Loving God and Getting Along with People
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (1Peter 2:17).
We want to look at this verse again today, even though we have looked at the first and fourth sentences yesterday. (“Honor all men.” and “Honor the king.”)
FOUR SENTENCES; FOUR COMMANDS. Honor in this verse means to respect; respecting what God has made and loves. The born and the unborn. Re- means again. Spect means to look at. Respect: to look at again. My mother taught me about this when I was eight. A rather tall black lady lived alone in an unpainted house on the corner a half-block from us. Her name was Aunt Mandy.
I HAD NEVER SEEN A BLACK PERSON BEFORE. My play mates were a little disrespectful of her. They made up stories and told me about how strange she was. My mother and I talked about Aunt Mandy. She told me that God made Aunt Mandy like she was, and that God made me like I was and that I should be nice to Aunt Mandy. OK. Got it!
Soon after my talk with my mother, I went up to Aunt Mandy’s open door one morning and spoke to her. She had just swept her house, and everything was neat and in place. Her house smelled clean. She invited me in and we had the best talk about things I saw in her house. We had many talks after that. She was a Christian lady. I’ve thought about her many times through the years. What if my mother had not had that little talk with me and taught me in a few minutes how to think about Aunt Mandy? She would never have been my friend. That was my introduction to “Honor all men.”
WHEN I LATER LEARNED THAT BOYS AND MEN SHOULD HOLD THE DOOR OPEN and let girls and women enter first, I knew that included girls and women like Aunt Mandy. I also knew years later when I was 19 and operated a Shell station on the midnight shift that when people like Aunt Mandy bought gasoline, they needed to use the rest rooms like everyone else. Against the rules, I risked my job and unlocked the restrooms for them (before the Civil Rights Act was passed).
It’s amazing what mothers can teach their children in one day. It all came out of that one little, short talk I had with my mother. She was my moral compass and whatever she said was gospel. My daddy would have agreed, I think, but he was away from home running a sawmill.
LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD. This includes all the members of the body of Christ who have been born of the Spirit of God. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:34-35) This is a new application of the old command of Moses. JFB writes:
“This was the new feature of it. Christ’s love to His people in giving His life a ransom for them was altogether new, and consequently as a Model and Standard for theirs to one another. It is not, however, something transcending the great moral law, which is “the old commandment” (1John 2:7, and see on Mark 12:28-33), but that law in a new and peculiar form. Hence it is said to be both new and old (1John 2:7, 1John 2:8).” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary)
I memorized John 13:34,35, 60 years ago and took it to heart. It’s tough preaching. Sometimes the preacher inside of us is more powerful than the preacher in the pulpit. That’s why memorizing Scripture is so importatnt. Jesus said these words define His followers. I don’t know how we’re doing at this. In a lot of churches, people are loving each other pretty good. Others have enough cat fights to disgrace the name of the Lord.
How we get along at home counts too. Talk is cheap and sometimes talk cripples someone for life. Love is powerful enough to tame the tongue if it’s really love. Of course, if you’ve got a tack in your shoe, you may be unduly grumpy. Fix your shoe. Make sure your tongue is speaking the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:15)
ON THE POSITIVE SIDE, I know of no human organization that does as much bonding and exercising of good human relationships as do church groups. If you must get cancer, you’ll do a lot better if you are part of a loving, praying church. Pastors do more marriage counseling than all professional counselors put together. They don’t have all the answers but it’s the place more people feel like going when they have a problem. The bar room doesn’t always have time for tears or give hope beyond the grave.
THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR LOVE, for somebody to listen to you when your heart is aching and you want to die. Love is more than that, but that’s when it really counts. Sometimes the most eloquent thing you can say to someone is to show up and give a hug and let them say what they want to say to you. We are to “honor all men,” respect them as God’s creatures. But, we are to “love the brotherhood.”
Read Through the Bible in a Year
FEBRUARY 1, 2018 – THURSDAY
A.M. Exodus 27-28 P.M. Matthew 21:23-46
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
A Good Verse to Memorize:
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (1Peter 2:17).
Song for Today:
The Father’s Love (3:22) (Josef Francis – Calvary Mem. Chur.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su8hb2Tv_Lc
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