Continuing to think today about our covenant, and this is, God being gracious, the last day that I'm going to focus on our covenant. I hope that it is not tedious, but it is helpful to us. As we begin this morning, I want to read our covenant once again, just again to remind each of us what we have covenanted, what we have agreed that we will do as members. And those of you that may be considering membership, this is our promise to one another here at Ennerdale. Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we do now solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ. We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love, to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort to promote its prosperity and spirituality, to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines, to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of its ministry and general expenses, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel among all nations, to maintain family and secret devotions, to religiously educate our children, to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances, to walk circumspectly in the world, to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment, to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger, to abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drinks. And we talked about that last week. We further engage, and this is where we're going today by God's grace, we further engage to watch over each other in brotherly love, to remember each other in prayer, to aid each other in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy and feeling and courtesy, to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay. We moreover engage that when we remove from this place, we will as soon as possible unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's word. Well, today we want to spend one last Sunday thinking about this covenant. And as I've gone through this covenant, the last couple of messages in this series, I've mentioned that this is divided up into three sections. And roughly, there's a little bit of bleeding and a little bit of overlap, but roughly the first section corresponds to our responsibility to the church as an institution. The second speaks of our responsibility in our personal conduct, in our home and before the world. Today, this last paragraph focuses our attention primarily upon our responsibility to our fellow believers in the church. We do not want to simply treat this as something that is of little value or of no real purpose. The covenant is something that we have promised to do together. We have entered into this covenant together, so let us walk in this covenant and fulfill the obligations and fulfill the demands of this covenant. So let's think together about what the covenant urges us to do in this last paragraph. As we begin thinking of the particular duties that we have to one another, you remember that our covenant began with speaking about love. And here, as we think about our relationships to one another, we are brought back to this theme. That we are to watch over one another in brotherly love. We remember our Savior's commandment. Our Savior's comment on the commandments. He said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But he then said, the second is like unto it to love our neighbor as ourselves. We have a responsibility to love our neighbor, but as we look at who we are as brothers and sisters and as a church, a body, we have a particular duty of love to one another. Just like I have a responsibility to love my neighbor, but I have an even greater responsibility to love my family. So with God's people, we have a responsibility, a particular responsibility to love one another. And again, love seeks the greatest good of its object. It desires the best for one another. Jesus would say in John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another. And some people look at that and they say, wait a minute, Jesus says it's a new commandment, but we're told all the way back in Deuteronomy we're supposed to love each other. How is this a new commandment? Well, here's the newness of this commandment. That you love one another as I have loved you. That's the difference. that we are to embody Christ-like love. And he said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another. I wonder if the world around us knows that we are disciples of Christ by our evident love for other believers, by our love for one another. 1 John 3 in verse 18, John says that we, he tells us, my little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, okay, he's not saying we shouldn't say that we love each other, but notice how he completes this, but in deed and in truth. It's one thing to say that we have love for our brothers and sisters. It's one thing to say, oh, I love you, brother, Have a great week. It's quite another thing to show that love in action. And this is what Christlike love is about. It's not just a wish that things would go well for our brothers and sisters. It's actively seeking the best for our brothers and sisters. In fact, John speaks a lot about love in his first epistle. In 1 John chapter four and verse 11, he tells us, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. The love of God in Christ is our encouragement, is our example for how we are to love. So how did Christ love us? Well, he loved us to the end. He loved us completely. He loved us in a way that he was willing to lay down his life for us. We, brothers and sisters, if circumstances would demand it, should be willing to lay down our lives for one another. And that might seem strange to us. That might seem like the stuff that happens in movies or wars or something like that where you would lay down your life for your brother and sister. But even before a laying down of life in death, there's a thousand ways where we can lay down our lives for one another in service before that ultimate sacrifice. May God give us the grace to be people who watch over one another in