Well, exciting, but at the same time, the Lord is dealing with us, keeping us on our knees. Let's read 2 Peter 1. I commence reading from verse 3. We'll make our way to verse 7. In fact, I am preaching from verse 7. This morning, as we continue looking at the theme, Christian, grow up. Christian, grow up. 2 Peter 1 and verse 3, his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. by which has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. We've just finished in the last few times that we're looking at this passage of Scripture, looking at the end of verse 6, where the Apostle Peter speaks about us adding godliness to steadfastness. It is a matter that we spent a little more time on than usual. In fact, there must have been at least three messages that I preached on that, primarily because that's really the apex of what we are seeking to do in the adding and adding and adding. It's all meant to grow up towards godliness. But then when you reach there, there is the descent, the coming down. What is it that flows out of godliness? And ultimately, it is love. It is love. Love is what shows that there is God's work in a soul and that that work is one that is multiplying and now blessing other people. And so Peter goes on to say in verse seven, which we are looking at, and to godliness, we are to add brotherly affection and brotherly affection, we are to add love. Now in many ways the two phrases can be used interchangeably because affection is love and love is affection. But the Bible doesn't just use words anyhow. There's always meaning. There is deliberateness when you have words being separated in that way. And in this particular case, it's certainly deliberate, because when you look at brotherly affection, That statement is primarily referring to that which is taking place among the people of God, their love for one another. And then finally, when he speaks about love generally, he's not talking about that love that spills out to the rest of the world. And the Apostle Paul also spoke like that in Galatians and chapter six. If we can just quickly peep there for a moment, the very last chapter of the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter six, verse nine and verse 10. The Apostle Paul there says, and let us not grow weary of doing good. Galatians 6 verse 9. Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, he says, to everyone. And then he says, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. So we are to show love, but we are also to show a particular love, a special love towards those who are God's children. And so because the Apostle Peter has separated the two, we will also separate them and deal with one before we go on to deal with the other. So let's begin with the first part, where the Apostle Peter says, back to our text, that, and godliness with brotherly affection. In other words, as my title for the sermon goes, add brotherly affection to your godliness. In other words, be deliberate about it so that this can be seen fairly clearly from the way in which you are going about your life. Well, there are three things I want us to do, and I hope we'll have the time to do them. First of all, I want us to just look at brotherly affection itself and ask the question, what is it? What is brotherly affection? Thankfully, the phrase behind the English phrase, brotherly affection, is a phrase that is in common use, at least in certain places around the world, as a name given to cities and places. It is the phrase Philadelphia, Philadelphia. And most of you will know that there is at least a place in America that is called by that name. Philadelphia. It comprises two phrases. The first is the phrase phila, which is really coming from the phrase phileo, and phileo is a Greek word for love, like agape is also a name for love. Okay, so that is one aspect. And then the other aspect is Adelphia, which is in fact really Adelphos, and it refers to simply the word brother, the word brother. So an Adelphos is a brother to you. When you put the two together, It is love for brothers, or better still, put it the other way around, brotherly love. So the phrase itself, that's all it really means. Now, why is it being separated from the word love itself, which we go on to see there? Well, it is because when the Bible uses the phrase Delphos, rather Philadelphia, brotherly love, it always uses it in the context of the family, and especially In the New Testament, it's always in terms of the Christian family, the household of faith that Paul had spoken about in Galatians and chapter 6. This is the kind of love that you find not so much between a husband and the wife, not so much the love that you will find between people that simply live in a common environment, but it is a love that comes because people are, as it were, born from the same parents. They grow up together in the context of the family. And that's true, because that's the way in which God has made us. Those homes in which we live, there might be four walls and a roof. They are not merely boarding houses. where we quickly rush in to keep away from harsh weather or the possibility of thieves coming and clobbering us in the middle of the night. There are real relationships that have cemented and grown and been nurtured by the people that live together there. They share a lot in common. They sympathize with one another. They help each other on in the demands of life, in the purpose of life. There is a chemistry that takes place between individuals who belong to the same family and those who don't. You can tell. When you go and stay with a family before long, stay with them a week, stay with them two weeks, stay with them three weeks, you can tell who the visitors are and who the real members of that family are. Because there is a chemistry that takes place among the people who belong. The same thing happens when you've got a sickness that has taken place in the family. The rest of the family never feels that this is an inconvenience. Why is this person falling sick? I'm getting out of here. Let other people