Overview
This teaching examines “Brotherly Love vs. Comparing Part 2” through 2 Corinthians 10, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 13, showing how body, know, honor shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding Brotherly Love vs. Comparing Part 2
Please take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. When you know who you are, you know who you don’t have to be. Paul lived this, the Apostle Paul.
You see, the Apostle Paul had someone that was using their success as their measure to compare themselves to him. This leader was somebody that was in direct opposition and somebody who was convincing the Corinthians to question Paul’s ministry as an Apostle. Let me tell you, this person had prestige.
They had personality. They had influence. They had a commanding presence.
And by today’s standards, you would call them an influencer. The whole effort was orchestrated to undermine Paul’s ministry as an Apostle. And in fact, this individual, he even brought letters from some members of the church at Jerusalem who boasted of his pure Hebrew descent and his special connection with Christ himself.
And you know what? The Corinthians got on board and they spoke of this individual’s commanding appearance and compared it to the insignificance of Paul’s physical presence. His value was being tied to his physical appearance and his ability to speak. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, it says in verse 10, for they say his letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech of no account.
In other words, they were saying it was nothing to write home about. Isn’t it interesting that the enemy will always attempt to divide by comparing one person’s ministry with another in an attempt to alter your self-worth and value with how it looks with somebody else, instead of what was given to you by God. It’s a comparison of works to grace.
We received the measure of Christ by grace. I’m going to say that again. The enemy will always attempt to divide by comparing one person’s ministry with another in an attempt to alter your self-worth or your self-value with how it looks with somebody else, instead of what was given to you by God.
It’s a comparison of works to grace. A great lesson here is not to let cross purposes with each other become cross purposes with God and his plan for your life. I often think of Joseph, who could have easily allowed cross purposes with others, specifically his brothers, derail his walk with God.
You know, at one point in the race, I was extremely cold and tired, and I felt like I couldn’t go on. I was looking for the closest exit. With muscle spasms, I just sat in the mud, unable to move.
And while sitting there, I began to see those people who seem to be unfazed by the mud. They seem to be thriving on it, just zooming right along. You know, it can be tempting to think that you’re not as far along as you’d like to be.
The Biblical Foundation
Have you ever found yourself not running your race because you’re focused on how others are seemingly outperforming you? Comparison is the enemy of calling. When we understand the magnitude of the measure of Christ within, it becomes way below us to even think about comparing. In 2 Corinthians 10, let’s look at verse 12.
Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves, but when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. This phrase, not that we dare classify or compare ourselves, it’s a figure of speech, irony. In other words, why would you even entertain the thought of comparing? To participate in such behavior would be so far below us.
Paul was far beyond those who thought themselves to be somebody’s. You know, it would have been pretty easy for Paul to respond with his earthly accolades when confronted with this comparison. He could have responded with his personal success, but instead he responds with his heavenly calling, his measure of apostleship that was given by God.
Verse 13, we see his response, but we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure, the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. His measure in reference to his ministry as an apostle, it was distributed by God. Something to note here is that this word distributed, it’s in reference to his ministry as an apostle, it’s that same word that we read in Romans 12, 3 as God assigned to us the measure of faith.
He let God define his success, not even his worldly accolades. He didn’t call himself to be an apostle. It wasn’t self-proclaimed.
It wasn’t of his works. It was distributed by God’s grace. But think about it like this.
If it came from man, he probably would have succumbed under scrutiny and judgment, but he knew in the very depth of his soul that it came, his calling as an apostle came from God. And not other people. Do you know what also that means? Paul didn’t live by the approval of man.
He didn’t need man’s approval to perform his God-given ministry because it wasn’t given by them. His ministry as an apostle, it came from God, which allowed him to be free from the judgments of others. You know, our true measuring stick is what God accomplished in Christ.
Anything else to define you other than Christ, and you will always be running a race that you cannot win. Instead of comparison with envy with one another, the spirit of God within us cries out for a harmonious working. One that can only be orchestrated by God with others who house his gift.
Welcome to God’s family. Please turn it back to Romans 12. Now that there’s no comparison, we just outdo one another in showing honor, brotherly love.
We prefer to honor rather than being honored. That’s what it means to be part of God’s family. You know, there’s always a temptation to be like Paul’s opponents and act out of selfish ambition, looking to advance one’s own agenda.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
Such vainglory is countered by counting others more significant than yourself. Rather than comparing, we outdo one another in showing honor and leading the way for others. In Romans 12, let’s look at verse 10.
It says, love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful and zeal.
Be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rather than striving after one’s success, we strive for one’s success. Imagine that instead of endless, unprofitable jealousies, we desire to see each other succeed.
