Love that is Steadfast

Someone noted the psalm and the hymns for today and said, “You must have had a really good week of prayer”—Psalm 133, and “Blest Be the Tie That Binds,” and what we just sang together. And I said, “Well, no, no, we did have a really good week of prayer, and we had a real sense of the Lord’s blessing and the unity among the brethren, but the reason for the psalm and the hymns is Hebrews 13 verse 1.” So turn in the providence of God. It’s timely, I think. Even I did note that as I was leaving the prayer time in the business of Thursday, going to the hotel, I said to Mr. Farr and Dr. Byers that the text is very appropriate given the Lord blessing us with such a sense of His unity this past week in the oversight of our churches.

“Let brotherly love continue” is the text for today. I did wrestle with dealing with the opening six verses together, but I think given the practical nature of what is contained here, I want to just slow down and pause on what is given to us, so that we just let these practical exhortations bed in. And so we have, God willing, five sermons that will cover the opening six verses, and we want to consider this morning just verse one.

We’re going to see that because Christ has made us His brothers, members of the same family, the Spirit commands a steadfast love between us. Christ has made us a family and the Spirit commands that we love one another.

Hebrews 13 then—we’re going to read the opening six verses:

“Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

Amen. We trust the Lord. O bless the reading of His Word. What you have heard is the eternal Word of the living God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, give us help. We’re not here just to tick a box. It’s good to be here. It’s good to return to this congregation, to be among them, to join our voices together, to grow in our love one for the other, to have a sense of our unity. And I pray that thou wilt take the Word and apply it as was originally intended—that the church would be all that she ought to be, and that we would not shy away from clear expressions. When thou dost reveal something to us, let us act, and I pray that there would be a willingness in every heart to respond to the Word today. Begin with me. We ask now that the Holy Spirit would attend this time with power. We’ve been blessed already; bless us again. Remove the dimness of our soul, take away our love of sinning, help us to abandon every compromise, and come, blessed Spirit of God, and lead us on to be more like the Lord Jesus. Witness in our hearts to Him today and save the lost. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Family life is hard. And it always has been. I think at times—and you’ve heard me say this before—we can have a sense that it shouldn’t be difficult. And so in counseling or in conversation with one another, sometimes one might make an expression, “I just wish my family was normal.” Whatever normal’s meant to look like, I’m not quite sure.

We’ve been singing of a day when all will be peace forevermore, when peace is commanded and sustained by the power of divine grace in us. When we’re glorified, Christ rules peace without any opposition in the heart of all the redeemed. Until then, there’s strife. And even within the home, there’s strife. Family life is hard.

It’s right there in the beginning. Genesis—Cain and Abel. Genesis—Jacob and Esau. In Genesis—Joseph and his brothers. And on and on it goes. Family life is hard.

And when we come to the New Testament, it continues among even believers, even among those that were tremendously favored. The disciples argue over who should be greatest. Paul and Barnabas part ways, the contention being so hot between them that they could not continue in their ministry together. Euodias and Syntyche, Philippians 4, at odds with one another. This great church the apostle loved dearly, and yet there’s division in the heart of it.

It’s no surprise then that the apostle ends this letter, closes this letter by reminding the church to love the way they should. They are the family of God. “Let brotherly love continue.” That city, Philadelphia, gets its name from this word in the Greek that we have—love of brethren, brotherly love. The apostle calls for a continuance of it. It must continue on.

They had suffered tremendously. Again, just to refresh your memory, go back to chapter 10, where there is some insight given to the persecution they are already enduring. I’ll not read it all, but you can see that verse 32 and onwards. They had endured a great fight of afflictions. They had endured reproaches and afflictions, verse 33. They became companions of them that were so used. They joined together with those who were afflicted. In addition, they had compassion on the apostle in his bonds. And so there’s great challenge and difficulty that they’ve gone through. “They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.”

So they had suffered together, tremendous difficulty. But persecution can wear away, and disappointments can change the spirit. There can be such a thing that occurs when we are so pressed that our love wears thin—and maybe especially as there was that challenge in this particular body of feeling the temptation to go back, to leave Jesus, to the recognition of Him as the Christ, and to return to Judaism and the way that it had been expressed in their youth and how they had been taught. All of that had no doubt brought tension among them. And some of the strong believers, rather than loving and trying to put their arm around the weak, would be resolved to use harsh language, call them to repentance, and act in such a fashion as to bring a breach of love within the community.

