The Motives of Neighboring; March 15, 2026

speaker-1: The gospel reading for today is from Matthew 5, 14 through 16. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket. Rather, they put it on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. The word of the Lord.

speaker-0: Thank you.

speaker-1: Friends, Trinity Presbyterian Church, ⁓ do you believe this? You are light of the world. you say that with me? ⁓ You are the light of the world. What a declaration. I see God's goodness blowing this morning. Jenny helping out, Godwin, thank you, thank you. Ben just helping us all sound good. I really praise God. So let's just dive in. My friends, if I can be real, so real with you all this morning, this Art of Neighboring series has been humbling for me to say the least, and I'll tell you why. Because I've been here for like a year and a half now. Maybe this is your first time around with this series. As Jake has mentioned before, we have done this as a church. But for me, this is my first time. So when Jake introduced the chart of shame to us that can be found in the front of your bulletin, I was full of shame because I could only fill one square. However, can I at least say, and dare I say brag, that the one square that I had filled was full? I could answer all of the questions at least because I know one neighbor in my apartment complex and she has been a dear friend of mine. And yet, there is still room for growth because as this neighbor turned friend recently told me, she is thinking about moving out of our complex and closer to the city. Woe is me, such is life. I am literally back to square one, some might say. Because neighboring is hard and holy work. We are being pushed out of our comfort zones if we dare try. And even in our very small steps of faith, as Pastor Jake reminded us of last week, God meets us with fishes and loaves and multiplies it as so. So this morning we are challenged once again by an excerpt of Jesus' sermon on the plain. We are in Luke's gospel, so it takes place on a plain rather than a mountain. With the intent to remind us that Jesus is with us at our level Jesus's skin is in the game doing this thing in the challenge as well So here are these words from chapter 6 verses 27 to 36 However, it is spring break. We are Lucy Ducey. So I have three assignments for you Alright, so when I say the word say you're gonna say say what? All right? All right, let's practice. Say. Say. All right, and then when I say the word love, and that's a lot, we're just gonna put our hands in our chest. Love. And then when I say the word good, we're gonna say, mm-hmm. All right? That's so uncomfortable, but we're gonna do it. Can we try that? Good.

speaker-0: We're back! you

speaker-1: All right, happy spring break, my friends. Hear the gospel of Luke chapter six, verses 27 to 36. Jesus said, but I say, say what? To you who are listening, love your enemies, do good. to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from anyone who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who asks of you. And if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love, okay, okay. Those who love, you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners, love those who love them. If you do good, to those who do good, to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again. So instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great and you will be children of the most high for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as your father is merciful. The word of the Lord. God, we hear the words that you say to us through your son Jesus. And I pray that as we go and continue to study your word, that we take them seriously and that we believe them. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this in your son's name, amen. Amen, that was really fun. Here's the deal, I ought to say, say what? I promise we can stop after that. That was a fun one. I ought to... speak, it is a real blessing to be teaching confirmation with Kathy Nelson and Kirk Shields this time around. Confirmation is a time for our eighth grade and freshman age students to explore their faith and affirm their faith in God. And this last class, we recapped the interfaith iftar held at the Islamic Association of Louisville and Flower Mound. How many here could attend last week? That's amazing. Wow. I could not attend because I was recovering from a cold. But as you can see, we had a few students and members attend and I hear that there was quite a bunch of us from Trinity who showed up. And to me, that is an encouragement for multiple reasons. For one, shout out to our Muslim siblings who took the charge to throw a party seriously to get to know their neighbors, right? They invited us into their sacred space. and what a privilege it is to be invited to such a table because it is vulnerable. And two, it is a different type of vulnerability to take up someone on their invite versus being the host. So I also want to point that as well, that the art of neighboring is not just about hosting and inviting others in, although that is the start, but the art of neighboring also requires us to take invitation seriously as well. And one of the things we hope to teach in confirmation is that the God in which we believe in does not want us to stay in our exclusive bubble of people who believe in the same things as we do and to just keep adding to that bubble. No, no, no. That's not what we believe. But instead, God's commandment to love our neighbor is a call to simply enjoy the company around you. No agenda. To love our neighbor is just to simply know other members of God's creation for the good they were created. So this morning we are going onward in our study and we are going to explore the motives for neighboring This is a moment when we take a step back and we reflect which is one of my favorite things to do, right? We have our meat and potatoes, but we have to take a step back now and think about what got us in this kitchen in the first place and Maybe it can be said that we are coming at this art of neighboring for different reasons So perhaps maybe you're like me you're newer to the neighborhood and you're hungry for community. And maybe through this series you are realizing you ought to get to know those around you. Or maybe this time around you're choosing to engage with this practice because you have a family to feed. Maybe you're saying to yourself, I ought to get to know my neighbors for the good of my family's health and community. Maybe you want to know your neighbors so you know who your kids are hanging out with, et cetera. Or maybe you haven't even stepped in the kitchen. You're not necessarily hungry. Maybe you have a snack from the pantry that will suffice. No one is depending on to cook for them, so why bother with this neighboring thing? This morning, wherever your motives are for answering the call to neighboring, perhaps we as a church can get behind one common motive together. Perhaps we can answer the call to neighboring to discover God's heart and to become faithful servants of Christ. Does this sound familiar? To discover God's heart and become faithful servants. Where is that from? This is a trivia question. Does anybody know?

