Salute All the Brethren

Introduction: Marks of a True Church and the Sermon's Focus

0:02 The work of sanctification begun powerfully in conversion is more or less imperfectly wrought here in this life. But he affirms in verses 23 and 24 that at the coming of the Lord Jesus there will be that complete and total and final sanctification of body, soul, and of spirit and that the accomplishment of this perfected sanctification rests not upon the present efforts and strivings and wrestlings of the people of God but upon the faithfulness of the God who has called them. Then in verses 25 through 28 we have his concluding exhortations, commands, and remarks generally regarded as sort of just haphazard inspired yes, but haphazard comments but as we saw last week they are something far more than that when he says brethren pray for us salute all the brethren with a holy kiss I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the brethren the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you we have in those words a beautiful capsule picture of those characteristics which are the marks of a true church as the apostle thinks of the Thessalonians and what he longs for them to know as a body of God's people it could be summarized under these three things

1:31 continued intense prayerfulness brethren pray for us developing, growing, and manifested love salute the brethren with a holy kiss and then a constant and basic respect for and exposure to the word of God written I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the brethren it is as though someone asked well how can all of this be realized and he said well I don't know and he says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you and when the grace of God is operative in assembly of God's people a true church then these things will characterize that church prayerfulness abounding love and submission to the word of God written last week we studied the first of those characteristics in verse 25 brethren pray for us this morning we will focus our attention upon the second of them salute all the brethren with a holy kiss now several of the younger members of the congregation who happened to be in my home last night when I told them what popped into my mind as a sermon title they urged me to use it and I said I couldn't with good conscience they say well then what you could say is say this is what I would have said if I had good conscience to say and the sermon title was what's in a kiss

The Background of the Command: The Kiss in Eastern Culture

2:56 and that's a question we can ask because the apostles said salute all the brethren with a holy kiss well what's in a kiss that an apostle writing to a group of believers in the midst of a circumstance where they're being persecuted for the cause of Christ what in the world is he doing telling them to greet one another with a kiss well if you know what's in a kiss in this biblical setting then you'll understand why the apostle says greet all the brethren with a holy kiss now as we think our way through the text this morning we must first of all get the background of this command you must not read your bible through the eyes of a 20th century American or 20th century Westerner it is couched in eastern culture it is couched in the culture this particular context or this particular passage of almost 2000 years ago and so if we're to understand the command the first thing we must do is grapple with the background of that command then we'll consider in the second place the significance of the command thirdly the application of the command to us and then in the fourth place the personal and practical demands of this command upon us what is the background of this command well to us the kiss is primarily an expression of the most intimate

4:23 of human affections legitimate only where those relationships of intimate human affection exist lovers kiss lovers kiss husbands and wives kiss mothers and fathers may kiss and caress their children now whatever other significance the kiss has this is its major and primary connotation in our society if you don't believe me you just go down to Bloomfield Avenue and kiss the first woman that comes along or you ladies kiss the first woman or man that comes along or man you kiss the first man or woman if you don't believe me that the kiss has primarily a significance within a far more intimate circle of affection you just try to broaden its sphere and you'll get into trouble and rightly so but this was not the significance of the kiss in Bible lands in Eastern lands and in the custom of the Bible setting it was a much broader instrument of expressing many more things than those deep intimate ties of human affection it was used as a general and normal greeting amongst equals men would kiss men women would kiss women it was used of the greeting of an inferior to a superior he might kiss the dirt or the dust where a king had just walked he might kiss the feet of a superior kiss the son we read in Psalm 2

