Growing the Fruit of Brotherly Kindness

If you see this image…does that bring back a certain movie and a series of memories to you?

It’s the Rocky movies...one of the greatest classics of our time.

The Rocky movie is well known for all kinds of reasons. It is an underdog story…you have this guy who learns to box…who no one things can make it.

It’s a story of where the guy gets the girl…who can’t remember the story…. Honestly, every time I talk with Addi Shale I just want to shout out in a Rocky Voice….”Adrian”

It’s a story of American patriotism…when Rocky Travels to Russia to box Ivan Drago…I’m sure that the US Marines saw a surge in enlistments.

But it is also a story of an unlikely friendship.

Rocky Balboa the underdog boxer makes an unlikely friendship with Apollo Creed…his onetime revival. The series, while filled with lots of boxing…is really a story of unlikely friendships developing.

The movie even goes as far to demonstrate that race…black and white, could be overcome by the love of boxing.

Throughout the movie series we see two men…who the world pits against each other…become the closest of friends…an unlikely match.

In many ways…that is so often what we see in the church…men and women who become the closest of friends…and the world would never think to put them together.

We are going to be looking at that very concept today in our passages that we study in our summer our sermon series is Hope for Fruitful Service.

The goal of this series is to consider what are the qualities that we need to be growing in our walk. So we are looking the various character qualities that are listed in…

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.

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.

To be clear…and we have said this before…we are saved by Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone…It’s not Grace + Works….and you are saved.

It’s not Christ + Deeds= salvation.

It’s Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone…. but saving Faith is never alone.

You Saving Faith in Christ will not be just that…it will produce something…and what Peter is listing is some of the very things that your Faith should produce…

Now from our list today…we are told that we should add, “Brotherly Kindness.”

Many of you know that I have a twin Brother…and growing up we fought like cats and dogs…If he liked something…half of the time out of spite I liked the other thing…

If you had you asked me when I was a child to add some more “Brotherly Kindness” to my life…I would have look at your strangely…and said, “OK…I can be a bit more annoying.”

The word actually from our text 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…which…now I didn’t plan my little Rocky introduction around that…but that was just all how it worked out…that is pretty cool…

If we are to live as a redeemed child of God…we need to add

moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness

They are all building on to one another…and today we are going to look at what it looks like to have love for a fellow believer…

As part of our series…we have been taking those various attributes and then looking to OT narratives and characters who epitomize that particular trait.

So, last week as we look at Perseverance, we looked to the life of Job…for many reasons…but mainly because the book of James tells us that he is a great example.

We looked at Daniel as an example of moral excellence…and so today, we are going to as a great example of mutual affection or brotherly kindness…the affection shown in 1 Sam 18:1-9 as we see David and Jonathan’s relationship.

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.

In our narrative there is very little that David said to Saul that is actually recorded. We are just told that David spoke to the King in the presence of Jonathan.

It was probably questions like, “How did you have the courage to do this?” -------“Where you afraid at all?” -------“Was this your first battle or have you been fighting giants all your life.”

My point is, there were more than just a few words and that was it. There was something that David said that moved the heart of Jonathan.

When Jonathan heard what was coming out of David’s mouth, it moved him. Jonathan had showed his deep trust of the Lord in battle in 1 Sam 14…and what he heard coming out of David’s mouth moved him.

What we see then is a movement toward someone …he takes a step of incredible vulnerability….and that movement is toward those who love the Lord.

While the text is describing what happened, it is also arguing that this is what ought to happen. We ought to knit our hearts to another…that is the point of 2 Peter…and that is the point of examining this story today. We are trying to argue that this is what believers should do…

So, if that is what we should do…then what would be the categories that we would do this around?

Meaning, if we are going to knit our hearts to another in the church…what should that look like?

First, it should be a…

Passion for the Name of the Lord

While we did not read the entire narrative before…it was really clear that David have a passion for the Lord…a passion that Jonathan shared…even if his Father did not.

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?”

On the field of battle, as David is facing down the giant, then…he cries out…

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.”

David’s actions were ones that were not about his own glory…but they were about a deep and abiding passion for the Lord.

The second category was a

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.

The twin qualities of confidence and humility seem to follow him where he went….

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.

Can we all agree that if one of us had just slain the Giant…that we would be tempted to not think of ourselves as “servants”

My pride swells at the most mundane things like completing a construction project at home…and yet for David, he 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…

If you want to grow in your faith the way that the text talks about…and that involves putting on Brotherly Kindness…you will not be able to do that without a servant’s heart.

When we walk around thinking we are amazing…no one wants to knit their hearts to ours. You might find folks who want to use you and your gifts…you might find folks flocking to you when you demonstrate your greatness…. but as soon as you trip and fall…you will be left alone.

One could also ask why Jonathan and David were brought together and not Saul…there are a few reasons that we will explore as we go from here…but one that was incredibly clear was that there was on the part of both Jonathan and David…a

Desire to do God’s will

David was known as a man after God’s own heart…We see this as a description of David all over the Bible, even in the NT where Paul was giving a sermon in Antioch….

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.

David and Jonathan were men who longed to do what God wanted them to do.

I’m not arguing that they always did that perfectly. In fact the Bible has more recorded events of the failures of David than any of it’s major characters that it portrays. The Bible never attempts to whitewash David…we get him warts and all.

