Episode 233

The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. He died and rose again to redeem her, and He prayed for her even while He was yet on this earth. The body of Christ is a disparate collection of sinners saved by the grace of God through faith. As members of the same body, scripture clearly calls us to do things for one another. Do you know what those things are? Join us on this episode as we go through all the verses we could find that teach how we are to engage with one another. We call these “the one-anothers,” and through them, the body is nourished and made strong, and the unity and love evident throughout becomes a testimony that the world can’t understand or deny.

[MCG]

And 1 Peter 5:14 say greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. I wonder why we don’t practice that today.

[Jay]

You know, I grew up doing that. Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers podcast. I’m Jay and I’m MCG. And we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

This is episode 233 of the Removing Barriers podcast. And in this episode, we will be exploring the one another commands in scripture.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removingbarriers.net slash donate. Removing barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

All right, Jay, let’s start by just defining and say What do we mean by the one anothers of scripture or the one another commands in scripture?

[Jay]

The commands in scripture that tell Christians how they are to engage with and interact with each other are what we call the one anothers. There are very specific verses in scripture that tell Christians how they ought to think, how they ought to behave, how they ought to speak, to their fellow Christians. These are for people that are within the body of Christ. That’s what we mean by the one anothers.

[MCG]

All right, so the one anothers. So we’re going to break them down into different topics and go through the verses in scripture that basically admonish us on how to, as Jay said, behave and practice these one anothers. All right, let’s start with forbear and forgive one another. Do you have any verses for that?

[Jay]

Colossians 3.13, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And that verse calls us to bear with one another and forgive one another. We’re all imperfect. There are times when we don’t speak or behave in a manner that is forthcoming or even fitting for a Christian, but we are to forbear one another and forgive one another. If there’s a quarrel, we should be quick to forgive and not so quick to defend ourselves, exalt ourselves, prove ourselves, or to be right. Unless, of course, it’s a Bible issue. That’s a different story. But we are called to forbear and forgive in Colossians 3.13.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. Those verses, those commands are some tough ones for folks. for myself. You know, Colossians 4:6 says, Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that he may know how he ought to answer every man. And you go hand in hand with Colossians 3:13 that you just read, For burn one another. And also in your speech, Ephesians 4:32 also says, Be he kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you. So why should we forbear? Why should we forgive? Because Christ is the example. And when we compare ourselves to Him, I realize the sacrifice He made and the forgiveness He brought to you and to me. And the forbearance he had for me, even after I got saved, and still sometime he’s disobedient. It’s amazing. So I’m glad Christ is a standard in that some other man.

[Jay]

Yeah. Ephesians 4, 2 says, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. And God is love. And as you said, MCG, he showed us, gave us the example, the blueprint for loving and forbearing and forgiving one another. But it says with all lowliness and meekness, that’s quite the contrast to what what we see in the world where you are told to speak up for yourself, advocate for yourself, defend yourself, promote yourself, position yourself. It’s all about self and it’s all about what you need and what you prefer. But Ephesians 4, 2 says otherwise.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. Even going back to Ephesians 4, 32, and be he kind one to another, forbearing one another’s kindness, you know, forgiving one another’s kindness. So that definitely fit right within there. Having a tender heart, forgiving one another. What about iron sharpening iron? Do you have any one another’s on that?

[Jay]

16 says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. The reason I say that this would probably fall under iron, sharpening iron, is because when people are around you, quoting scripture, challenging you to memorize scripture, singing psalms, having a good disposition and a good attitude, it affects you, it makes you better, and it calls you to right thinking and right behavior in the light of Christ. And so there’s so much here. First, you’re told to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. So we may think that daily Bible reading, Bible memorization, Bible study, all of the Bible intake things that we can do is merely for our personal growth in Christ, but it is also meant to blossom and grow in our lives and become this tree of blessing that benefits everyone else in our lives because the word of Christ is dwelling in you richly, then because of that, you are able to teach and admonish your brethren, your brother, your sister in psalms and hymns and in spiritual songs. And that will be a blessing and an encouragement to someone else, spurring them on to grow in their walk with the Lord, grow in their knowledge of the scriptures, to grow in grace. And when you fill your heart and you are speaking and singing with spiritual songs with hymns and singing with grace in your heart, you can’t help but positively affect, spiritually positively affect the people that are around you, and they will be moved to lift up their voice in song to the Lord as well. And so it may sound like this is just, Bible reading might be something that is personal in the sense that it only blesses you, but it inevitably will grow into, as I said, a tree that blesses everyone around you.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. I’m thinking about King David when, you know, he lost his wife and children or whatever the case may be through an invasion. And the Bible said David encouraged himself in the Lord, you know, yes, iron, sharpen it, iron. Sometimes when the iron is not there to sharpen, you can encourage yourself in the Lord. But I like this verse as well. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. If the word of Christ is dwell in you richly, you can encourage yourself in the Lord. But not only that, you can teach and admonish someone else if the word of Christ is dwell in you richly. And of course, you say in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Also think about Ephesians 4, 25, wherefore putting away lions speak every man truth with his neighbor. For your members one of another. When I think of members one to another, I think about the local body where, you know, that’s exactly what we do when we go to church. If you think about Ephesians 1025, not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together as the man of some is, but exalting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching and exalt there simply means to encourage, encourage each other in the Lord. And you can’t encourage someone in the Lord if you’re not yourself strong in the Lord because you want to be there to have the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

