Sunday, March 6th, 2011

More Than a Term of Endearment

When you accept Christ as your Savior and get involved in a New Testament church,  it may seem a little quaint the way everyone refers to the men in the church as “brother” and the women as “sister”.   Most unbelievers know that is just something we do in the Christian community and most probably understand it is because now we are part of God’s family and, in particular, part of a local church family. Is there really a biblical precedent for this?  Do we have proof that they did this in the early church?

This morning I plan to preach the fourth message in this year’s “Equipped to Minister” series from Ephesians 6:10-17 in preparing our hearts for the Lord’s Supper at the end of the service.  I’m using a shorter text than usual today of just three words and they come from our text in Ephesians 6 “Finally, my brethren”.

How many times is some form of “brother” used in the Bible?  What is the background of this emotionally charged word and what does it have to do with believers?  In the sermon today you will learn the answers to these questions and much more.  History was made centuries before the New Testament was written that would alter the way the word “brother” has been used by many ever since.  In this message we will see how that history has even impacted believers!