THE CHRISTIAN VIRTUE OF LOVE GALATIANS 5:22-25; 1 CORINTHIANS 13

INTRODUCTION

Concerning the text before us, pastor, author, and biblical scholar J.I. Packer has noted, “The great mistake in contemporary Christian living is not learning the right things to do but how to live by the Spirit.”

The challenge of this passage is that although it is frequently referred to, it is very often neglected in application. This message and those that follow are part of a short series on Christian virtues. Why? Because our Anabaptist forefathers correctly surmised that it is necessary for a man to be born again. In short, it is necessary to be gloriously saved by Christ’s intervention in one’s heart. Without it, that person can never be right with God. That is the position of the Anabaptists and that is the position of the Bible.

Yet, the Anabaptists went a step further. They also stated that if you have genuinely been born again, it will be reflected in how one lives and how one dies. Unfortunately, this is not talked about much anymore. It is not talked about because it is not popular. Why? Because we live in a culture of pulpits where the love of God and the holiness of God have been divorced from each other. The popular mantra of our day is: LOVE GOD AND LOVE PEOPLE! Friend, you cannot talk about loving God and loving people until you come face to face with the holiness of God.

Having already listed the ways in which the world lives, he comes to Galatians 5:22. [read text]

The Christian Virtue of Love

Galatians 5:22 CSB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Let the confession of our mouth match our action. The fruit of the Spirit is love. That is the concern of the moment. Great statement, is it not? However, there is one problem. The problem with this virtue and all those that follow is that I do not qualify on a single one of them, and neither do you. Therefore, the question must become, “What am I going to do about me? Am I going to exemplify the virtues that Christ requires of me as a follower of Him?

I can no more do that than I can save myself. Just as the grace of God must be extended to me in salvation, the grace of God must also be extended to me in the development of Christian virtues. The reason we do not totally possess the Christian virtues and do not do as we ought, is because we receive Christ. However, too many fail to walk in step with the Holy Spirit by the power of God. Unless the Spirit of God comes to our aid, we will not have the ability to reduplicate the life of the Spirit.

Today our goal is to concentrate on the the greatest of all virtues. One of the questions I asked during the research phase of preparing this message was, “Why is love listed first?” The answer is that love is not the first among equals. Timothy George is correct when he states that love is the fountain from which all the others flow. You see, love is the beginning point. Without the virtue of love, it is impossible to experience the reality of the others.

We talk about love in the most shallow of terms. We talk about loving our favorite sports team. We talk about loving a particular music group or some famous personality. How shallow of a use of love. The sloppy sentimentality of our day has nothing at all to do with biblical love. Consider this statement: “Well, I just believe that if somebody loves another, whatever that looks like, i just support that.” Beloved, that is a statement of utter foolishness and has nothing to do with genuine love. Homosexuality and all other sexual perversions have nothing at all to do with love.

It is true that the Bible uses various terms to describe love in the New Testament. The greatest mistake people make is to say that a certain term always means this and another term always means that. When someone stands before you and makes such a statement, all they are doing is revealing their own ignorance. The meaning of a word depends on the sentence or paragraph that it is used in. Sometimes it depends on the book itself that the biblical term is found in. Other times the meaning of a word is to be found in the context of the entire Bible. Yet, there is something special about the term “agape.” The verbal form of this word (agapao) is common in secular Greek as it is in koine Greek, the form used in the New Testament. However, there are only seven possible occurences of the noun form (agape) outside of the New Testament. It seems as though Paul and other biblical writers took the verbal form and reduced it to the noun form in order to say specifically what New Testament love was. What does this mean? It can mean several things. The thing I want you to understand is that love is more of an action word than it is a concept. Here is another thing. Nowhere in the New Testament is the term love defined. The closest we come to a definition is in the great love chapter of 1 Corinthians, chapter thirteen.

As you make your way to this wonderful chapter, I want you to consider three qualities of the virtue of biblical love.

I. Love is not about what one confesses as much as how one conducts oneself (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

Do you not see the point? It is not so much what you confess as it is how you live. Genuine Christianity has to change you in your heart. Only then does doctrine, the gifts of the Spirit, and all those other things become of any value. If I do not have love, it profits me nothing.

II. Love is characterized by certain characteristics (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

We are going to be told about love itself. First, love is patient. This is the Greek word MACROTHUMEIA. It is the combination of two smaller Greek words. “Macros” is the word meaning “to be large.” The word “thumias” is one of the Greek words for “anger.” In other words, genuine love takes a long time in getting angry. Do you like to get angry? Are you the person that puts the angry icon on Facebook while you are watching this message. Do you hide behind that foolishness? Maybe you have already put it up there, bless your heart. “Why, you irritate me half to death!” Do you know what that is? That display of anger is nothing more than your dirty, stinking, self-focused, self-absorbed pride. Do you know what else it is? It is the demonstration of the fact that you truly do not have a clue about genuine love.

What have you got to be angry about? If anyone has anything to be angry about it is God. God created us. God gave life to us. God has given all the things we have. Yet, we disobey Him like there is nothing to it. If anyone has a right to be angry it is God. Yet, love is patient. The term literally means “to suffer long.” Love takes a long time to get angry. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, your anger is not righteous indignation. It is the expression of a wicked heart. If you love like Jesus loves, it will be “machrothumeia.”

The agape love of the New Testament is always other persons oriented (4-6).

Love is kind. Love is not envious or boastful. Love is not arrogant or rude. Love is not insistent for self. Love is not irritable or resentful. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Rather, love always rejoices in the truth. Agape love is not focused on what others can do for me. I get this question from time to time. “Pastor, if I join this church, what is the church going to do for me?” I reply, “Your question is wrongheaded and wrong-hearted. The question is not about what you get, it is about what you are willing to give. What are you willing to do for the kingdom?” Genuine love is selfless, not selfish. Genuine love is based upon what we can do for another, not what we expect someone else to do for us. That is how God loved us. He gave the Son to die in our stead. True love is about giving more than it is about taking.

There are four important things to notice in verse seven. First, as long as possible, love will bear with the brother or sister in Christ. It will believe the best that it can for as long as it can. The way of love keeps on hoping for the best. That brokenhearted parent keeps hoping no matter the foolishness that child has gotten into. Love is willing to endure almost anything. As a mater of fact, love never fails.

III. Love will never cease (1 Cor. 13:8-13).

Furthermore, there are three things that are abiding-faith, hope, and love. Which one of these is the greatest? it is the self-sacrificing, others giving, compassionate agape love. To have the blessings of God upon your life, you have to learn to love as God loves.

CONCLUSION

The Christian virtue of love exhibits three qualities that makes it superior to everything. It requires the tongue in one’s mouth to go in the same direction as the tongue in one’s shoe. Our confession ought to match our conduct. It requires the recognition of certain qualities of living and life. This superior love will never cease. How can we be sure that we are living this life and love? [read Galatians 5:24-25]

Galatians 5:24–25 CSB

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Peter Drucker is a leadership and business management professional that seeks to help those who are in leadership, especially in the business world. He has stated that to lead effectively a leader must understand what his business is. Then a leader must ask the following question: “How’s business?”

God has made it clear that His business is the greatest business. It is the business of not only proclaiming but also putting into practice God’s eternal message of love. The question for us today is the same, “How’s business?”