Faith In Christ, Love For The Saints

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

I taught a Sunday school class recently. In preparing the lesson and teaching on 1 Thessalonians 3, I was struck by Paul's use of the phrase "faith and love" and the expanded form of it "faith in Christ and love toward all the saints," which he uses 7 or 8 times in his letters as a measure of what it really means to be a Christian.

For Paul, these are the two essential marks of being a believer. We must have faith in Christ, which means we must believe that He is the Son of God, the only Savior, King of kings and Lord of lords. More than that, we must trust Him for our salvation and must give Him our lives as our Lord and Master. If we have true, saving faith in Christ, we must also have love for all the saints, our fellow believers. To belong to Christ is to belong to His people. He rescues us from the kingdom of this world and brings us into His kingdom, indeed into His very family, which makes us fellow citizens and even brothers and sisters with all others who also have faith in Christ and belong to Him. Christianity is not a solo religion. There are no "lone ranger" Christians.

The way we express our faith in Christ and our love for His people is by joining ourselves to a local church where He is worshipped, His word is proclaimed and His people are loved. If we are not willing to join a local church, then we cannot say that we truly have faith in Christ and love for the saints, because we are unwilling to join and identify and live with His people. If you have not joined a local church, ask yourself, "Do I belong to Christ?" If you do belong to Christ, then you do belong to His people, too. Remaining on the sidelines, separated from the rest of your team cannot be an option when you know what is at stake. We need each other. The church needs you and you need the church. That's why Christ calls us to belong to each other.