do this. No, no, no, no. There is a sympathy that takes place among the family members. They care for one another. They can go on for weeks, maybe even months. They are taking turns until the sick person ultimately rises and goes forth. There is a love, a peculiar love that God gives us because we belong to the family. And even when death takes place, There is a devastation that takes place in the family that is peculiar, it's unique. Even if the person who has died was not the most adorable person, the most good-natured individual, and so on. The last time you talked maybe might have even ended up in a quarrel. But when the death has taken place, There is a sympathy that you can't explain that breaks you down, that makes you cry, that gives you a sense of emptiness. It's that sympathy that can be referred to as brotherly kindness or brotherly affection. Now as I've already hinted, with respect to the New Testament, it uses this phrase not about the natural family. It uses brotherly kindness or brotherly affection with respect to the church as a love that belongs to the people of God. And I'll show you later on a few passages that clearly show that. And it's simply because for those of us who are true Christians, at the point of our conversion, the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ. And it's a very, very real experience. One of the immediate results of that is that for the first time, you get interested in the people you sit with in the pews. You see, before you are converted, you go to church the way in which I go to the post office, or the way in which I jump into a minibus. You know, you jump in the minibus, you're not beginning to talk to everybody in the minibus, no, no, no. Your mind is set on the fact that you are going between point A and point B. You're not even sure, it doesn't even bother you whether the people in that bus know you or not. I was joking with the elders just yesterday how I jumped on a minibus from this end of Chirimbulu coming this way, and as I was jumping out of the, the bus, I was just about to put the money into the hands of a conductor when a voice shouted from the back saying, pastor, it's okay, I've paid for you already. It just didn't cross my mind that anybody in the minibus knew me, let alone knew me enough to want to pay my boarding fees. That's the way it is out there. But that's not what happens when you become a Christian. When you become a Christian, you genuinely, suddenly wake up to the fact that I have a family. These people are my family. It's real. I don't know how the Holy Spirit does it, but he does it. And that's one reason why our relatives never really understand when you're getting married, and you're preparing for your reception, and you've got 300 cards, and you sort of say, okay, so 150 is for the church. The church, what church? It's supposed to be for us, we are the family. And you say to them, yeah, but I actually have another family, and it's a real family. I belong to two families. It really is true. The Holy Spirit baptizes you into this body and a sense of belonging begins. It is more than the comradeship of a political party. It's more than the comradeship that you have in your workplace, in your offices, in your school, the friendship that you experience in the world. It is real. God makes us family. So when we speak in terms of brother, could you do this for me? Sister, could you do this for me? Those are not just phrases that we have been told to use, which have become fashionable. Spiritually, we really are brothers and sisters. That's what we are. By the work of God the Holy Spirit, he makes us one. And that's the reason why as soon as we become converted, we need to get baptized and join the church in a very real way so that there is that sort of parental oversight that you have and you are able to function in real time with real responsibilities over brothers and sisters in the Lord. Your life together goes far beyond the one hour or two hours that you spend together in this building. It goes far beyond that. You begin to enjoy a common people, God. So that's what brotherly love or brotherly affection is within the context of the church. It is as real, I want to emphasize, as real as it is in the world, in the natural family. But secondly, how does this brotherly affection grow? How does it grow? because we are being told here to add it to godliness. In other words, it is one that is inevitably something you need to work at so that it is growing. Now part of it is that it will grow because of the following realities. First of all, it is the fact that you are conscious that you've got a common father. And this is the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You also have a common elder brother. which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And inevitably, because of those two realities, you relate with this sense all the time that our Father, who is in heaven, He is one that cares, not just about me, but also about my brother there and about my sister. And this elder brother of ours, who's our savior, who has rescued us from sin, we rejoice in him together, we esteem him together, and consequently, we talk together about him. And also, it is this realization that we have got a common belief, a common confession of faith. When our elder, Mr. John Chundu, was praying earlier on, he spoke in terms of Burkina Faso, and that there are only 8% evangelicals. What does that word mean, evangelical? What does it mean? Why should we be bothered about evangelicals there? And then he spoke about some 52% being Muslims. Why should that bother us? Together here, that we should want to be identified with our brothers and sisters, there goes the phrase, in Burkina Faso. Well it's because we've got a common faith, a common confession of faith, a common belief that salvation is through Christ alone. by faith alone, by the grace of God alone, and indeed, for the glory of God alone. That's our confession, that without that, there is no salvation. Individuals go to hell, and consequently, that