Opening Eyes: Neighbour Love
Blessed to be a blessing!
Return
Hello Everybody and Welcome back to THE HOLY GO!
We’re wrapping up our “Opening Eyes” series today where we have been moving through the OPEN Framework which describes how eyes are opened to the gospel through:
Oneness
Prayer
Evangelism
Neighbour Love
Today we’re looking at the power of loving our neighbours, and why Jesus was so intent on tackling hypocrisy.
Also, make sure to read to the end for todays fun challenge!
Equip
Blessers vs Converters
Dave Ferguson points to a study comparing two groups of Christian Missionaries in Thailand.1 The Converters and The Blessers.
“The Converters” group focused primarily on sharing the gospel through words, preaching to convince people to follow Jesus.
“The Blessers” group focused on blessing people in practical ways, serving, listening, helping and loving their neighbours well.
The study followed these two groups for two years and at the end the results were impressive.
Not only had the blessers group made a beautiful social impact through their “acts of blessing”, they had almost 50 times as many conversions!
Blessed to be a Blessing
The idea of the people of God being “Blessed to be a blessing” is the foundation of missional theology.
In Genesis 12 God makes a covenant with Abraham. God promises to bless Abraham and his descendants, so that they can bless all the nations of the Earth.
Later, when the people of God have been rescued from slavery in Egypt, God makes another covenant. Again He says that He has chosen them, (Blessed) so that they can be a Kingdom of priests. (to be a Blessing)
When Jesus is training His disciples to share the gospel He says, “Freely you have received”, (Blessed) “so freely give!”2 (to be a Blessing)
The common theme of Jesus’ parables is that He is disappointed that the people of God have not taken their role of being “Blessers” seriously. Time after time He rebukes the religious leaders for being hypocrites who had neglected their calling to be a blessing to the world.
How we treat other people is of significant importance to Jesus.
Jesus teaches that loving God and loving our neighbours are the most important commandments. He teaches that blessing people is important because all people are created in the image of God, and whatever we do to others we do to Him.
When we hear Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, we see another reason why our “blessing others” is so important.
“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Jesus tells us that when we bless people, it opens their eyes to the God who loves them.
Neighbour Love
Research continuously shows that the hypocrisy of the Church is one of the key drivers of doubt.
Here In Australia, the church clearly has a credibility problem. Recent research from McCrindle (2025 Report) suggests that people are often not rejecting spirituality itself, but Christianity as it is practised.
If the way we live and love people has a direct impact in how people respond to the gospel, it is little wonder why Jesus was so scathing towards the religious peoples hypocrisy.
This should be cause for all of us to stop, and consider the way treat others.
How do we respond to people who are too needy for our liking?
How do we talk about people who we disagree with?
How do we treat the poor, the marginalised, and those from other cultures?
If we’re preaching the gospel of love with our words but not in our actions we’re being hypocrites.
If we truly believe God is love and loves all people, then we must show it by the way we live and love our neighbours.
Activate
We have a fun activation this week.
Sign up to “Grace Bomb” and do a random act of kindness motivated by the Love of God. Check out the instructions from their website here.
I signed up and they sent me some cards straight away for FREE. It’s a fun way to start thinking about how our actions can align with our words.
I’m praying and believing that our Neighbour Love opens peoples eyes to the gospel!
Let’s Go
Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson, B.L.E.S.S.: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2021)
Matthew 10:8
Great word James! Amen - let’s bless!