Please take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Over my last three sermons in chapter 4, we have been considering verses 1 through 8 under the title, Walking in Sexual Purity. This morning we turn our attention to verses 9 and 10. When we consider verses one through 12 together, they demonstrate to us how we are to walk and please God, as the Apostle Paul said in verses one and two. And he addresses three particular subjects. In verses three through eight, as we have seen, he addresses purity, sexual purity. Now in verses 9 and 10, he addresses charity or love. And then we'll see next week in verses 11 and 12, he addresses industry. That is laboring, working with our hands so we might not be in any need. Now I'm going to read verses 9 through 12, but this morning we will just consider verses 9 and 10. 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 9 through 12. Now as to the love of the brethren, You have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. For indeed, you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. But we urge you brethren to excel still more and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands just as we commanded you so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. So in verse nine, the apostle writes, now as to the love of the brethren. So this indicates a change in subject matter. We have been considering purity in verses three through eight, but now we're considering charity or love in verses nine and 10. Now, while there is a change in subject from purity, walking in sexual purity, to charity and increasing in brotherly love, the two are still related. They're not unrelated. Sexual immorality is not a private sin as some claim. And even if that sin that Paul addresses in verses 3 through 8 is said to be done in private, it is always against others and affects others. Sexual sins, just like all other sins, is void of love for others. It always involves mistreating others in some way. And you'll recall in verse 6, that's why the Apostle Paul says that if they're to remain sexually pure, that they must not transgress or defraud their brother in the matter. So, sexual sin is against God, but it is also against others. Sexual sin does not love others. It is a violation of the law of love. The whole second table of the law, the fifth through the tenth commandments, can be summed up by the command found in Leviticus 19 verse 18, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the Apostle Paul emphasizes that in Romans 13 verse 9. Therefore those who commit sexual sin may call it love, but that's not true. Sexual sin is not love. Lust is not love. And so if we are to love others as God commands, we must abstain from sexual immorality. And if we are to remain sexually pure, we must love others as God commands us to. So we see here, there is a connection between verses three to eight, purity, and verses nine and 10, charity, or love for others. So these subjects are not mutually exclusive. But nonetheless, the Apostle Paul now turns his attention to a very brief treatment of love among believers. So we could, in title verses 9 and 10, increasing in brotherly love. Increasing in brotherly love. And he puts it this way in verse 9, now as to the love of the brethren. So this love, this is love for other believers. This is love for the church of Jesus Christ. It was present in the lives of these believers in Thessalonica, but he exhorts them to increase in this love more and more. And so at the end of verse 10, he says, we urge you brethren to excel still more. So in verses nine and 10, the Apostle Paul now turns his attention very briefly to the subject of love among believers. And so we're really back to some basics. Sometimes we get away from basics. Now that which is basic is that which is the most essential part of something. We sometimes speak of that which is fundamental. And the word fundamental refers to that which is of central importance. Fundamental sometimes means a central or primary rule or principle on which something is based. Love is a fundamental. Love is a basic of the Christian life. It is essential to the Christian life. It is of central importance in the Christian life is to be lived out in love. Now, if you're going to play a sport, you have to learn the basics of that sport. You have to learn the fundamentals of the sport. If you're going to learn how to play basketball, for example, and play it well, you have to learn how to dribble the basketball. You have to learn how to pass the basketball. If someone says to you, well, no, I don't want to do those things. I don't want to learn how to dribble. I don't want to learn how to pass. I just want to shoot long three-point shots. then that person is not going to be a good basketball player for he's neglecting the fundamentals of the sport of basketball, the basics. Someone might say, teach me how to do a reverse layup. Well, first learn how to dribble and how to do a regular layup. Those are the basics, those are the fundamentals. And the basics and the fundamentals can't be ignored if a person is going to be a good basketball player or if a basketball team is going to be successful. Well, in the Christian life, we need to know the basics. That is, that which is of central importance and upon which everything else is built. And we never get away from the basics of the Christian life. And so what Paul is saying here, and what the whole of scripture tells us, is that love is basic to the Christian life. That's why the Apostle Paul would write in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, now faith, hope, love, these three abide, but the greatest of these is love. Or in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 14, let all that you do be done in love. You see how basic that is? Let all that you do, this is something that is to permeate every part of our lives and everything we do. Let all that you do be done in love. Love is a basic principle of the Christian life. It is a fundamental of the Christian life. Now, it doesn't take much knowledge of the Bible to know that that is true, that the Christian life is based on love, and love is vitally important. In Matthew 22, or verse 26, when someone asked Jesus, Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? He answered in this way, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. This is the great and foremost commandment. Love God. And then he said this, the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and prophets. So the great and foremost commandment is love God. The commandment to love, love the Lord your God. And the second great commandment is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. And he said on these two commandments, love God, love your neighbor. Upon those two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. So you can see how basic this is. The whole of the moral law can be summed up in this way, love God, love your neighbor. And so at the heart of the Christian life is love. Love God, love your neighbor. These are the fundamentals. These are the basics. The Christian life is about love, what we should not love and what we should love. There are holy loves and there are sinful loves. And the Christian life is largely about growing in holy loves and putting aside and repenting of unholy loves and unholy desires. Unholy loves lead to unholy thoughts and unholy actions. Holy loves lead to holy thoughts and holy actions. So here we're back to the basics. The Christian life is about love. We are to love, and here in 1 Thessalonians 4, the specific command is to love the brethren, other believers, to love the church. Now sometimes we look for something complex. We look for something that we would say is deeply theological. But the issue of the Christian life is love, and putting that love into action. If we were to have a conference or we were to recommend a conference, which subject sounds the most interesting to you? Eschatology in the end times. Understanding the different views of the millennium. Or maybe Christian apologetics. Classical apologetics or presuppositional apologetics. Or maybe the role of the government. And a Christian's understanding of the role of the government biblically. What would be the most appealing to you? Or if I said, or here's another one, loving the brethren. Most would say, let's go to or let's have a conference on eschatology or apologetics. Or in light of things we've just experienced in recent years, what about the role of the government? But loving the brethren, that seems a little ho-hum. It's not that the other subjects aren't important, they are. But we need to make sure that the basic and fundamental things permeate our lives. Think of how essential love is in every human relationship, every earthly relationship. You consider the family. If you are a parent of more than one child, you often hear a fight. You hear anger among your children. And what is the basic and yet profound instruction that your children need to hear? Love one another. We need to teach our children God's uncomplicated command to love one another. And when they don't love one another, it's an opportunity for the gospel, isn't it? Why don't you love your brother or your sister as you should? It's because you're a sinner. And that sin shows itself in pride, in selfishness, and you need a savior. And so the lack of love is an opportunity to bring the gospel to bear upon the hearts of your children. What is at the heart of a wife and a mother's role in the home? Titus 2 verse 4 says that older women in the church are to teach, quote, the younger women to love their husbands and to love their children. Love is the basic responsibility of a wife and a mother. What about fathers? They are to love their children by bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, Ephesians 6 verse 4. For to withhold correction and withhold the rod from your child is not to love him, but to hate him, according to Proverbs 13, verse 24. What is the essential ingredient in a God-honoring marriage? Love. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, Ephesians 5, 25. To seek her spiritual good. To serve her sacrificially. Husbands, love your wives. Every relationship in the home is to be governed by love. What about as we live in the world? And we are in relationship to unbelievers. Well, we're to love our neighbors and have compassion upon unbelievers and do them good. Titus 3 verse 2 reminds us to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. We're not to be like the prophet Jonah who hated those upon whom God was merciful. He fled the Nineveh, refused to preach to the city because he hated them and knew that God was gracious and kind and would be compassionate to them. We're not to be like him. Instead, as we've begun to read in our Scripture reading, we're to be like Stephen in Acts 7 that when he preached the Gospel to those who would not listen, who would put their fingers in their ears, literally, He would pray for them as He died, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. We're to be like our Savior in relationship to the Lord, who when being reviled, He did not revile in return. And while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2, verse 23. Jesus said, the world will hate you. because it hated him. And how are we to respond? In like kind? No. Jesus said in Luke 6 verses 27 and 28, I say to you, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. So you see how this love is indeed essential. It's a basic of our relationship even to unbelievers. And so love is