brotherly love. But notice what it says, to watch over one another in brotherly love. It's not simply saying that we love one another, but to watch over one another in brotherly love. This idea of watching out for one another. Some of you perhaps have had opportunity to watch younger siblings when you were growing up, or to babysit, or to have care over youngsters maybe at a vacation Bible school. And when you're watching over those children, you are trying to make sure that they do not get into anything that would harm them. So Vacation Bible School, after the Vacation Bible School session is done at the end of the day, the kids gather in the lawn and they play with the Frisbees and the balls and so forth. And invariably, someone kicks a ball across the street. Now when that happens, we don't let some four-year-old child just go racing out of the yard across the street. That would not be safe. And we have to watch to make sure that when that happens we have the right person to go get the ball so that that child doesn't run out into danger. How much more so spiritually, brothers and sisters, we ought to watch over one another. We ought to be careful for one another's spiritual safety. We ought to be careful for one another's physical safety. Even one another's financial safety. John would say in the epistle of John, or James would say in his epistle, the guy that says, oh, go ahead, brother, be warmed and filled, but he has something to give that person. That's a vain religion, an empty religion. Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Let's watch over one another. I wonder what your response would be if you heard that one of the brothers and sisters here, either a member or an adherent, had started to listen to some false teaching or is beginning to be carried away into some error. What would your response be? Would you have personal care? Would you feel, oh, my brother or sister is in danger. I need to try to help them because I love them. May we be that kind of people, that we will watch over each other in brotherly love, that we would care for one another. Time would prevent me, but in your time, perhaps this week, it would be wise for you to read over 1 Corinthians chapter 13, which gives us a description of what love is like, and ultimately what Christ-like love is like. We may do all kinds of amazing things, we may have all kinds of skills, but if we do not have charity, if we do not love, it's nothing. It profits nothing and we are nothing. May God give us a people who love one another. So we promise, we engage that we will watch over one another in brotherly love. Look with me at Ephesians chapter four, just for a moment as we think about this matter of loving one another, Ephesians chapter four. A couple of verses, chapter four, verse two, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love. But this bearing with one another in love is not simply something that overlooks error or wrongdoing. Look with me at chapter four and verse 15. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. And so this is a love that holds fast to truth while holding fast to one another. May we watch over one another in brotherly love. We've promised to do that. Let's live up to the terms of our commitment. Colossians chapter three tells us in verse 14, above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. It's what holds it all together. The second thing that we are urged to do in this paragraph of our covenant is to remember each other in prayer. And I think that naturally follows that if we're watching over one another in brotherly love, we will pray for one another. That's part of our watching for one another. Peter would tell his readers that we must be serious and watchful in our prayers. We must be serious and watchful in our prayers for one another. Paul would say this, Romans chapter one verse nine, God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. But then, The Paul, the same Apostle Paul, who said, I pray for you, later, toward the end of the book, would say, I beg you, brethren, chapter 15, verse 30, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. We need prayer. We need prayer. Prayer is our acknowledgement that we do not have all strength and wisdom and ability, but God does. Prayer is our acknowledgement that we are dependent upon God's grace and mercy, and so are our brothers and sisters. Pray for one another. I'll keep coming back to this. you get tired of it, maybe afterward, Tuesday nights are a great time for us to get together and pray. So often on Tuesday nights as we come together and spend time in prayer, we express the trials that we are going through. We hear that someone else is going through a difficult time and we bring one another to the Lord in prayer, pray for one another. And Tuesday at seven o'clock is a great opportunity for us as a church to do that together. Hebrews chapter 13 in verse 18, the author of Hebrews says, pray for us. Colossians chapter four verse two, verse 12 rather, Epaphras is commended because he always labors fervently for you in prayers. Those of you who make a regular habit of prayer know that prayer is work. It's work. It's not easy. Sometimes prayer may seem easy, but at other times to do it in the midst of distractions of this world, both just natural and physical, but also the spiritual warfare around us, it is hard for us to pray. God has not called us to an easy road, and even the disciplines we are called to pray, those disciplines may at times be difficult, but let us not stop doing it simply because it's hard. James chapter 5 and verse 16 says, confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another. He would tell us that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Let us love one another and let us pray for one another. One way that you can do that, and I know that our directory is a little bit out of date, and our directory has about 35 times as many people in it as are present here this morning, but still, as you look at the directory, you