Articles
Why I Need My Brothers and Sisters
As I was preparing for my sermon this week, there were some things that I felt were important to share, but didn’t fit within the time constraints. I know you would all listen patiently and kindly to any sermon I had to share (provided that it was the truth), but a message starts to lose effectiveness if it goes too long. Regarding brevity, Patricia Marx wrote “One false word, one extra word, and somebody's thinking about how they have to buy paper towels at the store.” In the case of a Sunday sermon, it’s easy to allow thoughts of lunch and naptime to creep in. That said, I thought I would share some of the things I cut from my sermon this morning, allowing you to read them at your leisure. When discussing our spiritual family, it’s easy to allow those to become just words. Everyone knows what we mean when we talk about our “church family”, but is that an accurate description? Are the people I worship and study with each week really people I care deeply for & offer myself willing to sacrifice for? Do I even really know them? This can be a difficult challenge depending on the size of the congregation. It is also a never-ending challenge as every relationship requires cultivation to form and work to maintain. It’s easy to just not do the work. We know better than to disregard the commandments of God, and He has told us in passages like Romans 12 and others to care for one another. Just that phrase “one another” occurs over and over in the New Testament. Galatians 5:13 tells us to serve one another. Ephesians 4:2 tells us to bear with one another in love. Later in the same chapter, it says to “…be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another…” (Eph 4:31-32). Colossians 3:16 doesn’t just command us to sing. It says that we are to be “teaching and admonishing one another” in those psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 urges brethren to “comfort each other and edify one another”. He later says in verse 15 of that chapter to “…always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.” How can we claim to have a “personal relationship with God” apart from the spiritual family He gave us when He has made a condition of our relationship with Him a relationship with them? Beyond the need to obey our heavenly Father, surely we can see the need for what He has commanded. I need my family. I need the ENCOURAGEMENT they provide. In Hebrews 10:23-25, it doesn’t say, “Don’t miss church services”. What it says, starting in verse 23 is to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering”. Don’t let go, because “He who promised is faithful”. He then tells the brethren to “consider one another”. Not because it is part of the Christian checklist, or because God issues arbitrary commands. We are to consider one another “in order to stir love and good works”. We benefit greatly from the edification and encouragement when we gather together, but also from the relationships we have with one another. We remember verse 25, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another…” Brethren, do not shirk your responsibility to your brothers and sister. Consider one another. Stir up love and good works. Be present with them and worship with them. We all need it. Let’s not forget one of the other major responsibilities we have to one another, ACCOUNTABILITY. This one is harder to sell to people as a positive. We, as much as any other culture past and present, hold our privacy as sacred. We just want people to leave us alone. “Mind your own business.” “Don’t tell me how to live my life.” In that way, we sound like a few teenagers I have raised. If we were truly the masters of our own lives, and not servants of our Lord and King, that would be one thing, but didn’t we all as Christians share in the blood of Christ, have our sins washed away in Baptism, and willingly sacrifice our own will for His? If so, why are we acting like teenagers? Of course, we should respect boundaries and be careful not to cross certain lines with our brethren, but when Galatians 6:1 says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” I don’t believe that I can completely separate myself from the lives of my brethren, even if that is what they would prefer. Later in verse 2, we are told to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” I cannot help bear your burdens if I don’t know what they are. I cannot offer comfort or relief when there is not a relationship in place or trust between us. You need me and I need you. Lone wolf Christianity doesn’t exist in the New Testament. We are a body (Eph 4; Rom. 8 & 12; 1 Cor 12), we are the great spiritual building of Ephesians 2:19-22, and we are family (Eph 2:19). Hebrews 13:1 – “Let love of the brethren continue” 1 Peter 1:22 – “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart”. |
