This whole month we’ve been trying to reshape your thinking on how you love, going from transactional to unconditional.

My hope is that you will experience God‘s love so that transformation can happen in your heart. It will be evident in not only your vertical relationship with God, but how your horizontal relationships improve as well. And because God is moving in your heart and changing how you see love, a natural byproduct should be a shift in how you actually love others, give to others, and build.

Something we talk about a lot here is being known, loved, and challenged.
Everybody wants to be known and loved. Not everybody wants to be challenged. But if you call Freedom home, you can expect at some point that while we're going to do our best to know you and do our best to love you, we're also going to do our best to challenge you. I am fine with you getting all comfortable when you first come in, but at some point, I want you challenged to go to go deeper with the Lord, to take that next step.

Some of you need to be challenged, all of you really. But some of you need to be loved. Some this morning grew up in a family, where you were never told you were loved, you've rarely heard the words, "I'm proud of you.” Some of you have grown up in churches that were really good at knowing every little thing about you and secretly judging you behind your back while eating a questionable casserole two tables over at the church “Dinner on the Grounds.” That is not the kind of church we want Freedom to be.

When we talk about The Five, which is a phrase you hear a lot around here, what we mean is that we want you to have people around you that know you, know God, love you, love God, and have your best interest in mind. That last part really is the love component. You can't say you love somebody and then not have their best interest in mind. Love means being willing to do for others all the things we’ve been talking about this month, from giving grace, to going the extra mile, forgiving, sharing, bearing burdens, having patience, etc.

That known component is a huge deal, though, and not just people knowing us, but known in the sense of what we’re known for.

Let me use some people you may know to illustrate this: George Strait, Forrest Frank, Billy Graham. What you know of them is what they have done, and what they have done makes you feel a certain way about them. Proof: Iron Man / Thanos, Frodo / Sauron , Peter / Judas

Isn’t it wild how what they do positively or negatively impacts how you feel about them?

My point is that what you do matters and whether you like it or not, you become known for it. For some, that is terrifying based on the fact that they haven’t always lived for Jesus. But this doesn’t change the truth that people are known by what they’ve done.

This series is called, “He Loves Me,” and the idea is that, for so many people, we have this idea that God’s love ebbs and flows with our actions.
And while that is the idea for the series, it doesn’t seem like what I’ve talked about today really makes the point, but I need you to understand two very important things today:

First, you can delete “He loves me not” from your vocabulary when it comes to God because there is never going to be a second in the past, the future, nor today where his love wanes for you. That’s what I’ve been trying to get across for four weeks now.

But second, what you do matters, and while God’s love doesn’t shift, what you’re known for makes a difference.

How:
Your effectiveness.
Matthew 5:13
You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?
Do you effect positive change, or are you known for passivity?

Your witness.
1 Peter 2:12
Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
Are you known for godliness, or are you no different than the world?

Your credibility.
Proverbs 22:1
A good name is more desirable than great riches
Are you known for faithfulness, or is your word worthless?

Your ability to produce good fruit.
Matthew 12:33
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.
How’s your fruit? Is it good or bad?

Let’s play the gameshow: “What Are They Known For?”
L1: Cain, David, Judas | L2: Delilah, Lazarus, Jezebel | L3: Naaman, Enoch, Stephen

"The greatest legacy you can pass on to your children and grandchildren is not your money. The greatest legacy is that of your character and your faith." — Billy Graham

What’s the point of the message today? Just a teensy little question: What are you known for? We’ve been talking about loving unconditionally, and when you love unconditionally, the quality of your transactions improves.

Did you catch that? Those who have been working hard on your marriage over the last few weeks, your transactions should be getting better. Those who have realized you’ve been loving based on doing and you’ve made that shift in your heart, your transactions should be getting better. You should be seeing more grace, more mercy, more patience, more kindness.
You should be seeing more of the fruit of the Spirit in your lives. Next week we’ll talk about this specifically.

