Brotherly Love: The Key to Unity, Part 1

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to the Archie Hardy Ministries program. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today's message by my father, Brother Hardy, is certain to speak to every one of our hearts in both a powerful and discerning way. It's entitled Brotherly Love: The Key to Unity. Psalm 133 declares how good and how beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Well, while it is certainly beautiful, it is not always easy, but unity starts with brotherly love.
R. G. Hardy: All right, we're in our continuing study on the body of Christ, the church. We're starting a new section on the message tonight: Brotherly Love: The Key to Unity. Point one: love for the brethren brings unity and peace. If you have your Bibles, I'd like to go to Colossians the third chapter and I want to read all of these verses. Colossians the third chapter, and I'm going to start at the ninth verse. It said, "Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds; and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." We'll stop there a minute. Here again we see the theme of unity in the body. In this verse here, Paul's saying when we get in Christ, class and social distinctions melt away. We found in Galatians 3:28, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male nor female. Now we find the social order. In the day of Paul, the Greeks thought they were the greatest people because they had wisdom. They were a lover of wisdom, and all the great philosophers were coming out of Greece. They thought that they were the greatest people and they looked down on the rest. Naturally, the Jews thought they were the greatest people because they were God's covenant people and they were the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So the Greeks looked down on everybody, the Jews looked down on everybody, and then the Barbarians, the next class. Now, the Barbarians weren't like the American version of the word, somebody running around with a loincloth and a bone in their nose with a hatchet. Anyone who didn't speak the Greek language to the Greek people were barbarians because they thought that their speech was bar-bar-bar. Then the Barbarians looked down on the Scythians. They were the wild, warlike tribes. They were kind of near the bottom of the totem pole of the social order. Then, of course, the bottom one of all was the slave. He wasn't nothing. He didn't have any rights at all; an animal had more rights. If you killed an animal, you were in danger of getting killed back, but if you killed a slave, it didn't mean anything. So when we get in the body of Christ to become the new man, then these social distinctions fade away. We can see how easily the devil could use these things to bring division in the church. "I'm a Greek, I'm a Jew, I'm of the elite." In Christ, all of that melts away. That belongs to the flesh. When people come in and start talking race, position, and such, that belongs to the flesh. That belongs to the old man. We put off that old man, Paul said. We are not to lie to one another and we've put on the new man, and therefore we are a new order. We're the body of Christ, members one of another. All of those old taboos and all of those old restrictions in the world are gone away. We're one, we're all equal in Christ. Neither Jew nor Gentile, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female. We are that new dynamic man that Jesus wants to empower with all of his power that we might deliver the world. So we can see the Holy Ghost weaving this unity, breaking down and moving out, destroying everything that would break the unity because that's the main thing: the unity. Just like in our body, we would call it coordination. We have to have that unity or coordination or we cannot function properly. Now, getting to the verse I wanted to: put on therefore, we're a new man, but we’ve got to have clothes. Put off the old man, put on the new man. The old man had his clothes, now we're putting on a new man and his clothes. Therefore, we're to put on as clothes, as the elect of God. We are the chosen of God. You get chosen after you get born again. God chose us in Christ. You’ve got to get in Christ first. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature and then God chooses us. We're holy and beloved. Now we're supposed to put on bowels of mercy. I gave you that little diagram and I’ve got it on there: bowels of compassion. That's what the word mercy really means: bowels of compassion. The Greek word is splagchna oiktirmou. Bowels of compassion. To the Greeks, they thought that the inward parts of a man were the noblest parts. The bowels were the inward parts that contained the heart and the liver, and they thought they were the noblest part of a man. It was the seat of man, and therefore, it was our compassion. So Paul is saying by the Holy Ghost we ought to put on fervent compassion for our brother and sister. Then we're to put on kindness. The Greek word for kindness is chrēstotēs. It's almost like Christ. The Greek word for Christ is Christos, and chrēstotēs is another form of this word. You could say it real fast and almost think you were saying Christ. That word chrēstotēs means kindness. It's a kindness expressed in attitude and deed. It is a