The Greatest Thing in the World
Notes
Transcript
So many things strive to be the greatest of all things in the world today
The best coffee
The best vacuum cleaner
The best car
The best smartphone
Yet, when we try them we are let down by a bug in the software, faulty switch, hard to clean, or an aftertaste that leaves one desiring something else
There is one thing that speaks every language. There is one thing that the world clamours for, and strives to see… love.
The action of love is understood by all, speaks deeply to the heart of the lover and loved, moves one in ways they did not anticipate, and comforts when all seems to be lost.
Every person here desires to be loved.
Henry Drummond wrote a pamphlet called “The Greatest Thing in the World” and I am borrowing from this today.
Paul, before salvation, did not know what true love was:
Love was not Paul’s strong point … the hand that wrote ‘The greatest of these is love,’ when we meet it first, is stained with blood.
There was grace in Paul’s life that brought him from moving to shed blood of innocent people to loving God’s people deeply urging him to pen epistles, like 1 Corinthians, helping them to know Christ.
You can take nothing greater to the heathen world,” says Drummond, “than the impress and reflection of the love of God upon your own character. That is the universal language. It will take you years to speak in Chinese, or in the dialects of India. From the day you land, that language of love, understood by all, will be pouring forth its unconscious eloquence. It is the man who is the missionary, it is not his words. His character is his message.
Paul summarises the characteristics of Godly love. This love is what each and every person desires to see, experience, and give deeply in our hearts. The world shows a picture of love that is grossly inferior and contrary to what God gives and, by His grace, empowers His people to receive and reciprocate.
Paul gives 8 negatives and 4 positives in just 4 verses of Godly love.
I love Holly - If I love Holly like God intends for a husband that will naturally exclude or negate some things in my life. All other women will be excluded from the marriage. It doesn’t mean that I cannot talk with women, but my love for wife will build some precautions naturally to keep my mind and heart focused upon her.
Love moves us to action, and the kind of love that one has will be displayed by the fruits of the actions.
How does Godly love act?
Suffereth long
1 Cor 13:4
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Suffereth long - to be patient (enduring) v. — to be even-tempered while enduring trying circumstances.
This is simply not just waiting, but rather an enduring knowing that wrong has been done.
it is self-restraint when faced with provocation Love does not retaliate. It is never in hurry to punish.
David - King Saul - the Bible indicates that Saul tried to kill David at least 24 times!
David never retaliated - the one time that he cut off the skirt of Saul kingly robe, his heart smote him, and he confessed to Saul as he and his men left the cave while trying to hunt David’s life
David did not hit back. David waited for God’s time.
1 Sam 26:17-25
And Saul knew David’s voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand? Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods. Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains. Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. And David answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it. The Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the Lord delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed. And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.
David’s forbearing, patient love and persistent loyalty nearing won over Saul’s heart!
This is the kind of love that Paul speaks of… a love that still seeks the welfare of one that has wronged you.
Christlike love that goes to the cross knowing it was our sins that crucified Him
Kind
1 Cor 13:4b
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
to be kind (gentle) v. — to be or become warmhearted, considerate, humane, gentle, and sympathetic.
It is eager to be kind
It looks for ways to be kind and sympathetic
2 Sam 9:1
And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?
2 Sam 9:6-8
Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
David, now king, reaches out to Saul’s disabled son, Mephibosheth, and welcomes him to the king’s table and, in a way, adopts him as his own son
Missionary David Livingstone - In the heart of Africa,” says Drummond, “among the great lakes, I have come across black men and women who remembered the only white man they ever saw before—David Livingstone: and as you cross his footsteps in that dark continent men’s faces light up as they speak of the kind doctor who passed there years ago. They could not understand him but they felt the love that beat in his heart.
Godly love looks for ways to be kind
The culture of society today is contrary to this very thought. The thinking is to cancel, destroy, and hurt those who don’t share the same opinions
Godly love is creative on how to be kind instead of seeking ways to hurt
Envieth not
1 Cor 13:4c
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Zeloo - Zay-law - which embraces both envy and jealousy. When used of man, the distinction is that, whereas envy desires to deprive someone of something he has, jealousy desires to have the same sort of thing for itself
Love is generous in the face of competition
Church in Sandusky, OH - compete
Gift of tongues was especially envied over in Corinth as people wanted to their own detriment this gift
Love crucifies jealousy and envy and begins to actively pray for and support the one whose gift and and success you covet
Vaunteth not itself
Vaunteth - to be boastful v. — to be or become boastful and exhibiting self-importance.
Braggart - show off and draw attention to himself
Abraham:
Defeated kings with his servants
Sarah died
Gen 23:4
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
His wife just died and he humbly said, I am just a stranger. I’m just a sojourner!
Gen 23:6
Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
Abraham didn’t lift himself up
Not puffed up
1 Cor 13:4e
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
to be proud ⇔ be puffed up v. — to be or become proud, conceived of as being puffed up with air.
It literally means to be inflated
The idea conveyed here is love that comes out of the shade to do its kind deed and then retires back into the shade again.
Those kind deeds are not out of the ordinary.