Nothing Without Love

Love is Important

If you were to seclude yourself in front of the TV and watch nothing but the news 24/7 you would be utterly convinced of a world full of hatred and absent of love. Yes there is a lot of hate in our dark fallen world but there is also the light of love that shines in the darkness.

We brothers and sisters, the church are the light and love of Christ that shines in the darkness. To shine the light of love in the darkness is important. Love is important! Without it we are nothing. In a world starving for love it is important that anything we do, anything we say comes from love.

Love is important because anything we do or say is useless without love. As individuals and as a church body anything we do or say must start with love because without it nothing else matters. It is my prayer today that we leave here with a better understanding of what that means. So individually we may be better examples of Christ love to our families and communities, and that everything we do in ministry as a church body shows a community starving for love, the love Christ has for them.

Without Love we are Nothing!

What is Love?

It is important to understand what kind of love we are talking about as we look at chapter 13. The greek word for love used here is agape. Agape love is God’s kind of love, it’s the kind of love that sacrifices his own son for you and for the whole world. Agape love is love without conditions and limits, its a love that dares to love the unlovable. It is also a love that humanly speaking we have no way of expressing or understanding, because it goes against our human nature to love the unlovable, or to love those who do not love in return. God loves us, God loves you whether or not you ever love God back. No matter what you say, no matter what you do God is never going to stop loving you. (Romans 8:35-39)

Today’s scripture is probably one of the most well known passages outside the church. It is often used at weddings and in greeting cards that attempt to define love. Often the focus is on verses 4-7 that define what love is but today I want to focus our attention on verses 1-3.

Paul in this text tries three times to express to the reader, that being us today, that without love we are nothing and anything we do is meaningless. While verses 4-7 are very important when something is repeated three times in a row by someone it normally means I want you to remember this, and not just remember it but understand it’s importance, because without it we can’t move forward. If we move forward without grasping this concept then nothing else will make sense. As Paul writes to the Church at Corinth the watchword for the church was love, because without it nothing else makes sense. For Paul and Christ the fabric of true Christians is self sacrificial love. John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 NRSV

34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is the love God demonstrated on the cross, that while we were still sinners, enemies of God , Christ died for us. This is the kind of self sacrificial love Christ calls us into. God doesn’t call us into a feeling or emotion but into a way of being. He calls us from our humanly limited sense of love, to his self sacrificing, unlimited love. This love is why we are here today. We are here to express our love for God, and to allow his love to continue to grow in us that we may love others as he has loved us.

What does that love look like?

Verses 4-7

The often quoted popular portion of the chapter tells us what this love looks like. Now that we understand love’s importance we can now grasp what it looks like. Why is this important to without love we are nothing? When we unleash the life changing, love of God in our life, the work of love does not end there. We must continue to grow in God’s love and God’s love must continue to grow in us. Highlight verses 4-7 draw a box around them write them down. As you pray this week ask think on these passages, and ask yourself does the love I show look like this? As we examine ourselves in light of verses 4-7 allow the overwhelming, reckless love of God continue to transform your love so it reflects this passage, so it reflects the love of Christ.

As followers of Christ, as the church, Jesus tells us that others will know we are his disciples by our love. Love is important individually and corporately because it is supposed to be what defines who we are as the people of God. Everything we do, and everything we say must reflect the love of Christ to a world badly in need to see that love in action. Why? Because nothing we say or do matters without love.

Prayer for Love

In a world being ripped apart by divisions, I more clearly understood that love can heal divisions. It is my prayer personally, as a minister, and my prayer for you and the church that everything we do would show the love God has for them through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians Paul prays for the readers of his letter that they would grow in a deeper understanding of God’s love. That is the prayer I want to leave you with today.

Ephesians 3:14–21 NLT

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.