Introduction:
A. The story is told of an attorney who gathered the entire family for the reading of the will.
1. Relatives came from near and far, to see if they were included in the bequests.
2. The lawyer somberly opened the will and began to read:
a. “To my cousin Ed, I leave my ranch.”
b. “To my brother Jim, I leave my money market accounts.”
c. “To my neighbor and good friend, Fred, I leave my stocks.”
d. “And finally, to my cousin George, who always sat around and never did anything, but wanted to be remembered in my will, I leave my greeting, ‘Hello, George.’ ”
B. Most families have their share of unusual characters…like cousin George in the opening story.
1. Rudy Carlson, our dear brother who passed on to his reward used to say: “Family is one of God’s masterpieces.”
2. And I agree, family certainly is one of God’s masterpieces.
3. Family makes such a difference in our lives, either for our good or for otherwise.
4. Because there are no perfect people, there are no perfect families.
5. Nevertheless, families can be very good and very much a blessing.
C. I was blessed to grow up in a very good family.
1. I’m the second oldest of 10 children.
2. As you know, we are a “yours, mine and ours” kind of family.
3. 4 Owens kids, 4 Grimsley kids, and then 2 Grimsley/Owens kids.
4. Needless to say, life in the Grimsley/Owens house was always interesting…there was never a dull moment.
5. Even though we are a blended family, we share a deep and warm love for each other.
6. Of course, we experienced the usual knock-down drag-outs, disagreements, and selfish stages that all kids go through, and there have been some difficult things along the way, but for the most part, we are a loving, close family.
D. Have you ever noticed how that within a family it’s okay to have some fighting within the family, or some complaining about family, or teasing about family, but it’s not okay for someone outside the family to do any of that?
1. In other words, let someone outside the family lay a hand on someone within the family, or say something negative about someone in the family, and you’ve got a fight on your hands.
2. Why is it that we often react so quickly and strongly to defend our family?
3. It is because of the devoted family love of the family.
E. Today in our sermon, I hope as a church that we can learn something about being devoted to one another in brotherly love.
I. Devoted to One Another
A. As God inspired the writers of the Bible to address the development and growth of the church, He inspired them to use a number of analogies to illustrate the life of the church.
1. Those biblical writers frequently used the analogy of the human body to portray the life of the church (Like in Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; and Eph. 4)
2. That analogy teaches us so many wonderful truths about the church.
3. We easily and clearly understand that because the church is a body, it means that all of us are members of the body, and that each member of the body is a necessary and is an important part of the body.
4. All of us can appreciate the need for all the parts of our bodies, and we like all of those parts to be functioning as they should, right?
5. And when a part of our body can’t do its’ job, we know it in a hurry, and are not happy about it.
B. Another analogy frequently employed by the biblical writers is the concept of church as family.
1. The family analogy gives us an even greater appreciation of what a functioning church should be.
2. The concept of family adds a dimension of warmth and tenderness, concern and loyalty that the body analogy lacks.
3. The family analogy adds the element of human emotion and devotion to our understanding of church.
C. The apostle Paul wrote, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” (Rom. 12:10)
1. The term “brotherly love” (philadelphia in the Greek) refers to the love that should exist between the closest of friends.
2. When we apply it to the church, it refers to the love Christians should have for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ – a close, dedicated love.
3. We are the family of God.
4. Paul wrote, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom the whole family of believers in heaven and on earth drives its name.” (Eph. 3:14)
D. The term “brothers” is used to refer to the Christian family about 230 times in the NT.
1. The word “brothers” literally means “from the same womb.”
2. It is distinctly a “family term.”
3. When it refers to Christians, it means “fellow believers,” “members of God’s family,” “brothers and sisters in Christ.”
4. It means that we have all been “born again” into God’s forever family.
5. We are related to each other through a common heritage.
6. Paul wrote, “In love He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:5).
E. But the term “brotherly love” in the command “be devoted to one another in brotherly love” is not the only aspect of the verse that has family connotations.
