And let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we now begin a new series regarding being a faithful church member, I pray that you would bless us. God, I pray you would bless us with what our obligations are before you in our love and service to you and. to Christ in and through his church and in his people. I pray, Father, that you would work in us, that we may be a faithful church, God, that we might be committed to Christ and to the gospel, to your calling in our lives and in this church, and that, God, you would prosper your church. For we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. So this morning, we're beginning a new series called Being a Faithful Church Member. To what is it God calls us in relationship to his church? And this series is going to be framed around our vows. You know, what are the membership vows of Christ Reformed Church and what do they mean? Because sometimes I think people take very lightly the vows that they make and make excuses, fall short of those things which they say they're committing to do. So it's a good reminder to us to look at those things more particularly. And to understand that our membership vows are biblical expressions of what the scripture commits us to as members of the local church. Indeed, not just as church members, but as Christians. As Christians, we are called to these things. And it's important that we, in faith, embrace God's calling when it comes to our place in the local church. This morning, however, we're laying the foundation. This is the foundation to then next week beginning to unpack what is meant by those membership vows. Where do we find the things to which we commit in the scriptures when it comes to our commitment to this church? And I think this series will also be beneficial to new members who seek membership with us to be able to listen to these messages in the future, to give them a better understanding of what it is they do when they join the church. So a foundation must be laid for this series. And this morning, we're looking at two points. Two points. One, church membership is biblical. For there are some today who say, oh, church membership's a man-made thing. There's not any Bible teaching for church membership. We're gonna demonstrate how that's not really true. Church membership is biblical. It is necessary. It's a necessary expression of what we find in the scripture. And Lord willing, we're just gonna touch upon that. I wanna spend more time talking about the foundation of being a faithful church member. And that is this, that the commitments, disciplines, and habits of a faithful church member are summarized in our membership vows, which are simply biblical expressions regarding what Jesus expects from his followers in relation to his church. At the very center of all these all these vows, are faith and love. Faith and love to God and to his church. Without faith and love, it is impossible to be a faithful church member. Being a faithful church member, again, it's not simply about, well, I know I need to go to church on the Lord's day. I know I need to be a faithful giver. I know I need to be involved and do things. At the heart of it, though, is love. If we do not love God and love his church, I think we will struggle very hard to be a faithful church member. Because being a faithful church member is simply a working out of our love for Christ and his people. So to deal with that first leg this morning, is church membership biblical? Before we move into faith and love. Church membership is biblical and I have three points to bring this home. I'll give you a thesis statement right up front though. The reason why we have church membership where somebody is formally acknowledged to be a member of this church is because there are duties and responsibilities that come with being a member of a church in the scripture. and that apart from the recognition of membership in some shape, form, or fashion, fulfilling the things that we see in scripture will be impossible. So churches have throughout history, in one way or another, had some form of membership, membership role, some sort of formal acknowledgement for who is a member of this church versus maybe guests or visitors or what have you who are not a member of this particular local church. Whatever group or denomination you look at, even those who don't keep formal lists with writing or what have you, there is still a recognition on who is there and who is not, and it becomes a very practical thing too. So on the first point in demonstrating this from the scripture, to believe and be baptized was also to be added to the church in the scripture. Ordinarily, I know we can say there's exceptional circumstances. The Ethiopian eunuch, he goes back to Ethiopia. Well, it appears that they started a church in Ethiopia, as far as we can see from history. But true, he was a baptism on the road. But ordinarily, ordinarily, what is usually the case is to be baptized was also be recognized in the local church into which you were baptized. It's not just simply a personal thing I'm doing before the Lord and I'm baptized and bear his sign, but it identifies you with the local church. For instance, in Acts chapter two, verses 46 through 47, we read this. And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." So note there, those who were saved were added to the church, church's assembly, it's the congregation. They weren't just simply saved and autonomous and go off to do their own thing, but they're added to the church. And you might have some people who would say, oh yes, the universal church, the invisible church, which is the elect in all times and all places that we see fully come together in glory. That's not the invisible church right here. this particular place is talking about the congregation, the gathering in Jerusalem. That's what they were added to. And sure, when we believe we're part of the invisible church, but Acts is talking about that church there in Jerusalem, and then goes on to give us the early history of