His Divine Glory-Part 2: Brotherly Love

1. Virtue

2. Knowledge

3. Self-control

4. Steadfastness

5. Godliness

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The heart of man is a very special place. It’s the place where the thoughts of the soul’s mind and the feelings of the soul’s emotions mix together. The influencers are: the world, the flesh, the devil, or the Spirit of God. When we yield our will to these sources, we give permission for  something to take our heart and that thing becomes the object of our affection.

For the believer, the heart belongs to Jesus. Peter wrote:

1 Peter 3:15 KJV

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

The ESV says honor the Lord in your heart, but no, that’s not strong enough— sanctify the Lord in your heart! The heart belongs to Him. It’s His place, and He wants to speak to us this morning about our hearts and how we feel about others.

So the heart is the Lord’s place. It’s very special and it needs to be protected at all costs. If the heart is a house and regeneration of the Spirit is the renovation that allowed the Lord to move in, then the list that Peter instructed us to add are the furnishings, which will make our heart a comfortable place for the Lord to reside.

We have 2 left: brotherly kindness and Love

Brotherly Love

6. brotherly kindness/ affection- the love of the brethren, the Greek word…Philadelphia

Life is so busy and so hectic. We’re always running to the next place. There have been times in my Christian walk that I have felt anti-social, don’t want to be around people; worse, there have been times that I didn’t like church people. But according to the Book of Acts, Christianity has at its heart, the fellowship of the saints.

Acts 2:42

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

“But I don’t like people someone screams from the crowd!”

We have all been in that place, but it’s wrong. And anyone that thinks that fellowship with other Christians is always going to be smooth and not result in some conflict is delusional. It’s a family, have you never had conflict with your family? When Christianity is done properly, we don’t just look at others and their failures, we examine our own hearts to see what’s in there.

But that’s work, and I’m tired. Tell that to Jesus as He carries your death sentence up Calvary’s Hill.

A love for our brothers and sisters is a really big thing, as we will see from the scriptures.

And those are the two remaining furnishings brotherly love and God love

The Greek word for brotherly love or fondness is Philadelphia and is based off of two words philos and adelphos.

I mention the two different words that make up Philadelphia because the first word Phileo describes a love of great fondness and affection. One of the characteristics of Biblical Christianity is that there is care, concern, affection, LOVE for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This Greek word Phileo makes a very familiar Bible story more interesting in the Greek than in English.

In the story that I’m referring to, Jesus has died on the cross and resurrected. During this same time frame Peter has fulfilled the prophecy of our Lord and has denied Him three times before the rooster crew. Now, he says, “I go fishing” Jesus is broiling fish on the beach and He cries out, “Do you have any fish?”

“No”

“Cast on the other side”

And the same thing happens that happened in the beginning. They have more fish than they can handle. He meets them in the end the same way He met them at the beginning. They were fishing for fish and He told them to follow Him and they would be fishers of men, and now, Peter’s failure has driven him to a place where he is running from the Lord and not fishing for men but has instead gone back to his previous life.

With the catch of fish, he realizes it’s Jesus. With his heart filled with joy, he rips off his outer garment and jumps into the sea and swims to shore. Once on shore, Jesus begins to speak as He is broiling the fish.

He asks Peter, “Simon Peter do you love me more than these?”

Whether He means the fish or the other disciples isn’t important. What’s important for this message are the words that are being used for love in this conversation, because these two words cover the last two things that the Lord through Peter is instructing us to supplement to our faith. These two words are Phileo and Agape.

We already defined Phileo. It’s defined by kindness, fondness and affection, and it’s where we build the word Philos- Adelphos, Philadelphia, brotherly love.

Agape- it is the God kind of love, a love that it is

sacrificial and recognizes the value of the object being loved.

1. So again, He asks Peter, “Simon Peter do you love (Agape) me more than these?”

“You know I phileo you Lord”

2. “Peter do you agape me?”