1. The phrase “be devoted” is translated from the Greek word philostorgos.
2. Storgos is the root word for the mutual love of parents and children, and husbands and wives.
3. The phrase could be translated “show loving affection” or “love tenderly.”
4. That’s why the King James Version reads: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.” (Rom. 12:10)
5. Paul’s point is clear – Christians are to be just as devoted to each other as are the individual members of a close-knit family.
F. We all remember the story of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
1. Those two young adventurers signed a pact with their own blood, committing themselves to each other and to their secrets.
2. As blood brothers, they would do anything for each other – even die for each other.
G. As Christians we are blood brothers and blood sisters as well.
1. The Bible says, “In him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Eph. 1:7)
2. We are God’s family that is brought together by the blood of Christ.
3. Because we are God’s family, we must be devoted to one another with brotherly love.
4. But what does this mean? What does God-honoring devotion and brotherly love look like?
5. How can this be lived out in our lives in practical ways?
II. How To Be Devoted to One Another
A. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Ruth and Naomi.
1. We were blessed to preach through the story of Ruth earlier this year and I’m sure you recall the basics of the story of Ruth and Naomi.
2. You will recall that during a time of famine, a Jewish man from Bethlehem named Elimelech, took his wife, Naomi, and their two sons and went to the country of Moab.
3. Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died soon after they were in Moab.
4. Naomi’s sons then married Moabite women.
5. After they had been there about 10 years, both of Naomi’s sons died, leaving her alone with her two daughters-in-law.
6. Since the famine had ended, Naomi had no reason to stay in Moab, so she told her daughters-in-law: “Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” (Ruth 1:8-9)
7. The Bible says: Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and they said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” (Ruth 1:9-10)
8. But Naomi replied: “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!” (Ruth 1:11-13)
9. The Bible says: At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. (Ruth 1:14)
10. Naomi said to Ruth: “Look your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” (1:15)
11. Here is Ruth’s well-known response: “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” (1:16-17)
12. And how did Naomi respond to Ruth’s devotion? The Bible says: When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. (1:18)
B. Ruth’s commitment to Naomi stands as a perfect example of being devoted to one another in love.
1. Ruth didn’t have to make that decision.
2. It was potentially a costly one for her.
3. She was headed to a foreign land where she would have no rights and a low probability of ever remarrying.
4. Nevertheless, she chose to devote herself to her mother-in-law.
C. And you remember the rest of the story and how God blessed her and employed her.
1. She eventually married a man named Boaz, one of her former father-in-law’s relatives.
2. They had a son, named Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of David – the 2nd King of Israel.
3. And as you know, Jesus, the Messiah came through the line of David.
4. What an honor to be used by God to be a part of producing the ancestors of the Messiah!
D. But none of that would have happened if Ruth had not devoted herself to her mother-in-law.
E. So how can we develop that kind of devoted love for our brothers and sisters in the church?
1. First, let me suggest that it begins with a DECISION.
a. We have to decide to be devoted to others.
b. It must become our ever-present goal.
c. The Bible says that we must “be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…” (Eph. 5:1-2)
d. God is love, and Christ has demonstrated His love.
e. We should want to make it our goal to be like God and to follow Christ’s example of love.
f. So it starts with the decision to be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
g. I hope all of us will make that decision if we haven’t already done so!
2. Second, let me suggest that developing devoted love continues with DETERMINATION.
a. Once we have made this decision, we have to stick with it and follow through with it.
b. But this is something that is really hard for us.
c. We like it when others are devoted to us, but we struggle to give ourselves wholly or whole-heartedly to anything or anyone.
d. We prefer to keep our options open so there is an easy way out.
e. Sadly, our words and our commitments are often very cheap and flimsy.
f. Unfortunately, many give up and depart when the going gets tough.
1. Many leave when they find some point of disagreement, or when something is said or done that hurts them.
g. But God’s desire and command is that we be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
h. That requires that we be determined to stick with each other through thick and thin, and work out our differences and overcome and heal from the hurts and wounds that occur.
i. I believe that if we have made the decision and continue with determination, then God will supply the emotion and the energy needed for devoted brotherly love.
j. I hope all of us will be determined to be devoted to others in brotherly love!
