Neighbors Are Not Necessarily Relatives 2 Cor. 6:17
Then, of course, everyone knows about the down and out sections. The friend next door may not know the way of salvation. Christians should be alert and ready to present God’s good news. ß u llA Mata
change their message from the clear gospel and bring in other thoughts, other plans, and other remedies to bring about the desired results. The message must be altered for fear of offending those of false faiths. There is only one faith and one Lord. Mixing Races Means Mixing Results The evil consequences of seeking to intermarry and intermingle in busi ness and social life and in religious matters produces complex results which are rarely a blessing to those who participate. When English marry English, the result is that life con tinues along the English plan. How ever, when the English marry into the Negro race, at once there is a break ing down of the English life and a bringing in of influences which are different. This is true when one mar ries into any race other than his own. The results usually are not happy even though the participants may be be lievers in Christ. Feb. 18, 1951 NEIGHBORS OF OTHER FAITHS 1 Cor. 12:12-19; Gal. 2:11-21 The Bible does not teach anywhere that all men are brothers and that God is the Father of us all. God is only the Father of those who have trusted Jesus Christ and are saved by grace (Gal. 3:26). Some are the devil’s children, as we read in John 8:44. These are not the brothers nor the sisters of Christians. These have nothing in common with God’s chil dren except that they are human beings and children of Adam. The thought that all men are God’s chil dren, and therefore belong to one common brotherhood is a false con ception not anywhere supported by the Word of God. Neighbors Are Those in Need Luke 10:29, 30 In the passage before us the needy man was certainly in distress. The priest representing religion had noth ing to give him. The Levite represent ing character building had nothing to offer. The good Samaritan, represent ing the Saviour, supplied all the need and even took care of the future needs. We do not read that the good Samaritan welcomed this poor victim into his family or wanted him in his home or called him endearing names. It was his duty as a good neighbor to meet the desperate needs of the wounded man, but it was not his duty to treat that man as though he were his own brother, for he certainly was not.
Neighbors may be very objection able people and very repulsive to the finer and more sensitive natures. The thought of being a good neighbor does not embrace love nor fellowship nor close association. In Christian things the neighbor is the one who is in dis t r e s s ^ either physical, mental, or spiritual. We owe it to that one to bring God’s precious remedy to his attention and to urge him to accept God’s provision for His need. We also owe him temporal things as food and clothing. It is not necessary that we welcome him into our fellowship. Neighbors Sometimes Destroy Faith It is nearly always true that when the Christian adopts a social service program and takes the position that all men are brothers, he automatically loses his own orthodox faith and be comes occupied with a service of soap, soup, and sunshine, linking races to gether around physical blessings rather than the knowledge of Christ Jesus. The ungodly who are the un saved, do not want the Christian’s service nor the Christian’s Bible nor the Christian’s path of faith. One can only unite in a general brotherhood by denying the Lord who bought him and the precious blood of Calvary. Neighbors Do Not Always Want Spiritual Help It is a well-known fact that nations that are neighbors to the United States want our dollars, but do not want our gospel. They want shiploads of food, but do not want Bibles and Christian workers. They want ma chinery and formulas, but have no interest in God’s blessed Son our Saviour. Neighborliness consists in seeking the welfare of the soul as well as the body. Christians are in terested in the spiritual as well as the physical needs. We will be true neigh bors if we give the gospel when we give potatoes, shoes, and medicine. Fph SB 1951 A MISSION IN OUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD John 4:35; Eph. 4:1-7, 11-16 One does not need to go far to find a missionary field. Everywhere men sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. In the circles that are the brightest intellectually there is usual ly the deepest darkness spiritually. The institutions of higher learning and the centers of culture are usually in utter ignorance of God and His ways. These are mission fields filled with those who are “ up and out.”
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You Will Enjoy Reading THE BLIND BEGGAR a story of the responsiveness of Christ to the cry of faith as coming from even the most lowly and most degraded among men, based upon the Bible story of Blind Bartimaeus. Also added feat ures: Poem, Returning; anecdote, The Child Was Hurt; Pen-Points of Wisdom. Order now, lest you forget. Send only U. S. coin or postage. Six copies, 25 cents. Address, William Porter Town send, Publisher, Plainfield, New Jersey. Page Twenty-five
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