Responsibility to Others (Part 1)

Responsibility to Others I. This study addresses our duties according to the second table of the Law (Ten Commandments). A. There is general instruction for dealings with all men. B. There is particular instruction for brethren in the church. II. Introductory thoughts. A. No man is an island. B. Love of self must yield to love of others. C. There is a positive manner of covering sin. D. There is a negative manner of covering sin. E. There is a need for positive encouragement of others. F. There is a need for negative discouragement of others. G. There is a need for forbearance. H. There is a need for rebuke. I. There is a need for exposure of error. J. There is a need for justice. K. There is a need for accommodating weakness. L. There is a need for not enabling weakness or folly. M. There is a need for distinguishing between weakness and wickedness. N. There is a need for protecting or relieving the weak or afflicted. N. There is a need for empowering the weak or afflicted. O. We may be accountable for not contributing to another’s wealth (well-being). P. We will be accountable for contributing to another’s destruction. Q. Collusion with sinners is generally not justifiable. R. Opportunity regulates much of our good doings for others. S. There is a need to be willing to be corrected by others. T. There is a need for humility. U. There is a need for empathy. V. There is a need for selectiveness in companions. W. There is a need for preserving another’s rightful property and good reputation. X. There is a need for impartiality in justice. Y. Loving confrontation is better than hateful alternatives. Z. God determines what is “good” for one’s neighbour. III. There are in Scripture 157 occurrences in 144 verses of forms of “neighbour.” A. neighbour: One who lives near or next to another; one who occupies a near or adjoining house, one of a number of persons living close to each other, esp. in the same street or village. b. In echoes of Biblical passages (as Luke x. 27) inculcating men's duties towards each other, or in similar contexts. Hence sometimes taken in a widely extended sense. B. The 144 verses reference all manner of dealings with others. C. Paul sums them all up in ROM 13:9-10. 1. The O.T. Law’s great law of human interaction was “...thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (LEV 19:18 c/w MAT 22:39). 2. Jesus taught a higher law of human interaction: loving neighbour more than self. 1JO 3:16; JOH 15:13. D. It was essentially an inordinate love of self that opened the door for sin’s entrance in Eden. GEN 3:6. Responsibility to Others 9-9-18 Page 1 IV. Cain, by action and philosophy, rejected the holy principle of love of neighbour. GEN 4:6-9. A. keeper: One who has charge, care, or oversight of any person or thing; a guardian, warden, custodian. 1. Cain, as firstborn, had pre-eminence and rule. 2. Rule over others demands care of them. 2SAM 23:3; NEH 5:15. B. GEN 2:18-24 implied value in human companionship and relationship that should be kept. 1. Woman was made for the man (c/w 1CO 11:9), her interest to not only be herself. 2. Adam was to cleave to Eve: he had a vested interest in her well-being. c/w EPH 5:28-29. 3. cleave: To stick fast or adhere... 4. To adhere or cling to (a person, party, principle, practice, etc.); to remain attached, devoted, or faithful to. 4. Such mutual care was the message of love of another from the beginning. 1JO 2:7; 3:11-12. 5. Godly interaction with others (love of neighbour) allows humans to enjoy a slice of pre-Fall purity. C. Doing good to others is especially appropriate among the faithful. GAL 6:9-10. D. “A charitable concern for our brethren, as their keepers, is a great duty, which is strictly required of us, but is generally neglected by us. Those who are unconcerned in the affairs of their brethren, and take no care, when they have opportunity, to prevent their hurt in their bodies, goods, or good name, especially in their souls, do, in effect, speak Cain's language.” (Matthew Henry) 1. We are commanded to be concerned about the wealth of others. PHIL 2:4; 1CO 10:24. 2. wealth: Spiritual well-being. Often in the testamentary phrase for the wealth of (one's) soul. Obs. 3. The default desire should be the good edification (building up) of others. ROM 15:1-2. a. This is the proper goal of authority. 2CO 10:8. b. This is the necessary restraint of one’s liberties. ROM 14:19-23. V. Love of others may not always be received as such by them. PSA 109:4-5. A. Paul’s interaction with Corinth was born of love but not reciprocated in love. 2CO 2:4 c/w 2CO 12:15. B. Children may not perceive it as a loving act when parents deny them what would be bad for them. C. Juvenile delinquents may not perceive it as love when society puts a stop to their wicked ways but many have been saved from doing ill to others and from self-destruction by justice’s measures. D. The easy thing for someone who is responsible to limit the wayward is to ignore the wayward’s destructive path and do nothing. 1. This is commonly born of self-love rather than genuine love of the other. One values more the benefit to self that may be lost through correcting the other. 2. True charity “...seeketh not her own...” (1CO 13:5). 3. Refusal to issue needed rebuke is hatred of another. LEV 19:17. 4. Refusal to warn another against the danger of sin brings wrath upon oneself. EZE 3:17-18; HEB 13:17 c/w 1TH 5:14. E. PSA 141:5 is the attitude of the godly towards loving correction by others. 1. “We owe a great deal to the care of fellow-believers. It may take more love to smite than to soothe. The breaking of the box of precious ointment over our heads may Responsibility to Others 9-9-18 Page 2 cause a momentary shock; but we must not refuse it, since the contents are so salutary; and we can return their well-meant kindness by praying for the righteous when their calamities are multiplied...” (F. B. Meyer on Psalm 141:5) 2. The Psalmist blessed the God Who afflicted him. PSA 119:67, 71, 75. F. (PRO 27:5-6) Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. G. (PRO 28:23) He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue. H. (PRO 6:23) For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: VI. Actionless love is vain and no demonstration of faith. 1JO 3:17-18 c/w JAM 2:14-18. Responsibility to Others 9-9-18 Page 3