LOVE IS A VERB NOT A FEELING
I Cor. 13:4-7
Love is something we do. Many have read this chapter and it is not difficult to understand so the problem comes in doing what we know it says to do. Our lives are based on our willing to do more than knowing what we need to do. These verses are very easy to understand and there depth is not hard to get into our thinking. There are fifthteen actions to help us put love into our lives. We see what love does do and what love does not do. This message is one in which you will need to take notes on things that God is talking to you about and put into action the things He wants you to change or do. One man came to church one day and left disappointed because he was never challenged to change his life. This is challenge message.
A. What we can do to love in our actions and thoughts:
1. Love Suffers long and is patient. God’s Love Is Patient. We should not be impatient but allow people to grow at their own pace. In the life of Abraham Lincoln, we have a good example of this. A man named Stanton treated him with unjust contempt. He slandered his name, yet he appointed him as minister of war because he was the most qualified. He also extended to him every courtesy. When the president had been fatally shot, Stanton said, “There lays the greatest ruler the world has ever seen.” This is a command not a suggestion.
2. Love Acts kindly, cares more for others than for self, never gives up. God’s Love Is Kind. We must be gentle and sensitive to the needs and hurts of people. We must allow them to be what they are and not demand that they be something else. A traveler nearing a great city asked an old man seated by the road, "What are the people like in this city?" The man replied, "What were they like where you came from?" "A terrible lot," the traveler reported. "Mean, untrustworthy, detestable in all respects." "Ah," said the old man. "You will find them the same in the city ahead." Scarcely had the first traveler gone on his way when another stopped to inquire about the people in the city before him. Again, the old man asked about the people in the place the traveler had just left. "They were fine people, honest, industrious, and generous to a fault. I was sorry to leave," declared the second traveler. Responded the wise one, "So you will find them in the city ahead." Boyd Seevers This is a command not a suggestion.
3. Love rejoices in the truth, It is never glad about unfairness, It isn’t happy when injustice is done, Rejoices not in wickedness but rejoices whenever the truth wins out, it is happy with the truth. God’s Love Rejoices with the Truth. Other people will see our values by what we get most excited about. Many arguments would not have happened if we had taken the time to understand what the other person was thinking. There are three sides to every story, your side, my side and the right side. The right side is the truth we find in God’s word. His word says the world will know me by the love you have for one another. This is a command not a suggestion.
4. Love bears all things, Puts up with anything; Love never stops being patient, God’s Love
Bears and Believes All Things. We must expect the best and see people as God sees people,
for the potential, they can become with Christ’s help. In the O. T. we have the prophet Hosea
who tells that God is faithful yet His people turned to others. These people even choose to let
another nation rule over them. God did not give up though he was rejected and showed his
love to one who should have not received that love. How is your love for those who show no
love back to you? This is a command not a suggestion.
5. Love believes all things, never stops believing, and never loses faith. It is in love that we
develop a climate of trust. When we do not trust others it is very hard to love and for them
to love us. It is love that makes one generous. We trust God because we know He is love and
therefore, others should be able to trust in us. "Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else
would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of conformity." Christopher Morley. This is a command not a suggestion.
6. Love hopes all things, is always hopeful, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best,
God’s Love Hopes All Things. We need to memorize Phil. 4:8: “whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things.” And recite it daily to ourselves. We who
hope in Christ know that sin, death and evil have been conquered by the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe that the sin and evil in a person can be transformed
in a saving encounter with Jesus Christ. No matter how bad a person is there is hope because
of Jesus. This is a command not a suggestion.
7. Love endures all things, endures through every circumstance, never gives up, and keeps on going to the end. God’s Love Endures All Things. Many heartaches will come our way, and the desire to give up and quit will often pass through our minds. But God’s love for us endures even our faults. How can we do any less than endure? The verb here for endure means to conquer. There was man named George Matteson who lost his sight and the woman he loved. He wrote in one of his prayers that he hoped that he might accept what had happened “not with dumb resignation but with holy joy, not only with the absence of murmur but with a song of praise.” Enduring means waiting through the stillness of silence, the darkness of night and even the coldness of death without giving up. This is a command not a suggestion.
B. What love does not do? We can learn from what love should not do
1. Love does not envy, is not jealous, and doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. God’s Love Is
Not Jealous. Our supreme concern must be for others to grow and not that they just attend
our church. Why is our bent on wanting what others have? We think we would be much
better off with more. Why is it that we resent people that have something we want? Why is it
that we sometimes go to blaming God because He has given more to others than we have?
