Love as Brethren

On the night before He died, Jesus made a powerful and amazing statement. He said, and you'll find this in John 13, verse 35, "...by this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." That is a powerful statement. "...by this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." I want to talk about that some this morning. That's a powerful statement. The proof of being a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ, is having love for one another. If we do not have that love, then we are simply not a disciple of Christ, not a Christian at all. This verse puts a lot of stress on loving one another. And our love for one another is the very proof that we are a disciple of Christ. Let's read a few verses also written by John in the little book of 1 John near the end of the Bible. 1 John beginning in chapter 2. 1 John. Chapter 2 and verse 7. 2 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. And yet the next verse he says, it's a new commandment that I write which thing is true in him. John is writing about something new and he's writing about something old. What is he writing about, though? Verse 9. He who says he is in the light. Someone that claims he is in the light. In other words, he claims to be a disciple of Christ. He claims to be following the teachings of the Bible. And yet he hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light. And there's no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. What we're going to be talking about this morning, and I'd like to set the stage to discuss it in other sermons in the future, is then very, very important. It distinguishes whether or not we are truly in the light, or if we might instead be in the darkness, how can we really know? We want to really make sure we understand this is important. Let's read on in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 10 about this very same thing. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 10, In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness, and that is the word practice, that means action, is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. I mean, this goes around from the very start of human life. Not as Cain who was that wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. And verse 14 is also an amazing verse that fits into what we're talking about. We know, we know. How do we... and what do we know and how do we know? We know that we have passed from death to life. That's how we as members of God's church know that we've passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.

Like Jesus said, By this shall all men know. By this we can know about ourselves too, if 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. I may not bring this out today, but in the process of time I'd like to, that even an omission of love or loving someone not as much would qualify for hating someone, hating our brother. If we were to love someone less than others. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. No murderer has eternal life abiding in him. And he goes on to bring out that, hey, we do have to have, our righteousness has to have a practice. Our loving of our brother has to have some proof to it. Verse 16, by this we know love because he laid down his life for us. We really come to understand the kind of love for our brother that we are to have. He laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So how about it? How are we doing in laying down our life for our brother? 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? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. And we know that we have passed from death into life. These are powerful verses by John. He continues with the very same thing in chapter 4 and verse 20. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 20. If someone says, I love God, and yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? Brethren, these are powerful statements we're reading. That we must learn to love our brother in the way that God defines loving our brother, not the way we might do it, the way that God defines it. Or else, you know, we're just making some empty claims of being a Christian. If we cannot love our brother whom we have seen, how can we say we love God whom we have not seen? Verse 21, this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. And that puts together the two great commandments of love to word God and love to word neighbor. Chapter 5 and verse 1 continues, whoever believes that Jesus Christ is born of God.

He's a Christian. He has God's Spirit. And he has a birth from above. And everyone who loves him, who begat, that's the Father, also loves him, who is begotten of him. Well, that's us. That's brethren. That's us in the church. Everyone who loves him who begat, God the Father, also loves him who is begotten of him. We will love one another. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. No, it's not burdensome to love our neighbors. It's not burdensome to keep the laws and the commandments of Almighty God.

Brethren, why did John write a lot about loving one another? Well, he was the disciple that Jesus loved, and John does write a lot more than the other disciples, any other New Testament writers about loving one another. Why did John dwell upon that a lot? It was because many in the church, when John was writing around the ages A.D., that's about 50 years or more after the church had started. Many in the church were losing their love for God, their love for the truth, and their love for the brethren. I want us to look at that just to spend a few minutes looking at that. We read in Revelation the messages to the seven churches that the first church, the Ephesian church, had all these good works they did. They did a lot of good things. They held on to the truth. They exposed false apostles. But it says, I have somewhat against you because you have left your first love. The early church did lose its first love, and we have a record of it in the Bible for us to study and learn from. In the book of Acts, we learn that the disciples were close. They had all things together. Let's just read a few verses. They began with a love and a concern, a closeness to one another, a camaraderie, a brotherhood. Look over in the book of Acts 2, verse 41. Acts 2, verse 41.

