God¡¯s Valentine
1 Cor 13:1-13
1 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.
2 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.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Valentine¡¯s Day! No one knows for sure where or how it originated, but we do know who is responeible for keeping it before the public¡¯s eyes¡ªthe greeting card and candy companies!
St. Valentine is the designation for several saints. The most prominent are 2 martyrs whose feats are celebrated on this date. One was a priest and the other a bishop. We don¡¯t know much about them, but we do know that they died on the same day.
The custom of sending ¡°valentines¡± or ¡°love tokens¡± usually anonymous, probably had only an accidental connection with St. Valentine. It really owes its origin to a belief held in medieval Europe. It was believed that at the start of the second fortnight of the second month that the birds began to mate. The poets picked up on this, blending mating with love and hence, valentines!
In a sense, every time we meet for worship we celebrate love¨CGod¡¯s love. He sent us a Valentine¨CHis Word!
Then He sent us His Son, Jesus, who is love personified¡ªa ¡°living valentine.¡±
When Thomas Edison was 38 years old, his wife died, leaving him a very lonely man. Six months after her death, Edison began looking for a new mate. He would leave no stone unterned in a systematic search reflecting his scientific nature. Although he liked to be portrayed in the media as a genius who worked in solitude, Edison had quietly assembled a fine research team to search for a new wife. He hated social events, but dinner parties in the home of friends in Boston helped him meet many candidates at one time. He was proud of this efficient approach. But, rather than making a calm, rational choice, he fell head over heels for an 18-year-old young lady from Ohio. She was everything he wasn¡¯t¨Creligious, cultured, and beautiful¨Cplus young enough to be his daughter. He threw his normal caution to the wind and acted like a lovesick fool until Mina Miller would agree to marriage. An iron-willed, self disciplined, workaholic found himself bitten by the love bug. He was unable to concentrate in his research lab and whiled away weeks writing silly notes to an 18-year old. Finally, Miss Miller agreed to marry him and soon he settled back into his inventive routine.
Six Stages of a Married Cold
First year: ¡°Sugar Dumplin, I¡¯m really worried about my baby girl. You¡¯ve got a bad sniffle and there¡¯s no telling about these things with all thw stuff that¡¯s going around. I¡¯m putting you in the hospital this afternoon for a general checkup and a good rest. I know the foods¡¯ lousy, but I¡¯ll be bringing your meals in.¡±
Second Year: ¡°Listen Darling, I don¡¯t like the sound of that cough and I¡¯ve called Doc Miller to rush over here. Now you go to bed like a good girl, just for Popps.¡±
Third Year: ¡°Maybe you better lie down, honey. Nothing like a little rest when you feel lousy. I¡¯ll bring you something. Have we got any canned soup?¡±
Fourth Year: ¡°Now look, dear, be sensible. After you¡¯ve fed the kids and got the dishes done and the floor waxed, why don¡¯t you lie down?¡±
Fifth Year: ¡°Not feeling good? Take a couple of aspirin.¡±
Sixth Year: ¡°I wish you¡¯d just gargle or something instead of sitting around barking like a seal.¡±
Seventh Year: ¡°For Pete¡¯s sake, stop sneezing! Are you trying to give me pneumonia?¡±
Back to Mina Miller. She wasn¡¯t bothered by Edison¡¯s poor hearing or even his chronic halitosis. She just brushed the dandruff off his coat and fell in love with him.
This is the type of love that sees the best in others. Miss Miller totally accepted Edison because love is not always practical or rational.
We do strange things when we¡¯re in love. And so does God! He loved us even while we were sinning.
In our text today, the aposlte Paul, compares love with several other prized gifts. In every case he shows that no matter what else a person excels in, he is of little value unless he has the greatest gift of all¨CGod¡¯s love.
This love is not sentimental or theoretical. It is not cheap, theatrical love. It is a deep, quiet, strong love born of God. It is His love for us and in us.
At his clinic in Topeka, Kansas, Dr. Carl Menninger instructed his entire staff that the most important thing they could offer any patient was love. He said, ¡°If people can learn to give and receive love, they will usually recover from their physical or mental illness.¡±
I once heard a church leader say, ¡°Pastor, I urge you in your preaching, teaching and counseling to get people to love one another. That¡¯s the answer to our problems today.¡±
In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus called all of us to this: This is the greatest commandment in the law: love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.¡±
And then in John 13:34, Jesus says, A new commandment I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know you are my disciples if you love one another.