[Jay]

Yeah, I get in listening to all of these different verses, I think of many times where I was in a situation where I could have said something that would have helped or blessed someone. but because the word of Christ wasn’t dwelling in me richly, let’s say, whether it’s because I missed devotions or I wasn’t meditating on the word of God or whatever it was, I wasn’t able to provide a word that was a blessing to them. I know our pastor preached a sermon once, and I don’t remember the verse that he drew from. But the idea was that he personally didn’t have anything to put before the people. It’s the word of God that blesses. It’s the word of God that convicts. It’s the word of God that sharpens. It’s the word of God that exhorts, that helps, that blesses. And so I remember distinctly him praying, you know, Lord, I don’t have anything to set before these, your people, but please bless your word that it might bring about the fruit that you want in your people. And so That reminds me also of Romans 15, 14, where Paul says to the Romans, and I myself am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. Well, we know that the scriptures tell us in Psalms that the fear of the Lord and the dwelling in his word and being filled with his word is where wisdom and knowledge come from. That’s not something that we can generate on our own. Well, I mean, people can generate their own wisdom and knowledge, but it’s a worldly knowledge. It’s not a knowledge or wisdom that can bless people around them. And so Romans 15 telling us that we should be filled with all knowledge so that we’re able to admonish one another and help one another is also the instance of iron sharpening iron.

[MCG]

Yeah, and Hebrews 10, 24, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. You know, provocation is easy, but provocation unto love and good works, that’s the hard part. I grew up with three brothers, provocation is easy. if you have kids, provocation is easy, but to provoke unto love and good works, that’s a little bit harder to do. And the Bible says, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. Iron sharpening iron.

[Jay]

Yeah, the next verse talks about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. That’s a very interesting verse because when you get a bunch of sinners together, inevitably someone’s going to get on someone’s nerves. Like you said, provocation is easy at that point. Sinners in a can will always result in something of the flesh stirring something up. But here in Hebrews 10.25, it tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together and being around each other and actively seeking to follow and obey the Lord is what will bring about the sharpening, the iron sharpening iron. If we are filled with the word, And if the Holy Spirit is working in us through his word, we are able to provoke one another to love. Even when we are assembling together, you get a bunch of sinners together. We are encouraging each other to come together in spite of the challenges of the flesh. That’s another thing to think about as well, because the tendency for people is to stay away when they’ve been provoked or when they’ve been hurt or when things don’t fall as they would prefer the tendency is to withdraw the tendency is to close up but Hebrews 10:25 tells us to do the opposite do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together and the implication there of course is coming together to perform the one anothers actually reaching out to people even when that person is withdrawn or perhaps you’ve been hurt or you don’t want to deal with people, you want to be alone, whatever excuse we tell ourselves, Hebrews 10, 25 tells us the exact opposite.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. All right, the next one is defer to and serve one another. You have Ephesians 5, 21, submit yourself one to another in the fear of God. You know, Ephesians 5 is an interesting chapter because, you know, Paul also adjusts the wives, adjust the husbands. You know, he said, husband loves your wives, wives submit to the husband. But before verse 22, we have submitting yourself one to another in the fear of God. And that’s you as a church member submitting to the pastor. That’s you as a pastor submitting to the member. That’s, you know, you submitting to one another, deferring to one another and serve one another. And it’s going to be difficult sometimes, especially if, you know, the other things that you should be doing, you’re not doing. the order one another. If you’re not forgiving one another, if you’re not exalting one another, if you’re not forbearing one another, you’re not going to submit.

