Being Known for Your Faith and Love

Before Paul prays in this section, he is overwhelmed by praising God in His glory. And how can you then follow up such a phenomenal sentence in verses 3 to 14? It seems impossible to be able to one-up that incredible sentence where he mentions the triune God, he mentions praising God's glory three different times, and the salvation by grace. It's just amazing all the doctrine in that one long sentence. How do you follow up such an incredible statement? Well, he is overwhelmed now to pray. But before he prays in this next section that finishes out the chapter, he recognizes two attributes that are in the Ephesian church. And I want you to see for yourself these two attributes of being known for their faith and love.

Read with me if you would, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15. The Bible says, "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you and your love for all the saints." We'll stop there. And today I'd like to capitalize on those two areas, faith and love. Love being an attribute of God, chiefly represented in the Scriptures. And love is from God. Chiefly then, it is a Christian attribute to be pursued.

If you would like to turn to 1 Corinthians with me, I would like to read with you in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 about the word love. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and then also in 1 John chapter 4 and 5, talk about the word love over and over and over again. And if you like to note repeated words like I do in the Scriptures to find the main theme, it helps to do that. Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians mentions it over and over and over again. And I would like to start off and continue to read about the subject of love in 1 Corinthians 13. 1, "If I speak with tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith as to move the mountains, but I do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I have surrendered my life to be burned, but I do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient. And love is kind. It is not jealous. It does not brag. It is not puffed up. It does not act unbecomingly, and it does not seek its own. It is not provoked. And it does not take into account a wrong suffered. It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." And then if you would skip down to verse 13, "But now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love."

And then in chapter 14 and verse 1 it says to pursue love. And so pursuing this high attribute of love is, in fact, pursuing God because God is love, and love comes from God. And then the Ephesian church is characterized by this kind of love. They're known for it. Again, the title of today's message is being known for faith and love. And so this chief attribute, you should be known for that. To know God is to know His love.

This is a high aspiration, so much so in Philippians 3:10, Paul mentions one of the highest attributes, or the highest aspirations, I should say, for himself is to inwardly pursue knowing God. And to know God is to know who He is, and He is love. Paul wanted the church to know the love of Christ. And back to Ephesians, if you look with me in chapter 3 verse 19, chapter 3 verse 19 in Ephesians, it talks about this, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. And so you can get all the knowledge you want and be puffed up. It'll lead to pride and arrogance and combativeness. But if you are not applying these things in love, you're a noisy gong. And that only makes noise. It doesn't get to the heart.

There's a lot to be said about how you do what you do. And so love, knowing God and pursuing love, is what the Ephesian church is known for. In chapter 1 again in verse 15, "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which exists among you and your love." Paul heard of these things. He heard of their love and he heard of their faith. And faith, scripturally, is just simply belief and trust combined.

You know what you believe and you trust that. You have confidence in what you believe. And you live as if you are leaning upon those. You just don't know them and live differently from what you know. You know it and you believe it and you do it. Your life is in unison. Your head and your heart and your hands are all working in unison. And so faith, true faith, is all of that unified. It's not knowledge apart from what you feel and do. It is unison there. You're living out your faith. And so belief and trust combined is the idea of true faith. And James said it best when he was talking about how faith is dead without actions. James 2:20 says, "Faith without works is dead." So if you're not living out what you inwardly believe and trust, your faith is dead. And so the hands part — living out, head, heart, hands, living that out — verifies what you believe and know. And so we look at one another and we say, "Well, by your fruits we will know you." Right? And he said that, by your fruit, by what you do, actually what you live out, how you do what you do is love, and what you are doing is in alignment with what you believe.

So now in the text a good question to ask is this. What is it that gets Paul praying? In verse 15 again, "For this reason I too, having heard the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints." Faith and love are being spoken to here, but what is he doing? Okay? In verse 16 it says that he does not cease giving thanks for you. He's giving thanks for the church and by his gratitude in prayer causes him to thank God for the Christians there. And so point number one I would like for you to write down is that you should thank God for Christians in your life. Paul is thanking God for the Ephesian church. He says, "I do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." And so Paul is thankful unto God for those faithful saints at the Ephesian church. And that gratitude being expressed in prayer causes him to really start praying in verse 17. If you look at verse 17 it says, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the full knowledge of Him." And he continues on all the way through verse 23 praying and praying and praying. And so simply expressing gratitude for the Christians there in the Ephesian church prompts Paul to start praying.