commanded in the home. Love is commanded of believers in our relationship to those in the world. But here in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses nine and 10, the love that is commanded is love among believers in the church of Jesus Christ. Now as to the love of the brethren. So here we see the category of love, the type of love spoken of here in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse nine. This is love among believers. Those who have been loved by God in Christ, whose sins have been forgiven in Christ. Let love of the brethren. Love of the brethren translates the Greek word Philadelphia. Sound familiar? The city of brotherly love. We have a city in Pennsylvania, which my understanding is, in certain contexts, is far from that. And it's not in accordance with its name. But that is the Greek word, Philadelphia, from which we get the word of that city. It means brotherly love. Therefore, it's called the city of brotherly love. Brother is a familial term, a filial term. It relates to the family. And a person can be a brother physically. You can be related to someone naturally, biologically. And we are all related to one another in some sense, biologically, naturally. We all have one father, namely our first father, Adam himself. And so we have biological bonds. with one another, but there are immediate families that we have bonds with. But, as you know, the Bible describes the church as a family. We're the family of God. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 18, I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me. And as sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, united in God's household, God's family with unique responsibilities to love one another. We have a spiritual bond, which often can be stronger than blood bonds. We have fellowship with fellow believers. We sing sometimes, and you know the song, blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship our spirit finds is like to that above. It's not a hobby that binds us together. It's not a sport. It's not politics. Our bond is in Christ Jesus and the gospel. We've been adopted into the family of God. And as those in the family of God, just like homes have responsibilities to one another in that family, we have responsibilities to one another. And those responsibilities are tied together by love. First, the love of God for us, then resulting love that flows from God's love that we should have and must have for one another in the family. This is a bond like none other. And this is why it is so treacherous to abandon that spiritual bond in some way or to betray it. Now consider how treacherous it would be if someone abandoned their biological family. And yet how quickly Do believers abandon relationships among believers in the body of Christ without much thought? How many are quick to cast off relationships with believers or with the church? How many do emits harm by their actions or words without any thought of the familial bond, the bond we have in Christ? And what a grief that lack of brotherly love causes in the body of Christ and how it must displease our Lord. We may abandon or run from fellow believers. We may do harm to those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we need to be reminded we will all be in heaven together one day. And oh, how we must live in light of that spiritual bond today. For it is an eternal relationship. because of our faith in Christ. So we need to remember, when we just consider this bond of love that we have together, that is in Christ Jesus, and this command, this basic of the Christian life, to love one another in the body of Christ, that those in this place, in this particular local body, they have souls. And those in the universal church, they have souls. And we need to do them good. We need to love them. And we're called to love them and care for them even as God has so loved us. For if God has so loved, you name whoever the believer is, then how can we not love them? How can we consider the unmerited undeserved grace and love of Christ for us? and not let that same love govern our relationships with others. Sometimes we act like we are an only child in the body of Christ, but we are not. There's a hymn in our hymnals, hymn number 286, Beneath the Cross of Jesus. It says this, Beneath the cross of Jesus, his family is my own. Once strangers chasing selfish dreams, now one through grace alone. How can I now dishonor the ones that you have loved? Beneath the cross of Jesus, see the children called by God. It's a good question. How can I dishonor the ones you have loved? This evening, we'll come to the table of the Lord and we'll remember our common salvation. And what binds us together that we have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus and we are in Christ by faith and our sins forgiven. It will be a reminder of our bonds of love in Christ. How can we dishonor those whom God has loved? So may our bonds in Christ as recipients of His grace dictate and govern our love for one another. Let me put it another way or consider it from another angle. What happens when you mess with bear cubs? You know what happens. Mama bear gets involved, right? We need to understand that the church is the apple of God's eye. And we shouldn't, I can just say it rather slangly, we shouldn't mess with His children. Instead, we should love them. For He has loved them. So the type or kind or category of love spoken of here in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 9 is brotherly love. That is, love among the brethren, fellow believers who are in Christ. So having considered the category of love, consider the presence of love, the presence of love. He says in verse nine, now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you. Now the apostle Paul