[Jay]

Galatians 5.13 says, for brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. The idea, of course, tagging on to what Ephesians 5:21 says of submitting ourselves one to another, part of that is being quick to serve one another, being quick to lay down all the stuff that we can do for the sake of our brethren. We defer or we give those things up. One of the contexts that we know is presented in scripture is on the issue of liberty, where Some Christians have no problem eating particular meats or celebrating a day, not celebrating a particular day, but choosing to not do those things even if you have liberty in Christ to do them so that you’re not a stumbling block to your brother, so that you don’t hinder the spiritual development of your fellow Christian. That falls under the umbrella of deferring to and serving one another. Of course, in the world, the idea is to serve yourself, to look out for yourself, to Empower yourself. And as a result of that, you can drag people along with you. Something along the lines of a rising tide lifts all ships. But the Bible says that we are called to subdue and submit ourselves, lay down those liberties that we think we have, and love one another and serve one another.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. I think about Philippians 2 verse 3, let nothing be done through strive or vain glory, but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. that verse is interesting verse. At work once, back when the dinosaur roamed the earth and we were going into the office, we were doing some kind of team building activity. We were at the initial stages of the project and we didn’t really have much project work to do. We were doing agile framework and all this stuff. And the first couple of weeks of that is always team building and all that stuff. So I remember they were trying to, you know, get values for the team and everything. And I, you know, quoted this verse without mentioning it, that is from the Bible. You know, I said that we esteem each other better than ourselves. And it was interesting how many people did not like that. I think they asked me where I got that from or where it’s from or what of case. I don’t remember how it goes, but I do remember distinctly that he didn’t make it as one of the team values. Just to show that that’s difficult when you look at someone and you esteem them better than yourself. Because what did the Bible say? No one ever hated himself. You know, so not just person asking to hate yourself, but when you look at your fellow brother, do you esteem them better than yourself? Or do you bring them down in your mind all of kids may be. It’s a powerful verse right there.

[Jay]

First Peter 38 says, finally be all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. To tag on what you just said, MCG, none of these are words that the world gives value to, to be pitiful, to be lowly, to have compassion one of another. Those are not values that you find in the world, perhaps in some limited applications, the world would value those things, but generally it’s more about each person getting what they deserve. Perhaps there’s a whole lot of priming and… positioning yourself to have your best foot forward, to look your best all of the time in whatever you’re doing so that others will think highly of you and so that you’re highly esteemed, as you mentioned, in everyone’s mind. 8 continues this thought of having us humble ourselves and to aim and strive for unity, having compassion, love, and being courteous and pitiful. Pitiful in the sense not that you’re not achieving reaching the standard that you ought to for yourself. But it seems to be, in my instance, more willing to, as I mentioned, humble yourself and more willing to be stepped on. I remember we had Brother Eric on. a few episodes ago and he talked about in his particular ministry being willing to be used of the people who would use ministry for perhaps something that it’s not intended for. In that particular conversation it was about a children’s ministry, being willing to be put in a position where someone would take advantage of you just so that unity can progress or be fostered and so that the ministry can continue forward. It sounds to me that that’s within the realm of what 1 Peter 3.8 is talking about.

[MCG]

Yeah. 5, it says, likewise, he younger, submit yourself unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility for God resisted the proud and give it grace to the humble. And I think to some degree that is lost in our society today as well. And even within some Christian realm, even just take it at face value and, you know, Younger submit or be subject to the elder. Submit yourself unto the elder and be subject one to another. Go back to submitting yourself one to another from Ephesians chapter 5. But a lot of times young folks no longer have the respect for the older folks as they should. You know, society has changed and I guess we’re no longer front put society and you no longer have to be respectful to elderlies. But the Bible is still, we want to say it old fashioned. younger so bring yourself unto elder. And even if you want to say elderly means a pastor or whatever the case may be, a lot of young folks still don’t respect their pastor. So yeah, definitely.

[Jay]

The next one another that we are called to do is do not harm one another. Galatians 5, 15 says, but if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This verse tags along great with what we’ve previously discussed about deferring one to another, not biting off and devouring one another. The idea there is this constant nitpicking, this constant pressure, this constant insistence on having your way or correcting this thing or this thing has to be done my way, devouring one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. The idea seems to me there is not just you’re insisting on having your own way and you’re willing to henpeck and persist until people agree to go your way, but at the expense, what happens as a result is that you hurt people, you beat people down, you discourage them, you, what’s the… word when you just mow them over. And this is something that Galatians 5.15 clearly tells us not to do. The idea of biting and devouring one another has this idea of a caustic, sarcastic, mean, malicious, mean-spirited sort of attacking of one another. The Bible tells us that we are not to do that one to another.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. And the next one I have here would admonish you against gossip. He says, speak not evil one of another, brethren. He does speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. You know, just going back to the first part of they speak not evil one to another. How many of us speak evil of someone else in front of them? It’s always behind of their back. And I think this is a good verse that warn us against gossip. You know, don’t speak evil one to another of the breadwin.

[Jay]

This would be interesting to figure out. or to know clearly what is considered gossip. how there’s this common accusation in churches where people, they will gossip in the form of a prayer request or gossip in the form of a, I understood gossip to be talking about someone else’s private life while they’re not there or talking about the person when they’re not there. Is that what you would consider gossip to be?

[MCG]

No, because if you’re speaking something good, I don’t think that’s gossip.