is what we live by. And we want to see everybody come to the knowledge of our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that comes to the third thing, and that is we've got a common mission, a common purpose. There's something we want to achieve together. And because of that, we have this common life that drives us. Like children who are in the same home, and you find that they are doing so many things together. Some are preparing food. Others wash the utensils afterwards. Others are cleaning the house. Others are managing the vegetable garden. Others are bringing in the money in order to make sure all these things are happening. And so on. There is a unity, a oneness of purpose that's driving us together. And then there is the realization that we've got common enemies. Satan, the devil, the fallen angels, the demons, the slanderers, those who deliberately undermine the Christian church, the false teachers, those who have a false gospel and are busy propagating it. And we are not indifferent about it, we are not. We are collectively in our common life fighting for the crown rights of Jesus Christ. putting up a gallant defense against the enemies of God, the enemies of the gospel, the enemies of the Christian church. We've got common trials. The church is persecuted, and we are persecuted together. We feel it. We sense it. And consequently, we encourage one another in the midst of those common trials. We say, keep it up, brother. Keep it up, sister. Don't give up. Soldier on, and so on. That family sense drives us. to work together, to live together, to endure trials together. And then finally, we have got common joys, common joys. And it's not about which football team won yesterday. It's the triumphs of grace. It's the triumphs of grace. It's souls converted. That's where we get the greatest joy. It's new churches planted. It's new elders coming in into the life of the church. Those are the things that thrill us. The people of the world look at us and, what's that, what's that? It's completely nothing to them, but for us, It's joy with a capital J. It's happiness with a capital H. It's abundant life with a capital L. We're excited about it. And hence, we have this common life that we enjoy together. And out of that grows this brotherly affection. Now why am I saying this? Well, part of it is this, that you find that the individuals, they're Christians quite okay, who limit their complete interaction with fellow believers to being in the same pew. You know, they sort of arrive in time for the sermon, And as soon as the same one goes and they sort of put a nice smile as they're greeting the pastor, it's straight back into the car and zoom, off they go. And they miss out on all this, this rich, common life. don't know who's sitting on their left and who's sitting on their right, and the battles, and the trials, and the triumphs, and the joys, and all this. They don't know anything of what's happening in other people's lives. There's no way you can grow in brotherly affection that way. No way. It grows out of the common life, as you are interacting with God's people, and you are sensing that common life. Many years ago, I think it's now probably 30 years ago, maybe even more, when we used to attend, in those days it used to be called University Christian Fellowship. It's now just called General Izafes all over the country. There was a song we used to sing. As soon as you got into the time of fellowship and you sing the first opening song or two, the song leader would say, all right now, let's spend some time greeting one another. And in the process of greeting one another, we used to sing a song that went something like, I love you with the love of the Lord. I love you with the love of the Lord. And I can see in you. the glory of the Lord, and I love you with the love of the Lord. In other words, the only qualification for me to feel this sense of connectedness is the glory of the Lord that's upon you. That's it, it makes me feel you are my brother, you are my sister. And so there we were going around all over the new education lecture theater. I don't know what it is called these days. I doubt that they still call it new. 30 to 40 years later, but anyway, that's beside the point. Saying these words because we were relating to one another on campus. Our lives connected. And consequently, we could sing that song. But let me go further. There's another aspect of this common life in which brotherly affection grows. And in a sense, it is what is happening on both sides. Listen to this. The more Christ-like you are, the more you are drawn to others, and you want to love them. In other words, the more the Holy Spirit works all those virtues we're talking about earlier in you, and therefore you are becoming more like Jesus, then more of his love flows through you and out of you to his people. Because Jesus wants to love his people. He wants to bless his people through you. And therefore, the more Christ-like you become, the more you want to love other Christians around you. Now, listen to the other side. The more Christ-like other Christians are, the more you are drawn to loving them. The more Christ-like other Christians are, the more you are drawn to loving them. That's equally true. You find that the people of God who have come across to you with the virtues of Christ. There's a certain sympathy they win out of you that just makes you want to also be a blessing back to them. And you find that this brotherly love, this brotherly affection, this brotherly kindness feeds each other. The more Christ-like people are, the more you want to love them, and the more Christ-like you are, the more they want to love you. Let me put it the other way around, because again, this is a very common experience. You find that individuals who complain that there's no love in this church, If you were to now ask them which funeral they last attended in the church, they would tell you they can't remember. Which church member who was sick did you visit in hospital? They'll say they can't remember. They've