Brotherhood #1

Introduction

Steve quickly pointed out this evening that John got his song leading abilities from him. Yes, that’s humorous. Sometimes I don’t know who’s going to lead singing, but I knew John was leading singing tonight because Caden told me yesterday Dad’s gonna lead Magnify. So he did, didn’t he? And I saw he and Coulter bolting it out back there can join that. It’s good to see everybody tonight. We have visitors in our midst, and we thank you for coming. I’ll never forget what I saw that night thirty six years ago. A church in turmoil. Two elders nearly coming to blows, having to be restrained by nearby brethren in the foyer of a church building. That leaves an impression on a young man. And the events of that time for the Silver Street Church in New Albany, Indiana were things that the young people at that time we have not forgotten.

Both of those elders were not bad men. One of them, to be sure, was just having a bad moment. But really ironic when you consider one of the qualifications of an elder is he’s not to be a brawler.

The relation of brothers is so very important. And it’s that relation that I want to talk with you about tonight. And I want to give you a quick little memory verse, Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 1, which is the foundation of the things that I want to speak to you about, where this chapter division is provided after the nature of the new covenant and the unshakable kingdom is described. This admonition comes from the Hebrew writer when he says, let love of the brethren continue. I am not a series preacher, as you know. You probably can’t remember me doing many series, but this is the first of four lessons I want to do on the subject of brotherhood. I believe this topic is that important. So for the next four Sunday nights, since our next singing will not be until four weeks from tonight, I want to do on the next four Sunday nights a series on brotherhood next Lord’s Day evening.

I want to talk to you about our words and how that has, they have an impact on our brothers. And then I want to talk about this text in Romans 14 and the impact it has on our relationship as brothers, and then what to do with a brother who is overtaken in a fault or a brother who needs to be restored. I don’t know that I could exhaust even in four lessons all of the New Testament passages that have a relation to how we are to treat one another as brothers. But I want to call one important text to your attention. Of course they’re all important, but this one in particular in 1 John chapter 4, because it stood out to me for a very long time.

If someone says, 1 John 4 and verse 20, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. Now I think this verse declares the particular challenge that we have to worship a God that we cannot see. And how that’s somehow difficult for us. But he says, certainly, if we cannot love a brother that we can visibly see with our eyes, then we are not going to love God, whom we cannot see. And this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should love his brother also. This is not optional teaching. This is not any less significant than our moral purity or the purity of our speech.

God is going to hold us accountable because we are sinners. And as the Hebrew writer said earlier in chapter 12, we can become so easily entangled within it again. That something that is somewhat foundational, the attitude that we should have toward those others who are in Christ, that we can stumble in that area once more and become entangled again in that kind of behavior. And how much harm, how much harm has been done by brothers who simply refused to love each other. How many local churches have been split? How many souls have become discouraged and given up on faith because of brothers and sisters who would not endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It has been my experience that few people are ready for conflicts when they happen.

And that’s true of conflicts in the workplace. That’s certainly true of conflicts in the home. And it’s true in regard to conflicts among God’s people. We’re not ready for those things, and when they do, it really doesn’t matter that people have heard 45,000 sermons on the subject of brotherly love. It seems sometimes that all of that goes out the window and bad behavior results. And so I want to speak these words to you about love of the brethren for the next several weeks to hopefully impress upon all of us the importance of how God wants us to regard and treat one another. Because if we do not see this, the damage can be irreparable in our own lives if we refuse to repent of conduct that is said in this area, or could be discouraging and cause someone else to stumble.

1. Let Love of the Brethren Continue

Now, as I said that, can any of us say that we’ve never transgressed against a brother? By something either that we did or said. And perhaps not even aware of the missteps that we’ve taken. Well, Hebrews 13 and verse 1. Let love of the brethren continue. What does that mean? The first thing that I want you to see in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 1 is that they were already practicing love of the brethren. There was a spiritual immaturity in the audience that the Hebrew writer is addressing. That pointed out in Hebrews chapter 5 in the beginning of chapter 6. But at least in this matter of loving those who are also in Christ with them, they have been doing pretty well in that regard. But he says, let that continue.