[Jay]

Okay, so speaking something evil of the person or. Okay, I understand.

[MCG]

I’m sure there’s a broader definition as well, but definitely that will be gossip as well.

[Jay]

Yeah. James 5.9 says, grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. This one is click, don’t hold grudges. That’s a root of bitterness that has taken root. Remembering what the person has done or what the person has said or what the person is and holding it against them is the sheer definition of grudging and that could take many forms if you are withholding brotherly love and affection, if you’re withholding any of the one anothers because someone did something to offend you or they are something that offends you. Let’s say, for example, we’ve seen this practically played out. in our history if someone is a particular color or if they’re a particular ethnicity or they speak a certain way or they have a particular occupation or they have a particular political position that you don’t prefer, as Christians are made-up of a disparate group of people who have all put their trust and faith in Christ, but in every other way we’re going to differ in some inevitable way. not holding a grudge against one another on account of these things, not holding a grudge against one another on account of perhaps someone that has failed in some particular way. This is what James 5:9 is telling us about. It’s basically not being bitter one against another.

[MCG]

Right. You know, every time I see that verse or even hear the Bible warning against bitterness and bitterness can dwell in any one of us. I always think about Brother David Sommerdorf. And if you’re listening, brother, the root of business.

[Jay]

One of your favorite sermons?

[MCG]

One of my favorite sermons. But yeah, that’s definitely a powerful one. Romans 14, 13 says, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block on occasion to fall in his brother’s way. And, you know, not harming one another, not holding the grudge, you know, not judging one another, not speaking evil over one another here. And he said, hey, don’t cause your brothers to stumble. Don’t put the tumbling block in front of him. That also goes back with submitting, forbearing. All of these one anothers kind of just stack up on each other to make a beautiful pillar of truth because over the Bible admonishes, hey, these are how you should be taking care of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

[Jay]

That’s really convicting to think about it. There was a sister in our church who was giving a lesson in the ladies’ Bible study, and she talked about how when she was a little girl, she had spilled, I’m not sure what it was, milk or something. And instead of her mother losing her temper with her, she very gently and very kindly let her know that it was okay and helped her clean it up. And she always remembered that. And when she, as a mother now herself, she found that was the way almost by default that she reacted with her children. It was because of the kindness and the gentleness that her mother showed her. That godly response was a tree that ended up blessing her granddaughter because the daughter saw her mother’s behavior and behaved that way with her daughter. And so when you talk about not putting a stumbling block, some of our interactions with people can have very far-reaching consequences that we may not even anticipate or are able to foresee things that might be a stumbling block. We are called not to do that. That’s really convicting for me. This is a tough one, maybe we should discuss it. First Corinthians chapter 6 verses 6 through 8 says, but brother goeth to law with brother and that before unbelievers. Now therefore is there utterly a fault among you because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud and that your brethren. This is Now this one is talking about the context of perhaps you’re talking about business or legal matters between brethren doing harm one to another and there’s this idea of Christians taking Christians to court and whether that should be done. I put an asterisk next to this one because this is something that not all Christians see eye to eye. They don’t see eye to eye on this and there’s no, at least I haven’t found there to be much of an agreement that when a Christian has wronged A Christian, do you go stand before the magistrate? Do you go stand before the secular court in order to settle it? Or do you apply the one another’s and settle it between yourselves before it gets to that legal level? I suppose that’s definitely something. I don’t know if that would fall under the one another’s, but that certainly does fall under the realm of not harming one another and how to resolve it.

[MCG]

Yeah, that’s a tough one. I hold to the believe that this is talking about civil matters, not criminal matters. In many jurisdictions, criminal matters, if you don’t report it, if you don’t do the right thing in terms of with the authorities, you yourself will be accessory to the crime, if you want to put it that way. You yourself can be punished. So, you know, in a lot of churches, You know, sometimes let’s say the youth pastor get mixed up with one of the teenagers and the teenager is under age, under the age of consent or whatever the case may be, and they fire the youth pastor or allow him to leave and he drives 800 miles down the road and join another church and become the youth pastor there without ever telling the pastor at that church and the people at that church what happened. And no one really know because he stays within the doors of the church. You know, that’s wrong. If you break the law, if it’s a criminal matter, it needs to be reported, need to be told to the authorities. Civil matters, I think this is the way the Bible talking about. You can’t settle some sort of, let’s say, monetary gift that was promised to you or something like that. Let’s say it wasn’t even a contract because some people would argue if it’s a contract, now you become criminal and not civil. I’m not the lawyer, so I’m not going to even try to get into when does it become civil and criminal or whatever the case may be, but I think he’s talking about civil matters here. So a lot of folks use this in terms of divorce. When you take your spouse before the court, are you violating this command right here as a civil matter? Because divorce is a civil matter. But then you can argue, what about if there’s criminal elements, why the person divorcing? So it can get very tough. I know one person was getting divorced, and the person said to me that their spouse was wrong because one of the reasons why their spouse was wrong, because their spouse was taking them before the court. Okay. I know another brother who is presently spending some time in federal prison because of people in a church that felt like they were defauded and their federal government felt that he was criminal. That one is tough. Was it criminal or was it civil? So I guess at some point you’re going to have to follow your conscience. But I think if it’s clearly civil matter, the Bible say, hey, why not take wrong? tough.