5:51 lest he be angry and he perish in the way reading from the book that I recommended in the hermeneutics class last year Manners and Customs in Bible Lands the article on the subject of kissers says this guests in holy land homes expect to be kissed as they enter you remember when Jesus was entertained by a Pharisee he condemned him by saying thou gavest me no kiss Luke 7.45 the difference between the oriental and the occidental that is our way of greeting each other is made clear by a man who lived in Palestine for many years and this is what he said here in our culture men shake hands when they meet in Greek but in Palestine instead of doing this they place their right hand on their friend's left shoulder and they kiss his right cheek and then reversing the action they place the left hand on his right shoulder and they kiss the left cheek in this country men never kiss each other's faces that is in our own here there it may be constantly seen but how the practice lights up the numerous illusions in scripture which are naturally lost to a westerner once grasped the fact that a man is a Christian and that is the whole incident goes to a topic but that's not the case the fact that their kiss answers to our hearty handshake between friends and social equals and how much how very much becomes plain that was before obscured

7:19 as you go to the scriptures you find many examples of kissing men kissing men Jacob kissed his father Genesis 27.27 Esau kissed Jacob Genesis 33.4 Joseph kissed his brothers Genesis 45.15 the sons of Joseph, Genesis 48.10. Aaron kissed Moses, Exodus 4.27. Moses kissed Jethro. All kinds of kissing going on in the Old Testament. David and Jonathan kissed each other, 1 Samuel 20.41. The father kissed the prodigal, Luke 15. The elders of Miletus kissed Paul. And you remember it says they fell on his neck and kissed him. Another Eastern custom is the placing of the head upon the shoulder and then the kissing of one cheek, the placing of the head on the other shoulder, and the kissing of the other cheek. So it's obvious that the kiss was in common usage in the day in which Paul wrote. It was a kiss of normal greeting. The closest thing in our society is the hearty handshake that goes on between

8:22 men, between women and men, if the woman is gracious enough to extend her hand first, or if the man is ignorant that that's the proper thing to do. Sticks out his hand first and the woman not to leave him embarrassed. And I trust you ladies never do that. If a man doesn't, in his zeal to show his warm greetings, doesn't wait for you to extend your hand, don't ever leave him hanging his hand there. That's cruel.

The Holiness of the Kiss: Set Apart by the Gospel

8:47 There's nothing more embarrassing to a man than to have his hand out and then just said I have to have it with her back because he senses that he's broken custom. Now, here's the setting of the Oriental custom. Now notice the Apostle's command says, Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. Now, what made it holy? And this is the beauty of the gospel. As the gospel came into that cultural setting, it took things that were common to that culture and separating them unto a special purpose, it made them holy. For the basic concept of holy in the scripture is not that there is something intrinsically pure in the thing itself, but that it is separated unto God and separated unto special usage. God says that the tabernacle became holy. Well, did the badger skins become suffused with the grace of moral purity? No. Badger skins

9:54 have no purity or impurity, but once the badger skins and the tapestry and the gold and the labor and the brass, once it was purified, it became holy. Now, did the badger skins become holy? Well, I mean, it was set apart for special use unto God, it became holy. Now, what does God do? As the Holy Spirit comes to Thessalonica through the ministry of the apostles, and a group of people are powerfully moved upon by the Holy Spirit, chapter 1, the gospel came not in word only, but in power, and fuses that group of people into this assembly, the praise of which went out into the whole Roman Empire. Paul says, wherever I went, people tell me how the gospel is coming. to you among other things it took the common mode of greeting which was in that sense just an unholy thing a common profane thing and it captured it and it made it the holy kiss so that when brethren now met one another they did not give this kiss just as a normal means of greeting

10:57 but it became the symbol of their deep attachment to one another in the bonds of christ and so the common kiss separated unto the use of god becomes the holy kiss and this apparently became the common practice of the people of god in the church in its early existence for there are no fewer than five references to the holy kiss in the epistles four times it's called the holy kiss romans 16 16 first corinthians 16 20 second corinthians 13 12 and here and then in first peter 5 14 it's called the kiss of love so this is no small thing five commands to greet the brethren with the holy kiss or the kiss of love so the church historians tell us by the time of the end of the first century and 11 11 Moving on into the second century, this was the practice. I quote now from several of the church fathers, people who immediately followed the apostles. After the prayers, says Justin Martyr, who lived in the earlier part of the second century, giving an account in his apology of the customs of Christians, after the prayers we embrace each other with a kiss.