This is something to build upon. This is something important. And one person remarked that this practice may well be the hallmark, the distinguishing mark of our commitment to Christ. Oh, I think there are probably a lot of things that are distinguishing marks, and even we might say are a hallmark of our obedience to Christ. But this is certainly right up there, and more on that in just a second. But this Greek word in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 1 is probably no surprise. You’ve heard this before. It is the Greek word philadelphia. And you might think this word for love of the brethren is all over the New Testament, but it actually is not. It is found only in five other places in the New Testament.

Now, there are combinations off of the first part of that word, and so you’ll see a combination of Philaio and some other word, and like the passage we studied in Titus chapter 2 about the older women teaching the younger women to love their husbands and to love their children. That’s a form of this word. And so there are forms of this word in other places, but this one particular Greek word is only found in these five other references, two references in 2 Peter chapter 1. That’s the passage that talks about adding to our faith certain qualities, and it says to godliness, brotherly kindness, and then it’s mentioned again, brotherly kindness, love. And so it’s mentioned two times, but really in one recipe of the qualities that we are to possess.

Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 and verse 10 says that we are to be devoted to one another in Philadelphia or brotherly love. And in that list, there are a lot of things that pertain to my relationship with other brothers and sisters. But there it says specifically that we’re to have this kind of warmth and affection for our brothers in the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 9, this word appears. And this, like the Hebrew writer says in Hebrews 13 and verse 1. Now, as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. He has a lot of glowing things to say about the church at Thessalonica, and the practice of brotherly love seems to be one of the things that they are doing well.

More on 1 Thessalonians 5 momentarily. But in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22, and this is not the first time I’ve called to your intention, that’s how important I think it is. Our souls are purified by obedience, or in our obedience to the truth, Peter says. He would say, we are born again of the Spirit. We’re born of the living word, the incorruptible word of God. And that’s all implied there in 1 Peter chapter 1. But when he says, our souls are purified in obedience to the truth, it struck me several years ago what follows that. Unto brotherly love. Unto an unfeigned, a real, a genuine love of the brethren. And the observation I’ve made to you before is that our obedience to the Lord is unto a resurrected life.

It’s unto a lot of things. The changes that we talked about this morning in attitudes and behavior. That extends to every part of our lives. There are so many things that change when we come into Christ. And so our obedience is unto a lot of things that involve our regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, as we studied in Titus chapter 3, verses 4 and 5. The washing of regeneration, renewal of the Holy Spirit, how those things work together to change us. We live to the we live this now resurrected life. But it’s interesting to me that Peter is pointing out this one aspect. That’s how significant it is and indispensable. We can’t say, you know, well, I’m attending all the services, and I’m pretty good father, pretty good mother.

I’m a breadwinner as a father and as a mother, and I emphasis is the home, and I’m taking care of all of that. And we could praise ourselves for a lot of the good things that we’re doing. I keep my speech pure. But if we’re gossiping about our brothers, you realize how many passages address the problem of gossip as a reflection of a lack of love that will be involved in our second lesson, shunning evil words. But what is all of that really going to do for us? All of those good things that I mentioned before, and I don’t know what all your lists might include, but we throw all those things out there by my spiritual successes, and yet I hold this brother or sister in contempt.

2. Love of the Brethren Is Not Content With Mere Words

And it causes me to slander and gossip about them. All those other things. What are they going to do for us if we persist in that conduct that is not love of the brethren? And so, this important quality that he says must continue among the Lord’s people, love of the brethren. It is not content with mere words. Wouldn’t that be great? If we could just say, the Decor Prairie Church, I love you. I love you. I’m done. That’s it. Don’t you feel loved? I said it. I love you. You got it? Well, I don’t feel loved. Try that with your wife.

I love you. That’s not going to work. And even a sincere, I love you.

And she’s going to say, and on Mother’s Day, you didn’t even get me a card. Our anniversary, you forgot.

And so many other things that could be said about what real love does and demonstrates. It’s not just about words. And what verse? 1 John 3, 18. Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed in truth. That’s an elliptical statement. I told you that before. He’s not saying, don’t say I love you. Whatever you do, don’t say that. If you took the verse literally, that’s what it would be saying. But it’s not meant to be understood literally. It’s elliptical. He’s saying, not only love in word or God. You have to say, I love you. You need to express that. And if you don’t think you need to say that, be married to someone who needs words of affirmation. You need to express that in words.

