For We Are Brethren
Notes
Transcript
Call to Worship
Call to Worship
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David When Nathan the Prophet Went to Him, After He Had Gone in to Bathsheba.
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
Intro
Intro
It is good to dwell together in unity, but sometimes, because of the reality of sin, separation is good to maintain unity.
We are going to look at one such Scriptural case today in Genesis and then see what applications we might have for us today.
If you remember back to two weeks ago, Abram and Sarai went down to Egypt and deceived Pharoh by having Sarai say Abram was her brother.
Towards the end of the text, we learned that Lot had journey with them, though he was left out of the narrative.
Body
Body
Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.
Lot was also blessed alongside Abram.
However, the blessing of each was so great, that the land was not able to support them both at the same place.
Because of their abundance, their herdsman fought and argued with each other.
What were they fighting over exactly
Grazing land?
Watering holes?
Wells?
We no later on that wells had to be dug in the land and were a vital part of life in Canaan.
Only so much water can be drawn from a well at one time
Too many herdsman and too large of flocks would make sharing wells impractical leading to frustration.
Whatever the reason, we know that their was strife between the two parties.
The Canaanites in the land would be witness to the strife between the two kinsmen and their servants.
Dangerous, because strife between these two foreigners and their servants would open them up to attack by the Canaanites if they so chose.
Also was a bad witness to the God that Abram (and Lot to an extent) served.
Husbands and wives should be mindful of how their fighting looks to outsiders that would desire to see the marriage destroyed
Believers should be mindful of how disputes look to unbelievers that seek reasons to blaspheme God.
This includes churches.
There are going to be disputes that are necessary, but our fights over proper worship music or even eschatology should look different than our fights over the deity of Christ or the Resurrection.
For the most part, those who have different views on worship and end times are our brothers in Christ, while those who deny the deity of Christ or the Resurrection are not.
So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
Abram viewed his nephew as a brother.
Seems like he took him under his wing after Lot’s father died, bringing him out of Haran to the land of Canaan with him.
Abram loved lot and didn’t want there to be strife between them.
He gave Lot the choice of land: If Lot Chose the right, Abram would go to the left.
Abram had a God-given right to the land, yet he elevated his brother Lot to the position of choosing the best land for himself.
Abram could have lorded his superiority over Lot, but did not.
Abram provides an excellent example of how a soft word turns away wrath. Proverbs 15:1
We would be wise to use this when dealing with our spouse, family members, and fellow Christians.
And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.
Perhaps attracted to the abundance of water, Lot chose to go to the plain of the Jordan, near Sodom and Gomorrah.
He did not defer to his uncle, or even thank him for the opportunity to choose first,
Chose us a glimpse of Lot’s character
Even at this point in history, the men of Sodom were already exceedingly wicked.
Material blessings and plenty can be a snare
And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”
God confirms the blessing to Abram given previously.
Though Abram gave Lot half of his inheritance, God is still giving the whole inheritance to Abram’s descendants
It’s all God’s
Don’t hold on to the blessings God has given you
You cannot out give God
Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.
Abram worships.
After God confirms His promise to Abram, Abram builds an altar and worships.
Application/Conclusion
Application/Conclusion
Contrary to the rightful desire, sometimes we all can’t just get along.
There are certain places and time where brothers cannot dwell together in unity.
It is a good thing to desire and to work towards, but is not something that can be forced.
I’ve made mention of this before, but God established the nations
Acts 17:26 “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,”
He established their borders.
He established how long they last.
It is not the Christian duty to abolish distinct nations, but rather recognize them and christianize them.
Some Christians, rightfully believing that America was founded as a Christian Nation, think that any Christian should be allowed to become an American.
But that is not how this works.
Christians of different nations can have cultures and norms that vary significantly to where they are not compatible.
This does not mean that one is a greater christian and the other is lesser.
For example, can you have a functioning nation if there isn’t a common language?
No. That would be chaos
Even in the Church, we see cultural differences.
Africans worship differently than Europeans.
Chinese Anglican was blocked by an American Lutheran for talking about eating cats and dogs.
is someone going to hell for believing one or the other? no
should we have to live next door to someone that believes differently? no
Even different denominations have different worship styles.
Sometimes, even more substantial disagreements can cause brothers to part ways.
Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.
Sometimes in Church life, strong disagreements can arise.
I’m not talking about false doctrine
We should divide over that
But on differences of opinion within Orthodox theology,
it is better to create some space to preserve unity
A good example of this is the variety of modern denominations we have.
Paedobaptist v credo baptist
It’s ok to argue for and stand for you doctrinal convictions, but do so in a way that is not casting believers outside the Kingdom for secondary/tertiary things
If we are Brethren, we ought not to fight.
Especially not in the sight of unbelievers
Christians should not side with unbelievers against believers who have secondary/tertiary doctrinal differences.
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?