The key phrase in this verse is as I have loved you. How did Jesus love them? He loved them forgivingly, understandingly and sacrificially.
Then He gave us one of His hard sayings in Matthew 5: You have heard that it was said, ¡°Love your neighbor and hate youe enemy.¡± But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
This is radical love! It is supernatural love. How do we get a hold of such love? We know its not natural to us.
¡ï By receiving Christ into our lives
¡ï By allowing Him to perfect us in this area
Without a doubt the greatest need in the world today is the love of God.
Illus.: ¡°For Love of Jim¡±
Jim and Jack were the best of friends. Devoted. Inseparable. So when Jim lost both his legs in a railroad accident, Jack did everything he could to help. At first Jim was certain his career with the railroad was finished.. Then the company gave him another job¨Csignalman. His outpost was to be a lonely little stop more than 200 miles from anywhere. Jack went along to be whatever help he could be. After all, what are friends for?
Jim ahd barely recovered from the trauma of a double amputation when the RR had given him the new assignment. He would live in a little wooden shack about 150 yards from the signal tower. It was going to be lonely out there. And there would be many difficult adjustments. But Jack would help for a while anyway long enough for Jim to overcome those initial adjustments.
In the beginning Jack stuck around mostly for company. He swept out the shack and pumped water from the well and tended the garden¨Call things that Jack could not do. There was a little trolley¨Ca single seater that led from the shack to the signal tower. Jack pushed Jim on that trolley several times a day and stood there while Jim operated the big levers in sequence. Eventually, Jack got so familiar with Jim¡¯s routine that he began to walk out and operate the signal system himself.
Sure enough, pretty soon, in addition to house-cleaning and the rest, Jack gradually began to take over all the duties for the railroad¨Cthough officially he was not an employee! There was a lot to remember on that job, a lot to be done. Daily responsibilities at the signal tower included working the evers as well as the tower controls that opened and closed siding switches. But Jack never complained. After all, Jim was his friend. It was the least Jack could do.
For more than nine years Jack kept house for Jim. For more than nine years he made the daily trip to the tower to operate the heavy equipment¨Cuntil one day when he died of tuberculosis.
In all those years, Jack never made a mistake¨Cnever threw a switch incorrectly¨Cnever sided a car in error. Not one accident or even a narrow miss was reported on that line.
Jack is buried in Cape Colony, South Africa, not far from the outpost where he worked for almost a decade, for his love for a friend. His grave is a silent testimony to selflessness. Oh, by the way, I don¡¯t think I mentioned that Jack, Jim¡¯s devoted friend, who cleaned house and pumped water and tended the garden and manned the switch tower¨Cwas not a man at all. He was a baboon!
Now if an ape can demonstrate that kind of love, can¡¯t we who call ourselves Christians be know for our love more than anything else? Love is for giving away, not hoarding.
The teacher in an adult education creative writing class told her students to write ¡°I love you¡± in 25 words or less, without using the words, ¡°I love you.¡± The assignment was to be completed in less than 15 minutes. A woman in the class spent about 10 minutes looking at the ceiling and wriggling in her seat. Then she began to write frantically. Later she read the results to the rest of the class. Three statements was all she needed.
¡ï ¡°Why, I¡¯ve seen lots worse hairdos than that honey.¡±
¡ï ¡°These cookies are hardly burned at all.¡±
¡ï ¡°Cuddle up, I¡¯ll get your feet warm.¡±
Need I say any more? She got the highest grade.
1. Love Is Greater Than Words (vs.1)
The Corinthians prized the gift of speech. They enjoyed the eloquence of their orators. Demosthenes, Sophocles, Euripides, and other silver-tongued speakers were the idols of the day.
Persuasive speech is a great gift. Each century had produced its outstanding orators. Patrick Henry declared his determination to achieve liberty and a nation arose to firght for freedom. Winston Churchill inspired and encouraged desperate England during WWII. President Ronald Reagan was called the ¡°Great Communicator¡± because he could move people to action. Martin Luther King Jr. Is another example.
But there are also examples of what persuasive speech minus love will produce. Hitler, for example.
Paul compares words without love to tuneless crashes and hollow sounds¨Cno harmony or melody¨Cjust so much noise.