He’s not saying don’t do that. He’s saying don’t stop with that. In an elliptical statement, what’s being emphasized is what follows. It’s the first thing is affirmed, but what follows is being emphasized. Let us not love merely is the idea in word or in tongue, but let it be demonstrated in our actions. In Burton Kaufman’s commentary on Hebrews, he says, our brother, exclamation point. He stands before us, like ourselves, made in the image of God, an heir of eternal life, and a beneficiary of the blood of Christ. And our love should reach out to him with all of the emotional thrust of which the heart is capable. Like me. He is compassed with infirmity, tormented by temptations, pressed with the cares of life, frustrated and defeated in many of his fondest hopes, destined to live forever in joy or in remorse, needing our encouragement, our aid at every step of the way, standing to benefit by our loving prayers, to be strengthened by the hand clasp of brotherly affection.

3. Real Love for Brethren Is Costly

Who can withhold his love from a brother? Only the reprobate. Love is not content with words. Love, words of love mean little if I am treated like dirt. What would you say about the guy, for example, who says, I love my dog Rover. And he kicks him all the time for no good reason. Well, you would conclude that he doesn’t really love his dog. It is far easier for me to say, I love you, than it is to practice and demonstrate that love. And let me tell you something else in this regard. Real love for brethren is potentially a very costly thing. That’s why some are content merely to mouth the words rather than to demonstrate in practice. It can be very costly. And I know that from 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16, because Jesus’ love for us was costly.

1 John 3 and verse 16. We know love by this that he laid down his life for us. And that’s not where the passage stops. It says, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I don’t think at all John is talking about the fact that everyone who is a brother in Christ is going to have to be literally a martyr for the cause and surrender his life for the well-being and safety of his brother. I mean, where would all the brethren be? We’d all be dead. He’s not talking about a literal sacrifice here, but he’s saying we ought to be willing to do that. And that means we’re going to have to expend of ourselves for the benefit and welfare of our brothers.

And who could deny that the proper service of brethren, as we talked about that this morning, is going to involve a sacrifice of time. Intercessory prayer is going to involve a sacrifice of time and an attention to your brother’s needs and circumstances. It is, it’s too easy to just say, Lord, I want you to be with the Decker Prairie Church. My brethren whom I love. What have we done specifically in intercessory prayer? That is praying on behalf of others for our brothers and sisters. And is there somebody that perhaps you don’t like very much in the body prayer? Just use me as an example. If there’s somebody you don’t like very much, somebody who’s rubbed you the wrong way. Have we prayed for them? I mean, we’re admonished to pray for our enemies.

Hopefully, our brethren have not reached that status with us. Sometimes. They do. And so something short of our enemies, our brethren in Christ. Perhaps there is some conflict or difficulty. Have we prayed for them? Consistently assembling is an indication of our real affection for the brethren. You know, I could say, you know, I really love you, but you know, on Wednesday night I’m going to do my own thing. On Sunday night, I’m going to do my own thing. And really what that says is, if that is my consistent habit or pattern, what that’s saying is, I love me a lot more than I love you. It’s about, it’s about me. It’s not about cost, as far as I’m concerned. It’s about serving myself and my own wants.

4. Encourage, Rebuke, and Want Their Salvation

Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. This is a wonderful verse. I’ve quoted many times as well. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 11. Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another just as you also are doing. Now, this was earlier when he said in verse 9 of chapter 4, now to the love of the brethren, I have no need to say anything to you. And now he says, you’re encouraging one another and building up one another. And he’s encouraging them to continue that course. Now, love of the brethren definitely involves tough luck. Moments and occasions when rebuke is necessary. When discipline is necessary. And we read about those kinds of things. That doesn’t mean that we don’t love a person. What is the discipline unto in 1 Corinthians chapter 5?

