Sabbath Message 21/12/28/120
Dear Friends,
We should all have now undertaken the duty that we have been given to start preparing for the Passover, and allow God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to prepare us. While in this preparation of examining ourselves, I would like to appeal to your hearts to constantly remind yourself of the importance of our need to continually strengthen the body of the Church and the body of Jesus Christ who is at the head of the Church.
Our love of each other, and our views of each other that stem from this love go hand in hand with our love of God and how we view Him. We read from scripture the importance of keeping the commandments in order to please God and to obtain eternal life (1Jn. 5:2-3; Mt.19:17). To keep the Second Great Commandment, “to love our neighbor as our self”, is no less essential to obtaining eternal life. We do so in faith and in hope that eternal life will be granted us by the grace of Jesus Christ, for we know that in Christ all shall be made alive (1Cor. 15:22), and as a gift from God the Father (Rom. 6:23). As servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, Christ still called us brethren (Heb. 2:11-12; Ps 22:22). We thus are brothers with him and of the same origin as he, and that origin is God the Father. It is no mystery to us that Christ was crucified for his physical brothers here on earth and the disloyal spiritual brethren from the rebellion in heaven. He esteemed himself lower than his brothers and gave us the example of how we are to treat one another if we are to obtain this gift of eternal life as his brothers under the great living God. He gave his life in death willingly so that we may live. At his death he also left instructions to us by the direction he gave to his own mother and to his disciple and friend, John.
John 19:26 “When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he
loved, he said to her, "Woman, he is your son." 27 And he said to
this disciple, "She is your mother." And from then on this disciple
took her into his home. (NLT)
Christ left these words as instructions to the Church in our relations to one
another. The apostle Paul also confirms these instructions for our care and
concern for one another in his first letter to Timothy.
1Timothy 5:1 “Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as though he were your own father. Talk to the younger men as you would to your own brothers. 2 Treat the older women as you would your mother, and treat the younger women with all purity as your own sisters.” (NLT)
The societies of our world in which we are forced to live have seen a massive decline in family relations to something much less than desirable, and many families never learn the proper love and respect for each other. Sadly enough, the world in which we live will not improve in regards to this according to scripture (Mt 10:21). However, we are not of this world if we are of Christ, and our example is to be for this world to look upon. How we treat those in our family must attest to the mark of the Philadelphia church era. Our family is the Church of God. The Church of God is our fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and sons and daughters.
If our aim is eternal life with God and his children then we can never divorce the fact that in order to establish our hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints, then we must allow our Lord to prepare us to increase and abound in love to one another and to all men (1Thes. 3:12).
As in all family relations, communication is the key to keep peace and to promote
love in the family. The lack of communication weakens the bonds of love between
husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister. This is no different in
the Church of God. Where there is lack of communication, there is lack of trust
between the family members, and the whole family suffers. Without communication
between family members growth in love stagnates.
If we take into consideration, and to heart, the family relations that we must imitate with each other as with close family units, then it will eliminate any misinformation spread between cliques and groups that without this brotherly affection naturally form, and no longer will the weaker of us be hurt. For our concern will be first to speak to our brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter in love and concern for them first and foremost. This establishes trust and love in return. Then we will be able to admonish our brother if need be, for he will gain the trust from his brother when he approaches him earnestly from the heart in love, while esteeming him as his own blood if not better than himself. By this, encouragement will be a source of strength within the family, help for the weak will never be far away, and our patience with one another will be the mark of our brotherhood and our example to the world.
We are to be the family that speaks, admonishes, consoles, encourages, strengthens, comforts, and instructs each other every day. This is the gift of love that God gives to us, and He also commands us to entreat each other in love.
The apostle Peter gives us a reminder of the benefits of this love in saying in 1Peter 4:8, “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”
Peace to all of you in Christ with brotherly affection and love.
Jeremy Hatchett
Coordinator in the US Conference of CCG
© Copyright 2006 Jeremy Hatchett, All Rights Reserved