That is important for us — that if you would be grateful for the Christians that are in your life, then it would also prompt you to just thank God for them and start praying for them. And so thank God for the Christians in your life.

In verse 15 it says, "For this reason." Now the reason that he is referring to is everything preceding these verses, which is pretty much summarized in every spiritual blessing mentioned in verse 3. And unfolded by way of salvation throughout that section, God's kind and miraculous salvation, for which Paul is praising God's glory. In verse 6, to the praise of His glory. And in verse 12, to the praise of His glory. And verse 14, to the praise of His glory. And so Paul is overflowing with praising God in His glory. He thanks God for the Ephesian church and their faith and love. And as he is expressing his gratitude specifically, now he goes into prayer. How can you top that one long amazing sentence in verses 13 to 14? Nothing other than just bowing down and praying to God.

But for today I want you to recognize that Paul was expressing gratitude for the Ephesians and then he names them. He names a couple specifics in prayer. And so by way of recognition before Paul goes to prayer he mentions two things. Faith and love. And so in verse 15, Paul is praising their faith in Christ. And then in verse 15, he is praising their love for one another. And so as Paul is praising God and thanking God for some attributes that are being displayed in those Christians, those two elements he praises them because he has heard about them. He's been perhaps away from the church at Ephesus for a few years now. And he loved that dear church. He invested himself in that dear church for no less than three years. And he raised up leaders there and they were an actual congregation. And now for him to have left and to hear — that's what the Bible says right here — for this reason I too in verse 15, "Having heard of the faith and love," now he is overly blessed because he hears of those dear saints in whom he has invested, that they are known for their faith and love. And that is commendable.

And so these two things are commendable. Not only are we to be thanking God for the Christians in our life, but we are to be thanking God specifically for the things that should be in their life. And if you like phrases like I do, you can crystallize a statement and simply say, "Reward what you want repeated." Okay? If you see things in people's lives that are godly, then speak to it and reward that and commend them. And so reward what you want repeated. If you want to stir up, like the Apostle Peter says, the right things within the church, then you need to speak to those things. And when you recognize God working in people's lives, speak to it and stir it up and say, "Amen." And encourage the saints and use your voice to be able to guide people in the right direction.

Oftentimes encouragement is one of the most strengthening aspects of coming to church. The encouragement among the brethren, the lifting of one another up and encouraging that. When you recognize that God is growing your faith and you say something about that, and you say something to one another, "I recognize that you've got to be praying more. You've got to be reading more. You look brighter than ever before." And you just encourage people and say, "Are you growing in your faith?" And you recognize people have a love for one another, a love for the brethren and the sisters, and even a love for the lost. And recognize and speak to those things and build them up. So Paul mentions some specifics here which are faith and love, and that is commendable. We need to be doing that.

Where would I be without the support of my mom, the love of my wife, the joy of my Abigail, and the sincerity of my Alyssa, and the fun that I have with Olivia, my family? And I want to speak to those different things and commend them for their strengths. God is doing those things. Where would we be as a church without the dependability of our secretary, Barbara? Where would we be without the commitment from the pastors who have gone through training and implementation, the PTI guys? Where would we be without these men and their wives and our elders and their love for God and our deacons and their service and our membership and our fellowship and our Bible teachers and their faithfulness and everyone's encouragement? Where would we be without all of these things? These things are worth mentioning, and these things are worth encouraging. Just as Paul mentions, the Ephesians were known for their faith and their love. I say to us, these are what we're known for, and we need to stir these things up and continue to encourage one another.

The evil one is so powerful and so sneaky at getting you down and depressed and wants to separate you and to squash you. That's what Satan wants to do. And if we as a true family of God would continue to reach out to one another and to encourage one another, it is amazing what God does to sustain people in their faith and in their love and in Christ. And so point number one, thank God for Christians in your life. Thank God for them. Thank God. I mean, truly thank God, but mention specifically why you thank them, why you appreciate them. Appreciate them to God. I mean, that's wonderful. Specifically, thank the Lord for Christians in your life.