The explosion of Christianity in the Roman Empire was due to the fact that Christians preached the love of Jesus and backed it up with a practical demonstration of love for people. They had a good teacher. Jesus loved in very concrete ways:
¡ï with a towel
¡ï with a whip
¡ï with a cross
The best type of love is that which is tough, and pure and holy.
Illus.: ¡°The Outstretched Hands of a Stranger¡±
In Stockholm, Sweden, a woman was injured as she rushed to catch a streetcar. She stumbled in front of the moving car and was caught beneath it. The police sent for a crane to lift the car off her body. While waiting for the crane a crowd of people gathered. One man pushed through the crowd, crawled beneath the car, and said to her, ¡°Take my hand.¡± As she took his hand she felt warmth and courage . This calmed her and prevented her from going into shock. After the crane arrived and the woman was released, she said, ¡°I never thought an outstretched hand could mean so much.¡±
God has stretched His hand to help us. It has a nail print in it. We, in turn, should be willing to help others and offer our outstretched hand to them.
2. Love Is Greater Than Prophecy (vs.2)
Prophecy: declaring the revealed Word of God; predicting coming events based on the Word.
Preachers are remembered not by what they said, but by how they lived. The pastor under whose ministry I was saved and discipled was a man who lived for God and loved people. I don¡¯t remember a single sermon he ever preached but I do remember the life he lived.
There are many popular preachers who preach out of wrong motives¨Cmoney, recognition, power, fame. They are great communicators, but what about their personal lives? What do we really know about them?
3. Love Is Greater Than Knowledge (vs.2)
Knowledge minus love can produce terrible things. For example, more efficient ways to abort babies, chemical and biological warfare.
Knowledge by itself compounds our problems rather than solving them. We need a marriage of love and knowledge. Love transforms our learning into power. Love puts feet to facts.
Illus.: ¡°Its Because Your Eyes Are Dry¡±
A woman went to her pastor and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been a Christian for 20 years. I¡¯ve read books on how to win souls. I¡¯ve memorizes Scripture. I¡¯ve taken courses on how to win the lost. And yet I haven¡¯t won one person to the Lord. Why?¡± The pastor¡¯s answer surprised her. He said, ¡°Its because your eyes are dry.¡± Then he went on to explain, ¡°You have failed not for want of knowledge but for lack of love. When you really love someone¡¯s soul, you will care enough to weep for them.¡±
Psalm126:6: ¡°He that goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his hseaves with him.¡±
Well, that lady went home to read the Bible and pray with a broken heart. As she prayed, her heart became strangely warmed. Her unbelieving sister came to her mind. She got up from her knees to find her and with genuine tears put her arms around her sister and admitted in love, ¡°More than anything in this world I want you to become a Christian.¡± That very night her sister came to know Christ.
4. Love Is Greater Than Faith (VS.2)
Faith is a great gift. Without it we cannot please God. It is the foundation upon which love can build. An individual must come to Christ in faith before he can know anything of God¡¯s love. But faith minus love is nothing. When the Risen Christ interviewed Peter, what question did He ask? Did He say, ¡°Peter, do you believe in Me?¡±
You can see from verse 13 that of the three greatest gifts, love is the greatest. It surpasses faith and hope because it is the most God-like. It is eternal.
5. Love Is Greater Than Benevolence (vs.3)
Examples of giving without loving:
¡ö out of obligation
¡ö to rid one¡¯s self of guilt
¡ö to attain personal attention
¡ö to get a tax break
¡ö to buy influence
We can give without loving, but we can¡¯t love without giving.
6. Love Is Greater Than Martyrdom (VS.3)
To sacrifice one¡¯s life can result from something other than devotion to Christ. It could be fanatical devotion to a cause. Examples:
¡ö Muslims in the Iraq and Palestine
¡ö Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire during the Vietnam War.
Sometimes it takes more courage to live for Christ than to die for Him. In Romans 12:1 we are admonished to do just that. Living the love of Christ is the gfreatest challenge, the highest calling to which a person can respond.
CONCLUSION: Love is the Greatest Force in the World
¡ö chases doubt away
¡ö banishes fear from within
¡ö conquers indifference
¡ö sends us to our knees
¡ö motivates us to witness
¡ö sent Jesus to the cross
¡ö inspires us to leave all to follow Him
So, how is your love life? We are commanded to love
¡ö our God
¡ö our neighbor
¡ö our fellow believer
¡ö the sinner
¡ö even our enemies