So the apostle gives this command. It’s not to be sentimental. It is something that is key to the survival of the church. It is part of their worship. It is an expression of the warmth of the gospel in all of their hearts. “Let brotherly love continue.”

This is what we want to look at. In a sense, what follows—and what we will be looking at, and the reason why I was thinking about taking all six verses together—is really, in a sense, verses 2 through 6 expound on, it stands alone, but it expounds on the opening command. But I want us to just pause over it, look at it with the Lord’s help. I’ve titled this message, “Love That Is Steadfast.” Love that is steadfast.

We’re going to see three primary things here. First, the command, the community, and the continuity. The command, community, and continuity. And around those heads we will consider what the Lord will have for us to learn here this morning. And we have things to learn.

It’s a very easy thing to say, “Let brotherly love continue.” But you know as well as I do that when there’s an issue—it’s all fine when there’s no issues. “Let brotherly love continue.” Let’s just continue on in what we’re experiencing right in this moment. Then something happens. Something is said. Something discovered. And it’s threatened in a moment.

This is not a suggestion, this command. It is an order aimed at a congregation of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Let this love remain among you. That’s the sense of it. Let it remain among you. Brotherly love. Philadelphia, as it may be understood. And it’s this affection, this affection of love toward the brethren, a real love between those who are united to Jesus Christ. And we are united. That language, of course, is brought out in verse 3, to remember those who are in bonds—why we remember them, why we put ourselves in their shoes, because we are also in the body. The body, one singular body, one group of people, all united. And so we remember all the members of that body and have a love for them.

Think first with me of the warrant for this command. The warrant for this command. How can the apostle make such a statement? I command that brotherly love continue. How so? Well, because they’re a family. They have been made to be members of the same family. They can’t split. They can’t move away. They can’t be part of another family. They are part of the same family.

Go back to chapter 2. I mean, the doctrinal foundation for this is in the very book that we have been studying together. Hebrews 2, verse 10: “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,”—here he quotes from the psalm—”I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.”

They are united. They’re all brethren. He says, our Lord Jesus says, that they are all brethren. In His Gospels, He gives them a new commandment, that they love one another. He’s impressing upon them the expectations of those who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are fellow heirs, joint heirs, and we are therefore called to love one another.

Now, if you go back again to Hebrews 6, you will see how that they had already shown this love. So effectively, he’s not telling them something new; he’s telling them to continue. That’s what it says. “Let brotherly love continue.” Hebrews 6 verse 10: “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”

That’s a good word. It’s nice whenever the authorities of the church can look upon a congregation and say such things. You’re doing this. And so you see, you see how the preacher at times will preach on things that are already present in the church. You might say to yourself, “Is he preaching that because he sees a problem?” Not necessarily. Sometimes it’s just a reminder. It’s, keep doing what you’re doing. See where you are following this and continue in that way, and also think to yourself, maybe there are other ways I can reveal this more fully.

So they have been showing this. They continue to show love toward the saints. And now he says in Hebrews 13 verse 1, “Let brotherly love continue.” Let it carry on. So he wants it not to wane, because that’s what happens. A family in strife does not begin there. Cain did not always have a feeling of wanting to murder Abel. It rises up at some point. The brothers of Joseph, when Joseph was born into the family, I’m sure the older brothers looked and said, “Oh look, our little brother Joseph.” Maybe they carried him around. Maybe they played with him. Maybe they taught him how to use weapons and build things and destroy things or whatever. How to tend to the sheep and taught their little brother. But things change. Something happens and the love is hindered.

But we’re told, let it continue, and that’s the Word. If nothing else becomes clear, that’s the Word to us this morning. Whatever love is in this congregation, it must continue. The love you have for one another must continue. It assumes that there are threats to it. It assumes that things will come to try and detract from it, that the feeling or sense of love might sour, and we will no longer love the way we once have. So that’s the Word. Let the love continue. It must continue.

The warrant is that we are all one in Christ. Jesus Christ shed His blood to join us together. He shed His blood to unite us to Himself. And He shed His blood in such a way that in gathering us, we don’t maintain a position of independent entities all separated and severed and fractioned off. We are brought together into one body. We are united to Him. We’re all members under one head and we are together. So we’re to think about this. The warrant for this command—we are a family.

