THE UNFEIGNED LOVE OF THE BRETHREN
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Today, I want to discuss a litmus test of genuine discipleship. There are many evidences of genuine discipleship to the Master; but in the current religious culture of the church, so few of these are seen in the lives of believers because substitutes have been offered in their place; and being, for the most part, still very worldly, modern Christians do not recognize the swap.
We see recognition and approval being given to believers today for their regular Sunday church attendance, for their financial contributions, for their attendance at mid-week services, etc., all things associated with the perpetuation and success of the business of the “local” church; and none of these should be associated as evidences of genuine discipleship.
There is little notice of how contemporary believers live their lives from Monday to Saturday. Such things as underhanded business practices, self-promotion, devotion to personal financial success, lying, gossiping, cheating, hating, bitterness, unforgiveness and living secret lives in sinful practices all go unnoticed, and are rarely addressed from the pulpit. This is an accurate description of contemporary Christianity; and it appears there are few among us that even care. It reminds me of what Paul said to Titus.
Titus 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
Titus was not being instructed to rebuke the prophets; but rather, the people of whom the prophets accurately prophesied. Such behavior demonstrates a turning from the truth. The Truth should be marking our lives that we are quite different from the world.
True discipleship to the Master Yahushua
Messiah is not simply a commitment to Bible study to learn whatever you can
from the Scriptures. If you pause to
reflect on the first century believers; they did not have Bibles. The synagogues from city to city had various
scrolls. Hopefully they possessed a
Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy); and maybe some of
the history books and some of the prophets; but such scrolls were extremely
expensive and took years to write a single copy. (This is very likely a reason
why the early disciples still attended synagogue. It is where they could hear the Scriptures
being read; and if they were literate, possibly to have access to read the
scrolls. They were not like books that
could be checked out from a library and brought back in two weeks. They didn’t
leave the synagogue.)
We have all known many believers who devoted themselves to the study of the Scripture; and many, if not most, still lived lives that could not be described as “holy.” I remember one particular “scholar” who fancied himself an expert in Greek and Hebrew, and who wrote many books and had a significant following of believers; but this man would literally curse using the contemporary profanity from the pulpit at people if he caught them whispering to themselves instead of giving him their full attention. No, just studying the Scriptures is not an evidence of genuine discipleship; nor does it necessarily produce any fruit of the Holy Spirit.
1 Timothy 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
The end, the objective, of the commandment is LOVE OUT OF A PURE HEART, a GOOD CONSCIENCE, and FAITH THAT IS NOT FAKED. Such things are the real evidence of genuine discipleship. I want to discuss the first one: love out of a pure heart.
The Master’s final discourse with his apostles spoke of this.
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.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
I ask you. Do all men know that you are a disciple of the Master Yahushua Messiah? If we loved our brothers and sisters in Messiah as HE loves them, they would. Notice that this is not the suggestion of Messiah. It is a brand new commandment. In a sense, we could call this the 11th Commandment. I know that in Messiah we are not under the Law; but Paul explained to us in Galatians 5 that if we walked in the Spirit, our lives would be such that there would be no law against it. That means if we walked in the Spirit, we would naturally be loving our brothers and sisters in Messiah the way Yahushua loves them.
We can use the Master’s own words to provide us the litmus test of genuine discipleship; because he is the one who said that loving the brethren was the true mark of discipleship. He went on a couple of chapters later to explain that we cannot love like he does; but if we abide in him, then his life will be lived through us and our lives will bear the fruit of genuine discipleship.
The apostle John was sitting there with Messiah as he taught these things. John was so overwhelmed by Yahushua’s love for him that in his gospel he identified himself as the disciple whom Yahushua loved. John took to heart this message of abiding in Messiah; of walking in the light, of loving the brethren. It permeates his epistles.
1 John 2:10 He that loveth his
brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
To John, loving the brethren was the litmus test that we were abiding in Messiah. If we do not love our brothers in Messiah, then we are still in darkness. The nature of the vine has yet to permeate our branch. See how John also says that the person who does not love his brother is walking in darkness and does not even know where he goes. He cannot truly be led by the Holy Spirit because the unloving nature of his own heart is interfering with the voice of the Holy Spirit.
