Sermon on Love
Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 13:1-7: “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. 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 have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 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, and 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 is patient. When you are standing in line at the grocery store; do you wait patiently? Or do you grumble and maybe even shout, “What‘s the hold up?”
Love is kind. Do you take the time to check on your elderly neighbor? Do you drop a discouraged friend a card or are you too busy with your own life?
Love does not envy. Boy, that’s a tough one. When you were little did you ever envy another child’s toy? But now that you are a teenager or an adult, you wouldn’t think of envying, right? Wrong. Everyone struggles with this sin. I know because sometimes, I become jealous when one of my friends gets, that new pair of flares I wanted or comes to school with a cute, new haircut, when I‘m having a “bad hair day“. Let us ask God to help us not to envy.
Love does not boast, it is not proud. Whoa! This is another tough one. I beat you. I am the best. I have earned my way into the most popular clique in school; I deserve to look down on you. I can run the mile in 5 minutes. I am better than you are. I, I, I...
Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking. Honk! Honk! Road Hog! That phrase basically explains what being rude is. Shoving, pushing and using people to gain something out of life is very selfish or self-seeking. I have a hard time with that one also. At home it is always what I want or what will fit into my schedule. Many times I have asked God to help me conquer this enemy.
Love is not easily angered. When someone irritates you, do you calmly walk away; or do you get angry with him or her? It is very hard to control your temper, without your Father’s help.
Love keeps no record of wrongs. This I think is the hardest one to do. When someone hurts you deeply, how can you forgive him or her and forget about it. You can’t. Only God can give you that kind of spirit. I don’t know how people cope in this world without forgiveness. Holding grudges against a person can eat at you like worms and it can even keep you from living a full life. I know, because it happened to me. Someone hurt me deeply a number of times. But I never forgave that person. My grudge kept on building and building. I was miserable for many years. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and asked God to help me to forgive that person. It didn’t happen right away; it took time. But it happened.
The greatest love, is the love that God showed us. I didn’t realize the magnitude of His love until a couple months ago. God the Father didn’t have to send His Son. He could have let us all die eternally. But he gave us a choice when He sent His Son to die for us. Turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:22-24: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to...” some who believe? No, “all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” He not only died for the people that loved Him but He also died for the people that mocked, spit on His face, pressed the crown of thorns into His head and hammered the nails into His hands. The most wonderful concept is that we don’t have to earn Jesus’ gift of eternal life, because it is a gift. Once you understand that, your walk with Christ will be much different. He gives it to you, if you only ask. It doesn’t matter how good you are on this earth, because you won’t be good enough. It’s only by the blood of Jesus that we are saved from eternal death. It doesn’t matter how bad you are because you couldn’t be bad enough. It’s only by the blood of Jesus Christ that you are saved from eternal death. This is a very hard concept to grasp because we don’t believe Salvation is a gift. We think we have to do something.
I was baptized when I was eleven years old. At the time I thought I understood this concept. But I didn’t. From then up to a couple months ago, I tried to earn the free gift of Salvation. At Christmas time do you earn the gifts your family and friends give you? Pretty silly, huh? Then why do we try to earn the free gift of Salvation?
I’m not saying rules are useless. For instance someone rationalizes, “It doesn’t matter if I drink, God can forgive me.” You’re missing the point. God gave us rules because He loves us. God wants us to live a happy fun-filled life. What do you think happened to that person who started drinking? God doesn’t want us to be unhappy and miserable. He gave us rules for a reason.
When I think back to the day Jesus was crucified, I stand in awe of what He did. God turned His back on His Son, because Jesus carried the sins of the world upon Him and sin cannot live in God‘s presence. Turn to Mathew 27:46: “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? -Which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Have you ever felt forsaken, that you didn‘t have any friends, or your best friend forsook you? That is what we did to Jesus. My sin, your sin, caused Jesus the pain of being crucified and the most terrible pain of being separated from His Father. If you don’t remember anything else today, I hope you remember this wonderful message of God’s love. Jesus went through all that pain because He loved you, and me.
A husband told his wife one day that he was going to go ask his boss for a raise. He deserved it, after all. But he was nervous. Very nervous. Not only did the boss offer a raise, but a much bigger raise than the husband expected. When the husband returned home he noticed that the dinner table was exquisitely decorated with the best china, candles, and smells of his favorite dinner drifted from the kitchen. He went into the kitchen, hugged his wife and told her he got the raise. They were both very happy. They sat down and enjoyed a nice dinner together. By the silverware, the husband found a note written in calligraphy. “Congratulations on the raise. I knew you could do it. These things will tell you how much I love you.”
After eating his wife got up to go into the kitchen to get dessert. As she walked out a card slipped from her pocket. The husband reached down and picked it up. Written in beautiful calligraphy were the words. “I’m sorry dear about not getting the raise. These things will tell you how much I love.” The husband then realized that his wife prepared a special meal, a special evening whether or not he succeeded in getting the raise. Her love was unconditional.
God is the same way. God loves us and want to teach us how to love one another. “If I could speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal...if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing.” Love is everything.
