Elevate to the Next Level
“Living in Love”
1 Corinthians 13:1-8a, 13
Watch on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zSXOofAmp8
We’re continuing in our series surrounding this fourth word, “Elevate,” where we’re looking at elevating our transformation (“Exchange”), and our energy to engage, or discipleship, to the next level. Today I’d like to finish our mini-series within this overall series by looking at the last of the three attributes of the Christian faith as outlined by Paul, and that is the attribute of love.
And according to Paul in this verse, love is the greatest of all the qualities we as Christians are to possess.
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV)
Love is not just a word we use in a sentence; rather it is a lifestyle choice, or better yet, a way of life that all believers in Jesus Christ must adhere to.
Let’s begin by looking at Paul’s description of love in what is often referred to as the Bible’s love chapter, or 1 Corinthians 13.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8a NKJV)
Basically, the Lord is saying that without love nothing else matters. He says that it is through our love for others that we show the world just how much we know and love God. Loving God and loving others should then be our number one priority, as proclaimed by Jesus in the Great Commandment.
But what is love? This is the question that seems to dominate the airways, and that’s because the word “love” has been misunderstood and way over used. We use the word love for just about everything and anything.
We talk about our love for food. “I love BBQ, or Bacon, Bacon, and more Bacon.” But that isn’t the type of love God is talking about.
We talk about loving our favorite sport or sports team. “Love them Yankees,” or “Love them Lakers.” “I love watching football or I love playing golf.” Or we talk about loving an activity like hiking, hunting, camping, or fishing. But I doubt that this is what God had in mind.
Or we talk about loving our possessions, like our cars, home, that new dress, or that old pair of jeans. But once again, this is not the type of love that God had in mind.
Basically, we use this term “love” in referring to how we feel about a lot of things.
But besides being misunderstood, the word love has also been misinterpreted. Many today are using the word love in place of the word lust. Men and women say to one another, “I love you,” when they may be saying, “I lust after you.” And in our society of promiscuity and sexual immorality this is more the norm than the exception.
But besides the word being misunderstood and misinterpreted, there’s also a serious misconception about what it means as well.
People today equate love to a feeling. This is seen in a very popular song by the Righteous Brothers, “You’ve Lost ThatLoving Feeling.”
Other people talk about falling in love, where it’s kind-of-like somebody tripped them, or like falling into a ditch, but unfortunately, people also say, just as easily, how they have fallen out of love. Talk about being fickle.
Love for many in our society is an ocean of emotion. (Now, that’s something that should go on a Hallmark card.) And yet, while love does create feelings, love itself is not a feeling. Instead, love is a choice. We choose to love, otherwise we’ll be known as hypocrites. Now, if love is strictly an emotion, then today we can be in love, and tomorrow out of it.
However, love being a choice is how the Apostle Paul sees it.
“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” (Colossians 3:14 NKJV)
What does it mean to “put on?”
In his letters to both the church in Rome and in Galatia, the Apostle Paul also used this same terminology saying that we are to “put on Christ” (Romans 13:14, Galatians 3:27).
What this means is that the same choice we made to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, is the same choice we make to love.
To put on Christ, and to put on love, is like getting dressed. It means to clothe oneself in. Therefore, we cloth ourselves in love. Every morning, we have a choice as to what we’re going to wear, or whether we’re going to get dressed for work, or stay home in our pajamas. So, we can choose to put on love or not.
And so, love is a choice.
When I was proposing to Michaela, it was in the restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. I was on the outside ring that stood still, while the inside ring, where Michaela was sitting was moving. Well, soon I was finding myself moving away from her and to the next table. Talk about being in an awkward situation. Now, I’m sure she was mulling over the choice. But the woman at the next table was starting to get little nervous.
The Bible also talks about love being more that merely words we speak, it’s also communicated through our actions.
