Love Is... Series

The Importance of Love

Love is the essence of Christianity. “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:3). The cross of Christ has been the defining act of love for nearly two millennia. Jesus said that love for one another is the badge for Christians:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Paul says it as well: “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more…” (Philippians 1:9). “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love…” (Ephesians 3:17).

Loving other people before yourself is a distinctive trait of Christians. I want you to see this morning that love first shatters us, then it captures us, and lastly, it empowers us.

1. Love Shatters Us

I say “Love Shatters Us,” because love chases down rebels. Let me explain. We have been focusing on the “love” chapter for some four weeks. Those who hear this chapter often describe it as inspirational. For if you understand who it was written to… and why it was written… you’ll understand that this “inspirational” chapter is really a bombshell. As a reminder of the first two messages in this series, we said that the first bombshell in the minefield of 1 Corinthians 13 is found in verses one through three.

The bombshell is this: if you are incredibly gifted with all kinds of abilities but lack love, you are nothing. You are lost; you are not a Christian at all. Judas was a great example of someone who seemingly followed Christ, gifted along with the other Disciples, yet Judas lacked love.You cannot look at your gifts as an infallible sign to test whether you are a Christian. Gifts and abilities are not the sign that indicates whether the transforming work of the Spirit has changed your heart.

What is the infallible sign to signify this change? The proof is love (found in verses one through three). For Love loves people for who they are and not what they can bring. This is a defining aspect to the love of God. God loves you not for what you can bring; you have nothing you can give Him.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:34-35)

God’s love for you is not conditioned on what you can bring to Him. Nor does God’s love give up on people: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:7-8).

Everybody in this room wants to be loved not for what you can bring but for who you are. Everybody in this room wants to be loved permanently. You do not want to be a tool. And you want to experience an enduring love. None of us want to experience a temporary love. Again, you want to be loved as you are. And even though this is what we want, we ourselves don’t do this! We’re too weak to do this. We demand and expect love from others, but we ourselves cannot love others to meet our own demands.