been very busy of late. You ask, okay, which young person who's been in need of school fees and scholarship fees and so on, have you contributed anything to? They'll say, well, I didn't know that there were any young people in the church that needed money. Well, look, what goes around comes around, simple. You don't care about others? Why should they now be made to feel so guilty about not caring about you? This thing is called brotherly kindness, brotherly affection. It feeds into each other. And you will find that those who have poured out their lives for others. When some disaster falls on them, the church experiences a stampede, because everybody's now competing to quickly get there. The more Christ-like you are, the more you want to love others. The more Christ-like they are, the more you want to love them. And that's the reason why brotherly affection is spiritual in nature. You can't engineer it. You can't hit people on the head every Sunday and say, you know, you love one another. You must love one another. You're very stupid. You must love one another, and so on, and expect that love will flow. It won't. In fact, it just hardened them further. That's all that happens. It grows out of spiritual maturity. The more goodly you are, the more you are interested in other people. The more you say, but you see, that person, I've seen him coming to church two, three times. I don't think I know him. Let me just walk over. I've seen you around. Who are you? Well, I joined two to three weeks ago. Oh, I must have missed out. Who are you? Where do you work? And who's this? And so on. And before you know it, bonds begin to happen. It grows out of that. It grows out of serving together. You've become a new member and you're saying, look, I've got my gifts, I've got my abilities. Let me join this ministry. And as you join that ministry, everybody's a stranger to you. But as you throw in your work, they begin to see that you are passionate about Jesus. You want to save the Lord Jesus. You're throwing in your weight for this and that and so on. They get to know you. You are no longer just a face. You are this real person who loves the Lord. They can sense the energy, the zeal. You are a firebrand. They get caught up with you and then they see, ah, you haven't come. You haven't shown up. You haven't thrown in your bid. Hey, Moana, what's going on? I've been unwell. They come rushing in. They come rushing in. It grows out of this reality. It is spiritual in nature. And that's the reason why it follows faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, and godliness. It's the pouring out of all that, this love for one another. Let me see how quickly I can get through this last section. And that is, how does this brotherly affection look like? Or rather, what does it look like? Brotherly affection reveals itself in you, notice the phrase I'm going to use here, because I've put it in bold in my notes, doing things. Doing things to ensure the joy of fellow saints. Doing things. I've emphasized that. Because it's no use sitting there saying, you know, I love you with the love of the Lord. I love you. And that's all because as we used to do it in UCF days, because we've been told by the song leader to be singing it to each other. It's the doing of things that clearly shows that this is what is happening here. And it's because you reach a point where you esteem the brother or the sister for who they are. You recognize in them Christ. And that causes a certain peculiar respect to come out of you towards them. And then it's also because you delight in them. They become your joy. Remember the example of the family. They become your joy. And then lastly, you sympathize with them. You feel with them. It affects you. when you think of what they are going through. It affects you. That keenness of spirit, it's almost like you are now in their shoes. When you hear that they are sick, and that they've spent half a day in a queue in a hospital. It's not just news for you. The chemistry in your body actually responds to it. You just feel, no, no, no. What can I do? What can we do? And so on. You want to do something for them to be joyful again. Joyful again. A few quick passages of scripture. And I'm sorry, on to end, I don't think I'll go through all of them, but let's give it a try. First of all, this is why you will do everything to sustain fellowship through bearing with one another and forgiving one another. Let's quickly go to Colossians chapter three, Colossians three. Colossians 3 and verse 12 to verse 15. Colossians 3, 12 to 15. While you're making your way there, I'll begin reading because the point is towards the end. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, and then it says, bearing with one another, and if one has accompanied against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And then he says, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, there it is, one family. And then he says, and be thankful. Now, it's this sense of belonging that makes you to be willing to overlook so much that is done against you as an individual. Because you realize that the Christian church is not perfect. We are all sinners still being sanctified by Christ. And consequently, you bear with one another. And then you also forgive. What is done against you, you forgive, genuinely forgive. Because you have this sense, we belong, we are family. We've got this common life. Again, every so often you find an individual who's always hoping from church to church, church to church, changing churches. And when you ask what's happening, you find this, ah, there's too much gossip in this church, I'm moving on. That's probably also gossip. The point is, you'll never find the perfect church, never. Wherever you go, you find sinners. And then also, as someone said, if you ever find the perfect church, don't join it, because you are a sinner, you'll spoil it. You see, it is this brotherly affection that goes, ah, forget. Let's move on. We've got work to do. Forget. And you go on to do what needs to be