Ch09 Our One another Relationship

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One another Relationship
By David Cox

God made man a Social Being




Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

God created man as a social creature, and here Adam lacked a social mate. This alludes to our social relationships in which a person participates. We are social creatures, and we are part one with another. It is as if we are members in a spiritual body, 1Cor 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.




What is the Great Priority of Salvation?

Matt 22:36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 ​Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Another way to see our salvation is that it is to love God. Without the love of God, no person can be saved. Salvation is the desiring of God in the depth of the soul. Salvation is being part of the body of the redeemed, and appreciating (desiring) them as well as Jesus (the Head of that body). This should dominate our thinking. We should desire God for who He is, his moral and spiritual character. This deep desire of the soul is difficult to capture and appreciate. God created these relationships to give us life and demonstrate to you what is your relationship with God by your relationship with others. In Mat. 25:31-46, God explains that we should see and relate to our spiritual brethren as if they were Jesus himself.

Love your Neighbor

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
1John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.A child of God is somebody that loves the Lord so much that he takes Jesus’ moral character as his own.

Because God is love, so then we are to be people of love. It is our duty to have good social relationships with the brethren. If you do not actively show your spiritual love to your brethren, then you are insincere with God, and you do not accept nor seek His character (God is love) as your form of living.




We give Honor and Preference

Rom 12:10 Be kindly affectioned (love) one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Because we are God’s children, we should imitate His moral qualities (Eph 5:1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children) appreciating and exalting the other person, honoring him as something more than yourself.

Humility, not Arrogance

Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Believers should not be proud or high-minded. Vanity elevates the esteeming of one’s self above others, but spirituality lowers one’s self below others as seeing one’s self as unimportant. Service is born from this attitude.

Phil 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

The biblical attitude is not to compete with others. You should esteem them as higher and better than yourself. This attitude dominated Christ’s thinking, and he treated others as being worthy and better than his own self.

Service, not Liberty

Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Today many think that we are saved, and that we have liberty to do what we want to do. This leads to exalting one’s own desires, and presumes we have no obligations or duty towards our brethren in Christ. Paul explained that we are not free from obligations, but rather our liberty is given to better serve others.

No Clicks

Rom 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

It is common in churches that there are clicks, or small groups of people that deliberately exclude the rest, denying friendship to the rest. With this kind of mentality, any little thing becomes an offense or criticism, and by that, the oneness of the body of Christ is destroyed. (Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.) The idea is to not commit offenses between ourselves. God teaches us here that we should receive one another even though they are not necessarily in our little group. The foundation is to accept others because of who I am before God, not because of what others are. We are not respecters of persons.

Eph 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

The frictions and irritations that the unsaved normally have is played out with groups where some are excluded and scandalized because they are different somehow, and this is not the spirit of Christ. We should support one another with love and patience.

Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

The secret of getting along with others that are “impossible” to put up with and forgive, is to consider how much Christ puts up with us!

Jas 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Many Christians are so high-minded that they judge their brethren, criticizing them before others, and then condemning as evil or criminal almost. The Bible sees this as murmuring and the child of God leaves judgment and condemnation to God.

Jas 5:9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

The child of God resists judging, he does not criticize others freely.

Be Kind one to another

Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

The idea to promote is that of being good and kind towards others in this life. Do good to others even if they despise you or do you wrong.

The mark of a child of God is that greatness, he does not take offenses personally, but let’s these things pass by, and forgets them, without letting a spirit of bitterness or evil enter in his thinking and feeling. The war is evil against kindness, not person against person. (Rom 12:21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.) Our enemy is not other human beings, but the moral issues between you and others. If you answer evil with evil, then Satan has won both in “your enemy” and in you! But if you answer kindness and forgiveness, then God has won in you, and possibly with time, in your enemy also. 1Thess 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. We should always do kindness and good to others, no matter what they do to us.

Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

The “supporting” (putting up with) others is a mark of a child of the King. This is not reacting, mainly with wrath, nor seeking revenge nor remembering the offenses of one against another.

Cooperating One with Another

Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. The point is that we are not selfish, always wanting to be first and give the orders, and if we cannot have our way, then “we won’t play at all”. We have to cooperate with others. “Difficult people” are very rarely saved people.

Consolation and Mutual Edification

1Thess 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

The idea here is that of not doing evil to others, but being a real blessing to their life.

Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

The author of Hebrews proposes that there is a spiritual principle in play, that without the exhortation of God’s Word, the heart will hardened through sin. The brethren have the spiritual responsibility to exhort one another so that this doesn’t happen.

Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Following this principle of mutual exhortation, will cause love between us through these social relationships. But this only happens when we relate to one another correctly. Good works (useful service) is highly involved in this mutual edification. Everything focuses and concentrates on the local church, in its services, social encounters, and such.

Conclusion

1Pet 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

God is love, and nobody will go to heaven to live forever with God if that person does not have this divine quality in practice in their own life. The sincerity of your faith is seen in the evidence of love in your life. Nobody is saved by keeping rules, but if by love for God, you live love in your life every day, then that is a mark of a saved person.

1Pet 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Very few times does the believer give importance to the keys that God has given him for his spiritual life. Usually we think we are able to do everything on our own, and then when things do not work out, we blame God for our failure. God offers us powerful help in Scripture to change our lives. The power of the Holy Spirit gives us the strength and spiritual power that we need. But we must work as God commands us.

But most of us lightly esteem our relationship with our brethren in Christ. This is seen in the slack attendance, and our attitude of attending church irregardless of our brethren at church (the place and building is different in our thinking from the people). God focuses spiritual power in the brethren (in spiritual fellowship) for the purpose of spiritual change. This relationship of “one another” is what we want to focus on in this tract.

We gain spiritual strength when we fulfill our one another relationship with our brethren and we should highly esteem this as of being of supreme importance.

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