So much so that we outdo one another in showing honor with the love of a family. This brotherly love is what placed us in the family of God. It’s a love that provides us, it’s described as a connection as parents with their children, with siblings, with each other.
And many times in the word, it’s referenced as spiritual brothering. You know, it’s a recognition that we’re not here on our own. It’s kind of like with the fire.
By pulling a little bit of log out of the fire, we’re not here on our own. We burn when we’re together. It triggers an interactive element with each other.
It’s an interactive element that we recognize God’s gift in other people. It’s a connection that doesn’t seek to be better than one another, but rather bestows honor and favor and leads the way for other people. You know, the one cure for petty comparisons and the miserable restless striving after the wind, striving for self-recognition that we all are tempted to engage in, it lies in a heart that’s filled with brotherly love.
Not in seeking honor, but in showing it to one another. That’s what it means to have one handful of quietness rather than two hands full of toil. How different is this from the undercurrent of this world, which seeks not to confer honor, but rather to obtain it, but to attract others to give honor to us? You know, honoring others puts an end to the no small part of envy and selfish ambition, and it seeks to edify.
I love this word, outdo, as stated in the ESV, or it’s prefer if you’re looking at the King James. It means to go beforehand and lead. This is what God did in the life of Joseph that we read.
Through all his afflictions, God was with him and made him governor in the land of Egypt. And that word governor is from the same word here as to outdo or prefer. Here, and it means to go beforehand and lead.
Faith in Action
It’s to pave the way for others. God did this for Joseph, and we do this for each other. And no, it’s not leading for self-seeking purposes.
Leading the way for others is what it really means to show brotherly love. That’s the godly competition. It means to give honor rather than being honored.
Did you know that this word honor at its root, it means to place value. It’s to place value based on a fixed price. Well, our fixed price is Christ and his measure that we receive by grace.
It’s used in 1 Corinthians 6 20, where it says, ye are bought with a price and that word bought is honor. No one was bought with a greater price than another person. It was all one.
How can we as the body of Christ show honor to one another? We’ve already seen a few of them. I’ll point them out. First, don’t run in the mud.
In other words, don’t waste your time comparing yourself with other people. Secondly, be measured by Christ. Place your value in other’s value on Christ.
Value them, value their voice, value their contribution. Thirdly, we lead the way for others and we are passionate about their success. You know, my brother, he paved the way for me to finish that race.
When I wanted to raise the white flag and give up, you know, these tough mudder races, they do have a motto that they say to everyone at the start, before everybody begins the race. They say, it’s not about who finishes first. Imagine that, a race that’s not about who finishes first, but it’s about helping everybody finish.
In the end, we all run this race together and there’s no prize for getting first to the finish line. And you know, while I was sitting in the mud, unable to move and freezing, my brother massaged my calf muscles. He lifted me to my feet so that I could keep moving.
And you know what? He also gave me the warmest hug I’ve ever experienced. And he’s not a hugger. So it’s really great to see that you can bestow honor on those who maybe you think are less honorable.
And in the end, he’s the one who helped me finish that race. And when faced with a challenge, it can be very easy to focus solely on how others are outperforming your ability. But listen, as you quit comparing yourself with other people and run your own race at your own pace, you’ll realize what God has in store for you, what you can contribute to the body of Christ.
Walking in Love and Confidence
This phrase, do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit. I love this. We aren’t to be slothful in our zeal toward each other.
We’re to be fervent in the spirit. This word zeal in the ESV or the King James translates it as business. It means to accomplish something with haste.
It’s an earnest care. In the context, we’re not to be lazy in showing brotherly love. You know, and speaking of opposites, this word fervent is the same word as envy that we’ve been looking at in 1 Corinthians 13 and Acts 7, 9. So you see Joseph’s brothers, they rejected him.
It’s used of a family rejecting a brother, but more emphatically here in Romans 12, it’s underscoring the love, the passion that we’re to have for one another in showing brotherly love. We move with honor and zeal toward one another. We move with fervency, which implies it’s fervent, but yet there’s an urgent and an earnest care that we have one for another.
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 12. Did you know that measurements to build things such as the ark and the ark of the covenant, they’re taken from the human body. God revealed to Noah the size and the proportions of what this ark needed to be based on the cubit.
And it was a measurement that was taken from the elbow to the tip of the finger. You know, physical dimensions were derived and still are today from the physical body. And here in this passage in 1 Corinthians 12, we’re going to see the physical body compared to the spiritual.
Do you know that the members of the body were never meant to be compared to each other? And in verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 12, it says, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and have all been made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body.
Is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now have God set the members, every one of them in the body as it has pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members yet, but one body.
And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body, which we think to be less, what? Honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor.
