Enniscorthy Christian Fellowship – 31st December 2006

“The Way of Love” - 1 Corinthians 13

St. Michael’s had always been a very wealthy church. Its 300 members usually gave an annual offering of over a million dollars.  Over the years, however, the neighbourhood around the church began to deteriorate.  The church members moved out to the suburbs,  Eventually the members of the church avoided that part of town except on Sundays.

One Sunday, shortly after a young priest had joined the church staff, the church members were gathered after the morning service for coffee and pastries. In the spring months they loved to gather in the beautiful flower garden outside the church.

As the elegantly dressed worshipers sipped coffee and chatted in the garden, a homeless man shuffled in off the street. He entered through the garden gate without looking at anyone. But all eyes were on him. He quietly walked over to the table where a spread of expensive pastries were displayed on silver trays. He picked up one of the pastries and bit into it, keeping his eyes closed.

Then he reached for a second pastry and placed it into his coat pocket. Moving slowly and trying not to be noticed, he placed another into the same pocket.  The garden buzzed with whispers. Finally one of the women walked over to the new priest and said, “Well, do something!”

Still feeling a little awkward in his new position, the young priest handed his coffee cup to the woman, walked over to the table, and stood next to the homeless man. He reached under the table, where the empty pastry boxes had been stored. Then he picked up one of the silver trays loaded with pastries and emptied them into a box. He did the same with a second tray of expensive goodies. Then he closed the lids on the boxes and held them out to the homeless man.  “We’re here every Sunday,” the priest said.

The man smiled, cradled the boxes in his arms, and shuffled quietly out of the garden and down the street.  The priest returned to his coffee cup, smiled at the woman holding it, and said, “That’s what you meant when you said, ‘Do something,’ wasn’t it?”

It may not have been what that woman meant, but it’s close to what God would want.  At the end of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul writes: “And now I will show you the most excellent way” v31.  This is “The Way of Love.” 

Paul had been teaching the church in Corinth about sorting out important issues in their church life.  Proper behaviour in their worship, the proper use of spiritual gifts, about recognizing and valuing every different role in the fellowship.  These were important issues for the church.  But there was something even more important. 

This last Sunday of 2006 we again declare that we want our church to be biblically based.  We want to get these issues that we’ve been looking at over the past couple of months, right.  We want to worship God in a way that honours him.  Recognise and use our gifts to encourage each other.  Serve God as he has called us.  But even if we got all these things ‘right’ in 2007 and failed to follow this part of Paul’s teaching, everything else would be pointless! This section of 1 Corinthians is crucial for our church as we step into a new year.  Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

A.   The Priority of Love v1-3

Someone has said, “In every religious controversy it is love that leaves first.”  It was happening in this church.  There were arguments over money, marriage, food and clothes, divisions over favourite Christian leaders and favourite spiritual gifts.  Paul warns them that if love leaves their fellowship, they’ll have nothing left!   Paul stressed the priority of love in a 3-fold way:

1)                  Without LOVE what we say is offensive

The church in Corinth were impressed with eloquence and oratory.  Those with silky smooth public speaking were up on a pedestal in their fellowship.  One of their favourite gifts seems to have been the gift of tongues. But Paul says, that even if he spoke eloquently in another human or heavenly language, and had not love in his heart – he would be like “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (v1).

As worshipers entered a pagan temple, they would strike a large cymbal that was hanging at the entrance.  It was an empty pagan ritual.  That is what speaking without love is like.  Like a kid with a set of cymbals it would be loud and attention grabbing, but in the end empty, of no value, even offensive and annoying.  Without love, what we say is offensive!

We could praise God in beautiful songs, pray eloquently, preach captivating sermons, but if we fail to have love in our hearts, then all we are doing is making an empty, meaningless noise that grabs people’s attention but in the end, will just annoy and offend.  Jesus said in Mark 7:6: “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

The evidence that we are filled with the Holy Spirit is not how well we pray or speak, but how much we are growing in love for God and for people!

2)                  Without LOVE what we know is useless

We are also impressed by knowledge – by people with degrees and letters after their name, or winners of quiz shows.  Even in churches, we’re impressed with those who have amazing knowledge of the Bible.  

And of course knowing God’s Word is important.  Truth is crucial!  But Paul says, without love, it’s useless.  v2: “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, I am nothing.”  If we don’t know love, what we know is useless. 

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” 1 Corinthians 8v1.  Think of the Pharisees.  They knew the Scriptures, but they didn’t have love.  Luke 11v42: “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.”  They could debate with Jesus about the teaching of the Law, keeping the Sabbath, fasting, but they missed God’s love.  Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”

We can fall into that trap.  We debate and argue over what the Bible says.  We fall out with each other, criticise and ridicule each other, talk behind people’s backs.  We divide and compete.  We claim to have knowledge, but where is the love?  1 John 4:8: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  And as we argue and compete with each other, a lost world dies without hope, without love, without God!

3)                  Without LOVE what we do is worthless

Thirdly, Paul states that without love, what we do is worthless.  We could have faith that can move mountains.  We could give all our money away to charity.  We could even sacrifice our lives for the cause of Christ.  But if this isn’t motivated by love, then it’s worthless.  Even self-sacrifice can be motivated by false motives: selfishness, attention seeking, pride.

We could put a €1000 in the offering box, but if it is not the expression of our love for God and others, then it’s worthless.  We could do crèche for a year solid, but if its not an act of love for God, for those kids, and for each other then it’s worthless.  God wants everything we do to be motivated and directed by love: Galatians 5:6: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”

4)                  Not an Optional Extra

Paul could not make it any stronger could he.  A lack of love doesn’t just reduce the value of what we say, know, or do.  It removes it completely.  The Message paraphrase says: “So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” 1 Cor13:3b  Love is not an optional extra.  It’s not a spiritual gift that some have and some don’t. It is the heart of the Christian life!  It is the fruit of the presence of God!  The first fruit of the Holy Spirit.

