Living the Brotherhood

"Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."  - 1 Peter 2:16-17

Since we know now what a true Christian Brotherhood is and what it means to be a part of this "Band of Believers", we need to be able to live within and contribute for the good of the brotherhood. This verse above offers us a number great commands. It starts off by saying, "Live as free men". How do free men live? How do we live as free men? Well, think back to what we were without Christ. We were enslaved in our own sin. We were in our own filth and muck. We couldn't breathe. But we walked around clueless of our desperate situation, until that day when God chose to reveal Himself to us. The day that He breathed His spirit into us, we were reborn, we took our first "spiritual breath" and we started to live a different life. So this is how the verse commands us to live, as free people, freed from our chains of sin, our chains are now gone, and we live full of life, love, joy, and thankfulness. We live as free men. 

Now that we are free from sin, can we do whatever we want? Should we take advantage of our freedom? The next part of the verse says "but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." Live not using your freedom to cover-up for your guilty pleasures and sinful acts of our human nature, but live as true bondservants of Christ. I personally know how tempting it is to hide and make excuses for the things we do "under the table". Those things we do that we try to cover up with our "righteousness". We say that "if grace is sufficient for all, then I can keep on doing this as long as I want to." But no, living this way only degrades God's name and character. In order for us to live in a Christian brotherhood, we must put off all uncleanliness, and seek the truth, as true servants of God.

"Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king." Show respect not only to those above us, as this verse implies, but to everyone. Love the brotherhood. Live a God-fearing and God-honoring life. There are so many vital truths to live by that are displayed in this short verse. And yet everyday, all of us fail to live as servants of God, to respect everyone, and to love each other as God loves us. We walk around saying that we are Christians, yet we don't act like it at all. We think it's ok to cheat, ok to lie just a little, to hurt others with our words, claiming "it was simply sarcastic" and "I just wanna have fun". This is what the world today is doing to destroy the true sense of a Christian Brotherhood. Let's make one thing clear: this "Brotherhood" I speak of is not made up entirely and exclusively of "men". I'm talking about those men AND women that are bound together not by family, but something bigger. A belief and a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

I know we all fail. We will all fail eachother.  But its by the grace of God that we can even call ourselves Christians, essentially, "little Christs". That makes it even more important to live like one, a true servant, not simply a believer, but a follower of Christ. We love because Christ first loved us. How? He sacrificed Himself on our behalf. He died for us, so let's live for Him. 

The Beginnings of a Brotherhood

Christian Brotherhood. What exactly is it? I think most of us know that there isn't a single definition that could truly depict the depth and dimensions of this unique bond that we have between us. It's not something that can be quickly formed, it is a gradual process, a process that takes years of commitment, sacrifice, and unconditional love to uphold and maintain it. It's a bond that gives you however much you put into to it. I'm not talking about a simple group of friends that have gone through a certain process where say they have "bonded". A group of people that simply get together every once in awhile to party or hang out. I'm talking about a group of true Christian believers who have forged deeper into each other so much, that they have developed an unconditional relationship. I'm not saying that we have all done so to that extent, but that is what we should be striving for. 

This is who we are. This is who we hope and strive to be. We know that each and every single one of us will fail. That we will fall short of meeting our brother's needs. For we are all humans, and we are not perfect, but we strive to be. In service to God, we commit ourselves to strive for excellence in all things, be it academics, service, worship, in everything. Although our opinions and beliefs might differ, we strive to be a servant, a worshipper, and a minister, all to the glory of God. For if we strive to please man, we will fail, we will be of the world. But if we keep our focus upon God's grace and omnipotence, we will succeed as a whole. We must succeed together, fight the good fight, and encourage our fellow brothers not to give up and give in to the enemy's lies. We must rely on God and each other, to win the spiritual battles of our own lives. We are brothers in the spirit, and that is what we must become. That is who we are, and that is ultimately what we strive to be; A CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD.