Brotherly Love I

BROTHERLY LOVE I

TITUS 1:3

This is a little story about a man named Josh. Josh had live a long, faithful life, and was now in the hospital hooked up to a respiratory machine, very near to death. The family called their long-time pastor to stand with them. The pastor arrived just in time, for as he stood next to the bed, Josh’s condition deteriorated quickly as he motioned frantically for something to

write on.

The pastor swiftly handed him a pen and a piece of paper, and Josh used his last bit of energy to scribble a note, then he died went home to the Lord.

The pastor thought it best not to look at the note at that time, so he placed it in his jacket pocket. At the funeral, as he was finishing the message, he said, "You

know, Josh handed me a note just before he died. I haven’t looked at it, but knowing Josh, I’m sure there’s a word of inspiration here for us all."

He opened the note, and lovingly read, "You’re standing on my oxygen tub..."

We have all been to family reunions I am sure. Sometimes we may look around at our family and kind of shake our heads and say. I’m related to these people?

The funny thing is that some of them are looking at you shaking their head and saying, I’m related to that person?

As the saying goes you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives.

While we all belong to families that are related by flesh and blood, those who have placed their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ belong to a family that is a spiritual family. And just like any family we cannot decide who is in it and who is not. While we may not care for all those who God has chosen to save, (which as we will see is wrong), they are nevertheless part of the family of God.

And because they are a part of that family we have a certain responsibility to them.

Please turn with me to Titus chapter 1 verse 4; That would be page 1032 in your pew Bibles this morning. We have finally made it through Paul’s introduction, and now Paul lets us know to whom the letter is address to.

"To Titus, a true son in our common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior."

I want us to focus on what Paul calls Titus. "A TRUE SON in our common faith". Paul speak with much affection about Titus. If you look at other passage were Titus is mentioned you see that Paul not only regards Titus as a friend, but much much more. Titus is a son. He is part of the family. There is a much closer bond between Paul and Titus then just friends, then just co-workers in Christ. They are family.

The same is true with us. We are more then co-workers in Christ, we are more then friends, we are family. We are brothers and sisters in the family of God! And as I stated earlier because we are family we are to act a certain way toward each other.

Today I want to take a look at brotherly love, something that at times I believe we miss the importance of. It is obvious from our passage, and from other passages that Paul has a love for Titus, a brotherly love, a love that we all need to have for each other.

You may have noticed in your bulletin that there is a secondary passage for today, 1 John 3:10-15. I want to use 1 John chapter to show us the importance of brotherly love. To show us how we too, need to look at each other as brothers and sisters. Note just with words but has Paul felt about Titus. A genuine love, a genuine caring and compassion. Not just fronts we may put up in church but the true love for each other.

You see this brotherly love is needed if we are to have a healthy church. We all remember those outlines I gave you. There are still some on the back table. But the first step as we will see as we go along in Titus, the first step to making a impact in the society, to having Godliness in the home, is a healthy church. And for a church to be healthy there must be brotherly love!

So let us turn to 1 John 3:10-13; 1055 in your Pew Bibles. It is within these few passages we will see the importance of the brotherly John mentions, and the Paul had for Titus.

In chapter 3 of 1 John, John describes the necessity of Brotherly Love. He tells us why we need to have brotherly towards one another.