Being a loving church is so important. The world is very divided right now! The world needs God more than ever. We can make the change the world needs by loving the way God instructs us too! This passage in Acts gives us the guidelines on how to love the church.

There are three essentials to a living church. For any church to bear fruit it needs to be a loving church, learning church and a growing church.

For today I would like to talk about the characterisitics of a loving church. Before I begin I would like to address who makes up the church?

The church is composed of all true believers, both living and dead, who have been indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. To have the Holy Spirit we need to be saved. We need to believe in Jesus and repent for our sins. That is how we obtain salvation. It is a gift of God by His amazing grace. See Ephesians 2:8.

When we are saved we are born into God’s family this is called regeneration,or to be born again. God becomes our father and all other believers become our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is then that we are called into a loving fellowship with the church and the world.

A loving fellowship is so important. If we love God we should be committed to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the key word in this passage is fellowship.Fellowship means koinonia in Greek, which means joint participation. Or to share something in common.

Fellowship in the church today has lost its real meaning today. Everyone associates it with food. We as a nation love to eat. When we have fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We usually do it over lunch, dinner, etc. Food is great but the real goal should be to love and edify your brothers and sisters in Christ.

One reason we should fellowship is because we have lot in common with other believers.

What do we share together in common?

We share a common salvation

• The bible tells us that we share a common salvation in Jude 3. It also tells us that there is only one way to be saved. We are all saved by God’s grace alone. See Ephesians 2:8.
• We are saved through faith. See Ephesians 2:8.
• We are saved in Christ alone. See Acts 4:12

We share a common sanctification

God is working through us to make us better day by day through the process of sanctification. Sanctification comes after being justified by a Holy God. What does it mean to be justified? This is when you are declared righteous by a Holy God based on the finish work of Jesus Christ on the cross. All Christians are justified when they put their faith in Jesus Christ. All christians are all equal in God’s eye. One christian can’t be more justified than another christian.

After being justified the process of sanctification begins. This is a lifelong process. The goal of sanctification is to make you more like Jesus day by day. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the word of God to transform the child of God into the image of the Son of God.

How does God transform us?

1. By the Holy Spirit - God gave us the free gift of the Holy Spirit to help us. See John 14:16 and Romans 15:19
2. By the Word of the God - We can’t become Holy without the bible
3. By prayer - We need to be in constant prayer. God will give us the wisdom. See James 1:5

We share a common heart to serve the Lord.

In this common service we are to practice the “one in anothers” in the new testament. With our goal to serve others, love others and glorify Christ in all we do.

• Love one another (John 13:34 - This command occurs at least 16 times throughout the bible)
• Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)
• Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10)
• Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)
• Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)
• Be likeminded towards one another (Romans 15:5)
• Accept one another (Romans 15:7)
• Admonish one another (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16)
• Greet one another (Romans 16:16)
• Care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25)
• Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)
• Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)
• Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:2, 32; Colossians 3:13)
• Be patient with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13)
• Speak the truth in love to one another (Ephesians 4:15, 25)
• Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32)
• Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19)
• Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:5)
• Consider others better than yourselves (Philippians 2:3)
• Look to the interests of one another (Philippians 2:4)
• Bear with one another (Colossians 3:13)
• Teach one another (Colossians 3:16)
• Comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
• Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
• Exhort one another (Hebrews 3:13)
• Stir up [provoke, stimulate] one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)
• Show hospitality to one another (1 Peter 4:9)
• Employ the gifts that God has given us for the benefit of one another (1 Peter 4:10)
• Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another (1 Peter 5:5)
• Pray for one another (James 5:16)
• Confess your faults to one another (James 5:16)

Now if we all loved by the examples provided here and put others needs first. The world would be such a more loving place. The world would be more united. The world would not be in such great turmoil.

If we all acted out of love and remember that we are all sisters and brothers in Christ. That we are all serving the same God that loves us for who we are. A loving God that gave His only begotten son for us. So that we can do good works. So that we can love others by like we love ourselves. The true identifying mark of a christian is love.

Gracious Father oh how we need you so much right now Lord. As a world we have forgotten how to love. Forgotten how to love as you want us to love. Lord we are at your mercy Lord and we seek your forgiveness. We seek your wisdom to turn from our wicked ways. Cleanse us Lord from all unrighteousness. We want to be in great fellowship with you Father. We need your more than ever. We seek your wisdom on going back to loving as you want us to love. Help us to remembet that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us to share the love you share for us towards other. Help us to put others first. Help us to be the salt and the light of the world. In Jesus holy precious name I pray.