And then point number two, I'd like for you to be characterized by your faith. The same way as Paul recognizes, if they were known for their faith and he heard of it, how far away was Paul when he heard of it? I don't know. The Scriptures don't say, but I know he heard of it. And whoever said something to somebody who said something to somebody who perhaps wrote a letter or whatever, it got back around and it blessed Paul. And it caused him to include this little nuance in the Ephesian letter, which obviously is divine inspiration of Scripture. It is worth noting these things that are happening by way of observation. And so the Ephesian church was characterized by their faith.

In verse 15, it says, "Having heard of the faith in you, in the Lord Jesus, which is among you." And this little word here, "among you," in the Greek means an exceedingly and above all manner of life. And so the faith that was known among the Ephesian church was a characterization of their life. They actually possessed their faith, but beyond a possession of owning their faith. Like parents, they always want their children to grow up and to own their own faith. They don't want their children to have a mom and daddy faith, right? They don't want to have a faith that, "Well, I was dragged to church and now it's not my faith." Parents want their children to own their own faith, right? To be able to live it out.

But more than just owning their faith, they were characterized by their faith. If a Roman investigator came to Ephesus and took notes of the church members, he would determine, "These are Christians." By what they say, by where they go, how they spend their money, how they sacrificially serve each other. It's nowhere found in the Roman Empire to where people give of themselves so sacrificially to help a neighbor, to help a brother. These are Christians here.

And for you and your life, the same way — as if an investigator, if an FBI agent came and followed you around with a laptop and took notes for a week, would they determine that you are a Christian? "I saw you give online, or I saw you write the check, or I saw you go to that person's house, I saw you reading your Bible, I saw you kneeling down and praying. I saw you. You are characterized by what the Bible says Christians are and do."

Everything in your life is in unison. You believe it and you're living it out emotionally. And everything about you is Christ. Christ alone. You have set yourself aside and now you are a Christian. And so be characterized by your faith. Shut off all the restraints. Forget about your image. Forget about what you wear. Forget about the way the world looks at you and imitate Christ. Forget about your image and imitate Christ. Let me say it again, please. Forget about your image. Who cares about your clothes, about your hair? It's futile. It's going away. It's temporary. Imitate Christ.

Nobody here talks about what Paul wore. But they talk about how he warred for Christ. A man was on a mission. People will remember you for what you do, for who you are. I'm telling you, live out loud with your faith. Be unleashed in your faith. And be bold in your faith. And I pray that this would be a characterization not only of you, but of this entire church — that we would be characterized by our faith.

The Christians in Galatians transitioned from being known as those who followed the law to ones who followed Christ. This would be in Galatians chapter 3. I want you to see this. We all have to make this transition. Perhaps you didn't grow up as a Christian. Perhaps you didn't grow up knowing Christ and knowing what people do. Perhaps you grew up like the Judaizers did. Or perhaps you grew up as a law-following Israelite, faithful in these ways.

Now, in Galatians chapter 3, in verse 23, look with me. "But before faith came, we were held in custody under the law, being shut up for the coming faith to be revealed. Therefore, the law has become our tutor unto Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now faith has come, and we are no longer under a tutor, for you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

Isn't this great? This word, "clothed," in the Greek is to sink into clothing. It's not just a putting on. Yes, it means to put on clothing, like you're arraying yourself with Christ. But you are sinking into and becoming who you are in Christ. It is not just an outward appearance. It is who you are. And now they're no longer outwardly following the law by obligation. They are inwardly in Christ and following Christ, and all is about Christ. And so they've been justified by faith. And no longer do they live by the law; they see the law for what it was, just a tutor to get to Christ. And now that they know Christ, they have been saved, or baptized, in Christ. Okay, that's an inward baptism, not an outward baptism speaking to it right here. They've been inwardly circumcised at the heart. They've been inwardly saved. And now they are clothed or arrayed by Christ. And this transition has happened, and now they are being known for that as well.

And so for the Ephesians, back to Ephesians chapter 1, they have not been characterized by the ways of the world. They've been characterized by Christ. They not only own their faith, but they are characterized by their faith. They're unmovable. They have a reputation that they have gained now. It's not that they were chasing the reputation. The reputation preceded them because of who they are in Christ.