And here in this verse, we see that 3,000 people were baptized on the day of Pentecost. In verse 42, they continued in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. I want you to notice that. They continued in the truth from the teachings of the Bible, but they also continued in fellowship. That's important in regard to the sermon today. They continued in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. In the breaking of bread and prayers. And fear came upon all when they saw the signs and the wonders done. And notice verse 44, how close they were. The early church. All who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, as anyone had need. And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And God added to the church daily those that were being saved. The early church began with a closeness, a brotherhood, love toward one another, people's soul possessions, so that there would be a way of feeding people. And they just shared everything. Nobody was going hungry or going without. Real family closeness and love. We read more about that in Acts 4 and verse 32.

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Brethren, the early church was united. They had one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own. But they had all things in common. And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all, nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet. And they distributed to each as everyone had need. Just an amazing thing was going on. God's people were together. They were excited about the truth. They were excited about being a part of something that God had now begun, the church. The church Jesus said he would build. Real togetherness and sharing a family closeness and love.

A closeness and first love for one another. Question. Could they hold on to it? Could they maintain that family love and that family closeness for each other? You know, the answer for the first few decades of the church is yes. During the 30s and the 40s, there's every indication that the church continued with one accord, basically continued to be excited about the truth. People continued to be excited about their calling.

The apostles, the twelve apostles, were going out preaching the Word. The apostle Paul, before too long, was called by God, knocked down, called by God. He went out preaching to the Gentiles. A great work was done then in the 30s and the 40s and into the 50s.

People were being converted throughout the Roman Empire as a great work was being done. But then something began to happen. Of course, you could see some of this happening even earlier, but in a bigger way, in the 60s, the scene began to change quite a bit. Some of the apostles, many of the apostles, were no longer around. They were 30 years into the church. Many of the apostles were, by that time, murdered.

Peter was still around until about 68 AD.

John was around, of course, until about the only one that was around longer than that was John of the original twelve. The apostle Paul died probably a year or two before Peter. Around 67 would be a good year. And then Peter, the next year, 68. So around that time, many of the powerful ones in the ministry were no longer on the scene. But even before Peter and Paul were martyred, there was a falling away from that first love, a getting away from that excitement for the truth. People began to lose it. Paul had to write. You can read many verses in the book of Hebrews that they weren't neglecting such great salvation. Paul says, Some of you should by this time be teachers, and you have need for milk. You've not grown. And he had to admonish them to not forsake the assembling of themselves together as the manner of some was. Some of the people weren't even going to church anymore. They had lost it. You talk about a church that lost its excitement. You talk about people that once had it. They were close together with one mind and one accord. And then later they lost it. And Paul had to... The whole book of Hebrews is a powerful warning. Hey, you people back in Judea, you Hebrews. Some of you that were around from the beginning, perhaps. Some of them may have been baptized even on Pentecost Day. It's possible, or in the 30s, the early years of the church, you're losing it. And you'd better get back to that faith that you had at one time, that excitement, that love. And Paul had to write... Let's read this in Hebrews chapter 10. He wanted to remind them that at one time in their Christian life, they were excited about the truth. And they had lost it. And he wanted them to recall that excitement they had at one time. Hebrews 10 in verse 32. It is a... Well, I'm sorry. Verse 31, I was going to read that. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. That's the last of a warning about those who understand the truth, not to sin willfully or through neglect or something and lose out on your salvation. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings. And it goes on to encourage them then to hold in there. And he says in verse 39... Well, verse 36, rather, you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. And verse 39, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. So this whole letter to the Hebrews is shoring up people that were losing their excitement, losing their zeal and their first love.

