More Then an Emotion

Love NEVER fails… Love NEVER fails… You either believe or don’t believe in that statement based off your perspective of what love is.

What is love? That is a loaded question for sure… a question that many have tried to answer since the beginning of time.

Song writers have tried to sing about it, poets have tried to write about it, actors have tried to portray it and many in our culture are trying desperately to find it.

Tonight, in honor of today being Valentine’s day, we are going to talk about love: what it is and what it isn’t. We are going to look at the biblical definition against the cultural understanding in order to re-tune our perspective regarding this word love.

Why is it that love is so difficult to define?

For one, many people simply view love as nothing more than a feeling or an emotion. Likened to sad, happy, angry, or mad, love is something conditional… something that is present so long as all the right things are in place. But is that what love truly is?

To be clear, I’m not speaking of romantic love tonight, but I am speaking of what it means to love one another, what it means to love God and what it means to love people.

It is safe to say that this world is in need of more of God’s love! Let’s close that in a bit… it is safe to say that our community: your town, your neighbor is in need of more of God’s love! How is it that this world is going to receive this love? Through God’s church that has been commissioned to go live and shine His love!

In a moment, we are going to look at 1 Corinthians 13 as our place of study but as we do, I want you to notice something about love. Main Point: Love is more than an emotion… it is something tangible, something observable, someone we experience.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13. “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. 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 do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, u but do not have 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 does not dishonor others, 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. 8 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. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

In context, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth and he gives a detailed description of what love is. But if we are not careful, we can miss some of the most important truths regarding love if we read too fast.

We’re going to break this passage down into three different parts, and within those parts we are going to see key points regarding what love is… and what love is not.

The first point I want to make clear regarding what love is… in centered on the truth of WHO love is.

God IS Love.

This point is can be seen in the first few verses of our main text but is also directly stated in 1 John 4:7-12. “7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This passage makes it VERY clear that God IS love! And it’s verse 12 that ties us back to 1 Corinthians 13. “If we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” Going back to our main text, a warning is given by Paul.

If we speak in tongues but do not love - we are only making more noise.

If we prophecy, have discernment, and have faith that can move mountains but not love - we have/we are nothing.

If we give and serve tapping out our resources but have not love - nothing is gained.

Why is it that these warnings are given? Because if LOVE is not present… let’s reword that for a moment… if GOD is not present, than what we are doing is meaningless.

Let’s go back to last week for a moment. I repeated a line many times during the AM sermon, a line we will hear a lot in the days to come. If God is in it… it’s already done. How trues is that today?

But let’s reverse that for a moment. What if God is not in it? Well, If God is NOT in it… then it is not worth doing at all.

Love is the KEY in making the actions in 1 Corinthians 13 meaningful. Love… rather GOD is the key to bringing purpose to speaking in tongues, prophecy, discernment, faith, giving, and serving. These actions… when full of love… are powerful and effective.

But these actions, when devoid of love… lose their meaning and impact as something else serves as the motive.

Hear me today, our motives matter! For instance, when we speak of church growth, do not mistaken such a statement as merely talk regarding bigger buildings, larger budgets, and more bodies in the seats. Church growth happens through evangelism and discipleship. Church growth happens as lives are changed by the gospel message of Jesus Christ!

If our desire is just to be a bigger church… then we are missing the point entirely. God’s desire is to reach the hurting, to heal the broken, to set free the captive, and to forgive the sinner. His desire is completely founded on His love for us.

in this information age we live in… our world has a pretty good nose for sniffing out disingenuous deeds. Love must be more than a claim… it is someone that lives in us, that can be seen and heard through us, that is making His love complete in us. Love is what brings true meaning to our ministry as believers and as God’s church. And love does something else that is very important for us to consider tonight…

Love IS Transformational… not Transactional.

Look back to 1 Corinthians 13. We are given many “love is” and “love is not”

In this list, we see more “is not” statements given in the passage. To me, Paul is working to clear the air on some misunderstood ideas regarding what love was in the church of Corinth.

And in reading this list, consider what the words are being shared regarding love.

First, love is listed as patient. Now, how transformational can patience be in any given situation? Well, in order to understand this, how destructive can a lack of patience be in any given situation?

What about kindness? Does kindness, when fueled by love, have the ability to transform a situation or circumstance? Sure it does!

