Faith, Hope, & Charity

Intro

Mother Teresa once said, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can all do small things with great love.”

You know what the most difficult part of that quote is? It is with love!

Think about how quickly we are to be annoyed, even by those we love the most!

If your parents asked you to do dishes in the middle of an iphone game, or your spouse asked you to take out the garbage or run errands, or your friends did something that drove you up a wall!

It doesn’t help that our usage of the term ‘love’ is so poor in our modern vernacular!

We love pizza, well, who can blame us for loving that creation!

We also love the most recent pop culture trends, or a joke or a meme, etc

Yet we also love our friends and family and hopefully our church!

So the problem becomes, is our love for pizza the same as it is for people?

Hopefully not!

Love is measured most effectively not by when things are perfect, but in the quiet, consistent, hard times!

Tell me how much you love pizza when you eat it even though you are lactose intolerant!

Yet we know that it is what we crave, and this world craves it as well!

Love is all over the place in our culture, afterall one of the most well slogans in our friends from the LGBT community is “love is love”, which sounds nice, but it’s not really helpful, nor true

In Scripture we see this term used by the early church, called ‘Agape’

The Greeks had far more precise language than we do, they had 4 words for love

Eros- Romantic Love, it’s where we get our word erotic

Storge- This is familial love, the love parents have for their children and vice versa

Philia- This is brotherly love between equals. Think like David and Johnathan, or perhaps you have a best friend who is closer than a brother. It is mutual respect and admiration

Agape- This love is interesting because it is most commonly used of how God loves humanity, and how we should love.

What is interesting is that no one really used it all that often in the 1 Century and so Christians took it and made it into the Love of God, something just so utterly different than the other 3 loves, that it deserved it’s own word!

It was this word that they took to show the radical love actions of God in coming down in human form and bringing us salvation

For instance

1 John 4:8 “8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

God is agape, So the one who does not love, or agape here, doesn’t know the God who is agape.

John 3:16 “16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

So this one is for God so agape’d the world. Pretty interesting!

I’ll give you a guess which term of love is used here in 1 Cor. 13!

So then, I think the fair question is how does worldly love, or counterfeit love differ?

Well I have 7 comparisons for a starting point for us

Agape Love is unconditional.

It is not based on feelings, personal gain, or if the recipient is worthy of love

That is why it can do crazy things like love enemies and difficult people. It stems from Gods’ love for fallen humanity

It seeks the good of others, even when it is costly, being modeled off Jesus

Infatuation is conditional

It relies on mutual benefit/attraction/shared interest, and so when those things change or cease to be, the love diminishes and ends

Might be a large reason we have such a divorce epidemic, if love is simply based on self-conditional things, those things struggle to get through the storms of life!

Agape Love is Sacrifical

It is so by nature, as we see in Jesus’ death

Christians are called to love people in the same radical way!

Infatuation is Selfish

There are acts of kindness/generosity, but rarely defined by sacrifice. Sacrificial love is celebrated as extra-ordinary, where it is the standard for agape

Agape is rooted in God’s Nature

Agape flows from the agape gained from our time with God, it is something we are unable to actually accomplish on our own, it’s only from God’s Spirit that it is possible!

Infatuation is from human nature

It can look beautiful and profound, but it’s not divine.

It stems from human desires, emotions and societal norms, which is why it can be so twisted at times as well

Agape is Acountable

In order to be full of agape, it means we must be willing to wrestle and be corrected by the truth. We speak the truth in love.

It means we must be open to rebukes and call outs for our sin, so that we might be restored to walking in agape rather than counterfit infatuation!

Infatuation is Affirming

It seeks to not rock the boats, full of tolerance for tolerance’s sake, and acceptance above all, regardless of right or wrong

It puts individual freedom over and beyond accountability, wanting affirmation rather than transformation

Agape is Eternal

It is eternal, since God is eternal, and agape stems from God. Not even death can stop it.

Infatuation is Circumstancial

It is fleeting and subject to change based on the whims of circumstance, emotions, personal change.

It wanes and waxes as relationships or priorities shift

Agape is All-Encompassing

Agape is for all people, regardless of race, status, sex, merit, and fosters unity within diversity

It fosters agape based on unity on the God of the universe, and how we see different sides of him through diversity, but it is again based upon God

Infatuation is Tribalistic

It is often limited to those in our circles, tribes, and ideology. It becomes an echo-chamber. While ‘inclusivity’ is growing, it does it for inclusivity’s sake, and has far shallower basis than Agape

Agape is shown by Action

Perhaps the greatest difference lies in Agape being an action based love. If we love Jesus, we will do what he commands. If we say we love God, then do things that God hates, we don’t love God, we are proving ourselves liars!

It means that we serve others, forgive, and live out God’s will, even when our emotions do not align

That is why the greatest commandment of Jesus, and for us is to Agape God, and Agape Others!

