FOLLOWING THE WAY OF LOVE
CORINTHIANS 13:1-3
What is your greatest aspiration in life? Some of you would answer "to be successful." Others of you would answer "happiness." Others of you would answer "to feel no pain." Some of you are looking for recognition. How you answer that question determines your life’s principal aspiration. Even though some of you may not know it, everybody has one. Your aspiration in life is what guides your decisions each and every day.
ASPIRATION = A STRONG DESIRE TO ACHIEVE SOMETHING HIGH
OR GREAT:
For example, if my aspiration in life is having fun, then when I get two invitations on the same night, I decide which one I will attend by deciding which one will be more fun. If my aspiration in life is security, the guiding factor of my decision will be which one is safest. If my aspiration in life is comfort, then I will choose the one that is easiest. If my aspiration in life is recognition then I will seek to do those things in life that will bring me the most recognition.
What does our passage of scripture teach us about our aspiration in life? It says that our aspiration in life should be love. Read with me I Corinthians 14:1, "Follow the way of love . . . "Why does God tell us that our greatest aspiration should be love? That will be the question we will answer in the next few weeks. We are beginning a series on love tonight.
I. LOVE SHOULD BE OUR ASPIRATION IN LIFE BECAUSE OF ITS PRIORITY OR IT’S IMPORTANCE.
1. Without love, all that I do is useless.
Notice again verse one of chapter 13, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." Paul says that words without love are empty. Words without love are like a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.
The world is impressed by great communicators. God is not impressed by great communicators, because He says that words without love are nothing. The Corinthians were impressed with their ability to communicate. They said we speak with the tongues of men and angels. God wanted them to know that they were majoring on the minors.
Have you ever heard someone say this? "We are not communicating in our home." Have they ever thought the reason they are not communicating is because they are no longer speaking in loving ways? People always respond to words spoken in love. We resent and reject unloving words.
Ephesians 4:15 say, "Speak the truth in love . . . ."
2. Without love, all that I know is meaningless.
Verse 2a says, "If I have the gift of prophecy, and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge . . . but have not love I am nothing." Paul says it is possible to have honorary membership in honor societies galore and a ton of degrees, but it does not matter if you do not have love. You can be a walking Bible commentary and have the entire Bible memorized but it will not matter one iota if you do not have love.
In I Corinthians 8:1 the Bible says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds
up . . . . " Paul says it is better to have a right heart than to have a right head.
We are in a knowledge explosion in our world today. I read the other day that right now we only have 3% of the knowledge that will be available in the world in the year 2010. We are all amazed at the knowledge that is at our finger tips every day. And yet the world has never known tension more prevalent between nations, between races, between levels of society. You see, the world is not in need of more knowledge. It needs more love. Without love, I am ineffective and incomplete.
3. Without love, all that I do is inadequate.
Paul goes on to say, ". . . and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing." There is a misconception that being a Christian involves knowing certain truths and certain doctrines. I hear people say, "Yes, I am a Christian." "How do you know?" "I believe in Jesus." "So does the devil." I don’t care if you believe in Him. I want to know if you love Him and that love relationship causes you to love other people. Christianity is a lifestyle. And it is a lifestyle of love.
Galatians 5:6, ". . . The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
GALATIANS 5:6 KJV
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
NIV 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Some of you need to write that in your diary or your daily calendar. When you get bogged down in your schedule, "The only thing that counts is faith expressed through love." Faith is important; but, faith without love isn’t worth anything.
4. Without love, all that I have is unimportant.
In verse 3a it says, "If I give all I possess to the poor . . . but have not love, I gain nothing." Circle the word "all." He said you can give all that you have; forget about tithing, he said all. You can give all that you have and still not have love. Why? Because you can give through selfish motives. Would you agree that people give out of different motives? Sure! Some people give for prestige. "I will give a million dollars if you name the building after me." Some people give for power. "I will give a million dollars, if you let me sleep in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House." Just because you give does not mean that you gave it out of love. You can
give without love, but you cannot love without giving.