The ways of this command. I want us to think of the ways of this command and think about it at a personal level. Later we’ll look at more corporate application, but I want to think here of this command coming to us personally. Because you have to obey it personally, right? “Let brotherly love continue.” Me saying, “Let this church love one another”—and what that depends on is you taking the command to heart, and me taking the command to heart. Me saying, “This is my part in this, to love, to love my brothers and sisters.”

And we are going to fulfill this command, not by being heroic in some way, but by being holy. There’s a call to holiness. So small acts of obedience produce the fruit that is looked for here by the apostle.

So personally, here we can think about, “Let brotherly love continue.” Well, there’s a threat to it. There’s a threat to it. Sin is a threat to it. Breaches within the relationship, forms of false doctrine and belief, or whatever it might be. There are all sorts of things come, and we have to look at the issue, and we have to address it personally, to make sure we maintain this love. It must continue.

And it continues, first, we might consider by confession. By confession. Brotherly love continues by confession. What I mean by that is, there are times when—remember Matthew 5, remember what our Lord Jesus—the image he gives there, he presents—when thou comest to the altar, you come to worship, “and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

And so he recognizes, our Lord Jesus recognizes in that, that as we come to worship, it actually heightens our senses towards sin and problems. You know this. You can leave your home, walk out and engage in all the busy work of the day and forget entirely about that word that was spoken that you know caused an issue. You come back home and you’re presented with that person, you’re presented with the sharp responses, or a sense of atmosphere, or whatever it is, it comes back to you and you think, “Oh yes, that’s right, I have some—I have an apology to make,” or whatever.

When you come into God’s house, God uses—we gather to worship, He heightens our mind to worship Him, and because we are worshiping Christ, the Spirit of God will so work at times to make us remember the issue with another member of His body. “When thou comest to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee,” there is an issue, there’s an issue. Something you’ve done, something you’ve said, and so you are encouraged then to go and reconcile. So when that comes to mind, when that name comes to mind, that issue comes to mind, you send the text. You make the call, you arrange the coffee, and you get together and you have the conversation that needs to happen.

Swift confessions prevent coldness in relationships. And if we are all at odds, if every single person here is at odds with someone else, it brings a coldness into the very church. There’s a personal responsibility on us all to confess, not to gossip about it, but to resolve it. What arson is to property, gossip is to community. They’re destroying it. And instead we are to confess. When we know of an issue, we go to them.

Even when it may not pertain to us particularly, we are encouraged in Galatians 6 verse 1: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

He’s overtaken in a fault, you see it, and you’re called then to address it. Now you may not address everything, we’ll see that in just a moment. But there is a confession, addressing issues, going to one another. This is the thing. The love, the love that’s meant to exist among the body of Christ, makes it easier for us to go to one another. Like if we are actually loving one another, then even when there is an issue, it should be easier to come together and make the confession. And so live in such a way as to make it easy for people to come to you. Make it easy for them to address the issue and not have such a disposition or a manner that makes it difficult.

Confession. Compassion. In order for brotherly love to continue, personally we must understand not only confession but compassion. We will be wounded. That is, we’re going to wound one another, we’re going to hurt one another. Sometimes it may have been with a certain intentionality about it, and sometimes completely oblivious. Like you had no awareness that saying that thing in the presence of that person would have that outcome. And so we remember how compassionate the Lord is to us. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you,” Ephesians 4:32.

And so we must decide here and now, if we have not already, decide in our minds that minor slights need to be absorbed. Little things need to be overlooked. We need to perceive that, “I don’t believe he intended to say that,” or “I don’t believe he or she meant that,” or whatever way you try to reason it in your mind. Just if it’s a minor thing, don’t elevate it. Don’t make mountains out of molehills. Recognize that families always, in this scene of time, harm, right? Sometimes husbands and wives say things, and this is part of what the marriage union brings about, an increase of patience and longsuffering. And how is that? Because you realize that at times you just have to say, just say nothing, just move on, move on with your day, not make an issue of it. It’s fine, it’s okay.

So you have compassion. That compassion in the heart covers, it takes on board and recognizes it but doesn’t make an issue of it. “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression,” Proverbs 19:11. And so, we have compassion.

And part of that compassion also, and I think this is helpful, is to see the graces, not just the shortcomings. And we so hone in on the shortcomings. It’s like, that’s the person. The person is that fault. That’s all they are. But they’re not. They’re not just that. They have redeeming qualities, things that you can praise God for, things in which they are stronger than you in.

