A while back my wife and kids were at an intersection where a homeless man was asking for help. Both my wife and I have a policy that we will offer help to whomever we can, but we will not give cash under any circumstances. Desiring to help my wife rolled down her window and asked the man if he would like something to eat. He said that he did, so she went to KFC and bought him a feast. He really appreciated the meal and sat down to enjoy it. As my wife drove off my then four year old said, “Mommy, why did you help that man?” She said, “Because he’s our neighbor, and Jesus tells us to help our neighbor.” My son, knowing that this man didn’t live near us, said, “Neighbor? He’s not our neighbor!” My wife and I got a good laugh out of that. But it raises an important question that is often misunderstood: “Who is our neighbor?”

In last Saturday’s Leader-Call Associated Press religion writer Eric Gorsky’s article illustrated even further confusion on the part of many regarding this question. Gorsky highlighted the attempt of liberal democrats to put the state in the position of compelling ”neighborliness” by taxing and redistribution. This is clearly the case with their attempt to make things like universal health care and the economy “values” issues. In such thinking loving our neighbor means granting the state the authority to make us love each other by implementing socialist entitlement programs. “Can’t we all just get along” becomes “You will all get along. We’ll see to that.”

Years ago theological liberalism gutted the Bible of any real authority and reduced it to a book of moralisms about how to make this a better world. They abandoned the idea of a new world to come through the proclamation of the gospel in favor of fixing this world by human means.

But its not just liberals who misconstrue what the Bible means by loving our neighbor. Several times, during the recent conflicts in the Balkans and the Middle East, conservative war hawks often duped conservative evangelicals into supporting questionable war policy. They said that the citizens of other countries are our neighbors, and we need to intervene into the internal affairs of other nations and fix their problems. Thus our money and troops are sent as an expression of loving our neighbor as ourselves.

In both cases the teaching of Jesus is misconstrued and manipulated to support humanistic ideals. Interestingly enough my four year old was actually onto something.

In spite of all the attempts to spin this issue its interesting that the Bible unambiguously answers this question. In Luke’s gospel the account of the Good Samaritan shows us who Christians are to see as their neighbor. Jesus makes it clear that in our circles of interpersonal contact we are to embody the gospel in both word and deed. God gives us opportunities to be witnesses for the truth by how it is that we relate to each other. We are to care for those who are in both spiritual and physical need, and not act like such people are invisible to us.

But this is done voluntarily by us as believers in Christ who obey His law. Liberals are misguided by thinking that God grants the state the right to compel us to be charitable and giving. Equally, conservatives were wrong to take the teaching of Jesus regarding interpersonal relations and extrapolate them to international relations. In both cases all sorts of ethical mischief has resulted.

Christians should love to give, and ought to give generously. The talents God has entrusted us with are not to be buried or squandered: they are to be used for the advancement of the gospel and to the glory of God. We often see what we have as ours rather than God’s. When we do we tend to turn inward rather than outward. If we truly put into practice loving our neighbor the size of government would dramatically reduce, taxes would drop, and we would be at greater peace with one another. How do I know this? The Bible tells me so. You’d be amazed at what God can do through a three-piece fried chicken dinner.

Marty Fields is pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church. Reach him at pastor@westminsterepc.com.