How transformational is it when envy goes out the door, when pride goes out the door, when dishonor, self-seeking, anger, records of wrong, and delighting in evil all go out the door?

Are you seeing this? What is listed here has the potential to TRANSFORM, to completely change the circumstance or situation at hand!

But what if love is not present? I would argue that instead of transformation, we settle for transaction.

A transaction is something we are very familiar with. I give you something and in return, you give me something. I give the clerk $20 at the grocery store and the store gives me a bag of groceries. To be clear… THIS IS NOT HOW OUR GOD WORKS. God requires NOTHING from you in order for Him to love you today! His love for you is UNCONDITIONAL and His love is something that can truly transform your life when it is fully realized and received.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

In order for our salvation to become a reality, a transaction did take place. Jesus laid down His life to purchase our freedom, our forgiveness from sin. That transaction is PAID IN FULL and was driven by what? LOVE! Jesus took care of that transaction so we could be transformed!

Again, this was a transaction made in love. Jesus again confirms this in John 15:13 saying, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus came and completely took care of our sin debt. His blood was the only payment that could satisfy this debt in full. That was the work Christ did on the cross. But the work He desires to do in your heart… that’s a different story.

Jesus desires to TRANSFORM you through the application of His blood and grace… This is more than a transaction… it’s a renewal, it’s a restoration, it’s a revival back to life!

In Christ, not only are your sins covered, but your righteousness is restored… as if sin had never happened. God does not see the sins of your past, what He sees is your justification in Christ… a justification that has cleansed you from sin and its effects.

Something had to be done about our sin… and Jesus did it. Our transformation is not about doing… but is about becoming… being transformed by the grace and love of our God.

I pray our ministries are never reduced to transactional events. I pray we never settle for an “this for that” mentality. Too often I have heard the “gospel” given as a sales pitch - and the world isn’t buying it. That’s because everything we DO in life revolves around transactional experiences. I would argue, people are looking to be transformed.

Love… God’s love… is truly transformational. We did NOTHING to deserve it yet He pours it out in droves. Imagine what could happen if His church took on this type of love… I mean really lived out agape or unconditional love. I would bet this world might be a better place!

Imagine if we took on the character of God’s love -patient, kind, not boastful, not prideful love! Not only would we see lives around us transformed by His love… remember what 1 John 7:12 said, “if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

Here’s the breakdown: If God’s love is IN us… His love will move THROUGH us. His love will transform us and the way we interact with others.

The Greatest of These… is Love

The passage closes with this truth.. of faith, hope, and love… love is declared as the greatest. Why?

Love IS the foundation of faith and hope.

God IS love meaning our faith is largely based off the Love He has shown us. Where is faith without love? Think of it this way… what is faith without God? If God is not present in our faith, then all we believe in is a lifeless ideal or system of religion. We serve the LIVING GOD, the God WHO IS LOVE!

Secondly, what is hope without love? Again, God IS love and this love is the very basis in which we have and place our hope. BECAUSE God is love, we know we can trust in Scripture such as Jeremiah 29:11 that reads, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Love is the greatest of these… because GOD IS GREATEST OF THESE! In order for our faith to be made complete, in order for our hope to be made complete… His love must first be made complete in our lives and that can only happen when WE BECOME VESSELS OF HIS LOVE.

A vessel not only contains but pours out. A vessel of God’s love shares that love with others. We don’t merely DO loving things tranasctionally, but aim to become loving as God is loving in order to transform lives and situations all around us.

This world NEEDS more of God’s love! His love is not absent… but how numerous are the vessels that are to be agents of His love? This world needs believers who will become expressions of God’s love… unconditional expressions that will reach out to the hurting and broken!

What it is that can keep a believer from loving? What is it that can get in the way of such compassion? I truly believe it comes down to the transaction vs. transformation situation.

Transactional view points look at circumstances and determine the amount of love and compassion that should be given - it looks at what that person might deserve.

Transformational views choose to see beyond the brokenness and works to bring a transformative experience to the people in need. It is not based on what is deserved, but rather on the need for transformation itself. Bottom line is… WE ALL NEED A SAVIOR! thank God we don’t receive what we deserve, but instead live in the goodness and grace of our loving heavenly Father!

I desire to be an agent of His love! But in order for a person to become this, we must first know His love. This comes through knowing His greatest expression of love… Jesus.

Prayer - salvation

Secondly, we desire to be an expression of His love which means… we must see people as God sees them.