Paul had to admonish people back in Judea to get back to that first love. You know, the Apostle Peter, before he died, had to do the same thing. You read in 2 Peter chapter 2, warning those who had come to an understanding of the truth that, hey, if you fall away after you've come to the knowledge of the truth, it's like a sal that was washed, turning to the mire, or a dog turning around and eating its own vomit. So Peter had to bring out that some were falling away. And then in 2 Peter chapter 3, he warned about those who might become scoffers. And he had to admonish the people to be steadfast and not to lose that which they had. So, you know, by the 60s, you begin to have a different kind of complexion in the church. No longer the excitement, no longer the zeal. And so the church is having to struggle for its very existence. It's having to struggle for its first love. Now, we would be incorrect to say that everybody left or lost his first love. Some retained their first love, but many did not. By the time John comes on the scene, we just read a few verses from 1 John. By the time John writes in the 80s and on toward the 90s, many, obviously, from John's writing, had lost it.

Maybe some were never a part of it in the first place. Let's read 1 John 2 and verse 19. Some were never, perhaps, really a part of the church in their heart and mind. And John writes it that way. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us, not ever really converted, not ever really a part of the church. Someone can come to the church, and they can even come for years and years, maybe decades, and not be a part of the church. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. Now, it's possible some of them may at one time have been of the church, but by the time they went out, they were not of the church anymore.

So John had to write about the conditions in the church. And 1 John sheds light when you read 1 John carefully you see that, hey, John is having to try to shore people up to love one another. He's having to try to preserve the church and pull it together. And he was working hard to try to encourage people to get back to their first love and their excitement for the truth. There were some that held on to their first love. Let's read 2 John verse 4. 2 John verse 4.

John writes, I've rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth. As we received commandment from the Father. And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning. What is it? That we love one another. That we love one another, the second great commandment. This is love that we walk according to His commandment. This is the commandment that you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. But John went on to say there are many, verse 7, there are many deceivers that have gone out into the world. And who do not confess Jesus Christ. And he says, don't receive these people into your house. Verse 10. And in 3 John, in verse 9, he writes of one by name who had lost it and was influencing others as well. 3 John verse 9, I wrote to the church, but diatrophies who love to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, pratting against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to putting them out of the church. So John has to write about ones that were even, apparently, leaders in the church who were leaving, who had lost it, who no longer were working to keep the body together in unity and love. So the church was struggling to maintain its existence and its unity and its purpose to go on forward as we come to the end of John's life. You know, brethren, down through the ages, we read glimpses here and there of the church. The church has always had the struggle for unity. It's always had the struggle for love, that first love and excitement and zeal. It's always had the struggle for doctrinal purity, staying true to the doctrines and teachings of the Bible. It's no different today. We still struggle for those very same things. Jude, we could also mention that Jude shows that this struggle was going on. Let's read a few verses. Jude, in verse 3, beloved when I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly. There's a struggle here for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude is saying, hey, we've got to put up a real fight if we're going to keep that first love, that unity and that love for one another. Certain men who crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly men, people coming in, infiltrators, false teachers, who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So Jude has to admonish people as well. And in verse 16, he said, these are murmurers, complainers, walking according to their own lust. They mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons who caused divisions, not having the Spirit. So here, people not even converted that infiltrate, try to come in and influence God's Church and cause division. So yes, in the early Church, there was a struggle, and God's true ministers strived to keep the Church with its first love, tried to keep it growing and zealous and united.

Takes effort in order to do that. And today, we find ourselves in the same struggle.

Back in the 30s, if you go back and study our era of the Church of God, it goes back to the 1930s. Our festival film in 2008 went back to our roots in Oregon. The start of our roots go back to the 1930s, even maybe the latter part of the 1920s in some ways, with the conversion of Mr.

and Mrs. Armstrong. And then the work they began to do in the 1930s, and how that work was very small for many years, and then how it grew beginning in the 1950s. It grew and grew until it got very large. Many of us can relate to us and we're along the way. When did you come on board? I come on board in the late 1950s, in a sense earlier, because my father and grandfather heard Mr. Armstrong in the mid-1940s when I was yet a very young child. And yet, my personal experience goes back to 1958, when I arrived on the campus of Ambassador College.

