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Jan 22-28, 2023
Dr. "Joey" Alan Le, Ph.D.
We Are Neighbors - 20230121.pdfWhat kind of neighborhood did you grow up in? What was your experience of neighborliness like?
Introduction
Introduction
This week’s topic has to do with character formation. Our character is most tangibly formed by our relationships with our neighbors. When we respond to our other’s needs, accept their offer of friendship, and learn to forgive, we become good neighbors and good people.
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Luke 10:25-37
Luke 10:25-37
10:27 YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND. What would this complete love look like in your life and context?
10:27 [LOVE] YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. What do you think this means? Why would loving God and neighbor merit eternal life?
10:28 DO THIS. Is this humanly possible? When have you seen this done well?
10:28 YOU WILL LIVE. Why do you think Jesus does not say, “Do this, and you will live eternally?” Is there a difference between Jesus’ answer and the lawyer’s question? The task of loving God and loving our neighbor is what leads to true life today, here and now. The highest good in life is to love God and to love our neighbor. When we forget to love God, we are not truly alive. And even if we love God but neglect to love our neighbor, even then, we do not truly live.
Your love of God always takes the form of loving your neighbor. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
How did Jesus subvert his audience’s expectations?
What emotions and actions characterize the Samaritan’s neighborliness? Was there risk and cost?
10:33 WHILE TRAVELING CAME NEAR HIM. To whom do you feel the Spirit urging you to go near? Who should empathize with rather than ostracize?
What prevents you from being a good neighbor like the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable?
The Good Samaritan Experiment
The Good Samaritan Experiment
In 1973, Princeton psychologists wanted to experiment if people would help others based on their disposition or situation. They recruited seminary students and asked them to preach a sermon on the Good Samaritan.
They asked the seminarians to walk to the next building to preach their sermon. On the way, all the participants would come across a fallen stranger in the four-foot-wide alley connecting the two buildings. The man appeared destitute, slouched, and coughed. The researchers would observe the participants from a distance. Would they help the hurting man out?
Shockingly, most of the participants were not willing to help the victim because they were in a rush to preach their sermon on the Good Samaritan.
It did not matter that they were seminarians, felt called to serve others, or even were about to give a talk on the Good Samaritan.
The most significant factor was whether they were in a rush.
This famous experiment has a lot more depth and nuance. To learn more, check out the original Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychology Today, or Right Attitudes.
For today’s lesson on “We Are Neighbors,” what is most relevant in this study is that thinking about being a good neighbor is not enough to motivate a person to be a good neighbor.
What other insights about social behavior from this experiment? How would you have responded to the poor man coughing in the alley if you were one of the participants?
Pray for and encourage each other that you may love God and your neighbor.
Matthew 25:31-46
Matthew 25:31-46
25:34 Who inherits the Father’s kingdom, and why?
25:35-36. Why does Jesus pay more attention to the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and prisoner than everyone else? Don’t the well-fed, the in-crowd, the clothed, the healthy, and the free also have a place in the Father’s kingdom?
25:37 WHEN DID WE? The righteous are surprised that their acts of loving service opened the kingdom of God to them. How does this inform your understanding of who belongs in the kingdom of God?
25:40 THE LEAST. Who are the “least” in our communities?
25:41 YOU DID IT TO ME. This Scripture passage has motivated Christians to practice hospitality to strangers throughout the centuries. In serving their fellow human, their neighbor, they may be entertaining Christ himself. How would you act differently if you knew that Jesus Christ was standing in front of you in need?
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
Why is the love of God so tightly associated with loving one’s neighbor?
Who is one’s neighbor? Is it correct to understand all people as one’s neighbor?
What prevents you from loving all people?
Do you love yourself? If so, how?
What does loving your neighbor as yourself mean?
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