Don't Fear What They Fear
We are Robbie & Joy Bircher. Welcome to our podcast. Join us as we dig deeper in our studies of the Bible. We will be chatting about relatable life experiences such as camping, family life and all other adventures. We're so glad you're here.
Don't Fear What They Fear
Matthew 22: The Challenge of Loving Your Neighbor
Ever wondered how to truly love your neighbor, especially those who've wronged you? Join us for an enlightening discussion set against the serene backdrop of Tahoe National Forest. Our hosts Joy, Robbie, and Jake, alongside our insightful guest youth pastor Jacob, dive deep into the teachings of Matthew 22:34-40. We'll unravel the historical context of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the role of lawyers in biblical times, giving you a richer perspective on these timeless commandments. Get ready to understand how loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind can transform your life.
We tackle complex questions of forgiveness, setting boundaries, and the true meaning of "neighbor" through the lens of both the New Testament and the Ten Commandments. Learn the crucial balance between rebuking sin and loving others, inspired by references to Leviticus and Jesus' own interactions. By examining the Greek and Hebrew meanings of "neighbor," we bring practical insights on applying these teachings in everyday life. Join us as we explore why loving your neighbor might be the hardest commandment of all and how true love sometimes means guiding others towards righteousness.
Hi everyone.
Speaker 2:We're back with. Don't Fear what they Fear. My name is Joy, I'm Robbie and this is Jake. Hi, how are you? This is our friend Happens to be the youth pastor at our church, but he's also our friend and we're camping with him and his family here today in this lovely landscape. This is the Tahoe National Forest, somewhere that is undisclosed location, fancy or uh, we shouldn't tell you.
Speaker 1:But but it's always exciting to do a podcast in the wilderness. That's like robin knight's favorite, and so it's nice this time around because we have a special guest and it's um the wind picked up the wind picked up. Yeah, that's our special guest, but this is Jacob.
Speaker 2:A few minutes ago we had a bunch of thunder and lightning in the background which seemed to have blown over, but now we're catching all that wind that was blowing it away. So our Bibles are blowing all over the place. Do we want to?
Speaker 1:pause and wait for a second. No, it's okay, we're actually still in Matthew 22. We're going to be reading the last part.
Speaker 2:No, we're just going to do. Um. So, matthew 22,. Uh, verse 34 through 40. Um, and we'll just have a conversation about what Jesus has to say and, uh, I think it's a real profound thing he's got to say too. Um, and then, uh, we'll get into the commentary of a youth pastor. I'll try my best. Do you want to read it first? Do you want to pray? Oh, yeah, let's pray. We've got to do that.
Speaker 2:Father, god, we thank you. Thank you for this time to be here in front of the microphones, like always. Lord, we just be able to help us guide our words and be able to make good sense of what we're reading and what we're discussing. Lord, good sense of what we're reading and what we're discussing. Lord, may your blessing be in this podcast to reach people worldwide. Lord, and we just thank you for being able to do this, being able to put this out there and have ears to hear it, and a way for us to reach out to the world. Lord, we just put your blessing upon our trip and keep us safe for the rest of this time and pray this in Jesus name Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. Thank you, Lord. All right, so I'm going to be reading Matthew 22, 34 to 40.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first in Greek commandment, and the second is like the like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets.
Speaker 2:Amen, yeah, this is. This is cool Cause uh, this is pretty much sums up all of jesus's um, what he's come to do, right, and it's to lay it down. This is it, this is a whole teaching.
Speaker 1:Love god and love your neighbor yeah, which is actually the whole bible. Yeah, even from the old testament all the old testament points to jesus yeah, right, and um, and the new testament, because we're going to be learning about it, right, the ten commandments. It kind of summarizes the ten commandments. Yeah, I, because we're going to be learning about it. Right, the Ten Commandments. It kind of summarizes the Ten.
Speaker 2:Commandments. Yeah, I think we're talking about that, because that's basically what he did. He just summarized all that I was studying it this morning.
Speaker 1:Actually it was nice. I was telling you that it was kind of amazing to sit down out here and study the Word of God first thing in the morning by myself, by the creek.
Speaker 2:I came out this morning and she was sitting on the road over there, just sitting right in front of the creek.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which I've learned so much about this Bible verse, because a lot of times we know to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, the lord with all your heart, mind, soul. But I never really studied it so deep that I'm like I've kind of really changed the way I see things with loving him and loving people. So we'll start with loving the lord, the first one to command, or do you want to kind of come?
Speaker 2:well, uh, just uh. The first part here is that the pharisees heard that he had silenced the sadducees, right. But then they came. They're like, okay, well, they made a fool of these guys, let's go at him again, right yeah yeah, what the heck?