friendly and helpful spirit which seeks to meet the needs of others through kind deeds. That's what kind of kindness Jesus wants us to put on: that we will seek to meet the needs of our brother and sister in good deeds and in kindness. The Lord is trying to make an impression upon us that we cannot look at our brother and be lighthearted and go upon our way. We've got to look at him, first of all, as the flesh and bone of Jesus and treat him that way, and second of all, as our own flesh and bone and body and treat him that way. Therefore, when we see our brother and sister in need, then what ought we to do? Stir up our passions, stir up our compassion and go to them and try in attitude and deed to supply their need. You talk about being joined together. You talk about being solidified, being in unity and the devil can't get in. If we have that attitude and that mindset, we'll shut the door to all these trivial little things. You can go into a lot of church gatherings and it's true, a lot of little trivial things divide and separate the brethren and stop the move of God and the salvation of souls. When we come to that realization that the way we treat our brother and sister will determine whether we get souls saved, because the Bible said, "By this shall all men know you are my disciples." I've heard a lot of people say, "Well, if that's a Christian." So we’ve got to be careful, and not only be careful but there should be that motivating love on the inside. There should be that bowels of compassion turning over when we see our brother and our sister in need. That was the thing that marked the Lord. The Bible said that he was moved with compassion on the people. I know a lot of times he had to be physically worn out. I can see him at the well when the woman of Samaria came. He was tired one day. The Bible said he was tired and weary. I don't care if he was the Son of God, he still had a human body. That human body was subject to all the frailties that our human bodies are subject to. He got hungry. He had to eat, and he had to sleep. During the storm, remember, he was asleep on the boat? I believe he was exhausted on that boat so that even a typhoon couldn't wake him up. But when that woman came to the well, he saw that soul in need. He stirred up his bowels of compassion and began to move, and he forgot about himself and his tiredness and he ministered to that woman. Pretty soon here came the whole city out and he ministered to that city of Samaria for the Lord. So God wants us to look at our brother and sister and see them in need and then stir up our bowels of compassion and run to them with our attitude of compassion and love and minister and supply that need. Then we're to have humbleness of mind. Too many people look down on brothers and sisters as under them. Maybe they have an office: pastor, an apostle, or evangelist. They just look at the weaker brother and sister in their mind with a little pride. But the Lord wants us to have a mindset of humility. Humbleness of mind means not thinking about yourself—it's thinking of our brother and his needs. It means putting him and esteeming him above our own self, not esteeming him under ourself. Because then that opens the door for the devil to bring in pride and arrogance, being puffed up, and then that brings a separation that stops the body. Meekness. This is one of those great Greek words: prautēs. Aristotle's definition of the word for meekness was that it was the mean between two points. Aristotle always went about taking the Greek words and trying to find the mean between the two points. The two points of meekness are one that's blowing his top at everything, one that's always angry. They get angry at the least little thing. The other extreme was the person that couldn't get angry at all. So then prautēs was the one in the middle that always knew how to keep his cool, to keep his demeanor and only express anger at the proper time. Let me read you a little bit more about it. The word indicates an obedient submission to God and his will, with unwavering faith and enduring patience. It displays a gentle attitude and kind acts towards others, often in the face of opposition. It is the restrained and obedient power of the personality brought under subjection and submission to God's will by the Holy Spirit. In other words, it's being able to keep your spirit under control, to keep it in the proper restraint and to keep it in the place where you will always act with kindness no matter what the brother does back against you. That's a pretty tall order. That keeps you praying, doesn't it? We who are strong ought to bear the infirmity of the weak. The weaker brother doesn't know that. The weaker brother might blow his top. The weaker brother might come and get angry at you. But you're mature. Because you're mature, because you've come to spiritual maturity and perfection, then you have this trait of prautēs. You know how to keep your spirit under control, keep it submissive to the Holy Ghost, and continue to be kind even when they continue to be ornery back to you. Long-suffering. Makrothumia. Of course we know the word thumos means burning passion, so it means long passion or long suffering. We are to be long-suffering with our brother and sister. I know there's some people I had to be awful long-suffering