Remember Those Who are Mistreated

“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say,

“’The Lord is my helper;

    I will not fear;

what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:1-6 ESV)

If we love one another within the family of God with this brotherly love, it means that we have a warm, kind, and proper affection for one another, and we care about each other like we would our own flesh and blood family members. For we are all part of God’s family who believe in Jesus Christ with God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ. All of us who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him in holy living, are brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, we will be looking out for one another, for what is for our good. And we will be those who are encouraging and exhorting one another in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord, and who are speaking the truth in love to one another so that we are not deceived by sin’s deceitfulness and so we are not led astray by people in their cunning, craftiness, and deceitful scheming. For many liars exist who make pretense to faith in Jesus Christ so that they can trick us into believing their lies and to turn from pure devotion to Christ.

And we will be sensitive to one another’s needs, whether the needs are physical, emotional, or spiritual, and we will reach out to one another to help meet those legitimate needs, as we are led of the Spirit of God in what the Lord would have us to do or to say. And we will gather together regularly wherever we can meet together to encourage one another in our walks of faith, and to use our spiritual gifts for the proper building up of the body of Christ to maturity in Christ, as we each do our part, like a family.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

And we are to show hospitality to strangers. Now I live in the USA and in the 21st Century, so culturally we are different from the people of the culture of the time period and location that these words were written, so I am not totally sure what all this entailed for them. I do believe that in my culture and time period that this needs to be bathed in prayer and acted out in wisdom and discernment, but for me it means that I should treat strangers always with kindness and respect and value, no matter who they are.

Now, when this speaks of remembering those in prison, I believe the context is that of those who are believers in Jesus Christ who are being mistreated, some of whom are being put in prison because of their walks of faith in the Lord. And I believe this includes all Christians throughout the world who are being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. We should be praying for them. But it also includes our brothers and sisters in Christ locally who are being mistreated. We should pray and ask God how we can encourage them.

And this segues right into this next section which talks about marriage, and how all of us are to hold marriage in honor, and how all of us who are married should be living righteous, faithful, and morally pure lives so that our “marriage bed” (intimate relationship with spouse) remains undefiled. And this takes both husband and wife to make the marriage bed undefiled. But it only takes one to defile it. And in our culture today, with so many people addicted to pornography, I suspect most marriage beds are defiled.

And what that means for the faithful spouse who is married to an unfaithful spouse is that the unfaithful spouse is mistreating the faithful spouse. And we need to remember them, too, in prayer. And for the Christian, divorce is not the solution. The body of Christ should not encourage divorce as the solution, but the body of Christ should lovingly correct the unfaithful spouse and insist upon faithfulness, and pray for these marriages to be healed. And we need to take God seriously, that he will judge the (immoral) adulterous.

Then we should not be greedy people who are hungering and thirsting after the sinful pleasures of this world and worldly possessions and worldly wealth. Our hearts and minds should be set on pleasing the Lord in all that we do and say, and serving him and other people with our lives. Then leave it up to the Lord to provide for our needs. But this is not saying that we should be lazy and not work to provide for our needs, but that wealth is not to be our goal. Feeding our families and paying our bills should be our focus.

And we should learn to be content with what we have and not be focused on accumulating more and more stuff. If we haven’t used it in years, we should give it away to someone else who can use it. 

And then we should have no fear of other humans and what they might do to us or say about us or to us. What can man do to us? A lot! But we are not to fear them, for the Lord is our helper, our healer, and our strength. And he will give us all we need to endure unjust suffering for the sake of his name, and for the sake of his gospel message which we should all be sharing with the people of the world (the whole counsel of God). We should tell them that faith in Jesus means self-denial, dying to sin, and obeying him, in practice.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

In Harmony  

An Original Work / September 2, 2012

Based off Ro. 12:9-21; 1 Pet. 3:8-17

Love each other truly. 

Cling to what is good.

Hate all that is evil. 

Never lack in zeal.

Serve the Lord with fervor. 

Joyful in hope be;

Patient in affliction; 

Praying faithfully.

Honor one another. 

Live in harmony.

Share with all God’s people

Who are found in need.

Do not be conceited.

Sympathetic be.

Love, and show compassion

In humility.

Keep your tongue from evil.

Peaceful you must be.

Honor one another.

Live in harmony.

God sees who are righteous;

Listens to their prayers.

But He’s against evil – 

Is His to avenge.

Do not fear what they fear.

Suffer patiently.

In your hearts, make Christ Lord.

Serve Him faithfully.

Honor one another.

Live in harmony.

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