[Jay]

Really tough.

[MCG]

But it goes hand in hand with forbearing and forgiving one another as well.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[MCG]

All right. So the next one is help one another. Galatians 6 and verse 2. Bear he one another’s burden and so fulfill the law of Christ. I think the body should be there. We should be there for each other. And it’s just basically saying, hey, bear he one another burden.

[Jay]

Yeah, praying for one for another, asking each other how we’re doing and how we can be a blessing, how we can help. That’s certainly bearing one another’s burdens. Something that I’m thinking about too is I’m thinking of the verse where you lay down your liberty and you don’t cause a brother to stumble because they’re not as spiritually mature as you. But this applies here as well. You might think that someone’s burden might be trivial. we need to guard against the whole attitude of, what are you worried about that for? Or that’s not a big deal. Or, it might be an important matter to your brother or your sister in Christ. Don’t tear them down because you find that their struggle is a little silly or you find that it’s trivial. It might not be for them and we should bear one another’s burden.

[MCG]

Even as parents, you have to take that in account too, because especially when it comes to kids, because it’d be the silliest thing that would be their burden.

[Jay]

Right. But for them, definitely convicting. Next one I’ve got, James 5.16, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. There’s 2 things I see here. Well, three things. The first ones are to confess your faults one to another. You’re also to pray for one another. But then there’s also an unspoken sort of one another here where it says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Our prayers will be ineffectual if we’re not doing those things that we mentioned in the previous one and others where we’re filled with the word, we’re controlled by the Spirit, we are submitted to Christ, we are walking in the light so that we can be a blessing to our brethren. If we’re not doing that, praying for our brethren will not be effectual and fervent as it says here. If we’re not righteous, if we’re not, and by righteous I don’t mean that somehow our works make us righteous. What I mean is that we are filled with the word, living for Christ, striving to be set apart as we’re called to do, to be holy as God is holy. Well, our prayers are not going to be effectual. They’re not going to be fervent. And if our brethren are counting on us to be praying on their behalf, the unspoken part of that is that your personal walk with the Lord is such that your prayers are not hindered, that your prayers will be effectual in their lives because God will hear you on their behalf, whatever he decides to do or however he decides to move in that particular situation. Confessing our faults one to another, that’s pretty important because it’s easy in a Christian setting to have this idea that everyone has everything figured out. We show up to church and we’re dressed nicely and we’ve got smiles plastered on our faces. We see each other once or twice a week and we’re not seeing each other on the day-to-day. Perhaps we don’t know the struggles that someone might be enduring on the day-to-day. And if we confess our faults one to another, we can be honest with one another and genuinely share the things that we’re struggling with so that we do know how to pray for one another so that we can know, oh, right, I’m not the only one enduring or struggling with this particular issue. I could go to Sister so-and-so and I know that she’s not going to be looking down her nose at me. She’s going to recognize the struggle and be willing to help me or something along those lines. And so confessing your faults one to another and praying for one another. That’s a huge one, James 5.16.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. And I guess you can argue this one is maybe the foundation of them all is love one another. And John 13 in verse 34 says, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. And every time I’m commanded to be like Christ or do something the way Christ do it, I realise how inadequate I am. Because if you say do it as some other fellow human do it, not a big deal. And on the Bible I really told us, if we compare ourselves among ourselves, we’re not wise. But when he said, love us Christ, forgave us Christ, forbear us Christ, that’s an enormous task when I think about it. Because I don’t think he’s calling us to do it in and of ourselves. You know, the natural man can’t do that in and of himself. I think it’s Christ in you that will do it. You know, I remember when we had Scott and Tommy Pauley on the podcast and we asked him about, you know, which one have the harder command, the wife is command to submit and the husband is called to love. And, you know, I kind of asked a question tongue in cheek at times just to provoke an answer, but I like brother Scott answer when he said, the husband is called to love as Christ love and wife is called to submit as Christ submit. Then you realize enormous task that both of them have. You know, it’s not one is harder, one is less is when you compare it to Christ, how much he submit and how much he loves, you kind of just make it a in my mind. So when the Bible say, love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another, it’s an amazing, enormous command.

