These 3 Remain - Love

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Everyone dreams of being the greatest don’t they

Little boy in a baseball hat stands in the field with his ball and bat Says, "I am the greatest player of them all" Puts his bat in his shoulder and he tosses up his ball. And the ball goes up and the ball comes down, Swings his bat all the way around The world so still you can hear the sound, the baseball falls to the ground. Now the little boy doesn't say a word, picks up his ball he is undeterred. Says, "I am the greatest that there has ever been" And he grits his teeth and he tries again. And the ball goes up and the ball comes down, Swings his bat all the way around The world so still you can hear the sound, the baseball falls to the ground. He makes no excuses he shows no fear He just closes his eyes and listens to the cheers. Little boy he adjusts his hat, picks up his ball, stares at his bat Says "I am the greatest when the game is on the line" And he gives his all one last time. And the ball goes up and the moon so bright Swings his bat with all his might The world's as still as still can be, the baseball falls And that's strike three. Now it's suppertime and his momma calls, Little boy starts home with his bat and ball. Says, "I am the greatest, that is a fact, But even I didn't know I could pitch like that!" Says, "I am the greatest, that is understood, But even I didn't know I could pitch that good!"

When I was a kid and we would play street hockey there was always an inevitable scenario that would get played out over and over again, even if it was just inside somebody’s head

Those are the lyrics to the Kenny Rogers song called the greatest

It was game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs the score was tied and it was overtime, for the person playing out this scenario in their head they were the only one who could win it, they were Wayne Gretzky, they were the greatest of all time

Didn’t we all want to be the greatest at something when we were younger?

We’d play street hockey in my neighborhood and we would always end up imagining that we were scoring the game winning goal in overtime of game 7 in the Stanley Cup finals

Or maybe your sport of choice was baseball and it was the bottom of the ninth done by 3 with the bases loaded

This past February my favourite quarterback in the NFL cemented his status as what is termed the G.O.A.T. (the greatest of all time)

Of course I am speaking about Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots

In spite of being selected 199th overall in the 6th round of the 2000 draft, behind 6 other quarterbacks, Brady has some impressive credentials as the G.O.A.T.

He has been to 7 Superbowl in 15 years (the most of any player in history) and has won 5 of those Superbowls (again the most of any player) and was named as Superbowl MVP four times

In addition he has won the league MVP twice and voted to the probowl 12 times.

He also has been in more playoff games than any other player at any position has a post-season record of 25-9 winning more playoff games than any other quarterback and has led his one and only team, The New England Patriots to 14 division titles, more than any other quarterback

I could go on but I realize that none of you really care about Tom Brady’s stats

Suffice it to say that whatever our chosen area of interest we are all enthralled by those who are considered the greatest at their respective disciplines

Well at the beginning of this month we began a series of messages based on Paul’s words from which says,

1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We’ve already looked at the subjects of faith and hope and today it is time to look at the one subject that Paul said was the greatest of them all, Love

Or is that really what Paul said?

Well to answer that question, this morning I want to give you a little lesson in Greek as we take a look at 3 different words from our text to see what Paul was actually trying to say

The first word that I want to look at is the word translated as “greatest”

Was Paul actually saying that love was superior to faith and hope like we have believed for so long

Well the word that Paul uses here is the Greek word “Megas” and its meaning might surprise you a little

While in the English we tend to translate this word as “greater” in a “better than” sort of context that’s not what it used for

If Paul wanted to say that love was better or more important than faith and hope he would have used the Greek word “kreitton” like he did in , , which means superior, more valuable, better

But instead he used this word “Megas” which speaks of being greater in number, having a greater impact

What Paul was saying to us is that we all need to have faith, hope, and love in our lives but it is love that is going to have the greatest impact on other people and therefore it is love that has be the most predominant in our lives

It’s the same word that Jesus used in when in speaking to the disciples He said,

John 14:12 NIV

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Jesus fed thousands with a little bit of food, Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms, Jesus healed all manner of disease and on numerous occasions raised the dead

How ridiculous it would be of us to think that we would be able to do miracles that are bigger and better than the miracles of Jesus, but we can do more numerous miracles and therefore have an even greater impact

That’s what Paul was saying, your faith might impress a few and your hope might lead a few others to ask how to find it, but your love, your love is limited only by your willingness to share it

You might not have opportunity today to demonstrate your faith or your hope but you will have plenty of opportunity to demonstrate your love

After all, as we have been saying all throughout this series, Faith is the foundation, hope is the focus, but love is the follow through, love is the results, both practical and tangible, of faith and love

So then how do we show love, how can the love that we have be made greater than our hope and our faith

Well as I’m sure you probably know and have heard many times, the Greek word that Paul uses here for love is the word “agape”

Now I’m equally sure that over the years you have probably heard lots of teaching about the 6 different Greek words used for love and how they differ from each other and so I am not going to go over that again today

Instead I want to spend a moment or two on what it means for us to show agape love

And the answer to that is quite simple, in fact Paul tells us in the preceding passage what it means to show love

So let me give you a couple of lists, first a list of things that love does not do and secondly a list of things that love does do all based on

We have all said at one time or another that it is just too difficult to love some people but I think that these two lists given by Paul show us it is much easier than you think

First the things that love does not do:

Love doesn’t get envious of other people

Love doesn’t boast (humility)

Love doesn’t get caught up in pride

Love isn’t rude to other people

Love isn’t self-seeking

Love doesn’t get angry easily

Love doesn’t keep a list of other people’s mistakes

Love doesn’t delight over other’s misfortune or when things go wrong

Now the list of things that love does do:

Love is patient

Love is kind

Love rejoices with truth

Love protects

Love trusts

Love is hopeful

Love perseveres even when it is taken advantage of

Now you might think that it is hard to love some people but can you be patient with that person? Can you be happy for them when something good happens in their life? Can you be kind?

Now can you show love all throughout you day? Can you be kind to that person in line behind you at the checkout who only has one item and let them go ahead of you? Can you hope that things go well for that person who got the job you wanted?

Those things, and more, are expressions of love and that is why love is “greater” than our faith or our hope, we have so many more opportunities to express it and it will always have a greater impact upon people to whom we show it

How can you be kinder this week? How can you be more patient? How can you be happy for someone else? This is how you can love

Which brings me to our third word and our third point for which we have to continue on past verse 13 into the first verse of chapter 14

1 Corinthians 13:13–14:1 NIV

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.

Paul begins this whole oration on love and its important companions back in verse 31 of chapter 12 when he says, “And now I will show you the most excellent way” and now here at the beginning of chapter 14 as he draws it to a close he says so, “follow the way of love”

“Follow the way” is actually one word in the Greek which is “dioko” and it carries a much more urgent tone than just this is the way to go

The word means “to put into rapid motion, to eagerly pursue”

I really like how the Message Bible translates this first part of 14:1, “Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it - because it does”

Let me read that again for you, “Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it - because it does”

Matthew 22:34–40 NIV

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:

Interestingly the word for greatest in this text is the same as it is in our text, Love is the greatest thing that we can do, love God and love others and in doing so we demonstrate in a practical sense our Faith and our hope.

Let’s pray