Christians in Community

At our church, we’ve been looking at the concept of Christian community. I’ve been preaching a brief series on the “one anothers.” You know,

• Serve one another
• Bear with one another
• Accept one another
• Admonish one another
• Be devoted to one another
• Be members of one another.

As family, the Christian community will have disagreements and squabbles. We are to overcome these, however, and accord one another love and honor. Here’s how the Apostle Paul writes it in Romans 12:10, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Devotion, according to Paul is something that we owe one another. Devotion is made up, at least, of brotherly love and honor.

Brotherly love is protective and forgiving. It’s recognizing one another’s faults and accepting them. It’s being able to forgive and receive forgiveness.

Honor is a word often used in Scripture to refer to our attitude toward God. Here is one example: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17). That is the same honor that Paul is telling us to extend to one another. We are to honor our brothers and sisters above ourselves.

Now I know that some of us make it hard to honor us. We’re ornery, stubborn, arrogant, inconsiderate – and several other categories of hard-to-put-up-with stuff. That’s why we have the second item on the list above: bear with one another. We need to put up with one another. Jesus once asked the question, "O unbelieving and perverse generation…how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” (Matthew 17:17). He does put up with those of us who are His. And we should do the same.

Honor, respect, love, friendship. Those are the gifts we have for one another.
Let’s lavish one another with them.