But whenever you came on board, that work was being done with Mr. Armstrong at the leadership up until 1986. The thing I noticed in 1958, when I arrived on the campus of Ambassador College, is that there's a family feeling here. There's a camaraderie. There's a closeness. There's a unity. It was very, very noticeable. I also noticed great energy and zeal in the ministry and also in the membership. And there was a lot of talking, a lot of excitement. You could tell that, hey, this is in the hearts and the minds of the people. All those things struck me right away. There was a close family love, a zeal and dedication to the truth of the Scriptures.

You know, as the church began to grow larger, in the 60s, my first feast in 1958, there were just 4,000 people. That was the only festival site in North America. 4,000 people were there. And so the church was pretty small. But during the 1960s, the church began to grow large, began to grow larger and larger during the 1960s and the 1970s. And it began to be a little bit more difficult to maintain that same family closeness and zeal.

Mr. Armstrong was constantly trying to keep us excited about our calling. He was always striving to keep our hearts and minds in the work of God. The things of God, not our own physical things or the things of this world, but the things of God was always trying to get us to maintain our first love and to keep us together united. He was always absolutely adamant in doctrinal purity. If we're wrong, we'll make changes.

We've always felt that way. He did, and we feel that way today. And there was a family closeness and a zeal. How many of us can relate to the night? Let's go back to around that time, 50s or 60s. There are probably a few, very few, that go back to that time. But by the 70s, how many began to relate to the decade of the 70s? A larger number. Even then, as I remember, we were pretty much together and united. There was a zeal for doing the work of God, preaching the gospel to the world.

And I think the first love was still not too bad in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Mr. Armstrong continued. He was now getting to be an old man. In the latter years of his life, he was continually striving, though, to keep our hearts and minds in the work of God right up to the time of his death in January of 1986. But after Mr. Armstrong's death, there began to be changes in doctrinal matters. There began to be a loss of the truth that had brought us together in the first place over that next eight or ten years until what happened around 1994, the beginning of 1994 happened.

Many people went away from the Church of God. Many left the faith around that time. Somewhere along there in the latter part of the last half of the 1980s and into the 1990s, there was certainly a loss of zeal, a loss of family closeness, a loss of the first love by at least some, if not many. There began to be a difference than what it was when I came into the Church back in the 1950s.

You know, Jesus had warned that such a thing would happen. Brethren, we're living at that time right now. How is your excitement? How is your first love fearing? What's your zeal and excitement for the truth? What's your family closeness? We're especially focusing on that this morning, the closeness we have in this family, the family of God. Jesus warned we could lose that closeness, that love. Turn to Matthew 24 and verse 12. Matthew 24 and verse 12.

He said, because lawlessness will abound, and isn't it abounding all around us? Evil and wickedness keep increasing all the time. Because lawlessness will abound, what's the result? What's the effect? The love of many will grow cold. And each of us has to ask ourselves, how's our love? How's our love for God? How's our love for the truth of the Scriptures, the doctrines and the teachings of the Bible that God has opened our minds to understand? Are we still just as excited as we were from the beginning? And maybe a little bit more because we understand it more deeply now. You know, we should maintain and even increase our first love, not lose it. But Jesus warned about that. The love of many will grow cold. But He goes on to say, Those who endure to the end shall be saved. And brethren, that enduring means to uphold then our hold high, our first love. To hold high our family unity and closeness to one another.

We don't want to lose our first love. I don't think anyone here, we're not here this morning because we want to lose our first love. We want to maintain our first love. We want to, in fact, kindle it at a higher level than it is. But you know, we do see wickedness all around us. And the Bible said it would be that way. Let's turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. And we see a description of the age that we are living in, the social conditions that we see all about us. And I think it's maybe worse in the United States and the Western world than other parts of the world in some ways, some of these things. But all parts of the world certainly have plenty of wickedness, every nation. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come. Brother, we're living in those times right now. All that is happening in our country and other nations around the world. We live in a dangerous age. Very dangerous.