Speaker 2:uh, and they had a lawyer. I just want to so clarify this. The lawyer, then, is not the same as a lawyer now. A lawyer then is the um. He's the like he knows the law, the law of god, the law of moses. He's like one of the strict, like the rule enforcers of um, the law of Moses, for the temple temple workers and the Pharisees and Sadducees. He was.
Speaker 1:Well, is the lawyer the Pharisee.
Speaker 3:Is that?
Speaker 1:what it is. He would be considered the Pharisees, right yeah.
Speaker 2:He was like the, the, the specialist of the law of Moses for the Pharisees.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Not a lawyer like we have in America, like get you out of jail or yeah, like the Pharisees.
Speaker 3:Yes, not a lawyer, like we have in America, to get you out of jail. Yeah, like the outdoor boys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm an outdoor boy. I'm an outdoor boy.
Speaker 2:And that's an attorney for car accidents and stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But not that kind of lawyer, but probably just as looked down upon as lawyers here.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I just want to clarify that. And then so they go ask him about the law, which is why you would send the lawyer to ask about the law, because he's trying to catch him in a fallacy or catch him in a lie of what he's talking about with the law.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and another thing that, like I mean, obviously they were kind of like trying to trick jesus and and grill him and they were so up in an uproar for what he was saying. But in their eyes as well, they held education like super high and jesus was a carpenter and in those times if you did not go to school to be a pharisee or a Sadducee or some type of religious leader, then you just took your father's trade. And so to them on top of Jesus, coming and making these claims and saying he is who he is. It's also to them just like you're just a random carpenter, you don't even have any, yeah.
Speaker 2:We've been to school. What's your credentials?
Speaker 3:Yeah, what's your credential? We've been, we went to you, know, know, like all this stuff. So there's like an extra layer of annoyance coming from them, of them like how'd you guys get schooled by him which is, if you read back, is a really funny story when they get schooled there. There's question is so ridiculous.
Speaker 2:It's like now, if there's seven brothers and the first one marries and then he dies, and then the second one, and then the fourth one all the way through the seventh In the resurrection, who gets the wife?
Speaker 3:Jesus is like. You guys are wrong. What's?
Speaker 2:wrong with you? Yeah, for sure, and that's what we're coming off of. That was the very last one we were talking about, and then so the Pharisees saw him respond to the Sadducees about that. They got the galls to like, okay, now we're going to send this guy to go ask him this question. At this point, wouldn't you have given up, like I don't know if I want to talk to this guy? Philip's really good at arguing. Go get him.
Speaker 3:He'll stump him.
Speaker 2:Right, yes, I love the Lord and God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind. You said that was found somewhere else in the Bible earlier today. Right, you saw that in one of your studies.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's like. Regarding to the, what was I in the? I think so.
Speaker 2:It was slightly different. It was love the God with all your heart, all your soul, all your heart.
Speaker 1:And with all your strength. That was like Moses. Maybe it is in Exodus when I was studying, but yeah.
Speaker 2:And Jesus almost says exactly the same thing, but in this, in this instance, he's using the word mind, and I'm not sure if that's not mine he actually used the word um right here he says mine, my bible.
Speaker 1:It says lord god with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind and because, instead of like all your strength and where moses was reminding everyone love the lord with all your heart, mind and strength, yeah, and it kind of like. Um, I was like, oh, I didn't know that there was like a a little bit of difference between what moses said.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think jesus, when jesus says here it's, it's more like uh, because just the strength of your body versus the strength of your mind, your mind controls your body yeah, and it's important to like he is like they use heart, soul and mind, but they're not talking about like your, your act, like he is referring to the thing that makes you, you your, your essence as a human. Like everything about you, use that to love the lord yeah um, because I've heard a lot of people.
Speaker 3:they come from this and they're like, oh yeah, you know like there's underlying of. You could pair this with anxiety and depression, because it's talking about, like, your mind and your soul and you know if these things are unhealthy or whatever it is. But he's not talking about specific parts about our bodies, talking about, like, the essence of what makes us us take that, what gets you out of bed and has you live your everyday life, like what encourages you to actually move your feet, go to work, be a father, a mom and a husband and a wife, and so on and so forth. Take that and love God with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes sense. You're the essence of your being Right. I like that.
Speaker 1:And yeah, and then this morning when I was like looking into that cause, I was like telling Robbie, I first I didn't really study the when I read the love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul. Oh, what'd it say? I read the love the lord with all your heart, mind, soul. Oh, what'd it say? I don't make sure, love your god with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And in my head I was like, oh, that's easy. You know, you're christian, that's, that's easy thing. I'm gonna go and skip that a little bit. I'm gonna go straight to the, the second teaching part, where it says um, the second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So I start to think who is what is the neighbor? What is it that he's asking you to do? What is the neighbor?
Speaker 2:yeah, literally the person that lives next to you yeah or is it deeper than that?
Speaker 3:I'm trying to whisper to the crowd without you guys I heard him.
