LOVE THAT’S OUT OF THIS WORLD
1 Cor. 13:1-13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A man was speeding down a Texas highway, feeling secure in a column of cars all traveling at the same speed. However, as they passed a speed trap, he got nailed with an infrared speed detector and was pulled over.
2. When the officer handed him the citation, the man asked, "Officer, I know I was speeding, but I don't think it's fair - there were plenty of other cars around me who were going just as fast, so why did I get the ticket?"
3. "Have you ever gone fishing where there were lots of fish?" the policeman asked. “Yeah."
4. The officer grinned and added, "Did you ever catch 'em all?"
B. TEXT
1. 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. 2 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. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, 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. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 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 childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor 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. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. NIV1984.
C. THESIS
1. This is a generation that talks a lot about love, but knows less about love than any generation since the time of Christ. It’s amazing how the word ‘love’ has been twisted today. People don’t understand what love is.
2. People think of love as an ocean of emotion and feeling, but love is not a simply a feeling. The Lord commands us to love and you can’t command a feeling.
3. That’s why people fall in and out of love, and write silly songs like, “Please release me let me go; I don’t love you anymore. Poor me, it’s not my fault, to stay together would be a crime!”
4. “Husbands, love your wives.” It’s a command and involves a choice and our conduct.
5. GREEK WORDS (English only has one word – so confusing)
a. EROS. This is romantic love, like a boy has for a girl. This love is just for one person, so you better pick the right one.
JOKE: Herbie said to Melinda, “Will you go out with me?”
Melinda, “No.” Herbie, “Is there someone else?” Melinda, “There’s got to be!”
b. PHILEO – “friendly love.” Philadelphia is the “City of Brotherly Love.” But that’s not what we’re looking at today.
c. AGAPE – “Godlike love.” It’s what the world needs today and will be how the world recognizes that we’re Christians.
6. The title of this message is “Love That’s Out Of This World.” First, let’s look at the fact that…
I. CHRISTIAN EFFORTS EMPTY WITHOUT LOVE (1-3)
A. OUR HEART & ACTIONS MUST BE CONSISTENT
1. Paul lists three of the most lofty Christian attainments:
a. Speaking languages of Heaven itself;
b. Operating in the deepest spiritual gifts of power and insight;
c. Dying as a martyr, burned at the stake for Christ.
2. Yet Paul says, “If you were to achieve these highest attainments, and yet they were not motivated by love for Jesus and for people, they would count for nothing in the sight of God.”
3. This is because God doesn’t look on the outward appearance, but at our hearts!
B. EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO DID THE RIGHT THING FOR THE WRONG MOTIVE
1. ANANIAS & SAPPHIRA. They gave a large sum of money to the church, but it was revealed they didn’t do it for the poor, but for the public praise it would bring them
2. The PHARISEES, who memorized scripture, fasted food, prayed long prayers at the Temple, made sacrifices, tried to keep the commands of God’s Word. But the Lord revealed that their motive was, “Everything they do is done for people to see” Matthew 23:5. It was all for self interest and neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Mt. 23:23).
II. PAUL’S 10 CHARACTERISTICS OF AGAPE LOVE (4-7)
A. STEADFAST LOVE (“love suffers long”)
1. One scripture that describes this says, “Jesus, having loved His own, he loved them unto the end.”
2. True love is long-suffering, patient, and forgives 70 X 7 and keeps on.
B. SERVING LOVE (“it is kind”)
1. Kindness is serving one another. You say, “Well, the person I have in mind doesn’t deserve it.” You’re right; true love serves those who don’t deserve to be served.
2. Jesus Christ said, “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you; bless them that curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you” Luke 6:27-28.
3. Do good, speak well, and pray hard. Find some way to bless your enemies (mow grass, etc.). That’s the kind of love God had for you – agape love!
C. SINCERE LOVE (“it envies not”)
1. If you envy someone, then you don’t love them because they have something you want.
2. I may say that I love you, but if I cringe when you’re praised, if I fear that your gain is my loss, then I don’t sincerely love you.
D. IT IS SELF-EFFACING LOVE (“does not boast, proud ”)
1. Agape love enables you to be humble. You don’t feel the need to promote yourself or belittle others. It doesn’t swagger, it’s not proud. Pride and love don’t live in the same heart.
2. “Only by pride comes contention” Prov. 13:10. Are there contentions in your home? The problem is ego. But true love is self-effacing.
E. IT IS SELF-RESTRAINING (“it is not rude”, V. 5)
1. True love enables you to be courteous. Some people elbow their way in. They don’t know how to say “Please” and “Thank You.”
2. Courtesy is love in the little things. The person who doesn’t love in the little things doesn’t love in the big things. A rude person is an unloving person.
F. IT’S A SELF-DENYING LOVE (“it is not self-seeking”)
1. It doesn’t say, “ME FIRST” and “I KNOW MY RIGHTS!” The person who says those is not speaking from love.
2. When you got saved you lost all your rights. A dead man doesn’t have any rights. You’re crucified with Christ, bought with a price, you’re not your own. Your rights are His rights – you must love who He says to love.
3. Bill Gothard said, “If you teach somebody their rights, you’ll have a revolution; if you teach them their responsibil-ities, you’ll have a revival!”
G. IT’S A SERENE LOVE (“it’s not easily angered”)
1. Do you know anybody whose like a shotgun with a hair trigger? You jiggle them and “BAM!” They blow up everything in sight and then say, “I didn’t mean it” and “I got over it quickly.”
2. Yeah, that’s good. But what about all those dead people lying around? A bad temper. Do you want to see what’s in you? Just get bumped and it will spill out.
3. A bad temper is often the one blot in an otherwise wonderful Christian character.
4. Agape love is a serene love. It’s not easily provoked. A hot temper is a sign we’re not full of love.
H. IS SACRIFICIAL LOVE (“it keeps no record of wrongs”)
1. This is a book-keeping term; love is not a collector of grudges; it’s able to forgive and forget. Many withhold forgive-ness until someone pays the price.
2. Many of us are keeping records of wrongs, keeping IOU’s. Forgive and bury them. Bear the wrong.
I. IT’S A SYMPATHETIC LOVE (“not delight in evil,” Vs. 6)
1. When someone falls into sin, we shouldn’t rejoice, but weep. One of the sins of gossip is that they rejoice in evil. They can’t wait to tell it if it’s bad.
2. Like one gossip said, “I never say anything unless it’s good, and boy is this good!”
3. There’s three golden gates of speaking: a. Is it true? b. Is it necessary to tell it? And c. If you must tell it, ‘Is it kind?’ Love covers over an offence. Let’s be sympathetic – that’s God’s love.
J. IT’S SUFFERING LOVE (“bears, hopes, believes, endures all things”)
1. Loves believes all things, but it’s not gullible. Why does God allow people to suffer? It cost God to make people. When God chose to love, He chose to suffer.
2. Isaiah 63:9 says, “In all their affliction He was afflicted.” How can God suffer? Does a father suffer when his son does wrong? Yes. It’s the same with God.
3. Bible says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit.” We can grieve God. Remember God asked Paul, “Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” When one member of our body suffers, all the body suffers with it.
III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS LOVE
A. IT’S SOMETHING GOD DOES THROUGH YOU
1. It’s one of the “fruit” of the Spirit; it’s what God does through us. You don’t produce this love, you ‘bear’ this kind of love. John 15:1-7, we’re supposed to “bear fruit.” It’s the Vine’s fruit, not yours.
2. Rom. 5:5, “The love of GOD is shed abroad in our hearts.” If you have a neighbor you can’t love DON’T PRAY AND SAY, “Lord, make me to love Shaunda;” but DO PRAY, “Lord, love Shaunda through me.”
B. ABIDE IN CHRIST
1. Abiding in Christ is a process. We don't get there over night. Abiding in Christ is just concentrating on the risen Person of Jesus; His innocence, his humility, His sacrificial and giving nature, His personal care for you, His indwelling
2. “MEDITATE" --
a. 1 Timothy 4:15 -- "meditate upon these things, give yourself wholly to them."
b. Gr. "meletao" -- "to take care of," by implication, "revolve" in the mind.
c. As of a precious jewel, we are to turn truths about Christ over and over in your mind and soul. Contemplate them. Feed on them. Draw the life out (nutrients) of them.
3. ABSORBING CHRIST’S DIVINE LIFE: LIKE EATING
a. We gobble our food down, hardly tasting it. We do the same thing in our spiritual lives; we don't take the time to really absorb God's Word.
b. In contrast, some cultures eat their food for the taste, savoring the flavor. They might chew one mouthful for several minutes -- just to enjoy it!
4. HUMOR. Diet Joke.
a. A group of wealthy businessmen were dining at an expensive restaurant. Bill turn to Sam and casually mentions “Looks to me you are getting a little slimmer.”
b. “I should be!” Replied Sam. “I went on one of those high protein diets. Nothing but expensive meats and cheeses, and I can’t believe it, but in just two weeks I lost three hundred bucks!”
C. WHERE THE RIVER FLOWS, THERE IS LIFE
1. ILLUS. As a pilot flew back from the Middle East, the aircraft flew high over the Egyptian desert where there was nothing but yellow sand and then there came into view the Nile River.
2. On either bank of the river there were broad bands of green vegetation. Wherever the river flowed, there was life. Anywhere else in that great expanse of desert, was only emptiness and death.
3. So it is when if we want to experience the Life of God; we must go where God’s River flows.
4. Jesus said, “He that believes on Me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:38.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. If you took a SOUR orange tree in Florida and grafted in a sweet orange branch, you can get sweet oranges!
2. But suppose you had a sour tree and wanted it to bear sweet oranges. What can you do?
a. You can prune it. Will that make it sweet? No!
b. You can transplant it. “ “ “ “ No!
You just moved the sour tree from one location to another. It’s still sour. That’s like so many sour Christians who transfer from one church to another!
c. You could rename it. You could tie sweet oranges on it. NO! THE NATURE MUST BE CHANGED – YOU NEED GOD’S NATURE GRAFTED INTO YOU!
B. THE CALL
1. All those who know they need a new nature – you can be changed right now!
2. How many of you feel like a sour orange and you want to be changed into a sweet orange? Come forward now. Prayer.
[This message drew on Adrian Rogers’ Fruit of the Spirit series on ‘Love’, especially section 2.]
