Loving My Neighbor

Love your neighbor as yourself. What does that mean? Young shares with us the words of Jesus as He challenged the religious elite in their perception of neighboring well. To love your neighbor is to have a posture of mercy and compassion. As our African American neighbors grieve and suffer from the sin of racism, it is our call as followers of Christ to listen and learn, that we might sympathize with those in pain. Young challenges those in the Riv fam who are non-Black to put in the initiative to learn from our Black neighbors, to live out Christ’s calling to love God and love our neighbor.

As we seek to listen and learn, here are a number of great Black voices to check out

Tyler St. Clair

Pastor at Cornerstone Church, Acts 29 Network Lead for Church in Hard Places – Midwest Network (Detroit, MI)
Sermons
Blog posts

Doug Logan

Pastor for Church Planting at Remnant Church (Richmond, VA), Acts 29 Director of the Diversity initiative & Co-Director of Church in Hard Places
Sermons
Blog posts
Book: “On the Block: Developing a Biblical Picture for Missional Engagement”

Eric Mason, Ph.D.

Pastor at Epiphany Fellowship Church (Philadelphia, PA)
Sermons
Blog posts
Book: “Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice”

Theon Hill, Ph.D.

Pastor of Gospel and Culture at The Redemption Church (Chicago, IL), Assistant Professor of Communication at Wheaton College (Ill.)
Sermons

Charlie Dates, Ph.D.

Pastor at Progressive Baptist Church (Chicago, IL)
Sermons
Book: Letters To A Birmingham Jail (Contributing author)
Book: Say It: Celebrating Expository Preaching in the African American Tradition

---

Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”

“You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.

Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
– Luke 10:25-37