Christian Fellowship (2) Love, Brotherly Kindness

Driving home: But the Bible knows of no distinctively Christian fellowship. That is not experienced within the orbit of revealed truth.

Martin quotes A.W. Tozer to describe the contemporary indifference to truth, where people seek 'togetherness' without a foundation in biblical truth, contrasting it with genuine Christian fellowship.

And therefore, as we continue to open up the biblical teaching regarding the fact that there are no effective, substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace, and are presently focusing upon the second major corporate means of grace, namely, continuance in church fellowship, let us never conceive of that fellowship as possible outside the orbit of truth. We live in a day when, as the late Dr. Tozer said, everyone is seeking to join a togetherness

3:45 - 4:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies three graces as paramount for maintaining, deepening, and expanding Christian fellowship: mutual love and brotherly affection, mutual submission and deference…

Martin uses the metaphor of a 'mountain range of graces' with three graces (love, submission, forgiveness) rising like Mount Hood and Mount McKinley to illustrate their preeminence in Christian fellowship.

But according to my present light and understanding, among the whole mountain range of graces described as contributing to the maintenance of distinctive Christian fellowship, there are three that rise above all others. Now, in the course of my further study, my judgment may be altered. This is one of the problems of topical preaching. One must try to survey the whole mass of biblical data, evaluate it and sort it out and put it in its proper categories and elements of judgment enter.

11:27 - 12:03 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies three graces as paramount for maintaining, deepening, and expanding Christian fellowship: mutual love and brotherly affection, mutual submission and deference…

Martin uses the metaphor of strapping into a 'homiletical helicopter' to describe quickly flying over many biblical passages, pausing briefly at each, to build a cumulative case for the necessity of love.

What we're going to do is strap on our seatbelts, and we're going to get in one form of an aircraft or another, and we're going to fly over many portions of the Word of God. Perhaps we should have a helicopter to do that, so that as we fly from one to another, we'll pause for a little bit, look down upon that particular witness, and then move ahead to another, trusting that as a result, when we say the final amen this morning, your heart will feel the cumulative pressure of this overarching emphasis of the New Testament

15:24 - 16:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin briefly reminds listeners of 1 John 3:14, where John presents loving the brethren as an indispensable mark of having passed from death unto life, directly connecting it to…

Martin shares a personal anecdote about a young man calling him to express appreciation for line-by-line preaching, which encouraged him to proceed with his chosen homiletical approach of surveying many texts.

But I'm in this for the long haul. And I thank God that God moved the heart of one of the young men to call me this morning when I was at my desk. And he said I'm just constrained to tell you something Pastor. I'm getting to the place now where I can begin to appreciate what it is to have had the benefit of the line by line precept by precept ministry.

49:56 - 50:18 Read in full sermon