“You know I phileo you Lord!”

3. “Peter do you phileo me?”

“Do you really Peter? Do you really even phileo me? Do you care about me? Do you love me? Do you love me like a brother even? Because what I need you to do is to agape me. I need you to love me sacrificially and feed my sheep. I need you to understand the object of your love the way that I understand you as the object of my love—I laid my life down for you.”

7. Agape- a sacrificial love that recognizes the value of the object being loved.

The love of God is sacrificial. The love of God has attributed a value to the souls of humanity. The value He has attributed is the life and sacrifice of Jesus. “Peter do you agape me?”

The thought of these two words made me think of The prodigal son parable (Explain the story LK 15:16). It was already on my mind because I recently read it, but it’s a story of a Father’s love, but it’s also a story that contains two brothers; unfortunately, there is no Agape nor even any Phileo from one brother to the next.

And while I see that Father running as fast as his body can carry him to a lost son that was found, I also see in the distance, a brother, with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed and he is softly speaking to one of the servants as he gets the update on what is happening.

And then I’m reminded of the whole reason Jesus even told the story of the prodigal son…

Luke 15:1-2

1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

I believe as we read the gospels and see the Pharisees who were filled with envy, jealousy and even hate compared to Jesus who is filled with sacrificial love, we have to search our hearts and make sure that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to form Jesus in us and not allowing the remnants of our old man to remain and grow in us.

They murmured

Murmur

There is discontent, there is a grudge, there are feelings of ill will and frustration wrapped up in a murmur, and it’s described as a secret displeasure that is not openly avowed.

That’s not good because that is allowing the feelings of displeasure towards the brother or sister to gain strength and power and fester and turn into something that it wasn’t originally.

Throughout my years, I have observed an interesting thing. Even as a young boy, I have seen this and remember it well. That even the suggestion of hate causes people to rise in defense and say, “I don’t hate anyone.”

And while we say, “We don’t hate!” I wonder if we recorded our murmuring sessions and played them back if we would feel the same way about what was in our hearts after we heard a play back of what came out of our mouths?

I can’t shake those words Jesus spoke a couple Wednesdays ago when He addressed the Pharisees:

Matthew 12:33-37

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

And I think of love vs hate and Biblical encouragement vs murmuring, and I think about brotherly love, and even more… Agape love…a love that is sacrificial, a love that understands the value of the object being loved.

1. John 13:34

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

2. John 13:35

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

3. 1 John 4:20-21

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Detest-to hate; dislike extremely:

Do you phileo me Peter? I mean, I hear what you’re saying, but what you’re saying now is not the same as what you said then when you denied me 3 different times and even cursed once in reference to your denial towards me. What was that Peter, because I taught you and others that what proceeds out of the mouth reveals the abundance of the heart. I mean, I realized you were being pressured, but isn’t that always when the truth comes out? How you really feel is revealed when you speak in those times when your self is being pressured or threatened. Just like it was for Jesus, “Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.”

Really digging into the heart—who is my neighbor—who is my brother? LK 10:29

4. Matthew 5:43-48

Love Your Enemies

43 “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

5. 1 John 2:10

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

6. 1 John 3:23-24

23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

7. 1 John 4:7-8

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

8. 1 John 4:8-10

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

**1 John 4:11

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

9. 1 John 4:12

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

10. 1 John 5:1-2

1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

In all these cases, a variant of the word agape is used to describe the love that God expects us to have towards our fellow brothers and sisters. It’s a love that recognizes the value of the object being love. This kind of love has to start with us recognizing how much the Lord loves them and we allow His love to motivate us, so that we can love them with His heart. That is the fruit of the Spirit:

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

…LOVE, AGAPE LOVE!

2 Peter 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Confirm your calling/ make sure. The thought here is proof. It’s guarantee that you’ve been saved, the Holy Spirit lives in you. This is one of the receipts of the purchase that He is looking for.

