Do You Love Your Brethren?

Do You Love Your Brethren?

Colossians 1:4C

There is still an important part that I didn't expound properly in the last verse we spoke about. I hope you'll be patient with me. I'd like to share with you what I wakened up with this morning. It's the verse which says, "If my people who are called in my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face; turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." [2 Chronicles 7:14] I was thinking what can we do in this wasteland which we find ourselves in the present society.

This society which seems to have forgotten the bit of religion they did seem to be practicing in many of the churches. What can we do in regard to revival? Obviously it gets kind of boring me saying, apart from anything else, pray for revival; pray for revival. What can we do? This seems to be the guideline with this verse of what we ourselves can do to enable God or to open the way or to fulfill the conditions that God requires in order for him to bring an enlivening Spirit into our society.

That's obviously what we need; we need a hunger in men's and women's hearts for God; a revelation; a light of the purposeless life that we are now moving into. People are killing themselves because there is no reason for living. People are bewildered not just the older ones who are coming to the end of life but even the younger ones now are drugging themselves to death. So it's a serious situation and we badly, badly need the only one who can change the heart of the society -- that is our Father.

He is saying to us if my people, you are my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. It behoves us to see in what way can I humble myself before God. What way can I seek his face? What way can I pray? What way can I turn from my wicked ways so that he will answer me?

That's what I started to do myself. It will tie up with the previous verse. I don't have to look too far; I think you all know how many excuses we can put up before us individually and one another. We put up with it. I have all kind of things to do; I am doing business at this time; I'm doing theology or religion at this time. You can only do so much for so many years. I have kept a place of chaos. I'm sorry for the wife because she comes in to the office and my desk is continually strewn with stuff; yes, I know where everything is. It seems to me that is not the best. I can see some wicked ways I have been a long time turning from and I need to now turn from. I do think there are things like that. There are practical things that are wicked ways. I'm just talking about myself. You have to talk about yourself.

There are certainly ways which are wicked? Yeah, I suppose you don't call them wicked but really I think they are wicked as any other ways. They are not God's best for us. It seems very important that we turn from them and they are practical things. I thought of one that has occurred to me several times over the years. It came to me when I realized I hadn't expounded the second part of that verse. [ Colossians 1:3 ] " We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus."

We dealt previously with 'faith in Christ Jesus.' That has sunk into a speculative, rational thing as Wesley has said it isn't. "Faith is not just a speculative, rational thing; a cold lifeless assent; a train of ideas in the head." We talked about how it has sunk into that.

Many people believe faith in Christ Jesus is believing Jesus died for your sins so yippee you are free from your sins. They give assent to that intellectual concept. It is the famous substitutionary three of the atonement which we have always defended strongly in evangelicalism as the heart of the gospel. It isn't the heart of the gospel at all. It's often been an excuse for people to say I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But of course it is not IN the Lord Jesus Christ; the Lord Jesus Christ is not in me. I do believe in his death for me and I do believe he has saved me from my sins and enabled me to get to heaven. He is not in me. No fear -- it's my life and I live it. Christ lives in me? No, no I live.

Most Christians live in that concept. They don't believe the Lord Jesus Christ is in them. They don't believe they are in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no connection between their belief and their outward life. Indeed their outward life is not affected by Jesus. So therefore a lack of the Lord Jesus Christ in their life. We talked about that last day.

No, no I don't need deep insight, I just need to remember the dishes need to be in the dishwasher. If I don't put them in, someone else will put them in. It comes home very clearly to me -- have I love for all the saints? -- Yeah, for everyone but the one who has to put the dishes in the dishwasher. It becomes very personal here at home and lots of subtler ways than what I have described. That's an obvious one I can see.

I don't want to canonize the girl here, Peg, but it can click in your mind, oh, Peggy can do that or somebody else will do that. Love for all the saints takes on a real, practical meaning when we are living together like this. I thought you almost have to say, "No, Jesus, you don't have to pick those up. [pounding on his chest] Leave them -- somebody else will get them." You have to pause for a minute -- is that what he is really thinking? -- is that what he thinks? You dare not ask yourself that question because you know he isn't thinking that. It seems to me it gets down to that kind of thing.

It's the same thing as you and I saw in each other's eyes last night when I had a go at this lady. I may have misinterpreted this lady but I don't think I did. I think you knew by the tone of voice, or the wrong comment at the wrong time can break that bond. You and I know it pretty well when it happened again last night. So I think it takes on very fine things; it takes on the obvious things like not putting dishes in the right place or not cleaning the drip on the carpet when you see this is my home and I should do that. That's an obvious one.

