ILL - A man bought a new hearing aid and said it is wonderful. So I said what kind is it? To which he replied, “It is about quarter ‘till 3.”
What I about to say this morning is so important I want you to turn your hearing aid up!!!
Listen carefully!
I hear so many churches say - “we are such a loving church ... hugs ect.
That’s what every church wants to be known for. But what many churches are known for in the community is for being unloving. I hear people say all the time - I used to go to so and so church until someone said ... (something so mean and evil) Or someone did this to me or that.
ILL - Old man to his wife felt a tender moment - “so proud of you - I’m tired of you too”
I want you to hear me this morning.
Sunday we learned that real human value is measured by love. Otherwise “I am nothing!”
In---every Christian there must be…
Loving in Speech v.1
“ In Spirituality v.2
“ In Service v.3
Chapter 12 discusses the gifts given by God to the individuals of the church, to be used as tools to do the work of the church. These gifts, or tools, are worthless without love.
ILL>> If the gifts of the HS are the engine that gets the work of the church done (we are all the working parts), then love is the fuel. A car is dead without gas. Now to stretch this illustration even further, even gasoline is just a liquid without a spark. When was the last time you were on fire for God? Is your fuel tank on empty? God can give you all the love you need if you ask.
Before the New Testament times two words were commonly used for love, Eros and Phileo.
Eros was the name of a Greek god, the son of Apaphrodite the goddess of love and beauty. Eros was also called Cupid by the Romans. The love of Eros was often passionate lust, it was animalistic and sexual in its fervor but it could also be the emotion one feels when looking at a beautiful sunset or a magnificent work of art. Eros was a physical love based purely upon the selfish needs or wants of the one "in love." Eros love always takes, whether it is a pleasure of a kiss or the pleasure of a new car, the benefit is a selfish one. Josh McDowell in his book, "Givers, Takers and Other Kinds of Lovers" defines Eros love as "Love, if." In other words eros love is conditional. It always depends upon something or someone outside of itself to bring it pleasure. If the outside source of pleasure ceases, so does this type of love.
Read 1 John 2:15-16(1 John 2:15 KJV) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(1 John 2:16 KJV) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
How does John describe the love of the world?
The second word for love was the word phileo, it meant a mutual shared love. It was the love of friendship and the love of family. This type of love was based not upon a physical, selfish desire but upon something found within the object loved. This might be a noble quality or a bond of family or shared experiences of life. McDowell calls this love, "Love, Because." This is a love which has a deeper reason for its existence. It shares, respects and cherishes it’s object of love. Yet this word was not strong enough for New Testament believers for even it could cease. Though much stronger than eros, it nevertheless was a love based upon mutual benefit, if the benefit should cease so does the love. Husbands and wives quit loving each other and friends become enemies because something changes and "phileo" love is not strong enough to survive.
The love which Paul writes of and the word which is used in the New Testament to describe it was used in classic Greek for sacrifice, it was the word agape. The writers of the New Testament took it up as their own for it described the love they experienced from God through Jesus’ death for them. He had sacrificed himself and told them to "love one another even as I have loved you." What other word could possibly be adequate except a word for sacrifice. McDowell describes this love as "Love, Period." This love is not based on something external, but internal, for it is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Once I become a child of God, washed from my sin by the shed blood of the lamb, this love abides within me. I cannot manufacture or fake it, for it is as much a part of my new nature as eternal life itself.
This is the love Paul describes in the 13th chapter of Corinthians, it was the love they needed to heal their church and bring them to maturity. Agape is the love we also need to be Christians who can love others as God loved us.
Love is a Choice!!! We can choose love, and by doing so we shape our attitudes. When we do that everything else is affected!!!!!
When we do choose love, that love is revealed by our character.!!
I. A Loving Person has Character. - (What kind of person does Love create
is = does
ill> Forrest Gump - “stupid is as stupid does” ie. Love is what love does
1. v. 4 Charity suffereth long, (Love is patient)
It can endure evil, injury, and provocation, without being filled with resentment, indignation, or revenge. It makes the mind firm, gives it power over the angry passions, - Matthew Henry,
Love waits without complaining, Love never gives up.
Ill> Elderly lady waits for heaven to join her husband but God has her here to pray for her son.
Ill> “If that were my boy I would forget him.” - “If he were your boy I would forget him too but he is my son and I will never forget him”!!!
Ill> Many peopole have asked him “why didn’t God just kill Osoma Bin Ladin?” God is patient, we see evil in the world and we wonder why God dosen’t act. Love is patient. God never allowes little men to make his decisions
2. and is kind;
ILL In medieval times there was thought to be a fearful creature dwelling in caves and crevices called a "basilisk." It could kill people with just one look. Of course, we no longer believe such things, and so our expression is "if looks could kill." Looks cannot kill, but they can often wound. Looks can also heal, encourage, and comfort.
