Do We Love Our Brother? Series

INTRODUCTION

SLIDE #

„X Behave while living in a lost world.

„X Submit yourself to the governing authorities.

„X Slaves, be submissive to your masters.

„X Wives, be submissive to your husbands, lost or saved.

„X Husbands, treat your wives as something special, whether they are lost of saved.

„X Up to this point the focus of our behavior has been focused on how to live with those outside of the church. Today, the focus is going to change to how we are to deal wit hour brothers and sisters in the church.

„X Peter was writing to Christians as they were in the midst of persecution. One of the things we need to understand in life is that we need each other.

„X When things are going bad around us, it is easy to start turning on the ones we say we love; it is easy to turn on family.

„X During times of difficulty, we need one another even more. The tough times of life is not the time (there is never a time) to turn on our family or our Christian family.

„X In any family, there are times when we say things and do things to one another that are wrong, insensitive and dumb.

„X In your blood family, what do you do when another family member treats you in an evil way? I hope we try to work through it and not just hate the person forever.

„X One of the things that marks a person as a Christian is by the love we have for other Christians. SLIDE # John 13:35 says: ¡§By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.¡¨

„X Doesn¡¦t that sound nice, we are to love one another? The question then becomes, ¡§How do we know if we truly love one another?

„X It is one thing to say we love one another; it is a different thing to actually love one another!

„X It is imperative that as Christians we love one another, and I am not only talking about those who are within these walls, we also need to love our brothers and sisters who belong to other churches also.

„X The world needs to see that we really love one another. Our love for one another must be real. It cannot be just a show.

„X Today we are going to ask the question, ¡§Do We Love Our Brothers?¡¨ We will look at how love will show itself in our lives and in our interactions with other.

„X Let¡¦s read 1 Peter 3:8-12 together.

„X This section begins with ¡§To sum it up.¡¨ This indicates Peter he is addressing the last group of people concerning our conduct. This section will deal with how we are to act toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.

„X SLIDE #

SERMON

Love will show itself by:

I. THE ATTITUDES WE DISPLAY.

Attitude is a good indicator of the true heart within us. If we really love one another, it will be evident in the following attitudes. SLIDE #

1. A spirit of harmony.

„X A spirit of harmony speaks of Christian unity. Do we display an attitude of unity, a spirit of harmony?

„X The word ¡§harmony¡¨ literally means ¡§to be of one mind.¡¨ We are like-minded; we realize we are part of a team. That team includes brothers in Christ from other churches who have been obedient to the call of Christ.

„X Being harmonious means that we are working together for a common goal of spread the gospel.

„X Jesus prayed for unity in John 17:21-23. SLIDE #

„X The early church experienced unity. They were working for a common goal and God was blessing them for it. Acts 2:42-47

„X SLIDE # Phil 1:27 reminds us of the importance of being united.

„X Warren Wiersbe in his commentary on 1 Peter states the following concerning Christian unity. ¡§Unity does not mean uniformity; it means cooperation in the midst of diversity. The members of the body work together in unity, even though they are all different. Christians may differ on how things are to be done, but they must agree on what is to be done and why. A man criticized D.L. Moody¡¦s methods of evangelism, and Moody said, ¡§Well, I¡¦m always ready for improvement. What are your methods?¡¨ The man confessed that he had none! ¡§Then I¡¦ll stick to my own,¡¨ said Moody. Whatever methods we may use, we must seek to honor Christ, win the lost, and build the church. Some methods are definitely not scriptural, but there is plenty of room for variety in the church.¡¨

„X The second attitude we will display if we love our brother is: SLIDE #

2. A sympathetic heart.

„X This attitude should be shown to saved and lost, but in this context it tells us we are to be sympathetic to our brother.