Growing the Fruit of Brotherly Kindness

Our family loves movies…and when we think Fourth of July, in addition on picnics and fireworks, I also know that this is one of the blockbuster movie release weekends each year. So we ask, what will be the blockbuster action film, or what will be the underdog story that grabs our hearts…

So, let me ask you this…what thoughts or memories come to mind when you see this picture?

Now we could certainly debate which movie in the series is the best. The unlikely result of the first fight. The upset win in Rocky II, Clubber Lang makes Rocky III a must watch for me, but when Rocky IV brings in the patriotic element, I just can’t not watch Rocky vs. Ivan Drago… Even if you don’t like boxing, the constant pitting of good and evil, the perseverance of the underdog and then who could miss Rocky’s cringe-worthy romantic pursuit of Andrian…

Then underlying each of these storylines comes an unexpected relationship – that between the once proud and cocky world champion Apollo Creed and the small-time, working class boxer out of Philly, Rocky Balboa…They have every reason to be hated rivals, yet they bond together, overcoming all of their differences to include in race and wealth could be overcome by their bond in the boxing ring. An unlikely friendship that fuels their pursuit to conquer every obstacle…

This summer, we are digging into God’s Word in a way that helps us to build the character traits that can overcome any obstacle through the right relationship as we find our

HOPE FOR FRUITFUL SERVICE

I have enjoyed preparing the messages in this series as each has brought beautiful truths on how we can grow by making every effort to add to our saving faith…moral excellence, knowledge, perseverance and godliness…

Today we are going to unpack another of the traits that Peter calls out.

Let’s look again at 2 Peter 1:5-7.

The text says …

2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

If you are asking where does the concept of fruitfulness come into 2 Peter 1. Let’s read verses 8-9 as well.

2 Peter 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

All of this together, is why we have worked week to week to summarize this with a single statement…

Making Every Effort to Add to you Saving Faith, _______

And then from 2 Peter 1, we take these character qualities one at a time to fill in the blank.

The main idea is that our faith in Christ, our salvation transforms our lives…

• where we once were enemies of God and Now we are his children…

• we were once in the domain of darkness but we have been transferred to the kingdom of His beloved son,…

• we once were dead on our transgressions, but now we are alive to God in Christ…

• we once were far from God, and now we are citizens of Heaven, indwelt with the Holy Spirit…

so because we have such a great salvation, we are to grow closer to the Lord, to grow in knowing God, and glorifying His name…and that means producing fruit…that means adding to our faith indicators of a transformed life…moral excellence, knowledge, self control, godliness…and brotherly kindness…

So today we want to Make every effort to add to our faith by producing the fruit of Brotherly kindness….

So what is brotherly kindness, what does it look like and how can we grow in our faith so we produce brotherly kindness in our relationships.

Depending on the translation of the Bible you read, you may have read brotherly kindness, brotherly affection, or even mutual affection – this helps us round out our understanding, but even better to go right to the original text…Peter used the term

Philadelphia - φιλαδελφία, ας f: affection for one’s fellow believer in Christ—‘love for one’s fellow believer, affection for a fellow believer.’

You might see the connection to the intro right there…I’ll credit Josh Greiner for thinking of that…the city of brotherly love…but I have to admit, when I have watched a Philadelphia Eagles game, not sure I see a lot of brotherly kindness coming towards others…

But even though the Philly connection is not an example of what the Bible is describing…the tendency that that Philly love is for anyone from Philly and no one else does match up with elements of the NT meaning.

In the NT the terms φιλαδελφία and φιλάδελφος were used specifically in relation to fellow believers much in the way that someone from Philly seems to have a connection with anyone else hailing from Philly. As we move forward today, we will also find how this command points us to relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ in addition to how we are called to love our neighbors.

Similar to our previous sermons, I do not want to speak solely from a single word in the text, nor do I just want to bounce around scripture, so we will anchor ourselves again with an example from God’s Word. Just as we looked at Daniel’s example of moral excellence or Solomon’s example of knowledge.

Today we will unpack the example of mutual affection or brotherly kindness in the relationship described in 1 Sam 18:1-9 as we look at Jonathan, the king’s son and David, the shepherd and anointed future king of Israel.