And so the Ephesian church had to have some stability inside of them to continue in Christ, as opposed to the worldliness, the strong worldly culture that was in their face, trying to get inside of the church always. In fact, there's a larger temple, a bigger church right down the street, Diana's Temple, a world-renowned place. People were traveling all around the world to come and see this temple, and all the action, so to speak, was happening there — all the glitz and the glamour and the who's who — and the famous people were going there. People were coming there. The masses were there.

But Paul is saying, no, it's not about Diana and that false temple and all the immorality. Nor is it about this library that's being built where all the intellectuals are hanging out and all the philosophers are hanging out. It's not intellectualism. It's not secularism. And it certainly is not syncretism, which was combining all of those religious things and somehow making up your own religion. And it's not atheism, which is trusting that the afterlife is a fairy tale. And it's not Nicolaitanism, which is just sinful and lustful living, thinking that's somehow worshiping the Lord.

And so Paul commends there the Ephesian counter-cultural lifestyle in the midst of a secular culture that's strong and trying to rob them of their Christ-likeness, trying to take off their Christ-like clothes and mortify their hearts and abuse their hearts and stain their hearts with all the secularism in a day when all of that was so strong. You think we have it strong today. Billboards, internet, emails, television — nothing has changed. Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and verse 9 says, "There is nothing new underneath the sun." Temptation today is temptation yesterday and the day before. Everybody is tempted, and everybody must remain steadfast and unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58.

You and your life, you have to remain steadfast. Every child in here must keep themselves in Christ when it comes to sanctification. You must pursue Christ and continue to weed out the world by feeding yourself the Word. Weed out the world by feeding yourself the Word. 1 Peter 5:2 talks about feeding with the Word. The Word of God nurtures the soul and feeds the soul. There's nothing more soul-satisfying than God's Word for a true sheep. There's nothing better. The Word of God nurtures, it restores, it puts at peace, and it makes the soul satisfied.

In fact, it's kind of strange how the satisfaction sets in and then it becomes a longing for more. There's a holy discontentment. The deeper you get into God's Word, the more you want God's Word. Just like being hungry for the Lord, being hungry for the Word — it's wonderful. You then must displace the world and replace it with Christ. This is regularly happening in your life. If there's something that is keeping your mind preoccupied, we have to move that aside and have special space just for Christ. Special space dedicated just for Bible study, just for prayer. Just do whatever you have to do. Moms, listen to me. If you've got children that can get into every crevice of your life, well then literally go in the door and put up a sign: "Do not disturb. I'm praying. I will come out not very Christ-like if you disturb me." Then make it obvious. "I have my prayer time." Men, get with God. There's no better time than early in the morning. Put God first. There's something so sweet about even if you just start with a verse and a prayer, and then it grows into five verses and five little prayers. I promise you, you will be getting up earlier just to spend time with God because you need God.

Your life then will be characterized by your faith, as you, like the Ephesian church, are weeding out the worldliness, stopping the worldliness from even getting to your heart, mind, and soul, and then feeding yourself the Word of God. The Ephesians, in order to survive that secular city, they had to remain plugged into the vine.

Christianity is not invisible. You do not have a private faith. You cannot rewrite Scripture and say, "Well, I believe what I believe, and you can believe what you believe." That is not Christianity. Jesus said, after He died on the cross and rose again for your sin, "You are going to go and make disciples." These are commands, not suggestions. We don't have a private faith. If our country rules that Christian speech is illegal, will you shrink back? No. Absolutely not. We're still going to make disciples. We will gladly go to prison for our Savior. We will gladly suffer whatever consequences there are. We'll do it in kindness. We'll do it in love. We will be characterized by our faith and by our love, but we will stand for righteousness and never forsake our Savior.

We must toughen ourselves up and encourage one another in these areas in order to survive. To survive in a secular city like Ephesus, they remained plugged into the vine, and their reputation preceded them in that they had faith and love as main ideas. Not only is point number one to thank God for Christians in your life, but number two, be characterized by your faith. Point number three, being Christlike produces love.