It struck me years ago—I was, well, I’ll not say where I was, but I was very far away from here, and it was during my time in Australia, I’ll just say that. I was during my time in Australia, and I was ministering, and there was a particular individual—I don’t know. You know the way just someone seems to rub you the wrong way, you know? You can’t help it. It just seems to constantly be like a friction that’s there. And I remember feeling that in my own heart toward this person. And what helped me greatly was when I took a step back and I looked, I focused on the strengths. And I was able to note several things I had learned from them. I had learned things by observing them in ways I had not learned, at least to the degree, from others. And so taking that on board helped me greatly not to feel so frustrated. Seeing the graces, not just the shortcomings. It’s part of the compassion we ought to show.

But also connection. Connection. The way of this command requires connection. “Let brotherly love continue.” And it’s as simple as what we have in chapter 10, verse 25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” Connection. We need to be connected.

Again, it’s easy to demonize someone you don’t have to look in the eye. To come together, to be in the same space, it’s a good thing. Again, pastorally, I remember dealing with a similar feeling. Listen, just so you’re aware, the struggles you have, I have, right? If people have been hurtful or irritating or whatever it is, I’m not oblivious. I struggle with the same things.

And so in this particular instance, I was hearing things and finding out something about, things about someone I’d never met before. And I, in my mind, I just conjured up into this, you know—the person was like second cousin to the devil, you know, in my mind. And I remember someone saying to me, “I wish you could meet such and such.” I took it on board, I thought—you know, if I did meet them, it probably would be easier not to feel as I’m feeling.

And a few months passed and someone else said that they had met with—they actually met with this person’s wife. And so in conversation, this lady was saying, “I was with such and such this past week.” And at the end of the conversation, when she was talking, I said, “Do you think that their husband would like to meet with me?” She said, “I think he would be willing to do that.” And so I got in touch, made the arrangement, went for lunch, met for lunch several times. And though the issues were still as real as they ever were, my feeling toward the individual was regulated by having lunch and spending time with them. I realized this is a person of clay feet, just like every one of us. They’re going to get things wrong sometimes. They don’t have perfect judgment. They’re not infallible. And so it changed my spirit and made it much more balanced than it had been.

Connection. And so, as an individual then, we gather into God’s house. We gather together for worship. To worship God, but also to connect. Connecting with one another. Greeting one another. Greeting new people. This is on you. I can’t be the entire face of this congregation. I could meet with every single person who gathers here who’s new and shake their hand and spend time saying hello and it might not—and often will not—be enough for them to go away saying that’s a loving and friendly congregation. It’s on you.

And that means that you have to go out of your way because we are naturally gravitating toward those with whom we are familiar. And so when I pronounce the benediction and you remove yourself from a posture of prayer at the end of the service, one of the things you can do is, “Where’s that new person? I saw them walk in.” Indeed, I would suggest to you one of the things you can pray before the service begins is scanning your eye across the congregation saying, “I don’t recognize that person. Lord, whatever their need today, meet it. If they need to be saved, save them. They’re a child of God suffering or in difficulty, comfort them, but meet with them.” And then once the service is over, you go and meet with them. You go and say hello. Make connections. This is part of it.

But especially showing that love. Not being guilty of partiality. It’s condemned in James 2. We’re going to see more of this later when we come again to look at verse 2. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.” And the Lord Jesus said that part of kingdom living, part of kingdom living, part of my people, those who will come—”ye blessed of my Father”—those who come in are those to whom He says, “I was a stranger, and ye took me in.”

So looking around and showing that love and deepening the connection with one another and even with strangers. You go around the neighborhoods here, and of course this isn’t the best time of year to take note of it, but you drive around in the springtime and into the summer, some of the gardens are just beautiful. The yards that people have, and you look at them and you see the azaleas coming forth early budding and then everything else coming up in the springtime and the summer. You look at it all and you realize it’s not by accident. It doesn’t happen by accident. Someone’s out there. Someone is tending to that, working at that, giving themselves to that, pruning the bushes, feeding them, and doing everything necessary so that when you cast your eye, you say, “Isn’t that a stunning front yard?”

And we may not, listen to me, we may not ever be, and I doubt we will ever be, the largest church in Greenville, but we could be the most loving. That’s up to you and me. It is up to you and me to be the most loving. Choose—that’s the target.

