OTHERS AND I


A. THE SIN OF SELF-SEEKING
  1. It is the fountainhead of temptation:
    1. It began in the heart of Lucifer - Isa. 14:12-18; Ezek. 28:12-17
    2. It led Eve to yield to temptation - Gen. 3:1-6
    3. It caused the first murder--one brother kills the other - Gen. 4:1-8
    4. It separates brethren - Gen. 13:1-14
    5. It brings trouble into the church - Acts 6:1-3
B. UNSELFISHNESS
  1. Is the price of brotherly love:
    1. Abraham's attitude toward Lot - Gen. 13:8
    2. Jonathan toward David - 1 Sam. 18:1-4
    3. Joseph and his brethren - Gen. 45:4
  2. Unselfishness will not seek her own:
    1. Lives the golden rule - Matt. 7:12
    2. The language of unselfishness is found in these inspired words, "If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." - Gen. 13:9
  3. Our Lord expressed the Christian attitude of one to the other this way:
    1. "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." - Matt. 5:42
    2. "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" - Acts 20:35
    3. "Freely ye have received, freely give" - Matt. 10:7
    4. "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord" - Matt. 10:25
    5. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" - Matt. 22:39
    6. "Love one another as I have loved you" - John 13:34, 35
C. OTHERS AND I
  1. When I think of others and my relationship to them:
    1. I must look at them in the light of Christ's relationship to them, "he died for all" - 2 Cor. 5:15
    2. That fact changes their standing and it places new responsibilities upon me, "But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ." - 1 Cor. 8:11, 12
  2. When we see others in the light of Christ's relationship to them, it makes it much easier for us to love them:
    1. That is the way Paul looked at others - 1 Cor. 10:33; Rom. 14:13
    2. This is true, in a very special sense, of members of the church - 1 Cor. 10:15, 16; 12:14-24
  3. We shall think of them as being worthy of our respectful consideration:
    1. Think of David's attitude toward Saul, who actually sought to kill him - 2 Sam. 1:11-17
    2. Or remember the specific instructions of our Lord in the sermon on the mount - Matt. 5:38-48
  4. Contrast the attitude of the following persons:
    1. Abraham and his nephew Lot - Gen. 13; 14;
    2. David and Saul - 1 Sam. 24:1-18
    3. Our Lord and Judas
  5. To consider others more and better than ourselves:
    1. Takes the love of God in our own hearts. This is what is fading away from many believers in the church - Matt. 24:12, 13
    2. When the law of love motivates my life, it will surely affect those with whom I associate.
    3. This is the one great lesson that is understood easier than lived.
    4. When I think of others, I must look at them in the light that heaven sees me and them also.


Design © John Bryant 2011