Being Christlike produces love. The longer you are in Christ, the more of those rough edges have been knocked off and smoothed off. God starts with a hammer and a chisel, and He works hard on us. Sometimes He's got to crack that nut wide open, or that rock, and get to the gem, and then He starts chipping off everything away from that ruby, so to speak. Then He starts polishing with sandpaper and such. God uses life and circumstances, the Word of God, and Christians, to help do those types of things. Being Christlike produces love until you get to the very core of who you are, and love is overflowing more than anything else.

Verse 15, it says, "In your love for all of the saints." Read it with me again, "For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you," and now we're talking about the latter part, "in your love for all of the saints." Let me bring just a warning to you, as we have a wonderful culture here in our church. Perhaps you've grown up in a Christian culture. Let me bring just a warning to you. Do not let what is cultural become why you do what you do.

Let not your love for one another become just what you do because you see it happening. It's very probable that your love for others can erode into something that you do because it seems expected. We love each other here. I mean, this is a very loving church. Our care team and our people, it's amazing. As soon as someone is sick, they're getting cards, they're getting emails, they're getting visits, they're getting food, they're getting all kinds of love. They're getting calls and texts. It's just great. Well, that's what we do. But there's a danger in that — you adopting Christlike lingo and habits because this is what we do. See, it's got to be real. It's got to be from the heart. It's got to be who you are in Christ. Do what you do because you're compelled by Christ and you're controlled by Him.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14, it says, "For the love of Christ controls me." God's love is an inner compulsion. And when that is happening, folks, embrace it and just do it. Restraints off. Love one another. Truly do that from the heart and don't do it out of an empty routine. And in order to do that, you personally have to have Christ as your first love. Your first love, not your second love. Your job can't be your first love. Your spouse can't be your first love. Your children can't be your first love. Otherwise, Christ is not first in your life. And so in order to truly love — because love is external — you have inside of you something that did not originate in you.

You possess a faith that was given to you and you possess love that was given to you. And you love because God first loved you. God is love. True love comes from God. And now that you have a love inside of you that is a godly love, you love because He first loved you. This is very evident in 1 John chapter 4. Turn with me if you would. And this, in my opinion, is a true love chapter. Perhaps you've heard that 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter. There's more about love in 1 John chapter 4 verses 7 all the way to chapter 5. And this is going to school you when it comes to love.

1 John chapter 4 and verse 7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God." Okay? "And everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." And so if you are loving, it's because you've been born again. If you do not love one another with your actions, with your gifts, with what God has blessed you with, then you haven't been born of God. Or you perhaps are like a Catholic, humanitarian, service-oriented, earning-your-way-to-heaven type of giving. You're doing it out of an empty routine just because the church is doing it or we're on board, right?

So the point I am making is that God's love externally has been placed inside of you and we love because He first loved us. In verse 8, "The one who does not love does not know God because God is love. And 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. And this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us. And sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." See that? God loved us and in return we love God and we love others. Jesus summarized the entire law in those two points.

And in verse 12, "No one has beheld God at any time and if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us." Now I'd like to kind of continue on if you skip down to verse 16. "And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this love has been perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear."

Pause there for just a moment. This is some of the best marriage counseling that there is. If your spouse lives in fear of what you're going to say and do, you are in error. And it's your job to dispel the fear because perfect love casts out fear. And God is making you comfortable with Him because He has saved you. You too make those comfortable around you by how you use your words and how you act and how you love because love is from the heart. This is very important.

There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment. You do not want people around you in fear and walking on eggshells and trepidatious. You want to make people at peace because of how you have been characterized by God's love. You have allowed God to sanctify you. Those rough edges have been knocked off. They've been chiseled away. Those rough and sharp words have been smoothed out. And you have been sanctified by Christ, by the washing of the Word. You must be submitting yourself to the Word of God and to Christ regularly. And when you do that, His love will characterize your life.

And so perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment. Fear is not perfected in love. Verse 19, "We love because He first loved us. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's 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 God, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."

And in chapter 5, verse 1, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the one who gave new birth also loves the one who has been born of him." So you love one another in the church. And in verse 2, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome."