B.    The Problem of Love

So, if love is so important, why do we struggle so much with it? What is the problem of love?  Someone has said:  “It is no chore for me to love the whole world. My only real problem is my neighbour next door.”  This is the problem of love.  We can all nod our heads and agree to the concept of loving everyone else.  The problem is that we are called to love real people, men and women and kids who are as imperfect as we are.  And that’s tough!

But this is what Paul is talking about.  The love that we should express to one another is not some kind of idealistic dream of us living in wonderful perfect harmony all the time.  It is the love that’s expressed in a community where hurts are caused, disappointments occur, wrongs are done.  Where the easy option would be to pack it all in and leave!

That is why, the New Testament writers chose an unusual word for love!  The Greek language has different words for love.  The love of pop songs and films is the what is meant by the Greek word eros. Eros is intense physical desire or sexual love and is not used in the NT. There is the brotherly love of philos, a more reciprocal kind of love – love for family and friends.   It appears a few times in the NT (Mat10:37 or John 11:36.)

But neither word caught the idea of Christian love.  This was a completely different kind of love.  And so Paul and other New Testament writers used a totally different word, one that wasn’t commonly used.  They took this word, agapē, and filled it with new meaning. 

C.   The Properties of Love

So what is agape love?   What are its properties?  Well it’s difficult to define it as it’s not an abstract thing. Rather, it’s understood by seeing how it acts, it’s an attitude that’s seen in action. 

Ultimately this love is defined by God’s act of giving – the gift of Christmas, Jesus God’s Son:  1 John 4v10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” This is the kind of love that is God’s priority in our lives.  This unconditional, gracious, undeserved, unfailing love.  Without this kind of love everything we say, know and do is worthless.  Here, Paul knows what they are going through as a church.  And so he defines this love by how it should impact their relationships with each other:  

“Love is patient”  They were struggling with division in their fellowship and so he starts by saying that love is patient – it is patient with difficult people!  It suffers long.  It doesn’t give way to bitterness and wrath when people are being awkward. 

“Love… is Kind”  But love doesn’t just passively put up with people.  It also positively does good for people.  It seeks the good of others and expresses itself in friendly acts.

“Love… does not envy” This fellowship was also struggling with competition – some people thought they were inferior: “my gift is less important, I wish I had his”.  Paul says love is the best antidote for jealousy.  Love celebrates the gifts and possessions of others without envy!

“Love…does not boast, it is not proud”  Others thought they were superior because of their prominent role in the body: “my gift is great, its much better than his.”  Again, what they needed was love.  Love would humbly see that their gifts were given by God for the benefit of others

“Love… is not rude.”  This fellowship also had to deal with difficult issues.  Ch 6 shows that disputes needed to be sorted.  This had to be dealt with grace, tact & politeness. 

 “Love… is not self-seeking.” Instead of self-assertiveness and demanding their own rights, they needed a concern for others.  They had to be willing to lose out, for other people’s benefit.  Spiritual gifts were to be used not to benefit themselves but for the “common good.” 

“Love… is not easily angered.”  When difficult issues are dealt with, temper tantrums or “flying off the handle” is sometimes the natural response.  When people accuse or criticize us, our blood boils.  We demand payment for our offense.  And this anger destroys.   But love has a cool head.  It swallows angry words before we say them rather than having to eat them afterwards. Paul literally writes, “love is not angered!”  It refuses to be provoked. 

“Love… keeps no record of wrongs.”  And when issues are dealt with, they are dealt with.  Wrongs and hurts are not stored up in the dark to be brought out when someone fails us again.  Forgiveness is full.  We wipe the slate clean.  No score is kept.  No lawsuits prepared.  We forgive as we have been forgiven.  And when our memory tries to bring old hurts to the surface, we forgive again and again!

“Love… does not delight in evil” In fact love allows us to get no satisfaction from the failures of others.  Bad news even when it happens to people who have hurt us brings no pleasure to love.

“Love… rejoices with the truth”  This does not mean that love hides from reality, or cops out of confrontation.  Instead it is pleased when the truth comes out and is acted on and God is glorified.  Love desires honest relationships.

1.      A different kind of love story

This is not a romantic ideal, a Hollywood love story.  This love is grounded in the real world where people hurt us, or betray us, or crucify us!  This is agape love.  Love that reaches out to those who do not deserve it; love that puts the interest of others first; love that forgives people and restores relationships; love that sacrifices itself for others. It’s caring, forgiving, spontaneous, redeeming.  It is God’s love for us!

D.   The Promise of Love

This passage is often read at weddings.  But even there we are painfully aware that human affections can fail.  Even the intense love between husband and wife sometimes ends in betrayal and divorce.  But agape love carries a promise.  A promise that says, “I will always love you.”

“Love… always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” v7

It’s not gullible or unrealistic, but it’s willing to think the best of people.  It never gives up on anyone, because God never gives up on us! 

The pastor and author Stu Weber grew up with a terrible temper.  He even stopped playing church-league basketball because his temper kept flaring, embarrassing himself and the church.  A decade passed. "I hadn't had a flash of temper for years," Weber said. "I thought, I'm actually growing."

Then his oldest son made the high school basketball squad.  Weber started to terrorize the referees at his son’s games. He received nasty letters from church members.

Then he got another note from Steve: "Stu, I know your heart. I know that's not you. I know that you want to live for Christ and his reputation. And I know that's not happened at these ballgames. If it would be helpful to you, I'd come to the games with you and sit beside you."

"Steve saved my life," Weber said. "It was an invitation, a gracious extension of truth. He assumed the best and believed in me." 

This is the kind of love the Christians in Corinth needed.  It would have been easier to pack their church in.  It was a mess, with immorality, lawsuits, division, arrogance, selfishness.  Instead Paul calls them to be committed to each other!  To love each other as a family no matter what!  Agape love is much more than an emotion.  It is a choice, a promise to always seek the good of others, to keep on sacrificing for others, to always stand with that person.

Why?  Because this love is not dependent on the person being loved.  It is totally about the love of the one giving the love – “For God so loved the world” John 3v16  Why?  Because we were cute, we deserved it, we were trying hard?  Of course not.  When we were his enemies, caring nothing about him, God loved us and sent his Son to die for us!  God loved us because he is love. We are to love because we have received God’s love!