[Jay]

Yeah. The next verse, verse 35, goes on and says, by this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. What an enormous responsibility to adequately portray Christ to the world. It’s a result of how much we love one another, loving one another with Christ’s love. It’s always a shame to see disunity in the church or church members backbiting and hating, not hating, perhaps, going after one another. And it seems that in today’s world, social media has enabled and emboldened Christians to go after one another with such a vitriol that you wonder, goodness gracious, are we all on the same team here? It’s gotten to the point where sometimes online, if there is a discussion back and forth, you resort to lots of very malicious name calling and labeling, hey, that person’s not sound, or that person is questionable, or this, that, or the other, in the back forth that perhaps in days gone by, we were not, it wasn’t so easy to do that. There’s something about these devices that…

[MCG]

Anonymity.

[Jay]

Yeah, the anonymity of it, the algorithmic nature of promoting more scandalous or, you know, what is it, heated material that turns into this self-fulfilling prophecy, this self-feeding, this loop that we get caught in to do more and more egregious things that fall short of loving one another because of the nature of social media, that’s something that perhaps, you know, we really ought to be careful about. And John 3, 1335 tells us that the world will know that we are his disciples by the love that we have one for another. That’s a tall order.

[MCG]

Yeah.

[Jay]

As you were saying, MCG.

[MCG]

And John saying in John, John 15, verse 12, this is my commandment that he love one another as I have loved you. He can cross western and die with John 1334, basically the same command. And then you go back to John 1517, just go down a few verses, basically have command again. These things that command you, that you love one another. I think Christ really wants us to love one another.

[Jay]

Yeah, I just about to say that. Yeah, I think he’s being pretty clear with these verses that he wants us to love one another. First Peter 4, 8, and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Paul is telling us this now, where the love that we have for one another, it will enable us, as you said before, MCG, it will enable us to cover the multitude of sins. It will enable us to forbear and to be kind impatient and gentle one with another. That’s the first Peter 4 8.

[MCG]

And first Peter 5 14 said greet he one another with the kiss of charity. I wonder why we don’t practice that today.

[Jay]

You know, I grew up doing that. You actually, well, maybe it might be a French thing as you’re growing up. The way that you properly greet either an adult or a Christian in the church is with a kiss on the side of the cheek. We don’t do that here though. People find that weird in the US. We don’t do that here.

[MCG]

All right. Peace be to you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. So the Bible says greet one another with a kiss. And I guess today that might be the handshake or the friendly gesture or whatever the case may be. I know we don’t practice that in the West but definitely a warm greeting is always welcome.

[Jay]

Yeah. And Romans 12, 10, be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another. This one, it’s similar, but there is a little bit of a difference there. And in our disposition with one another to be kindly affectioned, our disposition toward one another shouldn’t be cold, it shouldn’t be aloof, it shouldn’t be standoffish. When we do that, we’re not obeying the scriptures. We’re called to be kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly love and honor preferring one another. So that’s convicting to me as well. Sometimes when you get in a funk and you just want to be alone and you’re quiet and you got the cold, what’s it called, the silent treatment going on, this is something that the scripture has called us not to do. That doesn’t fall under the umbrella of loving one another.

[MCG]

Yeah, that also go back to esteeming one another better than ourselves as well. So I like how they build upon each other. Of course, Romans 13, verse 8 says, owe no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another had fulfilled the law. And if we should owe anyone, anything, it should be loved. And again, as I said, it seems to be very important to Christ. He repeats himself. And when he’s repeating himself, I think as every loving parent, when you repeat yourself, it’s probably important.

[Jay]

Right. First Thessalonians 310, and the Lord make you to increase and abound in your loved one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. So it’s not just enough to love your brother. It’s not just enough to be kindly affectioned. It’s not just enough to prefer them in honor. We need to go above and beyond and do more to do those things. We need to do more in showing that we love one another, do more in forgiving one another, do more in forbearing one another. It’s not enough to forgive. We need to go out of our way to reach out to that person and love them to show them that it, you know, the reason I pull on this is because there seems to be with some people this idea that you can forgive the person and then never interact with them again, or you can just love the person, a distance. The Bible calls us to increase and abound and go overboard and even do more to intentionally and actively reach out to those people that in some instances, perhaps they’re not being lovable or even those that we are on good standing with. The Lord calls us to increase and abound in our love toward one another. And so whatever we’re doing to show love, do more and not just toward them, but toward all men.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. And in 2 Thessalonians 1:3 says, we are bound to thank God always for you brethren as it is me because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all towards each other abounded and I think that just go hand in hand with what you’re saying there,

Yeah you know all right, well, you’re listening to the removing barriers podcast we talking about the one another commands in scripture and we’ll be right back.