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Many Christians mentally discount John’s words in this letter because they KNOW they are born again believers, so John had to be wrong about this. I suspect the truth is more that when we were born again, that forgiving love and merciful acceptance of the Body was very present with us; but over time we melded with the general operation of the local church; and if anything can expunge the love of the brethren, that surely is it. It is today, like it was when James wrote to the Hebrew disciples of his day. There was no doubting that they were followers of Messiah; but having been dispersed from Jerusalem due to the persecution by Saul/Paul; many of the cities into which they fled left their numbers without leadership; so they began vying for recognition as wise teachers. Their egos undermined their love of the brethren; and they began to battle each other for position in some hierarchy which we would see today as a spiritual ladder climb. Remember the message of John to the disciples in Ephesus in the book of Revelation? The one complaint that our Master had with them was that they had left their first love. Love can wane from us as we allow flesh to ascend into prominence in our lives. James tells us in chapter 4 of his letter that both the flesh and the Holy Spirit yearn for the mastery of our lives. One takes it by any way it can; and one, the Holy Spirit, takes it only when it is yielded to Him.
1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
John no doubt learned this directly from Messiah as he taught this on the sermon on the mount; and it was likely a consistent message everywhere Messiah went.
Matthew 5:21 Ye have heard that it
was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill
shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
John provides for us the nature of the love of the brethren that the Master expects to see in us;
16 Hereby perceive we the love of IAUE, because he laid down his
life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have
need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love
of IAUE in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
In the early day of the church, the Scripture says that no man regarded his own possessions as his own; but that each person sought the equality of care of every single disciple of Messiah.
Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love IAUE,
and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can
he love IAUE whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who
loveth IAUE love his brother also.
It is the unrenewed mind that regards the advancement of self to be important that shuts down the love of the brethren.
Philippians 2:1 If there be therefore
any consolation in Messiah, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the
same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
We are to esteem others better than ourselves. This is not a call to a condescending act on our part; but a literal esteeming the worth of our fellow brothers and sisters as greater than our own worth. If we did that we would naturally admire them and our love for them would be quite natural.
Our opening passage of Scripture by Peter says it all.
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
We must purify our souls, renew our minds, to obey the truth and allow the life of the vine to pour out into every expression of our life. One of the first evidences of this will be an unfeigned love for our brothers and sisters in Messiah. Our joint union with the Master should cause such joy to overwhelm any other consideration we might have of them resulting in a genuine love. This is not to be a difficult thing for us, and certainly not an undesirable one. Peter explains why in the next verse of his letter.
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of Elohim, which liveth and abideth for ever.
We are born again by the Word of IAUE. There is no greater wellspring of power in existence. The nature of that life is invincible, incorruptible and eternal. If we abide in it, we will love the brethren and thus prove we are the disciples of the Master Yahushua Messiah.
Now let us consider our current status. Can we think of even one brother or sister that we shun or avoid? Is there one we consider foolish and not worth our time? Is there one whose doctrinal beliefs make us choose to refuse to have fellowship with them? Is there one we would not choose to hug? Is there one whose need we would not quickly meet out of our supply? Is there one we would not help if they asked for it? Is there one to whom would make excuses in order not to have any dealings with them? Is there one for whom we would not lay down our life? Such questions will betray how well or how poorly we obey the one commandment given to us by our Master. It will also explain why the world around us does not quickly recognize that we are the disciples of the Master Yahushua.
Be extremely attentive this next week to the way you relate to each brother or sister in Messiah. Be attentive to how your heart is hardened or softened towards them. Be sensitive to your own attitudes they evoke within you; and to which ones you talk about as soon as they leave the room.
They will know we are his disciples because
of our love for the brethren. Not fake
love; but unfeigned love. The real
thing. (See Ephesians 3:14-21)
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