things that happened in that particular congregation in Jerusalem. But I just want to note again and stress, the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. It wasn't. Bunches of people were saved. And some of them even were added to the church. To be saved was synonymous here. It goes hand in hand with being added to that church. And some have pointed out here that even the word added here has the connotation of added to the list. They are recognized as being part of the congregation in Jerusalem. And we see further in scriptures on point two that believers were identified with the local churches. They were identified with the local churches from which they would come to be traveling. So for instance, in Romans 16, five, the word of God says, likewise, greet the church that is in their house, salute my well-beloved Eponidas, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ. So here in Romans 16, let me turn there just for a moment. Okay, so I missed something. Romans 16.5. Yeah, if I back up to verse three. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have farmed my own life, laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches, plural, of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. So there, the church in their house is Aquila and Priscilla. And then salute my well-beloved Eponidas, who is of the firstfruits of Achaia, which would be Corinth. The Corinthian church is what's in view here. And we see that in the scripture. I'm not gonna multiply all the various texts that identify people with particular churches, but that is a thing we see in the scriptures. Believers are identified with local churches. Number three, when we think about the practical aspects of the church, in things, for instance, like church discipline, How does church discipline work without some recognition of who is actually a part of this church versus who is not? So for instance, in 1 Corinthians 5, verses one through five, we read, it is commonly reported that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. So this fornication among you, among who? Not all of Corinth, But among that church, there's someone among you who's part of your body, who is committing this sin. Verse two, and you're puffed up and would not rather mourn that they have done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I barely is absence from the body, but present with the spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that have done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus. When ye the church are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, The Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now, we're not gonna exposit all of that text today. This isn't a message about church discipline, but it's simply to point out this fact. This man is to be put out of the church because he is part of this church. He is part of this particular church, and when this particular church gathers together, this case is to be adjudicated. There is to be a judgment made if there's no repentance, and he is to be put out of the church, removed from the list, as it were. Well, who does that? Who does that? If this man were not a part of them and he's just a visitor, he's just been visiting, would you say that this visitor needs to be excommunicated from the church? How exactly does that work? He could say, but I'm just visiting. I've just come to check things out. Or even more profound as a problem goes, Who does that? When the church gathers together, do the visitors who happen to be there that day also be part of that trial and that adjudication towards somebody who hasn't joined that church, been recognized formally with that church, actually come in and be able to sit in judgment over a member of that church who is to, in this case, ultimately be put out if they're not repentant. Who does that? And you think about how that applies to broader things. We as a congregation will have congregational meetings to decide things together for the direction of our church, like the budget, like various expenses, ministry outreaches, other things we might commit to. Who votes in that? Who puts their hand forward in that? Can anybody who happens to be visiting that day actually vote to ratify how we're going to spend our money that year? I mean, think about the confusion and the chaos of that. You could have somebody who's against the church go out and gather. Boy, you wouldn't even have to gather that many people. Come in here with 10 people that day and suddenly, you know, we have people who really are part of us voting and such. And you may say, But you don't need church membership to do that. You could have, once somebody's been around for a certain amount of time, you just talk about them as members. The problem there is church membership is a formal commitment that an individual is making to the church, that I recognize this church as my local church family. And the church recognizes them that, yes, we recognize you as part of this family. And thus we have obligations together. We've entered into this covenant together in regards to the church, where there are mutual obligations between the church and her members. And the distinction is made. When it comes to church discipline, for instance, I've had people who, on two different occasions over 20 years, who would not join the church and would say church membership isn't biblical. You know, you don't have to be a member of the church to really be in the church and so forth and so on. And, you know, none of these things were particularly persuasive. But in both cases, you know what the issue turned out to be? The issue turned out to be, in these two cases at least, I don't want to be under authority. I'll be here as long as it floats my boat, but I'll answer to no one. Because in both of the cases I'm thinking about, when there did become an issue with them and we had to talk to them as leadership that, hey, there's something really disorderly going on in your life. that is serious, you know, when needs to be