His commandments are not burdensome. When we as a church have perhaps some correction within ourselves, those who are truly born again want to know where they're in error because they want to be more like Christ, and they want to be loving and kind, and they want to be known for their faith. But the defensive, prideful person will guard themselves and push back on you and even attack your character. But right here you see that God's commandments are not burdensome. We want to know what He commands of us. The commandments are how we live out God's law. He characterizes us. We want to know if there's something in my life, or I've said and I've done, that is a little out of place. I want to know so that I can ask for forgiveness from you and from God and make it right.

There's nothing worse than not being right with a brother or sister in Christ. There's a heartache, truly. There's actual pain there. Believers are like that. They will go to whatever extent it takes to be loving and to be kind. But first, your love must be for Christ.

Do you remember what Christ said to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2:4? This is so important. By way of correction, after some years had gone by, would you believe that what they were known for — faith and love — one of those was lost? Do you remember? Christ said to the Ephesian church, "You left your first love." Uh-oh. And so for you to keep Christ first in your life, loving Him will protect you from being corrected in the end like the Ephesian church was.

Let me read the whole passage to you. It's just seven verses. Revelation chapter 2, and verse 1, "To the angel of the church in Ephesus," right? "This is what the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says, 'I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance, and that you cannot bear with those who are evil, and that you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false, and you have perseverance, and have endured for my name's sake, and also you have not grown weary.'" What a compliment — that this Ephesian church stood strong in the face of temptation, secularization, immorality, syncretism, entertainment, wealth. All these things were offered and readily available to anybody living in the city of Ephesus. But they stood strong, so Christ commends them.

But, verse 4, "May this not be said of you in the day of judgment, but I have this against you, that you have left your first love." Folks, today, if you feel like in any part of your life that you have left your first love, do what He is fixing to say in verse 5. "Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds that you did at first. But if not, I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent." Let me put that by way of application. If you do not repent and be right with Christ, you will lose your light, your brightness, you will lose your love, and you will lose your life. Period. The life that you cherish, God will, one by one by one, remove things in your life that you love to get your attention unless you repent. And your heart will testify, because you will lose your love for the saints. You no longer will really want to help one another and give sacrificially, and you will lose the brightness of your life. People will be saying, "You used to be bubbly. You used to be excited about church. You used to bring your Bible." You will lose your light, your love, and your life unless you repent.

Church, hear me dearly. Stay close to Christ. Pursue the love of God. Be known for your faith and love. This is of the highest importance. And so Paul commends these attributes that we should also be stirring up, be about personally.

Now I want to give you a huge truth for me personally. I love you, but my love for you is not dependent upon you. Let me explain. You could ruin your life, you could lose your love, and you could lose your light, and I will still love you regardless. And the same for each other. Everybody around. What you do does not affect my love for you. Why? Because it's God's love in me that is loving you — we're just vessels. Same for one another. What that means is that when you do something silly, or stupid, or sinful, we're there for each other regardless. No matter how deep the ditch we fall in, we will crawl in and we will help one another. We will love one another. Because none of us are perfect. None of our lives are going to be perfect. And there will be a day where you need each other. And that's what the church is for. You will need others' faith to strengthen your faith. You will need others' love to reach down and to encourage you. That's just the way life is. None of us are like the self-sufficient God. God needs not us, but we need each other.

And so knowing that we are human beings, and God has designed this wonderful thing called church, and that we are designed by God to need each other — don't run when you're ashamed. Don't flee. Run to Christ. Run to church when you have erred. Repent and return to Christ. Draw closer to Christ. Come closer to Christians. Come closer to His Word. Come closer to Christ. Pursue Christ with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And you will see that your light, your brightness, your happiness, your joy in Christ will return. And you will see that your love for the brethren will return. And you will see God restoring these little things in your life. And you're like, "Whew! I've lost it all, it feels like." This is how God works in our lives.

So I have now five take-home truths and we'll conclude. Number one, faith in Christ forms a reputation. Do you have a reputation of faith in Christ? Faith. Your faith being something that people look at you and they're like, "That's a man of God. That man's known for his faith." I mean, you don't have to get a tattoo on your arm like Donovan. Hold it up right there. Yep. He is known for his faith because you can see it on his arm. That's great. You don't have to get a tattoo on your forehead or wear anything like that. But I recommend you draw a line in the sand and people see that you are all about your faith in Christ. You're characterized by Christ.