But, the Bible does something rarely with David…it tells us about his heart. As you read the word of God…you will notice who rare that it is that the Bible speaks about the unseen part of man…but the Bible continues to tell us that David wanted to please the Lord at the heart level…not just at the fruit level.

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?

There might be relationships in your life that you need to revaluate after hearing today’s message…You might need to consider if you have yoked yourself to another…if you have knit yourself to someone that you should not…

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.

The text tell us to knit our hearts together with those who love the Lord…in doing so… should organize that around a passion for the Lord…and a servants heart…and we ought not have relationships that are unequally yoked…one a believer the other not.

Let me give a possible applications for us this morning:

• I wonder if this is a time to ask….do you even have close relationships in the Lord that one could say, “Your hearts are knit together?” I’m not saying you would not have any close friends…I’m just asking if there are those types of relationships in the church.

One take away for today for you is that you might need to consider how do you grow in having these types of relationships…you might need to pursue like Jonathan did....knowing that this is part of your growth to become like Christ.

II. Being faithful in your relationships

Each and everyone here has relationships and there is a tendency to for all of us…when life gets hard…when things are challenging that we would hit eject on that relationship.

We all have been there before where in the midst of some hard and trying time…our friends fled from us.

It’s my hope and prayer that we all have experienced at some point the opposite of that…when you went through something hard…you had those who were faithful…

From our text, I think we can…

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.

What does it mean for the king’s 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.

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…

There are two primary ways that I think we can apply this covenant that we see David and Jonathan in…First….

Take seriously the covenant relationship we are in

While the relationship that Jonathan and David had together was stronger…I would argue that the relationship that exists in this room, on one very real level…ought to be stronger…

There is a covenant in this room that is between those who know the Lord and are Brothers and Sisters in Christ…

In the moments leading up to his death…Christ would say

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 with the Lord.

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.

There are many places in the Scripture the affirm that the special relationship that we have with another should impact how we live and treat each other…notice these two.

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.

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….

The Second way that we can learn from the covenant of Jonathan and David is to….

Recognize brotherly kindness is strengthened in trials and persecution

We see this play out in our story…just later on…

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.

Jonathan personifies the passage in Proverbs…

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

I would like to consider three ways that we can consider applying this call to be faithful in our relationships:

• This might be a good time to ask yourself if there are ways that you need to grow in your faithfulness in your relationships with others….especially those in the church. Are you a Fairweather friend?

I’m not sure anyone want to raise there hand at that…but if we were to examine how you treated your relationships this year…was there evidence when times got hard…you stook by those that God placed in your life?

• When you see folks that are going through hard times…do you do anything with that? Meaning, you would not say you are a Fairweather friend…but you are a silent friend. When David was going through hard times…Jonathan spoke up…he did something.
  
  There may be a place for us to consider…how can I grow in encouraging my brothers and sisters in Christ when they are facing hard times. When they are in a hard place…do I have the conviction to say something to them?
  
  

• Perhaps most challenging of all…is there room to grow in your covenant with the person in this room? Meaning, do you view the people in this room…those who have joined themselves to Faith Church…do you view them as different in your life?
  
  Paul would say in Galatians….” Let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”
  
  Is there regular evidence that you take this calling and command seriously? When you think about your church family…are they just that…are they your family? Or are they just people that you sit next to on Sunday morning?

My hope and prayer is that we would all grow in taking the relationship seriously that God has given to us in this room.

Lastly, we see that we should….

II. 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.

Do you agree with me that it can be really hard to not get jealous when life seems to be going well for others and in your own interpretation…you life is filled with hardship?

I know in my life…it’s easy to conclude that everyone else seems to be cruising along on easy street…meanwhile…I have a flat tire and I’m not driving anywhere.

We are called to avoid that…we are called to not allow jealousy to grow in our hearts when it appears that the Lord is blessing others.

But how do we do that? How do we not fall into the trap in our relationships that Saul did? I would like to propose 3 things we should do.

• Keep a careful watch over our thoughts. As a man thinks…so he is.

So often we think that it is just a random thought…or when we have it our solution is to just stop thinking about it…but in truth…if we get to the spot of jealousy…it’s because we have not kept a careful watch over our hearts.

• Confess when we fail. Often the Spirit will convict us…he will even make us physically experience our jealous…but so many times we just try to yell over the conviction that the Spirit is bringing.
  
  If you heard the Spirit calling you to repeat when you see others succeeding and your life seems to be nothing but hardship…then today may be the day to handle that.
  
  

• Tell others…tell your brothers in Christ and ask for help. Jealousy is best not fought alone. It’s one of those things that can warp your mind and when it is the battle you are fighting…it’s one that you need help with.
  
  Not all temptation requires the aid of fellow believers…but jealousy is best fought with friends.

Lastly, then, we can see that we need 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…

In the upper room discourse…before Christ was taken away to be crucified…

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.”

This entire message has been about having mutual love for the brethren…but this love can only exists if there has been a time in your life when you have trusted in the D/B/R of Jesus Christ.

[Gospel]

If you are a Christian….we have a united purpose…we are to have a love for each other that sends a message that we are followers of Christ…

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…

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…

Brothers and sisters…if we are to grow in our Faith…we need to remember that our Faith will produce a changed life…and that changed life is one that persons will see.

Peter reminds us that we will add to our Faith…brotherly Kindness….the thing about adding that is there will be times when it is hard and difficult to do that. But with the grace of God…and the power of the Spirit…we can grow in our mutual love of one other.

^[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.