Champions for Christ Cowboy Church
Message: Love and Relationships- October 9th, 2016
Opening verse: 1 John 4:19 – “We love because he first loved us. “(NIV)
Since the fall of Adam and Eve, there has been a struggle between woman and man, and man and God.
In life, to be loved is one of the most desired human need. Love can cause us to climb mountains, cross seas, and do the unthinkable. When we don’t have love, the same mountains seem unclimbable, seas are uncross able, desserts are so barren and every turn seems to pose a detrimental situation.
Corinth Church
One example of failing love was in the Corinth church. It is a prime example of how we can either exemplify or not exemplify a manner which pleases God. When Paul dictated this letter to the church of Corinth, there were problems with jealousy, divisiveness, sexual immorality, and inferior structure methods. He was trying to bond the church members and show them that love is the way to grow the church along with acting in Christ’s way.
In this section of the book of Corinthians, Paul explains what love is and what it is not.
Let’s review some of these thoughts about love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8;13- New International Version (NIV)
4 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.8 Love never fails…13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love.
Love is patient
– Proverbs 14:29 – “Whoever is patient has great understanding….”
Definition = the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering
Why do we struggle? Some of us are born or taught impatience.
1. We get easily angered or impatient with others.
2. All desire to be prefect and demand perfection from others around us.
3. We are all perfectly imperfect.
4. Perfection exists only in God!
5. We should love our Christians, not our own worldly visions and perfections!
Love is kind
Kindness is characterized by goodwill, friendliness, and tenderness.
Fellowship in the church?
Important to be sensitive to needs, preferences, and pains
-A kind person is ready and able to help others and to do so with sympathy and consideration.
-Godly love will make a person kinder.
-Not Christian-like to be loving and unkind at the same time.
If you are having unkind thoughts and tendencies, Ask the Lord to fill us with His love so that we might be kinder, more forgiving people for His glory.
Love does not envy
Proverbs 14:30 “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones”
• The word envy in Greek means “do not zeal” or “to be heated or to boil over with envy, hatred, or anger.”
o God’s love is selfless, not selfish.
o In contrast to God’s command, the Corinthian believers were ranking some spiritual gifts, as more important than others and envying those who had the “best” gifts.
In chapter 12, Paul points out that the different gifts are meant to serve one another and build up the church.
Not one person has all the gifts.
• Each child of God has at least one.
• Love demands that each gift be used to serve others rather than self.
o When we crave what someone else has rather than being grateful for what God has given, we only hurt ourselves.
Instead of envying others, we are called to love them.
Love does not boast
o Boast means to “brag or point to oneself”
o Should be focused on the loved one, not love itself.
Magnify others, focus on their needs, offer help with no thought of repayment or recognition.
o Paul had many choices to boast but chose not to.
-He worked gratis, or with no salary.
o The actions of the Corinthians are sometimes evident among today’s believers.
Rather than live with kindness and patience,
-many promote division within the church,
-criticize church leaders,
-brag of their enlightened attitude toward sin,
-and bring lawsuits against fellow Christians.
o A Christian who exhibits Godly love will not boast.
o Boasting is unloving and sinful.
o Philippians 2:5- “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus.”
“It does not dishonor others-
o Dishonor means to bring shame or disgrace to them.
o Matter of respect or disrespect.
Ephesians 5:33 – However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
o It should not be demeaning, humiliating, or inappropriate.
Hebrews 13:4- “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. “
o For example, snapping at your spouse in front of others can be dishonorable.
o What other examples of dishonor have you faced in your relationships?
o Remember the greatest honor... Being in relationship with The Most Honorable!
It is not self-seeking
Mark 10:45 - “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
o The Greek phrase “not-seeking” means “does not seek the things of itself.”
Self-focus marked the Corinthian church. Paul wanted these believers to stop focusing on their own needs and preferences and serve God and one another.
This was clearly visible in the church’s structure regarding
• leadership,
• its poor attitude toward Paul,
• its attitude toward legal issues with other Christians (lawsuits),
• its attitude toward the Lord’s Supper (worshipping idols),
• and its attitude toward spiritual gifts (selfishness).
o The corrective means of changing our self-seeking ways is to seek God.
o When the scribes ask Jesus, what is the biggest command of all?
Jesus said “’…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30)
The second [commandment] is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater command greater than these.’” (Mark 12:31).
o Look to Jesus as your living example! There is no self- seeking behavior in Christ!
It is not easily angered
Proverbs 14:29 – “…but the one who is quick-tempered displays folly.”
Persons with a short fuse
-Do you know any?
