 But here's why. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:18.320 You see, when we give to the church, it's an act of loving our neighbor. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:19.519 Do you know, right? 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.480 We talk about all the good that we get to do together. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:34.879 Foster the Bay, the work we get to do with Del Mar, Haiti, the homeless outreach, our care team, even just the funds we're able to use to help some of you during the seasons of the fire and during COVID. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:40.080 Like, we get to put our money together to love our neighbors together. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:53.200 That's why giving to a church is so powerful and good, is because the vision of the church is not to just collect money to build an empire, but to collect money to demonstrate the love of God to all people everywhere. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.200 And you and I get to join in on that. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.200 That's one level that it might look like. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:05.919 Another level might be donating to particular causes and nonprofits that are going towards these people groups that you say you love on social media. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:09.919 If you actually love them, your treasure will be there as well. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.200 It also just might have a next door level, right? 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:18.720 It will mean that your personal time and money will go towards the people that literally live near you. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:25.840 You're gonna realize people in your neighborhood have children that might need to be watched, that you can use the time and care for those children. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:35.360 Or even somebody has a need that's in your neighborhood that you can supply, give them a dinner, or help them out when there's times are hard, pay for something if they need it. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.879 These acts of generosity demonstrate love for neighbor. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:43.120 You know, we talked last week about groups, and that's one of the fun ways of being a part of a group. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:52.240 When you're in a midweek group and somebody has a prayer request and there's a need, it's so cool when someone else in the group is able to go, I can actually meet that need. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.000 Man, you need help with that? 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:56.960 I actually have the resources and the money to do that. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.799 And that's how the church can work together to love one another. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:04.319 The first mark of loving your neighbor is to give generously. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:08.640 The second that Leviticus outlines is a life of integrity. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.279 You're going to live with integrity. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.599 Integrity means that all the pieces of your life fit together. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:18.640 There's no incongruency in your life. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:25.359 This is what it says in Leviticus 19, 11, just the next verses after it talks about uh the practice of generosity. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:35.039 It says, do not steal, do not lie, do not deceive one another, do not swear falsely by my name, and so profane the name of the Lord your God. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:36.319 I am the Lord. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:40.720 Integrity is about, like I said, the pieces of your life fitting together. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:50.319 And one way, one practical way to love people in real time is to develop a character that is like Jesus Christ. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:59.920 Biblically, you know, there is a deep connection between the formation of a person's character and the formation of a nation. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.799 Like, I think in America, we don't always see that. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:09.440 Like who you are personally, if you are greedy, that somehow that will affect the general culture. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:14.000 We kind of think we'll do our own thing and we will have no effect on the general culture of the nation. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:16.160 But the Bible doesn't see it that way. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:23.119 It sees a deep connection in who you are becoming and who you're and what kind of city is being developed as well. 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:28.000 Catherine of Siena is a 14th century, she was a 14th century Italian mystic. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:28.880 Here's what she says. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:33.279 She says self-centered love destroys the city of the soul. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:34.160 I love that. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:37.839 And also destroys and overturns our earthly cities. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:48.240 Nothing has so divided the world, turning people against one another, as has self-centered love, from which injustices have sprung and still spring. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.200 She wrote that in the 1300s. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:53.599 That could have been written today. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:03.119 The injustices you see in this world, they are a result of harbored sin and maligned character. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:04.480 Bad character. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:06.400 It corrupts cities. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:13.279 The health of your soul, do you notice that the health of your soul is connected to the health of your city? 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:20.559 That who you are and who you are becoming is deeply connected to a just world. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:29.440 You will not just happen upon a just and generous life, and we will not just happen upon a just and generous country. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:36.160 We have to become the people God has called us to be by obeying his commands and submitting his ways. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:45.759 You know, my generation, the millennials, I think we want social justice without personal holiness. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:52.319 Like we want political rightness, but not individual character development. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:20:04.319 And so that's why we get so frustrated and angry, and we're posting about all these things and we're freaking out and we're lobbying our own opinions out there, ignoring the things that God is trying to work in us. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:16.319 Uh patience instead of anger, prudence instead of getting things off of my chest, or withholding opinions when we are even allowed and have the freedom to express them. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:23.200 Those kinds of things develop an interior character that will help develop and flourish a culture and a nation. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:28.000 And I just got to tell you, are you committed to the health of your soul? 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:31.920 Are you committed to the personal rightness that you have? 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:37.200 We divorce God's biblical justice from personal holiness. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:48.720 And we think we can live whatever kind of sex life we want, we think we can live whatever kind of financial life we want, we think we can live whatever kind of life we want, and the people in Washington should just figure it out. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:56.480 You know that the people in Washington, the world, the culture, the politicians, these are all abstract nouns. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:03.119 And it also abdicates us from the personal responsibility of being the kind of person God is calling us to be. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.279 Yeah, the call of Jesus when he says, love your neighbor. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:12.400 When he says love your neighbor as yourself, what kind of self do you have? 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:16.799 What kind of soul are you forming during this season? 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:27.839 This is our time to dedicate to personal holiness and integrity, not cutting corners at work, but being the right person for a right society. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:30.400 And that's actually where the text goes next. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:37.599 After it talks about not stealing and remaining a person of integrity, it talks about executing justice. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:44.240 You see, when we live with integrity, we will actually explore opportunities to do justice in this world. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:49.680 Leviticus puts it this way do not defraud or rob your neighbor. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:51.279 Just look at this list of commands. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:52.880 I've highlighted some things here. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:58.799 Don't hold back wages, don't curse the deaf or put a stun stumbling block in front of the blind. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.680 In other words, respect. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.599 People with disabilities. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:03.359 Don't pervert justice. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:09.440 Don't show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor with fairness. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.519 Don't go about spreading slander. 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:12.960 Look at this last one. 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:16.799 Don't do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:18.559 I am the Lord. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:22.720 Biblical justice, it's a little different from worldly justice. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:28.000 Worldly justice tends to either highlight the victim or highlight the perpetrator. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:35.119 Biblical justice is interested in protecting the victim, but also bringing consequences to the perpetrator. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:39.599 It has actually has a weight to both sides of the crime. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:46.880 Biblical justice, uh worldly justice might talk a little bit more about fairness, everyone being uh treated the same. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:48.880 We think equality is sameness. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:51.200 The Bible sees equality as equity. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:56.480 Equity means not to treat everyone the same, but to treat everyone with justice. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:03.119 In other words, if you're given little, we should pay closer and more special attention to that person. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:09.599 And if you're given much, we will allow you to have that much to leverage it for the benefit of other people. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:16.000 You know, we're not to sp to show partiality to anyone because of their socioeconomic um position. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:27.039 It's very clear here in this text, but we are to have special concern for the powerless, Isaiah 1.17, Psalm 41.1, if you want to look these passages up. 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:28.640 This is not a contradiction, though. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:33.119 You might think, well, if we're not supposed to show partiality, then why have special attention to the poor? 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:40.079 Well, the Bible doesn't say speak up for the rich and powerful, because they don't need you to speak up for them. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:41.839 You see, that's justice. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.880 Justice is recognizing who has a voice and who doesn't. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:53.359 Justice is recognizing who has power and who doesn't, and helping people leverage the opportunity of their power to help the powerless. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.799 The playing field is not level, the Bible says. 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:04.640 And if we don't advocate for those that don't have much, well, we won't be led to equity and justice. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:24.000 And I think if the millennial generation, which I was kind of talking about in the last point about personal integrity, if the millennial generation wants social justice but not personal integrity, I think some, and hear me carefully here, some older generations, they want the personal holiness without the social justice. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:26.559 The Bible marries the two. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:34.559 The Bible says we will both live personal holy lives and public social justice lives that advocates for those in need. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:36.559 That's how we will love our neighbors. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:44.160 Because we will, in meeting our real neighbor in a real place, be led to different kinds of political action. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:54.240 And biblical justice fights for the social protection and the welfare of those who lacked the natural protection from family and land. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:25:04.079 If people lack that natural protection of a family or a nation, the Bible asks for particular provisions for people like that, like widows, orphans, immigrants. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:09.119 These are commonly talked about people groups in the Bible. 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:14.160 If you want to read more on this, in the notes section on the website, you can go to our website. 