with. I knew when they came up and they started talking, I had to suffer long because I knew it was going to be a long time before they got done. It's a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action and passion. You just put up with them. It indicates patient long-suffering in bearing injustice or unpleasant circumstances without revenge or retaliation, but with a view of hope for a final victory that God's going to bring to you. That's long-suffering, like I said: the first part is with your brother, and then another time long-suffering is when you're in a trial or a test or a hard place. You're staying there in an attitude of grace, knowing that God's grace is sufficient and looking forward to the victory he's going to bring. We are to have long-suffering with one another and long-suffering with God when he's got you in a test. God suffers long with us, doesn't he? Just think how many years while we're maturing he brings us up, and then all of a sudden we get a little bit mature and then we want to go to God for this and that. We don't realize that God's been long-suffering trying to bring us to the point, and we're short-suffering with him because we don't get the answer to what we want right away. It's holding out the mind before it gives room to action and passion. In other words, before it hollers "I quit, I give up" or before you blow your cool when somebody is doing unpleasant things to you. The devil likes to get us to blow our cool, and then we have to repent. That brings condemnation and then that brings separation. I'll tell you, God's really buffing our spirits up, isn't he? If we can live up to all of these words, we're going to be in pretty good shape for God to use us. All right, 13th verse: "Forbearing one another." This word is kind of misleading in the English. Usually forbearing means to put up with somebody, but it doesn't mean that in the Greek. In the Greek, the word means to uplift. It's anechomai. It means to bear up your brother, to strengthen him. I think on our diagram of the man, it's one of his feet. The feet are our foundation. It bears us up and holds us up. Then the companion one is forbearing and forgiving. You know, a lot of people are in trouble in the body of Christ because they hold grudges. If you hold a grudge, then the devil can work on that and turn that grudge after a while into a work of the flesh: hatred. In another scripture, Paul said that if you be angry, sin not. In the fifth chapter of Ephesians, "Don't let the sun set on your wrath." Wipe it on out. Because if you do, then the devil can work on that and then that can turn into a hate, and a spirit can get a hold of that and bring you into that mindset. So if our brother or sister does something, then show them that we're mature. What is the natural reaction of the unsaved natural man when somebody does something? It's to retaliate. Get back at them. We see Jesus had plenty to retaliate for. God the Father had plenty to retaliate for. But he didn't, did he? He forgave us. He gave us grace. In fact, that word here to forgive is in the same family of grace: charizomai. What is charis? Grace. Then we get charisma, the free gifts of grace. So it's in the grace family. We ought to be gracious to our brother and sister. When everything in the natural, when the old man is crying out "retaliate, get back," the new man that we put on is saying, "Be gracious, forgiving. He's still a baby. You're mature now. Act like a mature Christian." Then he answers it: forbearing or bearing up, holding up one another, gracing, forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel. It means a complaint. You’ve got a complaint, you’ve got a grievance against your brother. What are we supposed to do? "If any man have a quarrel, a complaint, a grievance against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." Just forgive them anyhow. I like to live up to this saying—I say it and I sure want to live up to it, and I'm striving—I don't care what others do to me, I am going to do the right thing back to them. If I can live that, then I'm going to be in the perfect will of God and I'm going to have the victory. That's the main thing: I want to have the victory, then I want to get them into the victory. Hallelujah! "And above all these things put on charity, love, which is the bond of perfectness." In other words, here we’ve got all these clothes on: meekness, bowels of compassion, kindness, humility, forbearing, forgiving. Now on top of that, put on agape. Put on God's divine love. That's the perfect thing that binds us in perfect harmony. It is the bond of perfectness. It's the thing that'll keep us in perfect harmony because you know if we have agape, if we have love, love doesn't seek its own. Love bears all things. Love seeks its neighbor. So that's the thing that will make us perfect. We just put on love. I'm going to love you anyhow. Just say, "I'm going to love you anyhow." A lot of husbands and wives have one saved and the other not saved, and if they mistreat you, the devil's trying to get the Christian to retaliate. But if that other mate could say, "I don't care what you do to me, I'm going to love you anyhow. I'm going to love you anyhow." You're going to break down that resistance and God's going to move. Can I get a good amen?
Guest (Male): Amen.