John 13:34 “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  As we allow God to pour his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, so we are empowered to love others in this community and world-changing way!

E.    The Permanence of Love

This love lasts, in fact, it is eternal. “Love never fails.” v8 

1)                  Spiritual gifts are temporary

Two weeks ago we looked at this and saw that even although spiritual gifts are crucial for the church to grow, they are temporary.  “But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”  Paul mentions these 3, possibly because they were at the heart of the controversy in that church.

2)                  Spiritual gifts are Incomplete

These gifts will stop because they are incomplete in their revelation of God.  “We know in part and we prophesy in part.” v9  They enable us to understand more about the nature and character of God and share this with others.  But they’re limited in what they can do.  They can’t give us a perfect full picture of God. 

Paul illustrates this in v12.  The city of Corinth was famous for it’s bronze mirrors.  They were renowned for their quality, but still looking at the reflection was nothing to seeing that person face to face.  Even the best mirrors reflected images imperfectly.  Even the best and most able use of spiritual gifts only reflect the nature and character of God imperfectly.  They’re nothing compared to seeing God “face to face.”

But one day “perfection comes” and “the imperfect disappears” v10. I believe that this is when Jesus comes back to take us to be with him forever.  Then we will “know fully even as I am fully know” v12  In heaven, we’ll not need the poor reflections of the image of Jesus that spiritual gifts give us – because we will see him face to face!.

3)                  Spiritual gifts are for earth

In that day, we will all “put childish ways behind” us (v11).  It is okay for a child to talk, think or reason like a child.  A child should be a child.  But when they grow up we expect them to get rid of the childish things and start talking and thinking like an adult.

It’s okay that just now we focus to some extent on things to do with our life down here.  Family, work, health.  Even developing our spiritual gifts and our ministries.  But one day all of these things will be left behind and will be dropped like kid’s toys.   Because we won’t need them in heaven!

4)                  Love is for ever

But not love – because love will still remain, it will never fail: v13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”  Faith will remain as only those who are trusting in Jesus will be there.  Hope, because we will forever have the joyful and expectant anticipation of all the good things that God has in store for us. 

But more than anything else, heaven is a place of love.  Love is the greatest because it is the core of life in heaven.  It is what heaven is all about.  Now we get glimpses, tastes of God’s amazing love for us.  But there we will be saturated in his love.  In heaven we will experience the fullness of God’s love.  And we will love God and each other forever!

Conclusion

So we shouldn’t condemn ourselves for not expressing this agape love perfectly now.  Neither should we expect anyone else to!  But God does want us to live it more and more each day: Philippians 1:9: “And this is my pray: that your love may abound more and more...”  This is God’s eternal goal for your life – to grow in love, to be more and more like Jesus.  If we are not growing in love, no matter what else we are doing, we are missing out on God’s goal for our lives

So if this is God’s priority for our lives, then let’s make it our priority.  Even during this Christmas period, we can get distracted with getting everything else right – the right present, the perfect meal, the beautiful house, that we miss out on expressing God’s love to those around us.  Let’s focus on what is really important!

And let’s do the same in church.  Being faithful to the Scriptures is crucial.  Being biblical in everything we do and doing it well is our goal.  But let’s focus on the most important, the most excellent way - loving God and loving other people!

So if love is eternal, then we shouldn’t put so much emphasis on stuff that is temporary – even important and God-given stuff like our ministry and gifts – that we are distracted from the more important, the most excellent way.  Don’t get so distracted with things that are only important for a short time and miss love, which is important forever.

It’s ok for a kid to talk speak childishly, to think play with toyThings that were appropriate for our previous

is We talked 2 weeks ago that it seems They will stop  pass Paul said that this is just not true.  In fact Paul was wrote that love was much more important than any spiritual gift because without it all we do and say and are is nothing.  Here Paul continued this argument by showing that love is much more important than these special abilities because those gifts will only last for a specific time, whereas love will last forever.

But if these are special gifts from God given to Christians, why will one day they stop?  And when will this happen?  Paul answers these questions in v9&10.

These gifts will stop because they are

Jeremiah 31:33-34: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord”

Today, it is still true that no-one fully understands the character and nature of God.  There are things we know for certain – the Bible contains many certainties about God and how to come into relationship with him.  The Word of God is true and accurate and trustworthy and is our only standard for deciding on truth when it comes to questions about God. 

But any spiritual insight given by God to any person is not complete.  There is nobody who knows everything about God – we see only a poor reflection!! But one day everyone who trusts in Jesus will know God and will not be in need of anyone to show God to them.  They will not need this incomplete demonstration of who God is because they will see God face to face: 1 John 3:2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

5)                  But love is eternal

So supernatural gifts will have served their purpose and will be obsolete.  We won’t need to have someone to tell us what God is like, because we will be there and we will see him for ourselves. 

6)                  Love is our Future

a) It is what heaven is like

Heaven is a place characterised by faith – as only those who are trusting in Jesus will be there.  Heaven is also a place characterised by hope – the joyful and expectant anticipation of all the good things that God has in store for us.  It is exciting to think that heaven will never be boring because we will have the expectation that we have more to experience of God.

But more than anything else, heaven is a place characterised by love.  It is where we will experience in fullness the love of God, and where we will know that love in our hearts for God and for each other.  For those who have not accepted Jesus, the wages of sin is death and the removal of every expression of the love of God!  But those of us who have accepted Jesus as their Saviour and Lord will forever experience the agape love of God in a perfect way. 

So if you want to know what heaven is like, then look at what agape love is like! Heaven is a place of perfect love.

b) None of us will reach it here

This means we should have a realistic expectation of love in our lives.  The perfection of this agape love in our lives is still future.  Christians should not expect to love in a perfect way here on earth.