You’re a new creation and the Holy Spirit lives in you and now it’s time to work with Him and let Him live through you, make sure that you are purposefully working with the Holy Spirit and seeing these things in your life.

Richly provided/ abundantly

the reward shall be furnished to us. Richly, indicating the fulness of future blessedness. Professor Salmond said that this is the reverse of 'saved, yet so as by fire' (I Cor. 3:15)."

In Pursuit of His Love

God’s love pursues His people. Throughout the pages of both the Old and New Testaments, we could hear or see the repeated theme: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. When I want to understand God’s love, I look to Jesus. He is my example. I consider the visible representation of the God, and I consider how God’s love played out through Jesus’ life and actions, and the final act on the cross.

Offended/fall away

I consider how He came to His own but His own received Him not (JN 1;11). On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ (Matt 26:31).

1. The first thing that sticks out to me about God’s love revealed through Jesus is that: He just kept loving

if anyone ever had a right to be offended, hurt, harbor bitterness or be unforgiving, it was Jesus.

His own nation rejected Him. His own disciples forsook Him. According to earthly, human standards, He had a right. But He didn’t come to reveal earthly wisdom, which is sensual and devilish. He came to deliver the wisdom and knowledge of God’s love towards us, and how His love is to manifest in and through us:

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

As the Lord was leading my prayer session yesterday, I found myself saying, “Lord, the reality of your existence and the power of your word becomes so clearly evident on earth, when I allow your word and will to work in me.”

Let’s talk about pain, heartache, rejection or offenses for a second: someone raped you, lied about you, cheated you. You have been mistreated and you been carrying a spirit of rejection around on you, but when you come into contact with the truth of the New Covenant and yield to the truth of God’s word that says that Christ is being formed in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. And you get out of your feelz, and you let your flesh be crucified, so that the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit can have its way in you. Now, you begin to receive your healing…

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

When people wrong you, an offense wants to climb up in your heart and wants to sit in there and play around with you. It wants to fester like a boil. It wants to irritate you and it will, let me say it again, it will have an affect on your life. Let me say something as a Pastor, but with the mouth of a prophet… stop that!! Stop letting an offense embolden a spirit of rejection in you. Stop allowing bitterness in your heart come out of you to the point where you always feel like you have to defend yourself. Let the Holy Spirit heal you. Let the cross kill you! Let Christ be formed in you.

Because I can see Him hanging there with His body torn. He’s naked, He’s alone, His people helped put Him there. They scoff at Him, His disciples forsake Him, my sin causes the Father’s face to turn from Him, and there He bleeds and dies, and oh yeah-He saves one more, “today you will be with me in Paradise,” and He does what He wants me to do:

Luke 6:27-28.                1/2 of us can’t even love our own brothers and sisters

27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, 28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

That’s my Jesus, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!”

Let me let you in on a little secret Christian. If you don’t understand how the Holy Spirit works in crucifying your flesh so that the fruit of the Spirit can be produced in your life, you won’t even know to place your faith in the finished work of the Lord. Once you know that, if you refuse to yield to the process, you will just persist in the flesh, you won’t really help the kingdom of God, rather you will just walk around on this rock called earth helping the devil more than you are helping the Lord, and one day you will stand before God and give an account for how you refused to let Christ be formed in you:

That’s a good preacher, because I’m going to tell you right now, “I’m more concerned about the Holy Spirit’s feelings than I am yours.”

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

2. The second thing about God’s love—how does His heart feel?

Like a lovesick husband (lovesick because He’s relentless, never mind whether she wants to be pursued- she’s His, and He doesn’t plan on letting her go), there He is every page you turn pursuing the love of His life.

