LD Staff1. Jesus is our ultimate example
You call me teacher and Lord, and you’re right because that’s what I am. So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. I’ve given you an example that you should follow. I can guarantee this truth: Slaves are not superior to their owners, and messengers are not superior to the people who send them. If you understand all of this, you are blessed whenever you follow my example.
John 13:13-17 (NLT)
Jesus is our ultimate example of love.
His coming down to die for us on the cross wasn’t a thing of convenience, but something He had to do because of His love for us.
It is not enough to simply say we love our brothers; we must be willing to make sacrifices for them, just as Jesus did for us.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15: 12-13 (KJV)
2. Serving your brethren is serving God.
I am telling you the truth: whoever receives anyone I send receives me also; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.”
John 13:20 (GNT)
When you love the brethren, it shows that you love God.
It doesn’t matter who you are; there is no title in heaven.
Jesus’ wasn’t ashamed to call us brethren.
Your title isn’t eternal, but your love walk is.
This is what I command you: Love each other as I have loved you. The greatest love people can show is to die for their friends. You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. I no longer call you servants, because servants don’t know what their master is doing. But now I call you friends, because I have told you everything that my Father told me.
“You did not choose me. I chose you. And I gave you this work: to go and produce fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:12-17 (ERV)
3. We are in a fraternity, a brotherhood
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Matthew 26: 26-28 (KJV)
The church, which is the body of Christ, is bigger than any natural family or fraternity in the world.
To discern the Lord’s body is to drop status and see your brother as yourself.
You don’t need to have a million bucks to share with your brother; share what you have.
“I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35 (NET)
By one spirit, we are all baptized into one body. So if you disregard your brother, you are disregarding the body because we all belong to the same body.
For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NET)
Sometimes you may not feel like giving or forgiving, but you make up your mind to do so; that is a sacrifice.
4. Don’t despise the body of Christ by forming exclusive cliques
One of the signs of the world system entering the way we conduct ourselves as a church is divisiveness—a class distinction between the “haves and have nots”.
Don’t regard or disregard your brother/sister because of their status, but rather because we have all drank from the same cup.
In the things I tell you now I do not praise you, because when you come together you do more harm than good. First, I hear that when you meet together as a church you are divided, and I believe some of this…When you come together, you are not really eating the Lord’s Supper. This is because when you eat, each person eats without waiting for the others. Some people do not get enough to eat, while others have too much to drink. You can eat and drink in your own homes! You seem to think God’s church is not important, and you embarrass those who are poor. What should I tell you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you for doing this.
1 Corinthians 11:17-22(NCV)
5. Many are weak and sickly…
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
1 Corinthians 11:30 (KJV)
Paul used Passover as an example of sacrifice and commitment.
Paul wasn’t addressing sin in 1 Corinthians 11; he was addressing misconduct and brotherly love.
When you eat without regard for one another, we are disregarding the body, which means you don’t honor the sacrifice that Jesus made.
Your bragging is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” Take out all the old yeast so that you will be a new batch of dough without yeast, which you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. So let us celebrate this feast, but not with the bread that has the old yeast—the yeast of sin and wickedness. Let us celebrate this feast with the bread that has no yeast—the bread of goodness and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NCV)
We are no longer malicious people; we are now people of truth.
Strife is a cancer that should not be permitted in the body of Christ.
Don’t be polluted by bitterness.
When you don’t honor your brother, it means you don’t honor the sacrifice of Jesus.
When you disregard the poor or sick in your midst, they remain in the condition in which they found themselves. No one cares for them or looks out for them.
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, not if you have money or are driving a flashy car, not if you’re wearing the best clothes, but if you have love for one another.
Make up your mind to look out for your brother; love is a sacrifice, not something you do because it’s convenient.