Number one, faith in Christ will form a reputation. If you have faith in Christ, you will have this reputation of denying yourself and taking up the cross and following Jesus. John the Baptist said it like this in John 3:30, "I must decrease and He must increase." So when people see John the Baptist, they don't see John the Baptist. They see Jesus. When they hear of what's going on in the land, they don't hear about how many baptisms John the Baptist had. They hear about Christ and His baptism. They don't hear about the reputation of John the Baptist. They hear about the reputation of his faith in Christ. And so your faith in Christ, it will form a reputation — hence the title of today's message, known for faith and love.

Point number two, a take-home truth. Be committed despite the surrounding carnality. This world is not going to change. This world is not going to be converted to encourage you and your faith. You are going against the flow. There is a narrow road and you're on it, especially being here. You're on a narrow road. "Few be there that find it," right? And so being on that narrow road, you must continue to strive uphill. You're either thriving or dying. Continue striving toward Christ, that upward higher call. Live high, not low. Strive the best that you can in all areas of life. Be committed. Have a regular routine of reading your Bible and praying and be committed to the local church and exercise your gift through the local church. Be making disciples, evangelizing every time you can. Be studying your Bible, telling people about Jesus. Be committed. Be all in. Not just clothed on the outside, but sunk in and arrayed with this. Be committed.

The Ephesians were faced with all of this worldliness. There were so many things. You could be a millionaire in Ephesus. If you had a mind and some hardworking ethic to you, you could be rich in Ephesus. The temptation to displace Christ with wealth was very, very, very obvious there. A trade route — I mean, it was lucrative.

Same for today. I lose people all the time to a six-figure salary. Good employees are hard to fight. I understand that. But my challenge to us is do not chase the fleeting idea of money, because that's all it is. It could be turned off tomorrow. It doesn't matter if you have a dollar, a million dollars, or a hundred million dollars in the bank. It could be turned off. Isn't that weird?

So don't chase some fleeting idea. Chase Christ. Pursue God's love. Pursue your relationship and your faith in Christ. So much so that you are prepared to be like ones who live in a country where Christianity is persecuted. One missionary did not know that God would bring him to a country where Christianity was illegal. He found a way to have worship services in a country where it was illegal. He became a tour bus driver. And he would drive a tour bus. And on Sunday, drive out to the remotest place ever with a whole lot of Christians who found out that he was a Christian missionary. And he would drop off one saint a few miles behind with a cell phone, go a few miles, drop off another one here, come back in the middle, and put it in park.

And every Sunday, he would have a worship service on a tour bus. Praise God. The dedication and the commitment that we must have as Christians must be so much so that you will find a way to study the Bible, to make disciples. If you've been saved, to be baptized, to let your light shine, to let your love flow. The commitment must be there.

Number one take-home truth, faith in Christ forms a reputation. Number two, be committed. Number three, our love for Christ is evidenced by our love for others. All we have to do is observe your life and see how much you love others. And that is determinative — to the extent for which you love others is to the extent you love God. If you love God, you are loving others. Like seriously, really truly investing yourself to love God and love others. And so our love for Christ is evidenced by our love for others. It's a fruit. Okay? The fruit of the Spirit is first of all what? Love. And so the byproduct of your love for God is the Holy Spirit producing love through you.

Number four, true faith separates. True faith separates. The genuine salvation of those in Ephesus kept them from secularization. True faith separates. Okay? We're different from the ways of the world. And so when you are truly saved, the faith of those who are in Ephesus, they were known for their faith and their love. That separated them from what was redefined as love in the temple of Diana. Does that sound familiar? The redefining of the word love in our culture. Yes, that's happening. There's nothing new underneath the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9. It's already happened. Those who worshiped under it, who named it Diana, felt that they could redefine love. But what separates us from the world unifies us in the church. What separates us from the world unifies us in the church. So the very things that you're persecuted for in the world, you come here and you have fellowship over. It's very important for us to truly embrace the separation and oppose the secularization in our culture.

