Gen 37:4, And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. 
As we have mentioned, since we are in the season of brotherly love, it is very appropriate to dwell in depth in the reality of what God expects in our earthly relationships. We spent last time dealing with the anger and the frustration and the animosity that Joseph’s brothers harbored against him. It was to such a violent extent that they actually planned to murder him before Judah stepped forward and convinced the others not to kill him. He got them to agree to sell Joseph to the passing Midianites. It was as a direct result of Judah’s intervention that Joseph was put into slavery in Egypt. By the divine plan of God, Joseph became the one who gave refuge to his entire family to survive the disastrous drought that swept through the land. 
Despite the fact that the brothers so hated Joseph and meant to do such evil to him, Joseph saw the hand of God in operation and encouraged his brothers thusly. Gen 50:20+21, "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph made every provision for those brothers who had so viciously and vehemently cast him into the pit to die, eventually selling him into slavery for 20 shekels of silver. 
As we continue, this morning, let us look at what is in the heart of God with respect to our brothers and sisters. This world tries to portray such a vial and disgusting picture of sibling rivalry as nothing other than a normal reaction to sharing the affections of parents. It is taught as the way in which we naturally develop in our relationships within our society. 
I would heartily agree that it is, in very fact, a most natural reaction and development of our earthly, carnal nature. As we saw with Cain and Abel and Jacob and Esau when one brother perceived some wrong-doing to his own interests and some loss of standing or possession, he got to the point of such hatred as to strive to kill his own brother.
This is not at all unusual within our current society. Brother often strikes brother for the very sake of getting something that the other has, or for reasons of jealousy or envy or because of some perceived wrong. Families are irreparably torn asunder as the sickening result of selfish motives and for monetary gain or emotional consequences. What this world calls normal, however, needs to be seen in the light of what God has in His heart with regard to how brother is to treat brother. 
As we have considered, the Apostle Paul had to deal with this in 1 Cor 6:5-7, I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 
The heart of God is that brother should bear with brother. Rather than all the sibling squabbling and angst that leads to anger, frustration, hatred and violent intent, there should be a peace and a coming together within both the physical as well as the spiritual family. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? This should be our heart’s contemplation of our dealings with one another. We should be putting the other’s interests and well-being before our own, showing our love and our encouragement to each other rather than our selfish, worldly motives. 
We know that this can be a most difficult manner of dealing with those who are so close to us. We think that there should be some mutual respect and support when we often do not get anything but criticism and indignation and harsh treatment and little or no consideration. Even Our Lord suffered this with His earthly brothers as we read in John 7:3-5. His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here, and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may behold Your works which You are doing. "For no one does anything in secret, when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." For not even His brothers were believing in Him. 
His own brothers did not believe in Him and His ministry at first. It wouldn’t be until later that they would see that He truly was the Son of God incarnate. But that did not stop Jesus from His ministry, eventually winning over his own family with love and with patience and with long-suffering. This is the example that we are given in God’s countermanding of what this world purports as truth. The lie is that sibling rivalry is just a part of growing up. The truth is that we are to love our brothers and our sisters at all times, no matter what the age or the stage of our development. 
The reason that this is so vital is that the family, beginning with the marriage and the relationship of two becoming one flesh, is the testimony of the reality of our spiritual relationship with God. Just as we are vitally joined together with our spouses, so are we the witness of being livingly and fully joined together with Christ as His Body. Then, as a husband and wife become a family, blessed with the fruitfulness of children, so does the light of the love of God shine forth on this earth in the living witness of His Church. We learn what it means to be the family of God as we so honor Him, just as we are to honor our earthly parents. 
In this certainty, the Word of God is definitely not silent. As we will note, there are many passages which serve to show us how we are to interact with our brothers and sisters. We must not think that we are dealing only with the brethren in Christ, because the fact is that we are to treat all people in the same testimony of the living Lord Jesus Christ. None are excluded from the proper manner of showing forth the Love of God, especially within our families. So often, we think that it is OK to treat our family members as a different entity of our lives. We act one way in the world and a completely different way at home with our earthly family. 
However, what God instructs for one is true for all those in our lives. We are to manifest the gracious and mercy-filled and prayerful behavior of our lives as much to our spouses and our parents and our children and our siblings as to anyone else! All are to be blessed in the fact that, as we interact with them, they are being met by the love of God in Jesus Christ! 
