Love Conquers All
Introduction: Perhaps you've seen this Peanuts cartoon: Linus announces to his cranky sister, Lucy, that he's going to be a doctor. "You, a doctor?" she asks. "How can you be a doctor? You don't love mankind." Linus replies, "I do too love mankind. It's people I can't stand." (Sermon Central ill.)
My brother posted on Facebook that he was confessing his sin. And that he noticed that he didn't have to do it that often but when he did it was usually while being in traffic or after coming out of wal-mart.
Even the very best of people will certainly try your patience and you can bet they won't always show you their best side. But if we have love we can see through the worst in people and hope for the best in them.
The prominent psychiatrist Karl Menninger was featured in an article carried by the "Chicago Daily News" entitled, "Love working miracles for the mentally Ill in Kansas." Dr. Menninger contended that love is one of the most effective cures in healing mental illness. When reporters asked Menninger how it was that 80% of his patients recovered, he replied, the secret is not in electroshock, surgery, group-theraphy, drugs, etc. .. but the real secret is contained in a single word: LOVE! (Sermon central ill.)
Yesterday was Valentines day . . . You may have studied the 4 types of love in the Greek 'Eros' is where we get our word erotic, it means a romantic love; 'Phileo' brotherly love, good friends, it is a chosen love - 'we' choose who to befriend; 'Storge' is family love, a love for our parents, children, and siblings; 'Agape' is made manifest in our acts of charity. In Fact charity means love. It doesn't expect any thing in return. Agape is self-giving not self-serving. The Holy Spirit is the source of Agape love (“But the fruit of the Spirit is love...”-Gal 5:22) Agape love is what all Christians are to manifest in their lives by unconditional acts of goodwill and charity for others.
Paul let's us know that we can speak with angelic tongues, or we can have the gift of prophecy or we can give away all we own, or even sacrifice our bodies, but if we don't have love, we gain nothing.
Scripture: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I Corinthians 13: 4-7
Transition: Here we read what love is, what love is not, and what love can do! Let's see first what love is..
What Love Is
In two adjectives the apostle Paul tells us what love is in verse 4. It is patient and kind. Let's look at the first, In the King James it reads “Charity suffereth long ...” Young's literal translation says “long-suffering”, The NIV says “love is patient...” I like how the Darby Bible Translation blends the two, it reads- “Love has long patience”
Love is indeed patient. Love passively endures. It suffers much for a long time. Love will tolerate many slights, injuries, insults, neglects, tantrums, meltdowns, and accusations. It gives the mind power over angry passions. It passively resists the urge to get angry and even when tried greatly love doesn't retaliate, but suffers long. Love doesn't fly off the handle but waits and wishes for the best in everything and everyone. Love is patient. Paul gives us another adjective to describe love it is 'kind'
Love is kind – It is courteous and obliging. It not only wants to help others but eagerly looks for an opportunity to do so. Doing good or being charitable for others is not a burden or inconvenience, it's a passion. Although never at the cost of compromise, love wants to make others happy – simply for happiness sake. Love is a people-pleaser, not for the sake of being accepted but for the sake of seeing other people pleased. It warms their heart to see happy people. Love is friendly, nice, warmly affectionate, gentle, considerate, thoughtful, & caring. Love is kind. Love prefers other people's satisfaction over it's own.
Transition: So Paul tells us that the two adjectives patient and kind are what love is but then he proceeds to tell us what love is not.
What Love Is Not
Love is not proud. It does not give for the sake of being noticed and acknowledged among others. Love sees others as better than themselves and will show it with charity. Love does not vaunt or puff itself up. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud.
True love prefers others happiness over it's own. And while a reasonable love of self is God-ordained. (After all, how could you 'love your neighbor as yourself' – if you didn't love yourself' ?) but, it's not a license to vanity. Love will not neglect others to benefit itself. Love will do the opposite.
Love is not rude or self-seeking. Love is not unseemly or out of sorts, it doesn't act inappropriately or does anything improper. Love does not love others for reciprocation. I mean it doesn't love so it can be loved. Agape loves whether it is loved back or not, it loves regardless if it is maligned, hated, or ridiculed. You can no more jump off the earth than to escape Agape love. Love shows proper respect to those in authority, and will lower itself to inferiors. Is there any better example than God's own son, who rules the universe, and can tell the stars what to do and they obey him, and yet he was born in a manger, washed the feet of fishermen, allowed men to beat him, mock him, and crucify him – Love is not proud... rude... nor self-seeking.
Love is not easily provoked to anger. Their emotions do not control them, they control their emotions.
Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not categorize nor memorize the faults of others but instead tries to hide them and throw them away. It doesn't report wrongs but forgets them and moves on. Love is not likely to be jealous or suspicious. Spurgeon said “Suspicion is a cruel evil'.
