Charity Never Faileth

Title: Charity Never Faileth

Text:

The situation in Corinth was that they were a divided church. They were divided over social classes, economic classes…what all of this showed was how self-centered they were. They were unforgiving. They were exacting revenge upon each other for various things, but they were allowing sin to slip by without notice.

Their worship services were not reflecting Jesus Christ either. There were those who were using gifts for personal exaltation rather than the edification of others....

Illustration: It is hard to begin to enumerate the number of sexual scandals that have come out just this year. Most recently, Matt Lauer, long-time journalist…We live in a tremendously narcissistic world, and if there is any place that should be characterized by something other than the pursuit of self well-being, it should be the worshipful gathering of God’s people.

As God’s people, we have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are gathered and bound together in the name Jesus Christ.

Proposition:

The love that was demonstrated by God, in Christ, towards us must be the love by which we live!

(1) This love is active -

suffereth long - suffers without seeking revenge

kind - responding with tenderheartedness & forgiveness, mildness

envieth not - intense, negative feelings over another’s success (social/economic)

vaunteth not itself - boast, self-praise, brag

is not puffed up - proud, exaggerated self-conception

not behave itself unseemly - dishonorable, shameful living

seeketh not her own - seeking one’s own advantage

not easily provoked - not easily irritated (emotions stirred up)

thinketh not evil - keeping records of wrongs with view of paying back

rejoiceth not in iniquity - rejoicing over injustice

rejoiceth in the truth - to rejoice together in the truth

beareth all things - protects, covers, makes allowances, always bears the strain

believeth all things - not meaning naive, trusting in the one who has called us to love

hopeth all things - not hope in those around us; hope in the One we’ve entrusted our lives to; future, eschatological consideration

endureth all things - never gives up; never quits

charity never faileth - never ceases, always endures, remains

Principle:

This love is not one that can just be spoken, but it is a love that must be proven in action.

Illustration:

The love of Jonathan for David

Application thoughts:

(i) This activity is like Jesus Christ - (suffereth long), (kindness mediated through him), (envieth not), (vaunteth not self)...

(ii) This is activity and not passivity (“no one ever has problems with me...” is not the issue)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A disturbing sexual assault in Kansas City was caught on camera. The attack happened outside a shopping plaza at 31st & Prospect Monday. The victim's family is outraged witnesses, including a security guard, stood by and did nothing to help.

A whole lot goes through your social media feed, and there are some things there you wish you didn't see.

"I got the call about 11 last night. They said, 'Did you see the f'n video?' I said, 'What are you talking about?'" Rosie Morgan said.

With her family's help, Rosie Morgan finally found that video on Facebook. It was taken Monday outside the shopping plaza and then posted online.

"That is very disturbing," Morgan said.

The video shows her adult daughter being attacked. Rosie admits her daughter is a drug addict and says the meet-up was apparently to buy pills. But an argument between her daughter and a man turned into something much more serious.

"What cruel person would do this to another person?" Morgan said.

In the video, you can see a security guard try to break things up at first. Rosie's daughter runs off, but the man catches her. It's what happens next that is deeply troubling. The security officer stands by watching as that man gropes Rosie's daughter between the legs. Seconds later, he pulls her up by the chest.  Then another car pulls up to watch and doesn't help. Then another car pulls up to watch and not help. The man proceeds to rip off the victim's pants, exposing her genitals. That security officer still doesn't intervene.

"He is as much guilty as the people that did that to her because he didn't get no help. He didn't do nothing," said Morgan.

Then, there's the person taking the video.

He can be heard saying, "He's trying to put her in the car."

The person filming also makes no effort to stop rolling and go get help or to call police. Instead, he starts laughing.

"I mean, I'm quite sure you got a sister or an auntie. You wouldn't want your mother to get done like that but you stood around and laughed. There's nothing funny about being humiliated in public in the mid-day," said Michiel Morgan, the victim's father.

The company that patrols the shopping plaza is Watch Eagle Security. FOX 4 called local management, which ultimately hung up on us.

But other officers who work for the company told FOX 4 the officer involved absolutely broke protocol. In these situations, they're supposed to step in, try to detain the suspect, and then call police.

But the building owner told us, based on what he saw in the video, it calls into question his contract with Watch Eagle.

While the Morgans are outraged video of the attack was posted online, they're hopeful it will lead to the guard's firing and arrest of the man who assaulted their daughter.

"They should be served justice. That was wrong," said Rosie Morgan.

The family did file a police report. But so far, their daughter isn't cooperating with investigators.

Watch Eagle won't say if it has fired the security officer involved.

(iii) This activity sets a standard for you to examine your personal activity (stop always trying to hold others to this kind of love standard and start holding yourself accountable)

(2) This love is everlasting -

Principle:

This love should find ultimate value in our minds/hearts because it is of eternal quality.

Illustration:

Love’s Quiet Confidence

Though waves and storms go o’er my head,

Though strength and health and friends are gone,

Though joys be withered all and dead,

Though every comfort be withdrawn,

On this my steadfast soul relies—

Father, Thy mercy never dies!

Fixed on this ground will I remain,

Though my heart fail and flesh decay:

This anchor shall my soul sustain,

When earth’s foundations melt away:

Mercy’s full power I then shall prove,

Loved with an everlasting love.

—John Wesley

Hobbs, H. H. (1990). My favorite illustrations (p. 114). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

Now and Then

In one of his seminary class lectures in New Testament, Dr. A. T. Robertson noted that in heaven all of God’s children will love one another. Then he remarked, “Since that is true, we should practice loving each other here on earth.”

Hobbs, H. H. (1990). My favorite illustrations (p. 172). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

Application thoughts:

(i) This active love among Christians should show their belief in the coming Christ

*

(ii) This active love among Christians should cause UNBELIEVERS to see that Christ is coming

(iii) This active love among Christians allows to live for what matters most (not childish things)