Love... Where You Live (part 3): Brave Enough To Love

#1 Awkward

Read Luke 5:27-32.

Are you uncomfortable about spending time with anyone on your block?

Anyone you would feel strange being seen with? Why?

Are you afraid of reaching out to anyone on your block? Why?

Do you feel like any of your neighbors are "bad candidates" for the gospel? Are there really "bad candidates"?

It’s okay to be honest even if you’re not proud of your answer.

We’re usually afraid of people who’re different from us. Try to think of one thing you have in common with each of your neighbors. Share what you have in common with the neighbor who seems most different.

#2 TMI

Discuss the impact the 24-hour media cycle has on your worldview. Does watching or reading the news make you more or less afraid? Why do you think that is?

What are you afraid of that you have only seen on the news?

What’s the worst-case scenario if you engaged your neighbors?

Does knowing them increase the likelihood of your worst-case scenario?

#3 I’m So Scary

Get outside your own head for a minute and consider yourself from your neighbor’s perspective. Are you scary or awkward? Who do you think might have a reason to be scared of you? Or weirded out by you? Why?

#4 Build Up

Paul says in Romans 15:2, "Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up."

How could you please your neighbor for their good this week? Be specific. Make a plan.

#5 On Neighboring, Levitically Speaking

Consider the following Levitical commands about neighboring. Which ones are the hardest to keep? Why so? Give a modern example of something specific a neighbor might do to violate each of these commands.

Leviticus 6:2-5

If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit— when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full.

Leviticus 18:20

Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.

Leviticus 19:13

Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

Leviticus 19:15

Do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

Leviticus 19:16

Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life.

Leviticus 19:17

Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

Leviticus 19:18

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.