is not saying that believers don't need specific instructions about what love is. what love looks like and how love is to be manifested and is to be practiced in the body of Christ. But he is saying that it isn't necessary that they be told that they ought to love one another. It's not as though believers don't already know that. And why or how do believers know that they ought to love one another? He says in verse 9, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. You're taught by God. That phrase, taught by God, is one Greek word that's only used here in the New Testament. And it reminds us that God is the one who teaches every believer. of this obligation and this duty to love one another. One commentator said this, it does not refer to any past historical teaching, such as God's word in the Old Testament or Jesus' commandment to love in John 13, verse 34, nor to the teaching of the New Testament writers. But it signifies the teaching in their hearts by God himself through the indwelling Holy Spirit. So he's not saying you've been taught by God, meaning through some means of the word of God, reading in the Old Testament, Leviticus 19, 18, or John 13, 34, or whatever the passage may be, or whatever scripture verse. He's saying, no, they were taught by God himself through the indwelling spirit. When the indwelling spirit comes into a believer, they know they should love the brethren. We've been reading that in the book of Acts in our consecutive reading, how you just see there is this desire to care for and love the brethren. Now the moral law of God is written on the heart, and therefore we know that we should love others, and the Christian has the Holy Spirit who teaches us to love others. So no true believer can rightly say, oh, I didn't know that I was supposed to love the brethren. We know that love exists and is present in the believer and in Christ's church because love is a result of salvation. 1 John 4 verse 12, if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. Or John 4 verse 19, we love because he first loved us. We love, statement of fact, we love God, we love the people of God. Therefore, there is the existence and presence of brotherly love. It exists. We love. Statement of fact. Because He first loved us. So because of that work of salvation, love exists. It's present. God's love for us and saving us brought us and brought into us a love for Him and a love for others. That's why the Apostle John could say it this clearly in 1 John 2, verses 9 through 11. The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. That's why he can say, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4 verse 20. Love for the brethren is present if someone is truly saved. It is a fruit of salvation. One of the evidences of regeneration is that there is now the presence of love. We go from hating to loving. And one place that love is seen is in the church among the household of God. This is what Peter is saying when he gives the commandment in 1 Peter 1 verse 22, fervently love one another from the heart. Now he could have just said that. But he says it this way, since you have an obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren. It's because you've been obedient to the truth of the gospel. Because of that, fervently love one another. For, because you've not been born of a seed which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and enduring word of God. So what he is saying is when you have the seed of the gospel in you, you've been born again. and therefore the seed of God, you might say. Then love is the outworking of that. You might say it this way. Love for the brethren is a spiritual birthmark. Do you have the birthmark? Now we're talking birthmarks you can see. Someone might have a birthmark. But for the believer, there's a spiritual kind of birthmark and it is what? Love for the brethren. Now love can increase, which is what he's calling for, because it's there. So if a believer, excuse me, a person claims to be a Christian, but there's not love for the brethren, we can say that person can't be a believer. Or if a church doesn't have signs of love wrought by God, then it's not really a church. But this was a true church in Thessalonica. They were characterized by love. He says in verse 10, for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. So he doesn't get into the detail here, but again, he's commending them because there is the presence of love for the brethren and it had been manifested in some way toward all the brethren who are in the region of Macedonia. Maybe through meeting practical needs. in the body of Christ beyond the church in Thessalonica. But it was present, and he commends them. And so we see the category or type of love he's talking about now as to love the brethren, and we see the presence of love in the believer and in the church. He says, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. but they needed to be stirred up to greater love. So then we see the increase of love. The increase of love. They needed to be stirred up that their love for the brethren might increase and so do we. We need to be stirred up. So that's why he says in verse 10, but we urge you brethren to excel still more. Excel still more now this reaches back to verse verses one and two where he's telling them how they ought to walk and please God and He tells them they should excel still more and how they are Living that would be to the glory of God and he says here's an area where you ought to continue to be growing You need to be increasing in your love so while love is present and We urge you, brethren, to excel still more. Every grace in the Christian life is to be growing and increasing. We should never be stagnant or stationary in the Christian life. We're always to be