Kindness is Love in action!!! No action - no love!!
Ill> William Penn said “I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow - being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.”
Plan to go out of your way to be kind, to serve, to share Christ!
Do you remember that chant from childhood: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?" It isn’t true. Everyone has sometimes been hurt by words. We are hurt by lying words. We are hurt by unkind words. We are hurt by angry words. Words can hurt us.
Read Luke 10:25-37
Ill> or Wordsworth’s description of human value is this in his work “Tintern Abbey”
That best portion of a good man’s life
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and love
.
II. A Loving Person has Control - (What Love is not (does not do))
1 Cor 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
1 Cor 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
1 Cor 9:26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1 Cor 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
1. charity envieth not; (it is not envious)
It can endure evil, injury, and provocation, without being filled with resentment, indignation, or revenge. It makes the mind firm, gives it power over the angry passions, Matthew Henry,
a. Jealous? Are you displeased at the success of others?
ENVY WILL KILL YOUR LOVE, ATTITUDE, - MAKE YOUR WORDS ANGRY.
(Prov 27:4 KJV) Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
(Acts 13:45 KJV) But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
(Acts 17:5 KJV) But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
b. Is your first reaction love a praise?
The man who keeps busy helping the man below him won’t have time to envy the man above him. -- Henrietta Mears,
Remember the story of Mozart’s life told from the perspective of Antonio Salieri. The play and the film were both called Amadeus. Salieri was the court musician in Vienna. He worked hard at his craft, writing melodies that were nice and choral pieces that were fine and instrumental works that were good. He knew that God had blessed him.
As a young man he had prayed fervently to God, "Let me make music that will glorify you, Father. Help me lift the hearts of people to heaven. Let me serve you through my music."
Then came the boy wonder, the child prodigy, young Mozart. He dazzled the crowds, playing music as if it was second nature to him. Complex melodies came from his dancing fingers. His melodies were complex and fun all at the same time, songs that soared till they seemed to bring heaven right down to earth.
Here’s the catch: Mozart was such an obvious sinner. He was immature, vulgar, and obscene. He made off with the ladies every chance he could get. Salieri grew green with envy. How could life be so unfair. He was the servant of God. Why should Mozart be blessed with such talents? Salieri lived a pious and obedient life. Why should Mozart traffic in all these worldly pleasures and still get ahead? Salieri spent a lifetime of hard and tedious work. Why should it all come so easily for youthful Mozart?
The story continues until Mozart dies a mysterious death. Salieri’s eyes gleam. And in the dramatic climax, Salieri sits in an insane asylum, where he curses God for denying him the kind of talent that blessed young Mozart. Envy lurks on the path of the crushed spirit.
2. Charity vaunteth not itself, (Love does not brag)
Paul suggests something striking in his chapter on love: that the opposite of love is not hate, but pride. ... Paul says two things that love is: patient and kind. Patience implies a hopeful contentment with the present rather than an agitated, proud indignation that I don’t yet have what I think I deserve. Kindness requires that I give of myself rather than expect something of others.
3. Is not puffed up,
ILL>> You can tell who the proud are, when you say something they don’t like they puff up like a blow fish. Pfff (Leon Kilbreth)
3. v5 Doth not behave itself unseemly (It is not rude)
We ought to be polite. Unfortunately, there is so much today that can be called unlovely religion. But love does not behave itself unseemly. J Vernon McGee
-- Bill Bright, founder and president, Campus Crusade for Christ. Men of Integrity
I know two law partners who used to hate each other.
When one became a Christian, he asked me, "Now that I’m a Christian, what should I do?"
I said, "Why not ask him to forgive you and tell him you love him?"
"I could never do that!" he said, "because I don’t love him."
That lawyer had put his finger squarely on one of the great challenges of the Christian life: On the one hand, everybody wants to be loved, but on the other hand, many people never experience it. That’s why we need to learn to love as Christ loves--unconditionally. We can’t manufacture that kind of love. It only comes from God; and it’s a love that draws people to Christ. >>I prayed with that attorney. The next morning, he told his partner, "I’ve become a Christian, and I want to ask you to forgive me for all I’ve done to hurt you, and to tell you that I love you."
The partner was so surprised and convicted that he, too, asked for forgiveness and said, "I would like to become a Christian. Would you tell me how?"
See what love can do?
5. Seeketh not her own (it is not self-serving,) unselfish
Jesus never attacked the sinner. He simply said, "I forgive you." Meanwhile, he attacked the self-righteous with a vengeance, because he knew that until they felt guilty, they couldn’t be forgiven.
