“Love – the Greatest of all”
February 10, 2013
1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, 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 do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 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 the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a 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.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
This coming week is a pretty significant week of love at our house. First, we will celebrate Bob’s 92nd Birthday, then Valentine’s Day is the anniversary of Julie’s and my engagement 41 years ago, then on Saturday we are having the “Wilden Family Celebration”. We weren’t able to have a Christmas party this year because everyone was so busy, so we decided to have a party this week instead. It’s just another way to say “We CARE about one another. We’re family.”
So it is a week of love. I like that. I like the fact that Valentine’s Day comes in February. Where I great up in the cold North Country of Minnesota, February was a bitter cold month. We couldn’t get outside much and play, so we got pretty tired of being cooped up in the house. The days were short and the nights were long. Christmas was a distant memory. The lights and colors of Christmas were long gone. We were getting a strong dose of ‘Spring Fever’! Then along came Valentine’s Day! It kind of saved the day. We decorated with red hearts and baked cookies for parties and planned who that special someone would be that we gave our best valentine to.
Have you noticed that our year is broken up with celebrations of love? Valentine’s Day starts it, then comes Easter – which is a celebration of love for God, then Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and July Fourth, the celebration of love for Country. Thanksgiving Day is a celebration of God’s love for us expressed in how He has blessed us, then comes Christmas, the Celebration of God coming down to Earth to provide salvation for us. You can throw in Memorial Day and Labor Day and a few that I may have missed – but to me, they are celebrations of love. Why do you think that is so important? I’ll tell you. We are created to be loved and love. Some theologians think that God made man because He needs a special creation on which to bestow His love. I’m not sure I agree with that entirely, but I do believe we were created with this huge need to be loved. We all need love, don’t we? Sometimes we think we are loners or don’t need anyone else – but truth be told – living without love is an unhappy way to live. In fact, life in not worth living for many people without love.
Now, I am not saying you have to be in a romantic relationship to be happy. Some people find fulfillment in expressing their love to God and serving others. Some people substitute their job or a hobby or sport or some other thing for a romantic love. But bottom line is that we were created to be loved. God made us this way. God made us to have a deep need; a deep yearning; a deep desire to be loved. And the Good News is that we are. The greatest love story of all is that God loves you. The best known and best loved Scripture in the Bible is,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Can you imagine loving anyone so much that you would give your son for them? I couldn’t. I don’t love anyone so much I would sacrifice my son for them. I love my son. I love my daughter. And God loved His Son, too. And as horrible as it sounds to give your child’s life up – I think it was an even greater sacrifice for Jesus to come to Earth and die for us. Yes, He rose from the grave and lives even now with the Father working on our behalf. But the Godly powers He lost; the super natural ability He may have had to sacrifice; the divine attributes that He may have had to give up – we can only speculate on. But I know this – Jesus’ sacrifice of love was far greater that we can even begin to comprehend. Why? Why did He do it? Because He loves you so much.
David prayed,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”
Psalm 139:13-17
And what David says about himself is also true of you. You are wonderfully made. God was there as you were being put together in the womb. God saw your unformed body and He knew about every day you would ever live before even one of them came to be. That shows how great God is. That shows how great He loves you. God created you to love and for you to love Him.
The bible has been called the greatest book ever written. It has been called the greatest love story ever told. It is filled with tender expressions of God’s love. We discover that God created us to love and to dwell in joy and peace. He made us to work along with Him, Psalm 8:6 says. We were created to be His partners and to manage the creation with Him. The bible tells us that God takes delight in us. He calls us His ‘glorious ones’ (Ps 16:3). David says that even at night God instructs us. He says,
“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11
God wants to give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed. (Ps 20:4) He gives us songs in the night (Ps 42:8) and makes us to drink from His ‘River of Delights’ (Ps 36:8). He shields us from danger and shines his love and blessings on us. He promises to withhold no good thing from us. (Ps 84:11).
Can you have any doubt that God loves you? As much as any mother loves her child – God loves you more. As much as any groom loves his bride – God loves you more. Think about whom you love the most in your life – God loves you more. Do you love someone so much you would take a bullet for them? Jesus loves you so much that He took a cross for you. You are loved.