growing, maturing, being conformed more and more to the image of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We really need to be like the Apostle Paul who said in Philippians 3 verse 12, not that I've already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. And so he was pressing on to holiness. We're never stagnant. We're to excel still more. So, if you're a believer, the love of the brethren is present, but it needs to increase. In other words, it needs to be cultivated. Love increases by being cultivated, we might say. A seed is planted with great care, if you want it to grow. You need the right depth in the soil. You need to then water it. And as it germinates and the plant grows, it must not be neglected. It must be cultivated. And even so, it is with love in the body of Christ. We must know the things that hinder love and the things that cultivate and increase love in the body. And there are many passages of Scripture that we can go to in order to develop what this cultivation of love looks like. Here are some of those passages. Ephesians 4, verses 31 and 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. But here's how you cultivate love in the body. That's how you kill it. Here's how you cultivate it. Be kind to one another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Or Colossians 3 verses 12 to 14. Here's how love of the brethren is cultivated and how it increases. He says, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things, he says, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. You want to know what love increasing looks like in the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 13, 4-7. Love is patient. Love is kind and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant. Does not act unbecomingly. Does not seek its own. Is not provoked. Does not take into account a wrong suffered. does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. These are ways in which we cultivate it. So here he doesn't get into those details of how to cultivate it. They already know that. He's taught them these things. He just reminds them here. You're practicing love of the brethren, but it needs to be cultivated even more. It needs to be ever increasing. Let me conclude this morning by giving you three categories or ways you can purpose to increase in your love for the brethren. Let me give you three categories you might say. We love the brethren and increase in our love for the brethren. These are just some ways, there's lots more, but it's beyond the purview of this message this morning. We do so by our words, our fellowship, and our service. Our words, our fellowship, and our service. First our words, I just quoted Ephesians 4 verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Those are things that don't cause love for the brethren to increase, but those are hateful things that hinder love in the body. Turn if you will to Ephesians 4 verse 29 briefly. Ephesians 4 verse 29. This is one of the ways that love among the brethren is going to increase. Ephesians 4 verse 29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment. so that it will give grace to those who hear. It's one of the most comprehensive verses on how we can use our words to love others in the body of Christ. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth. The word unwholesome, the Greek word here means decaying, rotting, was literally used in certain places of decaying, rotted fish or fruit no longer useful. So therefore it has the idea of words that are unwholesome and therefore are unuseful and unfit. They're even harmful and unprofitable. And as that pertains to our language, it's not just talking about, it wouldn't just cover profanity and those kinds of things, but words in relationships to one another. Gossip and slander and lying, complaining, grumbling. The list goes on and on. He says those words should be put away from you. They shouldn't proceed from your mouth. But instead our words should be used for the spiritual good of others, but only such a word as is good for edification." Now earlier in the chapter, in chapter 4 verse 12, he speaks of edification in the body of Christ. He speaks of the building up of the body of Christ in verse 12 and in verse 16. The growth of the body for the building up of itself, how? In love. Here he says in Ephesians 4 verse 29 that the way the body is built up and believers are edified is when we love them by what we say. We use our words that are good for edification. This is not the idea of let's just be positive everybody. say good things. No, these are words that encourage people's souls, that fix their eyes on Christ when they're discouraged, that turn them back to Christ, that when they're weak, that strengthen the knees of those that are wobbling and feeble. Therefore, our words should always be used for the spiritual good of others. This is how we love one another. And so we increase in our love for the brethren when we grow and are intentional about using our words to build up the body of Christ. And here he says our words should be thoughtful and timely. He says according to the need of the moment. What is the need of the moment? That takes some thoughtfulness to know. That takes some relationships, right? That takes asking people, how can I pray for you? We're to be thinking about what would be something that might encourage this believer. That it might give grace to those who hear. Grace, that is strengthen their hearts in the grace of God. a timely word encouraging a faint-hearted saint, a spiritual truth spoken in right circumstances that can help a Christian think rightly about a trial, or sometimes a well-timed admonishment that can convict a believer, that can lead him to repentance and take him off of a dangerous path. We need to ask, how can I use my words to love others in the body and give grace to those who hear? What would be different in the church if we purpose to use our words more so and increased in using our words for the spiritual good of others? And if I can just go to the home, what would be different about your home if you applied this verse in the home? How can I use my words to give grace to those who hear, to strengthen their souls. So our words, but also related to that, our fellowship. Hebrews 10, verses 23 to 25. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider, that is, let us think about and purpose how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. So this is true fellowship. When we are gathering and assembling together and our relationships are filled with words to give grace to those who hear, that's how we love them and then we consider, we think about, we contemplate, how can I stir up other believers to love and to good deeds, love to God? into good deeds to His glory. Listen, this is why we say, as the verse says, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some. Not because we're just saying, numbers are down. No, it's because we can't love one another if we're forsaking assembling together. And not just forsaking assembling so that you're just here but that you're coming and purposing to be with God's people to consider, how can I stimulate them to love and good deeds? And he says, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day drawing near, how can I encourage others? This is how we increase in our love for one another. We're purposing to think about, this is how our fellowship or what our fellowship should be characterized by. I want to come and think about how do I use my words and how do I stimulate them and encourage others in the body of Christ. But also by our service. In Galatians 5.13 it says, through love serve one another. What I am to do, what our other pastors are to do, what we do in the ministry God has given to us, Ephesians 4.11, he gives some as pastors and teachers for what? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, for the work of ministry, to the building up of the body of Christ. Are you serving the body of Christ? You wanna increase in your love for the body of Christ, then serve them. You want to excel still more in your love for them? How can I serve? I've asked this before. Let me ask you again. Are you a consumer or a servant? The body of Christ, as we love one another, is to be filled with servants. So are you actively seeking to love others in that way? 1 Peter 4, verses 10 and 11. as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. So there are gifts of speaking, those who teach and preach and use, they have that particular skill and ability. But then he says, whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies. So if you think about how God has granted you a spiritual gift or gifts, it falls under either speaking gifts or serving gifts of certain kinds. So study the word of God and say, where are the list of various gifts? Like in Romans 12, beginning in verse four. And look at those gifts and say, how can I serve and use that? This is how you increase in your love for the brethren. And it excels still more. And imagine as the body of Christ purposes, how can I use my words? And how can I purpose to have fellowship that stimulates others to love and good deeds and encourages them in their faith in Christ? And how can I serve in the body of Christ? Imagine then how the body begins to exponentially increase in holiness and sanctification and spiritual maturity, why? Because we're loving one another and we're loving the brethren. Our Lord Jesus was our example in this when he, in the upper room, washed his disciples' feet, always seeking their spiritual good. And he washed their feet and he said, I gave you an example that you should do as I did to you. I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you're blessed if you do them. If Christ so loved us, and was a servant that he might redeem us from our sin. And how can we not love one another? And so the exhortation here is brief, but yet it's fundamental and it's basic to the Christian life. It's fundamental and it's basic to glorifying God. It's fundamental and basic for the spiritual well-being of the church. excel still more in your love for one another. May our bonds in Christ as recipients of his grace dictate and govern our love for one another. Let's bow our heads together in prayer. Father, we thank you for your work in our hearts and our lives, for we think of Titus 3, verse 3, how we once, before we were saved, were hateful, hating one another, it says. But now because of your work in making us alive in Christ and granting us the gift of faith in your beloved son, that love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit who bears the fruit of love. But Lord, I pray that we might purpose to cultivate love in our own lives and in the body of Christ. That we might use our words to build up one another. That we might purpose to have true, loving, biblical fellowship in the body of Christ. That we would not just come to receive, but that we would come to serve. and come to build up one another. Lord, increase our love for one another. I thank you for the love that there is in this congregation, that Lord, all glory goes to you for your power and your grace in our lives, for there is the love of the brethren in the body. But Lord, we pray that we would excel still more, that we would abound in love for one another. that the body of Christ here and the body of Christ in all places, that your bride might be a pure and holy bride, that we might together proclaim the gospel and walk with Christ and glorify our Savior until he comes. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.