Order of Service

1. We build walls.
2. God calls us to love.
3. Jesus redraws the boundaries.
4. Love gets specific.

We build walls.

God’s design for us is to live with others and work together to bring order, to bring
about flourishing. (Genesis 1:26–28, Genesis 2:15, Genesis 2:18)

Genesis 4:9
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Our awareness of the evil in the world leads us to disengage from one another.
Sin has greatly divided and fractured our world. As followers of Jesus, we are called to
participate in the redemption and healing that God is working to bring to the Earth.
If we want to see transformation in people’s lives, it requires us to be vulnerable first.

God calls us to love.

Leviticus 19:1–2
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy
because I, the Lord your God, am holy.’”

God wanted them to live as his treasured possession so that those around can look at
them and see what God is like.

Leviticus 19:18
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your
neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:33–34
When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner
residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were
foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Jesus redraws the boundaries.

Luke 10:25–29
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what
must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength and with all your mind’ (Deuteronomy 6:5); and, ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18).”

Luke 10:29
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

They want to know where their responsibility ends…
Our sin wants us to limit the love we are willing to give.
Sin wants to restrict and limit the love that God wants to show to the world.

Luke 10:30–37
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was
attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him
half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man,
he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him,
passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was;
and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds,
pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and
took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper.
‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you
may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of
robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

God wants his mercy and love to flow through us without limit.
Jesus is challenging the limits that we put on our love.

Love gets specific.

“Hospitality is the front door of the kingdom of God.”
— Becca Knudsen

The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon

We can start living now in ways that line up with the future hope God has promised.

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