Neighbors-What is Love?

Introduction

Good morning and welcome!

This morning I would like for you to start turning in your Bibles to .

Many of you will recognize this as the “love chapter,” which it is because it is all about love.

You will hear this passage read at weddings all the time, sometimes even at proposals for marriage.

And because of this we tend to pigeonhole this passage to make it only applicable to couples and how they should treat one another.

Which is not untrue, but we need to be very careful with this because Paul didn’t write these words as instructions for just for husbands and wives.

And he certainly did not write it just for wedding ceremonies.

No, Paul penned these words and all of his letters for the overall benefit of the church.

His goal was to equip the church to survive and grow beyond the 1st Century.

And one of the key foundations of this goal of Paul’s was to equip the saints with the essentials of what they would need in order to do the ministry.

And this chapter, nestled here in the first letter to the Corinthians, we find the key ingredient to all success we will ever have as Christians.

And that ingredient is love.

Love is foundational to all we are and all we do.

Over the next four weeks we are going to be looking at the subject of Neighbors, but we first have to start right here with love.

Remember Jesus told us to . . .

Mark 12:30–31 NIV - Anglicised

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

So, in order to fulfill the command of Jesus we have to have some understanding of what love looks like, which is exactly the picture that Paul is painting for us here.

So, if you have found in your Bible, I’d invite you to stand with me as we read and answer the question, What is Love?

Paul writes . . .

Scripture Focus

1 Corinthians 13:1–7 NIV - Anglicised

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The List

So, we see here that Paul gives us quite a comprehensive list of what love looks like. He tell that:

Love is patient

Love is kind

Love does not envy

Love does not boast

Love is not proud

Love is not rude

Love is not self-seeking

Love is not easily angered

Love keeps no record of wrongs

Love does not delight in evil

Love rejoices in truth

Love always protects

Love always trusts

Love always hopes

Love always preserves

And if you are keeping track, that is 15 things that describe love, but I’m going to tell you that there is one thing that can sum it all up.

John says that . . .

1 John 4:8 NIV - Anglicised

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

God is love. That is the key.

God’s essential nature is love, to give love and to receive love.

We can sum up everything we know about love by comparing it to God and we can also sum up what we know about God by comparing God to love.

I am going to read the verses I just read again, but this time I am going to change something. I am going to take out the word love and put in God.

Listen to how it sounds now....

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not God I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not God , I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not God, I gain nothing.

And I am going to stop there for just a minute, because this is a key concept that we need to understand.

We can do the greatest miracles that humans have ever seen, be the smartest people on the planet, be the richest, most powerful, strongest, most giving, nicest, and sacrifice more than anyone on the planet, but if God is absent it is completely for nothing.

And what Paul is saying is that if we do all those things and the love of God is not in our heart, they gain us absolutely nothing because our motivation is self-centered and self-serving and not God centered.

People actually think that they can do all of these good deeds and somehow that will erase their sin and God will just overlook everything else in their lives.

People will look at their lives on a kind of scale and think that as long as their are more things on the good side than on the bad that this justifies them.

They think that as long as they are doing better than the person next to them that this gives them some kind of bargaining chip with God.

It doesn’t.

Our entrance into God’s kingdom is not a negotiation, it is not some sort of “Let’s Make a Deal” game.

God has established the rules and parameters and we do it God’s way or we don’t do it all.

God laid the framework and made the necessary sacrifice to secure our eternity for us.

God did the work, we just have to accept the gift.

And accepting it means admitting that we are sinners that are separated from God.

Admitting that there is nothing we can do that can save us.

Admit that we need a Savior.

Acknowledging that Jesus Christ is that Savior.

Accepting by faith that the price Jesus paid was sufficient.

Asking for forgiveness and trusting that God has forgiven.

And following Christ the rest of our days.

That is what it takes.

No good deed can substitute for this.

Your momma can’t write you a note.

Your best friend can’t write you a recommendation.

You have to decide for yourself what direction you are going to go in.

Just remember that even though good deeds are appreciated, good deeds are not enough.