With that in mind – join me as we open God’s Word that we might be

Growing the Fruit of Brotherly Kindness

Read 1 Sam 18:1-9

Seeing now the truth of what god has reveled in His word, let’s walk together to find

3 ways we can grow in our faith and produce the fruit of brotherly kindness

As we seek to make every effort to add to our saving faith to grow in fruitful service…

The first of the ways we will grow is to

I. Knit your heart to brothers/sisters who are seeking the Lord

We will find that this will be both about you and about those whom you seek to grow in brotherly kindness with…

1 Samuel 18:1 -1 Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

We often think of Jonathan and David as brothers of the same age and that they simply became best friends as soon as they met. Scripture would indicate though that Jonathan was much older and we would find that there were likely several years that occurred since they first met and that they had each had opportunities to grow to know the character of the other…

So when it says that the soul of Jonathan was knit to David, that was based on growing to know David and coming to know David’s heart…and what Jonathan saw was that David had a…

Passion for the name of the Lord

Jonathan had just returned from watching David boldly faced the Philistine Goliath, something no other warrior in all of Israel was willing to do, including the king, but it was not just David’s victory, jonothan did not just jump on the champions parade, but He saw the heart behind David’s action…David was doing it all to honor the Lord…

Notice the things David said that would resonate with someone who loved the Lord…

1 Samuel 17:26 -26 Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

David’s motivation was for God’s honor – in the same way that an Eagles fan stands up when a Cowboy fan or a Giants fan talks bad about their team…but David’s heart is not about protecting man’s honor, Israel’s honor, the kings honor…but it is all about God’s Honor…

then he goes on to say to Goliath…

1 Samuel 17:46–47 -46 “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”

David had some victories in his past…protecting the flock from lions and bears…but nothing like this and at an extreme disadvantage physically, Jonathan saw David trust the Lord…

That would be someone that I want to have as a brother…but ask yourself, why would David return the mutual affection to the king’s son, a man of very different circumstances…because Jonathon sought the Lord in the same way and spoke to his armor bearer as they had found victory in 1 Sam 14 because Jonathan trusted the Lord.

Notice that this trait was no both sides of brotherly kindness, both David and Jonathan had a passion for the Lord and trust in the God of Israel to deliver the enemy into their hands for God’s glory…they both knew their lives were not all about them…

This also explains why David and Jonathon, and subsequently all those who are seeking the Lord are also marked with…

Humility shown in serving

David was often the most theologically aware person in the room…by that, I mean that David’s focus was first on God and as such, actions which would honor God became the trademarks that defined David, especially in his early life….

Even though he was a strong young man, with plenty of success under his belt, in David’s passion and zeal for the Lord, there was still a humility about him…

That confidence, bravery, and humility, all together, came from his love for the Lord.

Notice what he said to the king before stepping onto the battlefield with Goliath…

1 Samuel 17:32 -32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

And even though David had played music in the King’s court that Saul might know him and even though Saul’s response was you can’t do this because you are too young…when Saul appears to not know who David is…

1 Samuel 17:58 -58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

David did not remind him, “I am the only one willing to do what even you, king will not do…” No, he answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse…

David constantly refers to himself as a servant, in fact here, he does not even identify himself others than being the son of your servant Jesse…

If I had just killed Goliath…I’d probably be yelling back to my brothers…Did you see that? Who’s the boss now?...but not David…he sees himself humbly a servant…

And that’s the difference between seeking my glory or seeking the Lord and understanding my need for Him…I can’t slay Goliath, but God can. I can’t win the the battle with my pride and sin, but Jesus did…

That’s the good news that we all needs.

My greatest battle, the giant I am facing is my own sin that separates me from God and I cannot win that battle on my own. I need to seek the Lord. He is the one who has already won the victory over sin and death…but we each have to choose to believe that Jesus chose to give his life to serve us, to serve you, to serve me. He gave his life that we might have victory…So before we can truly find brotherly kindness in this world, we must choose to accept the love of Christ by which he chooses to make us a part of His family. Brother’s united in Christ…brothers each seeking the Lord that we might grow in Brotherlly Kindness today…

If you are with us today and you have questions about Christ’s victory and why that matters for each one of us, please stop one of us today to begin to walk through those questions with you…

Though Christ had not yet lived and died, David recognized his need for the Lord as well, he recognized that it was the Lord that delivered him from lions and bears and the Lord who defeated Goliath…and because of that, David saw himself as a servant of Saul, but ultimately as a servant of the Lord…

Along with the passion for God and the humility, what separated David from others and resolbated in the heart of Jonathan was that David demonstrated a…

Desire to do God’s Will

David was known as a man after god’s own heart…

Acts 13:22 -22 “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’

What we find here is that one who humbly seeks the Lord, whose heart is aligned with the Lord wants to do what God says…this is not just a feeling about God, but rather a choice of obedience.

Jesus helped us to see this as well that true brotherhood is defined by a people desiring to do God’s will.

