Pastor Dan
Eddy
1 Corinthians
12:31b-13:13
Humblest Love
2-7-10
Let us pray:
Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing
in Your sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I.
Introduction – Hate love
Twenty years
ago, I was in the wedding party of one of my childhood friends. It was a
beautiful summer wedding outside of Milwaukee, WI. The wedding had a handsome
groom, a beautiful bride, and a lovely church setting. And like with many
weddings, the words of our Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians were read. Love
is patient, love is kind…ahh!! What a nice wedding it was…until pastor got up
to give his homily.
He said and I
quote, “I hate these words from 1
Corinthians 13.”
I thought, “Wow that’s a very strong statement.”
And you could
see the wedding party and many of the people in the pews nervously shift back
and forth in their seats….challenged, maybe even insulted, by the words the
pastor in this very traditional Lutheran congregation.
The pastor
went on to say, “I hate these words from
1 Corinthians 13, because…they are so hard to keep; they are so hard to live up
to.”
You could
have heard a pin drop at this point as people hung their heads knowing the
pastor was right.
II.
Why we hate love?
Why do we
hate love? Don’t get me wrong. We don’t wake up in the morning…yawn, stretch
our arms and legs and say… “Today I am
going to find new ways to hate love.” No, we don’t normally consciously do
that. But the type of love described in this text is called Agape Love. Say
that with me: “Agape Love.” Do you
know what Agape Love means? “It’s loving
without expecting anything in return.” That’s the highest and toughest
standard by which to live.
Let’s do the
love test here this morning. Pull out bulletins and go to verses 4-8. I want
you to take out the word love and put the word “I” in its place. And let’s see if you, if we, pass the test of
love.
“I am patient,
I am kind. I do not envy, I do not boast, I am not proud. I am not rude, I am
not self-seeking, I am not easily angered, I keep no record of wrongs. I do not
delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. I always protect, I always trust, I
always hope, I always persevere.”
I
don’t know about you but this is a moment of humility, because if we are honest,
we don’t do these things all that often. Maybe it’s because we hate love.
You see Paul’s
Holy Spirit inspired words were not originally given at a wedding. The church
at Corinth had many divisions within them. Those who had the supernatural gift
of speaking in a unique language of the Holy Spirit were lording it the others
who did not possess this gifts. In a childish “I’m better than you,” those speaking in tongues thought of
themselves as closer to God, more redeemed, and/or truly saved, saying they
could prove it because of their supernatural talents.
That did not
go over well with the Apostle Paul, who was claiming that you can have supernatural
gifts, (God is the one who gives these gifts at His own choosing) but that does
not mean you are better or that you even have Jesus working in your
hearts…because the key component is love.
Why did they, why do we hate love? Because without Christ Jesus working
in our hearts…we can not think, speak or show true love. Paul is saying you can
possess these gifts of insight, knowledge, money, and
power but if you do not have the purpose of God’s love to use these gifts to
save others from everlasting death, for His glory, then they are for nothing. They
are worthless. By the way…faith here is used in the sense of trusting one’s own
abilities, not necessarily having faith in Christ. God can do spectacular
things through people without them necessarily believing in Him.
III.
Why you can not know or live true love
outside of Christ Jesus?
But, one can
not possess, know, or live true love outside of Christ Jesus. That is because God
in Christ Jesus is the very definition and essence of love.
1 John 4:7-10
(NIV): “7Dear
friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves
has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is
love. 9This is how
God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the
world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God does not love us for what we have done, but loves us in
spite of who we are. He loves you and me, because Christ is inside of us.
Let’s put
Jesus to the love test. Open up your bulletins to 1 Corinthians and every time
we see the word love we’ll put Jesus name in its place.
“If I speak in the tongues
of men and of angels, but have not Jesus, I am only a resounding gong or a
clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries
and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not
Jesus, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body
to the flames, but have not Jesus, I gain nothing.
“Jesus is
patient, Jesus is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, Christ is not
proud. He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered,
[Because of Christ dying for you and giving you faith at your
baptism,] “Jesus keeps no record of
wrongs. Christ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Jesus
Christ always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
“Christ
Jesus never, ever fails….And now these three remain: faith, hope and Jesus. But
the greatest of these is Jesus.”
