Kindred United: Love The Brotherhood
So far in the Kindred United series, we have studied how God must come first, then family and now we study how church family comes third. Next week, we will begin studying how we need to love others, with a special emphasis on one particular group that is, by and large, ignored by the church but perhaps needs the church more than other groups.
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Loving The Brethren: What Is The Church?
When the term church is mentioned to most people, there is a view that comes up in their minds that is quite opposite of the original intent. Most often, the church is viewed as a building. Some people have a mental image people dressed in three piece suits; sun dresses and poofy hair; children in patent leather shoes. Some people have the idea that church is about perfect people, in perfect clothing, singing in perfect harmony, church choirs, preachers dressed in long robes or in a clerical collar with all of the perfect people looking down their noses at the dirty rotten sinners with disdain. All of these views are tragically wrong, but unfortunately have at times been fostered by those of the church itself.
The church is not a building; the church is, instead, a people. And, it is a peculiar (KJV) or special people (1 Peter 2:9). One's manner of dress does not make that person of the church, or how they do their hair, or if they sing in perfect tune. Jesus' intent with the church is radically different than that narrow, uppity view.
In the Old Testament, the word for assembly is qahal (kaw-hawl') and is translated in the KJV as "assembly, company, congregation, multitude". (New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary). While it can refer to people and assemblages, it most often refers to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. This is important to know, because the Hebrew to Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, uses a word that is most often translated as church.
There are two Koine Greek words that translate as church. The first is used in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) as mentioned above, the word ekklesia. This word can be used of secular meetings, and is also used to describe Israel in the wilderness (Acts 7:38) but is most often used to describe the church. Ekklesia is a combination of two words which mean "call" and "out of". In other words, the ekklesia--the church--are "called out ones".
The church, then, is not a building. It is a people. And God's people are no where mentioned as being any of the things mentioned; in fact, the idea that the church is a perfect people is absurd, and even more so is the idea that anyone in the church would think that they could ever be perfect in this life.
In the life of the believer, Jesus tells us to love God and love others. In loving others, we love family first, and then we show a love toward "called out ones".
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Love The Brotherhood!
Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 1 Peter 2:17
I love this verse! Quite honestly, I think it would make a good movie poster. I could see this being used as a slogan for a movie based in the middle ages, in the day of knights in shining armor. It has such a ring of integrity to it, something that is so lacking these days. Let's look at this verse piece by piece:
Outward: Honor all people. This means that we as Christians should consider each person precious, as unique. I have heard, and this upsets me, people that will say "that person can never be saved" or "that person REALLY needs Jesus." First off, there is no disqualifier that excludes a person being saved other than unbelief. Second, every person REALLY needs Jesus; all people sin. You might appear moral on the outside, but truth is your righteous works are as "filthy rags" before God (Isaiah 64:6). You should look at each person that is outside the faith as someone that God is going to save, and that you might well be the instrument that God is going to use.
Inward: Love the brotherhood. Robertson notes this is written in the present active imperative form; in other words it means do it now and keep doing it, and it is a command. We are to show agapeo love, a love of the will, a love that expects no return, a love for those that are often unlovable. Also, this speaks of all Christians, not just those in your particular church. There is the local church, then there is the universal church, which would be the church all over the world. In fact, we are to have a love for the brotherhood that is above those outside of the faith.
Upward: Fear God. Robertson notes here that this means to both "revere and dread" God. In other words, we respect God and we have an understanding that God can indeed "take us to the woodshed". This would be a fear similar to a healthy relationship that a child would have with a good earthly father, but of course on a higher level of reverence as we are speaking of God.
Polydirectionally: Honor the king. I could write volumes on this, quite honestly. It means, in short, that we are to respect those in leadership in our government--king, president, prime minister, governor and so on. It really rankles me when the position that a person is held is disrespected. How many times have we heard, or perhaps you yourself have refereed to our President by his last name only? We are to honor him as, in the current case, President Obama. I may not agree with him on his position on many issues, I may not even like him but I am commanded by God to honor him.
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Loving The Brethren: It's More Than Just Lip Service
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:4-8 (NKJV)
The Apostle John, known as "the Apostle of Love", garnered that title because he wrote often about love in his epistles and in the Gospel of John. Jesus Christ changed John, who along with his brother James were nicknamed "the sons of thunder" by Jesus because of their quick temper. An encounter with and a walk with Jesus Christ changes people.
This is John's point in 1 John 3, that Jesus Christ changes people. A casual reading of this vital chapter might lead one to believe that a person can only be considered saved if they live a sinless life, that the commit no sin at all. However, the meaning here is one of habit; if a person's lifestyle is one of habitual, continual sin (lawlessness, living outside the Law, the 10 Commandments) then that person is not controlled one whit by the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit does not dwell within that person. A person that is saved by Christ is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God from the very moment that person is saved, and change begins.