addressed in both cases, you know, it's a very first thing out of both of these men's mouths. Well, I'm not a church member here, so there's nothing you can do. And I'm like, but wait a minute. In both of these guys' cases, they said that church membership doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned, you are my pastor and so forth. The second they were called to hear the authority of the church, they wouldn't have it and would point out, they're not a member here, so they're not under my authority. Now, we still have to deal with that kind of thing with somebody who's regular in our midst. Now, it doesn't mean we can do nothing, but they're really not under the authority of the church either. I mean, we can tell them, look, you're not welcome here. But they're really not under the authority of the church because they never put themselves under the authority of the church. It's like a man who doesn't marry a woman and says, oh, but I'm her husband and The second things, actually put it as a woman, you know, I'm married to this guy, but we're not really married. The second things don't work out, you're not really married. And unless you live in a common law state where marriage gets on the list because of so many years you lived together, or what have you, you're not married. You've never made that commitment, and the law never sees you having made that commitment. So your split up's going to be different than if you were actually married. Simply to say it makes a difference whether or not someone has came and said I am agreeing to become a part of this body and to Fulfill what Christ wants of me as a part of this particular church in this church saying amen We will have you to be a part of this body and now we have that relationship recognized finally on the third point of Is church membership biblical? Is this question, if we must press the case, how do you live this out without church membership, or some acknowledgement to that end. I'm not saying every church has to work it out exactly the way we do, but there has to be some acknowledgement of who is part of this and who isn't, to actually live these things out. Here's another, Hebrews 13, 17. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. talking about the role that we have to submit to our elders in the church. And even as elders, we believe it's good to have a plurality of elders in the church. There's never just one guy who, it's just him. Even when we didn't have more than one elder, we supplemented the eldership with the deacons where there's always submission going on. There's always those who we have to listen to and at times defer and such. But for you, who are those elders? Without church membership, is it every single preacher who have the rule over you? You say, oh no, but every good biblical preacher. But there are preachers out there, they don't have a rule over you, they don't even know you. They're in different states. You may listen to on the internet, but they don't bear rule over you. How are you submitting to them? Who you never even have sat down with and who don't know you exist. So then is it every pastor that I know? If you know somebody who's a pastor, you've got to submit to their rule. Now this is to particular elders in particular churches. It's who are the elders that I am to submit to? You know, is it not the elders of my particular church? You're not accountable, say, to follow in the way that Hebrews 13, 17 is saying, and this isn't a blank check for the elder to demand anything of you that you want. This is within his calling as an elder in faithfulness to God in the scriptures. But if Pastor Jerry Slate calls you on a thing as an elder, Now who is that? He pastors Berean Baptist Church on the other side of Atlanta. He's in our association, so he's very near to us as far as church relation and such, but he's not your elder. Not that I would say go to him and get counsel and what have you, that's fine, but what I'm saying is he's not the pastor over you to whom the scripture is saying that you have this special relationship to obey him. He doesn't have rule over you. He's in a different congregation. He is covenanted with a different body. I won't belabor that point. There's much we could say there. But what I'm trying to simply do is to point out how the scriptures enjoin us to various things and various things that we live out as Christians in the context of the church, where there is the presupposing that there is also an identification with particular churches. not just I'm a member of Christ Church in general and such, but a particular church. I'm committed in a particular place. I have particular elders that I'm supposed to follow. I have a particular church that I should give up my time and resources and efforts to, and a particular people, body of believers, to whom I am accountable and responsible to love and care for for them. Well, I love all Christian people. You know, I'd rather I'd much, much rather see you all loving each other fervently than saying, I love all Christians everywhere, because this really doesn't mean much, does it? How do you love all Christians everywhere you don't even know? And I'm not saying that we shouldn't and don't, but I'm just saying we live that out. before one another. We live that out first and foremost in this church family, just like our blood family. We have an obligation to them, to our wives, to our children and such. We have an obligation to the particular church to which we've joined. And we see this being lived out all through the scriptures in the New Testament. And if we had time, we could talk about how baptism was identified with all of this, that our membership vows are simply a verbal expression of what we are committing to when we're baptized. We could go much deeper in particular lessons, but I'll just leave it with that. Church membership is biblical. It's a biblical expression that is needful for us to live out the obligations that scripture gives to Christians in the context of the local church. So