We Are Family

Judges 8: 18-19 - "Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, 'What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?' 'Men like you,' they answered, 'each one with the bearing of a prince.' Gideon replied, 'Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the Lord lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.'"

This past Sunday, my husband, Nick, preached the last sermon in the series "Against All Odds." This sermon, like several others in this series, was about Gideon. In the verses above, Gideon was chasing after two kings that had fled. He asked for food for his famished men in two cities along the journey. Both cities refused and even discouraged Gideon in his quest to find these evil kings. Gideon vowed to not only capture these kings, but to then repay the two cities for their unkindness toward him and his army.
The main point that my husband made through this sermon was that the body of Christ should be loving and encouraging toward each other, toward those believers that are struggling, and also toward those that may not yet know Christ. This message really caused me to take a good, hard look at myself and how I treat my brothers and sisters in the Lord. In the verses above, Gideon asked the two evil kings he was pursuing who they killed at Tabor. The two kings replied that the men they killed were like Gideon - they resembled him. Brothers and sisters in a natural family often resemble each other. They have features that are alike which causes other people to recognize which family they belong to. In the body of Christ, we as God's children, resemble each other, because we were all wonderfully saved by grace and we should be displaying common spiritual fruits because of our decision to follow Jesus. There's a very popular song that says "They will know we are Christians by our love."When you are a follower of God, love will be your most prominent attribute. You will strive to love not only those that love you, but even your enemy that may hate you. You will deeply love your brothers and sisters in Christ - wanting them to go farther and continually grow in the Lord. You will love the fellow Christian that is struggling, trying to hold on through their circumstance. You will love the unbeliever, because you want them to understand that their life can become more personally meaningful, purposeful and abundantly awesome by surrendering all to God.
When Gideon realized that these two kings had killed his brothers, he was infuriated and would not stand for the wrong that was done to his family. In the same way that Gideon was righteously angry about the injustice done to his brothers, we should also protect our brothers and sisters in Christ. When the devil attacks them, we should pray and encourage them as we would want to be when we are going through a trial. We should offer help not insensitivity. I wish I could say I've gotten this right every time, but unfortunately there are times I have failed in this.

 In the picture I have posted above, you can see a marathon runner working very hard to finish a race. To the side of the runner, you see people holding signs that encourage the runner to continue. I absolutely love this photograph, because I think it is an example of how we ought to be with our brothers and sisters in Christ and with those we want to see come to the Lord. If you look closely, you will see the sign says, "Go, random stranger, go!" Even though they have no clue who this runner is, they still knew the importance of cheering her on as she completed a difficult race. The Bible compares life to a race. It won't always be easy and many times we'll feel like giving up and sitting down. That's when we need our brothers and sisters the most. Whether we know them well, or even if it's someone we don't know that well - we need to offer our support, help, and encouragement. If we could know the thoughts of the runner in the photo, I have no doubt that she appreciated the support of her "cheerleaders" and pushed herself onward to finish her race. Wouldn't we win a lot more souls to the Lord if they saw us loving and supporting each other than tearing down one another? I pray that we all grab ahold of this and really take a step back to look at our lives and how we perceive and treat our fellow believers, because "they'll know we are Christians by our love..."

Photo taken from http://www.lululemon.com/community/blog/bmo-marathon-cheer-squad/