This is why it's important that people that claim to be saved to constant "head and spirit checks" on themselves. We are to examine ourselves to be sure we are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). We need to make sure first that we have the Spirit of God within us--that is, that we are actually saved--and also that our heads and hearts are in the game. I'm sure you have met people that are professors of the faith (they claim Jesus) but are not possessors of the faith (not genuinely saved, indwelt by the Holy Spirit). In short, the proof is in the pudding; like that song that was popular in the 1970's says "they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love".
This section of scripture shows a clear delineation between those that are saved and those that are not. In short, your works show to whom you belong; some folks may not like the sounds of this, but the Apostle John makes in clear. All of this follows the teaching about false teachers--antichrists--and Antichrist himself, hardly a coincidence. We see the admonition "Little children, let no one deceive you". This is why, although a so-called Bible teacher may sound good, even have some good teachings, but if his lifestyle is one of opulence, sexual promiscuity and overt maliciousness toward others, a person must turn tail away from that teacher. Don't fall into the trap of thinking "I will listen or read only that teacher's good, sound teachings--I can discern the difference"--pride comes before the fall.
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Loving The Brethren: Showing Love Through Living For Christ
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. 1 John 3:9-13 (NKJV)
It is not the habit or lifestyle of the child of Christ to sin. Yes, we still do sin, but it is not our trademark. Why? Verse 9 shows us that God's seed--the Holy Spirit--dwells within us and we do not habitually sin. We may fall off the wagon, but we don't stay on the ground. However, verse 10 is quite specific in showing that those that are the children of the devil (also see John 8:44) make it their part and parcel to sin.
One of the trademark sins of Satan is hatred; he has "Mikey Syndrome". Some of you might remember the Life cereal commercial from decades ago; the kids were given Life cereal and none of the kids wanted to eat it, so they gave it to Mikey. Their reasoning? "Give it to Mikey, he hates everything!" That would be Satan--he hates everything, everyone. He hates God, he hates you, he hates anything that by it's nature glorifies God. Satan changes the meanings of words that are neutral and makes them evil; he takes symbols of God and inspires warping of them into something perverse.
John states that Cain murdered Abel because of the hatred in his heart. It was a hatred in his heart fueled by jealousy; Abel gave the adequate sacrifice and Cain did not. We often see this "spirit of Cain" attitude in churches, unfortunately. What happens is that one person lives for Christ, does great works for Him and another person does not fueling, sadly, a jealous hatred. I have seen this before, and it is not of God. If you see someone in the church doing great works, try to emulate them instead of hate them; thank God He has blessed them and in turn has blessed the church through the works. Ask God how you can improve and do better for Him.
Don't be surprised if the world hates you, because that's the nature of the world. The world, when you stand for God, will try to defame you, intimidate you, mock you, and do all sorts of evil to you. Expect it to happen. When you try to share the Gospel with someone, expect resistance because that person's heart belongs to Satan and his world system. Besides, it not you that saves--it is God the Father that draws the person to Jesus Christ.
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Loving The Brotherhood: It's About Whom Indwells The Christian!
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. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 1 Jn 3:14-17 (NKJV)
In verses 14-17 we see the summation of the difference between Satan's world system and God's saved, redeemed people: love for the brethren. The chief characteristic--not the only one, but the chief one--is that the saint of God loves church folk, the brethren. This is one reason why I have a problem when people that profess Christ refuse to be part of a local church. Yes, sometimes you see churches behaving badly but if that is case in one instance then find another! There's no such thing as a perfect church, no such thing as a church that will meet all of your needs. Only Jesus is perfect, not the saints.
It's all about what YOU can do for a church, not what that CHURCH can do for you. Give this some thought: the reason why churches have problems, some more than others is because of "me-itis". Some people are looking for churches to give them more bang for their offering buck, some people want to be entertained, some people want the experience but not the life changing experience of God's Word. Because of this case of the world--Satan's system of pride and self serving--intruding into churches, is it any wonder there are fights and skirmishes in the sanctuaries? When a church body understands that the faith is not about them, and instead it is about what they can and will do for Christ because they love Jesus and love the brethren, things change. The reason is that hatred does not abide--or live in--that person, it is the love of Christ that lives in that person, a love that is willing to die for those whom he loves.
I have given this much thought, and come to realize that the doctrinally sound, Biblically correct church that grows does so because of the love that is chin-deep and also flows out the doors of the church house. It's easy to tickle ears, have a great music program, have parties and do other things like the world would love and draw a crowd. But when a church is marked by the love it has for it's own people and for others in need, God will bless it incredibly. If a person as a habit hates others in the church body then they are a murderer at heart just the same as Cain was when he murdered Abel physically.
Love is not just hugging people during greeting time in the worship service, nor is it solely made shown by a sweet disposition. Love is shown when people give of themselves for others, taking their time, their talent and their treasure and putting those things where their mouth is. Love is not shown when you have the ability to help someone and stand there with your teeth in your mouth and your bucks in your billfold. The Dr. Adrian Rogers said "A faith that hasn't reached into your wallet probably hasn't reached into your heart."
