“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:1-6 ESV)
Brotherly love is agape love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, who by God-persuaded faith in our Lord have died with Christ to sin and who should now be walking in obedience to his commands in holy living. It is loving the family of God as we would love our natural birth family, providing that we do love our birth family. And this includes encouraging one another, praying for one another, and speaking the truth to one another in love, and exhorting one another so that we are not led astray by false teachings, and so that we are not led astray by the deceitfulness of sin. See:
[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]
And we are to be hospitable in having people over to our homes for meals and for Christian fellowship, but this also includes strangers, i.e. people we just met and never knew before. We should be people who are hospitable. And we are to remember our fellow Christians who are being persecuted for the sake of the name of Jesus, and for the sake of the gospel. And all persecution is not physical. Some of it is via rejection, being cast aside, being falsely accused, and having our hearts stomped on, etc. So we should pray for one another and encourage one another in the Lord Jesus.
And we are not to be adulterous in our marriage relationships. And adultery is not all just having a sexual relationship with someone other than your spouse. Jesus defined adultery as lusting after someone else, that we are committing adultery in our hearts. So, if you regularly view sexually explicit material, or if you are engaged in sextexting, or in flirtations, or extramarital affairs, whether physical, emotional, or romantic, you are giving your heart and your passion to someone other than your spouse, and therefore the marriage bed is defiled. So don’t do that! Love your spouse as you ought!
And we are to keep our lives free from the love of money. This is not saying that we should not work for money, but that money is not to be our god. We are not to chase after the riches of this world. And we should be content with what we have and trust the Lord to provide for all our needs. For, if our hearts and our lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, he will never leave us, and he won’t forsake us, but he will provide for us what we truly need, which may not be much, but it will be enough. For the Lord is our helper, so we are not to fear anything or anyone other than to show enormous respect to God.
Loving Your Family
Video Talk
April 5, 2023
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