That the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And yet they were delivering this one over to Satan. You think about how dramatic that is that when they are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, they’re telling this man and the whole church, this behavior is not going to be tolerated. They’re being acknowledged as under the dominion of Satan. And that may look to some people like anything but loving. Oh, I think we need to be clear that it is an act of love, especially in these times when something seems so outlandish as an action like that. But we need to emphasize the fact that the goal of this is that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

And I think perhaps the best thing I can tell you about the attitude that we need to have for each other is when we look around this room and we look at each individual face. What do I want for you? What do I want? I want you to go to heaven. What a tragedy it would be if any one of us here in this assembly tonight falls short of the grace of God. Do you realize how much we’ve been given? Me, despite that one incident when I was 14. Growing up among the Lord’s people, all the Bible tells us.

I had an occasion several years ago to go back to New Albany where I grew up, and I don’t even remember now how I ended up visiting a woman who was then shut in and not able to attend anymore with the Lord’s people. And we were there just briefly, but she mentioned remembering me as a little kid sitting in her Bible class. And I just thought, wow, these people invested something in me. And I said this before the work that I’m able to do in preaching and teaching and helping people. How many sisters like that deserve some of the credit? Along with my mom and dad. People who invested in me spiritually.

And many of us who have grown up like that, some of you all came with that from without. I understand that. But those of us who have come up, especially from among the Lord’s people, look at all that has been done for us, all that has been placed into our laps. What a tragedy. The thousands of sermons that we’ve heard, and maybe that applies to most of us, but many hundreds of thousands of sermons that we’ve heard and assemblies that have been uplifting, the song leading’s been incredible. And to miss heaven, what a tragedy that is. And to allow conflict with brethren to keep us out of heaven. Think about all the other temptations that Burton Kaufman mentioned that we fight. The sexuality that pervades our society, the penchant for drinking and pleasure that so often derails Christians and evil speech and all the pitfalls that befall Christians today, and to think that I can overcome all of those.

Hey, if you can control your tongue, worry about that next week. You can control the whole body. You have the power, the sufficient equipment to do everything that God has instructed you to do. That’s how difficult it is to just hang the tongue, but you can do that, but to lose your soul over a damaged relationship with a brother. You know, a lot of things have happened in 30 years of preaching. And my involvement with brethren. Many things. And one of the things, hopefully, that I’ve learned that regardless of what happened, regardless of how I’ve been treated, I need to look at him. And I need to look at her and want for them their sole salvation. I have had preachers slander me from the pulpit.

And that’s hard. When you know that you are trying to preach God’s message to the saving of people’s souls, and someone is discrediting you with saints who don’t know any better. You know, you know what I want to do. I want to fix it. I want to go in there and I want to fix that. I can’t. I can’t do that. I can’t keep people from diminishing my influence. If that’s what they want to do. I can’t stop that. But I need to look at him and say, I want him to repent. I don’t want him to be lost. I don’t wish that on my worst enemy. And so, when we get in these occasions where rebuke is necessary, when discipline is necessary, we need to look at each other and say, what do I want here?

5. Why You Should and Must Love Your Brother

And I need to make sure that they hear that from me. That’s what I want from them is their soul salvation. And this all speaks to our role as brothers in the area of ministry to one another. That’s why hospitality is so important as we read that verse in 1 Peter chapter 4. But I want to conclude tonight by talking about why you should and you must love your brother. We read about a church in Corinth that was divided. Some were saying, I am of Paul, I am a Peter, I am of Apollos, I’m of Christ. And Paul has to deal with their problems of division. They have all kinds of problems that he’s dealing with in 1 Corinthians 12, including that immoral fornicator of 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

But chapter 12 is where he really gets to the nuts and bolts of fixing the division problem in Corinth. And I love how masterful this chapter is, and I don’t have time tonight, especially at this point, to go through every verse of chapter 12. But I want to tell you where he starts. He says, you know, this business of miraculous spiritual gifts, they’re all designed to bring about the same thing, and that’s unity in the body. But somehow you’ve become fractured. Prophecy, tongues, whatever the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, whatever that is in those particular gifts, they’re designed to produce a unified result, brothers in unity. But you’ve become divided. And he says, though there’s a diversity of gifts, there is a Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

And those three, those three persons work in concert together. The very nature of the Godhead testifies to the need for union, though there are three different persons. And then he goes on to talk about these diversity of gifts, and they all come from one spirit, and they’re designed for union. And then he says, by the Spirit, you were all baptized into one body. We’ve all come into Christ because of that one spirit. And so he’s talking about unity. And now he says, now you are members of the body of Christ. There are many members, but one body. And then he goes into that discourse about the hand and the foot. Just like in regard to your physical body, your hand can do some things that your foot can’t.