In this genuineness, then it makes perfect sense that the Word encourages us to so treat one another with the heart that seeks for God to love and to bless them as He has so loved and blessed us. As well, it becomes very obvious that the Word is our warning in terms of what is residing in the dregs of our old nature. 1 John 2:10, But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 
As we are very clearly told by the Apostle John, our attitude toward our brothers definitely reflects the manner of our walk on this earth. If we harbor hatred, we are walking in darkness and blinded by it, much as when we say that we are blinded by rage. It is a truism that will be played out in our conduct toward others. 
	The Apostle goes on with the following comparison, defining those who are walking in the light and those who are walking in the darkness of death and deceit. 1 John 3:10-15, if you would please turn to it. 1 John 3:10-15, By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous. Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 
	This declaration of John hearkens us back to the beginning of what this world labels as sibling rivalry, yet is called murder by God. The very attitude and harboring of hatred is equated with the very act committed by Cain against his brother. The fact that we are Christians is to be fully evidenced in the manner in which we treat our brethren in love.
	The Apostle carries this forward into 1 John 4:20+21 as he deals with the very words that we proclaim before others and before God. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. Even if we declare that we love God, if we are harboring animosity and hatred for our brother or sister, we are lying to God and to ourselves. We cannot truly love God if we cannot truly and fully love those whom God has put into our lives. Our love for God is manifested in the manner in which we take others into our hearts as He has taken us into His heart.
	Our Lord Jesus made a very clear and serious case regarding this as He dealt with the instruction of bringing our offering unto God. This is such a vital and forceful state of affairs before God, that Jesus equated it with the guilt of murder and the fires of hell. Matt 5:21-24, Please turn to it in your Bibles and mark it for further searching before God in prayer. Matt 5:21-24, "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. 
	Notice just how grave and solemn a charge is given us by Our Lord. Just to call our brother Raca - which signifies a vain, empty, worthless fellow, shallow brains, a term of great contempt. (from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) or fool is enough to cause great consequences upon us in terms of God’s dealings. We are to consider our brother and how he might feel about us so as not to spoil the offering that we bring to God. 
Please note that we are to search out those things that we might have done to cause our brother to hold something against us, thus putting him before ourselves in consideration of the wrong-doing. This is so opposite to what the world teaches. God wants us to consider how our brother feels toward us and to seek to be reconciled on that basis, rather than on the basis of our being satisfied with our brother’s actions and attitudes. 
Again listen to how important this is in the heart of God as described by our Lord in Mark 3:24+25. "And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. The unity of the Body of Christ stands in the fact that we are joined one to each other in Christ Jesus. In that light, our families are under the same compulsion to be reconciled to one another, to be joined together in unity and in harmony. As this will affect the willingness of God to receive our offerings, so also does it affect the unity of the entire corporate church as the living witness of all that God has accomplished in Jesus Christ. God’s entire essence is bound up with ours in the unity that He has created in His Only Begotten Son and His Church. It is that fundamental and that essential in terms of how we relate to our brothers and sisters.
Listen to the encouragement given by the Apostle Paul in this light of Christ. 2 Cor 13:11, Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. In all our dealings with each other and with our family members, there should be the living characteristic of Jesus Christ evidenced in love and in peace and in comfort. That should be the witness that our homes present within our neighborhoods. Our families should be seen as those ambassadors who point, through a living expression, to the life of Christ in operation. It will not be a forced acceptance of one another because that is what we should do. It will be the desire to see and to interact and to share together in all that God has intended for families to experience on this earth through the unity of the life of Christ. 
And finally, from the Apostle Paul in Eph 4:31+32, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. We need to learn to allow the Holy Spirit to operate fully and freely to put away all that which is so against the testimony of Jesus in our families. Notice that this list is extremely specific and inclusive… all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander…along with all malice. 
Sadly, there are many families, in whom these elements run rampant, causing such havoc and distress and confusion and emotional upheaval. Some of the hurts and resentments are decades old, never being set aside in the hearts and minds, never receiving forgiveness or reconciliation. 
As we celebrate this season of brotherly love, there will be many opportunities to seek after the Holy Spirit to teach us to …be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other. This is the manner in which we, as the Body of Christ, can best bless and praise and honor Him. Let us, each one, ask the Lord to work on our hearts to make us those expressions of love and peace and forgiveness and kindness to our earthy family members as well as our spiritual brothers and sisters. Let us be His testimony of love and forgiveness and patient endurance that will ring forth in increasing clarity and joy now and evermore. So be it.
And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is 1 Tim 1:17. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.