done. Or the person comes and says, I'm sorry for what I did. It's OK. Let's put this behind us. Let's work together. Let's work together. It's brotherly love, brotherly affection. But also, it is this that primarily makes you want to render help to people, to render help to people. We see this in Hebrews and chapter 13. the very last chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews 13, again, verse one to verse three. And what I want you to notice there is really the sacrificial nature that grows out of this sympathy, sympathy. It says there, chapter 13 and verse one, let brotherly love continue, brotherly love there being, brotherly affection, brotherly kindness. Let it continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. And as you know, hospitality is not words. Hospitality is room in your home, it is room on your dining room table, it is food being put out there, it costs you something. And he's saying there to people that you don't even know, they're brethren in the Lord, you don't know them, but brotherly affection causes you to still want to be a blessing to them. Verse three, remember those who are in prison, and most likely it was because of the faith, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. In other words, this common body, you belong together. But notice there, you are remembering them as though you are in prison with them. In other words, even your own life comes to a standstill because you are sympathizing with the brethren in their situation. Now again, it may not be in prison at the moment, but every so often, like right now, we have a member who's been in a coma for three weeks. It's very easy for us just forget and just continue with our lives, continue with our lives and so on, without realizing that somebody's life has come to a standstill. But where there's genuine brotherly love, your life also comes to a standstill, as though you are together with them in their situation. Your own diary changes because of this sympathy, this sympathy. It often happens, isn't it? You're preparing for a wedding and everything is happy clappy and so on, and then the week before the wedding, there's a funeral in the family. The nine members of the family are saying, well, look, let the dead bury their dead. We've already bought our dancing shoes. We're better. But you who are family, you know that there's no way you're going to put your dancing shoes in the light of this day. There's no way. And so with all the money you've already spent, you cancel. You postpone. And anyone who's a real human being will say, that makes sense. Makes sense. Because your life grinds to a halt because there is this commonality, this sympathy. It just oozes out of you. Or, as Romans 12 puts it, this one you don't need to go to, it says, Romans 12, 15, for those of you taking notes, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Again, sympathy is not always negative. It's also positive. It's the brethren have had triumphs, You join with them in their triumphs, as though it is your triumph as well. That's the common life. Well, it looks like I might manage. It makes you use whatever you have to bless other saints to God's glory. But I think let me hang on to those. The remainder, I will come and handle this coming week. I hope you're beginning to have a sense of what this is all about. this brotherly affection that Peter is speaking about here. And brethren, I want to make the appeal I've been making every week when we have been in this, and it is this, we need to grow up. We need to grow up. There's a major problem with the church, where it is the deacons who are doing everything. The elders who are doing everything, and the pastors who are doing everything, and then the rest of us are asleep on the back seat. That's not New Testament Christianity. It isn't. New Testament Christianity makes us family. And there's a lot of common life that takes place among us, as we shall go on to see when we peep there next week when Jesus now in heaven on his judgment throne is saying, whatever you did for the least of these brethren, you did for me. And he goes through quite a number of activities where the common life was being shown because there was brotherly affection, brotherly kindness in a very real way. Is that representing you here today? Are you growing up in this area? Are you? And you know, in a church that has grown as ours have, as though we haven't chopped off people, to start Hill View, we are filling up again. It's very easy to hide behind the numbers, very easy. But you see, before God, you are not hidden. He knows what's happening in your life. He knows your self-centeredness. He knows your lack of concern and love and affection and kindness towards his suffering children. He knows all that. He can see it as though you are the only person on this side of eternity. And you know what? It could be because he's never saved you. You are merely religious. Your name has been added to a membership list, that's all. But spiritually, you are still dead. Dead. As dead as they say, as a doornail. Dead. That even this message hasn't moved you at all. to say, let me pull up my socks. It hasn't touched you. And with all the love in my heart, let me tell you, if this is not true about you, you are not yet a Christian. You have not yet been born again. You are still on your way to hell. Now argue with me if you want, and let's see what happens on the judgment day. Because as I've shown you here, that's what God does when he saves you. He takes you by the spirit of the living God and baptizes you, immerses you into the body of Christ. You begin to have a sense of sympathy and belonging to the people of God. They become special to you. If that has not happened yet, you are not yet a child of God. And instead of arguing, My plea is go to Christ and say to him, the evidence has stared me in the face today. Jesus, save me. Save me. Save me. Until I can testify that somehow the people of God have become very, very, very special to me. Save me. Wash me by your blood until I can see this.