And then point number five, bragging on the church body is godly. You brag on one another and you build one another up and you stir these things up and you will build up their faith and love so much so that they can stand in the face of opposition. Our children need this who are going to school. We need our children here in our worship service to be encouraged by not only their parents, but everybody else their own age. And also the grandparents. You say to them, "You keep it up. I love how you're taking notes. I love to see you sing. I love that you're here." You encourage them little kids. You be a spiritual mentor in their life. You be one whom in their eyes is bright for Christ. Make them to love you. Do whatever it takes to be a spiritual grandparent or parent in their life. And you tell them, "You keep obeying your parents. For that honors God. You keep obeying God and coming to church. You keep learning the Bible."

You build up our children's department in Heidi. You build these things up. You stir these things up. You brag on them. Those who are saved, you go and you talk to them. Those who have been baptized, you love on them. Those discipleship relationships that are happening, you stir them. The public evangelism that's happening through our church, you encourage that. The Bible study groups and the teachers and the attenders, you stir that up. And those who care, those who serve, those who give. You love on the staff. You love on them for their sacrificial service and their commitment. And you do. You do all of these things. These are very familiar from what I've just said. In fact, you love on one another and especially the staff, so much so that it is probably one of the hardest things ever for our secretary to retire. It's deeply difficult. And I love Barbara and Bud. And it's a very difficult thing to see the Lord transitioning their life, and for her to retire. I trust the Lord to take away the difficulty because of the genuine love that God has produced in this dear church.

If you hold back your words and you are not verbal with your faith and your love, you're no better than an atheistic theologian who would say that you don't have to. But I would say this. It takes no special skill to see and to say what is wrong with people. But it takes a spiritual person, filled with the Spirit of God, who is bold in their faith to speak up and to say that which is right and holy and pure and wonderful. It takes a bridling of the tongue and a specific pursuit of Christ for Christ to be overflowing, for you to recognize in people's lives what is right and speak to that and encourage that. It takes no special skill at all to be negative, to tear people down.

It takes no special skill to recognize what is wrong in churches around us. It takes no special skill to be negative. But it takes one who is intentional about building up the right things in people's lives so that the right conversations are dominating, so that the right aura is flowing through a wonderful congregation. And so speak about the things that the Spirit is doing more than anything. Commend others enthusiastically, build morale. Be ones who are building up and say to one another, "I'm proud of you. I'm so happy for you in Christ," in every way that you possibly can.

And in fact, I'll end with saying this. I thank you for being known for your faith and love. I thank you. This is a wonderful, wonderful congregation to shepherd. I love being your shepherd. I love that we have elders and deacons and members and servants and children and grandparents and everything in between. I love that you drive so far to be here. I love you guys. Thank you for being characterized by Christ. And let's pray together.

Father, thank You, dear Jesus, for Your Word and how it stirs within us the right things. And today, as we have examined faith and love, that which the Apostle Paul mentioned before — he overflows into prayer — I pray, God, that this church as well would have a reputation that precedes itself and that all around the land we would be known for our strategic and disciplined faith in You, that we would teach sound doctrine, that we would be all about the Scriptures and be known by You, and that our faith in You and in Your Word would characterize us. And beyond that, Lord, not only that it would be a true faith that lives itself out through love, that we would be so loving for one another that it would be birthed from the heart, that we would truly extend ourselves to one another in a way that is genuine and kind and lovely, not because of an empty routine or what we should do, Lord, but because You first loved us and now we love others. What a wonderful life, dear Jesus, for the dear saints who feel like they should pray and repent and come closer to You in one way, shape, or form. Lord, I pray that You would grant them a clarity of mind on how they can better please You and grant them repentance, dear Lord, in that area and that they could be fully right with You and be pleasing to You in all that they say and do, that their entire week would be characterized by faith and love. Lord, I pray as well for perhaps one who has never been saved, that You would grant them faith to be able to truly repent, that their trust would not be in themselves and in their good works and being a good person or any other religion or ism or anything at all, Lord, but they would see that they are truly a sinner in need of being saved and that the wrath of God abides on them until they are saved. Dear Jesus, I pray that You would help people come to You to be saved, especially here at Beulah Baptist Church so that they can not only be saved, but they can continue in Your Word to be biblically baptized, to belong to this dear church and grow in their faith, to learn how to study the Bible and one day make disciples as well. Father, we love You, we give You all the credit and all the glory and all the honor for all that is good that is happening in this dear place. Thank You for growing us, dear Jesus, in our faith and in our love. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.