Growing the Fruit of Brotherly Kindness

• - What does a good sibling relationship look like?

• - Not ignoring your sibling, or making fun of them….not pestering your sister or speaking down to your brother…

• - Imagine you are having a friend over…one sibling having such a care and appreciation for their sibling they say…I will do your chores so you have more time with your friend…

• - Imagine siblings having such a care that they are playing a game with their friends and they insist their younger brother join them, or they are making a pizza/brownies…and they can’t wait for their brother or sister to get the first one…That is how it should be…and I know that is not always how it is…

• - But There should be something special about a brotherly relationship…because you are connected together in a special way…you are brothers, or sisters, or brother and sister…connected together in a special way because of your family.

Now the Lord clearly indicates there is something that connects us that is even more special than blood and family connections…The gospel of Jesus Christ…and that is t produce in us a special relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ…relationships that are to bear fruit for the glory of God.

This summer our sermon series is Hope for Fruitful Service. If we are rejoicing in our salvation and seeking to faithfully follow Jesus, if we are humbling ourselves before God in everyday situations, we are in a wonderful position to bear fruit for the glory of God.

• - Our summer series begins by looking at the character qualities found in 2 Peter 1:5-7. The text says …

2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Believers are to be increasing, growing, producing fruit in their lives for the glory of God… as 2 Peter 1 verses 8-9 indicate.

2 Peter 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

So the main idea is our faith in Christ, our salvation transforms our lives…where we once were enemies of God and Now we are his children…we were once in the domain of darkness but we have been transferred to the kingdom of His beloved son,…we once were dead on our transgressions, but now we are alive to God in Christ…we once were far from God, and now we are citizens of Heaven, indwelt with the Holy Spirit…so because we have such a great salvation, we are to grow closer to the Lord, to grow in knowing God, and glorifying His name…and that means producing fruit…that means adding to our faith indicators of a transformed life…moral excellence, wisdom, self control, godliness…and brotherly kindness…

So today we want to Make every effort to add to our faith by producing the fruit of Brotherly kindness….

So what is brotherly kindness, what does it look like and how can we grow in our faith so we produce brotherly kindness in our relationships. The Greek word is…

Philadelphia - φιλαδελφία: affection for one’s fellow believer in Christ—‘love for one’s fellow believer, affection for a fellow believer.’ .^[1]

This directs our minds to Philadelphia the city of brotherly love…

A great example of mutual affection or brotherly kindness is the affection shown in 1 Sam 18:1-9 as we see David and Jonathan’s relationship.

So today we will consider….Growing the Fruit of Brotherly Kindness

Please turn in your bibles to 1 Sam 18:1-9 - READ

With our time this morning lets look at….

3 ways we can grow in our faith and produce the fruit of brotherly kindness

I. Knit your heart to brothers/sisters who are seeking the Lord

1 Samuel 18:1 -¹ Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

There was something Jonathan saw in David that resonated …that drew them together…What Jonathan loved was what David loved and vice versa…and that drew them together…what is to draw us together in brotherly kindness and mutual affection is similar…if we are going to bear the fruit of brotherly kindess….it starts with…

Passion for the Name of the Lord

Jonathan just finished witnessing David kill Goliath and he would have heard everything David said and how everything David was doing was about the honor of the Lord…notice things David said that would resonate with those who love the Lord…

1 Samuel 17:26 -²⁶ Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

1 Samuel 17:46–47 -⁴⁶ “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”

Jonathan said something very similar when He attacked the Philistine Garrison…cf 1 Sam 14:6

Both David and Jonathan had a passion for the Lord and were courageous but also aware that they needed the Lord to work to deliver them…so that ultimately the name of the Lord would be glorified…not that it would be all about them…

Those who are seeking the Lord are marked with…

Humility shown in serving

David often was the most theologically astute person in the room, His focus on God and what would honor Him defined who David was, especially early on in his life…even through he was a strong young man, and had a passion and zeal for the Lord, there was a humility about him.

A confident brave humility that came from his love for the Lord.

Notice what He says to Saul before killing Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:32 -³² David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:58 -⁵⁸ Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

He constantly refers to himself as a servant, and when asked who son he was…he identified himself with His father and emphasized that their whole family were Saul’s servants.

If I just killed Goliath, my pride would be like…you want to know who I am…lets get T shirt printed…I am David the Giant slayer…I am the one who did what everyone else was afraid to do…instead David constantly referred to himself as a servant…

You can’t put on brotherly kindness if you don’t have a humble heart that is willing to serve others…because you are so in awe that the one with all Power came to serve you and give His life for yours…

[Gospel] – all that we are talking about with Brotherly love, only can happen if first you are united to Christ, so you can be united in brotherly love to other believers. You have to accept that Jesus served you, gave His life to deliver you…so then the way you hear fruit is through a humble dependence on the Lord…where you work diligently for God’s glory and you seek to make it about God being honored and not you.

