“The Transcendent Truth”
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
John McAurther writes from one of his sermons as an introduction: "Today I want to talk to you about love. Out of a kids’ book, Love is Like a Crayon, Because it Comes in All Colors, I brought you a couple statements from kids. This first statement is from Camille, aged 9. They asked Camille how to get someone to fall in love with you, and here’s what this little 9-year-old said: "Shake your hips and hope for the best." This is from Tammy, aged 10. They asked Tammy about kissing, and she said, "It’s never okay to kiss a boy. They always slobber all over you and that’s why I stopped doing it." And then one more from Bob, 9. They asked Bob if he knew any original love songs. This little 9-year-old boy said, "Yes, I do.” I’m in Love With You Most of the Time, But Don’t Bother Me When I’m With My Friends.’"
I have discovered that love is something you make on occasions and fall into at other times. It’s been known to produce broken hearts and goose bumps, loss of appetite and starry eyes. It’s inspired some to die and others to kill. Love may make the world go ’round, but it certainly causes a lot of confusion in the process.
What are some misconceptions about love?
1. Love is only a feeling.
A lot of you think love is some kind of an emotion. It’s a knot in your stomach, a certain kind of physical feeling that you have. We’re always searching for that feeling. Because some of us think that’s all it is, we talk about falling into love and falling out of love, which basically means we either feel emotion or we don’t feel emotion.
2. Love is uncontrollable.
When people talk about being in love, they say, "I feel giddy. My head’s spinning. I’m weak in my knees." I think back at the songs that were popular when I was growing up in the 60’s.
"Who Put the Ram in the Rama Lama Ding Dong? Who was that man, I’d like to shake his hand, for making my baby fall in love with me?" You know, back then, songs had content. You know what I mean? Well, I don’t know if the ram in the rama lama ding dong makes somebody fall in love with you or not, because it’s more than a feeling. And love is certainly not uncontrollable. If we believe that it’s uncontrollable, that it’s just something that happens to us, then, of course, the result is that we fall into it. It’s something we cannot change. And of course, that’s wrong.
Somebody said that we need a higher quality of love. I believe that. A higher level. And that’s what we’re talking about today. You see, puppy love does not last through the dog days of life. And I want love that’s going to last longer than a two-hour movie or a 250-page novel."
I. The Argument for Love
What are the virtues of love? Why would the Apostle Paul declare that love was the “greatest?” They all three “abide,” so what separates love from faith and hope?
a. Love is enduring
Endurance is the ability or power to bear prolonged exertion, pain, or hardship, the toleration of prolonged suffering or hardship and the survival or persistence of something despite the ravages of time.
1 Corinthians 13:7 “…endureth all things.”
b. Love is enabling
1 Corinthians 13:7 “Beareth all things...”
c. Love is ennobling
1 Corinthians 13:7 “…hopeth all things...”
II. The Analysis of Love
a. This love is a matter of choice
"When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song," tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. "He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, 'Shall I be a teacher or a singer?'
"'Luciano,' my father replied, 'if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.'
"I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair."
Guideposts.
b. This love is a matter of conduct
1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
James 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn't know she was in line for the throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare her for the future, were frustrated because they couldn't motivate her. She just didn't take her studies seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly said, "Then I will be good." The realization that she had inherited this high calling gave her a sense of responsibility that profoundly affected her conduct from then on.
c. This love is a matter of commitment
April 7, 1965, 11 a.m.
Lieut. Gen Grant, General Sheridan says, "If the thing is pressed, I think that Lee will surrender."
Let the thing be pressed.
A. Lincoln
C. Swindoll, Growing Strong, p. 200, 213.
A missionary society wrote to David Livingstone and asked, "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you." Livingstone wrote back, "If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."
Good News Broadcaster, April, 1985, p. 12.
The Bohemian reformer John Hus was a man who believed the Scriptures to be the infallible and supreme authority in all matters. He died at the stake for that belief in Constance, Germany, on his forty-second birthday. As he refused a final plea to renounce his faith, Hus's last words were, "What I taught with my lips, I seal with my blood."
III. The Animation of Love
Love is not transcendent if it is only an abstract theory but if it moves beyond to action there is nothing greater.
a. The sympathy
Every act of love begins with sympathy. Jesus saw the multitudes as “sheep having no shepherd” and He had compassion on them!
A man put up a sign in his yard that read: "Puppies for Sale." Among those who came to inquire was a young boy. "Please, Mister," he said, "I'd like to buy one of your puppies if they don't cost too much." "Well, son, they're $25." The boy looked crushed. "I've only got two dollars and five cents. Could I see them anyway?" "Of course. Maybe we can work something out," said the man. The lad's eyes danced at the sight of those five little balls of fur. "I heard that one has a bad leg," he said. "Yes, I'm afraid she'll be crippled for life." "Well, that's the puppy I want. Could I pay for her a little at a time?" The man responded, "But she'll always have a limp." Smiling bravely, the boy pulled up one pant leg, revealing a brace. "I don't walk good either." Then, looking at the puppy sympathetically, he continued, "I guess she'll need a lot of love and help. I sure did. It's not so easy being crippled." "Here, take her," said the man. "I know you'll give her a good home. And just forget the money."
b. The service
Self-righteous service comes through human effort. True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside.
Self-righteous service is impressed with the "big deal." True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service.
Self-righteous service requires external rewards. True service rests contented in hiddenness.
Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results. True service is free of the need to calculate results.
Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve. True service is indiscriminate in its ministry.
Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims. True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need.
Self-righteous service is temporary. True service is a life-style.
Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive. True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it.
Self-righteous service fractures community. True service, on the other hand, builds community.
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, "The Discipline of Service."
During World War II, England needed to increase its production of coal. Winston Churchill called together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation he asked them to picture in their minds a parade which he knew would be held in Picadilly Circus after the war.
First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea lanes open. Then would come the soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and then gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa. Then would come the pilots who had driven the Luftwaffe from the sky.
Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner's caps. Someone would cry from the crowd, 'And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?' And from ten thousand throats would come the answer, 'We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.'"
Not all the jobs in a church are prominent and glamorous. But it is often the people with their "faces to the coal" who help the church accomplish its mission.
Don McCullough, Waking from the American Dream.
c. The sacrifice
“Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.”
2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
John Henry Jowett.
It is said that Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, once had captured a prince and his family. When they came before him, the monarch asked the prisoner, "What will you give me if I release you?" "The half of my wealth," was his reply. "And if I release your children?" "Everything I possess." "And if I release your wife?" "Your Majesty, I will give myself." Cyrus was so moved by his devotion that he freed them all. As they returned home, the prince said to his wife, "Wasn't Cyrus a handsome man!" With a look of deep love for her husband, she said to him, "I didn't notice. I could only keep my eyes on you- -the one who was willing to give himself for me."
