Well, It’s another Sunday morning. “Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ Cain said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?'” Genesis 4: 9 (ESV)
Here is the question I would ask you to think about this week; should we be our brother’s keeper? The gospel of selfishness says, “no.” It says we are not responsible for our brothers, or sisters, they should keep themselves. The gospel of selfishness says, if they can’t take care of them selves they deserve what happens to them. It says everyone has enough to do to keep themselves without piling everyone else’s issues on theirs too.
On the other hand, the gospel of love tells us, “yes” we should be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. We should be our brother’s keeper simply because he or she is our brother or sister. Abram said this to Lot in Genesis 13: 8 (ESV), “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.” Here is a fact, we as brothers and sisters, kinsmen, would be lost if we were not each others keepers to some point. We read in, 2 Thessalonians, 1:7-9 (ESV), “…and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”
The truth is, being our brother’s keeper can bring both of you joy, but when we fail at being our brothers keeper, and we do fail, we fail both God and man. We can read this truth in Matthew 25:45, (ESV), “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’”
So, what keeps us from being our brother’s keeper? Envy of the good others do may be one thing? We read about envy in Matthew 27:18 (ESV), “For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.” We read about it again in 1 John 3:10-12 (ESV), “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.”
Selfishness, will keep us from being our brother’s keeper also. We read about this in, Philippians 2:4 (ESV), “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. If we don’t care about the welfare of other brother and sisters, well, that will separate you from God also.”
So, what is involved in being our brother’s keeper? Well, to start with share the word with them teach them about Jesus if they don’t know Him already. We should always love them as we are taught to love others, Matthew 22:39 (ESV) tells us this good word, “I And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We should also help them when they fall. We can read this in Galatians 6:1 (ESV), Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Also as we are taught in Romans 12:15 (ESV) “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” We should share in their burdens and joys. Doing good to them, Help them when they are in need. Treat your brothers and sisters the way you want to be treated, Matthew 7:12 (ESV) says it like this, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Here are some questions we should ask ourselves, are we really our brother’s keeper? What will happen if we are not our brother’s keeper? Are we willing to accept the consequences of past and present practice? The answers to these questions are pretty obvious. We know the right thing to do, so let’s do it. Help one another, share the good word of God the Father, share in the burdens and the joys. Above all love one another as Christ Jesus loves you. Here let me start us off with that, God truly loves each and every one of you and so do I.
