Gen 13:8, Then Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. 
We are in the process of the consideration of the attitude with which we are to deal with our families, both earthly and spiritual. We are using the pattern as modeled by Abram in dealing with his nephew, Lot. Abram did not allow his own interests, or even perceived equity to become an issue in his dealings with his family. He set it all aside and allowed the younger man to choose whatever land he desired rather than exercise his rightful position as head of the family to determine who got what. 
This is an important key that we need to take to heart in our relationships within the earthly family units that God has ordained and within the spiritual family of which we are part in Christ. Sadly, the inherent manifestation of our rights and our being treated with fairness and with equity often become roadblocks to our familial relationships. This should never be the case! It would be a perfect world if we were always content in the manner of our treatment within the family units and the Body of Christ, as we should be. But so often our self-interests become the guiding determination of how we will treat one another. We always find ourselves weighing what our portion of the land entails, what our division of the desired attention involves and how our sense of fairness and evenhandedness never seem to be measured out sufficiently. 
Many families are torn asunder when wills are executed and possessions become the determining factor of who wins and who loses in the distribution of inheritances. So often our perception of how we are loved is unevenly weighed by our skewed perceptions of how love is measured out. We mistakenly consider it as if it were a limited quantity of some natural resource that needs to be hoarded unto ourselves. Divisions and barriers are erected. Lines are drawn in the sand. Ultimatums are declared with all the sundering effects that surely follow. This entire rancor and tearing asunder develops because we are truly looking out for our own interests rather than for the sakes of the other. 
This was not the case with Abram. He determined in his heart that nothing would be allowed to cause dissension within his family. Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. 
This morning, I am asking each one of us to search our hearts before the Lord as to what is at the very core of our every intent and objective in our families and within our fellowship. We must face both aspects of this because we cannot separate how we deal with our family members from how we deal with those in the Body of Christ. What is true in one will certainly be true in the other. We may be able to put on a good mask when we are in the company of believers, but the intent of the heart will be the same in both cases. If we are using our brother or sister, holding anger and resentment against them in our earthly family, we will find that same pattern of attitude prevailing in the way we consider our spiritual brethren. We may not give the same verbal or behavioral indicators, but the intent of the heart will be the exact same, if we are honest with ourselves and with the Lord.  
The Apostles Paul, Peter, and John knew of this internal strife within the hearts and minds of the Christians. They were very familiar with all the anguish that it caused the Lord to see those who were redeemed by the very Blood of Christ still manifesting the earthly sense of looking out for themselves over their brothers and sisters. 
Consider the fact that Jesus laid aside everything in order to bring the Love of God unto us. As we read last week in Phil 2:5-8, Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 
	If Christ could empty Himself for our sakes, even giving up His very life for us, who are we to keep anything unto ourselves from our brothers and sisters? Where is there any basis for us to feel that we are not being treated with respect and honor and equity either within our family or within the fellowship? We are rather to glorify God for what He has done and for the love with which He has so freely and fully loved us. This is why we have so many encouragements and admonitions within the New Testament as to the manner in which we are to treat and to consider each other in Christ Jesus.
	Eph 4:1-3, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Look at the supreme emphasis of the manner in which we are to deal with one another as family members in the testimony that we give to our neighbors and friends and as united believers in Jesus Christ. … with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love… 
	How many of us can say, in all true honesty, that we deal with every member of our family in humility and in gentleness and in patience? We often try to be patient with our loved ones and with each other, but we must always be gentle with each other. We must never try to force our way and our attitude upon them. Can we say that we never make fun of one another, laughing behind their backs, never gossip or speak ill of them? Think about our dealings with our spouses and our children or parents. Are we always gentle and patient and humble as we face trials and circumstances and discipline and plans and conflicting goals and desires? 
Do we give in and show forbearance to each other? This includes patience, but with a deeper contextual emphasis on self-control, restraint, tolerance, moderation, leniency, and mercy. This means that we do not get upset with one another after many, many times of enduring the same disappointments and frustrations in their behavior. Rather than giving an ultimatum of shape up or ship out, we bear with one another. We do not give up trying to help them to succeed and to do better. We continually offer ourselves to aid in all the matters that need adjustment, especially since that adjustment is really in our hearts and our thoughts toward them. We do not take it as a personal affront when they continually do all those things that try our patience. 
The Apostle Peter stipulates the reason that we are to so fully and freely manifest the love of Christ to every one of our family members, earthly and spiritual. 1 Peter 1:22+23, Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. 
	Please be absolutely aware that we are not trying to build anything of the goodness of ourselves in our dealings with one another. That will never stand the test of time. It will not survive the battering gales of incompetence and natural futility! We are to rather deal with one another from the source of the One Who so consistently deals with us. Because we know, by His Word, that we are to so treat one another, we ask Him to make us those humble and contrite members of our families through whom He can fully and freely love. 
	One of the inevitable arguments that assaults the giving of this counsel is that it will make us doormats to be walked upon. There is that within us that wants to protect ourselves from being used by others and being taken for granted. We do not want our good nature to be trampled and abused. This stems from that completely wrong focal point of our lives. If we are looking for earthly rewards from this life, yes, we will feel such abuse and such manipulations as being counterproductive to our goals and our aspirations. However, if we are looking for God to receive all the glory from the lives that we live, with no thought of our benefit, as was Abram’s contentment with whatever was left over, then we will know the full measure of what is described by the Apostle Peter.
	1 Peter 3:8-12, To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, "Let him who means to love life and see good days Refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. "And let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 
	Our blessing is in the Lord and not from the realm of this life. We are called to live in full accordance and under the direct Hand of God in the manner in which we honor Him first and foremost. Yes, at times it may seem to be that we are losing out on the pleasures of this age. But, what are those in comparison to the eternal blessing that is ours in pleasing the heart of God? As we are encouraged by the Apostle Paul in Phil 3:7-11, But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 
What can there possibly be in this realm to lose in comparison to the glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ? Our very lives are forfeit for the sake of gaining Him, much less any possessions or earthly admiration or glory.
	We are further instructed by the Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 4:8+9, Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As we regard one another in love, we will find that we truly have no valid complaints, not if we are really fervent in the love of Christ…because love covers a multitude of sins. Again, we are no judges of the intents and the purposes of others with regard to whether or not they deserve to be loved. God so freely loved us that He forgave all our sins in Jesus Christ. Can we do any less with our loved ones?
	We conclude this morning with three passages from the Apostle John. We are very familiar with them and even sing one of them on occasion. This morning, as we read them together, ask the Lord to make them very, very clear in their full meaning and intent in our hearts. These are far more powerful than anything that I could state or argue, as is every Word of God. Therefore, let us ask the Holy Spirit to make them resonate within our hearts and minds as we leave this place and have our dealings with one another and all our loved ones. I ask that they would come to mind immediately as my relationships with each of the members of my family and with each of you are developed more and more fully in the love of Jesus Christ.  
	1 John 3:14-16, 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. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 
	1 John 4:7-11, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 
	And 1 John 4:20+21, 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. 
	If we are truly the Redeemed of the Lord, His Beloved Body in Jesus Christ, His love will be seen in the every interaction that we have with all who are a part of our lives. We will not be holding ought against members of our family or our fellowship. We will not be possessed with that aspect of our human nature which delights in the downfall and the disparagement of anyone. We will become those vessels through whom God is free to express His eternal love for the sake of His name and His glory. So be it!
Then Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 113:1+2. Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forever. Amen.