·         So Don’t despair

So as we have thought about the characteristics of agape love, the love that God wants to see in our lives we should not be completely discouraged that we do not love like that.  Nobody does – not any of us here, not any pastor or preacher, not even the apostle Paul who wrote this.  This perfection has yet to come.  So don’t expect to be perfect in love here on earth, and don’t be fooled into thinking that anyone has reached this yet in their lives.

c) Love will overcome

But Love will overcome.  At the start of this series we were thinking about the war in Iraq and the awful consequences of war on the lives of those living there.  For some thankfully that is over, even although for many the pain of the injured and bereaved will continue for many years.  But we were also thinking about how this world is at war in many other ways – riots, feuding, muggings, murders, disputes between neighbours, family fall outs, marital break-up.

It would be so tempting to look around and lose heart.  Surely humanity is getting worse not better.  Can there be any hope?  It can seem that one day love will be destroyed by the selfishness and inhumanity of mankind.  And in some sense the Bible says that things will get worse and worse. 

·         So Don’t Lose Heart

But realising that “love never fails” should give us great encouragement as we think about the challenge to live in a world at war.  “These three remain faith, hope and love.” is a promise that the love of God will overcome in this world and our future, though in the short term may be difficult, in the long-term for those of us who are trusting in Jesus will be the perfect experience of agape love in all its aspects. 

One day we will experience this love. We will know that we are loved in this way and we will love in this way!!  Love will not fail, it will not collapse under the pressure, it will finally overcome.

7)                  Love should be our Present

a) God wants us to grow in love

But the main impact of this chapter is to encourage us that because love is our future, we should make love our present! 

Paul wrote this to challenge Christians in Corinth that they should grow in love.  They should be people who are increasingly characterised with agape love.  And the reason why we have been going through this chapter is because God expects us who are trusting in Jesus to increasingly express this different kind of love in our lives.  This love that is kind and selfless; that loves even the most unworthy person, even the one who causes us harm; that is not angered, that doesn’t record wrongs done against it, that puts up with the most difficult of person and still believes the best about them, that still hopes for restoration and that perseveres in all circumstances. 

·         So Don’t Give In

So Don’t Give in.  None of us will achieve the perfection of this love on earth, but we

should be challenged by looking at the characteristic of this love that God longs for in our lives.  Too often in my life it is the weak and selfish human love that I express in my life rather than the powerful, unchanging and permanent love of God.

So don’t give in, don’t settle for the imperfect love that you have in your lives.  Strive for this amazingly different love.  Make every effort to express agape love in your life!!

b) Love is God’s priority

This is God’s priority in your life.  It is the first commandment:  Mark 12:30-31: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” 

It is God’s final goal in our lives.  It will be the culmination of his work in our lives, to fill us with this love and allow us to experience it and express it perfectly in heaven.  It is what he is working to make you – into men and women who will perfectly express his agape love to himself and to each other.  It is his top priority – right now!!!

·                                 So Don’t Get Distracted

And so, Paul says that although God given gifts are important, they are not the most important goal for a Christian.  They should not be the focus and the greatest desire for a Christian.  Much more important is something that will last forever – Love. 

Paul illustrated this in v11. 

Let us put our emphasis and our energies into something that will be eternally relevant and important.

So much of what we struggle to achieve in our lives today will one day be irrelevant and unimportant.  However important they are on earth, many things will be left behind and we will realise that they were only important for a short time. Our finances, our popularity, our career, our possessions will only last for a short time.  Even many of the things we can do for God are only important for a short time.  But not so with love.  It will remain, with faith and hope.

c) Allow God to work in you

But in all of this, we need to realise that just as that final transformation in our lives will be all of God’s work, so the growth in love in our lives will be God’s work.  We cannot produce this kind of love by our own efforts.  We cannot force ourselves to be more loving.  We need God’s powerful love filling us and changing us.  Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”

It is God’s work.  Only God can produce in our hearts the love that we need to be growing in today.  He wants to work through the power of the Holy Spirit to produce this in our lives more and more, to make us more and more like Jesus.

When I am learning to love another with that same unselfish love that God has poured out on me, then I am involved in doing something that will never end because God will never end. In a world that treats those things which are quite temporary as having such great value, the Christian comes and values love and is thought to be impractical. But when everything that seems permanent is gone—our buildings, our bureaucracies, our budgets, our books, and our programs—love will be as enduring as ever.

Conclusion

This is not to say that this is everything that love is and does.  It will help in looking at each of these characteristics of love to recognize that they were being described to some Christians who were fighting among themselves. Paul was making an effort to show them a better way.

Paul describes this love in terms of what it does and doesn’t do.  This is because this love is more of an attitude and an action than an emotion. It impacts relationships and is most clearly understood when described in the kind of relationships it produces:

It is unconditional

It is a love given to those who don’t deserve it!

Love is patient

It is not easily angered

It is selfless

It is Kind -

Doesn’t envy, boast or proud, rude or self-seeking

It is Good

Agape love is not simply an emotion; it is the heart reaching out to others.  Love that sacrifices for the good of others.  And it is love for God with our heart, soul, mind & strength, and love for our fellow Christians, and our love for our neighbour – everyone else in the world (Mark 12:29-31).

The more we think of this challenge it becomes obvious that we are defining a style of life that is beyond our reach at a human level—something absolutely impossible unless God’s Spirit dwells within us and helps us.

2.      A different kind of love story

We’ve been thinking about how the love that God wants to see in our lives is a different kind of love - ‘agape’ love.

In our lives, it is guaranteed that people will either consciously or unconsciously annoy, offend and hurt us.   When this happens, we might feel as if we are we off the hook and don’t need to love them any more?  But Paul says no.

a)      A Love that Suffers Long

‘Agape’ love is “patient.”  This word patient is the capacity to be wronged, to suffer injury, provocation, without retaliating or giving in to hatred and bitterness, but instead choosing to love the very person who hurt us.  And it is the ability to love under these circumstances again and again, with consistent and continual attack.  It is “long-suffering.”  It is a love that can endure even the most difficult of people, when they hurt us again!

Jesus taught this in Luke 6:32-35:  “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that.... But love your enemies, do good to them... Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

It means no matter how difficult someone is, we never make that an excuse to stop loving them and seeking their good.  One person’s wrong behaviour is not a reason for us to stop loving them according to God!!

