Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

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Luke 10:27
Am I my Brother’s Keeper?
Genesis 4:9
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?“

People who ask this question or questions like it my have a personality of hatred or a spirit of murder on their lives.
Not considering others only considering themselves.

1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

I believe Cain is trying to avoid taking responsibility for what he’s already done by not taking any responsibility for his brother Abel in any way.

We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. ..Statement at the signing of the Declaration of Independence
~Benjamin Franklin

Bitterness-
Ephesians 4:31,32
31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Everyone has an effect on everyone else. Either for good or bad. The concept or idea of just leaving a sinful situation alone so it can exist and be isolated is a fantasy. Sinful people and sin’s nature is aggressive and will recruit new “converts” to it’s way of thinking and living.

Mark 8:15 "Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod."

The yeast of the Pharisees other places in the Bible is further defined as hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is the false assumption of an appearance of virtue.
The problem with hypocrisy is it prevents a person from admitting their need for a savior. This pride will bring about their destruction.

Consequences of Hypocrisy Illustrated
Luke 18:9-14
9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Brotherly Love
The Greek word agapao is used to convey God the Father’s will to His children concerning their attitude toward one another.

John 13:34
34"A new command I give you: Love (agapao) one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

1 Thessalonians 3:12
12May the Lord make your love (agapao) increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

1 Corinthians 16:14
14Do everything in love (agapao).

2 Peter 1:7
7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love (agapao).

Galatians_5:22.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love (agapao)…
Christian Love
"Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all, and works no ill to any; love seeks opportunity to do good to 'all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith’.

Romans 15:2
2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Romans 13:8-10
8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

One component to the previous verse that I want to re-emphasize is that you can’t love your neighbor unless you love yourself. Do you love yourself? Wives having trouble with your husband?

Ephesians 5:28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Galatians 6:10
10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Jubilee Family Church