- How long is your fuse?
Has anger detrimentally affected your relationships before?
o We should learn to tolerate weaknesses in others without expressing anger.
“Above all, Love each other deeply, because Love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8);
o Being hot tempered usually involves making snap judgments, seeking instant vindication, and refusing to grant second chances.
However, true love refuses to jump to conclusions, take revenge, or hastily judge anyone.
• The fact that love is “not easily angered” highlights God’s patient love for the world.
o 2 Peter 3:9 - “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”
o If we are struggling with anger issues, pray that God grant us the type of love that can keep our anger in check.
It keeps no record of wrongs
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us " - (Romans 5:8).
How important is this verse?
How many of us think it possible to love somebody and think well of them and at the same time hold the bad things they may have done in the past against them like a register of unpaid debts?
Jesus Christ provided us some examples of this type of love.
a. On the cross He paid the price for the sins of the entire world.
b. Jesus kept no record of wrongs; rather, He prayed, “Father, forgive them,” from the cross as He died (Luke 23:34).
Refusing to keep a record of wrongs is also a clear expression of God’s love and forgiveness.
Colossians 3:13-14 also ties forgiveness to love: “Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
*Marriages/ Relationships – Don’t relive the past!*
Remember the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."
It always trusts
To trust someone means that you are “ever ready to believe the best” of him or her.
o Leave suspicion out of equation and extend unconditional love.
o A person with God’s type of love will “always trust.”
He will be slow to believe any damaging news concerning the loved one and will always give the benefit of the doubt.
o The loved one may also have a checkered past or be in some other way undeserving of trust, yet true love looks past that and serves the need of you and that individual.
Remember that the feelings of mistrust, cageyness, and suspicion are not In line with Godly love.
Always hopes
• Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
• The Greek word translated “hope” is from elpidzo, meaning “to hope or wait for salvation with joy and full confidence.”
• Used 32 times in the New Testament, this word expresses more than a wish or desire, but a confident belief in the unseen.
• Just as God is called “love” (1 John 4:8), Jesus is called our “hope” (1 Timothy 1:1).
• Hope not only concerns our belief in Christ but describes who He is to us. The hope within us is Christ Himself.
o If He truly lives within us, His hope will be seen in how we treat others.
o Living with such an attitude reflects the way of Christ, leads to holy living, and brings glory to the heavenly Father (Matthew 5:17)
Always perseveres
“If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God” (1 Peter 2:20).
• The Greek word hupomenei carries the idea of “remaining” or “enduring.”
• Love doesn’t quit or give up. Love lasts.
Godly love always perseveres.
• During good times and bad, the love of God’s people endures the challenges of life and remains steadfast.
• There is a persistence to love, even in the tough times.
• In the wedding vows, a husband and wife take each other “for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”
• The basis of this pledge is the fact that love perseveres.
Love never fails
The Greek word translated “fails” in the NIV is related to a verb meaning “to fall.”
o By saying, “Love never fails,” the Bible means that God’s type of love will not fall or falter. It is constant forever.
o As God says in Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
Scripture reveals God’s eternal love for us, a love that never fails.
o God chose us (John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4-5),
o died for us (Romans 5:8), and
o will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5).
• In fact, nothing at all can separate us from God’s eternal love.
o “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).
o Love is not based on whims, feelings, or passing fancies.
Love is rock-solid,
intent on benefitting the one loved, regardless of the cost.
God’s love never fails, and it never ends.
Summary
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love.
o Faith, hope, and Love are all listed boldly in Scriptures.
o Paul reminds us that love is the greatest of these because it has its source in God’s attribute of perfection, which is realized constantly through his grace and mercy.
o Therefore, like faith and hope a believer should love the Lord and do his best to live in his revealed will in his Word.
o All through this earthly life and ministry, the we should live in joyous anticipation of a blessed eternal life with God, in heaven and on a renewed glorified earth.
• Your possessions, status, and power will mean nothing in God’s kingdom, but you will spend eternity with other people.
• Love and if you cannot, learn to love.
Closing Prayer:
Gracious heavenly father, today we ask for guidance to show us what love is and what love is not. We ask you to put your arms around me and help us to be patient, show others honor and love and to squash our selfish ways. Lord, we want to ease our stubborn ways and release others of our self-entitlement. Thank you for loving us in an everlasting way. Thank you for sending Jesus to lead us by example and help us Father God to act in manner which pleases you. Let us love others unselfishly, and let us serve those as Jesus does. We ask for forgiveness for all our sins and to bless us Lord as we submit to your will and plan. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.
