#288
"One Another" Living In The Family Of God -- October 27, 2002
©2002 / Faithful Word Ministries
58:15 minutes
         

"'One Another' Living In The Family Of God" - Rev. Steve Michels

As children of God, we have the nature to be like our heavenly Father. Because Christ is in us, we, too, have the spirit of God as he did, and can be Christ-like. In Ephesians, we see the wonderful truth that we are exhorted to imitate our heavenly Father and be like the Son of God, Jesus Christ, in how we live. We are to love as he loved.

There are a number of directives given to the Christian as to how to live in the family of God. They are earmarked by the phrase, “One another.”

  1. Love one another - This is the foundation for all the other “one another” references. Our standard is what Jesus Christ gives us in the Word of God. He is our example. God is love. Because we are his children, we have the ability to love as He loved, which is not hypocritical. God is the spiritual source for the love wherewith we can love. (John 13:34; Romans 13:8; I Thessalonians 4:9; I Peter 1:22; I John 4:7)
  2. Kindly affectioned, preferring one another - This refers to our conduct within the family of God. We are to stand together in love by encouraging and leading each other toward God. (Romans 12:10)
  3. Receive one another - We do this without respect of persons. We are all not going to be the same in how we walk, but we are all loved by God. In the family of God, each person is special and precious. (Romans 15:1-7)
  4. Admonish one another - Biblically, “admonish” refers to an attitude of putting the Word in mind of someone else in order to encourage that person to a more worthy endeavor. We are not to belittle one another, but to build each other up in love. (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16)
  5. Greet one another affectionately - This refers to the culture where a man would greet another man with a kiss on the cheek to express the blessing of seeing one another. We are to be genuinely blessed to bewith each other. (Romans 16:16; I Corinthians 16:20; I Peter 5:14)
  6. Serve one another - In God’s family, we are to demonstrate our love by serving one another. (Galatians 5:13)
  7. Forbear one another - “Forbear” means to endure, hold up, support. (Ephesians 4:2)
  8. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another - This type of goodness and tenderheartedness is possible because of God’s love in us. (Ephesians 4:32)
  9. Comfort one another - We are to comfort one another with the words of God regarding death, knowing that Christ will return. It is impossible to take away the sting of death but there is comfort in knowing that we have eternal life with each other. (I Thessalonians 4:18; II Corinthians 1:3, 4)
  10. Edify one another - We are to build one another up. (I Thessalonians 5:11)
  11. Exhort one another - We are to encourage one another towards a more worthy endeavor. How? By not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. When we communicate with each other, it should be a reminder of what we have and who we are in Christ. (Hebrews 3:13; 10:25)
  12. Consider one another - We are to provoke one another to love and good works. “Consider” means to look upon to the end of understanding. To do this, we must be together. (Hebrews 10:24; I Corinthians 12:25-27; Philippians 2:4)

The foundation for all is love (I John 3:23; 4:11). It is where we start in the new birth and then put into application. No matter how undeserving we were, God still loved us. We can love as He did.