Speaker 2:I heard the. Don't see me on the video. Yeah, no, you bring up a good question Like what is a neighbor? Like I wish we had our strongs here because I wanted to look up the Hebrew. This would actually, this would be what's the nation Rome? What language is this written in? I'm blanking.
Speaker 1:Oh, like, the first one is Hebrew.
Speaker 2:Greek. What's the Greek word of neighbor? What is that? What is that the meaning of that Greek? It might be different than what neighbor is in English, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I wish we had our strongs to read that, which we don't, unfortunately. But that was my first question. What does he mean by neighbor? What does that translate to in Greek? And then you that up into hebrew, because I think that in the ten commandments he says love your neighbor too, so we can see the next podcast we'll have to have like a little insert of what the strongs say the neighbor is I would.
Speaker 3:I mean I would say that it would be safe.
Speaker 1:Safe to assume that, just like, in general, people yeah you know, like just um because, um, the teaching with jesus you know love your neighbor. And he also says love your enemy. So it's really basically love everybody. And this morning I was thinking about that and I was like, you know, how do you love someone? How do you love someone who's treating you bad? Do you know what I mean? Like the questions like how can you love someone who's abusing you? How can someone love a parent who's, you know, let's say, sexually abusing a kid? You know, how is that? And in all this question to me, I was like that seems like a harder commandment.
Speaker 1:In the beginning, when I was studying this, you know, to like, well, he told me to love, but how can he expect us to love someone who is has treated us badly? And so I was like, um, looking into that, and it's because God doesn't want us, he's asking us to love them, but he's also wanting us to be aware of what love is according to the, to the Bible, according to what his love is. Because sometimes we look at love in a worldly matter, and so we look at it as far as, like, what we see here on this earth, what we observe from other people, and so it's so sometimes you get so blinded by what other tells us what love is. And so I know that, loving people, we have to create boundaries, right, we have to. I put here we have to create boundaries, not we have to. I put here um, we have to create boundaries, not worldly boundaries, but kingdom boundaries.
Speaker 1:And I put like um you love your neighbor, not worldly standard, by biblical or Jesus standard, and and um you love people by, not worldly conditional, but with discernment, you know. So it's like really taking what he's saying. It's like look like he's not like telling you to be abused, it's not telling you that he's not okay with all that stuff. He, he's. There's discernment, there's like biblical standard.
Speaker 2:Back to what you're saying is in Leviticus 19,. It says that you surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. And then the next verse over it says you surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. And then the next verse over it says but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. So yeah, setting up a boundary Don't sin, because that's what your neighbor is getting you into, but love on that neighbor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. It was like because I was almost starting to get a little bit bitter towards that commandment for the second one. It's like I couldn't understand why someone would not want to do this.
Speaker 2:Well, think about it this way People sin against God consistently. Everybody does. We all sin against God in one way or another. There's some that are like the enemy of God, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But in that enemy position God will be just. But once the people turn from their ways and repent honestly, then they're no longer an enemy to God and he will treat them well and he doesn't have that hatred and disdain for them once they're done with the sin and accept God into their heart, and so that can change.
Speaker 3:I think an important thing, too, is to know what is love and what is hate. What does love look like to your neighbor and what does hate look like? Does hate look like taking the people that you're talking about or just people in the eyes of society that are bad and criminal, and just having them killed right? Is that hate? Or is hate being like hey, um, so like you do some stuff that I do not agree with, um, and so I don't want to take you out to lunch yeah like.
Speaker 3:Is that, is that hate, or is that just being like hey, like, take you out to lunch, yeah. Like is that, is that hate, or is that just being like? Hey, like, I just don't want you. I mean, if you have a history of abusing small children, maybe I'm not going to invite you over to babysit my children right and does that mean that I hate you now?
Speaker 3:or does that mean that I'm being vigilant of the surroundings around me? Now I'm not saying, hey, I don't want you to babysit my kids and I hope that you die and don't encounter the lord right right that's hateful. Yeah, that would be very that would be very hateful yeah, that's. That's definitely interesting. I do think, weirdly enough, that the second part of it love your state, love your neighbor as yourself possibly could be harder than the first I think, think so.
Speaker 3:Because the first one you're being told like, hey, love this perfect supernatural being who loves you and has done all these things for you and now also love people. That kind of suck, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:For real and not just love people that kind of suck, but love them the way that you love yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and I wanted to point this out as well and it's so difficult and it's like and it could even be going against the things that I just said about not having people over for lunch. I would assume that when Jesus is saying this to people, he would be saying love people, as I love people, which is almost like, almost without a bandit, like Jesus obviously loved so much. He didn't, he did. He knew all along Judas, obviously, and he still was never like hey, you know, hey, all 11 of you guys come here, judas, you stay over there.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to let you in on this secret, like he still brought Judas along to every meal, to every uh miracle, everything that he was doing with his 12 disciples.