Infatuation is Emotional

Infatuation is often focused on feelings of affection, romance, or attraction. It can lead ot actions, it is most oft driven by emotional sastifisfaction or selfishness

So when we say love in the Bible, it’s a very different animal, than the shallow, counterfeit term we oft use when we say ‘love’ in our culture

It is a love that challenges us beyond what is natural, since it is a divine perspective

It seeks the good of all people, not just those that we care about, even at personal cost!

Infatuation is like a venn-diagram partner with agape. It periodically gets things right, and looks greater than it really is, but then reality comes crashing back down to earth!

It runs against our limitations, and that’s the problem

The other problem is that it’s not like you and I once we start following Jesus all of a sudden are perfectly living out agape

In fact, we saunter between infatuation and love, with God, with ourselves, and certainly our closest friends and family!

Some days I think I do a good job of loving Tabitha, other days, I’m a just a stubborn son of a gun that is not seeking my wife’s needs above my own

I think we all know that the world is craving love, because as beautiful as love can be we see that the love that we possess can’t be all there is!

Loving people with the type of love expressed as the expectation of love: agape, that is hard!

You know what Paul doesn’t make it any easier!

In this chapter on agape, Paul pulls no punches, he says love is the primary core value to anyone who professes Jesus!

Loveless Acts are Lifeless Acts (v.1-3)

So what does Paul speak of about agape first?

He speaks about how important it is!

Corinth is a mess of a church, a church that is basically about as sick as the American church is today!

They are infighting each other, they are sueing each other, they are having grossly inappropriate sexual realtionships, abusing communion, accepting false teachers, making diving lines over their favorite preachers,

and perhaps worse of all, with all that going on in 1 church, they were prideful about their church, thinking that they were the greatest church since Jesus changed the calendar from BC to AD!

So Paul’s been berating these church members, calling them to get overthemselves, and to order their worship services properly, and to use their spiritual gifts propery

What way is that proper way?

The way of Agape

So when Paul opens up here in 1-3, he is calling them back to what they would of known from their pagan times

These clanging gongs and cymbals are nothing but a way to get into an esthatic frenzy to show how spiritual you are!

So here is the list we have from Paul

If you can speak in any human language, and even in the heavenly tongues of angels

If you can prophesy and know all the mysteries of your prophesies

If you know all the knowledge, you have all the answers of anything asks of you!

If you have faith that is so large you can remove mountains from existence!

If I give away everything I have to the poor, and even give my body up to the fire to be a martyr to the faith

If you do all that, but agape is not part of the equation?

Paul says I might as well be a clanging symbol

I am nothing

I receive no benifit for anything of those things!

I really like how the Message captures the intensitity behind these verses:

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 13

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2  If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3–7  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

We are bankrupt without that agape love!

The harsh reality is that all of a sudden, we have to do a heart check to see where our hearts are at!

The question is not if we don’t do things without agape, but what do we do without agape?

Our faith without love? It becomes a hollowpoint bullet that wreaks havoc on those we deem enemies.

Just think of any jihadist or any death cult, they have plenty of faith! The fanatics lack love for others, or care of what happens to them!

What about our hope without love? It is equally hollow, it is unsustainable, since it is based in something that is feable and passing in this world

If we are honest, it often becomes the thing we start to worship

It could be politics, and so when your canidate doesn’t win, it causes a meltdown for many people

It could be money, and you will slowly become a terrible miser like Mr. Scrooge from a Christmas Carol!

It can also be relationships, but people will fail you, and they can’t bear the weight of those expectations!

To be honest, this is the hardest part for me!

It’s a reminder of how important love is, and it is so important that is the biggest callout of the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2!

They have great doctrine, great keeping out of false teachers, probably great programs and kids ministry!

Jesus rebukes them and calls them to repent for how far they have fallen from love!

If they don’t repent and allow agape to run their lives, that church will cease to exist!

Love Looks Like _______ (v.4-7)

Perhaps the biggest hesistantancy about going all in with love, is how convoluted it is

We might feel like we are going liberal or progressive in our theology if we harp on love too much!

Yet, that’s why we talked and built a distinction about agape, which is outlined in this chapter!

So we can breath a sigh of relief, but then probably take another deep breath in realizing what that love looks like!

While this chapter might be most well known for weddings and marriages, and it is a good passage for spouses to look at how they are applying these things to your marriage partner!

It is primarily written to a church, that might be one of the most unhealthy churches to ever exist!

So this is not empty words, these are the commands of how a church is supposed to run!

So since Agape is the Love of God, and lived out by Jesus, what does that look like?

It is patient, kind, not jealous or boastful, not conceited, not selfish, it is patient, keep a record of wrongs, hates evil and rejoices with the truth.

Love is patient, never giving up, never loses faith, always hopeful, and endures through all circumstances, love never dies

What a list, is it any wonder that we need the power of God to do this!

If we don’t rely on God to transform our hearts with his agape, then how could we ever hope to live this out!?!?

Then when we take it with Paul’s opening remarks, we can do a lot of good things, but if we don’t do them with love, they are not great things!