Matthew 12:48–50 -48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! 50 “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

That is also why we have a warning in God’s Word, one that we often speak of for marriage, but it is not for marriage, it applies to all of our closest relationships.

2 Corinthians 6:14 -14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

The principle that we are finding to start today is that we all need to be cultivating this focus in our lives…first we need to be seeking the Lord, having a right view of God, which brings a humble view of ourselves and choosing to follow God’s will for our lives…then as we want to grow in brotherly kindness, we do so by seeking others who are these same things.

What is the most desirable trait that you look for in a friend? Do they love the Lord? Why are they seeking a relationship with you? Is it because you are seeking the Lord?...

Philadelphia…brotherly kindness is about a mutual affection for one another that is based on a common heart for the Lord.

[Application:]

• Our friendships can’t be how another person makes us feel, or

• if they make us feel important or accepted…

• what will happen is we will cling to them like a leach…doing whatever is necessary to them or for them so that they make us feel a certain way…

• a mutual affection for a person comes from…

• I love the Lord, and you love the Lord….lets pursue the Lord together

• and we will get closer and closer with a deeper and deeper appreciation for each other…

This all leads to two questions we all need to answer…

• Am I seeking the Lord that others might see that in me?

• Are my closest relationships based on seeking the Lord together?

If the answer to that is no…that does not mean that we must end that relationship…BUT God’s word does say…

2 Timothy 2:22 -22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

• Seek to add the relationship that is based on the Lord

• Then for the relationship is drawing you to anything except the Lord…change the relationship…

• choose to not follow…come back to seeking the Lord

• Then, stand boldly before that giant and proclaim the good news until they hear you…allow God to use you to be the one to draw them to seek the Lord.

So to bear the fruit of brotherly kindness, we need to cultivate the right relationships and then we also need to bear fruit by…

II. Being faithful in your relationships (or in your covenant relationships)

When we are in close relationships, one of our natural fleshly tendencies, for all of us, is that when life gets hard, when staying in the relationship gets challenging because of what is happening between the two of you, or to the other person and it is overflowing onto you…when it gets hard, our instincts would tell us it is time to eject.

Or maybe you are remembering a time when it got hard for you, and all of your friends seemed to disappear…

It is my prayer for each of you that the opposite would be your experience, that when you went through something hard – you had faith friends surrounding you…

And as a way to grow, from our text today, I believe we can…

Learn from David and Jonathan’s covenant

1 Samuel 18:3–4 -3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.

What does it mean for the king’s son to give his robe, armor and sword to David…Jonathan recognized the Lord was with David and David was going to rise and instead of taking up David as his enemy, he entered into a partnership with Him. Jonathan saw that David was one whom the Lord was using for His glory.

Jonathan and David entered into a formal covenant with each other, and they reaffirmed it over and over…they were committed to each other…and the basis for the commitment was each of them believed the other loved the Lord.

The tie that bonded them together was the Lord…

1 Samuel 20:23 -23 “As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever.”

They took this relationship seriously…they had a mission to do…they were to drive out the Philistines, and they were both doing that with a focus on the Lord…

We too have a mission, a mission to share the love of Christ, and we are in a covenant relationship with each other…

There are two primary ways that I think we can apply this covenant that we see David and Jonathan in…First….

Take seriously the covenant relationship we are in

While the relationship that Jonathan and David had together was strong…I would argue that the relationship that exists in this room, on one very real level…ought to be stronger…

There is a covenant in this room that is between those who know the Lord and are Brothers and Sisters in Christ…

In the moments leading up to his death…Christ would say

Luke 22:20 -20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

What bonds us together is the new covenant with the Lord.

I also really love that we have a church covenant and I think that is why church membership is so important in this day in age.

It is good for people to formally be committing to each other, to help each other honor the Lord…

knowing we are all going to give an account before the Lord…

and I want to partner together with my brothers and sisters for the glory of the Lord.

There are many places in the Scripture that affirm the special relationship that we have with one another and it should impact how we live and treat each other…notice these two.

Romans 12:10–13 -10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Or in the letter from Peter we studied earlier this year…

1 Peter 1:22–23 -22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

One way we can know that we are bearing the fruit of brotherly kindness…is if we bear it in season and out of season…if we keep bearing it when tested and when it is hard….

The Second way that we can learn from the covenant of Jonathan and David is to….

Recognize brotherly kindness is strengthened in trials and persecution

We see this play out in the lives of David and Jonathan…when the King was seeking to kill David, Jonathan said…

1 Samuel 23:17–18 -17 Thus he said to him, “Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.” 18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.