This is a different kind of love story.  Bobby was a special-education boy. He was just bright enough to remain in a regular class but was still noticeably different. He was the constant butt of jokes by his classmates. Every day, as the neighbourhood kids walked home from school, Bobby’s mother would look out the window to see them all laughing and joking together—all except Bobby. He was always walking behind the others, all alone. It was obvious that the other children felt uncomfortable around Bobby and shunned him.

One day Bobby burst into the kitchen after school. “Mum, guess what?” he said. “Valentine’s Day is two weeks away, and our teacher said we could make valentines and give them to the other kids in our class!”  His mother’s heart sank as she pictured yet another opportunity for her son to be excluded. “Mum,” Bobby continued, “I’m going to make a valentine for every person in my class!”

“That’s very nice, Bobby,” his mother answered, fighting back the tears.

Over the next two weeks, Bobby worked every afternoon on those valentines. They were truly labours of love. When the day finally came, he was so excited about taking his valentines to school that he couldn’t eat breakfast. But he was also a little worried.  “I hope I didn’t forget anybody,” he said as he dashed off to school.

Bobby’s mother made a fresh batch of his favourite cookies and prepared herself to comfort her son when he returned home broken-hearted from the valentine exchange. She knew how disappointed he would be with the response he got from the other children.

That afternoon she saw the same cluster of neighbourhood kids walking home together. A half block behind them, all alone, was Bobby. Bobby’s mother turned away and placed a plate of cookies on the table.  Much to her surprise, Bobby came through the door with a huge smile on his face. “What is it, Bobby?” she asked. “How did it go?”  With a shout of pure joy, Bobby said, “Guess what, Mum! I didn’t forget a single kid!”

2.      A Different Reason to Love

a)      Love doesn’t depend on the receiver

That is the kind of love that Paul is describing in this passage – a love focused on others, not because they deserve it, but because of the heart of the one giving it. 

Agape love “is a love for the utterly unworthy... a love lavished on others without a thought of whether they are worthy to receive it or not.  It proceeds rather from the nature of the lover, than from any merit in the one who is loved.”  Did you get that?  This kind of love that Paul describes here is a love that does not depend on the worth or the attractiveness of the person receiving it.  It simply depends on the love in the heart of the one giving it!! 

Why is this?  Because that is how God loves, and if we are his children, we should love in the same way.  That is the message of Easter.

b)      The Patience of Jesus

Jesus was the perfect illustration of this patient love.  Think of his love for his disciples.  On the night when Jesus was arrested he took a towel and a basin and washed feet to demonstrate his love to a group of twelve men, one of whom would betray him for a handful of coins, one of whom would deny him at the interrogation of a slave girl and all of whom would leave him to face the hardest night of his life alone.  

Even when Jesus was on the cross, he demonstrated this patient love to one of the criminals being put to death.  At his own admission, this criminal was getting what he deserved, and yet in love Jesus reached out to him and declared to him that “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  Luke 23:43

c)      Patience is not weakness

This loving patience does not mean weakness or an indifferent toleration of wrong.  The day after Palm Sunday Jesus entered the temple and cleared out those who were buying and selling there.  Jesus did this in love as he declared that:  “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” But you have made it “a den of robbers.” Mk11:17. 

The reason for Jesus doing and saying this was love.  He wanted to reclaim it as a place where people could meet with God.  Agape love drives us to move heaven and earth to seek justice for others.

Paul wrote the same to a young leader in a church: 2 Timothy 2:24-25 “And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,”

“You need to be patient with people in love, but equally because you love them Timothy, you must speak out at things that are wrong and tell people the truth – even when it is painful.  But do it gently.” 

Is that not good advice for us in our lives.  We need God’s patience to suffer long with people who make our lives difficult, to wait and pray for their repentance.  But it is not always love that makes us avoid confronting wrong behaviour in other people’s lives.  Sometimes it is just cowardice, and selfishness that cares more about how we feel, than the benefit to other people.

Agape love means that we will always seek the other person’s good.  In patience we will put our feelings to one side and love people even when they hurt us and when they are destroying their lives or hurting others we will step in and lovingly intervene to help resolve the situation.

3.      A Different Response to Hurt

Paul also stated that: “Love is not easily angered.”

a)      Love does not fly off the handle

The NIV goes along with other translations of the Bible and states “Love is not easily angered.”  But that is not accurate enough.  The original has no word for “easily” present.  Perhaps it sounded too strong to keep what Paul wrote when he wrote “Love is not angered.”

Paul is not writing that love is not angered unless circumstances are really tough, and then it is okay to be provoked.  He is stating it much stronger than this.   It is the refusal to be provoked into anger, with no excuses accepted. 

b)      The Self-control of Jesus

Jesus had every right to be angry at his trial.  He was being unjustly accused.  His trial was a travesty of both Jewish and Roman justice.  He was beaten and flogged without cause, spat on and abused.  If anyone was justified to explode in a tirade of anger and hatred Jesus was.  And yet “Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.” Matthew 27:14.

And we have been called to follow in his example.  1 Peter 2:21-24: “...Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.   “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”  When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Instead Jesus on the cross reacted with the words “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34.  This is the completely different reaction that God wants his people to have to difficult and even evil people.  To refuse to react in anger and hatred, but instead to react in love.

c)      Anger Destroys

This is how God wants us to live in a world at war.  Not to be part of the problem, but to be part of the solution.  It is costly, but it is what we are called to, as we walk in Jesus’ footsteps.

The reason why love is not angered is because our anger always destroys.  “People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.” Or as the writer of Ecclesiastes 7:9 put it “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”

And as James wrote in his letter “for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:20

d)      But Love Builds

Love does not necessarily make life easy.  It does not make everyone around us treat us better so that we will never again be irritated or that we will get on great with everyone.  But it does meet our deepest need and enables us to respond differently - to see things clearer, to communicate our feelings without the need for anger and a loss of temper, and to work to see the other person experience love.

If any of us struggle with a short temper, or an angry spirit, the only cure is love.  “Where the fire of love is kept in, the flames of anger will not be easily kindled.” 