Personal Story of when I struggle with thinking of things in pro’s and con’s and relational poker chips

Love is Eternal (v.8-13)

The reason agape is so powerful is that it is eternal, just as the God it stems from is!

Prophecy will cease

Tongues will cease

Knowledge will cease

When will they cease?

Paul uses the term here ‘the perfect’, which most likely means the second coming of Jesus when we will be glorified and brought into glory!

Why will they cease?

Well if we are in heaven, why would we need to speak languages of heaven or earth when we are together?

Why would we need prophecy if we are in heaven and God is with us, and God wins?

Knowledge ceases because we will be able to understand things in ways not formally possible!

The funny thing about knowledge is the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know!

The Perfect

This is why Paul speaks about the ‘perfect’ and ‘imperfect’

In essence, even the best times here are as looking at a glass darkly as the old KJV puts it

Think about the best day you’ve ever had, I bet there were things in that day that were not perfect, or could have been improved upon, and that’s what Paul is saying

He says, look Corinthians, I know that you have a lot of problems, and you won’t be able to agape each other perfectly, but rely on God the best you can!

We live in an era where we know we are forgiven, but we are also still fallen and marred by sin

So until Jesus comes again, we have to cling to faith, hope, and love!

Application

So Faith Hope and Love are the themes this year

I have it on the title slide, but I want us to camp on these big ideas, and consider them throughout Scripture, and so we are going to look at Faith, Hope, and Love in their own sermon series this year!

This isn’t the only place where we see these listed together either!

1 Thessalonians 1:3 “3 We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So let’s cover our definitions

Faith is not simple cognitive belief, it is trust.

If we needed to use a synonym for it, faith is allegience

What does you allegience to God look like today?

How much have you been playing for team Satan with your sin recently? Or just general indifference and apathy?

Hope is more than a wishing really hard for something, like you might of done as a kid on Christmas, I really wish my parents got me a N64! lol

This speaks to our expectation that Jesus will come again, and deal with the wickedness we go through

There is hope that injustice will be writed, and any unjust suffering will be righted

When our hope is not in this earth, it totally changes our perspective, and allows us to get through life, knowing we are not alone!

Love is what we spent a lot of time going through today, God’s love, agape, that should transform us and be counter cultural in it’s powerful action

Agape is the basis of our community, and so next time you have a conflict with someone here (just a matter of when lol), strive to take a breath, and let God drive your actions from agape!

Here’s some hands on examples

As a teen living at home, you might often feel misunderstood by your parents, ah teenage angst + generational differences. To show agape love make a conscious effort to initiate conversations with them about their day. Instead of waiting for them to ask about your life, ask them about theirs. Show genuine interest in their feelings and concerns. This simple act not only opens up lines of communication but also demonstrates that you value and love them unconditionally, creating a more supportive home environment.

At work you may encounter colleagues who are difficult to work with, causing frustration and tension. To live with agape, you choose to respond to conflict with understanding instead of irritation. Make it a habit to offer help instead of harboring resentment. If a coworker is struggling to meet a deadline, can you assist them, and encourage them even if you can’t help. By doing so, you reflect God's agape and transform your workplace culture, one person at a time

On the flip side, it’s common to feel pressured to prioritize results over relationships. To live out agape, start by recognizing the achievements of your colleagues publicly—whether it’s through an email shout-out or a compliment during meetings. By celebrating others’ successes, you create a culture of appreciation, which fosters teamwork and promotes a agape-like workplace consistent with Christian values.

Of course as we said, agape is impossible to do on our own power!

We can’t pull ourselves up by our own agape bootstraps, it’s only out of our reservoirs that we can pour into others

So our theme for this year is faith, hope and love

But there is more behind it, and that’s what this slide reminds us of

Faith Grounds Us

Faith is our anchor, it keeps us grounded in the reality of God being our God, and stops us from trying to take control of our lives!

It’s why Jesus told that story of the house on the rock, and the faith of the sure foundation that Jesus gives us

It’s the foundation for all our life, and all our worldview, and all our beliefs!

Hope Inspires Us

Hope inspires us to keep living, keep hoping, since we know that God wins!

Hope inspires us to look to tomorrow, that it might be a little better, that no matter what today brought, tomorrow can improve

All the more when we have the God of the Universe helping work things to his good!

Love Refines Us

Finally, agape, love refines us

We are told that it is God’s kindness that brings us to repent, and turn to him!

How easily we love people, really love them, is a good litmus test of how close we are to God!

When we grow closer to God, it will continue to refine us to make us more like Jesus

Which is why some of the people that have been walking with Jesus the longest are the kindest, most gracious, and agape filled people you meet

When you spend time with Jesus, you become like that!

So in 2025, we are going to look at Faith, Hope, and Love

May our faith ground us in all we do, say, and think

May our hope inspire us to press on, regardless of the situations around us

May our love refine us to be more and more like Jesus, until the day he calls us home!

Benediction

1 Peter 1:3–8 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,”