The Apostle John said, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18 NKJV)
Love isn’t something we just talk about, it’s more than merely a feeling, it’s more than just a thought we may have. Love is something we put into action every single day. And so, love is then more than a lifestyle; love is a way of life.
Now, the Bible speaks about our need to “love one another.” In fact, it’s this love that defines us as Christians and demonstrates our love for God.
This is seen in the Great Commandment. When Jesus was asked which commandment was greatest, He quoted two. The first is our love for God.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37 NKJV)
But then Jesus gave us a second commandment and said it was like the first saying, “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:39 NKJV)
By saying that the second is “like” the first, Jesus is saying that the way we show our love for God is by loving one another. You see, while we can’t physically give God a loving embrace, we can give a loving embrace to others and thereby show God how much we love Him.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there, which is something we often do. He went on to say in verse 40 that the whole of the law and what the prophets had to say hung upon these two commandments. These two commandments are what everything in life is based upon.
And I believe that to make sure this message isn’t lost in translation Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34 NKJV)
This is the very heart of what love is all about. Therefore, “We are to show God our love for Him through loving others with that exact same love God loves us with.”
Now, what we’ve seen so far is that love is both a choice and an action.
What I’d like to do now is to give some practical ways by which we can show this love, or work it out, so to say, in our daily lives. It’s where love becomes a way of life.
Love Unconditionally
One of the first things I explain in wedding vows is our need to love, but there are a lot of different definitions surrounding this word love. In the Greek language there are four distinct words for love.
“Eros” – which means sexual passion, it’s where we get our English word, erotica.
“Storge” – which basically means affection. It’s the type of love we display towards family members.
“Philia” – means to be friendly towards. It’s from this Greek word that the city of Philadelphia is named, that is, the city of brotherly love.
“Agape” – which means unconditional. It is the word used in our love for God and His love for us, and it is this sort of love that Jesus used when He gave the Great Commandment.
And so, love does not always mean the same thing. Maybe what I could say is that love is not always what we think it means.
And this is proven out in our society when we use the word. There’s a passionate love, where our emotions go wild. There’s a familial love where we say that blood is thicker than water. There’s also a love for others, sometimes this is described as “brotherly love.”
But when it comes to love that God has for us, and the love He says we are to have for one another, it is found in the Greek word, “Agape.”
And as we have seen, it means an unconditional love, which is a love that gives without any expectation in return, and it places no conditions on another person to give or receive love. It’s a love that isn’t affected by the worthiness or unworthiness of the one who gives or receives it.
It literally describes the love that God has for us as He gave to us Jesus, His Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish (John 3:16).
Agape love is not what we can get from others; rather it is love that we give away freely.
This is also used in other ways, that is, practical ways as brought out by the Apostle Paul.
“Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7 NKJV)
Just as Jesus has loved us and has received us with all our faults, problems and junk, we are to receive, accept, and love others the same way, even those who irritate us, and rub us the wrong way. These people may best be described as God’s heavenly sandpaper. You see, God places them in our lives to smooth us out.
But to love someone unconditionally, is to receive and accept them as Jesus Christ received and accepted us, and truthfully, this isn’t easy, in fact it’s hard. And that’s because in our own power we’re not able to, but we can in and through the power of God. The Apostle Paul said that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
We need Christ’s strength to love people unconditionally.
Further, we need to understand that we’re never going to see eye to eye with anyone, but to love unconditionally doesn’t mean that we have to. Instead, what it mean is that while we may not always agree with them, we can still love them.
The Apostle Paul also gives us another way to practically love someone unconditionally.
“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.” (Romans 12:10 NKJV)
The word here for “kindly affectionate” comes from the Greek word, “Philia.” But how this relates to unconditional love is in our need to give preference to one another.
It means to be committed to each other without any conditions attached. For any relationship to work there needs to be an unconditional love and commitment.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we become a part and member of His body, the church. This is important to understand because unconditional love means committing ourselves to others, being kindly affectionate, and completely devoted, to one another in love.