now let's talk about faith and love. Faith and love are foundational to being a faithful church member. Without faith and love, we have nothing. A church that's at the foundation isn't about faith and love. It's missing the very substance. There's some churches, for instance, when it comes to faith, have strayed from the faith. They still meet, they still congregate, they still do things together, they may take care of one another and such, but their faith is shipwrecked. And their love for God and the Christ of the Bible is shipwrecked. It's not simply enough that we outwardly conform to those outward commitments that we make, but from the heart, operate from faith and love. Hebrews 11, 16, we can talk about the need of faith. But without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. How do we live for Jesus in our personal lives, in our family, in our marriages, in society and before the church without faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please. Faith is the very thing that lays hold of Christ. So we need to have a faith that is operating to be a faithful church member. Faith lays hold of Christ, Romans 5.1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we as Baptists, we only baptize into the church those who are expressing their faith in Jesus Christ. If somebody doesn't have a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ, we don't baptize them into the church. We wait in the hopes that they will come to faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is an absolute necessity. Now, people can say they have faith and time reveal that they actually don't. Time reveal that their faith is not of that saving sort as they fall away. And we can't see the heart. And church discipline is one of the things that the Bible gives to address that. But if you think about that, even in the context of church discipline, If somebody comes to the place to where saving faith cannot be discerned, they're not to be part of the church. So we don't receive unbelievers who we know to be unbelievers into the church. And if somebody begins living like an unbeliever and will not repent, they are put out of the church. Faith. There's the unity of the faith, though, too. You say faith. There's a lot of people today who talk about the, I'm a person of faith. Oh, I just love people of faith. And that just kind of means anything, any kind of spiritism or religion or whatever, a person of faith. That's not what we're talking about. 1 Corinthians 4, 11 through 13 says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So these are gifts that God has given to the church to build the church up. That's what Paul is going through. And then verse 13. "'Til we all come to the unity of the faith "'and the knowledge of the Son of God, "'unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature "'of the fullness of Christ.'" You see, faith is in operation in the church, and the gifts that God has given to those who teach and those who bring the word is to not let everybody craft their own Jesus and do their own thing, come up with their own ideas about Christianity and religion and build their own autonomous doctrine and such, which many people do today. This says that these gifts are given till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. That is, we should be growing in our faith and we should be growing in our faith together and in the truth. What makes us unified? That we all are growing in the truth. And how do we grow in the truth? We grow in the truth by being faithful to the word of God. And when we get into future lessons, we'll be looking at that more particularly. But this faith in Christ and this faith in God and the scriptures and the doctrines of the scriptures are key to being a faithful church member. for somebody to come into the church and have the attitude of, you know, I'm just really not interested in doctrine. I'm not interested in all that stuff. I just want to come in and experience God and feel good and such. It's just not a biblical idea. Not that we don't want to experience God in here, but we have to understand that one of the key things God is doing here is building us up in our faith through the knowledge of the son of God. through growing in our understanding of Christ and the things of God and that we together believing the truths as God has revealed them in the scripture. That's a necessity for not only being a faithful church member and giving ourselves to that, but having a healthy church. Secondly, love. Love is absolutely foundational to being a faithful church member. As a matter of fact, it's so foundational that Paul would say it this way in the book of Corinthians. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity. I've become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. That's 1 Corinthians 12 or 13. I wrote my reference down wrong. If I don't have love, then all this whatever doesn't matter, even faith. He says, if I have faith to move mountains and I don't have love, it's nothing. There must be love in the local church. we must be bound together in our love for God and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Matthew 22, verses 34 through 40, we have Christ saying that is the sum of the whole law. For here, it says, I'll begin in verse 35. It says, then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him, Jesus, a question, tempting him, saying, Master, what is the great commandment of the law? What is the law all about? How do you sum it up? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Loving God and loving our neighbor in this case. That's what the law is all about. How do you fulfill the law of Moses? I mean, assuming we could be perfect and have no sin, it's loving God and loving your neighbor. If you love God and you love your neighbor and you did that perfectly and perfectly consistent, you would fulfill the law. And we don't do that. We need a savior to save us because of our sin. But look at what is at the root of it. What is at the root of our sin? It's a lack of love for God. It's a lack of love for our neighbor. So when we think about the church and our place here and the fundamental necessity for love that we're here together out of our mutual love for God and our love for one another, it's absolutely essential. I mean, how many times do we witness unfaithfulness in the church? whether it's, and things we'll look at in the future, but whether it's in the giving of our time, the giving of our money, resources, the giving of our attention and our prayers, and all of the things we say we're committing to when we take our membership vows, by the way, at the root of that, what is the failure? It's love. If I loved God the way that it ought, then I would be with his people when they gather. that I would give faithfully of my time, efforts, energies, and so forth. I would be mindful to pray for these people because I love them, and so forth and so on. We fail in our duties as church members principally and foundationally because we don't love as we ought. We're not mindful of others and our place here as we ought to be. Love is absolutely essential. In 1 Corinthians 16 too, this unbelief, this lack of love for Jesus is spoken of as this way, to talk about just how bad this is. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. That is, put away or cursed at the coming of Jesus Christ. If any man not just not believe, but if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ. See, faith and love are inseparable. So when I don't love as I ought, and I'm not motivated by my love for God and his people, and I become unfaithful in my duties of love, at the heart of that, it's unbelief. You see, it's not just, oh, my faith is strong, but I'm struggling a little bit in this love area. They're tied together. It's faith that lays hold of Christ. But here in First Corinthians, if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe on Jesus Christ, to have faith in him is to love him. They are absolutely inseparable. We have a command to love each other. In the church, John 15 to. If any man, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Jesus's command to his disciples. We talked to the husbands this morning in our Bible study time about loving their wives as Christ loved the church and said, that's an impossible command, but this is what's held for us to do in loving our wives this way. Well, we're commanded in the church to do that too. Love one another as I have loved you. What would our church look like if we loved one another as Jesus loved us? What would my prayers be like for you if I loved you as I ought to? What would your participation be in the church if you loved as you ought? What would your life in the church be like if you loved as you ought? I'll tell you what it doesn't look like. It doesn't look like those who go to church simply for what the church can do for them. We've created an entire, I would say it's not a cottage industry now, it's a mega industry of the corporate church where you have churches that have these various services and things so that people can go and be served and plug into the thing that they're interested in and such. But the idea of their part in the church and that they're there to serve. That's just so against our mindset and our culture. But understand that's an issue of love, understanding love rightly. Think about a marriage where husband and spouse are struggling because they're dissatisfied with one another and all their problems stem from what the other is doing. Comes up a lot in marriage counseling. You don't know what it's like to be married or you don't know what it's like to be married to him. Well, what about stopping constantly focusing on what this person is doing or not doing and be focusing on how you want to be, what kind of love you want to have. How would the churches be if we were filled with that spirit where our emphasis would be upon loving one another and not simply looking for what people do or don't do for us? You can't control other people, but you can control what you do. And see, this command to love one another as I have loved you, as he's speaking to his disciples in John 15, this is repeated by the Apostle John in 1 John 4, 20, where he says, if a man say, I love God and hate his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? John is addressing that person who makes light of loving God's people and says, you know, that church stuff, that organized religion, all that stuff. That's not really for me, but I love Jesus. I do have a personal relationship with Jesus. And John is calling that right here. Say, how can you love God who you haven't seen? You have to know him by faith. Only faith lays hold of him. But you have no desire to be unified with his people. You have no desire in that area where these people are joined with Christ and have been granted the Holy Spirit, and yet you hate him. This doesn't necessarily mean outright hate and be at war with them, but ambivalent have no interest in. Could care less one way or the other. John is saying it doesn't work that way. If you love God, if you love Jesus, then you're going to love his people. And it's something that we should strive to be about as it's part of our Christian calling. And we live that out first and foremost in our homes with our Christian relatives and family stuff. And we live that out in the church, in our commitment one to another. And finally, first Peter one, 22. Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth of the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. See, it's not just that we're going to do that by default, it's that see that you do it. Brothers and sisters, it is easy to get distracted by the cares of this world, the toil of this life, the discouragements of this life. It's easy to grow cold and This here is speaking about purifying your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. Mouthful, what does that just say? Purify your souls. Part of your sanctification, part of the means of grace for your sanctification is through your authentic love for Christians. your authentic love for your brothers and sisters. Not just as general love, you know that doesn't really mean anything, but it is actually lived out among your brothers and sisters here. This is to purify our souls in obeying the truth. We must be obedient to this love through the unfeigned. That is the authentic love of the brethren. How many churches have you been in where people come up with a fake smiles and can put on. Oh, we're so glad we're here. We just love you so much. It doesn't mean anything. Doesn't mean anything simply to say it. This unfeigned love of the brethren is something that is lived out and it's lived out over time and it's lived out over years. It's not just having a greeter appointed to shake people's hands and smile and say we love you and we love to have you here. It's living a life together. where there is true commitment and service and love for one another. It's authentic, not just the face we put on to make people feel welcome. I'm not saying we shouldn't smile and make people feel welcome, but I'm saying love goes so much further than that. Love is, there's so much more commitment in love than that. And that love and our working out of that love and our love for one another is part of what the Spirit of God is doing to make us more like Jesus, to purify our souls. Foundational to being a faithful church member. 1 John 2, verses 10 through 11, he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there's none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I mean, there it ties our love for our brothers and sisters one to one with our walk with Christ, being walking in the light. To hate our brother, which is the opposite of not loving, again, it doesn't simply mean I wanna go throw a brick through his window. It's if you don't love, then you hate. There's not a middle ground here. is to walk in darkness, is to not walk in the truth. I mean, what John is saying is you can't maintain this thing that you're a Christian, that you love Jesus, and there's really no commitment going on with his people. There's no love, there's no outflowing of that. Our sanctification, indeed, as we just saw is, and even there in verse 10 is tied directly to this. If you feel sometimes that your relationship with God is cold, where is God? God seems distant. I don't feel his spirit in my life. I'm struggling. One of the things to look at is that right there. If if our exercise of our love for one another is a key component in our sanctification and the work of God in our lives, then if we look at ourself and we say, you know, I wonder where God is. I feel spiritually cold. I feel bereft in a way and all. Well, Have I not loved my brothers and my sisters as I ought? What has my commitment been like to them? Because maybe there's a connection right there because the scripture does connect it in this place. It's not just me, the Bible and the Holy Spirit and God zaps me as he will. Perhaps if you're struggling in your faith, You need to look earthward at your brothers and sisters and consider and weigh those relationships. Am I doing what I, am I starving myself spiritually because I am not serving in love the way that I ought to? 1 John 3, 14. This is so powerful. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abided in death. A very sign that you're a Christian. We've already borne this point home. I just bring the scripture in to confirm it once more. It's here is, but how do I know that I'm saved? Well, do you love Jesus? Yes. Do you love his people? Yes, I love his people. I love the Christian people. I love my church family. That's a sign. That's a sign of the Spirit of God. And that also then shows us that this love that's so foundational into which you and I are called together as a church family is not something we can do in our own power. If it's a very sign of the deliverance Christ has given us and saving us from our sins, then it's a divine thing. It's something, it is beyond our reach. We are selfish, we are fleshly, we carry around the old man. We can become worldly, we can become self-absorbed and all of these things. But this love that we are called to, that's at the center of being a faithful church member even, is the operation of the Spirit of God in us. So seek it there first. We need to be in prayer together as a church family. Lord, how can I grow in this? I see from your word how important this is. Show me where I'm failing my church family. Show me where I'm failing to encourage them as I ought, to be faithful as I ought there, to be mindful as I ought. of so many acts of love I fail in with my own dear wife come from a lack of mindfulness. We have to be deliberate. But in being deliberate, recognizing this love to which we are called together as a church family is a divine operation. It is. We absolutely need Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit to work this out. amongst us. So may we pray that God would grant me this grace all the more, that God would give me to this all the more, that I would know him more as I would love you more and serve you more. May Christ be in us richly in this. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you We thank you for your word, for this great salvation you've given us, for the Holy Spirit, Lord, for your church. God, I thank you for the blessing that my church family is here. And I ask that, God, you would richly pour out upon them the spirit of your grace, that you would give each of us, Lord, power from heaven to love you and to love one another in a way that would bring great glory upon the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Quicken us in our faith. Lord, as we live this out, may we become more zealous for Jesus. May we become more enlightened to the truths of the things of God in the scriptures that our faith might be rooted and grounded in the objective truths of the scripture. God, that in our lives, we might live this one short life to the praise and the honor and the glory of Christ, our love. Amen.