Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Part of loving God is loving His people. We could have all the knowledge about Him, and all the faith, all the works, but 1 Corinthians 13 says that without love, these all fall short. Today, as part of our series titled, Live as People Who Remember, Pastor Rich takes a deep dive into 1 Peter 1-7, focusing on how our awareness of who God is and all he has done will produce love for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let's listen in. This is part 2 of a message first preached on June 4, 2023 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Listen, Peter remembers the brotherly affection of Jesus Christ.
Because even though Peter had denied Jesus three times on the night of his betrayal, after Jesus had resurrected from the dead on the shores of the sea, what does Jesus do? He invites Peter to himself and he eats breakfast with him. That is brotherly affection.
Can you do that? What would you do to someone who throws you under the bus? Would you be willing to approach them and invite them to breakfast? To talk about, here's how we move forward. Here's what we need to understand as we talk about brotherly affection.
Listen to this. Every brother and sister in Christ is... I was going to say a piece of work. No, that's not... I mean, that's true, right? I mean, look at me. Every brother and sister in Christ is a work in progress. You with me on that?
And so are you. This brotherly affection is absolutely necessary in the body of Christ. What do you do when you see a brother or sister make a mistake? There's a lot of things you could do, but I'm asking you, what do you do? What do you tend to do? Gossip? Judge? Criticize?
Share a prayer request? What do you do when you see a brother or sister make a mistake? Peter made a colossal mistake.
And what did Jesus do? He met him and he had breakfast with him and engaged in conversation about how do we move forward in a God-ward direction. That, brothers and sisters, is brotherly affection.
That's how it works. Brotherly affection comes from the word Philadelphia, Philos and Adelphos. Philos, it means friendly and kind, friendly and kind. And Adelphos, word for brother, means a common bond with a tender attachment. There's a familial nuance in this word, okay? In other words, if a person is friendly and kind with a common bond and tender attachment, like family, the person who manifests brotherly affection is one who acts to promote another's well-being.
One who acts to promote another's well-being. Do you remember what Jesus was criticized for by the religious leaders of his day? Luke chapter 7 verse 34 says he is a friend he makes friends with and he spends time with what? Sinners.
Aren't you glad for that? Because that includes you and me. Jesus doesn't stay away from people because of their label, and neither should we. He's a friend of sinners. John 15 13, very, very well-known verse, greater love has no one than this that someone laid down his life for his friends. This is love. This is what we do in a culture of brotherly affection. There's a positive sense to this, and there's a negative. The positive sense is a person who gives brotherly affection is eager to give practical care.
Why? Because there's that tender attachment, that family bond. It doesn't mean you necessarily like the person. I mean, how many of you here have siblings, right? Did you always like every one of your siblings? Let me answer that for you. No, you didn't.
I know that for a fact. But it doesn't mean, that doesn't mean they stopped being family, right? So the positive sense of brotherly affection is eager practical care because of the tender attachment. The negative sense of brotherly affection is that, of communicating brotherly affection is that there is no partiality or indifference.
The person, if you are showing brotherly affection, it means that you engage everyone in the family without partiality or indifference. Here's a statement that I want you to remember. In fact, I'm going to ask you to repeat it with me, okay? Part of loving God is loving His people. I think that's it, there it is.
Say that with me. Part of loving God is loving His people, period. And if you don't believe me, look at 1st John chapter 5 verse 1. So if you say you love God, but you are in the habit of pulling away and distancing yourself from His people, your behavior is incongruous with your claim. Part of loving God is loving His people. John makes that abundantly clear in his first letter.
Let me quote Dustin Benj here. He says, the church is fashioned into a community of love, reflecting the same love characteristic of the triune Godhead. This love is most evidently seen in her oneness.
Most evidently seen in her oneness. Do you remember the night of His betrayal? Jesus was praying in the garden, and what did He pray for more than anything else? He prayed for our oneness. As the Son is one with the Father, He prayed that we would be one with Him.
He in us, and us in Him. Let me ask you a question. This is a question of personal evaluation right now.
And here's the question. In my current disposition, in my current disposition about church, and by disposition I mean your attitudes and your actions. In my current disposition, do I contribute to the oneness, or am I more on the side of obstructing oneness? There's no neutral ground on this.
That's a question I challenge you to ask yourself, if you're honest with yourself. It doesn't mean we agree on everything. It does not mean we agree on everything, but it does mean that we unite around the main thing. Romans 12 10, the Apostle Paul puts it this way, outdo one another in showing honor. You like that? I like, I love the ESV translation of that. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Here's my challenge to you. From here on, when we gather together as God's people, as we gather together as the church, remember Christians don't go to church, we are the church, so we gather as the church. No extra charge for that, but that's good theology. As we gather together as the church, come with the disposition of outdoing one another in showing honor. And it's not just when we gather, it's the church is intended to do life together, to do life together. I was gonna say 24-7, but you know, just to do life together. We are in each other's lives. Why? Because we're family.
Having just moved to a new house, I feel very much taken care of by the family. And that's just one example of many. I would do one another in showing honor. Contemplate, contemplate what that looks like. Because if your current disposition is more contributing to the obstruction of oneness, that's something that needs working on. What is your commitment to the church? You know, studies have shown very, very clearly that those who enter a marriage union leaving the back door open for divorce, the level of commitment goes way down.
But if there is no back door, the level of commitment grows exponentially. I'm not talking about marriage, I'm talking about you and the family of God. What does it take for you to leave? What does it take for you to walk out of fellowship? Hard questions.
Rich, come on. You're supposed to be encouraging. Very good. Brotherly affection. Brotherly affection. Now let's look at this very practically, okay? And I have 1 Corinthians 12, 25 to 27 up on the screen. You can turn in your God description if you want. He says, but this is Paul writing this, that there may be no division in the body. The family of God is like a body. Why a body? Because it's vitally connected.
The hand connected to the arm, arms connected to the trunk, just like the feet, the legs, all connected wherever one goes, the rest of it goes. You with me on that? You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 AM.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-03-20 10:09:05 / 2025-03-20 10:13:03 / 4
