Month: December 2025

The “One Anothers”

Romans 14-16

Romans 14:10-13 So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For the Scriptures say,
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the LORD,
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.’”
12 Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. 13 So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

The ministry of strengthening individuals and the church is based on two main elements.  We are instructed to encourage one another, and to build up one another.  Note the importance of “the one anothers” in the instructions God gives us in His Word.

To love one another.

John 13:34-35(NLT) So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

To welcome one another.

1 Corinthians 16:19-20(NLT) The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings. 20 All the brothers and sisters here send greetings to you. Greet each other with a sacred kiss.

To have great affection and honor for one another.

Romans 12:10(NLT) Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

To pray earnestly for one another.

James 5:16(NLT) Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

To care for one another.

1 Corinthians 12:25(NLT) This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.

To accept one another

Romans 15:1b-9(NLT) We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. 3 For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.” 4 Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
5 May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. 6 Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. 8 Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors. 9 He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them.

Have you also noticed the“one another’s” that God does not instruct us to do? For example, to chastise one another, humble one another, tear down one another, gossip about one another, or pressure one another. 

This is hardly an exhaustive list, but do you see the theme of all these verses?  Together we are the body of Christ, and those things that we do to strengthen the body are a group effort.  Everyone has a responsibility for one another to do the things that only you can do.  There is only one “you” in the church today, and God is counting on you. Love, care, welcome, prayer, and encouragement are all ministry to others.  Don’t make the Christian walk of trust and faith too complicated for people.   We need to become like the little child in Jesus’ teaching, where we hear the truth with simple hearts of believing.  In the small and personal ministries of people to others in the church the true love of God in Christ becomes alive and evident.

Romans 16:25-27 Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. 26 But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him. 27 All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.

Thanks to God for revealing the sacred secret so that we as Gentiles can share in the promises made and kept by God.

Love in Christ – Tom Siderius

Reflection Questions

  1. When have you fallen into the trap of condemning or looking down upon another believer? What is the problem with this? What would have been a better response and attitude on your part?
  2. Make a list of “one anothers” that we are NOT to do if we are living according to God’s way. Which ones come too easy for you? How can you work towards stopping these “one anothers”?
  3. What responsibility towards one another does God want to see YOU take part in today? How many different positive “one anothers” can you do today to build up the body of Christ and please God? Who benefits and how? Pray for God’s help in eliminating negative “one anothers” and focusing instead on seeing, doing, speaking, positive ones instead.
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God’s True Purpose for You

Romans 11-13

Read these chapters carefully with discernment from the spirit of Christ in you.  They contain great and precious promises that we can claim as Christians.  These chapters give us instruction in who is the church, who is Israel and how to live in true fellowship with God and our fellow believers.  A whole book could be written on this section and not fulfill all that God intends for us to do and think.

Romans chapter 11 continues Paul’s appeal to his fellow Israelites to accept Christ. He sets in order the relationship of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament to the current relationship the church has with the Father.  God meant for Israel to be a national witness of Him to demonstrate grace and love to all the world.  If they had done the purpose they were called for the kingdom of God could have come when Messiah Jesus appeared in the world.  

Romans 11:11-12(NLT) Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. 12 Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.

Their rejection of the law and then of Christ himself causes their national purpose to be postponed to a future time.  God still has a special heart for those in Israel that loved God’s plan and were anticipating the coming of Christ and the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth.  God has never changed in His devoted relationship with all people.  Those that truly seek Him with their hearts are rewarded for faith in every age and time.  Those that trust in the one true God have a pathway to the future kingdom.  

Romans 1:16-17(NLT) For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

In chapter 11 God shows us the true position and attitude we should have with the Old Testament saints and the New Testament church.  Paul writes by inspiration that we are part of the mighty tree of God built on the trunk that is Christ.  It grows from the root of promises made to Abraham, but then the nation of Israel is cut down to a stump.  Jesus is the new tree which grows from the root of promise to Abraham and patriarchs that continues until today.

Isaiah 11:1-5(NLT) Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

Romans 11:17-18(NLT) But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. 18 But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.

When Jesus is the new tree that grows from the stump of the nation of Israel, we the Gentiles are grafted onto the tree by God as it pleases Him.  We are an unnatural branch and even come from a tree which is not really an olive tree.  Look up “oleaster” on the internet to see what a poor branch we were before being grafted.  We weren’t even good olive branches.  God breaks us off the oleaster tree (a tree with no good fruit) and grafts us into the richness of the olive tree nation of Israel with Godly fruit.  Then the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob become available to us also.  This is a wonderful picture of the love that God has for us today joining us into His family.  

Isaiah 11:10(NKJV)  “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

Does this section change your thoughts about Israel and the church?

Are you more thankful for all God has done for you and me?

In Romans chapters 12 and 13 Paul gives us great encouragement to walk in this new life that we have.  Paul writes to instruct us how to please God and live with others.

Romans 12:1-2(NKJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

God wills us to present our lives as a sacrifice of praise to Him.  We are not to be “stamped” into conformity with the world but to be “metamorphosed” into the Christ in us by changing our minds to hear the Word of God.  When we put the Word into our minds and hearts and act on it, we will be changed from the death and destruction of this world into people that are children of God with power to do good.  

Romans 13:8-10 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. 9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

How does Jesus fulfill all the requirements of the Mosaic Law?  

He did not do all the regulations of the Pharisees and scribes.  Rather Jesus points us to the righteous life-giving purposes of God.  When he loves God and is obedient to all God asked him to do Jesus is fulfilling God’s purpose for him.  That is acting in God’s true love.  When we are obedient to God and act in true love to Him and others, we also walk in the true purpose God has called us to live by.

Do we have to do the law of Moses today? 

What happens when we do not love others like Christ did?

Love in Christ, Tom Siderius

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