12:21 Tertullian speaks of it as an ordinary part of the religious services of the Lord's Day. And in the apostolical constitutions, as they are termed, the manner in which it was performed is particularly described. The men kiss the men apart, and the women apart salute each other with a kiss in the Lord. Origen then quoting on a comment on Romans 16.16, from this passage the custom was delivered to the churches that after prayer the brethren should salute one another with a kiss. This token of love was, generally given at the Lord's Supper. It was likely from the prevalence of this custom that the slander of Christians indulging in licentiousness at their religious meetings originated and probably led to the discontinuing of the practice. So much for the background.

The Significance of the Command: Visible, Genuine Love

13:13 You see now the kiss, not in its western context, but in its eastern setting. Now, what was the significance of the command? Why did the apostle give them a command? This is a command.

13:26 Just as much as the command, see that none render unto anyone evil for evil, in verse 15. Just as much as the command to live a holy life, to abstain from fornication, to sorrow not as the world sorrows not. Here's a command, a charge laid upon every believer to greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. What is the significance of that command?

13:51 Why would the apostle give it? Now, will you listen carefully? Here's the crux. Here's the crux of the issue.

13:57 Paul is saying in this command, see that you believers continue to love one another and that you visibly demonstrate your love in a way consistent with your circumstances. Did they love one another? You read chapter 1. He says, I thank God continually for the faith and hope and love that exist among you.

14:23 But he closes the epistle with, greet one another with a holy kiss. I want your love to increase. I want it to abound. And I don't want it to simply be a disposition in the heart.

14:35 I want you to get it right out here on your lips where your brethren can read it. Not with words, but with actions. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. See that you continue to love one another and that you demonstrate this love consistent with your circumstances.

14:56 Now do you see all that's involved in this? He's saying, I don't want you to give an empty kiss such as the world may give, even as people who hate us might shake our hands out of social custom. No, no. He said, I want you to give a holy kiss.

15:15 A kiss that is holy because it is a demonstration outwardly of what is real inwardly. I don't want you giving one another a Judas kiss. You remember? When Judas was about to betray our Lord, he came and he kissed him and Jesus asked him, Luke 24, 48, Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?

15:39 Judas, of all the ways you could betray me, of all the signals you could give, why do you take that which should be the symbol of affection and friendship and make it the signal to betray me? Judas, these two things are incongruous. How can you betray me? How can you betray me with the symbol of affection?

15:58 You have negated the whole meaning of the kiss by the very deed that that kiss will trigger.

16:05 So when the apostle says to the brethren, greet one another with a holy kiss, he's saying, let the kiss of the lips be but the echo and the expression of the true love of the heart. Don't be involved in Judas kissing in the assembly.

16:23 He's saying, if you come to the assembly and you've got something to do, something in your heart against your brother, don't let it stew around. You're commanded to greet him with a holy kiss before you leave. And unless it's going to be a Judas kiss, you better get that thing right. Let your love cover the multitude of faults.

16:43 Get that issue settled. Certainly he's not commanding to a mere activity that has no heart. And he's also saying, it's not enough for you to simply have your love in your heart. Suppose he had just closed the epistle by saying, greet one another, with deep love in your heart.

17:00 No, he says, it's not enough to have it in your heart. It must be out where it can be read and understood.

Application to Us: The Holy Handshake

17:11 This is the crux of the command. This is his longing for that assembly. Now, having considered the background, the significance of the command, what is its application to us? Well, some would say, the only way we can apply this is to pick up the practice literally.

17:27 The Bible says, greet the brethren with a holy kiss, so let's start this morning having a general kissing session in the assembly. Well, let me say, if the Bible warrants that position, no matter how unnatural it is for it, we better begin to do it, because God says it. But I don't believe that's what God is saying to us.