Well, in the last days, perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves. Self-love. The Greek word is philaltos. It means just love of self. Love of self. You know, auto is a self, right? Automobile. It goes back to that. And phil goes back to love. Philaltos, love of self. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy, unloving. I want to come back to unloving in just a moment.

Unforgiving. Slanderous. Without self-control. Brutal. Despisers of good. Traitors. Headstrong. Haughty. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness. Don't we see that all around us? But are we letting it affect us and our zeal, our closeness to God and our closeness to one another? Come back to unloving. Anyone have the King James Version for verse 3? What does it say? Without natural affection? Is that in there? I think that's where that is. Without natural affection. Without natural affection. That really comes closer to the Greek than the New King James, which is unloving. The Greek is astorgos. A-S-T-O-R-G-O-S. And this word means hard-hearted towards kindred. Hard-hearted toward kindred, toward family. The Williams New Testament says, lacking love for kinsmen, lacking love for even your own family, your own relatives. You know, we have that situation in our country. There's, you know, many times it is those of your own household that become a problem and even your enemies. We have lost something in the way of family in the Western world and certainly in the United States. You know, actually we went to Zambia and Malawi for the feast and just looking at the families that were there, there was a good family atmosphere or feeling. Those physical families that were there, also in Asia, many families, their family life is closer than in the United States. So without natural affection, without the natural love for your relatives, for your kinsmen, that's what this word means, without natural affection. We have a lot of that today. Not, not, there's a natural affection that should be there in a family. I mean, you're blood related and yet we don't even have that like it should be in our country, lacking the natural love that should be within a family. But you know, we're a family in the Church of God. We could lack the natural affection here that we are to have for one another. I'd like for us to apply this without natural affection to us as a church.

Is, are we lacking something? The closeness, the early church, have we read about the early church, how close they were, one accord, all things in common? I describe to you the closeness we had back in the 1950s and 60s in our, our time. But what about today? Are we lacking some of that closeness, that natural family closeness and fondness in today here in the Church? What about the Raleigh congregation? Are we lacking some of the natural affection as spiritual brethren? Brethren, we are spiritual brethren. We are family. Turn over to Matthew 12, verse 46. We are a family. We are brothers and sisters if we really believe. That means to be really practicing this way of life. In Matthew 12, verse 46, While he was still talking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with him. Then one said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with you. What did Jesus say? He answered and said to them, the one that told him, Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?

And he answered his own question. He stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, Here are my mother and my brothers. Here's my family, my real family. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. We are family. But how are we doing as far as the natural affection? Family has a natural feeling of kinship. There's a desire, in fact, to relate to one another, help one another, be there for one another, be kind and courteous and loving to one another. I mean, that just goes with being family. How are we doing? Other verses show that we are children of God. Verses in Romans 8 say that we are the children of Almighty God and that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of many brethren. And let's turn to Hebrews 2. This is an interesting chapter. We are brothers and sisters in the church. But you know, our first brother in the church is none other than Jesus Christ. He's the first one. He's the elder brother. In Hebrews 2 in verse 10, it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory. That's God's purpose. That's what God is striving to accomplish, bringing many sons to glory to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Jesus Christ then is being referred to. In verse 11, For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

God, you know, Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters, as we just read in Matthew 12. Verse 12, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing praise to you. You know, we are brothers to Jesus Christ.

