Band of Brothers

Perseverance of the Brotherhood

2009-02-17T17:13:00.000-08:00

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." - Romans 5:3-5

The Christian life would be easy if the space in time was small between when we first believe God's promises and when we receive what He promised. If you could read about it one day and get it the next, Wow - wouldn't that be great!?

But the hard truth is: life's not like that.

The hard part is in the waiting between God's promise and His answer; and even harder, when the waiting comes with uncertainties. Where's this going? Where am I going to end up? What's my future look like? Why is God taking things from me? What's my purpose? The reality is, we just don't know how circumstances will play out and it's this "not-knowing" that crushes us. We doubt because we don't know. We worry and despair because we don't know. We falter and sometimes fail - all because we don't know. If only we knew how this trial was going to end, we would be okay. But we don't. We all have areas of uncertainty where we need to hold tightly onto what God has said while we wait for Him to work. I couldn't go forward another day if I didn't believe what He told me. So here's what we each must do for ourselves and for the sake of the brotherhood of believers: We must review His promises all the time. We must remind ourselves that our faith is in God and not in what He does for us. He knows what He has promised, He can't lie, and He can't forget. He will deliver on time, all the time. Who else can make promises like that?

God knows that it's hard for us to walk by faith. So He assures us, I'm not going to leave you wondering what I'm going to do. I don't want you to be overcome by fear. So I'm going to make some promises to you so that you can get through the difficult days. You don't have to take your view of life only from what you can see happening right in front of you. You're not imprisoned by the crazy talk someone is putting into your head that you know isn't true. Hang onto the things that I told you.And while we wait, while we persevere, and while we encourage those within the brotherhood, God builds our faith.

Be Strong.

Keep the Faith.

Love the Brotherhood.

Supplementing Your Faith

2009-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

"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. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." - 2 Peter 1:5-9

Have you ever caught yourself saying something like, "if only I had a stronger will then I could live for Jesus more faithfully?" Have you ever thought that you just don't have the right personality to exemplify godliness or that you needed more power to live a righteous life? Most Christians in this brotherhood struggle with attempting to live a godly life by their own strength and resources. It doesn't take long to realize that this is an impossibility. Not one of us has the strength or resources to live the holy life God has called us to live. But it is not hopeless! Nor is it impossible! God has given us everything we need to live the holy life He has made and called us to live - everything we need!

We cannot stop here, because once we have a strong faith in God, which is turn made stronger by Christ, we must nurture that faith by "supplementing" it with the things described in this verse: "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." Each of us is to make every effort. God's grace calls and enables us to respond to His love and provisions. We are participants in the saving event. Granted, we are able to respond only by His grace. Nevertheless, we are to make every effort - to draw upon His grace and act accordingly.These efforts not only are to be to our own benefit, but for the benefit of the overall brotherhood, as it refers to in the verse as "brotherly affection". All these virtues at vital to cultivating our lives and the life of the brotherhood for a better relationship with Christ.

The verse goes on saying, "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." If we supplement our faith to the extent that the verse infers, then it will make us even more effective and fruitful in the long run. If we do not supplement our faith with these things, we are dubbed "blind" and "nearsighted", having forgotten that was shed for our own personal sins.

It has become popular in recent years for Christians to claim the slogan, "we're not perfect, just forgiven." As true as this slogan may be, it is often used as an easy excuse for unrighteous behavior. Read in context, this verse, is a word of encouragement to a persecuted church, and confronts such incorrect thinking. We may not be perfect, but this is no excuse, for we have been redeemed and given everything we need to succeed. If we fall short, confession and accepting forgiveness is the righteous act, not making excuses.

So as a brotherhood of believers, let us draw upon God's abundant provisions. Through Christ we have power, His promises, and participate in His nature. So rejoice and be glad, brothers and sisters in Christ! What we can never do ourselves, God enables us to do! His power, His promises, and His very nature are ours in Christ! We have everything we need for life and godliness, we simply have to supplement those things into a life geared towards pleasing God, no matter what the cost.

Living the Brotherhood

2008-11-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

"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

2008-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

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.