17:50 Because we would be so conscious of the strangeness of the custom that it wouldn't be an expression of the affection in the heart, it would be an expression of who among us has got more boldness than the other to go ahead and start the practice, you see. It would be strange to us. No, Paul is saying, love one another. Increase in your love to one another.

18:08 Show your love to one another. And the most natural way is to take what is a common expression of friendship and have it now sanctified as a peculiar expression of peculiar friendship, namely, the love of Christ that unites you together. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I'm confident that if Paul were writing to our society in our day, he would say, greet one another, greet one another with a handshake?

18:34 No, with a holy handshake. A holy handshake. Not just a handshake that is a social duty, that's a profane handshake. Even prize fighters who are being paid to knock each other's blocks off before they start the round, they shake hands, they tap gloves.

18:55 Right? Sure, the captains in the football team were out to knock each other's head off. They come out to the midfield stripe when the captain says, captain, so-and-so, the captain says, yes, sir, they shake hands. And they're going to try to knock each other's block off before the day's out, you see.

19:11 The handshake in the world is just a social custom to which we conform. Now Paul would say, greet one another with a holy handshake. Let your handshake be one that is entirely different in the framework of God's people. It is not a social nicety, it is an honest expression in the fingers of the true condition of the heart.

19:33 You're my brother, my sister in Christ, and I love you in the bonds of the Savior. There's the application of the command to us. Now, and this is the core of our study this morning, what personal and practical demands does this make upon us?

Demands of the Command: Cultivating Impartial Love

19:53 As one commentator has said, the presence, increase, and expression of Christian love is not optional, but obligatory or obligatory. The very stamp and badge of Jesus Christ upon his followers. Jesus said, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if ye have love one to another. How are they going to know that we have love one to another unless they see that love one to another?

20:19 And one of the primary marks of the early church which caused amazement amongst the heathen societies was the presence of the holy kiss amongst the brethren. Let me read from an author, Neander, great church historian, who commented, the fraternal kiss with which everyone after being baptized was received into the community of Christians, which the members bestowed on each other just before the celebration of the communion and with which every Christian saluted his brother, though he never saw him before, was not an empty form, but the expression of Christian feelings, a token of the relation in which Christians conceived themselves to stand to each other. It was this indeed, now notice these words, which in a cold and selfish age struck the pagans with wonder to behold men of different countries, ranks, stages of culture, so intimately bound together to see the stranger who came into a city and by his letter of recognition made himself known to the Christians of the place as a brother beyond suspicion, finding at once among them to whom he was personally unknown all manner of brotherly sympathy, and protection. Do we live in an age of cold indifference? We certainly do. What causes that world to know and behold that we are his people

21:46 when they see the holy handshake, among other things, as a valid expression of true love and true reception one of another? But now this makes some tremendous demands upon us. In the first place, it demands that we cultivate a broad, impartial love for all God's people. Particularly those of our own assembly.

22:10 For there's one word that I haven't stressed in my exposition up till now and I want to underscore it now. Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. All whom you have any reason to regard as brethren, salute them with a holy kiss. Make sure that you have abounding love to them and show them that love in the holy kiss.

22:35 In our context, in the holy handshake. Now let me say, knowing a little something of human nature, it's much easier to quote love people at a distance. Many a couple that have swooned around in a half days in a time of courtship have had fiery eyes of anger for years after the wedding.

23:00 It was easy to love in the distant relationship of courtship but in the intimate relationship of marriage, they couldn't make it. They just saw too much in each other that they could not stand. And so they...

23:17 It's easy to love God's people at a distance.

23:26 To go into a strange assembly where people are worshipping, where the truth is preached. This is wonderful. This is the most wonderful group of people in all the world. And you begin to live with them and see their warts and their moles and see their crooked limbs and begin to know that in the midst of all this, in many things we offend all.

23:44 And what happens? You begin to allow these little festering suspicions to grow. These little attitudes of jealousy and rancor and friction. Now the word comes to us, greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.

