Brotherly Love Ii

BROTHERLY LOVE II

TITUS 1:4 / 1 JOHN 3:16-24

I want to begin this morning’s message by telling you about some of my relatives. There was my uncle Charlie, my mom’s brother. Uncle Charlie passed away quite a few years ago, but as a kid we saw my uncle Charley just about every Sunday. He never married, and lived with my grandmother until she passed away about two years prior to Uncle Charley passing on.

Uncle Charley was a strange kind of guy, he was one of those kinds of guys that kids like to be around because he was so strange. As a child we were fascinated by his whistling abilities, he could make the strangest noises. His eating habits also were somewhat odd. He was know for eating raw hamburgers. Just take the patty, uncooked, put it on a roll, a little ketchup and bon appetite. He would also take soft shell crabs, boil them up, and place the whole crab in between tow slices of bread, chow down. Now this all of course is pretty amazing stuff to 5 or 6 year old.

Then there was my Aunt Annette, one of my mothers sisters. Now you must remember that I still view these people through the eyes of a 5 or 6 years old. Now Aunt Annette was a tough looking lady. She was a heavy set women with a dark complexion. She like her brother Charlie was also a master at making odd noises. To my amazement she also had a quite discernable mustache. And to top it off she had a tattoo on her arm. Now while it may be common for women to have tattoos today, back in the late 60’s early 70’s it was not see to much.

What also amazed me about aunt Annette was that she drank beer, a beverage which I believe at the time to be strictly for men.

Not let my father off the hook I want to tell you about his brother my uncle Joe. Uncle Joe also passed a while back. He to was somewhat of a oddity to us kids. He was the guy who could pull quarters out of your ears, make pennies disappear and all that kind of stuff. He lived a tough life. As a youth his mother sent him to buy a loaf of bread. Uncle Joe did not come back for a couple years. But what made Uncle Joe even more special was the he had served time in Sing – Sing prison for I believe was armed robbery. There is nothing like a convicted felon in the family to keep things interesting.

Looking back at my Uncle Joe, and Uncle Charlie, and Aunt Annette, while I thought them to be strange and unusual I still loved them. While if I was not related to them they would have sacred the daylights out of me, because they were family I loved them. Being related to someone kind of changes our perspective on them.

A could of weeks ago we began to talk about brotherly love, and the need there is for that in the church. Please turn with me to Titus chapter 1 verse 4; That is page 1035 in your Pew Bibles.

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

We made note of Paul’s words of affection toward Titus, how He views Titus as not only a friend and co-worker in Christ, but as a son, as part of the family, the family of God.

I want to continue to look at the brotherly love which Paul had towards Titus, the brotherly love we each need to have for one another. Just like a couple week ago we are going to be examining 1 John chapter 3, because it is in that chapter the John talks of the relationship we need to have with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

So turn to 1 John chapter 3 if you would, 1056 as we will be taking a look at verses 16-24.

You may recall from a couple weeks ago that in 1 John 3:10-15 John gives us two main reasons why it is necessary for us to love one another, just as Paul loved Titus.

Remember as verse 10 tells us it distinguishes us as the children of God. People will know we are Christians, that we are disciples of Christ by the love that we have for one another.

We also pointed out that brotherly love signifies our passing from spiritual death into spiritual life. As verse 14 tells us; "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death."