R. G. Hardy: All right. "And above all these or upon all of these put on agape, put on love." That'll keep us bound together in harmony, in unity, in one mind and in one accord. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which you are called in one body; and be thankful." Getting back to the main outline, we have to make the decision to let the peace be the ruling factor in the body through forbearance and forgiveness. If something comes up and it's threatening to disturb the peace and unity of the church, then we're going to have to show forbearance and forgiveness. The word endeavor means to strive, to put out every effort to keep the unity of the peace. Because we know without the unity, it stops the revival and stops souls from being saved. So therefore we've got to keep that in mind. We want souls to be saved. The devil's trying to use everything he can to keep souls from getting saved. The thing that keeps the souls from getting saved is the body not bringing forth its increase in love. It's bringing in a division, a schism, a separation of brother and sister so that each part is not bringing forth its measure of increase. It's not ministering to the other brother. You see, when I’ve got something against you and you’ve got something against me, we're not ministering our increase one to another. Not only are we suffering, but the whole body is suffering. God's got to stop revival messages, and God's got to stop bringing people in to get saved and healed and delivered to deal with our problems. You see, I say this a lot: you can have services all the time, but you can't have revival all the time. The hardest thing, and the bigger your church gets, the harder the job is for the Holy Ghost to keep everybody in love at all times because there are so many avenues that the devil can come in to break that unity. But we’ve got to be wise as the serpent, just as wise or wiser and harmless as a dove and say, "Oh, I know your trick, devil. You're trying to get me in my old flesh. You're trying to bring an old resurrection up of the old man because you want to stop souls, but I'm wise to you. I'm going to take it for Jesus." I'm going to do this for Jesus. I'm going to take this for Jesus. Some people used to say to me years ago, "That minister's using you." I said, "No, what I'm doing, I'm doing it for the Lord." He might think that he's using me, but I said, "I'm doing what I'm doing for the Lord's cause. I'm doing it for Jesus and I'm doing it for souls. God and him will have to reckon with that part, but I'm doing it for souls." They're not fooling me, they're not hoodwinking me. What I'm doing, what I'm sacrificing is for the unity of the body and to see souls saved. That's the main thing. That's the motivating principle in my life: to keep the body in unity, keep us healthy, keep us in one mind and one accord so that God's anointing and power can sweep through the services. Isn't it beautiful when all of God's people are in unity and everybody's in his place and God, the great maestro, uses every part to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ and reach into the devil's kingdom to save, heal and deliver? No wonder there's more joy in heaven.
Guest (Male): Hallelujah!
R. G. Hardy: No wonder we shout. If anybody gets mad at us shouting after God saves and heals, they’ve got to be a devil. They have to be. The only one that could really be mad after God has saved and healed and delivered somebody has to be the enemy. Hallelujah! We have to make that decision. We've got to have that mindset that "I am going to do everything within my might and power to keep the unity of the peace. If the peace gets broken, if the unity gets broken, it's not going to be me. I'm going to do everything, I'm going to bend over backwards. I don't care if I am right. I'm not going to assert my rights." You know, a lot of times people assert their rights and they're wrong. Do you know what I'm talking about? You assert your right and you're wrong if you impede the body of Christ. Paul had a lot of rights, Jesus had a lot of rights, but he laid those aside for the unity of the body and for the salvation of souls. Okay, Ephesians the fourth chapter, and I'll start at the first verse. It says, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called." And our vocation is to be the child of God, the ambassador, the representative of the Lord. We’ve got a great responsibility resting on us and Paul's exhorting us to walk worthy of that calling. "With all lowliness"—see how he's bringing that theme in again, breaking down "I'm a male, you're a female, I'm a Jew, I'm a Greek, I'm rich, I'm poor, you didn't come from the right side of the track." We get saved, we're all on the right track. Doesn't make any difference what side of the track you were on before you got saved; after you get saved you get on the only track. How many say amen? "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love." Bearing one another up in love. Here it is: "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Don't argue. I'm not going to argue. You know, if you get around people that are arguing, pretty soon if you stay there, what happens? An arguing spirit gets you. If you get around people that are gossiping about somebody, even if you don't have it in your mind, you stay around them and what happens? That spirit will get on you and you'll join in. How many say amen? You know what we ought to do when people start talking about our brother and sister? Say, "Brother, do you know what we ought to do? That brother needs prayer. Let's pray." If they have the right motive they'll pray, and if they have the wrong motive they'll get out of there. We ought to forbear one another, hold one another up, and lift up one another. Endeavor. The word is spoudazō and that word means with all diligence, with all our might, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Philippians the second chapter. Let's read that. I'm going to start at the first verse again. I like this. Philippians 2:1. "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies"—here's those two words again—"if there's any striving, passionate compassion in you." He said, "Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Let nothing, third verse, "be done through strife or vainglory." You know a lot of people are just out there tooting their horn so they can get praise. Vainglory. The Bible even talks about in the Old Testament, some people even praying and fasting to smite. But we should do everything to lift up the body of Christ, to lift up the Lord, and to see people saved. Psalm 133:1. What a beautiful scripture. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Then I think the next part of the verse says it's like the anointing that ran down Aaron's beard and dripped into his skirt. Dwelling together in unity is like a refreshing outpour of God's Spirit on your soul. When you’ve got peace, isn't it wonderful when you come into the church and you love everybody and everybody loves you and everybody loves one another? What an atmosphere, what an attitude! That's the atmosphere that God is going to bring the sinner in. He's not going to bring little lambs and sheep into a place where they're biting and devouring one another, doing things out of strife and vainglory. That's the works of the flesh, isn't it? Okay, we are to strive for brotherly love. We see that. We’ve got to work at it. The devil's going to keep you busy working at it. Probably before you get home tonight after this service, the devil's going to try to do something to break your love for someone. You're going to have to work at it. You're going to have to bear up and forbear and have grace. Oh, Lord, help us. We ought to strive for brotherly love. 1 Peter 1:22. "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." What happened? How do we get saved? We purified our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and that brought us to a position of unfeigned love. If we didn't get to a position of unfeigned love, we really were not pure in our soul. So now that we have purified our souls and been brought to a position of unfeigned love for the brother, then we are to stay in that place and love one another with a pure heart fervently. What is unfeigned? Anypokritos. That means without hypocrisy. A lot of people have a sham of love. They can love you while they're putting a dagger in you. Unfeigned love. Perfect example. What is the greatest example in the Bible of feigned love? Judas, exactly. He came up to Jesus—I can almost see his face. I can see him coming up, "Oh, Jesus, I love you." I remember once in my own experience when I was just a young Christian, a person came over to my house during the day and they threatened me and every other thing. They really threatened me and acted like a pure devil. When I came to church that night, they were at the door and when I came in, they said, "Oh, Brother Hardy!" and they wrapped their hands around me and hugged and kissed me. I thought to myself, "You hypocrite devil, you." Feigned love. We are to have unfeigned, without hypocrisy, true love. If we don't have love, that gives us something to pray about. "See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently." Ektenōs. Ektenōs. Say it: ektenōs. Not lightly, but as it were, straining. Love one another, strain to love your brother and sister. I'm telling you, God's working on us. You never knew there were so many scriptures in the Bible about loving your brother, did you? And we just got started. Failure to love brings division and sin. That's really understandable, isn't it? Galatians 5:13-14. "But by love serve one another." Most people want to be served. But remember when the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Lord, who's going to be the greatest?" and he said, "He that would be the greatest let him be the servant, even as I came not to be ministered to but to minister to and give my life a ransom for many." So by love serve one another. "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this; that you love thy neighbor as thyself." But if you bite and devour one another—and here the neighbor he's talking about is your brother and sister in Christ—if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. You know that's what the devil likes to do. He likes to give one a sword and another a hatchet and say "sic 'em." While one's hitting one with the hatchet and the other retaliates with the sword, he's out there gobbling up our lost loved ones.
Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. What an eye-opening Holy Spirit admonishing message by God's servant, Brother Hardy: Brotherly Love: The Key to Unity. The Book of Acts is the birth certificate for the church, the body of Christ, and its outstanding birthmark was unity. Again and again, we read that the believers were in one mind and one accord. An interesting fact about the Book of Acts is that the word love is never used because you don't have to preach about love when everyone is walking in love. It's a different story when we get to the epistles of the apostles. Paul said that if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new, and he said this includes a new wardrobe. He described these new clothes as mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, and above all, the perfect bond of love. As the church multiplied and spread throughout the Roman Empire, there arose factions and worldly influences crept in. Christians were shielding outright sin in the church. Others were going to court to sue other believers in front of unbelievers, all of which the Holy Spirit condemned. The church faced fallen and failing brethren, and as Jesus said, it is impossible but that offenses will come. James said that we all offend at some time. So how does the church deal with offenders and offendeess? There is a Bible way to deal with these issues and the emphasis is on restoration, not amputation. Only one church out of the seven in Revelation had an open door of evangelism given to them by Jesus: Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. This message, Brotherly Love: The Key to Unity, can be ordered on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request offer 320. That's offer 3-2-0. Mail to Archie Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203, or order online at archiehardy.org. Once again, the offer is 320 for Brotherly Love: The Key to Unity. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Till next time, this is Sharon Knotts saying, Maranatha.