There have been men who have given their wives everything they ever wanted and
are shocked when they are asked for a divorce. Listen, you can give her the biggest diamond ring in the world, but if you do not give her love, you can forget it.
I see parents who give to their children out of guilt. They would much rather have you.
5. Without love, all that I accomplish is insufficient.
In verse 3b it says, "(If I) surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I have gained nothing." What is Paul saying? He is saying that we can rack up an impressive list of achievements. We can be listed in all the Outstanding Whatever books in America and not achieve a thing if we do not practice love. We can even burn ourselves on the altar as a sacrifice of worship but if we do not practice love, then we have done nothing.
Now, if you don’t hear anything else tonight, hear this. The point that Paul
is making in the first three verses is the fact that relationships are more
important than accomplishments. That is worth repeating. Relationships are
more important than accomplishments. You see, success without love is
empty. The world is full of celebrities whose lives are empty. They sought and gained world fame and still there is emptiness.
One day, God will do an audit on your life. When He does, He will not be looking at your accomplishments. He will not be looking at the bottom line of your finances. He will be looking at your relationships to evaluate how you lived.
Let me summarize these verses. God is saying that I can have the eloquence of a great speaker. I can have the intelligence of a genius. I can have the faith of a miracle worker. I can have the generosity of the kindist person in the world. And, I can have the dedication of a martyr but if I do not have love, it does not count.
Let me give you a tip. One of the rules of communication is repetition. When you are trying to make a point, you repeat it enough times for people to finally hear you. Paul is using that method here. He says the same thing from five different angles. He wants us to know that our life is worthless if we do not have love.
After Paul hammers in the point of the priority of love, he introduces the
practice of love.
II. WE SHOULD MAKE LOVE OUR ASPIRATION BY PRACTICING LOVE OR BY GIVING IT.
1 JOHN 3:16-18
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
First, you must define it. I find it very interesting that even though the world uses the word love a lot, very few people know what love is. We have the world saying such things as "Love is a fuzzy feeling." If that is the case, then every time my nose itches, I am in love. Love is a Miller Lite beer. "I love you, man!". Let’s face it. Very few people know what love is.
If you go into the bookstore, you will find hundreds of books on love. How to find love. How to feel loved. How to make love. How to know that you are
loved.
We used to be satisfied with Love Potion Number Nine. Now, if you go into
the bath shoppes there are 42 different varieties of love in a bottle.
Let’s face it, we don’t really know what love is. We say, "I love my wife.
I love my dog. I love my car." and we don’t differentiate between any of
them. We just throw this word out there without understanding what it is.
One preacher said he wanted to look up the definition of love. He went to his Volume L of Compton’s Encyclopedia and there was not one single article on love. It only referred him to sex and emotions. He looked up the word "emotion." In the entire three- page article, love is only mentioned in one sentence. So, he looked up the word "sex." Under the subject of sex, he found 12 different subjects. In the 12 different articles, he found the word "love" in one paragraph of five sentences. After he researched the matter, he thought to himself. That is so true, Americans know a whole lot more about sex than they do about love.
The so-called love songs on the radio are not love songs. They are lust songs. The truth of the matter is, you and I need some lessons on how to love. Most of us really don’t know how to love. That is why we are so dysfunctional in our society. We don’t know how to love. We must learn how to love. I want us to see what the Bible tells us about love.
Look again at verse four, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." Question? What kind of lover are you? I have to be honest with you. If this is what love is, then I am not a very good lover. I need to learn to love better.
We will cover this in more detail during our series; but tonight, I would like to share with you two insights from these verses.
1. Love is an action.
1 JOHN 3:16-18 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
It is not something you feel. It is not something you say. It is something you do. Notice all of the action words here. Love does not just talk. It is not all words. It acts. It’s like the boy who always said to his girlfriend, "Darling, I will die for you." One day she said, "Oh John, you always say that, but you never do anything about it." Love is a demonstration, not an inclination.
Dr. E.V. Hill, one of the most famous Black preachers in America tells the story of his receiving a death threat about something he said in one of his sermons. His wife became aware of the threat and took it very seriously. The next morning, when Dr. E.V. Hill got dressed for work, he came out of the house to go to his car. His car was not there. He could not imagine where his car was. Did someone steal it? Did they take it so they could place a bomb in it? He sat down on the top step of his house. About that time his wife came up driving his car. When she got out of the car, he asked, "Woman, what on earth are you doing." She said, "I was thinking. This community needs you more than it needs me. If they were going to rig that car with a bomb, I wanted to be in it instead of you." E.V. Hill said, "I always thought my wife loved me; but now I understood what love was all about."
Love is an action.
2. Love is a choice.
You choose to love. You choose not to love. You see there is a myth going around that says that love is uncontrollable. This is not true. It is your choice. You choose to love. You choose not to love.
Love is not a feeling. When you don’t feel like love, it is a greater expression of love than when you act in a loving way when you feel like it. Love is getting up in the middle of the night to help a sick kid, when that is the last thing you want to do. Love is being patient with your spouse when he or she is acting like a jerk. Love is giving people what they need, not what they deserve.
Love is an action and a choice.
I read a story about a young mother who was feeling really down about her lot in life. She was feeling trapped in her situation. Her self-esteem was very low. Her feelings about herself began to affect her relationship with her family. She began to nag and fuss at them constantly. "When I finally had the courage to look at myself, I did not like what I saw," she said. "In my tears I cried out to my Lord." And in her quiet time of praying and reading of scripture, the answer came to her in chapter 13 of I Corinthians. She said: "Five words leaped out at me, ‘Without love, I am nothing.’"
She wrote these words all over her house. She put them on her refrigerator. She put them on the bathroom mirror. She put them on the dashboard of her car. She said, "I realized the single most important thing that I could do was to love my family. So I began to live my life by love. I began to run my home by love. It was as transforming as the time I invited Christ into my life. It brought happiness back into my life and home." She made a choice.
Paul tells us that we need to make love the number one objective of our lives. We need to make it our priority and practice. Why? Because of its permanence.
III. WE NEED TO MAKE LOVE OUR ASPIRATION BECAUSE OF ITS PERMANENCE.
Paul says we should make love our number one priority because it is the only thing that will last. Notice verses seven & eight of this chapter, "Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." I know exactly what you are thinking. You are thinking, "My love failed." If that is the case, then you did not have real love in the first place.
The beauty of love is that you can learn lessons of love all over again. You can learn to love someone that you have never loved.
The Bible says that love perseveres. Every other life principle gives up, but love perseveres. There are some who say, "I live for fun." How long does fun last? Others say, "I live for money." How long does money last? Others say, "I live for pleasure." How long does pleasure last? The list could go on. The only thing that will last is love. Love is going to last for eternity.
Look at verse 13, "These things remain: faith, hope and love. But the
greatest of these is love." Why is love greater than faith and hope? Could it be that nothing realy matters if there is no love in it. We all want to be loved and accepted.
Look at these verses found in John 13:34-35, "Jesus said, ‘A commandment I
give you: Love one another! As I have loved you, you must love one another.
All men will know you are my disciples if you love another.’" I want you to
notice that He says "commandment." He is not suggesting. He is commanding
us to love one another. My point is this, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then love as a lifestyle is not an option. It is a commandment.
How are we to love? Jesus said, "As I have loved you." I know exactly what
you are thinking. You are sitting there saying to yourself, "I could never do that. He was perfect. I could never love like Him." You are exactly right. That is why you need Jesus Christ in your life. Because only He can love like that through you.
What am I saying? I am saying that Love is the main thing in life. And the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Life minus love is nothing.
Jesus said, "They will know you are a disciple of mine, if you love one another." You see, the sign of a Christian is not a cross around the neck. It is not a Jesus sign on the rear end of your car. The sign of a Christian is love. How many people know you are a Christian by your lifestyle? To develop love as your life aspiration means you are going to have to take some action steps. I don’t want to hear you say, "Wasn’t that a sweet sermon by the pastor ?" I want you to show love to your fellow man. And by showing love to your fellowman, you show love to God as well.