can pray through that directory, person by person, family by family, It's an effective way to remember one another. And there are people who are not listed in that directory. You can write them in. One of these wonderful inventions. Pen, pencil. They still work in the computer age. You can write things down. And that will help you to remember one another in prayer. Let us watch over one another in brotherly love and let us pray for one another. The third thing in this paragraph that we are encouraged to do that we promise to do is to aid each other in sickness and distress. To aid each other in sickness and distress. Now, some of us had opportunity to do this in particular ways during COVID. Remember all the restrictions and so forth that we had to be under? It was a blessing to one another when someone would simply just go and buy water or Gatorade, right? That's one way of helping one another, aiding each other in sickness. Buying groceries and dropping them off. All of these things are helpful ways. Certainly praying for one another in sickness, but aiding each other in sickness. Sometimes when someone is sick, they actually need someone to pick something up for them. Let's be quick to offer our help, and brothers and sisters, Sometimes maybe our problem is that we are not quick enough to accept help. If after all we have promised to aid one another, let us help our brothers and sisters live up to their commitments by allowing them to aid us and to help us in our times of sickness and distress. We experience that not only times of sickness where we may be laid low, Something as simple as a phone call or a card may aid each other in that moment. But there are other times of distress that we face. There are times where finances are tight. There are times where there's one thing after another. Maybe the car breaks down. Maybe there's, there are so many different types of distress that we go through. Let's help one another out. Let's actually aid one another. And again, this goes back to love, doesn't it? If we're watching over each other in brotherly love, if we're loving not just in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth, it would mean that we pray for one another. It would mean that we actually help one another in our times of need. James actually, I alluded to this earlier, but in James chapter two, why don't we turn there for a moment, James chapter two. James chapter 2 and verse 14, listen to what James says. What does it profit my brother? And if someone says he has faith, but does not have works, can faith save him? What he means there is can the kind of faith that never has any evidence of works. Is that true faith? No, it's not. He gives an example of this, verse 15, if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? So your brother or sister is going through a tough time, they don't have clothes, or the clothes that they're wearing are getting threadbare. They don't have a coat, they don't have mittens, whatever the case may be. And you say, oh, go your way, be warmed and filled. They're not going to be warm because they don't have a coat and they don't have mittens. They're not going to be filled because they don't have food, but you have those things. It's actually a sign of false faith that you don't help that person out, your brother or sister. Thus, he says, also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and this is key to James' message, and I will show you my faith by my works. 1 John chapter three. John says, by this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. For whoever has this world's goods and sees his brethren in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? And then he comes to the verse that I quoted earlier. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed or in truth. So let's love. Let's watch over one another in brotherly love. Let's pray for one another. and let us aid each other in sickness and in distress. Fourth, to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy. I love the way that the wording is here. Feeling and courtesy. Sympathy, we could say, and courtesy. We are promising that we will, by God's grace, by the aid of his spirit, cultivate that sympathy for one another. Now here's the reality. Sometimes we have so many problems ourselves that when we hear of somebody else having a problem, it's like we don't have time for it. Or we try to compare our problems. Well, my problems are five times worse than theirs. That really isn't the point. By God's grace, we should be striving to cultivate Christian sympathy, to cultivate Christian sympathy and feeling and courtesy. Don't simply take my words for it. Don't simply take the words of our covenant together. Look at it with me in scripture, Romans chapter 12 and verse 15. Romans 12 and verse 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Well, I have a lot more to cry about than they do, but that is not the point. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We really need God's help to do this because we're naturally selfish. We're naturally selfish. We're naturally selfish so that when something good happens and our brothers and sisters are happy about it, we have a tendency not to be happy with them. Well, I wish my life would go better. Must be nice. No, no, no. Let's be happy for our brothers and sisters rejoicing with them when they rejoice. And sometimes it's hard, isn't it? Because sometimes you see a brother or sister receive something in their life that you have prayed for for years and haven't received in your life. That's a real test, isn't it? The test of whether we have cultivated true Christian sympathy by the help of the Spirit is not if you can be happy because they have things good but not quite as good as you have. true test of whether you have true Christian sympathy helped by the Spirit is not whether you can weep simply because their struggles are worse than your struggles. Let us rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We read this earlier, but 