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Eugene Wilson

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Helping the Brethren Possess

Joshua 1:12-15

12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,

13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.

14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;

15 Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising.

You are important to the church.

You are a VIP.

You matter.

Your ministry matters.

You have been prepared and positioned for this time.

Often, it is pastors who are mentioned as mattering —and they do matter, for they play a very, very important role.

But so do you.

The pastor isn’t the only one with ministry. You have a ministry, too.

You have been called. You have been gifted. You have been prepared.

You may think, “I don’t have much of a ministry, all I do is _________.” But that’s not so.

The Bible reveals that as brethren, you fulfill a very important role (and in Scripture, when the word brethren is used, it is usually in reference to both male and female.)

Consider the following responsibilities that the Bible assigns to brethren:

Be kind to one another (Rom 12:10)

Honor one another (Rom 12:10)

Accept one another (Rom. 15:7)

Instruct one another (Rom. 15:14)

Discipline fallen members (I Cor. 5:3-5)

Organize the church’s affairs (I Cor. 11:33-34)

Care for one another (I Cor. 12:25)

Abound in the work of the Lord (I Cor. 15:58)

Forebear one another (Eph 4:25

Submit to one another (Eph. 5:21)

Admonish one another (Col. 3:16)

Encourage one another (I Thess. 5:11)

Warn the unruly (I Thess. 5:14)

Comfort the feeble (I Thess. 5:14)

Support the weak (I Thess. 5:14)

Exhort one another (Heb. 3:13)

That’s your ministry. That’s the ministry of the brethren!

Elders, used interchangeably with the word overseer in Scripture, are what we commonly refer to as pastors today.

They are, according to Scripture:

- Responsible for the general welfare of the church.

- Involved in making decisions regarding ethical and doctrinal matters.

- Instrumental in maintaining healthy relations.

- Called to strengthen, assist, instruct, and encouragebelievers.

These are important things.

But Scripture reveals that, while the elders certainly held an essential role in the New Testament church, the primary focus was on the believers, not the elders.

For example, consider that the word translated as “brethren,” meaning “fellow believer,” appears 346 times in the New Testament.

It appears 134 times in Paul’s epistles alone.

By contrast, the word “elders” appears only five times in Paul’s letters. “Overseers” appears only four times. And the word “pastor” appears only once.

My point isn’t to downplay the pastor's role and importance. Rather, it is to highlight the important role that brethren fulfill in ministry.

We need you to be engaged in ministry.

We need you at your post on Sunday.

We need you to be engaged in worship.

We need your involvement.

We need your faithfulness.

We need your commitment.

We need your energy.

We are in this together.

We are working together.

We are reaching for the future that God has for the church together.

We do ministry together.

We are in this together!

I am here to declare that there are some things God wants this church to possess… some territory… some places in Him… that have been spoken into this church a long time ago.

God has not forgotten His word.

God’s plan is for this church to expand.

His plan is for you to possess promises He gave you a long time ago.

The fulfillment of God’s promise requires an increase in many areas: more ministry, more involvement, more skill set that is needed, and so on.

It will take us together to possess what God has for this church!

Let’s take this a little deeper—the need for us to all be highly engaged in the ministry God has called us to—a little further.

Solomon penned the words “a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

You were born to fight for your brother.

God’s plan isn’t that you fight your brother; His plan is that you fight FOR your brother.

1 Peter 5:8-9

Peter exhorted us, in 1 Peter 5:8-9, to “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

ESV says: knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

The lion is after the brethren.

When you are fighting your adversary, know that your brother is doing the same. You are not alone. We are in this together.

We were born to fight for, with, and beside our brothers, not against them.

Nehemiah

Nehemiah illustrates to us the importance of fighting for our brothers in Nehemiah 4:14.

“And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

Nehemiah understood—notice this—that the first line of defense is the brotherhood.

Cain

After sin entered humanity, the first act of sin was an attack on the brotherhood.

Cain rose up and slew his brother. Cain then asked the first recorded question by mankind after being exiled from the Garden of Eden: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

God certainly thought so.

God is still asking us today, “Where is your brother?”

The Lord placed Adam into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The word “keep” comes from a Hebrew word that means to hedge about, guard, or to have charge of.

This is the same Hebrew word Cain used when he asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In other words, “Am I to guard my brother? Am I to fight for my brother?” The answer is clearly, “Yes!”

The Apostle Peter

In Luke chapter 22, Jesus told Peter that he was going to betray Him. But then followed up and said to Peter, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

Jesus could have given Peter several important things once he had been restored. But the first order of business was to strengthen the brethren.

The very first thing God wanted Peter to do was not something for himself; it was for his brethren.

Numbers 32

In Numbers 32, we read of a powerful example of God prioritizing the needs of the community (the "brethren") over individual or tribal desires, even when those desires seem practical.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad (who had much livestock) noticed that the land east of the Jordan River was ideal for cattle.

They approached Moses, the priest, and the other leaders, asking to settle in this land rather than cross into the Promised Land, the land west of the Jordan.

Read the story. This came across as a "slap in the face" to their brothers.

Moses saw it as selfish and discouraging and likened it to the negative report of ten of the 12 spies, which led to 40 years of wandering.

He accused them of abandoning their brethren in the fight: "Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?" (v. 6).

It wasn't just about the land; it was about shirking their role in helping the whole nation possess what God promised.

Their efforts did matter; every tribe was needed for the conquest.

Let me stop and say: Your efforts matter! What you do matters. Your ministry matters. You are needed.

The tribes respond by clarifying they'd secure their families and flocks first but then commit their fighting men to lead the charge across the Jordan.

Moses agreed to give them the land but set a firm condition: They could have the land only after helping their brethren fully possess and settle the Promised Land (vv. 20–24).

Joshua followed it up:

Joshua 1:14–15, "Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession."

Want a great revival? Want to possess all that God has promised you?

Here’s the key: help your brethren possess.

You can possess the promise if you help one another.

Until it’s accomplished, until the battle is won, until the promise has been possessed: