LOVE IS: THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY
I CORINTHIANS 13: 1-13
JULY 18, 2004
INTRODUCTION: The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.
John Adams.
Edwin Bliss once said, "The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time."
Tim Hansel, Eating Problems for Breakfast, Word Publishing, 1988, p. 39.
Excellence is to do a common thing is an uncommon way.
Booker T. Washington.
The name Stradivarius is synonymous with fine violins. This is true because Antonius Stradivarius insisted that no instrument constructed in his shop be sold until it was as near perfection as human care and skill could make it. Stradivarius observed, "God needs violins to send His music into the world, and if any violins are defective God’s music will be spoiled." His work philosophy was summed up in one sentence: "Other men will make other violins, but no man shall make a better one."
Our Daily Bread, January 25, 1993.
TRANSITION THOUGHT: All these statements come under one heading: EXCELLENCE! The text Tony read for us today is all about Excellence. Do you believe our God wants us to strive for Excellence, or does He want us to be a people of Mediocrity? Really, does God care at all about how we live and how we act? Can’t we just do our best and leave it at that? Does God really have an expectation about How His People should live? Well, according to our text, God Holy Word, we are instructed to live lives of Excellence and Excellence is defined by LOVE!
THESIS SENTENCE: LOVE IS THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY TO LIVE AND REVEAL OUR GOD!
I. LOVE IS ESSENTIAL (VV. 1-3)
A. Essential love is not a wrong motive!
1. Speaking in the tongues of men and Angels is a reference to the ability to speak to God in an Angelic language. This would be knowing someone’s native language and being able to communicate with them on a very personal level without any language barrier. Without love, even speaking someone’s language means nothing! It is just a bunch of noise! They still can’t hear you!
2. Prophecying is the ability to communicate the truth of God to others. It is the Old Testament understanding of the Prophet, One who spoke for God to the people. It involved knowing what it was God wanted to say, a mystery to others, and then saying it on God’s behalf that all might know God’s will! Without love, even knowing God’s will has no meaning! Even if you have tremendous belief/faith in Jesus, faith that is unshakable, without love, it means nothing!
3. Even if one has no regard for their life or their possessions and is willing to give it all up, without love it doesn’t matter how much money you have given away, how much you tithe and give to missions, and it doesn’t matter if you are willing to lay down your life for the cause, without love….
B. Essential love moves far beyond ability!
1. The Apostle does not negate the abilities of this church nor does he state that these abilities are not valid or worthwhile.
2. What The Apostle is saying is there is a balancing act that must take place within the life of the church, we must all use all our gifts, and we must use them in love and on the basis of love.
C. Essential love creates credibility!
1. Many in life have many gifts but the motive behind using those gifts can undermine not only the gift, but the person. If a doctor only practices to make money and not heal HE has no credibility concerning his gift. If a lawyer only practices law to be seen as a person of influence, but does not care about justice, the gift and the person lose credibility.
2. The same is true of All Christianity, if our faith and practice of following Christ is for any other reason than to return the love He has so freely given, we lose all credibility with our Savior and forfeit eternal life!
ILLUSTRATION: Quotes Topic: Worship
"The one essential condition of human existence is that man should always be able to bow down before something infinitely great. If men are deprived of the infinitely great, they will not go on living and will die of despair. The Infinite and Eternal are as essential for man as the little planet on which he dwells." Fyodor Dostoyevsky Contributed by: Roger Walterhouse
TRUTH: LOVE IS AS ESSENTIAL AS THE VERY AIR WE BREATHE!
QUESTION: HAVE WE BOWED TO THE ESSENTIAL REALITY OF LOVE?
II. TRUTH UNDERSTANDS THAT LOVE IS PRACTICAL (VV. 4-7)
A. Practical Love is Positive (X6 but the appearance of x2)!
1. Love is: patient (vs. 4)
2. Love is: kind (vs. 4)
3. Love always: protects (vs. 7) A more literal translation here would be “Love bears all things.” This is reflected in the KJV. This is the model the Apostle has set forth with his own life. His desire was to not be a stumbling block to those he lead. This is where the NIV comes up with “Protects.” Paul bore all hardship so as to protect his followers from Stumbling. This is to be the model the church follows! We are not to be a stumbling block to our brothers and sisters, for we are to protect them by bearing all things for Christ sake.
4. Love always: trusts (vs. 7) Here again, a more literal translation would be “Love Believes all things.” Pistuo is the Greek verb and it can mean: faith, belief, and trust. This will be in Paul’s concluding remarks. What he is saying here is Love has faith. Love and faith go hand in hand. Love enables us to believe where we have not yet seen and thus…
5. Love always: hopes (vs. 7) Love does not give up but “hopes” for the future in positive terms. This has the incredible power to enable the one who loves to…
6. Love always: perseveres (vs. 7) Love is about staying power. It is about tying a knot in the end of the rope and hanging on. Love does not give up, but it perseveres! This is really were the Apostle started, “Love is patient.”
7. Have you ever seen this kind of love in another? Do others see it in you? The Apostle is speaking here of a real and practical love that is to be lived here and now. These are the positives, but if this hasn’t gotten your attention, he says, lets look at it from a different angle
B. Practical Love is not negative (X8)!
1. Love is not: Envious of others and what they have! This also speaks to jealousy and quarrleling. This is the opposite of love!
2. Love is not: Boastful! It does not Brag!
3. Love is not: Proud. It is not “puffed up” or arrogant. This is the opposite of love.
4. Love is not: rude. The more literal translation of the word is “shameful behavior.” Love does not behave shamefully.
5. Love is not: self-seeking. It doesn’t look for it’s own advantage but to the advantage of another. Others come first when love is in control, NOT SELF!
6. Love is not: Easily ANGERED! THIS ONE HURT! It is not irritable!
7. Love is not: a keeper of wrong. It is not resentful. It doesn’t HOLD A GRUDGE!
8. Love does not: Delight in evil/ injustice. BUT, REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH. Love’s desire is to GO GOD’S WAY. And God’s way is the truth. LOVE PUSHES CHARACTER TO THE POINT OF CHRISTLIKENESS. WHO DO YOU WANT TO LOOK LIKE?! This is in opposition to doing things our way.
C. Practical Love builds unity!
ILLUSTRATION: Fred Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of living for Christ.
-"We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $l,000 bill and laying it on the table-- ’Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’
-But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $l,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ’Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting instead of doing what we want to do. Giving a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home instead of hanging out with our friends. Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at at time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul." http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/faithfulness.htm (modified) Contributed by: Roy Fowler
TRUTH: LOVE MUST BE PRACTICAL FOR IT TO BE EXCELLENT!
QUESTION: IS OUR LOVE PRACTICAL, OR IS IT WAITING FOR THE BIG EXPENSE?
III. LOVE IS PERMENANT (VV. 8-13)
The Apostle has brought us to the highest point of his argument, we have reached the top of the mountain, here we must finally see the truth.
A. PERMENANT LOVE IS SEEING
1. SEEING IS TRUTH: All the Corinthian church held dear and of high esteem would not last.
2. SEEING IS CLARITY: All the “know it alls” will find out what they know will not last.
3. SEEING IS LOOKING: What was thought to be clearly seen was only a poor reflection.
4. SEEING IS WAITING: What was thought to be perfection was only imperfection for Perfection had not yet arrived.
B. PERMENAT LOVE IS GROWING
1. “When I was a child, I thought like a child (vs. 11).”
2. “When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me (vs. 11).”
3. The time has come to grow up into the truth.
C. PERMENAT LOVE IS WHAT REMAINS
1. When faith has become sight;
2. When hope is reality;
3. Love is the foretaste of our ultimate union with God, graciously give to us now and shared with our brothers and sisters. Love is the greatest of the three because it will endure eternally when the love of God is all in all. It is the greatest because it undergirds everything else and gives meaning to an otherwise confusing world. Only when love presides over our common life in the church will all other actions and our spiritual gifts find their rightful place and achieve the purposes for which God has given them to us. LOVE IS ALL THAT REMAINS!
ILLUSTRATION:
TRUTH: LOVE IS THE ONE PERMENANT REALITY OF LIFE THAT NEVER FADES AWAY!
QUESTION: WHAT MARKS OUR LIVES, THE TEMPORARY OR THE ETERNAL?
CONCLUSION: Brian Harbour picks up on this theme in Rising Above the Crowd: "Success means being the best. Excellence means being your best. Success, to many, means being better than everyone else. Excellence means being better tomorrow than you were yesterday. Success means exceeding the achievements of other people. Excellence means matching your practice with your potential."
Paul Borthwick, Leading the Way, Navpress, 1989, p. 64.
Today our God has given us great potential to Love. The potential comes through His Son Jesus Christ. Because He loves us, we can Love others. Because He lives within us, we can exemplify His love. What kind of person do you want to be? Will you be God’s person who exemplifies HIS love to a world starved for Love? Today God calls us to LOVE! WILL YOU LIVE LOVE?
BENEDICTION: 2 CORINTHIANS 13: 14
