Who is your brother, where is your brother? What is Brotherly Love?
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God’s eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to Him. Psalm 17:8 states that God will keep us ’as the apple of His eye.’"
I am glad that God loves questions. He likes to know what we are up to. As we start this message it will begin with a question: “Where is your brother?” Way back in the Bible there is a story about two brothers. One is named Cain and the other is Abel. They both were born to worship God just as al of us are. God created angels to serve Him. He wanted a creation that could choose to love him and so He made man. We do not know but perhaps Cain thought God favored Abel. Cain looks for a way to get back at Abel. It comes time for worship and so they bring their gifts to God as an act of worship.
What do you bring to God as an act of worship? Heart full of praise, a hearty offering, a desire to sing from your heart, a listening ear to hear God’s voice and a restful spirit to enjoy God’s presence with his people?
When Cain came to worship that day it was with a heart full of envy. It was in church when Cain saw that God accepted Abel’s worship and Cain did not give his best at worship. Cain became so upset; he did not get anything out of the service but hardened his heart until it was full of hate. It stayed in his mind until he came up with a plan. Sin begins in the heart. Sin is not just an action but an attitude. As he thinks of his plan he does not know who to blame God or his brother Abel. A few days later he meets Abel out in the field. As they start working together it seems fine until Abel feels the blow of a garden tool on the back of his head. He falls over wondering what hit him only to find that there is another blow and he is bleeding badly. It does not stop until he breathes his last and lies dead in the field. God comes to Cain maybe an hour later and asks: “Where is your brother Abel?” Cain looks up with a fake surprise look on his face and says: “I do not know. Do you expect me to keep tract of that little brother of mine.”
2 PT 1:5-7
The Bible is very certain about the reality of brotherly love. We find stories of brothers who struggled with each other. Ishmael did not like Isaac, Jacob deceived Esau, the 11 brothers of Joseph wanted him dead, David’s brothers made fu at him, and it says that at one time the brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him. We also see intermixed in these stories that there was restoration, mercy, love and healing.
That question asked in a lonely field many years ago still troubles us. We see much division between different groups of people. “Make every effort to add to your faith brotherly kindness.” We ask, “Where is my brother? Who is my brother? Am I my brother’s controller?” As we come to this virtue it is the second to last one in the list. We have words for love that the Bible uses that we do not know about in our English language. The one used here is Philadelphia. Two other words could have been used here and the first is chrestotes which means to do show good behavior to another. The second is Philanthropia which is expressed in self-sacrificing generosity. These words are both great for showing kindness. So why does Peter pick Philadelphia? It is to show that we need to show more than just kindness in our brotherly love. The other two words can be done at a distance and not becoming attached to touching the one we show love to. Philanthropic can be done by writing a check to someone and not even knowing the person. These two words do not have to have a personal touch.
The word Peter uses here means I have to care for you and you have to care for me and it has to be a hand on doing. It means I have to put up with your strangeness, difference, crankiness, shortcomings, faults and odd behavior. Philadelphia makes us have to get involved. JAM 2:15-16 “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well," but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?”
The last virtue which we will get to is not the same word because this one is kindness. Agape is the word used for love in the last virtue. Peter knows we need both kinds of love. Being a Christina is being complete which to me is like the word that says we are to be perfect like our Father in heaven is perfect. This means we become complete in being perfect like Him. Philadelphia means to love what God love. Agape means to love as God loves.
We need to find out what God loves if we are going to add this to our faith. Brotherly love we can understand without the Bible for we know what it is to love one another in our family. Here in the Bible it goes beyond family by blood line to a bigger family that is a bloodline that comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. Are you getting blessed? When I enter the church I am surrounded by people who love me and I love them even though I am not related to them by my family I was born into. Where is my brother or sister? We pray, “Our Father who art in heaven.” It is not as PS 23 says, “The Lord is MY Shepherd.” If my Father is God and your Father is God that makes us family. Are you feeling blessed yet? Realistically not every one of us are loveable every day we see each other. Some are a killjoy, mind-numbing, obnoxious, boring, and we want to avoid them. I have come to church on certain occasions and met a sister and brother who is having a bad day or maybe has had a bad week and blurt out some unkind thing. 1 JN 4:20 “If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen?” To love God is to love what God loves. Think about that!
Let us look at four expressions of brotherly kindness;
1. The 1st expressions should be lack of prejudice or being equal. Who can exalt himself above another? God has no favorites but all are His children who confess they belong to him. JAM 2:1 “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people more than others?” We are not to prefer one above the other. That means we do not give approval or benefit or favor or acceptance or backing to one over another. We are not to show celebrated standing of one over another. If God is our Father we are equals here. Are we doing OK with this?
2. The 2nd expression should be that of harmony, of unity, of bringing together, of friendship. In John 17 Jesus prays six times He calls God our Father and stresses with intensity our being one in Him. John 17:21 “My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father, that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.” It is Jesus Christ in you and me that mark us in the clearest way we are one in Him. We have been joined together by the blood of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that makes us one. Whatever it is that might be trying to divide us is weak in comparison to what makes us
alike. What brings us together, the power of Jesus through the Holy Spirit stronger that which would divide us. Look at one another and say “I love you even though I know you.” What we have in common is greater than anything that we might not agree on. Can you say, “Praise The Lord?”
3. The 3rd expression is a closeness, connection, close relationship, patience that this world cannot give. This is a warm relationship with each other that goes beyond the meaning of a mere friendship. A story in the Bible shows us a picture of this is when Jonathan was the King’s son. He was a good friend to David. They make a promise to each other that whatever happened, they would always be friends. David was afraid King Saul would kill him. But Jonathan wanted to prove him wrong. He said "My father will not hurt you." But David was still afraid. He knew that he was in real danger. King Saul began to hate David. Jonathan loved David and so he made a plan. "In a field not far from here, there is a great stone," said Jonathan. "Go and hide behind it. In three days, I will come with my servant and shoot three arrows by its side. If I say to my servant, ’Go and find the arrows, they are on this side of you, bring them here,’ then you will know that it is safe and there is no danger. But if I say to the boy, ’Look the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must run away for there is great danger.” So David hid in the field. Jonathan went to King Saul. He begged him not to kill David. King Saul did not listen. He became very angry. He went to the field near the great stone. Soon his arrows flew through the air. “Find the arrows," called Jonathan. "They are beyond you!" David heard and he was very sad. Jonathan sent the servant home. Then David came out of his hiding place. He put his arms around Jonathan. Jonathan told David of his father’s plans to kill him and urged him to go far away where he would be safe. He asked David to remember that they would always be friends. David ran away. We learn a lesson in friendship in this story. They were loyal friends and remained so until death. Are you a true friend? Do you take up for your friend if someone starts saying bad things about him or her? Do you come to their defense? Do have a friend who would do the same for you? That is true brotherly kindness.
4. A 4th expression of brotherly kindness is being a servant. Jesus showed us this when He was eating with his disciples in the upper room and took time to wash their feet before serving them the food. Romans 12:1, 4, 5-7, 10-11, 15-16, 18, 21 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others. God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord eagerly. When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.”
We conclude by saying in simple words: “Brotherly love is serving; love is honoring and love seeks the good for others.
We have spoken some weighty, moving, serious, profound, powerful, words here from God’s word about Brotherly kindness. 1 JN 3:14-15 ‘If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to eternal life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another Christian is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.”
Our quality of brotherly kindness puts a division Cain like or lets us love that touches others.
If You and I love God we will love what He loves. We will love His children all of them. If we choose not to we break our Father’s heart.