24:00 Even those that naturally rub you the wrong way, you must cultivate a broad impartial love for all of God's people. That doesn't mean you won't have some with whom you have a more intimate affection in love. David only had one Jonathan. Our Lord only had one inner circle of Peter, James and John.

24:19 I'm not speaking of the fact that in the providence of God some of us will have a more intimate relationship with others. I'm saying that there must be underneath those special and more intimate relationships the cultivation of a broad impartial love for all of God's people.

24:40 And you see, if you know you've got to have it, I've got to meet that fellow. I'm at the back of the door today and give him a holy handshake, but I can't. I've got this attitude, but I've got to. You see what that'll do?

24:50 That'll drive you to cry to God. Say, Lord, I've got to greet him with a holy handshake, but I can't. I can't love that guy. And the Lord says, you must.

24:58 And it's that sense that you must, but you can't, that drives you to the Lord. And then it'll drive you to that brother or sister. I know of an instance just this past week where this happened in our own assembly. Where someone went to someone else and for some reason, I don't know why, but there's something in me that I don't like about you.

25:21 I said, what have I done? He said, nothing. I just don't like you.

25:28 But you see, the thing that drove that was the recognition, I want to meet that man and look him right back to what I call the retina. I don't want to look him in his forehead when I shake his hand. I don't want to look at the glassy part of his eyeballs. I want to look right through back to his retina.

25:42 Now, I want to read in him, I love you in Christ, and I want him to read in me, I love you in Christ. That makes tremendous demands upon us to rest short of nothing less than this broad, impartial love for all of God's people, even when you've known them for a long while.

26:05 Why are so few marriages a beautiful thing after two years? Because there are so few people willing to work at the grace of cultivating a love that will stand the test of full exposure.

26:20 I tell all the couples that I counsel before the Mass, you think you know it, so you don't know the first thing about her, and you don't know the first thing about him.

26:28 And I don't care how careful you've been in planning and all the rest, from the human standpoint, love is still a gamble. I mean, marriage is still a gamble.

26:37 In the sense that you're taking a step into an unknown relationship, but if you take it in this confidence that even after I know all about him or all about her, if God has led us into this relationship, He can give us grace to make the necessary adjustments if we're willing to roll up our sleeves and work at it. And that's the same thing with the church. I tell that in the membership classes. You've been there when I say, you'll get to know that we've got all kinds of faults because we're all sinners in an imperfect state of sanctification.

27:07 But if we come into that assembly realizing it's my command, the command from God laid upon me, it's my duty to greet all of these brethren with a holy kiss at all times, then I'm going to roll up my sleeves and I'm going to go to work at crying out to God of applying myself to every legitimate means until I can say by the grace, by the grace of God I know something of that broad, impartial love for all of His people. Well, the second demand it will make upon us is this. It will mean that we'll not only have to cultivate this broad, impartial love, but we'll have to keep short accounts with our brethren.

Demands of the Command: Keeping Short Accounts

27:45 You've allowed something come up and yet you know, uh-oh, Sunday, I've got to greet Him. If He happens to meet me at the door, I've got to greet Him with a holy handshake.

27:55 Well, I know what I'll do. I just won't shake His hand. I won't be a hypocrite. But then you start to walk by and you say, yeah, but the Bible says I've got to greet Him with a holy handshake, but I can't.

28:03 So what's it do? It drives you to go to your brother and do what Matthew 18 says. If thy brother thought against thee. Or Luke 17, if thy brother has sinned against thee, rebuke him.

28:12 You see what it'll do? The sense that this is a command of God which must be obeyed will drive me to keep short accounts with my brethren. I don't want to give a Judas handshake. Do I want to meet him at the door and say, how you doing, brother?

28:28 Down under here, I'm like this. That's not a holy handshake. That's a Judas handshake. Betrayest thou thy brother with a handshake?

28:36 Shame on you.

28:39 Betrayest thou thy brother with a handshake? That's what it says. No, no. Don't betray him.

