Joe Bedy Central Christian Church
St. Petersburg, Fl 33711
January 16 2002
May I start tonight by giving you a logical conclusion about love, which stems from last week’s discussion on truth.
We have concluded from the scriptures that Christ is the way, the truth, the life and the light. Based on that we know that love is the truth and tells the truth. Because Christ is the truth and if God is love as the scriptures claim and Christ(Truth) is God, than truth has to be love.
Anything less than the truth is not love and lacks God.
Love Rejoices with the Truth - Love rejoices when truth is taught and expressed in a way that reflects the person of Jesus Christ. Love gives joy when truth is the determiner of people’s decisions. Love celebrates whenever truth wins out over distortions of truth. Love recognizes truth as its favorite companion otherwise it would merely become a warm fuzzy affection. Love rejoices with truth because love widens the scope of truth’s lens to include the whole person. Love favors truth because it keeps one honest and complete. Love rejoices in truth because it gives one a balanced look. Love values truth because it supercedes all philosophies with the truth of God’s word. Love values truth because it recognizes that in Christ’s love dwells the secrets of all wisdom and knowledge. Love rejoices in truth because it can reflect more of the whole attributes of God, the Father of law, the Son of love and the Holy Spirit of liberty. Love opens our minds to God’s truth.
Doesn’t Jesus exemplify this with the rich young man in Mark 10:17-31.
You know the story "Good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Listen to: Mark 10:21 And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
It was Jesus love for this man that compelled Him to tell him that he had a stumbling block between him and eternal life and that block was that the rich young man, loved his money more than he loved God.
It is the scriptures that show us what love is as well as what it is not. Tonight a few examples of what love is not and then a few illustrations of what I hope it look like in our lives:
Listen to this letter I came across:
Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie.
P.S., And congratulations on willing the state lottery.
Source Unknown.
We get our best picture of love from the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth in that first letter in Ch 13. Sandwiched right there between 2 chapters on spiritual gifts he says greater than all these gifts you may have been given, if you have them without choosing to love you are:
1. Just a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. V1 You are just a person who makes a lot of noise and all you know, teach and preach, that is all it will ever be-just a lot of noise.
2. If we do not have love, what are we? V2 we are nothing.
3. If we give all we have to the Lord, but we are without love, what do we receive? V3 it profits me nothing.
1 Cor 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Cor 13:2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
1 Cor 13:3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
1 Cor 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
1 Cor 13:5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
1 Cor 13:6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
1 Cor 13:7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Cor 13:8 Love never fails;
Love never fails.
Jerome who translated the bible into Latin said historically of the apostle John, that as he went from assembly to assembly he would simply say, "love one another."
Why? Because, love is the greatest of all the gifts, because love precludes us from sinning against one another. Where there is love there is forbearance for one another.
Churches full of love are full of consensus and unity, full of people seeking to find the source of this wonderful love,churches without love are full of selfish people who want their own way.
Those are the churches that split, that is what causes division, derision and disunity, because we are selfish and we want our own way.
Burger King must have a lot of love, because at Burger king you can have it your way.
4. Love is not Boastful or Arrogant - Love does not demand its own way, its own rights or its own cultural expectations. Love is not overbearing and proud. Love recognizes that freely we have received from God, therefore, freely we should give. Love does not look for ways to grab power, control and authority. Love is not eager to advance one’s position. Love does not lord one’s power over people for the sake of demonstrating authority. Love is not obsessed with control. Love does not try to look good to try to impress others. Love is not rude. Love does not put people down in order to look good. Love is not too proud to admit one’s shortcomings, deficiencies or sins.
It is silence--when your words would hurt.
It is patience--when your neighbor’s curt.
It is deafness--when a scandal flows.
It is thoughtfulness--for other’s woes.
It is promptness--when stern duty calls.
It is courage--when misfortune falls
Charlotte Mortimer, wrote in Reader’s Digest.
The teacher in our adult-education creative-writing class told us to write, "I love you" in 25 words or less, without using the words "I love you." She gave us 15 minutes. A woman in the class spent about ten minutes looking at the ceiling and wriggling in her seat. The last five minutes she wrote frantically, and later read us the results:
"Why, I’ve seen lots worse hairdos than that, honey."