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 26 says, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. This is actually reality, whether we see it this way or not. So if here at church, there's someone suffering, we suffer with them. Whether we recognize it or not, we should be expressing sympathy and love for that person in their time of suffering. When one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Can we rejoice with one another when God does something good for them? Can you rejoice with your brother or sister when they get a good job and you're still looking for one? Can you rejoice with your brother or sister when their car is Car repair bill was much less than they expected and yours is still sitting in the shop? Can you rejoice with your brother or sister when they have a loved one that comes to Christ and you're still praying for yours and have been praying for yours for years? Can you rejoice with your brother or sister when they get a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a husband or a wife and you're still hoping and longing for that? Can you rejoice when someone has a new child and you've lost a close friend? And it goes both ways, doesn't it? That we should be showing sympathy for those who are struggling, even as we rejoice, and we should be alert to that. But let us have Christian sympathy. Also, we are agreeing to be courteous to one another. One of the characteristics of love is, in the words of the old King James, it doesn't behave unseemly. That expression doesn't behave unseemly means doesn't act rudely. This is something that we should examine ourselves about because sometimes we can say, well, I love them, but they annoy me. and then we act that way. Let us cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and in courtesy. Let's be courteous to one another. And then finally, and again, we'll have to move a little quickly through this, but it's important that we see this, to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation. Slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation. I have told you before that sometimes people ask me about Ennerdale and I'll say, I'm grateful for Ennerdale. I know that they love me, but sometimes I wish that they would love each other more. One of the hardest parts of a pastor's job One of the most difficult things that a pastor has to deal with is when brothers and sisters in the church are at odds with one another. And sometimes, brothers and sisters, the matters are actually very trivial, where very small things get blown up into big things. Spurgeon said something along these lines, I'm kind of paraphrasing him, but if someone came to him would complain about another believer that was part of the church, he would often say, oh brother, sister, would you please just right here, here's a pen and paper, would you please write all this down and sign your name on it? I don't always have the best memory and I'll bring this to them when I have a chance. Oh no, no, no, no, no, I don't, don't do that. Well, if it's a big enough deal, you're complaining about it, but then all of a sudden it's not a big deal when you're going to actually put your name to it. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal in the first place. Or maybe there's a hesitancy to deal with things the way that God has set forth in his word. We must be brothers and sisters slow to take offense. It's easy. It is easy to get upset. It's easy to get upset over little things, particularly if you're having a stressful day or things aren't going the way that you want. It's easy to take offense over little things if you feel that someone has hurt you in big ways in the past, and you haven't dealt with it properly. But let me read to you something of what the scripture tells us. Proverbs 14, 29 says, he who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly. So you might say, well, what do you live to exalt? Well, I live to exalt the name of Christ. Well, I hope so, but if you're actually getting upset about trivial matters, you're actually living to exalt foolishness. James chapter one, verses 19 and 20. So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. And I know that when that text or that email comes and you read it and it doesn't read quite right, the first thing you want to do is just respond in kind. Or you stew about and you're angry. James reminds us, every man should be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Why? For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. So how do we deal with things properly? Because in our covenant, we are committing to be slow to take offense. I wonder how we're doing at that. Always ready for reconciliation. I wonder how we're doing at that. And mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay. If it is an offense, If it is a big deal, if it's not something that you can overlook, if it is some kind of trespass that a person is overtaken by, well, let's look at a few passages. First of all, Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. If you see a person truly walking into some error and iniquity, this is what you must do. This is part of watching over one another. You that are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, a spirit of meekness, as the King James reads. Think more about how sin or wrong impacts us individually. Let's turn to our Savior's words in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. I wonder how many church issues might be resolved if we simply believed and obeyed the words of our Savior. Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 to 17. Moreover, Jesus says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. So you think that someone has sinned against you, particularly if this is not a kind of thing that you can simply overlook. Love covers a multitude of sins, the proverb tells us. But if this is something that you're unable to overlook, what is your responsibility? If they sinned against you, you go to them. What's our default? Well, they did me wrong, and until they're ready to come and apologize, I'm not gonna talk with them. That is completely backwards of what Jesus says. It is completely the opposite way. Jesus says, if you have been sinned against, and in context, in the whole context of the Bible, this is not something you can simply overlook. This is not something that love can simply overlook and just get on life with. This is something bigger than that. It's something you can't simply do. He says, if you have been sinned against, you go to the person that sinned against you. Tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. By the way, this is also a powerful check and balance. If it's a big enough deal for you to bring up as an issue, as an ongoing thing. that you would actually ask two other people to come with you, they actually can provide some impartial ideas of where you're at as they come with you to this situation and they hear the matter between the two of you. Well, you did this to me. Well, actually, no, I didn't actually mean to do that. You read it all the wrong way. They might be able to say, Hey, this is not as big a deal as you are making it. But if it is such a big deal and the person is unrepentant, they have by their being witnesses and being present there, they become witnesses and that word is established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. This is where it comes into a matter of church discipline. where a person has wronged another believer and it is such a big deal that it has to be dealt with and they won't repent of it, tell it to the church. If he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Now, as you think through the words of Jesus and how seriously Jesus takes this, I wonder, plugging your petty grievance, if you think it's worth going through this. And if it's not worth going through this, then you should be willing to overlook it in a spirit of love. To not be easily upset. But if it isn't such a small matter, and it must be dealt with, and you simply cannot move on with your life, you need to deal with it the way that Jesus says to deal with it. What that means, practically speaking, brothers and sisters, is that I should not hear you complain to me about what somebody has done to you until you've talked to them first. Now the preacher's gone from preaching to meddling here, as the saying goes. Is that not what Jesus says? If you have been wronged, you go to the person that wrongs you. That's number one step. And then from there, you bring it to two or three others, or one or two others. There are people who cause divisions and offenses contrary to proper doctrine. Romans will talk about that. Paul will talk about that in Romans chapter 16. He would say that those who are such do not serve the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. By smooth words and flattering speech, they will deceive the hearts of people. But there is a way that God has ordained that things need to be dealt with. Private sins, you go to that person first. Patterns of sins, those who are spiritual, try to restore them in a spirit of meekness. Public sins. sins that would harm the reputation of Christ in his church. First Corinthians chapter five is an example of that. Paul would say that there was sexual immorality among the church at Corinth, such as was not even named among the Gentiles, that a man had been sleeping with his father's wife. The way that it's worded there, his father's wife, it's his stepmother, but apparently the Corinthians thought that they were cool and hip and progressive because they had a person like this in their church. They were even puffed up by this. But Paul says, no, no, no. The person who has done this deed should be taken away from among you. That person needs to be brought up before the body for church discipline. And if they remain unrepentant, they need to be delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. No, there is a way, brothers and sisters, that we must deal with sins. Sins where a man is overtaken in a fault, those who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. Personal sins go to that person, tell them their sin that they have committed against you and try to work things out together. If though in both cases, if the person is unrepentant, it goes before the church and the person is what has been called excommunicated, removed from the membership until such a time as they do reach a state of repentance. And so, brothers and sisters, let us be people who By God's grace, deal with things God's way. You'll see that I've listed a number of other passages there that speak to the issue of church discipline, but may we be the kind of people who deal with problems the way that God has ordained that we deal with problems. Love covers a multitude of sins. When it comes to personal slights and faults against us, love should cover a whole lot of things there. When it comes to public sins and errors and heresies, Those who are spiritual should restore that person in the spirit of meekness. Private sins, go to that person individually. Seek to work that out. The covenant closes with a commitment to the church. If not this church, another church. If you were to be moved on from this church, that you would seek to join up with the church as soon as possible, wherever God may take you. Brothers and sisters, may we truly love one another. May we watch over one another in brotherly love. I'm quite convinced that if we were to truly love one another, to watch over one another in brotherly love, all of these things would fall into place. We would be people who pray for one another. We would be people who aid one another in sickness and distress. We would be people that deal with problems in a biblical way. We would be people who show the world that we are Christ followers by the way that we love one another. And so brothers and sisters, let's love one another as we have been called to do. We know we need God's spirit. Seek his help and grace for this. And may God be glorified in us. Amen.