28:49 You've got to keep short accounts. Before you go home, you may have to tap him on the shoulder and say, look, I want to shake your hand, but first of all, I've got to tap your shoulder. Let's go downstairs and talk.

28:58 And if he's wronged you, you rebuke him in love. And if you repent, forgive him. You're reconciled. Scripture tells us how to deal with these things.

29:08 You see, this puts the pressure on a bad attitude.

29:12 That's what we need. And the Lord in His wisdom has given us a simple command like this to keep us from allowing things to accumulate. Then the third thing, in the way of personal demands that this text in duty makes upon us is this. It tells us that we must make conscious efforts to demonstrate our love to our brethren.

Demands of the Command: Conscious Efforts to Demonstrate Love

29:35 Suppose someone sitting in the Thessalonian assembly, he was sitting there that morning, the elder read this thing, greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. He said, oh, but wait a minute, I'm just not like that. Some of these guys are very ebullient and outgoing and gregarious, but I'm just not like that. And he goes up to one of the elders and he says, sir, I know at the latter part of Paul's letter it said I'm to greet all the brethren with a holy kiss, but I'm just too reserved.

30:01 You see, my temperament is such and my background is such that I think because of my genes and because of my environment, that I can be excused from that command.

30:12 Well, it wouldn't be long before someone else would come up and say, a little bit earlier than that, I heard you read, know them that have the rule over you and submit to them. Well, you see, my background and my temperament is such that I don't like anybody telling me what to do. I pray they have me excused from that command. And someone else says, well, I'll take you back a little bit more, Paul.

30:29 You see, my temperament and background is such that I just can't obey that command to abstain from fornication. It's just not in me naturally. That's just not been my background in my way. You see, if my duty is determined by my genes and my environment, then there's no commandment concerning which someone might not legitimately say, I pray they have me excused.

30:51 My duty is not determined by my natural inclinations, but by the word of the living God. My word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. But someone else says, I just can't do that. And they excuse themselves in the area of ability.

31:07 Well, again, your duty is not determined by your ability. It's but by God's word and by God's grace. That's why the book of Hebrews closes with this kind of a benediction. That great shepherd that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus or the God of peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep make you perfect in everything to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.

31:36 You and I, then, must roll up our sleeves and say, I don't care what my natural temperament is, how much of a wallflower I am, how shy I am, how bashful I am. God says, I am to greet the brethren with a holy handshake. I'm going to stop excusing myself. I'm going to roll up my sleeves and I'm going to make a conscious effort to demonstrate my love to my brethren.

31:59 Now, granted, this is one command that's a lot easier for some of you to obey than others. But that's all right. There are others that are harder for some others to obey than this. And you see, it all levels out.

32:12 It all levels out. Some may find this command no burden. I, for one, find it no problem. I sat here analyzing myself as I was preparing and sat at home in my study.

32:22 And a number of you will notice this. Some Sunday nights when you're all standing around here talking and you don't come to me at the door, I track you down in the pews. And I try to analyze, why is this? No one ever told me I had to do this.

32:35 But I think it's this very thing. I want to show you my love for you. But I'm not just up here because you're paying me and this is a business relationship. I love you.

32:46 And that's how I've got to tell it to you. I've got to come and give you that hearty handshake. Now that's easy for me. This command is relatively easy for me.

32:56 Some of you it isn't. But there are a few others we've gone down through here that aren't easy for me. In fact, there are a lot of them. In fact, about the only one I can say is easy.

33:04 The only one that's easy comes naturally. Because you see, I just have a lot in my temperament, in my genes, in my background to make it a little bit easier. But that doesn't mean that my obligation is any different from yours or yours any different from mine. This is God's command.

33:21 And once you believe it is, then you're going to make conscious efforts to demonstrate your love to the brethren. You say, well, why should that be necessary? Well, how many times have some of you wives said to your husband, dear, I know you love me, but I'd just love to have you tell me. How many times have you got to tell him?