[Jay]

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[MCG]

All right, Jay, so we have gone over several scriptures of the one another commands in scripture. Let’s continue with edifying one another. And 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says, Wherefore comfort one another with these words, you know. I guess this one should be comforted and defy one another. But I know in context here, it’s talking about the second coming of Christ and stuff like that. But, you know, what about when your brother or sister have lost a loved one? You know, can we be of a comfort there? How about when they fall on hard times, whether it’s, you know, in their personal life, maybe finances or whatever, can we comfort one another there? You know, simple command, but can be difficult.

[Jay]

Yeah, as you said within context, the people in Thessalonica were freaking out because they thought, my goodness, we missed heaven, this is over. And Paul was like, no, according to the scriptures, thus and so. he was able to teach them by the scriptures what’s going to happen. And so we talked a little bit before about how the word of God dwelling in you richly so that you can be a blessing to other people. This would kind of fall into that as well. When you are strong in the word, were able to open up the scriptures and comfort one another, help one another to understand, hey, what’s going on in the world? The world is absolutely bonkers right now. We do an episode about the world being bonkers, but we’re able to open the scriptures and comfort one another. Hey, the world is crazy right now, but don’t forget this is what God says about this. Oh, the president did something crazy, but don’t forget God says this. Oh, you had this situation happen in your life, or so-and-so said that to you, or this happened at work. Okay, well, let’s look at in light of scripture and let’s be comforted because this is. And I also think of the verse where we’re told, what good is it for us to tell someone, oh, you know, bye, be warm and fed, but we do nothing to actually meet those particular needs. That will fall under the realm of comforting one another as well. Again, abounding toward one another with love and with brotherly affection. All of these are tied together. 1 Thessalonians 511 continues with the thought and says, wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify even as also ye do. This idea, of course, of seeing someone’s need, whether it’s spiritual, whether it’s emotional, whether it’s spiritual, reaching out and actively seeking to fill that need. We interviewed Kathy Kramer and asked her how were her barriers removed. And I remember in her episode how she said that she wanted to be The Barnabas that’s always encouraging, the one that’s always helping and blessing people. This is along the lines of what the scriptures are telling us to do in 1 Thessalonians, comforting one another with whatever we have. And that is an edifying, that is helping and blessing and building up the brethren.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. And I think about Titus 3 and verse 2, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle. showing all kindness unto all men. And of course, the phrase one another is not undere, but that’s the kind of just tie those two together. And of course, going back to the no gossip and not speaking evil against each other.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[MCG]

All right. The next topic is try for unity one with another. And you have Romans 15 and verse seven, wherefore receive he one another as Christ also receive us to the glory of God. I think that’s going back to here what I’m thinking about here. welcoming. It kind of go back to the other one anothers in Thessalonians when we talk about comfort one another and stuff like that. So, and again, as Christ, you know, so our goal, our target is not each other to do these things. It’s do it as Christ do it. And again, that’s an enormous task that you need him to do it through you.

[Jay]

Romans 15.5 says, now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. This idea of us being unified in Christ is so important to the Lord. He makes that very clear in his word. And I know I said it before, but it surprises me how willing we all to excoriate fellow brethren over things that are probably not even tertiary issues. I remember looking at an Instagram post of a Christian who was basically lamenting the fact that, she didn’t feel that the church was, strong in doctrine and they were basically calling everyone that didn’t fall within her line of Christianity, just Gnostic and weak and blasphemous, she even said. And I thought, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. They may not agree with you on how you interpret or how you remember church history, or they may disagree with you on a theological point. We recently had Dr. Phil Stringer on and talking about dispensationalism and just different points of view in that way. Let’s not be so quick to excoriate one another. Now, if it’s a clear doctrinal issue, by all means we have to stand on business, but there are other things that don’t quite necessarily require such vitriol. Again, we are to be set apart. part, we are to hold fast to true doctrine. But then there are other things that we can lay aside for the sake of unity and for the furtherance of the gospel.

[MCG]

You know, as the saying goes, you can disagree without being disagreeable. Yeah. First Thessalonians 5:13, the Bible said to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake and be at peace among yourself. So when you do these one another’s, you know, receive one another, be like-minded towards one another and to esteem each other better than themselves. First Thessalonians said, hey, no, to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake and be at peace among yourselves. You know, I think it’s simply to say, hey, be at peace with one another, you know?

[Jay]

Romans 12.16 tells us to be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. You know, the Lord warned us about that when He warned us of how we treat people that come into the church and they’re not dressed a particular way and how the Lord frowns on us fawning over people who are so properly dressed or they are people of means and then you tell the lowly or meanly person, hey, you, go stand over there. The Lord is not pleased with that and we treat each other with the same honor, love and respect and deference that we would say a president, let’s say, there is no respect of persons with God. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate, be not wise in your own conceits. Romans 12, 16, that’s striving for unity.

