LOVE IS THE GREATEST
I COR. 13:1-13
DORN RIDGE FEBRUARY 12, 2012
INTRODUCTION:
I. In a couple of days many will observe Valentine’s Day.
1.) But as Christians our real Valentine’s Day came when God broke through time, and sent His Son into this world to reveal the Love of God to the human race.
2.) As Christians we realize how truly blessed we really are because our God, is Himself the author and Creator of all that is love.
II. Love is in God’s Plan.
1.) “There is a time to love.” (Ecc. 3:8)
2.) Love is greater than faith or hope (vs. 13)
III. The greatest subject in the Bible.
1.) A subject that affects all people.
2.) A subject that has life changing power.
A.) Power to change your attitude.
B.) Power to change your marriage.
C.) Power to change your church.
D.) Power to change your future.
I. GOD’S LOVE FOR US.
-- I John 4:10
1.) The greatest news: God loves us!
A.) God created you for the purpose of loving you.
B.) When God went to the drawing board and designed you He did it with the express intent of loving you and having a relationship with you.
C.) The basic function of your life is to recognize that you are the object of God’s love
2.) The Bible is God’s love letter to mankind.
A.) The Old Testament Scriptures testify to us that God was preparing to send His love to the world through the person of His Son, and our Christ – Jesus.
B.) The Gospels reveal to us that God in fact did send His beloved Son in to this world, and that He demonstrated that love on a cross.
ba.) The verse I just read said that “God loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
ba-1.) On the cross, Jesus fully revealed the Love of God by atoning our sins.
bb.) But the cross was not the end of God’s Love story to man.
bb-1.) On the third day after His death, Jesus rose again so that today He can stand at the right hand of God interceding for us, and acting as an agent of God’s eternal love to us.
C.) Then as we go into the New Testament Epistles and the Book of Revelation God’s love story with us continues.
ca.) Here God tells us how He wants us to live for Him, and gives us the confidence that one day this Love story will be complete when God sends His Son back to this earth to take us to be with Him throughout eternity.
3.) God loved us while we were still sinners.
A.) Rom. 5:8
B.) Are you able to comprehend that?
ba.) It is a very hard thing to digest that God could love us in our sinful and wicked states.
bb.) It is one thing to be able to love us and to accept us in cleaned up states of holiness, when we have become somewhat more holy, good, and Godly.
C.) But at a time when we appeared to God as repulsive, wicked, and evil because of sin and sinfulness, it is hard to understand how that God even then could love and desire us as His own.
ca.) But see, even here our holiness, is not our own, but that which God himself has given to us.
ca-1.) To understand this look back at Israel.
ca-1i.) Lev. 20:8
ca-1ii.) Lev. 22:32
cb.) You see we are holy not because we have cleaned up our act, and got everything right, but because God Himself has declared us to be so.
cb-1.) That declaration comes only through the saving blood of Jesus Christ.
4.) God loved us when we didn’t love Him.
A.) I John 4:10
B.) God takes the initiative in loving you.
ba.) God did not wait for you to come to Him.
ba-1.) If He had, then He would still be waiting.
ba-2.) Unholy as we are we could never have made the first move in approaching God.
bb.) He has pursued a relationship with you.
bc.) God has initiated the relationship process.
bc-1.) Through Jesus, God was able to meet His own standards of justice and complete Holiness.
bc-2.) Through Jesus, God was able to offer His own love and forgiveness to us.
bd.) The fact of the matter is that none of us, in and of ourselves, would ever seek God on our own initiative.
bd-1.) Rom. 3:10-12
5.) God’s love sent Jesus to the cross.
A.) John 3:16
B.) Christ loved you enough to die an excruciatingly painful death just so you could have a love relationship with Him.
C.) 1 Jn. 3:16 – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
D.) He died knowing everything about you: everything you’d ever do, every thought you ever had, every blemish and sin was known to Him when He gave His life for you.
6.) We will never be separated from God’s love.
A.) Rom. 8:38-39
B.) That is a love that is more amazing that what our hearts and minds are able to comprehend.
II. GOD’S LOVE IN OUR HEARTS.
-- Rom. 5:5
-- Do you see the picture?
-- He poured out His love into our hearts.
-- I want you to imagine holding a pitcher of water.
-- what happens when you begin to pour that water into a container?
-- It takes the shape of whatever you are pouring it into.
-- It spreads out and fills every space regardless the shape of the container.
-- That is the picture of God pouring His love into our hearts. If we will allow it, He will fill every part of our heart and life with His abiding love.
1.) “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.”
2.) God’s love then should flow through us to others.
A.) Jesus loved those who were difficult to love.
B.) His enemies criticized him for loving sinners.
3.) How to recognize the love of Christ in us.
A.) I Cor. 13: 4-8
aa.) When do we most often hear these words quoted? Usually it is during a wedding ceremony especially of two Christians.
ab.) Though there is nothing wrong with the use of these words in a wedding, these are words that describe “God’s Agape Love.”
ab-1.) Certainly God wants us to demonstrate this kind of love in our marriages.
ab-2.) But God also wants us to exhibit this type of love in every relationship we have.
B.) Love is patient and kind.
C.) Love is neither touchy nor angry.
D.) Love is never selfish.
E.) Love is quick to forgive, doesn’t hold grudges.
F.) Love looks for the best in others.
III. GOD’S LOVE IN THE HARVEST.
-- I Cor. 13:1
1.) We are to love lost people.
2.) Jesus calls us to go to a lost world with His love.
A.) Matt. 28:18-20
B.) “You shall be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)
3.) All going and witnessing is ineffective without love.
-- I Cor. 13:1
A.) Preaching without love is just noise.
B.) Witnessing without love is worthless.
C.) Giving without love is a bad investment.
4.) Reaching out in love brings results.
A.) Love reaches more people than logic.
B.) Love reaches more people than tact.
C.) Love reaches more people than training.
D.) Love reaches more people than good arguments.
5.) We must love people as they are.
A.) This is how Jesus loved.
B.) His love can make them what they ought to be.
CONCLUSION:
1.) When you don’t feel loved:
A.) Consider the cross.
B.) The cross proves God’s love for us.
2.) Ask the Christ of the cross to love others through you.