Jonathan was in a very difficult position. Saul is his father…but he chooses David…he chooses the honor the covenant when the situation had significantly changed and by choosing David, Jonathan was accepting that he might take the wrath of his father, which he had proven could include death.

It certainly would have been easier for Jonathan to throw his hands up and just try to remain out of the path of destruction…but he did not…

Proverbs 18:24b -24 … there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Ask yourself is there evidence in my life that shows that I am being faithful to my covenant relationships?

- Let me ask the teens in the room…When you are at school, do you check on the others here in Youth Group? Do you say hello on Monday, the same you do on Sunday? What if they are being picked on by others at school, including some you might call friends…do you stand with them? Or remain silently in the background…

- How about all of us adults? The same things apply…but we have to also consider, do we stand with our brother and sister when it has a cost to us? When helping them impacts what we want to do, how we want to spend our time? Are we faithful in standing with our brothers and sisters in Christ?

- We have had many opportunities as a church recently as well…Will you stand faithfully for the truth of God’s word when the world pushes against us…I am not talking about political activism. I am simply talking about standing for what we believe and not shying away from a conversation about the truth when we have the opportunity to stand with our church family to show the Love of Christ by lovingly speaking the truth.

My prayer for us all is that we might grow in taking seriously the relatsionships that God has given us right here…

Then our final lesson from today passage…we are called to

III. Celebrate your brother’s growth and blessing

In the last verses, we will see the opposite of brotherly kindness coming from Saul, the king…

1 Samuel 18:5–9 -5 So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and prospered; and Saul set him over the men of war. And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6 It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. 7 The women sang as they played, and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.” 8 Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

Saul had initially loved David, because of what David had done for him, however as soon as David was being elevated in the hearts of others…that changed.

Instead of thinking…

• wow the Lord is blessing us and we are defeating our enemies and

• he is with David and working through David and

• this is great for our people to obey God and drive out the Philistines….

Instead - He begins to look sideways at David, and even devise ways to get him killed by the philistines.

Brotherly kindness rejoices with those who rejoice. It is often said it is much harder to handle a friend’s success than a friend’s failure…

in order to bear the fruit of brotherly kindness we must…

Avoid jealousy when the Lord is blessing others

1 Samuel 18:29 -29 then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually.

1 Samuel 19:4 -4 Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you.

Would you agree with me that we are all tempted with jealousy when our friends seem to have continual success. They seem to be driving by in the express lane and all I can see is miles of cars at a dead stop in front of me…

It is hard – yet God calls us to avoid that, to not allow jealously to grow in our hearts when it appears the Lord is only blessing others…but how do we do that? How do we avoid the trap Saul fell into? Consider a few steps we can take

• Keep a careful watch on your thoughts?

• Do I see things rightly – a blessing for a friend? Or is my focus on what I do not have? If only I had that too…God say we should not covet…

• But when we do…

• Open your heart to one with brotherly kindness towards you and tell them your struggle, asking them to help you give thanks for what God is doing in your life.

• Jealousy is best fought with brotherly kindness

• Not all temptations require the aid of fellow believers, but jealousy is best fought with a genuine friend.

Lastly, we celebrate as we...

Rejoice in having the same purpose

1 Samuel 18:14–16 -14 David was prospering in all his ways for the LORD was with him. 15 When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he dreaded him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, and he went out and came in before them.

The Lord was with David…Just Like Joseph…the Lord was giving things into David’s hand…even though he did not have a sword in His hand…David’s purpose was the Lord being number one and God was blessing that. Jonathan and David had the same purpose…to honor the Lord as His people…

In the upper room discourse…before Christ was taken away to be crucified…

John 13:34–35 -34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We too have a united purpose…we are to have a love for each other that sends a message that we are followers of Christ…and that love for each other…that brotherly kindness is to be enticing….to show others what it looks like to be reconciled to God and how it changes the fundamental focus of our relationships…what our purpose is…

Paul says that what unites us is Christ…

Philippians 2:1–3 -1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

If you have the purpose of following Christ…you will be united with others who have that same purpose…and there will be a powerful love and affection that is evident to others…

And you will bear the fruit of placing others above yourself…like a brother or sister is supposed to do….

But all this starts with a focus on a passion for the Lord…where you humbly serve God and seek to do His will and not your own.

It means you take relationships seriously and you stay committed to brothers and sisters in Christ even when it is hard, uncomfortable and you have to pay a price.

And lastly you bear the fruit of brotherly kindness by wanting what is best for your brother or sister…you celebrate their growth and you celebrate how the Lord is using them for His glory.