God's Family #3

Throughout the New Testament, the inspired writers refer to the members of the church as "brethren." I have read the word many times and brushed over it unthinking, busy with other lessons in the text, but as I reflect on God's teaching about family, I find that this is an important word. The word refers to a brother, a person born of the same parents. God's use of this relationship to describe the relationship between fellow Christians is interesting. The world would have us believe that it is perfectly normal for siblings to fight, to hate each other, to be jealous of each other, to push each other away as hard as possible. I do not think this type of relationship is what God had in mind. Remember the story of Cain and Abel? Certainly this is extreme example, but Cain was punished for just such an attitude as is displayed today by many. Instead, this sibling bond should be something very special, so special in fact that the Greek language spoken by the early church had a word which applied solely to it - philadelphia, or "brotherly love." (I Pet. 1:22) This brotherly love is a type of affection which connects siblings with each other in a way that is different from their connection with any other person. This affection leads to behavior toward each other that is different than that toward any other person. According to I Pet. 3:8, we should be so bound to a sibling that we feel what they feel and behave toward them accordingly. James 5:9 commands us not to whine against our brethren. John 3:14-18 eplains how we will act toward our brother if we do have that connection with them that God intended. We will be willing to give anything and everything for the good of our brethren, even to the point of sacrificing our lives to protect them if need be. The strong affection of brotherly love leads to the actions described by agape love. There is certainly no room for jealousy or hatred in God's description of sibling relationships. If this is the  attitude and behavior we should have toward our physical siblings, how does this extend to our spiritual family? We know from the above passages and others that God considers all Christians to be spiritual siblings. That means that we should have the same attitude and behavior toward every Christian as we would have toward a physical brother or sister. Unfortunately, all too often in the church today, the members have little or no relationship with each other, relying on traditional and outward tokens of consideration which have no basis in actual care for each other. I think that the underlying problem, both in our physical families and in our spiritual families, is that we do not know each other. Family members spend very little time together and when together have no idea how to connect with each other. Interaction is limited to brief and awkward exchanges with no real information being imparted. We have lost the ability to communicate with each other and so to connect with each other.  Stay tuned for the next blog post to learn what God has to say about communication.