David recognized the Lord had delivered him from the hands and lion and bears, and Goliath….and David viewed himself as a servant of Saul, but ultimately a servant of the Lord.

What separated David and resonated with Jonathan was that David demonstrated a…

Desire to do God’s will

David was known as a man after God’s own heart…

Acts 13:22 -²² “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’

Notice a person who is aligned with God’s heart…wants to do what God says…it is not just a emotional response of appreciation, but a response of obedience.

Jesus defined true brotherhood as people who were united to do God’s will

Matthew 12:48–50 -⁴⁸ But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” ⁴⁹ And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! ⁵⁰ “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

That is why there is such a warning for us to not be unequally yoked, so that the passion and desires of others pull us away from obeying the Lord…we are commanded to…

2 Corinthians 6:14 -¹⁴ Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Big Idea: First and foremost, you need to be cultivating this focus in your life…You and I need to cultivate a passion for the Lord, and His name being viewed accurately…we need to valuing serving with humility as we follow Christ…and we need to focus on obeying the Lord…not just in word, but in deed….that will be the fertile ground that produces the fruit of brotherly kindness…

The idea is people who love the Lord will be drawn to you on this basis….and then you need to pursue deepening relationships with others who have this focus…brotherly kindness is about mutual affection for each other that is based on a focus on the Lord.

Application: our friendships can’t be how another person makes us feel, or if they make us feel important or accepted…what will happen is we will cling to them like a leach…begging them to make us feel a certain way…a mutual affection for a person comes from…I love the Lord, and you love the Lord….lets pursue the Lord together and we will get closer and closer with a deeper and deeper appreciation for each other…we are to pursue these types of relationships…and this affection for our brothers and sisters in Christ is to characterize the body of Christ, the church.

Paul directs Timothy to think about relationships in this way…

2 Timothy 2:22 -²² Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

So to bear the fruit of brotherly kindness we need to cultivate the right relationships…well we also need to bear fruit by staying committed in those relationships…

II. Being faithful in your relationships

Learn from David and Jonathan’s covenant

1 Samuel 18:3–4 -³ Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴ Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.

Big Idea: What does it mean for the kings son to give his robe, armor and sword to David…Jonathan recognize the Lord was with David and David was going to rise and instead of taking up David as his enemy, he entered into a partnership with Him.

The reality is Jonathan is older than David…he was fighting and taking on Philistine Garrisons when David was just a boy. Some commentators mentioned that Jonathan was mostly likely 30 years older than David, and yet he did not see this young boy as a threat to him…but He saw David as one that the Lord was using for His glory.

Jonathan and David entered into a formal covenant with each other, and they reaffirmed it over and over…they were committed to each other…and the basic for the commitment was each of them believed the other loved the Lord.

The tie that bonded them together was the Lord…

1 Samuel 20:23 -²³ “As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.”

They took this relationship seriously…they had a mission to do…they were to drive out the Philistines, and they were both doing that with a focus on the Lord…

We too have a mission and we are in a covenant relationship with each other…

Take seriously the covenant relationship we are in

What bonds us together as believers is actually stronger than blood of our family…it is the blood of Christ that makes us part of God’s forever family.

Luke 22:20 -²⁰ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

What bonds us together is the new covenant. I also really love that we have a church covenant and I think that is why church membership is so important in this day in age…it is good for people to formally committing to each other, to help each other honor the Lord…knowing we are all going to give an account before the Lord…and I want to partner together with my brothers and sisters for the glory of the Lord.

We are called to live this out in practical ways…

Romans 12:10–13 -¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; ¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, ¹³ contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

The idea between David and Jonathan is they were going to take care of each other, protect each other, strengthen and encourage each other…when David was exhausted in the wilderness running from Saul…a visit from Jonathan lifted his spirits.

We are called to help each other, take care of each other, protect each other in a similar way…we have to take that relationship seriously to bear the fruit of brotherly kindness…we need to see each others as brothers and sisters…

1 Peter 1:22–23 -²² Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, ²³ for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

One way we can know that we are bearing the fruit of brotherly kindness…is if we bear it in season and out of season…if we keep bearing it when tested and when it is hard….

you see we need to …

Recognize brotherly kindness is strengthened in trials and persecution

1 Samuel 23:17–18 -¹⁷ Thus he said to him, “Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.” ¹⁸ So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.