I don’t know. Sherry’s feet can do it. I mean, she’s got toes that work like fingers. I mean, that’s pretty amazing. But my feet can’t do much of anything other than walk. But you know, my hands are pretty glad that my feet do that. Because have you ever tried walking on your hands? Now, some of you can, but you can’t do it for very long. The feet and the hand do totally different things. But, and furthermore, I’m glad I got two of each. What if we lost one? Aren’t you glad that the body has two hands? Sometimes I feel like three or four would be nice. As many things as we have to juggle these days. But two hands, two feet, the body working in unison.

You know, the body doesn’t go in two different directions, does it? I know people have split personalities, but you but you don’t split your body. This all works. It has to come together as a unit. And it’s amazing how God made it that all of these things. He says that’s the way the body’s supposed to be. The spiritual body. And just because you think, well, I’m really good because I’m the hand and I’m really talented. I can do more than the feet can do. But hand can’t walk.

And so in the body, he says, the weaker members are necessary. And again, I said many times about this verse. I think people want to say, that’s what I want to be in the body of Christ. I want to be the weak member. Can I still go to heaven being the weak member? It’s not talking about weakened faith. It’s not talking about the person who doesn’t want to try and sluggish spiritually. It’s talking about the member that perhaps isn’t as capable as another, not as talented, whose circumstances don’t allow what another brother or sister can do. It refers to talent and abilities and opportunities. And some members, because of physical infirmity and circumstances, for example, they can’t contribute in the local work like other people can.

And there’s different ranges of intellect that go along with being our brothers in the Lord, and all these things contribute to our abilities. And the fact is, God doesn’t say, hey, you’re more talented than someone else. I like you better. That’s not the way it works, and I’ll tell you. Some of the most faithful people, faithful here, are not necessarily the most talented people. But God gives more abundant honor to the member that lacks. He levels the playing field. And so we ought to have the same care one for another because there’s nobody better. He’s a better song leader. He’s a better preacher. That kind of stuff. It’s garbage. That’s nonsense. Just because I can stand up here and preach a lesson, doesn’t make me better than any other member of the body of Christ.

That’s not how the body works. And yet, this body, what this passage does indicate, is going to be full of a lot of different people with a lot of different personalities. And that’s just the problem for us sometimes. We can’t get past that. She’s different. He’s different. He’s strange. I just can’t identify with him. They were having those problems in the first century. Jews and Gentiles couldn’t identify with one another. They really struggled with that. Ethnic differences, bond to free, male and female. You talk about men and women are different. In the first century, there were even greater things that separated men and women in society than they do in 21st century society. And so you’re bringing all of these people from different ethnicities, different abilities, different personalities together into one group.

No wonder there is so much said about this relationship of brothers in the New Testament. We just need to get over this. If you haven’t, we got to go off and get over this. Everybody is not going to be the same. It’s not going to be a cookie cutter. Every brother looks like every other brother. Don’t think that way. And this.

Conclusion

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. We have to work toward that. What a tremendous blessing the Lord’s people have been in my life. What a tremendous blessing the Decker Prairie Church has been to me in the last four years of my life. And we need to thank God for each other, just as Paul thanked God for his every membrance, every remembrance of the Philippians. When I think about how my spirits have been lifted and my focus regained, and my hope strengthened, and my zeal renewed, and my rejoicing bolstered. Just by having the opportunity to spend time with brethren. God meant this to be an important, helpful relationship in our lives. Value it, regard it highly, and let us subject ourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

And if there’s someone in this audience tonight who has not obeyed the gospel, maybe you’re not ready. Not ready to meet the Lord on the last day. We not only want you to be redeemed from the sin that holds you prisoner and captive, but we want you to enjoy and know this relationship of brothers with the Lord’s people. And so if we can assist you, come now as we stand and sing together.