33:42 You say, well, dear, I've told you at least a thousand times. It's been a long time since we've been married. They say, yeah, but I want to hear it again. Never enough.

33:50 Isn't that right, you wives?

33:53 Or if you had a husband who was all the time telling he loved you, saw you with dishes piled up, a hamper full of clothes, a floor that needs scrubbing, he's sitting around twiddling his thumbs writing love poems,

34:12 he'd say, dear, I appreciate what you say, but let's have a little action.

34:18 Let's back up your words with your actions. See? Now you see the application. We are made as human beings that we need conscious, tangible confirmations of love.

34:30 There's one reason why the Lord's given us His table. The communion. Because we take in our hands these tangible symbols, object lessons of His dying love to us. And in so doing, His love to us is confirmed.

34:47 And our love to Him in a respectable way and a reciprocal way is expressed. God says, greet one another with a holy handshake. I want you not only to increase in love, but I want you to make conscious efforts to show your love one to another.

35:02 I know some of you are thinking, well, that's not like, I don't care if it's not like you. This is God's command that His grace is sufficient. But that hasn't been, I don't care. This is what it says.

Practical Implications and Exhortation

35:11 Now for some of you, that means you've got to stop running out that door first thing in the morning.

35:19 Well, yeah, but I have to get, that's all right. That'll wait.

35:23 Some of you see, naturally, just want to slip in, slip out.

35:29 Well, you've just got to hang around, because if some people are commanded by God to greet you with a holy handshake, if you have reason to believe you're a brethren, how can they obey it if you don't meet them halfway on this, you see? So many little practical implications. You work them out in your own life, and I'm sure you'll see where they fit. May I close this morning with this word of exhortation?

35:54 A simple command, greet one another with a holy kiss, and we're reminded again that only the Christian fits in here.

36:03 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. You can't give them a holy handshake, because the handshake is holy for what it signifies of the bond that unites us in Christ. And if you're out of Christ, all you can do is give a civil handshake. Now, thank God, a Christian can give civil handshakes, but he can only give a holy handshake to his brother.

36:25 Now, let me ask you, are you qualified to give me a holy handshake at that door this morning?

36:30 Now, I hope you'll give me a civil handshake, but can you give me a holy handshake? Is your heart united to Christ by faith? Are you his child? So that his love shed forth in your heart and his love in mine causes our fingers to clasp in an expression of that bond that unites us with a bond that's deeper than even marriage.

36:58 For in heaven they neither marry nor are given a marriage or like the angels.

37:04 This is an eternal bond. If you're not a Christian, you can't. And so even as you come to the door, may the Lord cause you to search your heart. Am I in Christ?

37:13 Is this the holy handshake? And then to you who are God's children, let me ask you this morning, is there anyone here whom you have reason to regard a brother or sister to whom you cannot give a holy handshake?

37:29 You allowed some static to come and you've just been studiously avoiding? Oh, it would be wonderful if before you left this morning you just said, let's go. Let's go downstairs and have a little chat together and get the air cleared so that you can greet all the brethren with a holy handshake. Now, one little practical thing.

37:44 Does that mean every single service we ought to shake the hand of every single member? Well, I would imagine when this letter came that they probably stopped at the end and all did that, at least then. But again, I don't think the whole emphasis of the New Testament is not upon establishing little rituals. Get the principle.

38:02 And this is but an expression of that principle. There should be that maintenance of the attitude so that I'd not be afraid that anyone in the assembly would happen to meet me at the door and it'd be convenient to give a handshake. If there's anyone I have to studiously avoid and hope they get out before I do or vice versa, then there's grounds for work to be done in our hearts before the Lord. What would Paul have us be as a church?

Conclusion: A Church Marked by Prayer and Love

38:28 He would have us a body of God's people marked by continuous and fervent intercessory prayer. Brethren, pray for us. But secondly, he would have us marked by increasing abounding and evidenced and demonstrated love one to another. Greet all the brethren with the holy kiss.

38:51 Let us pray.