What is Love?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
I would like to introduce you to my most favorite hobby. If you have spent any time around me you know my favorite thing to do with my spare time is to collect books. I collect interesting editions, I collect books I would like to read later, but my favorite thing to do is to collect books. I love books to read and study from. If you’ve ever been to my office at the Center of Hope you will notice I have close to 2000 books on the shelves. I also collect antique books. This is a picture of some of my more favorite books at home. I have books about the American Civil War written during the Civil War. I have first editions of almost all of B.T. Roberts’ (the funder of the Free Methodist Church) books. And this is my absolute favorite (show Rise and Progress of Religion).
If we are ever somewhere and in a time crunch, Steph and the kids can tell you, the most dangerous thing to do it get me near a book store. I can spend hours exploring antique books. A couple of years ago we were in Cooperstown with the Motts. There is an awesome used book store, yes I go the home of the baseball hall of fame and I always have to check out the book store, and Steph wouldn’t let me go in because she knew I would spend forever in there and didn’t want the Motts to get board. Some may say I have a bit of a book habit, others may call it an addiction. But most would just say I love books.
In English we use this word “love” as almost a disposable term. We love our spouses, we love our parents, we love our children, we love our siblings, we love our pets. But in English we take this word even further. We use love for a whole host of things. We love the furniture we picked out, we love pizza, we love a beautiful snowy day when we can sit inside with a cup of coffee and a good book. In English we have diminished the power of the word love. When Jesus made the claim “God so Loved the world” he wasn’t saying God loves him some Stewart’s ice cream so he sent his son into the world on a Stewarts run. He was using the word “love” in a much different way. In our passage today Paul probably gives us the best insight on what God means when he claims love.
Love is Ethereal
Love is Ethereal
It is a heavenly concept that is difficult to define
Greeks had four different words for love
Japanese has two words for love
Ai - Familial, friends, things
Koi - Romantic
American Sign Language has two signs for love
Kiss back of hand - things
Cross arms - romantic
Spanish has three words
Encantar - Things, activities
Querer - People, like friends and family
Amar - Romantic
Gaelic/ Irish has four words for love
Gra - general kind of love
Cumann - Love for friends and family
Cion - affection, like that between parent and child
Searc - true love
In English we have devalued the word love
Could be anything from food, to music, to movie/shows, automobiles, books
We have no way to delineate the different kids of love, so we have watered it down until true love is almost unrecognizable.
At its core love is spiritual
Paul relates love to Spiritual gifts
Love is not a gift given by the Spirit
Love is a fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Love is the first fruit of the Spirit
order shows importance
Love is Eternal
Love is Eternal
Paul compares love with Spiritual gifts
Prophecy, tongues, knowledge are all temporary
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
Love is eternal
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
God’s love never ceases
God created the world out of love
Creating a piece of Art
God sought to restore our relationship out of love
When the piece of art is broken we want to fix it
God’s act of restoring our relationship is out of love
It takes more care to fix the broken art than to do it new
God’s final act of eternal community is built out of love
When its finally fixed it is displayed because of love
Love is Essential
Love is Essential
Divine love is the most important trait we are given
Paul compares love to Spiritual gifts
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Speaking in Hyperbole
taking each gift or fruit to it’s extreme
Of all the fruits of the Spirit love is the most important
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Divine love fills us
As we are emptied of our old hateful selves we are filled with love
God’s perfect love fills so much that it.....
Divine love flows through us
When we first experience God’s love it is so great that we cannot contain it.
It flows through us and into the world around us
Divine love is how we view and interact in the world
C.S. Lewis famous said “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it, but because through it I see everything else.”
When a non-believer questions the existence of God they need to look no further and the love exuded by believers filled with God’s love.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We are all offered God’s love, it is there for all people. All we have to do is accept it. We cannot be forced to love, trust me, there have been people in my life who I tried to make myself love and it’s never worked out. But when we bask in the love that God offers to us, then and only then will we be able to love the way God has intended us to love. Let us pray.
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