3. Finally, with the right decision and determination, then the result will be DEMONSTATION.
a. Being devoted to one another in brotherly love is seen in countless practical demonstrations.
b. Actually, many of the other “one another” commands are the actions of devotion: like:
1. Pray for one another
2. Honor one another above yourselves
3. And serve one another – just a mention a few.
c. But when I think of the demonstration of devotion to another, I think of a commitment toward each other that includes things like:
1. Being present and connected to each other.
2. Being faithful and dependable with each other.
d. I hope that all of us will decide and be determined to demonstrate our devoted brotherly love in our relationships here in the church!
Conclusion:
A. If we are going to develop and experience real Christian community here at Wetzel Road, then we must grow in our devotion to one another.
1. For some of us that will be easier than for others.
2. But however easy or hard it might be, if we want to please God then we will make the decision, act with determination, and be consistent with demonstration.
3. That means that we will have to overcome the obstacles we face, whether they be internal or external.
B. Let me ask you a personal question – Do you find it difficult to express emotion toward others? Do you find it hard to be in relationship with others?
1. If so, you might want to try to understand why this is especially difficult for you.
2. Once you understand what the cause of the struggle is, then you can ask God and can ask others to help you get beyond this “log jam.”
3. Some people who struggle with interpersonal kinds of things do so because they fear rejection.
4. Others struggle because they have had poor family relationships.
5. Negative experiences in life have left others basically feeling angry and resentful – and that can really get in the way of having positive relationships in the present.
6. Wherever these struggles started, they often become oppressive and cause us to think mainly about ourselves, leaving us unable to think about others and be devoted to others.
7. That’s why it is so important to allow God to do His good work of healing in us first, so that God can then do His good work through us to others.
C. Realistically speaking, relationships can be messy! Am I right about that?
1. All of us have been hurt by others – whether it be family, friends, or people in the church.
2. But, at the same time, all of us have been the one to do the hurting of others at one point or another.
3. So, all of us need God’s grace to be extended to us and we need to extend God’s grace to others.
4. In the end, I hope that we will understand that the benefits of being devoted in brotherly love far outweigh the possible hurts that will come and the damaging cost that isolation will bring.
5. Being devoted to others in brotherly love is risky, but it’s worth the risk.
D. So how do we get started demonstrating our devoted love for one another?
1. First of all, be present – it is harder to love from a distance.
a. How can we be part of the family, the body, if we are not regularly with the family and in touch with the family?
b. If we are devoted to the church family, then we will be there when the family gathers.
c. What kind of message would be sent in the home if one of the family members rarely came home, or came to dinner?
d. It doesn’t make sense to say that we are devoted to the fellowship and then rarely show up for the fellowship or be engaged with church members, right?
e. I know the pandemic and the precautions that have been necessary have made all of this even harder, but we must continue to work through the obstacles even while we take precautions.
2. Second, be attentive – watch, listen, contemplate.
a. Pay attention to others: pay attention to what they are saying or not saying, how they are acting, and anticipate what they might be needing.
b. Think about how you would be feeling or what you might be needing if you were going through what they are going through.
c. Then act on what you hear, observe and conclude.
d. It’s not so hard to do once we start to become other-focused.
3. Third, be expressive – communication leads to community.
a. Share your words, share your story and your experiences, and share your affection.
4. Review: So as we try to get started being devoted to one another, we can do these things:
a. Be present. Be attentive. And be expressive.
E. Ultimately, being devoted to the fellowship is all about “WE” not “ME.”
1. May God help us to be devoted to one another in brotherly love!
Resources:
Building Up One Another, by Gene Getz, Victor Books, 1981.
Our Life Together, by James Thompson, Journey Books, 1977.
The Bride: Renewing Our Passion for the Church, Charles Swindoll, Zondervan, 1994.
Devoted to One Another, Sermon by David Owens, 2009
