A Picture Of Love

Most of us have a bank account, at least I hope most of us do. But have you ever watched the bank teller to see what they do? Bank tellers have a rather thankless job. All of that monotonous counting, handling those germy dollar bills, and dealing all day with people who are more than likely in a hurry. But of all the skills they need to have, one of them is probably the most important: the ability to identify a counterfeit dollar bill. Bank tellers have to look at a bill and, in a matter of seconds, observe minute details that tell them whether it's real or a forgery.

But did you know that to gain that skill, bank tellers don't go to school to study forgeries. They study the real thing. By thoroughly knowing the details of the original, they can readily pick up on anything that doesn't match it.

Now with that picture in mind let's talk about the love of God. If we are supposed to be people who live in the love of God, we have to know what His love truly is. And since God Himself is love, we have to know His character. But we know counterfeits are out there. Those are the people who may look and sound genuine, but they neither come from nor represent our God who is love. A genuine believer is someone who has been transformed by the love of God and loves as God loves. God takes the real thing seriously - and so should we.

PRAYER

So if we're going to talk about what love looks like, then we need to go to the love chapter of the Bible which is found in 1 Corinthians 13. I have used this passage in probably 90% of the weddings that I have performed.

The apostle Paul wrote this chapter as part of a letter to the Corinthian church. To fully grasp his teaching we have to look at the verse right before chapter 13 begins. Keep in mind, Paul was riding a letter that originally contained no chapters or verses. Inspired by God's Spirit, he was connecting one point to the next in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul wrote about the spiritual gifts and ministries God gives us for the sake of building up the church. He explained how the Holy Spirit gives us diverse gifts and that we need each other just like a body needs all its limbs and organs. We talked about that in detail 2 weeks ago. Then, Paul directed The Corinthian Christians toward what he called “an even better way.”

It might seem like Paul was changing the subject but instead, Paul was connecting his teaching on spiritual gifts with the need for love in all that we do. Love is essential to every aspect of the Christian life. Without love, everything else is empty. If you want to have a significant life, you're not going to find it in your skills, your power, your intellect, or any of the gifts God has given you. In last Sunday’s message I said, “Love is the fulfillment of all of God's laws. It's greater than any spiritual gift you could have.” The only way your life and mine will truly matter is choosing the more excellent way, the way of God's love.

We often hear 1 Corinthians 13 quoted, especially versus 4-7. But in verses 1-3, Paul said it is possible to be theologically right, spiritually gifted, morally immovable, and impressively sacrificial, yet completely miss the point. Look at the actions and spiritual gifts he described in those verses.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – “If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

He mentions speaking in tongues. This was a supernatural spiritual gift God gave only to some. Still, talking in an unknown language is only empty noise without a spirit of love.

Then he mentions prophecy. The Christian with the gift of prophecy received a message from the Holy Spirit specifically for a church, often confronting them with sin and the urgency of repentance. Yet even this meant nothing if the one speaking lacked love.

Paul then mentions knowledge and understanding the deep things of god. Christians with this gift have deep understanding of God's word, continually digging in depth in study and drawing out how to use it in our lives. Yet, apart from love, their intellect is irrelevant.