And we're children of God, and we are brothers and sisters to one another. So we're family here. That's what we are. We're children of God. We're brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. We're brothers and sisters to one another. So what should we do? You know, I wanted to talk about that more. I set this forward as one of the things to think about and discuss more than just this sermon, this fall and this winter. We need to think about how we're treating one another, how we're dealing with each other. And if we really do love one another, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples. And if we don't love each other, we're walking in darkness and not in the light. And if we can't love one another who we can see, how can we love God who we cannot see? If we cannot have a close, warm, friendly relationship with each other, we can't really love God. So these are things that need...we need...this is big. It's something we need to think about. It gets back to our first love. It gets back to our excitement about our calling and our determination to stay true to it. It gets back to being close as a family, dwelling together in love and peace and unity. The Bible has a lot to say about that. It's a wonderful thing. I set this forward. It's a good goal that we think about this and improve our family relationship. Turn back to Psalm 133. Mr. Herbert Armstrong's mother's favorite psalm. Psalm 133. And I remember Mrs. Armstrong, Mr. Herbert Armstrong's mother. She was still alive when I came to college in 1958. And she would set up on the front row. She was, I believe, in her 80s or maybe her 90s, I guess, when she died. But this was her favorite psalm. Psalm 133, "'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.'" That's what I like for us to think about. It is good, and it is pleasant when brethren dwell together in unity. I'll say here, how much do we dwell together in unity? That is what God wants us to do. He wants us to dwell together in unity. He wants our physical families to dwell together in love and peace and unity. And He wants the larger spiritual family here also to dwell together in love and peace and unity. And it's a good thing. There are verses that say that God hates division. He hates those who sow discord. So, you know, if any of us do that, if we make some kind of statement or do something that sows discord among brethren, just remember this. God hates that. Of course, He'd like to forgive you of it and like to see you not do it anymore. But if you sow discord or division, God doesn't like that. He wants you to be a peacemaker, to be building toward peace and helping and building up, not tearing down. There's a verse that says that God wants, in 1 Corinthians 1, that says God wants all of us to have the same mind and speak the same thing. So how much are we on the same page as a family here? How much do we speak the same thing, have the same mind and the same judgment? God wants us to do that. Let's read a few more verses back in the New Testament on striving for unity and peace and love. 2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13. And reading verses 11 and 12. 2 Corinthians 13. Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. It shows a process. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. And then verse 12. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Today we don't have the holy kiss in our culture. We do have, though, the warm, friendly handshake.

And sometimes we have the holy hug. We have the holy handshake. And we have the holy hug. And so we do have that show of affection. That's a show of love. When we shake someone's hand and warm and friendly with them, we embrace with a proper hug. And that shows the closeness that we have to one another. Let's read Ephesians 4 also. As far as the unity that we have with each other is something that we want to continually be working on. How good and how pleasant it is, we read. Well, it does take some work. It does take some effort. Ephesians 4, verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you are called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing one another in love. Brother, none of us is perfect. And so we will have to bear with each other a bit. You'll have to realize that we all come up short. And others realize that you come up short. We're not perfect yet, bearing with one another. And then verse 3, endeavoring. That means some effort. It means hard work even. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And it talks about the oneness in the next few verses that we are to keep in mind.

You know, getting back to this thing of natural affection in the family, let's go to Romans chapter 12 and verse 10. Romans chapter 12 and verse 10. Here's an interesting verse. Romans chapter 12 and in verse 10. Fetch right into the sermon this morning. Romans 12 and verse 10 simply says to be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another. Well, that's a pretty big assignment, isn't it? Pretty big assignment in this verse. Be kindly, be courteous and kind in everything you do and kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor and esteem then giving preference to one another. Esteem others and above your own self. The word for in the Greek for brotherly love is Philadelphia. The word Philadelphia simply means, well, the word is from phillos which means love or fondness. And then Adelphos which means brother or the Greek word someone from the same womb. Someone from the same womb. See, brothers are from the same womb, right? They're from the same mother. They're from the same womb. We are from the same womb in a spiritual sense. And that is, you know, from our Heavenly Father through His Holy Spirit, we're from the same spiritual birth from above through the Holy Spirit from God our Father. The word then for brotherly love is Philadelphia. Love for our brother, one who is from the same womb. But the word in the Greek for kindly affectionate is phillostorgos. It's from the same word that we read earlier, lack of natural affection, astorgos. Astorgos means then to cherish or to have love and affection. And put an A in front of that, it means the opposite, without natural affection, without that natural love for kinship. Well, this is phillostorgos and it means to cherish one's kindred. It means to be fond of your natural relatives. And in the church, it means to be fraternal with other members of the church, with fellow Christians fraternal. We have a fraternity here. It's a brotherhood. That's what we have. And that's what this word means, phillostorgos. Cherishing one's kindred. Kindly affectionate. Cherishing each other. Do we cherish each other? Are we fond of each other? Just like in a family, brothers and sisters are fond of each other. There's a family fondness and closeness and cherishing of each other.