Has God instilled in you the desire to do good deeds or do you do them to earn points?

So, with that understanding lets move on because this next part is going to tell us about some of God’s attributes.

Remember we are substituting the word “God” for “love.”

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast. God is not proud. God is not rude. God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

So, if you ever have a question about what God is like, just remember these things.

Again . . .

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast. God is not proud. God is not rude. God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

Loving our Neighbor

Now, if we are called to love our neighbor, which we are, how do we go about doing that?

We know that Jesus’ command was to . . .

Mark 12:30–31 NIV - Anglicised

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

So, the first part is loving God with all we are.

When we do this, we learn the capacity and the ability to love others.

Loving God with all we are is put into action when we love others as ourselves.

Loving people is how we love God.

But still this whole love thing is a little bit fuzzy.

We tell people to love their neighbor the same way they love themselves.

I’ve even said it, but I’m going to tell you I’m wrong.

We shouldn’t love our neighbors as ourselves, because a lot of times our self-love is selfish.

It is self-centered and self-serving.

It is all about us and what we can get from others.

That old “looking out for #1” attitude.

And then there are those who do not love themselves.

They have been traumatized, abused, rejected by society.

Told lies like “you are worthless” for too many years.

They don’t know how to love others because they have never been able to love themselves.

So, we need to be taught to love ourselves based on God’s standards of what love is.

And then when we have learned to do that, then and only then can we love our neighbors as ourselves.

So, what are God’s standards we need to learn?

Let’s go back to our passage here in .

This time though, instead of substituting the word “God” for “love,” substitute your name for “love.”

I’ve done it for myself here . . .

Buford is patient, Buford is kind. Buford does not envy, Buford does not boast. Buford is not proud. Buford is not rude. Buford is not self-seeking, Buford is not easily angered, Buford keeps no record of wrongs. Buford does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Buford always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

Now, it’s your turn.

We are going to do it again and I want you to say it out loud but this time put your name in the blanks:

______ is patient, ______ is kind. ______ does not envy, ______ does not boast. _____ is not proud. _____ is not rude. ______ is not self-seeking, ______ is not easily angered, ______ keeps no record of wrongs. ______ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ______ always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

It changes things doesn’t it?

We need to ask ourselves if these things are true about us....

Are we patient and kind?

Do we refrain from envy and boasting and pride?

Are we ever rude, self-seeking, easily angered?

Do we keep records of wrongs?

Do we delight in evil-when people “get what they deserve?”

Do we rejoice in the truth?

Are we protective of all people?

Do we trust others?

Do we have hope?

Do we preserve our integrity and the integrity of the church, the integrity of God?

And, if we are going to be honest with ourselves and honest with God, all of us would admit that we have room to grow.

None of us are perfect at all of these all the times.

In fact, these things are only possible through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV - Anglicised

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

And when we try to do these things on our own, we fall woefully short.

And if we want to be the people God has called us to be, we must submit ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit.

We have to allow God to do that work in us.

Otherwise, we will never be able to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and we will never be able to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Altar Call

The key to this though is, are we willing?

Are we willing to allow God to have that level of access in our lives?

Are we willing to admit where we actually are spiritually?

Or will we keep pretending that things are okay, that we’ve got it all worked out?

If we are really serious about being witnesses for Christ, sharing the gospel with others, then we must be willing.

Because as long as we are in this sort of limbo state, we cannot be who God wants us to be, we cannot go where God wants us to go, and we cannot do what God wants us to do.

Will it be nice, pretty, and clean?

No it will be messy and we will fall on our faces many times.

But we have to get up and start over again.

Too many people have given up because things have gotten hard.

Don’t give up, keep pushing, because Jesus also tells us . . .

Matthew 24:13 NIV - Anglicised

13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Stand firm and when you have to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

The altar is open, do as the Lord leads you, but don’t stand by and just do nothing.

When you do nothing, you are actually doing something.

You are rejecting the call of the Holy Spirit.

So, this morning don’t reject the Holy Spirit, respond with something . . .