Perhaps one of the more thought-provoking questions in all the Bible is that one asked by Cain in verse nine of our text this morning... Am I my brother's keeper? Cain had killed his brother... because God had accepted Abel's sacrifice, but not his own.
I think it is important to point out here that Able had nothing to do with his brother’s attitude. Folk... We are responsible for our own heart... our own attitude, feeling and behavior. Do you know people like Cain... mean spirited... judgmental... critical... fault finders? They are ugly hateful people... Not because of what others have done to them... But because they have unresolved sin in their own lives. They know what they’ve done and are doing... But they harm and hurt others because of their own guilty conscience. Indeed... Unresolved sin has a way of demonstrating itself... RIGHT?
Now... When the Lord inquired about Abel... Cain's response was... Am I my brother's keeper? God doesn’t directly answer Cain does He? But I believe that Scripture does gives give us the answer in the context. But God uses the occasion to discipline Cain for his attitude and behavior toward his brother. In this narrative... I think God is telling us three things... 1. We are brothers... 2. That brotherhood comes with certain responsibilities. 3. And that God is going to hold us accountable for how we treat one another.
Church... These three concepts were true for Cain... and they hold true for us today.
You see... We are brothers and sisters in several ways... We may be brothers and sisters in a family way... blood kin. All of us are brothers and sisters in the fact that we have a common creator... and we are all made in His image... The brotherhood of mankind. Thirdly... Most of us are brothers and sisters spiritually speaking... brothers and sisters in Christ.
So... The lesson this morning is one of self-examination... God is asking--we must decide. Are we our brother's keeper? Do we have a responsibility to watch out for... and care for one another? Indeed... Cain’s question becomes our question. If we are honest with ourselves... We find that when we turn to the New Testament, it becomes clear that the answer is yes... We are our brother’s keeper!!
Perhaps the best way to point this out is by noting some of the One-Another passages in the New Testament. Do you know how many ONE-ANOTHER verses there are in the New Testament... About 100. And a good many of them emphasize OUR RESPONSIBILITIES TO LOVE and CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER... Listen as I read some of them..
-Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. -Now about brotherly love, we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. -Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
John has a lot to say about loving one another... -This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. -And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. -Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. -Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. -No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. -I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning... that we love one another. John goes on to say... Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.
Church... Is there any doubt this morning that we are to love one another?... There shouldn’t be... RIGHT? Now that we have agreed on this basic Biblical fact... Let’s set it aside and ask the question... How are we to express such love for one another? How do demonstrate that we understand that, in fact, we are our brother’s keeper?
Let’s examine some attitudes and actions that will help us answer our question... as we evaluate our role as a brother’s keeper.
First... We are to accept one another. Listen to Paul as he admonishes us from Romans 15.7... Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Our King James says... Receive one another.
When a family or an individual becomes a brother by genuine New Testament conversion or by placing membership in our church family... Do we welcome them... accept them... Receive them into the family of God, or ignore them? Do we assimilate them into the church family... into our social circle... or do we leave them to pretty well fend for themselves? Too many church members remain on the fringe of church family involvement, only to eventually drop out of sight... and sometimes this is not their fault... But ours.
I believe that the early Jerusalem church had the answer to this inclusion problem... They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer... All the believers were together and had everything in common... They gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Paul tells us in Romans 12.10... Be devoted to one another... Preferring one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. You see... members are to meet... greet... welcome... And include their brothers and sisters... We are our brother’s keeper.
BUT... If we don’t know their names...
If we don’t know their faces... If we have ignored them... We can be sure that we are failing as a brother’s keeper. Church... I believe some of us in this church family are guilty here. Some of you do a great job... While it is obvious that others are careless about new brothers and fulfilling their responsibilities as their keeper... RIGHT?
Secondly... We are to exhort & EDIFY one another. The Hebrews’ writer tells us that... We are to exhort one another so that we not be overcome by sin. The word exhort means to encourage... to admonish... to motivate. The Hebrews’ writer goes on to say... Let us consider how we may spur one another... Motivate one another... On towards love and good deeds. The NIV says... Encourage one another. Romans 14.19 says... Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Webster says that to edify is to...