speaker-0: Yeah.

speaker-1: Yes, it is our church mission statement. That is good. Some people often forget, but it is to discover God's heart and become faithful servants. And I personally have come to know this because when I was interviewed with the associate pastor nominating committee two years ago around this time, I dressed up in my coach's attire, believe it or not, wearing a whistle around my neck. And I presented my personal game plan for what I hope to accomplish as the a pastor, a sight to see, my gosh, you guys missed out. But I set out my game plan for around this mission statement because as you can tell, I love a metaphor. And perhaps today we consider our church's mission statement as a game plan or a heart posture towards this art of neighboring. Perhaps we approach our neighbors with a posture and expectancy to discover God's heart and become faithful servants in the process. So as we read today as part of his famous Sermon on the Plain, Jesus presents a scandalous way of living and loving. But I say to you who are listening, I'm gonna read it again. Love your neighbors, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from anyone who takes your coat, do not withhold even your shirt. Jesus said, give to everyone who asks of you. And if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. It is indeed so scandalous to go so far to love our neighbors or to love our enemies. I realize we are going from zero to 100 from neighbor to enemy and please don't misunderstand me as equating our neighbors to our enemies. But maybe we can see that if Jesus commands us to love even our enemy, perhaps we consider loving our neighbor as a start. And if you want an even more scandal, here is how the message translation presents this pericope. Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more payback. Live generously. When we read this in youth group on Wednesday, I had our youth in shock and they were saying to me, are we supposed to be reading this like this? Because it's so, it's so gracious and scandalous, right? right? Because if you heard that second sentence, let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. Wow, what if we approached one another as neighbors with such expectancy? Perhaps God's love is so transformative that even the people who give us the hardest time can bring out the best in us. What a way to discover God's heart and to become faithful servants. You know, growing up, maybe you are like me. My greatest enemy, my arch nemesis, but also my greatest ally, was my older sister. My older sister became a mom last week to a baby girl, Olivia Caris. I'm very excited for her. So it has me in a sentimental place, reminiscing on our childhood. It was quite glamorous, with the exception of doors being slammed. We shared a room for a moment, I was kicked out many times, but for good reasons, right? I was definitely the annoying younger sister. But also, I'd like to credit my sister for showing me the depths of love and grace in the most formative years of my life thus far. She has taught me how to be careful with my tone of voice as I have seen how it can have a deep effect on someone's disposition. She has taught me to think before speaking because words do cut deep. She has taught me how to be a good neighbor. And I have discovered God's heart as I've realized what it looks like to carry the burden of being the oldest in the family. Because of our relationship, I now realize that God's heart carries our grief with us, even when we are slow to admit we are grieving. God's heart cares for our safety when we are stubborn to obey and feel as though we are invincible. I now know that God's heart celebrates joyfully in our wins and reminds us that we are still loved in our losses. And that is one of the stories I tell when I think about how neighboring has shown me God's love. It's like the dynamic between the wicked duo, Elphaba and Galinda, right? And if you look closely, Glinda might be in this room. Two strangers who start off as enemies are forced to do life together for a season. And, spoil alert, although they do not live happily ever after, both are changed for good. So I ask, what about you? How have you been changed for good? Who are the people or relationships in your life that have transformed you in such a way? Simply put it, how have you experienced the love of God? The authors of the art of neighboring reference, the book by Eric Swanson and Sam Williams called To Transform a City, and they use this phrase ulterior versus ultimate to describe motives in building relationships with others. So the ulterior means something is intentionally kept concealed and is unfortunately manipulative. It's when we are conscious that