Living in Chapter 13 and Loving It (Part 2 of 4)
Rebuilding a Bad Love Report
1 Cor. 13:4-8a
Feb. 11, 2007 FBC, Chester Mike Fogerson, Pastor
Introduction:
A Anyone who has ever had children knows that sometimes an attitude of love is needed when the feeling of love isn’t possible. Because I guarantee that every parent has days when they don’t feel very loving toward their kids – when their kids are making poor decisions, when they’re engaging in actions that hurt themselves or others, when they’re doing those things that just make a parent go nuts. Yet it’s at those times when a parent’s love is the most needed – not a feeling of love, but an attitude of love.
And likewise, we all know that we as human beings do things that make it very difficult for God to feel loving toward us. When we hurt ourselves or we hurt others or we hurt God, love must be hard for God to feel toward us.
But we have a great God. Even in those moments of God’s greatest disappointment with us, God still loves us. Even in those moments, Jesus still overcame death on the cross for us. Sometimes we seem to do everything we can to make ourselves unlovable, but God still loves us.
1 Picture of light, prism, & spectrum
2 Several ingredients that make this kind of love happen.
B Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails 1 Cor 13:4-8 (NASB)
1 Paul gave his readers a tutorial on how to have a love that was worth something (essence of the text in a sentence).
a Believers are to deliberately interact with each other with the loving qualities described in 1 Cor. 13 (essence of the sermon in a sentence).
b I pray you will learn & live what it means to have a good love report with your fellow brothers & sisters in Christ (objective).
2 What quality do you need to work on most this week to help with rebuilding your bad love report? (Probing question).
3 Let’s look at 3 questions that can help us rebuild a bad love report.
I The 1st quality we can identify to help us rebuild a bad love report is patience (take your time & wait) Love is patient...
A There were multiple problems at Corinth.
1 When they gathered at the Lord’s Table, they didn’t wait for the working class to get off work to eat their meal (lovefeast) before communion.
2 When they disagreed they filed lawsuits 1 Cor 6:1-8 (NASB)) against one another instead of working it out.
a Impatient, hasty, responded with thinking, short-tempered, fly off the handle...not how love operates.
b Patience is the normal attitude of love.
B V. 7, love: bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
1 Love pulls this off because love is patient.
a Love waits for people to come around, stop being angry.
b Slow to throw in the towel, throw away relationships, give up on people.
2 Love is willing to invest in the long-term and wait.
C (IL) In marriage counseling I always focus on "no options."
1 Stay the course...
a Not going anywhere
b Love waits!
2 Also works in the dating relationship.
a Your boyfriend/girlfriend, if they love you, they will wait, be patient.
b They will wait for the wedding night, I do...love is patient.
II The 2nd quality is kindness (play nice)
A Have you ever noticed how much of Jesus’ life was spent simply making people happy?
1 A person needs to start with His first miracle, turning water into wine-why?
a Just to make people happy.
b You can view all His ministry this way (miracles, healing, fish/loaves, Lazarus).
2 It’s been said, "The greatest thing a man can do for his heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children."
a It cost NOTHING to be kind to one another.
b You don’t have to wait until tomorrow, do it now.
aa To poor folks, to rich folks, to people just like us.
bb Love is kind! PLAY NICE!!
c Kindness is love in action.
B "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
III The 3rd quality is "get over yourself." is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant
A Paul was writing to a church that was full of SELF.
1 Some people had an inflated sense of self.
a Tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, generosity...big stuff!
b Paul was saying, "Big deal!"
2 Jealousy is a terrible thing: Cain was jealous of his brother, Abel, & killed him!
a How do we react when other Christians receive blessings or benefits that we lack?
b Bragging & being arrogant are different.
aa Bragging is the outward display of self-importance.
bb Arrogance is our inward feelings of self-importance
c Love is humble (humility is love hiding)
d Love doesn’t always have to say "Look at me!" Brag!
aa Look at what I’ve done, given, accomplished, succeeded in!
bb Love does it & shuts up.
B Time’s may interview with the President of Dell Computer.
1 Asked him, "Do you consider yourself..."
a "I’ll let other people consider me."
b Humble! (D.L. Moody, "If your not humble, you’ll stumble."
2 In the Middle Ages, eating humble pie was something people did literally. "Umbles pie" was a meal consisting of the stringy or fatty remains of an animal (from the Latin lubulus, or loin), usually a deer. People who ate it were poor and, thus, humble. By the 16th century, well-to-do people who had gotten too big for their britches were admonished to go out and eat umbles pie. Eventually, "umbles" was replaced by "humble."
Conclusion
A Paul gave his readers a tutorial on how to have a love that was worth something (essence of the text in a sentence).
1 Believers are to deliberately interact with each other with the loving qualities described in 1 Cor. 13 (essence of the sermon in a sentence).
a We’ve looked at 3 qualities that can help us rebuild a bad love report:
aa Patience
bb Kindness
cc Get over yourself/humble
b I pray you will learn & live what it means to have a good love report with your fellow brothers & sisters in Christ (objective).
2 What quality do you need to work on most this week to help with rebuilding your bad love report? (Probing question).
B Roger Rose tells this story: When he was a boy more than 60 years ago, his young brother was fatally injured in a tragic accident. A dirt road ran alongside their house, and only on rare occasions would there be a car on it. But one day as his brother was crossing on his bike, a car came roaring over the hill, and he was run over and killed. Mr. Rose said, "Later, when my dad picked up the mangled, twisted bike, I heard him sob out loud for the first time in my life! He carried it to the barn and placed it in a spot we seldom used. Father’s terrible sorrow eased with the passing of time, but for many years whenever he saw that bike, tears began streaming down his face. Since then I have often prayed, ‘Lord, keep the memory of your death that fresh in me! Every time I partake of your memorial supper, let my heart be stirred as if it occurred only yesterday. Never let the communion service become a mere formality, but always a ten-der and touching experience.’"
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