Honour One Another

Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

The church in Rome was taught by Paul to have mutual affection for one another, as a family has affection towards one another. The church, when organised, is like a family working and serving together in a locality that God has brought them to. It has been appointed into the same family and into a specific place to preach the gospel and to teach the new believers to honour the Lord and to serve Him. The church, functioning as a family, is to have affection for one another based on brotherly love (“be kindly affectioned one another with brotherly love.”) God’s will is for each member of the local church to be united in love and by love. The family affections for one another should lead to two outcomes:

FIRST, WE SHOULD BE DOING GOOD TO ONE ANOTHER
“Kindly” has the principle of being good to another and “affectioned” refers to the heart attitude that
motivates the doing good. When we are in the family of God in the local church, we are instructed to do good
to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).

SECOND, WE SHOULD LET OTHERS GO FIRST
“in honour preferring one another.”

The Roman Christians were culturally inclined toward leadership and the pride of being in charge. Paul taught the Roman Christians that they were to esteem the other more precious in value than themselves “in honour”. As they honoured each other, they were to allow each other to be first “in honour preferring one another”. In a society where leadership is honoured and glorified, Paul taught that the Christians should be humble to allow others first, and to abase themselves so that another may be honoured. This is consistent with the teaching of the Lord Jesus when in John 13 when He washed the feet of the disciples.

Christians, are we kindly affectioned toward one another in brotherly love? That is the will of the Lord for the members of the local church. Do we want to be first in everything, or are we willing to allow another to go and to be honoured first? That is the teaching of the apostle Paul here, and that must be the heart of members in Ambassador Baptist Church.

Heavenly Father, make us your servants of love, for the Lord Jesus’ sake.

Evangelist-Pastor Johnny Tan
Ambassador Baptist Church