A ship on her way to Australia met with a very terrible storm and sprang a leak. As evils seldom come alone, a little while after another tempest assailed her. There happened to be a gentleman of the most nervous temperament aboard, whose garrulous tongue and important air began to alarm all the passengers. When the storm came on, the captain, who knew what mischief might be done by a suspicious and talkative individual, managed to get near him, intending to quiet him. The gentleman, addressing the captain, said in a tone of alarm, "What an awful storm! I am afraid we shall go to the bottom, for I hear the leak is very bad."
"Well," said the captain, "as you seem to know it and perhaps the others do not, you had better not mention it to anyone, lest you should frighten the passengers or dispirit my men. Perhaps as it is a very bad case, you would lend us your valuable help, and then we may possibly get through it. Would you have the goodness to stand here and hold hard on this rope? Do not leave it, but pull as hard as ever you can till I tell you to let it go."
So our friend clenched his teeth, and put his feet firmly down, and kept on holding this rope with all his might, till he earnestly wished for a substitute. The storm abated, the ship was safe, and our friend was released from his rope-holding. He expected a deputation would bring him the thanks of all the passengers, but they were evidently unconscious of his merits, and even the captain did not seem very grateful.
So our hero, in a roundabout style, hinted that such valuable services as his, having saved the vessel, ought to be rewarded at least with some few words of acknowledgment. He was shocked to hear the captain say, "What? You think you saved the vessel? Why, I gave you that rope to hold to keep you busy, that you might not be in such a feverish state of alarm."
This becomes a picture of how much self-righteous men contribute to their own salvation apart from Christ. They think they can certainly save themselves, and there they stand holding the rope with their clenched teeth and their feet tightly fixed, while they are really doing no more than our friend, who was similarly fooled. If ever you get to heaven, you will find that everything you did toward your own salvation, apart from the Lord Jesus, was about as useful as holding the rope; that, in fact, the safety of the soul lies somewhere else and not in you; and that what is wanted with you is just to get out of the way and let Christ come in and magnify his grace.
-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
6. Is not easily provoked, (it is not easily angered) selfcontrol
Titus 3:3For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Two men had lived together as congenial neighbors for years. One
day they were driving to town in a wagon. They talked of World War I.
The American insisted that the Germans were completely beaten. The
other man, who was German-born, declared he was mistaken. The argument
grew heated and bitter. Finally the American said, "I know one
American that can whip one German." The team was stopped and they
began fighting. Finally the German knocked the other man down; but as
they fought the American got the finger of the German in his mouth and
was chewing it off. He refused to let go. The German found a piece of
brick and beat the head of his antagonist into jelly, and then dragged
his body out into a pond. He was conscience-stricken. He went on to
town and confessed to the officers what he had done. He, as well as
the other man, was a highly respected citizen. The officer insisted
that the man had not done what he declared he had. But he took them to
the pond and waded in and dragged the body out. A gruesome sight! He
just had one thing to say, "Oh, I murdered my neighbor, I murdered my
neighbor." This he continued to do until the time when he was
electrocuted.
Sin will cause one to do what cannot be undone. We had better get
rid of sin or it will ruin us. -- ELBERT DODD.
7. Thinketh no evil; (or resentful.)
In his book, Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal Artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.
8. v.6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, (It is not glad about injustice,)
Love is blind?? - IE Looks for the good in people -
What brings joy to your heart? Bad or good? Which is it? If you hear something bad about someone who is your enemy or whom you do not like, do you rejoice? Or does it make you sad to see your enemy suffer?
ILL Turkey will pick a spot on another until it is dead!!!
9. But rejoiceth in the truth;
What brings joy to your heart? Bad or good? Which is it? If you hear something bad about someone who is your enemy or whom you do not like, do you rejoice? Or does it make you sad to see your enemy suffer?
III. A Loving Person has Consistency (What Love covers)
(1 Cor 9:22 KJV) To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
1. v.7 Bears all things, 1 Pet 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
a. Love conceals what is displeasing in another
b. Dosen’t cover up mistakes just doesn’t react negatively to them. Our own too.
c. ILL> Mark Twain said, “ If I were to kick the person responsible for most of my troubles, I wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week!”
2. Believes all things, -- points to the quality of
a. Seeing the best in others!
b. Understanding circumstances.
c. Love always gives the benefit of the doubt!
d. Not always critical! Do you catch yourself criticizing everything you see or hear??!!!!
3. Hope all things,
a. This is a positive look at the future. Not unrealistically but still optimistic!
b. Does not take failure as final! Doesn’t give up! It is the confidence that looks to ultimate triumph attained by the grace of God!
4. Endures all things.
a. Requires active positive inner strength! (2 Tim 2:3 KJV) Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
b. The verb here is described by Leon Morris (Old time theologian) “This does not denote patient resigned acquiescence, but an active positive fortitude. It is the endurance of a soldier who in the thick of the battle id undismayed, but continues to lay about him lustily. Love is not overwhelmed but manfully plays its part whatever the difficulties.
Ill>> Corrie Ten Boom