And so many times when you turn the pages of this love story saga, you find His arms empty. His bride is elusive. He calls but she does not respond. He loves but she does not reciprocate. But He tries harder and harder and refuses to give up. So much so that sometimes she seems to pretend it’s a game. She imagines in her mind, I wonder how far I can go, and He will still have me? And maybe if I feel His presence less, I will come a little closer and make sure that He is still there, and then I feel Him again… Oh, there He is, and like a runaway bride, she starts again, chase me my love. This is so much fun…

He is so different than we are. He loves us even when we cheat, even when we reduce Him to last on our list. He pursues us until the day that we read and it enters our hearts:

Romans 2:4

…despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

I can’t shake it out of my ears—the time, so long ago when I was praying, and He said to me, “What about me son? What about me and what I want?” Those words ring in my ears and even after hearing them, I have done the same, “Here I am Lord, come and get me…”

When I slow down long enough to think about my own life and His goodness towards me, I can’t help but say to Him, “Why Lord? Why do I do that to you? You’re so good to me! Help me Lord!”

I believe that God wants His people to know how His heart feels. I definitely believe that He wants His ministers to know how He feels. I believe thats one of the reasons that He gave us the book of Hosea.

Hosea 1:2-3

2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

She ends up having 3 children for him:

A son named Jezreel- God sows

And 2 daughters:

Loruhamah- no mercy— for I will have no more mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away v6

Loammi—not my people—for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God v9

That’s one of the things that breaks my heart. In that He loves so much; yet, He is so misunderstood. He gave us His Son. Jesus poured out His life for the world on the cross. He gave us the Spirit of Grace, but one day, He will say, No more mercy, no more time for me to pursue you with my love. The door is closed, entry denied. For you are not my people because you did not make me your God.

Go and take yourself a wife that will cheat on you Hosea because I need a prophet to feel what I feel, because I need a mouth to speak my heart to a people that keep breaking it.

He proves His love again…

Hosea 3:1-2

1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. 2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:

He purchased her back for the price of a slave. She had done to Hosea what God knew she would. She bore him children and then ran away like Israel did to God, and now, Hosea’s wife finds herself sold as a slave; for the price that was paid equals the 30 shekels required to purchase a slave. Her sin had caused her slavery, and God required that Hosea put God’s heart in his chest and go and purchase her back off the slave market of sin.

Most scholars agree that that a homer and a half of barley equals 15 shekels, so 15 shekels of barley plus 15 pieces of silver equaled 30 pieces of silver, which was the price of a slave.

Exodus 21:32

If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Isn’t that something Hosea paid the price of 30 pieces of silver to purchase back his wife and Jesus purchased His bride with His life, which was valued by the religious Pharisees at 30 pieces of silver— the price of a slave

What I’m saying is that this is what Jesus did for us. He purchased us out of the slavery of sin:

Matthew 20:28

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Ransom— Lutron— the price for redeeming slaves and captives

Conclusion

Galatians 5:22

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

His love doesn’t look like ours

1 John 3:1-3

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Manner- potopos— pote when pou- where

An extremely literal translation of this word would be: when and where did this come from?

Yielding Not Grieving, 3/1/2023

Romans 12:10

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Kindly affectioned

The concept that when the brothers saw the Cameo, they remembered their mom correlated to the concept that when believers see another believer it should remind them about the Lamb, because the Lamb shed His blood for my brother or sister in the Lord.

Maybe that illustration doesn’t dig deep enough, so let’s try this. The brother or sister in the Lord belongs to God right? I’m talking about a saved person, and whatever interaction you have with them, you imagine, well, “I’m blessed and highly favored of the Lord.” Okay, yeah, but they’re not? Come on man, get off your high horse and quit thinking you’re the darling of heaven. God wants this person ministered to, not destroyed!

So many people are full of the lusts of the flesh in their hearts but they ignore their stuff and focus on how bad other people’s stuff is and then feel better about themselves. We better let God search our hearts church. So maybe here is a better illustration to help us understand what God may feel in all of this when He tells us to be kindly affectioned to cherish our brother.