Love may not always work to change another person or a relationship.  It requires two people to be reconciled but God wants us to hold out our hearts in love to the people around whether they respond or not.  Our anger is not justified, it is not righteous, it is not loving.  

4.      A Different Way of Remembering

a)      Love doesn’t keep score

Paul also stated that this love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs.  It is does not count up wrongs that have been done, it does not take into account a wrong suffered.  It thinks no evil.

The Christians at Corinth were failing miserably in this way.  In fact they were keeping such good records because they were bringing each other to court – they were suing each other ( 1 Corinthians 6:1-11).  They had prepared lawsuits against each other, had produced books of evidence of what this person said, what this person did and were ready to demand restitution for the hurt they had received.

Not many of us go that far in writing these things down, but when we are hurt, or people treat us badly, the natural thing is to keep records of these hurts in our hearts.  There are at least two reasons why we might be tempted to keep a record of wrongs, both of them Paul would reject.

i) Not to boost our ego

As a way to gloat over the failures of others.  To rejoice in the mistakes and weakness of

others in order to make ourselves look better.  But Paul wrote in v6 that “Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.”

ii) Nor to justify our lack of love

Nor to keep them as evidence to justify our wrong actions toward that person, to justify our cold shoulder or our hatred and bitterness.  Basically we can use the record of their wrongs to justify our lack of love!! 

But of course love is patient and we need to love that person no matter what they have done to us! And love forgives and forgets.  It deletes the record of that person’s wrong and completely opens the way to restoration.  This is the real forgiveness.

The Forgiveness of Jesus

If Jesus had kept a record of wrongs, he would never have accepted back his disciples.  All through their life with him, they had failed him, but none more so when he was crucified.  All of his disciples failed him.  They all left him and saved their own skin rather than standing by him.  Even Peter denied him three times.  And yet Jesus did not keep record of wrongs.  On resurrection Sunday he wanted his failed and cowardly disciples to know that he was alive:

Mark 16:6-7:  “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

b)      Love isn’t blind to other’s failure

But this does not mean that we ignore the sins of others, or minimise the sins that people commit as if it does not matter.  It means restoration is our goal.

Jesus’ refusal to keep record of wrongs did not mean that he did not address the issues with his disciples – they had to be cleared up, but love and restoration and recovery were his motivations.  Jesus confronted Peter in John 21:15-19 with his questions of “Do you love me?” But the aim of Jesus was not to gloat over Peter’s spectacular failure, or to tell Peter how much he had hurt him, but to restore Peter and to declare to him his willingness to forgive him and accept him back into his service.

This is what love motivates us to do when other people sin against us. Galatians 6:1-2 “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.”

Love does not mean we live with blinkers on, or with our heads in the clouds immune to the hurts people cause us, or to the sins that they commit.  But it does mean that when we confront people with the wrongs they do it is with love and with the aim of restoration and reconciliation.

Love means that we have a different thing to remember when we are wronged.

It means we remember our own sinfulness first, and God’s love for us, even when we were sinners, and his forgiveness, bought with the blood of Jesus.  And by that time remembering wrongs against us does not have the same priority.

Conclusion

is w in   was, a word used quite sparingly by the secular Greek writers. The word translated love here is the Greek word ‘agape.’  It was not a commonly used word at this time, and it seems that the writers of the New Testament used this word– they took this word and

!  When you buy a car from some companies, you get the basic model, wheels, engine that kind of thing.  You need to ask and pay for optional extras – electric rear windows, CD player, heated seats, furry dice.  Love is not an optional extra.  It is more like the engine of a car – it has to come as standard.  It is not a spiritual gift that some Christians have and others don’t – it is a fruit of the presence of God in our lives.  It is not something just for super-Christians.

It is what you and I need if there will be any worth in what we do in our lives.worthless.  There is nothing of any value for Jesus !

But Jesus also taught that the ability to do miracles will not prove closeness to God. Matthew 7:22-23: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

d) Self-sacrifice

Even, Paul goes further, with two acts which seem to most closely approximate to practical love of the purest and most unselfish kind. Paul writes “even if I give all I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames but have not love I gain nothing.”

If we give all we have away and yet withhold our hearts from God, it will not profit. 

 know what the Bible says but we do not have the love of God flowing out of our hearts that the Bible teaches about.  We are more content to spend time in church singing songs and hymns, than spend time in the world loving those who need help.  We can even spend time fighting over some controversial issue in the Bible when all around us our world at war is full of people dying without hope.

But real knowledge of God requires knowledge of love.  It is impossible to know God personally and not have love in our hearts – it is the very core of what it means to be a Christian, to be in relationship with God:  1 John 4:7-12: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

We need to remember that we are not talking about a sentimental feeling.  It is not saying that Christians should always have a warm feeling of love to everyone all the time.  But knowing God produces love within our hearts for God and for others.

We need to ensure that everything we say is motivated by and filled with love.  It is only when our hearts are filled with love, that our mouths can be used to praise God, to encourage and build Christians up and share the gospel effectively.  Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:15 “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”

worship.  , , The problem was that this church had thought that some of these abilities were more important than others and those with them abilities were therefore super-spiritual.  There were the normal, everyday Christians, and then there were those with spectacular gifts.

And so Paul as he deals with some controversial issues, urges these Christians not to let love leave their church!!

ow he switches to a gift of the Spirit that God desires for every one of His children—the gift of love. When Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, he named love as the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). The author of 1 John stated plainly that the one sure way of knowing whether a person was really a Christian was that person’s love for others. “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7–8). In this chapter Paul switched his listeners from the gifts which had been the source of divisions to the supreme gift of all gifts, one which would unite them and make them one.

There are some Christians today who still make the same mistake of elevating this gift of speaking in an unlearned languages to the required evidence to prove that a person is close to God, is a spirit-filled Christian.  The church I was brought up in was not into that sort of thing.  We had the tendency to think that those who could pray in public with amazing sounding prayers or those who could preach great sermons were those who were the closest to God.

This is how we protect our mouths from saying things that would hurt others – by having love in our hearts so that everything we say would be motivated by love.  In this world at war, we do not need more eloquent speakers, what we need is people whose words will always be filled with love.

