Why we address other Christians as Brother and Sister

The topic that I have been given is “Why we address each other as Bro and Sis?”

Why do we say Bro Webb and Bro Astor and Sis Hackworth and Sis Webb and so on

This practice may be foreign to those that aren’t brought up in church and may seem odd to those that are unfamiliar with it, but if you’ll give me 5 minutes I will attempt to shed some light and bring some clarity to the subject

Where did it Originate

The first question you may ask is “Where did this tradition originate?”

Is this a recent idea that some man or group or denomination has just come up with that we carry on?

Well lets read Mark chapter 3 verse 32

32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Jesus here is teaching the multitudes and he says to them whosoever does the will of God, or whoever is a Christian, or follower of a Christ

Those are my brothers and those are my sisters

so Christ himself laid the foundation for this custom.

Early Church

Now the early church carried on this practice throughout the New Testament.

In the book of Acts we see many times where when a group of believers is being addressed, they were referred to as “brethren” or in our moderns era we might say brothers. We see this in Acts 1:16, Acts 2:37, Acts 15:3, and Acts 15:23.

And then also Paul in many of his books addresses the reader as “Brethren”. We see this in Romans 1:13, 1 Corinthians 1:10, Galatians 1:11, and Romans 12:1 a very familiar scripture where he said…

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. He referred to his fellow Christian’s as brethren

So this is not something that some man or group or some church came up with on their own in recent times

But this something that Christ began, and the church has been doing since the book of Acts.

Part of a Family

I love Romans 8:14-15. It gives us a little bit of a deeper glimpse into this tradition.

it said…

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption

When you are washed in the Blood of Jesus

When you accept Him as your Lord and Savior

You are ADOPTED into the Family of God

Amen, Church?

You become a child of the King

You become an heir to the Royal throne

And with that high privilege..

you also inherit a family..

And this family is not held together by birth certificates and blood lines

But it is unified through Jesus Christ and HIS precious blood

This family reaches across boarders

This family unites cultures

This family breaks language barriers

This family rallies people from all walks of life

This family brings good news to a lost and dying world

So Why do we call each other Brother and Sister?

Why do I say Brother Jordan Johnson

Why do I say Brother Ben Smith

Or Brother Andrew Astor

It’s because we are part of a Family , Amen?

We’ve all been ADOPTED into The Family of God

If you’ve been saved

if you’ve been washed

if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord an savior

Then you’re a part of my family

you’re my brother and you’re my sister

And I’m so thankful to be a part of the family of God!

Respect

Ill say this and Ill be done

In the modern church era you see a lot of churches going to more and more relaxed formats

With pastors dressed casually and coffee in the foyer and everyone uses nicknames and first names to refer everyone else

Everything is relaxed everything is casual

And unfortunately as a result I’m afraid it has created a lot of casual Christians

But I still believe in being respectful, Amen?

And having reverence for the house of God and for the men and women of God, Amen?

And there's a level of honor and a level respect that is maintained when we uphold this tradition.

I don't ever want to get too loose and too familiar and lose that respect and that reverence for sake of modernizing

and for sake of relaxing, amen?

Close

I believe the song writer said it well when he wrote these words

“You're my brother you’re my Sister so take me by the hand together we will work until he comes. Theres no foe that can defeat us when were walking side by side, as long as we have love we will stand .

God Bless you