Be excellent to each other One Anothers Therefore
• ‘Be excellent to each other’…
• “One Anothers”
• Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
• Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thess. 5: 11
• Encouragement is caring more about your relationship with God than your relationship with me.
• We want to admonish, exhort, encourage you to move forward in your relationship with God.
• Because if your relationship with God moves forward then your relationship with me will as well.
• We are to encourage people about sin in their lives.
• We are to encourage people to grow in their faith as they live the Gospel before the world.
• We are to encourage people in loses experienced in life.
• Romans 12: 1 -21
• Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; Romans 12: 10
• These two commands and the words used to describe them can only be found in this verse in the New Testament.
• kindly affectioned one to another means:
• kindly affectioned one to another means: • A lover of family • Tender affection
• ‘That comfortable feeling of your favorite sweatshirt, with your 13 -year-old dog on your lap sitting in your favorite recliner by the fire.
• honor preferring one another means:
• honor preferring one another means: • To be a leader (out do others) in the right and proper behavior toward others.
• honor preferring one another means: • To place value, worth and weight on others more than on yourself.
• Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; Romans 12: 10
• brotherly love means: • The Love of Brothers • Brotherly Love • ‘Philadelphia’
• Be a lover of family with brotherly love; place great value on others and be a leader in the right and proper behavior toward them; Romans 12: 10
• Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Romans 12: 9
• Be a lover of family with brotherly love; place great value on others and be a leader in the right and proper behavior toward them; Romans 12: 10
• Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Romans 12: 9
• Be a lover of family with brotherly love; place great value on others and be a leader in the right and proper behavior toward them; Romans 12: 10
• Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Romans 12: 9
• Be a lover of family with brotherly love; place great value on others and be a leader in the right and proper behavior toward them; Romans 12: 10
• Why aren’t we lovers of family and leaders in the proper behavior toward others?
• “In respect to the love of our Christian brothers and sisters, we are to be marked by a devotion that is characteristic of a loving, closeknit, and mutually supportive family. ” • Dr. James Boice
• First, a lot of us grew up, are growing up, in a family culture of guilt and shame, distant, dysfunctional and self-protective families.
• Shame and Guilt Based
Words of shame and guilt • I’m stupid • I’m unattractive • I’m a failure • I’m not enough • I don’t matter • I’m defective • I should not have been born
• Distant, Dysfunctional and Self-protective
8 rules of dysfunctional families • Control • Perfectionism • Blame • Denial • No talking • Myth making • Incompletion • Unreliability
• “In everyday life we are continually soaked in this unhealthy atmosphere of mutual criticism,
• “so much so that we are not always aware of it and we find ourselves drawn unwittingly into an implacable vicious circle:
• “every reproach evokes a feeling of guilt in the critic as much as in the one criticized, and each one gains relief from his guilt in any way he can,
• “by criticizing other people and in self-justification. We are drenched every day in this fault-finding spirit of worldliness. ” Paul Tournier
• Second, we have a wrong view of humility (preferring one another)
• Humility is not self deprecating…
• I'm nobody, I’m nothing, I’m too dumb, too ugly, too short, not talented…
• Humility is not having a low opinion of yourself…
• Humility is having a biblical opinion of yourself.
• It is not over-estimating or under-estimating.
• I am Accepted by God • I am Secure in God • I am Significant to God
• Humility (preferring one another) is placing the same value, weight and worth on others that God has on you.
• Why do we need to be lovers of family and leaders in the proper behavior toward others?
• Besides the fact that we are commanded to,
• People need to know, feel and experience the value and worth they have to God and to our own lives.
• When we are lovers of family and honor others it shows the reality of the change within us that Christ has done.
• When we are lovers of family and honor others it shows the true nature of the Family of God.
• When we are lovers of family and honor others it it helps to encourage and strengthen the faith of other believers.
• How can we be lovers of family and leaders in the proper behavior toward others?
• ‘We are naturally focused on our needs and our desires, trying to maximize gain and minimize pain.
• ‘So most people treat others as their servants, trying to get out of them whatever they need to be happy.
• ‘But we struggle to satisfy ourselves, so we end up using people instead of loving them.
• So the first thing we need to do to be lovers of the family and to be a leader in the right and proper behavior toward others is…
• Recognize that life is not all about me!
• Cat and Dog Theology
• Dog: you pet me, feed me, shelter me, love me; You must be God.
• Dog: you pet me, feed me, shelter me, love me; You must be God. • Cat: you pet me, feed me, shelter me, love me; I must be God.
• Instead of reading the Bible and seeing that God is the main character, we tend to see ourselves as the main character.
Incomplete view of: • Heaven • Salvation • Prayer • Gospel • Worship • Preferring and Honoring
• even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. ” Matt. 28: 20
• The Second thing we need to do to be lovers of the family and to be a leader in the right and proper behavior toward others is…
• Remember we are to have each others back!
• Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phil. 2: 4
• The Third thing we need to do to be lovers of the family and to be a leader in the right and proper behavior toward others is…
• Respond by preferring to honor rather than be honored…
• Respond by preferring to honor rather than be honored…but do it with equality.
• James 2: 1 -6
• Ask yourself; • Are my words demonstrating respect, care, concern?
• Ask yourself; • Or are my words shaming and guilting the one who I am speaking to or about?
• Ask yourself; • Do my actions tell others how much I care and value them?
• Ask yourself; • How do I feel when someone else gets honored over me, or before me, instead of me?
• Do I rejoice for them, be happy for them, share the good news about them with others? Or do I feel hurt, angry, jealous?
• 1 Cor. 13: 4 -8
• Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; Romans 12: 10
• ‘Be excellent to each other’…
- Slides: 83