Sermon Tone Analysis

Kingdom development Brotherly Love

2 Peter 1:5-11

Introduction

You have to ”add” to your faith

• - 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue

•Add – epichoregeo - 1 to supply, furnish, present. 2 to be supplied, ministered to, assisted.

•Epi – to be upon, to position, across

•Choregeo - to procure and supply all things necessary to fit out a chorus at one’s own expense

•Choreographed development of our character.

We have to be developed!

•The act or process of advancing in state or form

•The process in which someone or something grows or changes

•The act of improving by expanding or enlarging or refining

•growth, growing, and maturation

• - 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

Faith - the foundation of all Christian virtues.

A complete trust in the work of Christ.

Virtue – a course of thought, feeling and action.

Excellence in how we go about our daily lives.

Knowledge - a deep accurate understanding of our Christian faith.

Self-control - mastery over sinful human desires in every aspect of

life.

Perseverance – steadfast endurance in the face of difficulties

Godliness -

Vine defines this word as, "piety, which, characterized by a God-ward attitude, does that which is well pleasing to Him." Thayer says, "Reverence, respect, in the Bible everywhere piety towards God, godliness."

Godliness comes from the Greek word "eusebia" and is used in the New Testament to express the idea of inner piety or spirituality.

Vine defines this word as, "piety, which, characterized by a God-ward attitude, does that which is well pleasing to Him." Thayer says, "Reverence, respect, in the Bible everywhere piety towards God, godliness."

Thus, there are two parts to godliness.

First, there is the "God-ward attitude" of "reverence and respect."

When you take a look at the first five, faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control and perseverance this is all God dealing with you.

This is you/us and God time wear God is requiring us to participate in our spiritual development.

The remaining three, godliness, brotherly love and love is you/me as Christians brothers and sister in relationship with each other.

The first five is God and me, the remaining three are me and you.

Message

Brotherly Love

2 Peter 1

The fourth great Christian quality is love.

Christian love was something so new that the Christian writers had to invent a new word for it; or, at least, they had to employ a very unusual Greek word—agape.

In Greek, there are four words for love.

There is eros, which is the love between the sexes and which involves sexual passion.

There is philia, which is the warm affection which exists between those who are very near and very dear to each other.

There is storgē, which is characteristically the word for family affection.

Cherishing one’s kindred, especially parents or children.

And there is agape, which the Authorized Version sometimes translates as love and sometimes as charity.

The real meaning of agape is unconquerable benevolence.

If we regard people with agape, it means that nothing that they can do will make us seek anything but their highest good.

Even if they hurt us and insult us, we will never feel anything but kindness towards them.

In Greek mythology, Eros (/ˈɪərɒs/ or US /ˈɛrɒs/, /ˈɛroʊs/;[2] Greek: Ἔρως, "Desire")[3] was the Greek god of sexual attraction.

His Roman counterpart was Cupid[4] ("desire").

Some myths make him a primordial god, while in other myths, he is the son of Aphrodite.

He was one of the winged love gods, Erotes.

The Erotes (/əˈroʊtiːz/) are a collective of winged gods associated with love and sexual intercourse in Greek mythology.

They are part of Aphrodite's retinue.

Erotes (Greek ἔρωτες) is the plural of Eros ("Love, Desire"), who as a singular deity has a more complex mythology.

The first five virtues pertain to one’s inner life and his relationship to God.

The last two relate to others.

Brotherly kindness translates the Greek philadelphian, a fervent practical caring for others (1 John 4:20).

Peter already urged this attitude on his readers in his first epistle (1 Peter 1:22; cf.

Rom.

12:10; 1 Thes.

4:9; Heb.

13:1).

7. Whereas brotherly kindness is concern for others’ needs, love (agapēn) is desiring the highest good for others.

This is the kind of love God exhibits toward sinners (John 3:16; Rom.

5:8; 1 John 4:9–11).

Interestingly this “symphony” begins with faith and ends with love.

Building on the foundation of faith in Christ, believers are to exhibit Christlikeness by supplying these seven qualities that climax in love toward others (cf.

faith and love in Col. 1:4–5; 1 Thes.

1:3; 2 Thes.

1:3; Phile.

5).

1:7 Brotherly kindness identifies us to the world as Christ’s disciples: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Love of the brethren leads to love for all mankind.

This is not primarily a matter of the emotions but of the will.

It is not a sentimental exhilaration to experience but a commandment to obey.

In the NT sense, love is supernatural.

An unbeliever cannot love as the Bible commands because he does not have divine life.

It takes divine life to love one’s enemies and to pray for one’s executioners.

Love manifests itself in giving.

For instance, “God so loved the world, that He gave …” (John 3:16).

“Christ also loved the church and gave …” (Eph.

5:25).

We can show our love by giving our time, our talents, our treasures, and our lives for others.

T. E. McCully was the father of Ed McCully, one of five young missionaries slain by Auca Indians in Ecuador.

One night as we were on our knees together, he prayed, “Lord, let me live long enough to see those fellows saved who killed our boys, that I may throw my arms around them and tell them I love them because they love my Christ.”

That is Christian love—when you can pray like that for the guilty murderers of your son.

These seven graces make a full-orbed Christian character.

(7) To this piety must be added brotherly affection.

The word is philadelphia, which literally means love of the brethren.

The point is this—there is a kind of religious devotion which separates individuals from one another.

The claims of other people become an intrusion on our prayers, our study of God’s word and our meditation.

The ordinary demands of human relationships become a nuisance.

Epictetus, the great Stoic philosopher, never married.

Half-jokingly, he said that he was doing far more for the world by being a philosopher without any ties than if he had produced ‘two or three dirty-nosed children’.

‘How can he who has to teach mankind run to get something in which to heat the water to give the baby his bath?’

What Peter is saying is that there is something wrong with the religion which finds the claims of personal relationships a nuisance.

Built Upon

Brotherly is really what ministry is built upon.

Ministry is built upon the people.

When Jesus Christ began His ministry He gathered twelve men and called them disciples.

1Peter 1:22

Rom 12:

1 thes 4:9