Make a lot of noise, but don’t benefit anyone much!

A.     Love is not an Optional Extra

  It is not in the words of an old Beetles song : “All you need is love, love love...”  Love is not all you need, but everything that we have needs to be infiltrated and infused with love.

1)                  Why is love so crucial?

Why is love the essential ingredient in our Christian lives? 

a) It is because Christianity without love, is a religion without Jesus:

One Sunday morning nine-year-old Joshua decided to skip church and go for a walk. His mum had told him that if he skipped church, he would miss a chance to see Jesus. But Joshua had never seen Jesus there before, so he didn’t think he’d be missing much. Besides, his church was an old and run-down.

Joshua’s walk took him across the railroad tracks in town for the first time in his life, where the houses were much bigger and much nicer than any in the poor neighbourhood

where he lived.  Soon Joshua found himself in front of the biggest, most beautiful church he had ever seen. As he got closer, the last people filed in from the parking lot. They all had nice cars and wore nice clothes.

“This must be the church where Jesus goes,” Joshua told himself. “It’s so big and nice.” As he walked closer, he could hear the music coming from inside. His mum had told him how angels sing to Jesus in heaven. “Wow!” said Joshua, “I’ll bet those are angels singing to Jesus!”

He walked up the steps and entered the church. “This must be where Jesus is.

He sat down to scan the crowd, so he could find Jesus. Just then a large man in a black suit tapped Joshua on the shoulder and asked Joshua if he could speak with him outside.

In the lobby, the man asked, “Son, where do you live?”

Joshua answered, “Well, if you go down the hill, cross the railroad tracks, and head down that street, that’s where I live.”

“And where are your parents?” the man asked.

“They’re probably at church right now,” Joshua replied.

“Well, don’t you think it would be better for you to go to your parents’ church today?”

“But I saw this church, and I knew Jesus was here,” Joshua said. “So I came to see him!”

“Well, son, it would be best if you were to run home and go see Jesus in your own church in your own neighbourhood,” the man said. “You really can’t stay here.”

Joshua got upset. “You just don’t want me to see Jesus!” he yelled as he turned and ran out onto the street.  Sobbing as he returned home, Joshua shouted, “God, it isn’t fair! All I wanted to do was see Jesus, and they wouldn’t let me in!”

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him and felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, wiped his eyes, and stared in amazement.  It was Jesus!

The Lord smiled at Joshua, gave him a big hug, and said, “Don’t be too upset, my son. They wouldn’t let me in there either.”

b) Love is so important because “God is love,” and it is the only possible proper response from coming into relationship with God who loved us so much that he sent his Son to die for us: 1 John 4:9: “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.”

And you cannot love God without loving others. It is impossible to have God’s love in our hearts and not to love the people God loves so much that he sent his Son to save.

1 John 4:19-21:“We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”  This is why love is central to the Christian life, because “God is love.”  Over the next few weeks, as we get to understand more what this love is and what it does, we need to remember that this is the goal that God has for us.  God wants to produce this in our lives – and he has the power to do so. This is the potential placed within each of us by the grace of the Lord Jesus.

acceptably.  What kind of fellowship are we? 

Illustrations

One Sunday morning nine-year-old Joshua decided to skip church and go for a long walk. His mother frequently told him that if he skipped church, he would miss a chance to see Jesus. But Joshua had been going to church his whole life and had never seen Jesus there before, so he didn’t think he’d be missing much. Besides, his church was an old, small, run-down building—just a little too confining for his desire to run and play.

Joshua’s walk took him across the railroad tracks in town for the first time in his life. He noticed that the houses on the other side of the tracks were much bigger and much nicer than any in the poor neighborhood where he lived.

A few blocks later Joshua found himself in front of the biggest, most beautiful church he had ever seen. The steeple alone seemed as tall as a mountain. As he got closer, the big church bells stopped ringing and the last people filed in from the parking lot. They all had nice cars and wore nice clothes. He didn’t see any people from his side of the tracks going to this church.

“This must be the church where Jesus goes,” Joshua told himself. “It’s so big and nice.” As he walked closer, he could hear the music coming from inside. He remembered hearing his mother talk about how angels sing to Jesus in heaven. “Wow!” said Joshua as he listened to the choir. “I’ll bet those are angels singing to Jesus!”

He walked up the steps, through the big front doors, and into the spacious lobby. He continued through another set of doors and entered the sanctuary. It was the biggest room he had ever seen. “This must be where Jesus is!” Joshua whispered to himself.

He noticed an empty seat a few rows from the back, so he sat down to scan the crowd, so he could find Jesus. The choir stopped singing and a large man in a black suit tapped Joshua on the shoulder. The man leaned down and asked Joshua if he could speak with him outside.

In the lobby, the man asked, “Son, where do you live?”

Joshua answered, “Well, if you go down the hill, take a left at the corner, cross the railroad tracks, and head down that street a few more blocks, that’s where I live.”

“And where are your parents?” the man asked.

“They’re probably at church right now,” Joshua replied.

“Well, son, don’t you think it would be better for you to go to your parents’ church today?”

“But I saw this church, and I knew Jesus was here,” Joshua said. “So I came to see him!”

“Well, son, I think it would be best if you were to run along home and go see Jesus in your own church in your own neighbourhood,” the man said. “You really can’t stay here.”

Realising what the man was trying to do, Joshua got upset. “You just don’t want me to see Jesus!” he yelled as he turned and ran out the big doors leading to the street.

Sobbing as he returned home, Joshua shouted, “God, it isn’t fair! All I wanted to do was see Jesus, and they wouldn’t let me in!”

Joshua shuffled along, staring at the sidewalk through his tears. Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him and felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, wiped his eyes, and stared in amazement.

It was Jesus!

The Lord smiled at Joshua, gave him a big hug, and said, “Don’t be too upset, my son. They wouldn’t let me in there either.”

It was Jonathan Swift, the satirical author of Gulliver’s Travels, who said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”

A mother found under her place one morning at breakfast a bill made out by her small son, Bradley, aged eight—Mother owes Bradley: for running errands, 25 cents; for being good, 10 cents; for taking music lessons, 15 cents; for extras, 5 cents. Total, 55 cents.