The community. Not only the command, the community. The community, of course, we see firstly it’s people. “Let brotherly love continue.” They’re brethren. They’re brethren, they’re set apart, sanctified. We read of that in Hebrews 2. They’re adopted into the family of God. The Father has taken them as His own. They are indwelt by the same Spirit that indwells you. So this community of people, they’re called the household of faith in Galatians 6.

Christ binds them together, a people that would never have chosen themselves to be together, but He chooses them to be together. Right? That’s part of it, isn’t it? Because I think sometimes we, you know, we have met people. I’m sure you have met people that aren’t believers. And for some reason you really hit it off with them. There’s just a real connection with people who aren’t saved. I assume you’ve had the same experience. I have. There’s people I can think of. And I loved being in their company. Spending time with them, being around them. But they weren’t saved. If I was to choose, they would definitely be—I would want this person to be part of the family of God. But back then, one particular person I’m thinking of, they were not, to this day, as far as I’m aware, they’re not.

So our Lord picks the family, He chooses the people, He brings them together. And you may not have chosen everyone that’s in this room. I know we’re not going to have any kind of, we’re not going to send anything out for a form to fill in, so you get to list the people that you wouldn’t choose to be here. No, the Lord chooses, and He puts us all together. Grace creates the kinship, a kinship that would never have existed otherwise. And it’s glorious. It’s people.

It’s profile. What’s its profile? What are they called to? “Let brotherly love continue.” They’re remarked by this. What about this love? First of all, we might say it’s covenantal. It’s covenantal. Their love reflects the love they have received. They’re in this covenant experience with God in which they’ve been called to be His people. That’s part of the encouragement later on, isn’t it? Knowing that we belong to the Lord. He will never forsake us. He’s taken us to be His own. And so we have this covenant of love.

I remember going to preach in our Alabama congregation for a conference, and one of the speakers—we’re talking about community. One of the speakers at that conference made the point in which he was encouraging, he went up to one of the other speakers and said, “Go ahead brother, punch me in the face, I’m going to love you anyway.” I thought, well, that’s a little extreme, but it was to make a point, right? To make a point. That the love of God’s people is such that if you harm me, still, still I’m going to love. I am going to love you no matter what. Now that’s hard, but that’s what we’re called to because that’s what we have in Christ. It is covenantal.

It is costly. This love is costly. That brotherly love continue means bearing one another’s burdens. Again, Galatians 6. It costs you something. We’re going to see later that it’s not just this abstract love where I have this nice feeling towards you. But it bears one another’s burdens. It cares. Again, you go back to Hebrews 10, they’ve been doing this. “Whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.” Those who were under affliction, you became companions of. It costs you something.

It’s also conspicuous. Conspicuous. It does something, just to hammer that point home. It actually is tangible. We’re going to see in verse two, it opens our homes. In verse 3, it visits the prison. Verse 16, it shares what we have. “To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

So this is tangible, it’s conspicuous, it can be seen. There you are, you’re in the home, round the table, that can be seen. There’s love. And if someone invites you into their home and has that, don’t undermine it. Don’t think this is what, this is just a small thing. It is a glorious expression, a wonderful expression of love. It’s people, it’s profile, it’s practice.

It’s practice. Just, we’re going to see this more. But just, I want to, I thought I wrestled over this. I mean, I’m going to be dealing with this in weeks to come. And I thought, let’s just give a beginning insight into the practice of this love. “Let brotherly love continue.” Well, what does it look like? Well, it looks like hospitality, doesn’t it? Verse 2. It’s very visible in that way. Hospitality. And we are told about this. Romans 12:13 calls for it. 1 Peter 4:9 calls for it. And the thing is, we can be forgetful. Even to those especially we may not have met or haven’t known for a long time, we just sort of set them aside.

But if that is true, if the strangers are not to be forgotten, to be brought in, people we’ve never met before or spent much time with, if they’re not to be forgotten, then it’s true, especially then of those that are in front of you, who are not strangers. So we express then this hospitality. The Lord loves it. He loves it, He loves providing that meal, setting that table, laboring over that, the sacrifice financially that it may be felt by some especially to do this. You may feel even that, “I don’t have—you’ve gone to some homes, they have these large spaces and they can have lots of people and you think, well I don’t have that so I can’t do it.” Nonsense, nonsense, that’s your pride. Own it, that’s pride.

