Lovers

1 Corinthians 13 The Message

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 4 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, 5 Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. 9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. 11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. 12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Love is a word that is used often but demonstrated less often. In English we have just one word for love. So we love pizza, we love the Cubs or White Sox, we love our parents, we love our spouse. Hopefully not in that order! The same word to cover all that territory. So when we see the word love in Scripture we’ve got to remember this bias we may have. It’s easy for our concept of love to slip into a sentimental feeling we have for things and people we enjoy. But the kind of love mentioned in this passage goes much deeper. Obviously.

Furthermore, we often read this passage at weddings. That’s great. This is a very complete picture of love that is useful for a couple to have in view as they launch life together. But again, weddings conjure up certain feelings, even romantic feelings. Again, we want to keep going deeper when we hear this passage.

Even a married couple needs to go deeper. Because life is a bit more complex than romantic feelings can navigate. Those kinds of emotions come and go. The kind of love in this passage doesn’t easily go. As a side note, often even with romantic feelings, when they pass away it’s because people stop feeding them. If a couple says they’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’ it’s a good exercise to stop and remember what it was like. Often both spouses were doing lots of little niceties for each other. At some point they stopped. They think they stopped because the feelings stopped. But in actually they probably stopped and then the feelings followed. So I always suggest that people go back to leaving little notes and finding those ways to touch each others lives every day and throughout the day. It can be powerful how this renews the flame of romantic love.

But the fires we are talking about today burn much deeper and fuel life on another level.

Sacrificial, not superficial. A willingness to set aside some of our own needs to help meet the needs of another. But also it’s a pattern. It’s a way of life. Regularly looking out for others.

Also it’s positive despite the negative. But hear me carefully at this point. Sometimes I think Christians label honest people as negative people. As if we are supposed to pretend wrong isn’t wrong or never ever be unhappy. That’s not sustainable. Pretending isn’t better. Let’s be real. There has to be some space in our lives, one other safe person we can vent to with our frustrations. Then we can move forward to find the good in circumstances.

On the other hand let’s not seek to find fault. Some people are always looking for when others do wrong and like to keep score and tell on them to others. “Did you hear what so and so said the other day?” That’s called gossip. To counter that, I actually try to share when somebody did something really kind or positive for someone else. Let’s get good at sharing good news. But let’s also not judge another who just needs to vent from time to time. Be willing to listen. Don’t betray their trust. If they need to talk to another person about the issue, encourage them to do it. But if we try hard to see the good and get busy sharing the positive, we rob the negative of its power. Try not to keep score, unless you’re keeping score of the good.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NIV

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

In other words Christian love says that our relationships with others are sacred. Think about that. People aren’t just there like furniture in our lives. People need to be loved and protected. I’ll say that again: people need to be loved and protected. And sometimes it’s our turn to do the loving and protecting. Don’t always expect someone else to do it for you.

God shows us love. God created this universe. It’s just incredible and we are learning more about it every day. I want to do a series on creation later in the spring or summer. The beauty and the majesty of it all. He placed us on this tiny blue ball with a good view of the universe God created. He gave us life. He gave us each other. If we can learn to get along it’s like heaven. If we seek only our own ways it’s war and poverty and literally hell on earth for many. The choice is ours. But there can be no question that God provided us with a world worth living in, full of beauty and wonder.

But when we did go our own way and burn it all down, he had a plan. Jesus came crossing the lines between heaven and earth. Showing us love in the flesh. He taught us love, he showed us love in action, he laid down his life to absorb all the violence and pain and fear and division, so we could inherit the life we were meant to have.

That was love. And he loves us in spite of ourselves. That means he put our needs ahead of his own convenience and came to our world. He shared life. Then he gave his life. Broken and spilled out.

His love sees us in our need and our selfishness and still reaches out. Love finds a way for us to learn about and receive the love of Jesus. He meets our needs each and every day as we let him. He fills our lives with loving people who want to help. His mercies are new each morning if we open up to them. Strength for today. He has gone to prepare a place for us. Heaven will come down and we will be with him like never before and forever more. That’s hope for tomorrow. This is God’s love. Extravagant, beautiful, life-giving, life-changing, making all things new kind of love. Amen?

If that’s how God has loved us, we of all people should understand how to love.

Matthew 22:37–40 NIV

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Elsewhere Jesus said:

John 15:12 The Message

12 This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.

So this isn’t just a beautiful poem to take out and admire. 1 Corinthians 13 is beautiful prose that give us a very complete picture of love lived out in relationships. It’s an inspirational action plan for obeying Jesus’ command. Love one another.

Hey we are limited human beings, fallen creatures trying to find our way home. None of us are perfect. All of us are broken. All of us need healing and transformation. All of us can find what we need in the powerful love of Jesus.

Let’s not be childish. Let’s grow up by God’s love. Let’s admit we don’t have all the answers, but we know the one who does. We are not lost if we have been found in his love.

1 Corinthians 13:12–13 The Message

12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

This morning: if in doubt, love. The greatest is love. Let’s pray...