Speaker 2:And uh well, I caught my attention earlier. One of our studies was the transfiguration. He didn't just take um the all 12 disciples, he. He left um all of them except for two Right and then because he couldn't just leave Judas alone and single him out. So one of the theories that I came across was that he brought Paul and, or was it, peter and James I forget exactly who it was now but he brought two of the disciples with him and left the other. Was it be ten?
Speaker 3:The other ten behind.
Speaker 2:So that one wouldn't be singled out Right and you couldn't bring that argument and like oh, he left just that one. All right, are these two to babysit him? He, he only took two to the transfiguration and left the other 10.
Speaker 3:So I think that, along with what you're saying, is that that would honestly be like Pretty comical if there was like a part where it was like and then Jesus went upon a mountain and told Judas to stay behind.
Speaker 2:It's like oh okay, and so in that instance he's treating that circumstance and taking care of Judas with love by not singling him out? Sure, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that's what it is. I was like thinking about it's. Like you know, we have to stop looking at something in a worldly matter and using the biblical to help us. Like Jesus, standard, you know his the way he walks and we can actually really he's the, he's the standard Jesus, the way he treats people.
Speaker 2:Jesus, he wasn't always like giving everybody what they wanted when they wanted it. He had discernment too. He had the guys that came up to him and said hey, I want to follow you, what do I do? Or what? Well, I've done all these things that you say, what else do I have to do? And he, you know, and he got turned away. He was like well, do you know, sell everything you have, give it to the poor and follow me. And then the like give into what everybody wanted and not make anybody sad that's not hate, that jesus didn't do that.
Speaker 3:Hate again, yeah, and again he offered.
Speaker 3:He offered it to him, but he wasn't like hey like, yeah, you've done everything, you followed all all the families and stuff, but you have too much money. I hate you. Go to hell. Yeah, um, he was like well, hey, yeah, you know, if you want to come follow me, then this is what you have to do. And he made his own choice like no, I'm not leaving that stuff behind. Um, yeah, there's, there is, I think right next to that story or leading into that story, is another one where jesus like turns around and say hey, if you're not willing to bear your cross, and like hate your mother and your father, and then like 300 people, hundred people leave them yeah, yeah, it's yeah, I think, uh, let me see, I got another thing, that love.
Speaker 2:I think, uh, in matthew, what was it where to go? It was matthew, matthew 5, verse 43. It says love. So this is I'm going to read 43 to 48. You have heard it said that you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you love your enemies and bless those who curse you, do good for those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your father in heaven, for he makes the sunrise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even tax collectors do the same. And if you greet your brethren, only what more than others? Do not even tax collectors do so.
Speaker 2:therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your father in heaven is perfect like it's just yeah just do these things, not just the people that you care for, but do these things for everybody, whether they are mean to you or not, and I think I think that that's uh, probably wasn't taught by anybody at that time either, and it's still hard for us to do like, oh yeah, you know we get spited, or or yeah, you know, somebody does something bad.
Speaker 1:It's like our instinct is so I'm done with you then yeah right, and jesus doesn't want us to do that yeah, and also talking about, like you know, it's um, the good samaritan right, like, um, um, what, um? It's so easy for me to find out someone who's christian and be like, oh, all of a sudden, like I love them. Do you know what I mean? And it's like easy for me to find out someone who's christian and be like, oh, all of a sudden, like I love them. Sure do you know what I mean? And it's like when I, when I find out that, um, like, oh, yeah, I'm a believer of christ, all of a sudden, like that love is so much different, but that's not what jesus is saying. I mean, that's what jesus is saying here.
Speaker 2:It's like you don't just love the people that you love you know you love your enemy and don't even sinners do that. Yeah right, and it's this good. He loved his family, I'm sure yeah, 10, 29 for sure.
Speaker 1:10, 29, yep, this is just the um good samaritan. When he they asked him who is my neighbor and so that you know, like the priest came down and didn't help, there was a levite that didn't help in the Good.
Speaker 2:Samaritan. Yeah, just right before the Good Samaritan parable, he's asked by a certain lawyer. Again, again it's. A certain lawyer stood up and asked him teacher, what shall I do to inherit internal life? And it is written in the. What is written in the law? What is and what is your reading of it? So this, the lawyer answered you shall love, right, is that the lawyers? Yeah, you shall love your Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to the guy the lawyer asked him to justify himself who is my neighbor?
Speaker 1:Yeah, which was my study this morning. It's like, well, who's my neighbor? And that's the thing. It's like brought me down to like you just really have to help everyone who's in need.
Speaker 2:But who is really in need is everybody's in need. Yeah, everybody needs something. Everybody's in need of help you know, it's like. We all need Jesus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we all need jesus, yeah we all need jesus to be continued. Check us out next week for the continuation of this podcast. Have a great week, guys.