Build up... To improve... To encourage... By both word and example. Romans chapter fourteen is a great chapter on becoming a brother’s keeper... It is about not offending a brother... But doing all we can to encourage... motivate... and build up.
Question... Are we an edifier or a fault finder? Are we encouraging one another... Or are we looking for ways to judge and criticize. Do we edify and motivate... Or do we put stumbling blocks in the way of others? Like Jesus... are we lifting up the fallen and downtrodden? Are we bodybuilders... Or are we a cancer, weakening the body of Christ?... By our own example... by our words... and attitudes expressed to a brother? Are we found criticizing the Eldership... Or giving them our support? Are we placing the interest of others before our own... Or are we selfishly doing our own things regardless of how it may impact others?
I think some of us need to reexamine our role in the church... God didn’t place us here to find fault... and be a judge... He does command us to edify... admonish and keep the peace... RIGHT? It was said of Philemon that... He refreshed the hearts of the brethren. Indeed he was a brother’s keeper... AM I... ARE YOU A PHILEMON?... I hope we are!!
Then... We are to serve one another. Galatians 5.13 says... We are called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful flesh nature; rather... serve one another in love. Galatians 6.2 tells us that... We are to bear one another's burdens. We are to do good to all men... especially to those in the household of faith. We are to be given to hospitality. Paul tells us that we are to submit to one another.
Jesus is our example... Scripture tells us that He went about doing good. -See His hand on the face of a contagious leper. -See his hand cupped around the face of a prostitute, saying... I forgive, go and sin no more. -See His tears as he cries with friends in the cemetery. -See His arms around the shoulder of a reformed outcast as He goes home with Zacchaeus. -See how He responds to the touch of a woman hemorrhaging for 12 years. -Hear Him say... Forgive them, they do not know what they do. -Hear Him say... O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, How often would I have gathered you together. -Then hear Him say to us: As often as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.
Jesus calls us to COME follow Him. How many hospital visits willwe make this week? How many children will we take time to hold in our arms? How many dying people will we serve?
You see... Loving is serving... Loving is submitting to others... Loving is washing feet... Loving is having the heart... the attitude... the disposition of Jesus who emptied Himself taking the very nature of a servant.
Are we willing to be a brother’s keeper?... I pray that we are.
Then finally this morning... We are to forgive one another. Galatians 6.1 reads...
Brethren, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Let me ask you what we do when we see a brother or sister struggling with some sins in their lives?... I know what some of us do... We run and tell as many as we can about it.
Folk... This practice is condemned by God just as sure as any sin we could name. Scripture is plain as to our duty to a brother... And the last thing... and the last thing we are to do... according to Jesus... Is tell it to the congregation. God help us to practice true religion... And become a brother’s keeper in this respect also.
You see church... this morning... this very moment... Some of us are in need of God’s forgiveness. Some of us need to hear a brother... maybe you, to say... I forgive you. Some of us in this church need to say to another... I forgive. Some of us need to understand that our failures and faults are not the end.
You see... Our God specializes in fresh starts and new beginnings... He loves to forgive. Come now... Says the Lord... Let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow... Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Ours is to be as much like our God as possible... And that means that we be forgivers and second chance givers. If we truly love a brother, we will approach them in humility saying.. I forgive... Or, forgive me.
Well... How are we doing in this brother’s keeper evaluation? Have we found our place yet? I can imagine that most of you are like me... as I prepared this lesson...I found some areas where I could say... Been there... Done that... Got that T-shirt. Then on other points... I found myself in shame saying... Lord, help me to do better here.
Folk... I want to be the BROTHER’S KEEPER that God wants of me... And I know you do also. May God help us today to apply these thoughts as needed in our daily walk... AMEN?
Many of us need to pray... Like David in Psalm 51... Create in me a clean heart... O God... And renew a right spirit within me.. Make me a brother’s keeper... Amen again? May each of us resolve to apply... with zeal... these one-another passages! If you are here this morning, and need to become a child of God by faith, repentance and baptism... We invite you to do just that... Become his child... Our brother.
If you need God’s forgiveness for some specific sin... The time to receive that forgiveness is now.
If you need the prayers of the church to become a better brother’s keeper... Come now as we stand and sing this invitation song together.