Reverend David Park took, my minister in Ballynahinch, took his wife to Brazil one time. He used to go—several times he went to Brazil to see Dr. Bill Woods. And on one occasion he took his wife. And Dr. Bill Woods brought them into his home. And Mr. Park said, “It was the most humbling thing.” It was two of everything, just two. It’s like the story, the kids read, “Two of Each Thing,” or “One of Each Thing,” whatever it’s called. Anyway, he brought them in and there was like two cups and two chairs and everything. And so as he’s making tea for them and so on, he makes it for them and then he sits and just watches, sits with them.

He says, “Profoundly humbling.” Bill lived on his own. Dr. Woods, if ever a man gave himself to one cause, that man, and everything that was placed in his hand went into that hand and out the other side to someone else. Nothing, effectively nothing. Passing it on to those in need. But it didn’t mean that he said you can’t come to the home. You’re not welcome. He brought them in.

Hospitality, bringing people in, showing care and love for them. Practice, it has to be practiced. Yes, also then even to those in bonds, those who are cut away, verse 3, so there’s not just that bringing the people in but going to them as well, showing the love that way, trying to find ways to alleviate their suffering, trying to advocate for them and help them and be near to them. So it looks like something, this community.

Finally, it’s continuity. The continuity. It must continue. “Let brotherly love continue.” Let it remain. Ah, this is interesting. If you go back to verse 27 of chapter 12, talking here about the things that are shaken versus the things that cannot be shaken because they are perpetual. Zion can’t be shaken like Sinai. We looked at this already. So there’s a removing of those things that are shaken. Of course that’s dealing with the sacrifices, the temple, the whole scenario there in Jerusalem. I mean, all that they were tempted to go back to was all centered around this environment of Jerusalem and the priesthood and the sacrifices and the worship of the temple and so on. It’s all there, but it can be shaken. And it’s going to be destroyed. A few years from this epistle, it’s going to be gone. And it remains gone to this day.

But Zion cannot be moved, and so the kingdom, the kingdom of which we are part, cannot be removed. It remains. And since the kingdom remains, so does the chief grace that marks it. “Let brotherly love continue.” If the grace of love doesn’t continue, it is an evidence that the kingdom is not there. What we have in this community, if there is not love, is something that can be shaken, something that can dissolve, something that can be destroyed. But love remains. It permeates that kingdom. That’s why brotherly love must remain, it must continue. Zion abides. The people of Zion abide. But love is the heartbeat of Zion. Everything we do, 1 Corinthians 13:8, “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away: but charity never faileth.” Count the shaken.

What’s the reason for this continuing love? Well, because of the One who sustains it. The same word, remain. If you go and you look at this word, remain, it comes up a number of times. Initially, it comes up with regard to Christ and His remaining priesthood, His unchangeable priesthood. So, Hebrews 7:24, because we have this unchangeable priesthood, or as verse 8 tells us, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever,” because of that, so love must continue. That’s the reason for it. This kingdom set up by Christ over which He governs and exercises His eternal priesthood, His ongoing priesthood over His people, everlasting. Because of that, love must remain among His people.

And what’s the result? What is the result of it? When everything else is shaken, this doesn’t. When our whole world falls apart, this doesn’t. When we’re cast out and persecuted, the love of believers continues. “Let brotherly love continue.” And so it must be here, even in a day when we’re not persecuted. Let us not wait to the day of persecution to realize how much we ought to love one another. Let us not wait to the day of difficulty before we appreciate one another. Let it be now, in a day of favor and blessing and ease. Let it not be abused, that ease. Let us cultivate that love, that brotherly love continue.

It makes such a difference. Oh, we will never know how the fellowship and love has helped the faith of some, not letting them get isolated, not letting them feel alone, reaching out, sending the card, speaking the word, writing the text, making the call, going on the visit, how that sustains the very faith of the soul under God.

And this will have a result even upon a watching world, silencing the skeptic. John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” The skeptical world will see it. In this world so full of its coldness, a church that truly loves is hard to argue with. They may question our doctrine, but they ought not to be able to deny our devotion. They might say, “I’m not sure I believe Jesus Christ is God, but I am sure that you’re governed by love.”

And it does even something for ourselves. In 1 John 3, we read there, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” Some of you may struggle with assurance because of that very thing. Your lack of love for the brethren, not just felt but expressed. Your lack of love, tangible loving of others, is actually causing the doubt or giving allowance and freedom for that doubt to unfurl itself more within the heart. Instead, if you said, “If I serve, if I love the brethren and I serve the brethren because I love the brethren,” then I may find my very assurance in Christ more solidified.