"These cookies are hardly burned at all."
"Cuddle up-I’ll get your feet warm."
Of course from the red neck perspective it might be "Nah Honey you ain’t too fat for that bikini"
Love is a decision and most the time a very risky one.
From C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1960, p.169.
To love at all is to be venerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell.
We must become clearly convinced that love is not some romantic, fiery passion like in the movie Titantic. Love is not the garbage the world tries to shove down our throats and especially corrupts the minds and hearts of our young people. Worldly love is all about me. Godly love is all about others.
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you ’love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."
Our Daily Bread, February 14.
The Greek word agape (love) seems to have been virtually a Christian invention -- a new word for a new thing (apart from about twenty occurrences in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is almost non-existent before the New Testament). Agape draws its meaning directly from the revelation of God in Christ. It is not a form of natural affection, however, intense, but a supernatural fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is a matter of will rather than feeling (for Christians must love even those they dislike -- Matt. 5:44-48). It is the basic element in Christ-likeness.
James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.
I want to close with this story about love a s a decision, now Stan will tell you when I say "in closing" we have about 10 more minutes to go." So bear with me "in LOVE, of course."
While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport I had one of those life-changing experiences that you hear other people talk about. This one occurred a mere 2 feet away from me.
Straining to locate my friend among the passengers deplaning through the jet way, I noticed a man coming toward me carrying 2 bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family.
First he motioned to his youngest son (maybe 6 years old) as he laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, loving hug. As they separated enough to look in each other’s face, I heard the father say, “It’s so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!” His son smiled somewhat shyly & replied softly, “Me, too, Dad!’
Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe 9 or 10) & while cupping his son’s face in his hands said, “You’re already quite the young man. I love you very much, Zach!” They too hugged a most loving, tender hug.
While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps 1 or 1½) was squirming excitedly in her mother’s arms, never once taking her little eyes of the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, “Hi, baby girl!” as he gently took the child from her mother. He quickly kissed her face & then held her close to his chest. The little girl instantly relaxed & laid her head on his shoulder, motionless in pure contentment.
After several moments, he handed his daughter to his oldest son & declared, “I’ve saved the best for last!” & proceeded to give his wife the longest kiss I ever remember seeing. He gazed into her eyes for several seconds & then silently mouthed, “I love you so much!” They stared at each other’s eyes, beaming big smiles at one another, while holding both hands.
For an instant they reminded me of newlyweds, but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn’t possibly be. I puzzled about it for a moment, then realized how totally engrossed I was in the wonderful display of unconditional love not more than an arm’s length away from me.
I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I was invading something sacred, but was amazed to hear my own voice nervously ask, “Wow! How long have you two been married?” “Twelve years,” he replied. “Well then, how long have you been away?” I asked. The man finally turned & looked at me, still beaming his joyous smile. “Two whole day!” he replied.
Two days? I was stunned. By the intensity of the greeting, I had assumed he’d been gone for at least several weeks – if not months. I know my expression betrayed me. I said almost offhandedly, hoping to end my intrusion with some semblance of grace, “I hope my marriage is still that passionate after 12 years.”
The man suddenly stopped smiling. He looked me straight in the eye, & with a forcefulness that burned right into my soul, he told me something that left me a different person. He told me, “Don’t hope, friend… decide!” Then he flashed me his wonderful smile again, shook my hand & said, “God bless!”
With that, he & his family turned & strode away together. I was still watching that man & his family walk out of sight when my friend arrived & asked, “What are you looking at?” Without hesitating, & with a curious sense of certainty, I replied, “My future!”
There is so much that could be said about love. What we need to glean from the scriptures is that love is action, a supernatural act that comes from the grace of God.
Simply understand that God so loved us that He sent His son to die and because He did and we are recipients of that grace, not loving others is not an option we have. We too must love one another, we must love God and we must love our neighbors "the world."
Thomas a’ Kempis knew what the apostle John was talking about when he repeated Jesus’ words to "love one another. " Thomas said:
"Whoever loves much, does much. "
shall we pray
.