But the simple truth is when you start loving like Jesus, he begins changing you. We have these powerful promises about what Jesus does when we invite him in.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Some here need this today! You are tired and broken and beat down and you need a new start. THAT’S what he is offering through salvation.

Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
This is what he does, and let’s be real, this isn’t always easy!

Consider how C.S. Lewis paints this in Mere Christianity
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”


Another simple truth is when you start loving like Jesus, you start acting like him. If you want to know what Jesus does, just read the Bible, but let me just ask you:
What is Jesus known for to you? Who has he been in your life? Whatever he’s been to you, be to others. I know you can’t save them or heal them, but you can point them and direct them to the one who can. I know you aren’t King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but you can help them know how to interact with the King and Lord.

If you want some evidence Jesus is changing your heart, you’ll find it in the fact that you begin to mimic his actions in your actions.

With that in mind, let me share three quick things we should be known for.

1. Be known for what you give
How good are you at giving? Love, kindness, concern, consideration, compliments, encouragement? Patience, resources, forgiveness? God is a giver and if you want the main verb of the entire Bible, it is give.

Give defined is to offer something to someone, or to provide someone with something, without expectation of repayment or return. That definition really makes you think unconditionally because the definition itself limits the transactional nature of giving to generosity, not reciprocity. Giving with expectation of return is conditional. But we are called to be givers - cheerful givers at that - who give out of a desire to bless, build, encourage, grow, and empower.

Psalm 37:21
The righteous is generous and gives

And I know you are counting the seconds when I turn this into tithing and finances, maybe even counting with a tinge of frustration, and if that is you, God wants to change your heart, because that is clearly an area where some healing needs to happen. Maybe a church took advantage, maybe a pastor mishandled. It happens. But was what you gave tied to a return, or did you simply do what God asked of you? BTW, the last place we want to be is having to answer to God for mismanaging what he’s asked people to give. God will deal with them. You just forgive them.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Just do me a favor and take the financial connotation off of this for a moment. Do you give encouragement sparingly? Your kid makes an A on a hard test and rather than celebrating you make a joke that may have been intended as fun but demoralized them. Let me ask you, did your parents encourage sparingly? It is hard to give what you’ve never received. Let me ask you, you’ve worked hard at giving your kids the tangible things you never had, but what about the intangible things? Your encouragement, your love, your time. How hard have you worked at helping them have the faith you didn’t get from your family when you were growing up?

This is where God wants to change you. You know how good being encouraged feels, so God wants you to be known for how you give encouragement. People remember how you made them feel way more than what you did.

Giving makes you more empathetic to those around you, creates a sense of satisfaction knowing you are making a difference, helps you keep the love of and craving for tangible things in their correct place, and giving creates opportunities to be generous like God is with us.

There are givers in this world and there are takers. Which are you? Which do you want to be known for? Be known for how you give and watch how as you bless others, you are blessed.

2. Be known for what you build
So many people are ensnared by building wealth rather than building a life.
People think they need houses and cars and millions in the bank to be happy.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-11
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!

BTW, this was written by the richest man to ever live.

What are you building? And will what you are building outlast you?
John D. Rockefeller, the world's first billionaire, was immensely wealthy but deeply miserable by age 53, suffering from intense physical pain, hair loss, and depression. He was widely considered a ruthless business tycoon who established a massive monopoly through aggressive tactics, such as forcing railroad rebates, undercutting competitors' prices, and aggressively destroying rival businesses. The “Cleveland Massacre of 1872” saw him absorb 22 of 26 competitors in mere weeks as he used underhanded methods to bankrupt rivals. Despite controlling 90% of U.S. oil, his greed, isolation, and poor health made him wretched until he shifted his focus from accumulating wealth to giving it away. He also considered himself a devout Baptist. He is still known today for his ruthless business practices.

What are you building, and what does what you are you building say about you, about God? You might be thinking, bro…what does this have to do with He Loves Me?