[MCG]

Yeah, so those are the one anothers in scriptures. So Jay, which one of these commands one another’s, would you say the hardest for you to obey, to adapt, to practice?

[Jay]

You know, as we were going through all of them, I was just, I was like, man, I need to work on that. Man, I need to work on that. Man, I need to work on that. All of them applied to me.

[MCG]

I think we all can work on all of them, but which one do you find the hardest?

[Jay]

I think perhaps I’m going to approach this as a mom, the verse that tells us to be, I think it was Romans 14, I think it was, maybe 14, 14, 14, 13, that told us not to be a stumbling block and not to judge one another and become a stumbling block or to be an occasion for…

[MCG]

Do no harm to one another if you want to look at it.

[Jay]

Do not.

[MCG]

Romans 13, 14, 13.

[Jay]

Yes, Romans 14, 13. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to ****. When I mentioned the lady that talked about the story of her mother and how it blessed her daughter, I so convicting. At the end, I can’t tell you how many times in a day where I lose my patience, where because the child comes to me with a trivial matter, or perhaps I’m being asked the same question literally 15 times in a day, and you finally get to the end of your rope and you’re like, I answered this question already. The way that we respond, not being a hindrance, not being so dismissive when those that are weaker than you come to you for help, not being annoyed, not being inconvenienced by Christians that are weaker than you, that need help. Perhaps they’re not understanding a particular concept and you find this concept to be basic in Christianity and you’re having to explain it again, maybe you have to talk about it over and over again, or maybe they’re asking you for help and you’re thinking man you’re still struggling with this thing come on man get you know that’s convicting to me to not be that Christian that would be so inconvenience so that my response my short response to them would end up being a stumbling block that was that’s definitely something that I need to lay before the Lord and repent of and change wouldn’t it be awful that someone wouldn’t want to ask for help for something because they’re worried that, oh, I might be the only one dealing with this, or I should be over this by now, or this is something that I’m still hamstrung by. How terrible it would be to be that stumbling block that would make it difficult for that Christian to progress and to grow just because I didn’t have the patience or I didn’t have the kindness or the forbearing or the deferring that we’re called to do. That’s convicting to me.

[MCG]

Yeah, as I said earlier, all of these kind of stack on each other, create a pillar that, you know, you almost can’t do one without be doing the others. You break one, you’re breaking all kind of thing. But for me, I would say without a doubt, it’s forbearing and forgiving one another. Is it so easy not to forbear and not to forgive? You know, but Ephesians 4 verse 32 said, and be he kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake had forgiven you. And as I said, we are to forgive as Christ Christ forgave and forbear as Christ forbear. But for forgiving and forbearing are much easier when we love and edify one another as we should. And a lot of times we don’t forgive because we don’t love as we should. We don’t edify as we should. You know, the Bible says God so loved that he forgave. The Bible said God loves, so he gave. The reason why God forgave us is because he loves us. The reason why he gave his son is because he loved us. You know, John chapter 3 verse 16 or 17 says, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. Another thing about the tough one for me, because when I compare it to what Christ has done and what God has done, is that the reason why he forgave us is because he loved us. And the reason why he gave his son is because he loved us. You know, it’s easy to forbear when you love. The Bible also says further in 1 John 4, verse 8 to 10, he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be propitiation for our sins. That is just absolutely amazing that God will send him to be our covering, to take our place, his substitutionary death upon the cross. So what I’m saying is that God loved us while we were unlovely. And sometimes even Christians are unlovely in terms of our lack of obedience and a lack of submitting to God and to one another. And Christians can be loved, but God loved us while we are unlovely. If you’re not saved, God loves you even in your unlovely, unsaved state. God loves you while we were filthy. God loved us while we were yet in our sins. Romans 5 verse 8, the Bible said, but God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. How did Christ demonstrate or showed his love to us? While we were yet sinners, while we were still in awe filth and unlovely, Christ died for us. The Bible further declares that we are all sinners for all have sinned, Romans 3:23 says, and come short of the glory of God. And that includes you listening, friend. All have sinner come short of the glory of God. All of us are in the unlovely state. All of us need that forgiveness from Christ. But the Bible tells us also, we are in our sin. We need forgiveness because the rages of sin is death. The Bible says, but the gift of God is eternal life to Jesus Christ our Lord. And of course, Romans 10 verse 9-10, this is how we can be forgiven and become in right standing with our Savior. The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead. shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, or with the mock confession it is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. All right, listening friend, tell us, we would like to know, contact us if somehow even leave us a comment, which one of these comments you find the hardest to be?

[Jay]

Thank you so much for listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. Make sure to rate us everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

Thank you for listening. To get ahold of us, to support this podcast, or to learn more about Removing Barriers, go to removingbarriers.net. This has been the Removing Barriers podcast we attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.