I think there are many subtler ways, many of which you and I have solved between us that refer to tone of voice, or when we speak facetiously to the other person, or, we speak a little too quickly or, we assume an authority or right that is not ours. There are many things like that that concern loving the saints. We are either by his love building one another up or making the day a little heavier. Keil Delitzsch is wonderful with his Hebrew. This morning he was dealing with the words that David's enemies were using against him in a certain situation. He expounded the verses that made it very clear to me of words being arrows going into another person which hurt them deeply. I can see often my 'arrows' do that to you and you all bear it very kindly and graciously. I can see how words can be arrows that dig into you. However used to them you may get, I'm trying to correct you in a certain way and it turns out to be sarcastic -- harsh, cutting and caustic way. There are many things like that that concern our love for each other and the love of the saints.

I can see how Jesus within us -- that's always the question -- why Lord don't you bring revival? Because you won't turn from your wicked ways. You still have a tone of voice or an attitude towards another person that is not love. It is not love of the saints. You are still crucifying my Son within you or destroying or repressing/suppressing him. The promise is very real here. "If my people who are called in my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face; turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." It seems to me that's the answer to the questions, "What can we do to open the way for God to bring revival?" Obviously it will indeed start in our own hearts as we would abide by these verses. Because it seems to me you or I or whoever it is, as you start taking this as your home, not just the home that somebody else looks after for us. God will touch us and will affect us.

There are lots of little ways. I'll say this one if I may because I think Marty was going to do it anyway. I'll say, "Brother, it would be good to light those ornamental deer up from the deck. It will give Peggy a lift." It expressed the love that we have for one another. She put them out there to look at and nobody has done much with them. Where as if somebody lights them and somebody feels it was worth my while doing it. That's part of it. As we do these little things that seem so little but little things that occur to us. Mind you, sometimes we can get so used to living in our own world and not regarding that as love that it doesn't even occur to us to do it. There is that too.

We need to pray for light for our blindness because often we don't see these things. Often we do see them; they do cross our minds but we step gently back from them. We step back from loving all the saints, particularly the ones we live with.

It comes down to either I can be softening the atmosphere so that it is easier to perceive Christ or I can be hardening the atmosphere. That's where light comes in. Often I would say to Colleen I know you have a way of speaking but the truth even if it is an unconscious way of speaking; even if my funny remark is used to correct you, it can still cut the atmosphere like a knife. It can still harden the atmosphere.

It's interesting; even in a sense, it doesn't have to be a conscious sin or a determination to do what you know is wrong. It can be an unknowing doing of wrong. It still brings a hardness and an insensitivity to the atmosphere. That's why God says, "Blessed are they that thirst and hunger after righteousness." [ Matthew 5:6 ] They that want to know more; that want to understand more so they can be like Jesus. That's part of the love for all the saints too. Not just the avoidance of hurting a person but how more can I build them up. How can I do something beautiful or something that will lighten their life or lighten their heart.

I think that is all part of, you might almost say, a Spirit of revival occurs any time someone turns from a hardness that is not of God. In a sense, every time someone turns from a hardness that is not of God. Every time someone turns towards the soft, gentle heart of Jesus himself or herself, every time comes in a freshness of the water of life that is part of the beginning of revival. A revival means 're' [again] and 'viv' [life]; life coming again. Life comes again where there was a deadness.

I think it is important that we see a sense we are living ourselves in a Spirit of revival and in the aliveness and sensitivity of revival or we are living in deadness. That's the way we can facilitate the overall revival that is needed in our society. So I thought those were some things worth mentioning to you and particularly to myself.

Are there ways, Lord, where I can love all the saints more than I am doing? Of course living together like this there are a thousand, thousand ways in which we can love each other anew and afresh. Love is always creative and always a beautiful thing. I think you are aware as much as I am that we are very privileged to be able to talk about these things together. I do not know how many husbands and wives talk about these things. I do not know how many families talk about them. I have a suspicion that in these days very few do. We are very privileged to be in the position we are in that we are still alive and still aware and conscious of these things. We can still listen to each other as we talk about them and encourage each other in our most holy faith. It's a great privilege we have. Let us pray.

Dear Father, we thank you for calling us to such a practical life with so many obvious opportunities to express your heart or to see the hardness and the coarseness of our own hearts. Lord, we thank you for what we would have avoided at all costs. We would avoid living in a fish bowl. We hate the idea of somebody seeing what we are, not only our beauties but our ugliness.

We see, Lord, is it a great privilege that you have given us so that we do not have to wait for a great judgement day in order to see ourselves as we really are. You allow us to do that not simply through other people telling us but through us seeing your beauty in each other. We see in each other attitudes we suddenly realize we don't have; seeing in each other things that are attractive and remind us of you and things we know you want us to have.

Lord, we thank you for the saints you have given us to live with. We thank you for all the blessings that come through their lives. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that there is only one source that they come from and that is you. There is none good but God and no one pure and true but you. You have given us the opportunity to carry you around and to allow you to live and express yourself to our faces, hands and voices. Lord, we thank you.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each one of us today, tomorrow and evermore. Amen.