our intentions and actions do not line up, but we still act accordingly. And the ultimate means the farthest point of a journey. ultimate goal is an eventual point or longed-for destination. And according to Jay and Dave, the ulterior motive in good neighboring must never be to share the gospel, but rather to share the story of Jesus and his impact on our lives. And they write, we do not love our neighbors to convert them. We love our neighbors because we are converted. So I guess the next step for us is to think about what exactly is this good news for us to share. What is and how is the good news transforming our lives today? One of the first verses I was taught to memorize was John 3.16. And if you want to recite it with me, I invite you to, because it says, for God so loved the world that he gave us his only son, and whoever believed in him would not perish but have eternal life. Right? that was presented to me as the gospel. And I recently read on a thread from Boestringer that we also ought to consider the gospel found in Luke 4, 18, just as much as John 3, 16. And this is what Luke 4, 18 says. These are the words of Jesus. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set those who are oppressed free. I invite you to think about the stories in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That the good news goes beyond the miracles of healing and provision, right? Yes, it's quite miraculous that Jesus was able to make a blind man see again. He was able to feed 5,000 from a young boy's lunch, and that is not easy. But may we not lose sight of the depth of the good news. The good news goes beyond the immediate result. The good news is the motive. God using God's power to bring people back together through Jesus Christ, as Meredith Miller writes. It is through these miraculous encounters that those who were outcasted from society were brought back from the margin, like the woman at the well, like Sicaeus. The good news is that Jesus was sent to remind us that God created us not to be alone, but for belonging. God created us to share a love from which we cannot be separated. And my goodness gracious, that is the good news. And believe it or not, it starts with Jesus, but it does not stop with him. Because the spirit of the Lord is now upon you and upon me to bring good news to the poor in spirit. The spirit of the Lord is upon you and from and to me to proclaim release to those held captive by the oppressive spirit systems of this world to recover sight to those who cannot see the goodness found in their neighbor to set those who are oppressed free my friends believe it or not you and i both have good news to share and what if god has good news to share even through strangers like our neighbors or even strangers like our enemies and maybe our enemies are really just strangers we ought to get to know To end, there is this card game called We Are Not Really Strangers. Has anybody heard of this? ⁓ Yes, it is a purpose-driven card game and movement all about empowering meaningful connections. It's a deck of cards, and we've played it at youth group. I've had it out for those who have come over. But it's a stack full of questions that essentially help start the process of storytelling. And by the end of the stack, players hope to realize that they are not really strangers, because it truly takes an ounce of courage to ask a few intentional questions to start getting to know someone. So here's the homework. It's spring break, but hey, on the back of your bulletin, you will find some questions from the stack that I've gathered. I'm going to read a few. Some of these questions go as followed. What is a dream you've let go of? What's been your happiest moment this past year? Describe your perfect day. Have you changed your mind about anything recently? If you could have it your way, who would you be with, where would you be, and what would you be doing? So I invite you this week to give some time to ask a neighbor or two one of these questions. And here's the deal. Some of these questions are a little lighter and some of them are a little heavier than others. So just gauge on your relationship with your neighbors. Use your discernment. But the intent for presenting these questions to you all is to open the door for a neighbor. Questions are, in fact, invitations to knowledge. So my friends, hear this. The spirit of the Lord is indeed upon you and me to share the good news, but even more so to receive the good news and continue to discover God's heart and to become faithful servants in the process. And perhaps in our receiving, we shine even brighter in this world for God's glory. This I give to you in the name of our creator, redeemer, and sustainer, amen.