ES2PEJ07 2 Peter 1:5-9 Brotherly Kindness and Love and fruitfulness
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5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Today, we continue on in those things we are to add to our faith. We are looking at the last two that we find both in verse 7: brotherly love and love.
Brotherly Kindness
Brotherly Kindness
If any of you have brothers and sisters then you know that it is not always easy to get on with them. Indeed as we grow up we have lots of fighting and bickering and arguments as well as good times together. It tends to be that as we grow up that we are closer than before. But not always. Well, this is how it is in the Church. Just as we do not have a choice about our biological brothers and sisters we have no choice about who they are in the Church.
The Greek word is where we get Philadelphia from. This is love between family members. And as children of God that makes all of us family.
Horae Homileticae Vol. 20: James to Jude Discourse 2419: The Christian’s Graces (2 Pet. 1:5–9)
We are all one family, and must regard every member of that family with a truly fraternal affection.
When we speak of brotherly love then this is specifically towards those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are told elsewhere to have such love:
10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;
9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;
And Peter in his first letter tells us
8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;
[Not included in sermon] Leon Morris put together what brotherly kindness is by listing some of its attributes:
1 Peter–Jude (King James Version) B. The Great Things of the Believer’s Life, 1:5–15
• that binds each other together as a family, as a brotherly clan.
• that binds each other in an unbreakable union.
• that holds each other ever so dearly within the heart.
• that knows deep affection for each other.
• that nourishes and nurtures each other.
• that shows concern and looks after the welfare of each other.
• that joins hands with each other in a common purpose under one father (Leon Morris
The opposite of this is to hate one’s brother.
The very first brothers on this planet end with one murdering the other. Cain killed Abel mainly because of jealousy.
We read a lot about brotherly love in 1 John. The first one I am going to read starts with Cain:
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
And so John says in other places:
9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
and again in
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
I have met Christians, so called, who have had hatred in their hearts towards their brothers and sisters. It makes me wonder whether they are Christians at all. We can only love if we are Christians in the true sense for we love for God first loved us. It is when we realise how much we are loved and that our debt is too great to pay and know that Jesus paid for it in full on the cross that we can begin to love. We have to be careful of any root of bitterness that can spring up and spoil the well and split the Church. We are called to forgiveness.
Let us remember another character in our bibles, one named Joseph who had eleven brothers. The brothers ganged up on him and sold him to some slave-traders who was then sold into Egypt who then was accused falsely of attempted rape who then was thrown in jail. We can read about him in Genesis. We know that God turned all this to good when Joseph was made Prime Minister and as a result saved his own family from famine, his own brothers and their families who had disowned him. But what do we find afterwards? Nothing but love and forgiveness. He spoke kindly to them allaying their fears that he was going to avenge for their wrongdoing. He was the true brother in this.
We are brothers in Christ. We are members of one another and this means we have no choice for we are part of each other. To harm is to harm ourselves.
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln often visited hospitals to cheer the wounded. On one occasion he saw a young fellow who was near death. "Is there anything I can do for you?" asked the compassionate President: "Please write a letter to my mother," came the reply. Unrecognized by the soldier, Lincoln sat down and wrote as he dictated: "My Dearest Mother; I was badly hurt while doing my duty, and I won't recover. Don't sorrow too much for me. May God bless you and Father. Kiss, Mary and John, for me.”
The young man was too weak to go on, so Lincoln signed the letter for him and then added this postscript: "Written for your son by Abraham Lincoln." Asking to see the note, the soldier was astonished to discover who had shown him such kindness. "Are you really our President?" he asked. "Yes," was the quiet answer. "Now, is there anything else I can do?" The soldier replied, "Will you please hold my hand? I think it would help to see me through to the end.” Lincoln granted his request; offering warm words of encouragement until death took him in the morning.
Kindness is probably the most underestimated character traits we have at our disposal. Unkind words start conflict and wars – but kind words and actions can bring peace and comfort. There are so many ways we can be kind to one another – maybe not in big ways but in so many, many small ways.
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
2 Peter & Jude vii) Brotherly Kindness
Naturally, when people see this sort of brotherly love in action, it is most attractive. People are deeply drawn to a community where they see others truly caring for each other and loving each other. In an age of alienation, lack of love and loneliness, this can be one of the most attractive virtues of the Christian community, but it starts with us as individuals.
As Jesus said:
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So, let us add to our faith brotherly kindness in every increasing measure.
And then we have the last which seems oddly like the last one but not quite.
Love
Love
And of course it follows that to brotherly kindness we add love. This is an extended love. Love not only to the household of faith but to all people.
Love is doing good to all in loving God – it is to love God and our neighbour. Remember that these do not come easy to us but has to be worked at and each is a foundation that needs to be built. Love, of course, is the one that is above them all – but it is still love based on the foundation of our faith and all the other additions we have talked about these last few weeks. True love is discovered as we add to our faith.
This love is the word agape which has no limits or conditions upon it. The greatest one who loves is God for God is love. Love is undeserved, unreserved, and unrestricted. It is self-sacrificial.
Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac on the very mount that Jesus Himself was crucified. I was watching a film on Friday when Abraham and Isaac came up in it. In it the man in the film said that it is not Abraham’s sacrifice that impressed him most but Isaac’s. What was meant was that Isaac, who by this time was 13 years old, allowed himself to be the sacrifice. This makes the picture of what Jesus did even more stark. It was God’s sacrifice but also was willingly done by Jesus. We read these verses in Scripture:
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus said:
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
And in more than one place Scripture tells us that God is love.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
God’s love towards us over abounds. It follows that our love towards Him should also over abound.
We love because he first loved us
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
We could read the whole of 1 John for it is all about this love.
So, we have covered the fact that God loves us and we love Him because of His love and now to prove that we love God we must love our brothers and sisters in Christ and we must also love the world that Christ came for. In the parable of the Good Samaritan we are asked: Who is my neighbour? And the answer, of course, is everyone. This does not mean that our love will be received for we are to live at peace with everyone so far as it is within our power but nevertheless we are called to love our enemies for Jesus is the supreme example of dying for us whilst we were still, and still are sinners.
Love also has a reining in effect upon our fleshly desires if we let it:
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
There is, to conclude this part a chapter that is often reserved for weddings but it is right in the middle about order and giftings in the Church, and this chapter is called the chapter of love so let us hear it:
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
To bring all these into conclusion Peter says that if we have these things then we will not be useless or unfruitful. Instead we will have gained knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The start of this passage says that we are to give all diligence to add to our faith. If we don’t then we are told that we will be ineffective, means idle and slothful, literally “out of work”. What is our motive? The Hindu wants to attain a higher life-form in his next reincarnation, because of his good works. The Muslim wants Allah to think well of him and reward him because of his obedience to the teaching of the Qur’an. The humanist wants to leave a good name behind him because of his devotion to the welfare of his fellow men and women. But the desire of a spiritually-minded Christian is to produce fruit so that his heavenly Father will be glorified. Why? Because the Christian recognises all that God has done for them.
One night, a mother fixed a special meal for her family: turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, sweetcorn, green beans, cranberry sauce, and then apple pie for dessert. It was everyone’s favourite meal, especially when it came at a time other than Christmas. The aroma filled the house, and as the children came in from playing they could hardly wait for dinner to begin. The last child appeared only a few minutes before dinner time and sat through the meal without eating, even though he especially loved those foods. Why? Because he had filled up on sweets at a friend’s house. In settling for something good, he had lost his appetite for the best.
The same applies to our spiritual appetites. Some people don’t have much of an appetite for spiritual truth because they have satisfied themselves with lesser things. The more we add the right things, the seven things listed here in our passage to our faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love, the more like Christ we become. If you are not yet enthused by Jesus then add to your faith – go back to this passage time and again to remind yourselves of what you are to do and then do it with all the fibre of your being.
At the close of a meeting where the topic was world evangelism, a young woman turned to an older believer and admitted, “I just can’t get interested in missions!” “Well, dear,” said the elderly woman, “it’s just like getting interest in a bank. You have to put in a little something first or you’ll never have any! The more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it. Try it.”
The more we add to our faith the more will come out in fruitfulness to the praise of His name.
Benediction
Benediction
5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Barton, B. B. (1995). 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Pub.
Bentley, M. (1990). Living for Christ in a Pagan World: 1 and 2 Peter Simply Explained. Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.
Gardner, P. (1998). 2 Peter & Jude. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications.
Helm, D. R. (2008). 1 & 2 Peter and Jude: sharing christ’s sufferings. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). 1 Peter–Jude. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
Simeon, C. (1833). Horae Homileticae: James to Jude (Vol. 20). London: Holdsworth and Ball.
Spurgeon, C. (2014). Spurgeon Commentary: 2 Peter. (E. Ritzema & C. S. Wolcott, Eds.). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 09:35 01 June 2019.