When you really love someone – what do you do? You begin to make plans for them, don’t you? As that parent lovingly gazes at that newborn in the crib they begin to dream big dreams for them. Newlyweds sip coffee and plan on how to build their dream home together. Middle age couples plan their retirement years. When you love someone – you have great plans for them. God says,
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
God has plans for you. God has wonderful, fantastic, awesome plans for you! I don’t think He has revealed the best ones yet. But He has revealed enough to give us a glimpse of what He has in mind. I’ll talk about that in a minute – but I want you to understand the Scripture we just read. It says that God has plans for us in a number of ways. First, he plans to prosper those He loves or has a loving relationship with. He promises not to harm us. He knows our faults and failings. He loves us anyway.
He plans to give us hope. That is so important. Hope is a ‘trusting, expectation of coming blessings’. God wants us to live our lives with an expectation of better things to come. God wants us to daily wake up – not gloomy and depressed; not afraid of bad things to come; not just dragging through the day – but full of hope. He wants us to live with expectancy; with a heart of hope.
Then that Scripture promises us a future – and what a future it is! I remember when my beautiful fiancé and I planned our future. How many kids; where would we take our first church; what we wanted to do with our lives; wondering what the future held for us. The bible says that God not only plans on giving us a hope – but a future. Real love plans for the future.
I don’t know what our future with Jesus is going to be like – but I can get a taste of it. David gives us a glimpse. He says,
“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90:14
“My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts,” Isaiah 65:14
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.” Isaiah 65:17-19
I don’t know what heaven will be like, but the Bible says,
“But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
We can’t imagine the things that God has prepared for us – but the Holy Spirit gives us an idea, the next verse says. We can get a taste. We can get a little glimpse. We know we will sing for joy. We will be glad all our days. We won’t remember all the bad stuff of the past. We will live in an eternal state of delight.
I used to tell the kids in our Christian School, when I talked about heaven, “imagine the best day of your life – maybe it was winning a contest or getting an award or Christmas day.” (for adults it may have been your wedding day.) Remember that happiest moment of your life and imagine if you could stretch it our forever and ever. That is just a taste of what Heaven is gonna be like.”
God loves you so much and He has such wonderful plans for you. Wouldn’t you like to see those plans come to fruition?
One of the tenderest expressions of love that Jesus did was on the mountain side looking down over the sinful city of Jerusalem. You need to understand that Jerusalem was God’s city; God’s home on earth. It was for His people and it will one day, again, be for His people. But in Jesus’ day it had gone far astray. Jesus knew that in a matter of hours a mob in the city would arrest Him, torture Him, and eventually kill Him in the slowest, most agonizing way possible. And yet, as he gazed at this magnificent city He said,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” Luke 13:34
What more tender thought than a mother hen sheltering her chicks under her wings. Jesus said that’s what He wanted to do to His children. In another place He says,
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Can you hear the compassion in His voice and feel His love as you hear Him speak those words? Jesus so desires a loving relationship with you. But any loving relationship takes two willing parties. No matter how badly one desires it – the other one can keep it from happening. We have the power to hinder Almighty God’s will for a loving relationship with us. He has chosen to limit Himself to our free wills. But He has done and is doing everything possible to make that love connection with us. Jesus said,
“‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If any of you hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with you. And you will eat with me.”
Revelation 3:20
What do we do when we want to connect with someone? We eat! We have Easter Dinner, Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Dinner – not to mention birthdays. Jesus is talking of a loving, intimate dinner with us. I remember those times Julie and I went out on a date so long ago. Dinner was usually a part of it. Whether it was a picnic or a fancy restaurant dinner - the food didn’t really matter. Being together was what was really important.
Jesus longs for us to hear Him; to see Him reaching out to us. And when we do – to open the door to our hearts and allow Him in.
So how do we do that? Have you ever gotten into a fight with someone you cared about? Maybe words were said that were hurtful. How was that relationship restored? By someone apologizing – then forgiveness and restoration followed. The Bible says,
“ But God is faithful and fair. If we admit that we have sinned, he will forgive us our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure.” 1 John 1:9NIRV
God loves us. He has wonderful plans for our lives. But before we realize that love and those plans – we have to enter into a loving relationship with Him. We do that by praying a prayer like this,
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for loving me. Thank you for having wonderful plans for me and wanting me to spend eternity with you. Please forgive me for rebelling against you. Forgive me for leaving You and doing my own thing and going my own way. From now on, with Your help, I will live for You. Cleanse my heart and guide my actions. Lead me to Eternal Life with You.
In Jesus name,
SONG