And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need, but God have tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
Here in first Corinthians 12, we see the comparison of the family of God to the parts of the human body. On those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we bestow greater honor. It’s not always in response to something or someone being honorable.
We honor based on Christ. Did you know that you are the best you that God has ever created? You are invaluable to His work. You were created for a purpose.
I know when you look at others around you in the church, you might not feel talented enough, good enough, smart enough to make a difference. I mean, think about it. There’s some people who quote scriptures in their prayers.
And you start to think, well, I’m not as spiritual as them. I can’t even remember that. But you know what? You have the spirit of God and it works uniquely for you.
Sometimes we believe the lie that if I weren’t here, it wouldn’t make that big of a difference. But you are invaluable and you are part of God’s history in the making now. The church here is compared to the human body.
You know, you got the foot, you got the hand, the ear, the nose, the mouth, but all of the parts make up the one body. You know what this passage is saying? The members of the body were never meant to be measured to each other. Let me tell you, when running in the mud, the body does some funny things.
Muscles get pulled. Muscles may start to spasm, often due to overexertion. And no, I’m not talking about physically running in the mud.
Comparison pulls the body in odd ways, causing pain that is often due to overexertion while brotherly love seeks honor and edification. You know, some members in the body seem to get a lot of attention. The eye, for example, as described in this passage, may get a lot of attention, but the ear, not so much.
God has made the physical body to work in harmony, which is why it’s given here as the illustration of the body of Christ. You know, speaking of the physical body and hands, did you know that my left hand doesn’t compare itself to my right hand? Why? Because it’s the same body. Did you know that 50% of hand strength comes from the pinky finger? The little one that gets overlooked? Not talked about very much? Think about it.
The thumb gets a heck of a lot of attention. Get a thumbs up? What about your pointing finger? That gets a lot of attention. You point with it all the time.
What about the middle finger? You can peel the banana. That gets a lot of attention. The ring finger also gets a lot of attention.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
But what about the pinky finger? You know, every part of the body matters. Your part, your role, your voice, your contribution, it matters in the family of God. You know, body parts that don’t get as much air time are still significant.
Just because others don’t see doesn’t mean that your work on God’s behalf is insignificant. You may be an invisible prayer warrior. You may help people feel loved and valued.
Some of the most important things that happen are often the least seen or celebrated. Your part in the body of Christ, your value is not based on the person next to you. It’s not even based on your accomplishments.
It’s based on the life of Jesus Christ. You are highly valued in the eyes of our creator. As we close here, I want you to offer the unique value for which you have been created to the rest of the body.
Seek to give and bestow honor, show brotherly love, and earnestly desire with a passion to bring about the best gifts at the right time. When the body of Christ is energized, we begin to experience a more excellent way. Let’s close in 1 Corinthians 12 in verse 31.
It says, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. This word covet earnestly, it’s the same word as our word for envy. In the spiritual family of God, we earnestly seek out the best gifts at the best time.
With a boiling passion, we are to seek honor, seek to bestow honor in others. You know, maybe we need a message from God that will bring peace when anxiety is at bay. Maybe we need to forgive others who have wronged us instead of passing judgment.
Maybe we need patience when the stress of life seems to be moving out of balance. Maybe we need to engage in our spiritual community when we’re tempted to run this race alone. Maybe we need to experience God’s grace and less of our works.
Maybe we need to get hot and heavy about honoring others and ditching the uselessness of comparison. Whatever the need may be, know that you are ever so fixed with a life of purpose to live out your calling. As we close here, I wanna encourage you to step into your calling, step into the measure with which you have been created and perform good works for Him and embrace what He has called you to do.
Let’s outdo one another in showing honor and build the body of Christ. As we run this race called life, let’s free ourselves from running in the mud so much so that we seek to honor others and lead the way for them with brotherly love. God bless you.
Key Takeaways
- How can we as the body of Christ show honor to one another?
- Maybe we need to get hot and heavy about honoring others and ditching the uselessness of comparison.
- Let’s outdo one another in showing honor and build the body of Christ.
- Now that there’s no comparison, we just outdo one another in showing honor, brotherly love.
- Rather than comparing, we outdo one another in showing honor and leading the way for others.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “Brotherly Love vs. Comparing Part 2”?
This teaching examines “Brotherly Love vs. Comparing Part 2” through 2 Corinthians 10, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 13, showing how body, know, honor shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from 2 Corinthians 10, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 13, Acts 7.
How can believers apply this teaching?
Now that there’s no comparison, we just outdo one another in showing honor, brotherly love.
Scripture References
2 Corinthians 10; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 6; 1 Corinthians 13; Acts 7; 1 Corinthians 12
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