 Mother smiled but made no comment. At lunch Bradley found the bill under his plate with 55 cents and another piece of paper neatly folded like the first. Opening it he read—Bradley owes Mother: for nursing him through scarlet fever, nothing; for being good to him, nothing; for clothes, shoes and playthings, nothing; for his playroom, nothing; for his meals, nothing. Total: nothing.

Sir Ernest Shackleton was asked to tell of his most terrible moment in the Arctic. And he said his worst was one night in an emergency hut. He and his fellows were lying there; he rather apart from the rest. They had given out the ration of the last biscuits. There was nothing more to divide. Every man thought the other was asleep.

He sensed a stealthy movement and saw one of the men turning to see how the others were faring. He made up his mind that all were asleep and then stretched over the next man and took his biscuit bag and removed the biscuit. Shackleton lived through an eternity of suspense. He would have trusted his life in the hands of that man. Was he turning out a thief under terribly tragic circumstances? Stealing a man’s last biscuit!

 Then Shackleton sensed another movement. He saw the man open his own box, take the biscuit out of his own bag and put it in his comrade’s, and return the man’s biscuit and stealthily put the bag back at the man’s side. Shackleton said, “I dare not tell you that man’s name. I felt that act was a secret between himself and God.”

If I have the language perfectly and speak like a native, and have not His love for them, I am nothing. If I have diplomas and degrees and know all the up-to-date methods, and have not His touch of understanding love, I am nothing. If I am able to argue successfully against the religions of the people and make fools of them, and have not His wooing note, I am nothing. If I have all faith and great ideals and magnificent plans, and not His love that sweats and bleeds and weeps and prays and pleads, I am nothing. If I give my clothes and money to them, and have not His love for them, I am nothing.

 If I surrender all prospects, leave home and friends, make the sacrifices of a missionary career, and turn sour and selfish amid the daily annoyances and slights of a missionary life, and have not the love that yields its rights, its leisures, its pet plans, I am nothing. Virtue has ceased to go out of me. If I can heal all manner of sickness and disease, but wound hearts and hurt feelings for want of His love that is kind, I am nothing. If I can write articles or publish books that win applause, but fail to transcribe the Word of the Cross into the language of His love, I am nothing.

St. Michael’s had always been a very wealthy church. Its 300 members usually gave a combined annual offering of over one million dollars—because they could afford to.

Over the years, however, the neighborhood around the beautiful old church began to change. Immigrants flocked to the area, changing the complexion of the community. Steel bars replaced welcome signs in store windows. Homeless people could be found wandering the sidewalks and streets. The changes made some members of St. Michael’s very uncomfortable. They usually tried to avoid that part of town except on Sundays.

One Sunday, shortly after a young associate priest had joined the church staff, the church members were gathered after the morning service for coffee and pastries. In the spring months they loved to gather in the flower garden outside the church, among its gazebos, fountains, and vine-covered arches.

As the elegantly dressed worshipers sipped coffee and chatted in the garden, a homeless man shuffled in off the street. He entered through the garden gate without looking at anyone. But all eyes were certainly on him. He quietly walked over to the table where a spread of expensive pastries were displayed on silver trays. He picked up one of the pastries and bit into it, keeping his eyes closed.

Then he reached for a second pastry and placed it into his coat pocket. Moving slowly and trying not to be noticed, he placed another into the same pocket.

The garden buzzed with whispers. Finally one of the women walked over to the new priest and said, “Well, do something!”

Still feeling a little awkward in his new position, the young priest handed his coffee cup to the woman, walked over to the table, and stood next to the homeless man. He reached under the table, where the empty pastry boxes had been stored. Then he picked up one of the silver trays loaded with pastries and emptied them into a box. He did the same with a second tray of expensive goodies. Then he closed the lids on the boxes and held them out to the homeless man.

“We’re here every Sunday,” the priest said.

The man smiled at the priest, cradled the boxes in his arms, and shuffled quietly out of the garden and down the street.

The priest returned to his coffee cup, smiled at the woman holding it, and said, “That’s what you meant when you said, ‘Do something,’ wasn’t it?”

Enniscorthy Christian Fellowship – 2nd October 2005

1 Corinthians 13

Exegetical Outline

1.       

2.       

3.       

Exegetical Proposition

Exegetical purpose

Theological Outline

1.       

2.       

3.       

Theological Proposition

Theological Purpose

Bringing all Scripture to bear

Command to Love

Mark 12:29-31: “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

1 John 4:19-21:“We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

John 15:9-17: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”

1 John 3:23-24: “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

Ministry without love

Matthew 7:22-23: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Worship without love

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.”

Faith without love

James 2:14-17: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Matthew 17:20: “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Galatians 5:6: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”

Words without love

Mark 7:6: “He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“ ‘These people honour me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.”

1 Peter 3:15-16: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

Giving without love:

Matthew 6:2: “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

Love enemies

Leviticus 19:18 “ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Matthew 5:43-47 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour a and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies a and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”

Luke 6:31-35: “Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

The Example

Ephesians 5:2 “and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

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

1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Patience

1 Peter 2:19-25: “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.   “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”  When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

1 Peter 3:9 “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

1 Corinthians 6:7-8: “The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?”

Psalm 37:7-9 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”

Ecclesiastes 7:9 “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”

Bearing with each other

Ephesians 4:1-2 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Colossians 3:12-13 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Proper response to sin:

Galatians 5:26 –6:2 “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.”

Proverbs 17:9 “He who covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.”

Confront sin in love

2 Timothy 2:24-25 “And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,”

2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”

God’s work of increasing love in your life:

1 Thessalonians 3:12 “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”

Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”

1 Thessalonians 4:9 “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.”

Ephesians 4:16: “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Maturity

Ephesians 4:11-13: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up  until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Knowing God

Galatians 4:9: “But now that you know God—or rather are known by God.”

1 John 3:2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Jeremiah 31:33-34: “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”           declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Other Info.

Homiletical Outline

Introduction:

Homiletical Proposition

Exposition

Conclusion