Ill. We have a Lhasa Apso at home and my wife was trying to remove what she feared was a tick and he turned and bit her. He is very suspicious about our intentions even though we would never hurt him we just want to help him – but later he comes around as if by way of apology and lays down at our feet and looks so pitiful you must pet him. Some people are so suspicious of others intentions that they lash out when all someone wants to do is help them. But if they are humble enough to desire our affection after they strike out at us, we must give it to them. “Charity covers a multitude of sins” - I Peter 4:8
Instead of going out hunting for faults, love dismisses them. Noahs son Ham saw his fathers nakedness and told his brothers about his father's shame, (if he didn't hesitate to gloat about his father's shame to his brothers why wouldn't he gloat about it to the whole camp?) But Shem and Japeth walked backwards to put a blanket over their father, so that not only, would they not see his shame but that no one else would either. Love covers the faults of others. What a shame for children to publish the faults of their parents who they are commanded to honor.
“whoever would foster love, covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.” -Pro.17:9
Just as Shem and Japeth were ready to cover their father's offesne, Ham was willing to repeat it.
You see, Love does not rejoice in evil. It won't laugh when a good man falls. It won't rejoice at a brother's failures. Love does not gratify itself for spite's sake. It is the height of malice to take pleasure in the misery of others.
Transition: So now we know what love isn't and by that we get a good idea of what love is. But Paul rounds it off in verse 7 by telling us what love can do.
What Love Can Do
Love is able to conquer all things through faith & perseverance. In verse 7 we read from the King James “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Lets look at two groups: the first and the last; and then the two in between.
First, Love can bear ...and endure all things.
Love can put up with all the slights and offenses of others and find nothing wrong with them. Love endures all things with patience. Those who are filled with love are quicker to see and believe a wrong in themselves than in others. If you are looking for a reason to love someone, you can't count on them to give it to you. They have faults, failures, and imperfections just like you do.
Those who do not love often find the smallest needle of imperfection in a saint's haystack, they might observe 10,000 good qualities about a person but will dismiss them all, if they see just one minor fault. Not even a major one, or even a real one (just a perceived one) and that person is now disqualified in their mind to be worthy of love, because of the smallest short-comings.
Ill. There is an old story of a dead dog that lied in the streets of Jerusalem and everyone that walked by, kicked it, hated it, made sport with it, threw rocks with it, laughed at its diseased rotting carcass and mocked it for being a filthy mongrel. But one man came by and looked closely and said “Wow! Look at how white his teeth are!” That is how Jesus is! He will find the good wherever he can. If he will leave the 99 sheep to find the 1 lost, why wouldn't he forgive the 99 bad qualities in that wayward sheep to find the one good? What a friend we have in Jesus!
Love will endure all kinds of injuries without indulging anger or cherishing revenge. Love endures all slander, gossip, rumors, lies, exile, impunity, prison, torment, & even death – what a fortress love is!
Love bears all things, love endures all things, we now look at the two in the middle of verse 7, sandwhiched nicely between perservence is faith..
Love believes & hopes all things
Love is full of faith. Love believes all things are possible, but it is not naïve, it doesn't believe every false or silly thing that comes its way, but it has faith there is good in the world and believes that the good it sees in every person is true, is real, and is sincere. And it hopes that it's wrong when faced with evidence to the contrary. Love is grieved when the good in someone is disproven. In spite of obvious faults love believes in the best qualities in every person and it hopes for the best outcome in every situation.
Some people only believe bad news – It may be because they can't find any good in themselves, so there can't be any good in others. Some hate themselves so much they find it impossible that anyone could or would love them. The loveless masses prefer bad news to good. Just tell them the minister or a deacon murdered his family and they will believe it at once, but if you tell them the same people helped the poor, feed the hungry, and brought dozens of people to Christ during the last missions trip – and they will yawn.
If Someone is likely to speak ill about their brethren, they have a mean spirit, and you should stay away from them. People who have magnetic personalities are people who love and believe.
Conclusion: I John 4:8 says “whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Our Father is love, so if we replace the word love with My Father we would read:
My Father is very patient and kind.
My Father is not envious, never boastful.
My Father is not arrogant.
My Father is never rude, nor is He self-seeking.
My Father is not quick to take offense.
My Father keeps no score of wrongs.
My Father does not gloat over my sins but is always glad when truth prevails.
My Father knows no limit to His endurance, no end to His trust.
My Father is always hopeful and patient. (sermon central ill)
When something offensive is said, love bears it, when something hurtful is done, love endures it, when betrayal is obvious, love perseveres through it. Love contradicts the impossible and believes and hopes for the good and best in every person and situation. Love bears ALL things, believes ALL things, hopes ALL things, endures ALL things. Love conquers ALL things. It must be the most powerful force in the world! Why don't you try it and see.