702 Billionaires in the world and we do not even know how to write check that might be over
$100. If we have this problem we have become more concerned about our self well-being
than the good of others. Jealousy makes one most miserable and unable to enjoy life. This is
a command not a suggestion.
2. Love does not boast, doesn’t strut, and doesn’t sing its own praises. When we become a
boaster we lose sensitivity of real life. Bragging comes from thinking that we have
accomplished a great feat all by our selves. Bragging comes from thinking we are what we
are through our own self-effort with no help from others. Let him who boasts, boast in God.”
This is a command not a suggestion.
3. Does not puff itself up, or proud, doesn’t have a swelled head, isn’t arrogant. God’s Love Is Not conceited. We must not spend our energies building up ourselves, but remember that servant hood is making the other person successful. The people in this church had become so great in their own eyes they were like an inflated balloon. We are not to build ourselves up but leave that up to God. Our task is to make others think they are better than they are and to think they might not be all they could be but with my help, they become what they should be. Take time to show your appreciation for someone today. God loves you for what you will become not what you are. This is a command not a suggestion.
4. Love does not behave rudely, doesn’t force itself on others. Love is alert to others. A rude person does not respect another person’s feelings. It is t he rude person who thinks by putting someone else down they will look better in the eyes of other around them. In the 23 Psalm, a message that Phillip Keller gave was that when the shepherd showed up the sheep were all equal because they were under his care. He said the sheep might be hurting one another but when the shepherd showed up, they had to change. When we act as if the Shepherd is around all the time as He is then we cannot be rude. This is a command not a suggestion.
5. Love does not seek its own advantage, Love does not demand its own way, Isn’t always
“me first, It doesn’t think about itself. God’s Love Does Not Seek Its Own. Our desire must
be to put others first. If we cannot do this then we cannot expect others to do it either. True
love makes us keep our focus on our responsibility and not our rights. It causes to think
more about what we should be doing than what others should be doing for us. It involves
selflessness and not selfishness. To love is quality of character in being big spirited in the
helping of others. This is a command not a suggestion.
6. Love does not lose its temper, Love is not irritable, doesn’t become extremely angry, is not easily aggravated. God’s Love Is Not Provoked. At times, this becomes a great difficulty, but we must learn as the Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 2. He stated that in every disappointment he learned to use that situation to reaffirm love for the person who disappoints him. Love does not make life miserable for others. The Bible has much to say on the bad effects of anger. You have heard it said anger is only one letter away from danger.
What Makes You Angry? Paul Harvey tells about a robber in Oceanside, California wearing a motorcycle helmet and carrying a gun who strode into a branch bank. He selected a teller who appeared fiftyish, soft, kindly, an easy mark. He handed her a note demanding money or her life. The woman reached for the cash drawer. Then she looked again at the note and her eyes flashed, her lips clenched. She pulled the entire cash drawer out, but instead of giving him money, she clobbered the robber over the head with the drawer. And again and again. She was scolding him. Money was flying everywhere and she was beating him and shouting shame on him and bouncing blows off his helmet "until the young man turned and ran. Police caught him in nearby shrubbery. Then they asked the woman teller how come she was about to give him money at gunpoint and then, suddenly, instead, became enraged? She said, "In his note there was a very naughty word."
This is a command not a suggestion.
7. Love keeps no record of when it has been wronged, doesn’t keep score of the sins of
others. Jesus suffered much wrong and rejection and we, too, must be willing to experience
that same suffering. What good does it do to keep a record of people and the wrong things?
they have done to us. Jesus spoke at one time and said we are to forgive 70 X 7 for some
one who wronged us? That would be a lot of bookwork. Have you ever been in a discussion?
and asked some one if you had done something wrong to them and t hey hit you with a list
of things, they have record of? Or they have said “You always………” I wonder why some
people’s forgetter works except when it comes to remember they have something against
someone else. Forget the wrong and be free. This is a command not a suggestion.
8. Love thinks no evil, rejoices whenever the truth wins out, isn’t happy when injustice is done. Why do some of us like to hear when someone is having troubles or make mistakes. A gossip can be the one listening to the one telling the gossip and enjoys hearing it. Gossip has been defined not as truth although it might be but by the negative affect, it has on the other person. If we cannot think of anything good to say about another person then let’s talk about Jesus. This is a command not a suggestion.
We do not have a person here who is listening to this message that is too uneducated, poor, immature or lacking in skills that can perform the greatest work in the world, which is to love. All of us can make love visible. It is said that when the Apostle John got old he could not walk and had to be carried to church. He would repeat over and over to those who carried him and in his church, “Love one another.” They wanted him to stop saying that all the time and asked him why he kept repeating it. He answered when you have done that you have done what you should and will not be lacking in being what you should be