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:17.759 I put a lot of Old Testament there to just read through. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:27.920 I remember a seminary professor of mine just saying, read through the biblical passages of law and justice and allow your heart to be warmed by its material. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:32.079 You cannot fully love your neighbor without pursuing biblical justice. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:42.160 And it's going to happen at a national level of like voting legally, submitting to authorities, but also protesting and boycotting when people's rights are taken. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:44.480 But it's going to happen on the next door level too. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:50.480 Like the local level, employee-employer relationships will require fair treatment. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.160 And we will care for the people in our neighborhoods that are more vulnerable. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:58.000 The single moms, the widows, the elderly, the disabled. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:04.640 That's what it means to love your neighbor is to show special concern for the people that don't have the natural protections you do. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:10.079 And finally, the way we're going to love our neighbors, we're going to open our heart. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:11.680 We're going to open our heart. 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:15.279 And here's the verse we started with is Leviticus 19, 17, and 18. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.119 We've gone all the way through, right? 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:21.519 We've gone all the way through, and we're here at the climactic end of love your neighbor as yourself. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:26.799 But notice right at the beginning it says this don't hate your brother in your heart. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:32.079 Don't hate your brother in your heart, but love your neighbor as yourself. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:41.279 You know, I've gotten this far in the message without asking you a very simple question, which is this Do you know your literal neighbor? 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.359 What's their name? 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:46.400 What are their family members' names? 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:49.759 Do you know the people on the floor of your apartment building? 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:52.480 Do you know the people around the corner from you? 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:54.559 Do you know what they need? 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:57.119 Do they know who you are? 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:02.559 Have you had longer conversations with them than the head nod as you're walking to your car? 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:06.720 And I think about my neighbors when I'm thinking about these questions. 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:09.279 I think about this guy, Peter, around the corner from me. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:13.839 You know, him and his family have owned the land there for a hundred and ten years. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:16.799 A hundred and ten years they've owned that land in the Bay Area. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:18.319 That's gotta be a world record. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:24.079 Do you think that affects in how I think about like rental prices and just things like housing prices in there? 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:26.319 Yeah, it really does, because I know Peter. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.599 Or what about like JT, who lives across the way from us? 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:33.440 We found out she actually works near my wife at Stanford. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:37.279 We got to connect over vocations that my wife and her share. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:43.839 Or Hugo, who lives next to her, he came to the United States from Mexico in 1981. 00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:49.200 That has affected the way that I kind of think about uh a lot of issues in our culture. 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:52.640 Or my favorite neighbor is my next door neighbor, Keith. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:53.680 He's just the best. 00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:54.799 He's awesome. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:59.920 You know, he says um, he calls my little son Jude, he he calls him his nephew. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:05.680 He told me when I first moved in, he goes, anything you need, we're family now, bro. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:06.720 We're family. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:08.720 And Keith has taught me a ton. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:14.640 You know, he's a black man who was born in Alabama, he's older, he has incredible wisdom and insight. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:24.079 And I've just been learning when I talk with my neighbors that when you listen to your neighbors, they will tell you how to love them. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:33.599 They might not say it explicitly, but if you are listening, they will show you how to love them when you listen to your neighbors. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.319 And this is why I just want to start with this very easy and simple command. 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:40.880 Love your neighbor literally. 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:42.960 Love your neighbor literally. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:44.319 That's what we are to do. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:45.920 Literally, who's next door to you? 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:49.200 Find out their name, find out who they are and love them. 00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:52.640 I love some of you know this woman in our church, Shadi Khalili. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:53.920 Man, she's the best. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:56.480 She is literally loving her neighbors. 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:04.480 I just heard through Nassim and like that, she was just baking goods, showing up for people. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:11.440 And then she told me I was texting her with her earlier, she said, Yeah, I've even been like doing some yard work for my neighbors, and I don't think they know yet. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:13.519 And I was like, that's so cool. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:25.920 And she's like, you know, she's just doing this because she's trying to show a literal love to her neighbor, giving generously of her time, having the personal integrity to show up and not want the credit for it, and understanding their needs. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:34.480 She's like, I know they're working, they've got two kids, like she knows their story, and she's able to practically deploy that love to them, and they don't have to even know. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:35.200 Right? 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:37.039 Literally loving your neighbor. 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:42.079 How could you maybe do do something like that to show up for someone? 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:46.640 What can you do tomorrow for someone next door? 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:48.000 What could you do? 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:51.279 Like, what could you do next hour for someone next door? 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:56.880 Maybe it just requires you going, I'm just gonna bring something over, some food and just say hi. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:02.240 Man, we've just lost this in our age of social media proclamation. 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:07.200 We've lost the art of loving the person right in front of us. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:14.400 We are to demonstrate generosity, integrity, and justice to this world. 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:20.160 And it's not as complicated as writing the narratives through proper speech. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:26.400 It's going to happen through loving the person that's given to us right in front of us. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:32.160 That's how we're going to change this world, quote unquote, engage this culture, quote unquote. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:32.640 No. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:36.480 Love the neighbor and watch the city change. 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:40.240 As we do that, we'll be reminded why we love. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:42.079 Why do we love? 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:51.359 Well, as your neighbors and you get to know each other and you practice this love, I want you to remember the most repeated phrase in this whole section. 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:54.240 We just went through a ton of Old Testament in Leviticus 19. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:58.559 But the most repeated phrase is not love. 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:00.559 It is not neighbor. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:03.279 It's not any of those other words I was telling you about. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:09.039 The most repeated phrase throughout this whole text of scripture is I am the Lord. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:10.799 I am Yahweh. 00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:12.400 Repeated over and over again. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:13.839 Why do I love my neighbor? 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.480 Why am I spending 167 hours focusing on other people and not myself? 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:23.519 Not because I need to be a good person, not because I have to be a good Christian. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:26.079 We do this because he is God. 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:27.680 He is Yahweh. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:29.200 You know, he uses his name here. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:30.319 I am Yahweh. 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:33.279 In other words, he's saying, I'm not just some divine being. 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:35.839 I'm not just some lowercase G God. 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:39.119 I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:41.920 I am the one who freed you out of slavery. 00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:52.799 And as you sit at Mount Sinai and as you hear my instructions here in Leviticus, the way that you are going to engage with me and know me is by loving other people. 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:54.319 I'm not just some God. 00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:59.599 I am the God who has come and will come again, has rescued you and will rescue you again. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:02.640 Look at this quote from Chris Wright, Old Testament theologian. 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:17.759 The primary, compelling, and repeated reason why, if you had been an Israelite, you were supposed to observe this compassionate law was that this is the way God had actually behaved towards you when you were in similar conditions. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:27.359 Deuteronomy 24, 18 says, You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord God redeemed you from there. 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:30.880 Therefore, I command you to do this. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:35.759 I'm commanding you to do this, God says, because I have done something for you. 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:40.000 You see, the gospel, the gospel is this. 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:47.680 When we see God's love in Jesus on the cross, we see that God did not simply appear to be loving. 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:50.640 God did not simply pronounce his love. 00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:58.240 We want to appear to be loving. 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:04.640 No, God didn't just appear to be loving, he enacted his love, he demonstrated his love. 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:14.319 He came into this world, died on a cross, put on flesh, died, buried, rose again in victory to show you and I what love really is. 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:16.400 Love is not the pronouncement of love. 00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:22.799 Love is not the proclamation that you are a loving person, that you care about abstract collective nouns. 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:26.000 Love is death on a cross. 00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:27.839 And we've seen that in the gospel. 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:39.200 And when we give of ourselves to our neighbor, we are reminded of God's goodness, bringing the gospel to fresh light into our eyes and inspired all the more to love more and more. 00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:47.759 Not because we're going to be a great person, not because people are going to applaud us, but because when we do that, we will know God all the more. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.519 We will come to the knowledge of God as we love others. 00:33:51.759 --> 00:34:01.119 And so may you go and love your neighbor as yourself for the simple reason that when you do so, you will know God all the more. 00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:02.880 Let me pray for you. 00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:06.160 God, we need your help. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:08.559 You have loved us. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:11.039 You have demonstrated love. 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:21.519 And so now help us, God, to demonstrate that love, that sacrificial love, to the people closest to us, no matter the circumstances. 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:24.800 We pray for your spirit's help in Jesus' name. 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:25.760 Amen.