Deuteronomy 8:18
Remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

First, you need to see “gives you power to gain wealth” is not just about money. This is a principle. Your ability to build anything is from God.

Second, there is a reason he gives you that ability, “confirming covenant.”
Which covenant? The Abrahamic Covenant.
– Land: “all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession”
– Seed: “I will make you into a great nation”
– Blessing: “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed”

God gives you the ability to build because he wants you to express his love for humanity in that you are a conduit of blessing throughout the earth. Nobody is saying it is wrong to build wealth or a successful company. Nobody is saying it is wrong to build these great things. But I am saying that the thing is not the focus of the building. People are.

I love that you've built a great company or that you've accumulated wealth
and that people know you for having built great tangible things. But companies and wealth and tangible things are not eternal, not the focus. People are. Are you building people? Starting with the people in your home?

Jesus loved people and spent his time here building them. How about you?

3. Be known for how you love
And here it is. Believe it or not, everything we’ve talked about today hinges on how you love. If you love sparingly, you’ll give sparingly, build sparingly, encourage sparingly, etc.

Even things like forgiveness. You can’t forgive someone if you hate them. This is a part of what makes forgiveness so difficult. It is easier to hate what they’ve done than to love who they are. Vengeance comes from a place of hatred in you. Forgiveness comes from a place of love in you. So perhaps before you forgive you need the Holy Spirit to pour love in your heart for that person. When you see them, do you want them to know you for how you hate them or how you loved them enough to forgive them? If you choose hate, I understand, but the devil wins. I don’t want him to win, so rather than being known for hatred or anger or frustration at them, I am going to act towards them like I love them until I do, and when I have that love in me - even if I have to route that love through Jesus - I can forgive them.

1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

First, notice Jesus didn’t say don’t HAVE the things in the world, but not to love them. God doesn’t care what you have, he cares what has you. Second, what you love is what is categorized into two boxes: eternal and temporal.

Is the love you give building eternal things? Are you loving people beyond their failures? Love covered a multitude of sin.

Are you loving people enough to give of yourself? Most people aren’t trying to be mean, they’ve just never had someone care about them enough to love them.

Are you loving people enough to build them up? In over 25 years in ministry I’ve found that most peoples’ entire worlds change when they find someone who loves them enough to believe in them.

Are you known for how you love?

My Memaw passed away end of last year. She was 91 years old. She was the nicest human I ever met. I remember over the course of all the years my Pepaw, who was very animated and could be a little quick to frustration, would sometimes get a little chirpy. I’d look at Memaw and she’d just laugh. Seemed to roll off her back. I never saw her get angry one time in the 45 years I knew her.

When she passed I heard more stories about her from others, extended family and friends. Kindness. That was how everyone knew her. She was the kindest person they knew.

Legacy is a big word and it means so much. You are going to die one day and people are going to talk about the life you lived. They are also going to talk about the legacy you are leaving behind.

I am not trying to scare you or emotionally manipulate you into being good. But I do want you to consider what it is you want to be known for. And if you have a hard time giving, building, and loving, then allow the Holy Spirit to direct you to do the opposite of what you’ve been doing that’s made these things difficult. Just do the opposite!

I want to give. I want to build. I want to love. I want my life to have mattered, not so I can feel good about me, but because I want to honor the investment God made in me.

I want my life to be a giant arrow to the one who gave me life to begin with. I want that for you, too, but if we are going to see that kind of change in people, we’re going to have to give, build, and love.

How do you need to respond today? You need to receive that love first to begin with. LET’S PRAY. Jesus is trying to give his love so he can build you up. You need to receive it. If you’ve never made Jesus Lord, or you know you need that new start, to rededicate your life to him, to receive that new heart in place of your stony heart, pray this with me: Jesus I confess you as Lord. I repent of my sin. Save me Jesus.

Holy Spirit help us now as we give like you, build like you, love like you. Whatever is keeping us from these, we submit to your leading now.