Without faith
in Christ, one can not know Him as their true Hope. Faith and hope mean nothing
without Jesus’ on-going and continuing acts of love. You are being loved by Him
right now with this message. You will be shown His tangible love; you will
taste His love in a few moments by eating His true loving body and drinking His
real loving blood…to assure you, you have His love inside of you. That
assurance is need so that when we reject the hate and allow His love to work in
you and me, then, and only then, can we can truly love.
And
this love is the greatest because we take Christ to others to love them for His
glory.
IV.
How can I outwardly better show Jesus’
love living inside of me?
So how can we
outwardly better show Jesus’ love living inside of us? Look at verse 11-12: “When I was a child, I talked like a
child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I
put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;
then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,
even as I am fully known.”
In
the Greek…the word translated as “child” is the one describing an infant. The
result of knowing, learning, and living love is a maturity of faith in Christ
that tells others of the true Hope.
Think
of it this way: there’s a sharp contrast between the way an infant looks at the
world and the ways adults do. Ask a child sometimes how a car operates, compare
that to an adult, and then to an auto mechanic. The more we know about God’s
love by studying Scripture and meditating on His Word, the more clearly we see
that love in our lives…like a dirty mirror being cleaned up. And the more mature
we are in our faith, the more likely we are to share God’s love in Christ Jesus
with others.
So what is
Jesus asking us to do? Speak and live true love in our everyday life,
personally and as a congregation.
I know it’s a
week before Valentine’s Day. So, on behalf of Christ Lutheran, I would like to
be the first to give you a Valentine’s Day Card. You were given it this morning
on the way in…go ahead now open it. I want to thank Berta for making these
cards.
The card is
divided into two parts: the first is “How
I can better see Christ Jesus’ love living inside of me.”
Faith
Maturity Checklist:
(Mark “Y” for
Yes and “N” for No)
_____ Did I
pray today? Did I pray for others? Did I
pray for others who don’t
believe in Christ?
Did
I thank Jesus for all the ways He shows His love to me?
_____ Did I
meditate on God’s Word today?
Did
I choose a few verses of Scripture to read and think about?
_____ Did I
confess my unloving actions to Jesus today?
Where
didn’t I think, speak, or show God’s love as expressed in 1
Corinthians
13?
_____ Do I
really believe God’s love, through Christ Jesus, has forgiven my sin?
_____ Have I
thought about ways to apply God’s Word to my life today?
The second is “How I can outwardly better show Jesus’ love living
inside of me”
Showing Love
Checklist:
(Mark “Y” for
Yes and “N” for No)
_____Is there
someone I know who doesn’t have Christ’s love inside of them?
Where
will this person be after he/she dies?
What
can I do to speak and show God’s love to them?
List
people, pray then act in love.
_____Are
there ways we, at Christ Lutheran, can show God’s love to those
don’t
believe in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior? How can we speak His love and
show it in our South Shore Communities?
List
possible ways you can help CLC love our South Shore Communities, pray then act
in love.
If we shut
down CLC today would Scituate and the other South Shore Communities miss us?
How much impact are we, as a congregation, having in our communities right now?
How much are we, as a congregation, showing them God’s love?
Reaching out
to our community is an important component to our vision statement as a congregation.
What difference can we make in our South Shore communities? If you don’t know,
our vision statement has a few ideas. Please read, review it, and then show
your acts of love.
The point is
we begin to grow spiritually and numerically when we take responsibility for
bringing someone to faith or back into the faith, and for their spiritual growth.
Why is Jesus
asking us to show His love? So more may know and trust in Him as the only true
love, so they have that love and can be loved for eternity. That way they can experience
love’s everlasting perfection in the life to come when all will be complete.
V.
Conclusion…Petra lyrics
Bob Hartman
from the band Petra penned the following words over 20 years ago based on 1
Corinthians 13. I would like to share these words with you as I close today’s
sermon.
Love is
patient, love is kind
No eyes of envy, true love is blind
Love is humble, it knows no pride
No selfish motive hidden inside
Love is gentle, makes no demands
Despite all wrong, true love still stands
Love is holy, love is pure
It lasts forever, it will endure
Love is loyal, believes the best
It loves the truth, love stands the test
Love is God sent in His Son
Love forgives all we have done
In this world where hatred seems to grow
True love goes against the flow
And becomes so hard to show
In this world where push turns to shove
We have strength to rise above
Through the power of His love
Lord, we need to know the power of Your love
Love knows
when to let go
Love knows when to say no
Love grows in the light of the Son
And love shows the world that the Son of Love has come.
Amen.