For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
(Galatians 5:14)

It is our duty and in fact should be our delight, as Christians, to love our neighbor. As Jesus taught us that means to do good to our neighbor. Read Luke 10:25-37. It isn’t a question of who our neighbor is at all.

                Much of the problem we face in fulfilling this command is                     our fear and isolation. We can’t love our neighbor if we                           isolate ourselves in our little groups that agree with each                         other.

It is also Jesus’ command to the whole church to go into all the world and preach the gospel. (Matthew 28:18-20) This is not a command that is for just ministers. It is a command to the entire church. Since that is the case, part of loving our neighbor is telling him the gospel.

Fear and Isolation

Much of the problem we face in fulfilling this command is our fear and isolation. We can’t love our neighbor if we isolate ourselves in our little groups that agree with each other. We need to get out into our communities, meet people and become a part of their lives. It is not likely that you will win anyone to the Gospel without first gaining their trust. To do that you have to form a relationship, they need to see the way you live and experience how you treat others and life for Christ on a day to day basis. We cannot have an impact on the world for Jesus Christ without meeting people who are lost.

This is a critical point. Please pay close attention to this. We are proclaiming the message of the hour and that is wonderful. Sometimes I wonder if we forget to preach the gospel to the lost. This is and always will be the first commission to the church. A church that is not reaching the lost and making the lost into disciples is not performing the genuine work of a church. It has become a lodge for the secret initiates to come and commiserate with each other.

Reaching the Unreached At Home

The church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. Yet it is to be God’s means of reaching the lost in the world. There are hundreds of thousands of people living in North America that have never heard the Gospel or seen it lived. There are over a billion in the world that have never heard the Gospel. We are expecting the rapture to take place at any time and yet we are letting people die and go to hell without ever giving them a chance to hear of the salvation that can come to them through Jesus Christ.

Let’s lay aside our comfortable lives and take up our cross to follow Jesus Christ. When we do that we will begin to take the gospel to the community that we live and around the world. This is the chief purpose of the church. You can have an impact on the world. Adopt a child from a third world country, go on a missions trip, talk to and pray with believers, inspire them to reach their communities, use your money to glorify God, start a means to provide water for a community that doesn’t have it, etc. God can use all these means to reach the lost. Showing the love of God through meeting a human need can be one of the greatest open doors to impact a life for the Lord Jesus Christ.