Exodus chapter 22 will never be accused of being the most exciting or motivating chapter in God’s Word. I mean, come on, we can be honest. We find here rules about stealing livestock, grazing your cattle in another man’s field, lending money, borrowing possessions, and dealing with widows and orphans. So where is the motivation? Isn’t God’s Word supposed to motivate us and tell us how awesome we are and that everything is going to be just as awesome in our lives?
I came across a famous mega-church preacher the other day on TV and he proceeded to tell me that whatever problems I was dealing with were about to be quickly turned around by the glory of God. He proceeded to quote from the book of Hannah and cited her prayer to God for a child at the temple. (Hannah 1) Folks, hear me on this, make sure you know God’s Word for yourself, don’t depend on others to tell you what it is or what they think it means. This guy was mis-representing God’s Word on national TV and most people will never have a clue because they never read the Bible for themselves. Hannah had been barren her entire life and had offered up thousands and thousands of prayers for a child over several years and they had all been answered with no from God. She was even emotionally tortured for most of it from her husbands other wife that could have kids! She was living a heart broken life and didn’t know why. God’s plan can be very different than our plans, and no, God’s Word is not here to merely tell us that us that everything is OK and that we will get everything want. God Word is truth and sometimes the truth is tough to hear. God will put you through tough times to teach you invaluable lessons and this means it’s not always jellybeans and rainbows.
Oops, back on track. Even in a chapter that seems to be dull and boring, God is in it. You see, the Bible is a book that is separated into two main parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Within those 2 parts are 66 chapters. Within the chapters are paragraphs, within the paragraphs are sentences and within those sentences are words. Single words. God’s Words. No matter what part of the Bible you are in, it’s still God’s Words and they still speak. This morning I noticed that the word neighbor was used 5 times throughout the chapter. It caused me to look deeper and out of the 20 rules given, about 90% of them deal with neighbors. God is giving us a message through these laws. It’s important to Him how we treat each other. Very important.
It caused me to brush off the pre-coffee cobwebs in my brain and start thinking about neighbors. We hear this word so often and when it’s used, we think about the people that live in a house next to us. Usually the houses that are the closest to us. If you asked most people how many neighbors they have it would be very limited. Most would answer between 2 and 10. For instance, Marge and I live in a city neighborhood and there are hundreds of houses in the several square miles around us, yet I would say that we have less neighbors than the thousands of people that live around us. But what really constitutes a neighbor? How can we better define “our neighbor?” Let’s see what God’s Word says about neighbors.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31b
“Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” 1 Cor 10:24
“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Gal 5:14
“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Rom 5:12
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom 13:10
A quick bit of research and I find that the word neighbor is used at least 150 times throughout God’s Word. That’s a lot. So why is God so concerned with the people that live next door to me. Well, to God, your neighbor stretches much farther than 150 feet to your left and right. Think of it this way. Imagine that you have a forcefield that surrounds you. It’s completely mobile and it follows you wherever you go. Whoever your forcefield touches is your neighbor. When you’re in line at Wal-Mart, frustrated because the line is too long, your surrounded by your neighbors. When you’re at DFW among the crowds of travelers in the security line, all your new neighbors. When your walking through the mall, constantly in motion and moving through groups of people, all your neighbors. You see instead of challenging you to name who your neighbors are, I challenge you to name someone that is not.
The word neighbor comes from the Old English, “neahgebur” which translates to “near” “dweller” when broken down into its individual parts. It makes sense, then, that neighbor refers to a nearby person, place, or thing. But when you get down to the second and third root definitions we find these, “one’s fellow human beings”, “To associate intimately with”, “To adjoin; to border on; to be near to”, and “One who is near in sympathy or confidence.” You notice how our language does not just define neighbor as a cold hard noun, someone that lives near you, but it flows much deeper. It’s one that surrounds you and one that you “associate and share sympathy and confidence” with.
Growing up in small town Combine, Texas, neighbors were different. Neighbors weren’t just a physical presence in your life they were an emotional connection and support structure in your life. If there was a death in the family, our neighbors had food at the front door immediately. Food being the best sign of comfort they could offer in the presence of grieving. Neighbors would babysit, share holidays, have play dates, help fix cars, loan food, and well, share life. My mom and dad still live in Combine and still have most of those same neighbors. The other day a storm took down a good sized tree in their front yard and dad tells me his neighbor knocks on the door with a chainsaw in his hand. He showed up ready to help, unasked. When another neighbor heard two chainsaws going, he showed up with his and they made quick work of that tree. Folks, that is a different kind of neighbor.
God nails it with the neighbor thing. If today I love and have great respect for whoever comes into contact with my neighbor forcefield, my life will be a travelling circle of God’s love. His love flowing through my forcefield to the world that He puts me into contact with. And only imagine if everyone operated in this principle. The world would be a place that would closely resemble what I feel Heaven will be like. People truly loving all other people as they love themselves. People being patient and tolerant of all those around them. People loving their neighbors even if they don’t like them. People investing in the lives of those around them. People smiling and waving at those around them as they genuinely care for their souls and expect nothing in return. What a beautiful goal given us to strive for. And it all starts for you today. Be the best neighbor you can be as your forcefield puts you into contact with the very people God puts into your path. It will be no accident that you meet the people you meet, god has it planned. You see the people of the world need God’s love and He will give it to them through His people…that’s you.
God bless you as you go out today and love your neighbors all over this big, wide world.
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