Three things kill this love, at least three. Number one, busyness. It takes time to love. Now if you leave it in the abstract, it doesn’t take you a nanosecond. You can comfort yourself walking out those doors and say, “I love all the brethren.” But real love takes time. Carving out the afternoon, inviting someone for tea, sacrificing the evening, when you’re exhausted after your day’s labor, to have someone over. Meeting with someone before work, grabbing a coffee before the day begins. These things take time. So busyness threatens it.

Partiality threatens it. Because we fall into, leaning into, well, I love all these people, all these people, the people you grew up with. Young people especially, young people especially. You grew up with some, you lean into that friendship and relationship, you love them, but you need to put your arm around new people too. You need to reach out, learn to love others, bring them in. If you’ve ever been in a situation where you were not part of the clique, you know what that’s like, feeling like an outsider. Don’t feed that in your own expression. Be conscious of it. Pull people in.

They may be difficult. Some people walk in and they just, they’re so extroverted and outgoing. They say, “Hey, my name is so-and-so.” And they do all the work for you. And you say, “Oh, look how friendly we are.” But they did all the work. We sometimes need to work. We need to go. We need to say, “I’m so-and-so. It’s good to see you today. What’s your name?” Don’t be partial in any form.

And also disappointment. Busyness, partiality, disappointment. Yes, the family has rough edges. And sometimes we’re disappointed with one another. And then with that disappointment, it creates distance. I’m disappointed and you distance. And the love begins to wane. Don’t let it.

Oh, let brotherly love continue. Oh, I feel it. I’m encouraged by what I see. Let me just say that. I’m encouraged. I see expressions of love. And I don’t see all of it. Praise God, there are expressions of love I never see. Know nothing about. Let those be multiplied. But I, like the apostle—though we may commend for all this that has been done and even in the present continues to go on, yet the heart goes, let it continue. Don’t let it wane for a minute. Multiply it. Specialize in it. It’d be a good thing, wouldn’t it? What are you an expert in, in the Christian life? Loving the brethren. That’s my expertise. I can’t preach and do much else, but I can love the brethren. A good thing.

I look upon those of you who may not even be part of this family. You’re not part of the family. You’re here, you’re in the building, but you’re not part of the family. Some of the children here, maybe you’re, in one sense you’re here, and you’re part of this community, but you’re not part of the family, you’re not a member in the body of Christ. And you say, “Preacher, give me the direction to be a part. What are the steps to membership in that body?” I tell you, it’s very simple. It’s very simple. It’s the cross of Jesus Christ.

To be part of this family is via the cross. It’s seeing Jesus Christ, believing in the power of His death, recognizing the sufficiency of His shed blood, saying to yourself, “There He is, God’s answer for my sin.” And I go to that cross and by faith I just lean my entire soul into the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. He died for sinners. He died for me. And you believe in the Son, you become part of the family by default. You say to me, “I want to be a Christian, but I don’t want to be a part of this motley crew here.” Sorry, can’t be done. All or nothing. Take Christ, you take His people, warts and all. And you become actually an instrument in God’s hand to help them with their shortcomings. And they will help you.

“Let brotherly love continue.”

Let’s bow together in prayer.

Life is too short and eternity way too long to spend our lives bitter against others. May we be marked by love. May, oh may I look at you and have the privilege of seeing in you such grace of love that I fall upon my knees and say, “Lord give me such a love like that.” May you look at your preacher and say the same thing. I know how he has been maligned and how he’s been treated and yet he continues to love them. May God help me, may God help you. Lord, help us, please.

Even now, just before we walk out of this building, I pray let this Word take root in us, that brotherly love would continue, not threatened. We sang of false sons in the pale of the church. We think of how the Apostle Paul prayed and expressed that desire, “that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.” Or remove such, but let thy church, with all her shortcomings, love fiercely for the honor of thy name. Bless us with that love.

Continue, O God, again, though we be not the largest church in town, let us be the most loving. Let it be true, Lord. Why not? Why not? Let us be the most loving. This is going to take nothing short of a work of the Holy Spirit, but thou art well able. Grant it. Hear us now. Go with us from this place.

And may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all thy people now and evermore. Amen.