Romans 12.10 has a lot of spiritual meat in it.

Today, brethren, we've talked about the second great commandment, love for our neighbor, our brother in particular. And the Bible mentions that there's such a thing as a false brother. You can read that if you'd like in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 26. Paul says some of the things he had to put up with was false brethren. Could you ever be a false brother? What is a false brother? Well, a true brother would not be one that is really concerned about you. Well, look out for you. He wants to have a relationship with you, one that is right and proper and good, one that is courteous. He'll be there when there's a need. There's a closeness. In fact, there's a cherishing, a relishing of the relationship. When you have a chance to be together and do things together, he'll be there to sacrifice for you, do anything that needs to be done. He's there. He will be there. What's a false brother? A false brother is the opposite of all of that. Looking out, then for his own self, he is working. He's not there to look out for your best interest. He's not there really desiring to have a close relationship with you and have a good closeness and fondness toward each other. You know, I'll give you a homework assignment. I'm running out of time here, but think about what is a true brother as opposed to a false brother. There's true brethren and there's false brethren. Well, there's false brethren. What's the difference, the contrast? Maybe give me some of your thoughts. Send me an email. Hand something to me. I'd be interested in seeing your thoughts on the difference between a true brother and how a true brother is going to act and behave and feel as opposed to a false brother. I'd like to conclude with just three verses. First of all, Hebrews, chapter 13 and verse 1. I hope I've given us some things to think about today and I'd like to talk about this more in the future. In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 1, a very simple little statement. That's what I'm saying this morning. Let brotherly love continue. Yes. Let's let brotherly love continue. And brotherly love, the word for brotherly again goes back to love of the brother, phillos, which is love and adelphos, which is a brother.

And so we want to let that kind of love to continue. We want to constantly find ways to show and express our love and appreciation for one another as brothers and sisters in how to do it better, how to improve in it. The second verse is in 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7.

1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things, this puts it up pretty high, above all things, have fervent love for one another. That's the kind of love that God wants us to have in His church, in His family. A fervent love for one another. For love will cover a multitude of sins. The love that God gives to us will be forgiving. It will allow for shortcomings. It will allow for mistakes that others might make. It doesn't try to hold on to a grudge or something wrong that someone has done, but instead to cover and forgive a sin. Love will cover a multitude of sins. And then it goes on to show an action that will draw us a lot closer together. This is something to think about. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. You know, hospitality draws us together. You want to draw close to somebody? Have them out for a meal or maybe some games on a Saturday night. Be hospitable. You'll be... I saw a lot of that going on in the early years of the church when I came to college. A lot of getting together. That does draw us closer together when we can do things like that. We get to know each other and we develop a relationship. The third verse is in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 8. In my Bible, just across the page, 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 8, Finally, all of you be of one mind. Let there be unity then in the church and peace. Having compassion for one another. That goes along with being a true brother as well. Having compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tenderhearted. Be courteous. Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing. Going back to verse 8, Love as brothers. You know, the King James translation simply says, Love as brethren. That's the title of the sermon this morning. Love as brethren. We are to love one another as brothers and sisters. In our natural families, there should be this love and this closeness. And in the church of God, we want to, we are a family and we want the same family love and closeness. So, brethren, let brotherly love continue. Let cherishing of the kindred continue. Let us truly love as brethren.