And so, if we truly love one another with this unconditional love, then we belong to each other.
Now, taking this verse in Romans 12:10 we see another practical way by which we can love one another.
Honor Others
This idea of honoring others, especially those in whom we love, is another word I use in the marriage vows.
To honor is to hold the other person in high esteem. First, because they are one of God’s creations, made in the image and likeness of the Lord God Himself. But also, because they provide what we’re lacking, hence the idea of many members but one body. Can the hand say to the foot, I have no need of you? Just as the hand needs the foot, the foot needs the hand.
The Bible says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Philippians 2:3 NKJV)
But this word honor also carries with it another idea, and that is to honor someone is to help them become everything that God has created for them to be. It’s the simple idea of encouragement.
Knowing that Jesus can return for His church at any time, Paul gives us these instructions.
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV)
Let me just say that a pat on the back, and a “Way to go,” goes a long way, because everyone needs encouragement. In a world that is tearing us down, we need to help build each other up and encourage one another in the Lord.
One way that we do this is by using the gifts and talents given to us by God in serving one another.
“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1 Peter 4:10 NKJV)
The gifts that God has given to us are not just for ourselves to enjoy or to use upon our own pleasure or for our own benefit, but they are to be used for each other, and God does that so that we can help each other, build each other up, and grow in our love for one another.
And so, we are to serve one another out of joy, not obligation. And this is something that I have seen in our church. I’ve seen just how willing everyone is to serve and help each other.
The Bible says, “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice.” (1 Corinthians 12:26 NKJV)
Therefore, it’s to our benefit to honor one another.
Forgive Freely
True love, unconditional love, freely forgives other people’s offenses.
What exactly then is forgiveness? Over the years I have given this definition in my messages, writings, and counseling sessions. The reason I repeat it is because people tend to forget, especially when dealing with the hurts that come with life.
To forgive someone means, “To no longer remember that offense against the person who hurt you.”
Forgiveness has nothing to do with forgetting, because it’s impossible to forget. Instead, forgiveness, like love, is a choice. We choose to no longer remember the offense against the other person.
Remember the Apostle Paul telling us to “put on” several qualities, which again means this is a choice. He said that we need to put on tender mercies, which means love in action, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering.
And then he said, “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” (Colossians 3:13 NKJV)
And then in the very next verse he said that we’re to put on love. So, forgiveness is a choice just like love.
In fact, forgiving others is so important that if we fail to forgive others, then God will not forgive our sins against Him.
Jesus said, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15 NKJV)
When Peter asked Jesus, “How many times do I have to forgive someone, seven times.” Jesus said, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22)
Now He’s not putting the automatic number at 490 times, rather He’s saying, “Forgive them until the job of forgiving is done.”
How will we know when that is? It’s when we think about the other person and what they did, and it no longer eats our guts out.
Further, think about it this way, think about how often we sin against God, “Empire State Building” high. Now think about how many times someone has sinned against you. At the most, maybe as high as a garbage can in comparison.
And now remember, how many times God has forgiven you of your sins against Him (“Empire State Building”). Is it therefore too much to ask to forgive others their sins against us?
So, forgiveness is the third practical way that we can love one another and make love a way of life.
Conclusion
Let me end this message by saying that the most loving thing any of us can do is to tell others about God’s love for them through what Jesus did for us upon the cross. That is the most loving thing that any of us could ever do.
Our love for Jesus Christ should compel us to this very goal.
And so, who are we reaching out to, not only with the love of Jesus, but also with the message of His love? We need to reach out with God’s love to our family and friends, even to those who are our enemies, and in the process be invitational. Let’s start inviting them to church to hear God’s life changing message for them.
In the end this is my prayer for our church, that we will be a church that loves others so much that we’ll do whatever it takes to see them come into that saving knowledge and loving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Let’s therefore be a people who love unconditionally, honors others, and who freely forgives, being those living loving examples of God’s love, and then sharing this love with everyone we can.