We gossip and slander and lie on our taxes and we’re critical about others and we’re self righteous. And maybe we wound a brother or sister in the Lord. It’s maybe the self righteous way we said things. It’s the way we made them feel less then. Whatever we did, I don’t care whether we meant to. I don’t care whether they overreacted. It doesn’t matter—they were wounded. Something is about to happen to this child of God and we weren’t part of the solution, we were part of the problem, and God is grieved!

She’s wounded and ventures away from the Lord. You’re not thinking about her anymore. She’s been gone for 10 years. You forgot about her, but her daddy thinks about her all the time. She was his little girl. She hasn’t called in a while. Last he heard she had fallen into a life of addiction and things got even worse. She started selling herself to pay for the habit. Daddy tries to not think about it but he grieves and he prays and he asks God to intervene. At times he has joy at others he hurts.

One day she returns to town, “Dad, I’m home now (prodigal son…), God brought me home, and I have to tell you that He showed me that it wasn’t anyone’s fault. I understand that now that God has revealed His love to me. It’s just that the way all the Christians in my life growing up acted and treated me, I couldn’t see the Lord. What they said was right, but the way that they said it was wrong. They probably didn’t mean to, but it caused confusion.

The devil used it to offend me. No-one means to do it but they do, and the devil uses it. God dealt with me one night a month ago, and He showed me this, and He told me to come home and tell you and forgive you because you did it too dad, but can I please come home, He said He would heal me daddy please I’m sorry, can I come home?”

Imagine the heartache and pain that would cause you if you thought that someone had done that to your child. Now, imagine that you hurt a brother or sister in the Lord. You just shrug it off as, “They’re too easily offended, but hold on a second. You don’t even care that you offended God’s daughter, God’s son. You didn’t even consider how your attitude or your tone of voice could have made them feel unwelcome and now they’re gone. They have pulled away from the presence of the Lord. Your heart is hard. You know that you did something, but it’s not really that big of a deal to you, and this grieves the Holy Spirit, and

God weeps. He weeps, because your heart is too hard to even realize that it’s a big deal. He weeps because a sister or brother in the Lord was offended. He hoped He could trust you. If your heart was softer, you would feel conviction. You would say you were sorry and more importantly, you would pray and ask God to draw them back.

Honor

g5092. τιμή timē; from 5099; a value, i.e. money paid, or (concretely and collectively) valuables; by analogy, esteem (especially of the highest degree), or the dignity itself: — honor, precious, price, some.

AV (43) - honour 35, price 8, sum 1, precious 1;

Valuing the price fixed. This means that I recognize the value affixed by God towards Valuing the price fixed. This means that I recognize the value affixed by God towards my brother or sister in Christ! What is that value? The life of Jesus-- what does that even mean to us? What it means to me is that in the Father’s eyes ______________ is worth the life of Jesus. Psalm 133 tells us tha it’s a beautiful thing when brothers in unity dwell

Preferring one another

g4285. προηγέομαι proēgeomai; from 4253 and 2233; to lead the way for others, i.e. show deference: — prefer.

AV (1) - prefer 1;

to go before and show the way, to go before and lead, to go before as a leader

e it stirs, I will roll out that way and stop them, every time they beat you they come from that direction, so I will roll out and stop them, and then you can get your healing.”

Defer, prefer-- “Please you go first!”

Imagine the story a little differently, just to make a point at the pool of Bethesda. Let’s just pretend for a second for the purposes of teaching the concept of preferring your brother or sister greater than yourself, and what we will imagine is the the Lame man had a friend who was also lame, and he said, ‘I have a plan-- the next time you jump into the pool first.’

‘Wait what,” the lame man responds, “What about you, what about your healing?” The Lord spoke to me last night in prayer and he showed me that if I would quit thinking so much about myself and love you this way, then He would send what I need.”

Corinth: 1 Corinthians 4:6

6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another (chapter 11–selfishness in communion) vs (Acts 2:45_47 & Acts 4:32-35)