Saul is trying to kill David…this puts Saul’s son Jonathan in a very difficult position, but he chooses David, He chooses to honor the covenant He made, and he sees that David is living for the Lord and Saul is not…it would be much easier to discard his covenant but he personified a passage in Proverbs…

Proverbs 18:24b -²⁴ … there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

What does that look like in our lives…how can we bear that fruit….

Application: what happens when one of your co-workers takes a stand for the Lord at work…and when they come to work, people part like the red sea…don’t want to be associated with them for fear they might be treated badly…will you still go talk to them, encourage them, identity yourself with them…

What about if you have a friend and your friend goes through a difficult trial and their spouse sins against them and leaves them…do you avoid your friend because he or she is going through a really difficult time and they are surrounded by difficulty and uncertainty…or do you bear the fruit of brotherly kindness when it is difficult.

What about at school…what if a person chooses to be modest and not conform to all the cultural pressure to use your body and your looks to attract people attention…do you ostracize them bc they are not cool…or if they are seeking to live for the Lord, do you stand with them.

Consider Nathan Parono story…

III. Celebrate your brother’s growth and blessing

1 Samuel 18:5–9 -⁵ So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and prospered; and Saul set him over the men of war. And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. ⁶ It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. ⁷ The women sang as they played, and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.” ⁸ Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” ⁹ Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

Saul initially loved David…however as soon as David started getting more shine than Saul, that changed.

Instead of thinking…wow the Lord is blessing and we are defeating our enemies and he is with David and working through David and this is great for our people to obey God and drive out the Philistines….He begins to look sideways at David, and even devise ways to get him killed by the philistines.

Brotherly kindness, rejoices with those who rejoice. It is often said it is much harder to handle a friend’s success than a friends failure…

in order to bear the fruit of brotherly kindness we must…

Avoid jealousy when the Lord is blessing others

1 Samuel 18:29 -²⁹ then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually.

1 Samuel 19:4 -⁴ Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you.

It is important to not undercut someone else when things are going well….celebrate with them…if a new couple who just got married said things are going great…the last thing you want to say is just wait…you want to say…I am so glad the Lord is blessing your marriage…I pray you both continue to pursue the Lord with Joy.

This is so hard for kids…when they heard a sibling got ice cream the other day…the last thing they are thinking is…I am so glad you got to enjoy that even though I didn’t…

When you hear someone else give a testimony on how God is working…we want to avoid being critical…or avoid saying…I wish God was working in my life like that…

This brotherly kindness in the early church would often result in hospitality…where a minister of the word of God would travel and would need to stay in other believers houses…imagine is the great speaker Apollos is coming to town and everyone says how powerful a speaker he is…and you are also seeking to speak the word of God…but not quite with as much notoriety as Apollos….

Imagine is Saul was more concerned with the will of God than how He looked in front of the people….He would be rejoicing in the victory God had provided his people instead of plotting to undercut and destroy David…the One God was using to bring about victory.

You see brothers are connected in a special way….Christ focused brotherly kindness is focused on the same purpose…what ties us together is Christ…that is the basis of our brotherhood….

And se we are to….

Rejoice in having the same purpose

1 Samuel 18:14–16 -¹⁴ David was prospering in all his ways for the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he dreaded him. ¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, and he went out and came in before them.

The Lord was with David…Just Like Joseph…the Lord was giving things into David’s hand…even though he did not have a sword in His hand…David’s purpose was the Lord being number one and God was blessing that. Jonathan and David had the same purpose…to honor the Lord as His people…

We also are to honor the Lord as His people…Jesus says…

John 13:34–35 -³⁴ “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We too have a united purpose…we are to have a love for each other that sends a message that we are followers of Christ…and that love for each other…that brotherly kindness is to be enticing….to show others what it looks like to be reconciled to God and how it changes the fundamental focus of our relationships…what our purpose is…

Paul says that what unites us is Christ…

Philippians 2:1–3 -¹ Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ² make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. ³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

If you have the purpose of following Christ…you will be united with others who have that same purpose…and there will be a powerful love and affection that is evident to others…

And you will bear the fruit of placing others above yourself…like a brother or sister is supposed to do….

But all this starts with a focus on a passion for the Lord…where you humble serve God and seek to do His will and not your own.

It means you take relationships seriously and you stay committed to brothers and sisters in Christ even when it is hard, uncomfortable and you have to pay a price.

And lastly you bear the fruit of brotherly kindness by wanting what is best for your brother or sister…you celebrate their growth and you celebrate how the Lord is using them for His glory.

^[1] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 292). United Bible Societies.