"love Never Fails"

“Love Never Fails”

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

When I was a Junior in high school, some friends of mine and I were hanging out in a local park, smoking dope and drinking beer.

And we started talking about the future--what we were going to do after high school.

One of my friends, Jim, spoke and said: “I’m going to keep doing what I am doing right now for the rest of my life.”

And I thought to myself, “Not me.”

“I’m going to be a United Methodist Pastor someday, like my uncle.

I’ve seen how he loves and what is important to him.

I have watched how he interacts with others.

And I’ve seen it in my parents too, and in the lives of the people who go to our United Methodist Church.

I know there is a more excellent way…a better way to live.

And I feel called to be a pastor.

I don’t know how I’m going to do it.

I’m going to have to clean up my act somehow.

But that is what I am going to do.”

The day before I left home for college, the pastor of my church came to our door.

He had a gift for me.

It was a small leather bond Bible.

He said something to the effect of, “I hope you will read this.”

And it was, in fact, the first Bible that I did really, really read.

And it played a big part in the transformation that took place in my life that kept me moving toward what God was calling me to be and do.

I am so thankful for the many, many wonderful loving people in my life who have helped me along the way in this journey of faith.

Without them and without my faith, I don’t know where I would be—and I don’t want to know.

I bet most of us here this morning can relate.

Who are the people who have helped you become who you are this morning?

A mother?

A father?

A grandparent?

A friend?

A church member?

An entire church?

All of us, I pray, have special people who have loved us into being who we are today.

Would you take, along with me, a few moments to think of the people who have helped you become who you are?

Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life.

Those who exhibit some of the qualities of love we have just read about in 1 Corinthians 13.

A few seconds of silence.

Whomever you’ve been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they’ve made.

(pause)

Not long ago, I was at a continuing education event where the leader asked us to answer this question: “What makes it difficult for you to acknowledge what is wrong in this world?”

My answer was: “My vocation as a Pastor.

There is so much need, and we are constantly trying to help people but the need never ends.”

Our world is so broken.

But this is the very reason why we need Jesus.

This is the very reason that it’s not the bells, whistles, showing off—you name it—that counts.

True unconditional love, transmitted by God through faulty humans, is all that matters.

And a church or a ministry—no matter how fancy or expensive isn’t worth anything without LOVE!!!

Love is what saves us.

Love is what makes us human.

Love is what gives us hope.

God is Love.

Two years ago, a friend of mine nearly ditched being a Pastor.

He started focusing only on the negatives of his job.

The Saturday night sermon-anxiety attacks, a pitiful raise, the disintegrating basement tiles in his parsonage.

After 10 years of frantically meeting needs, pleasing people and tracking down plant stands for weddings he was burned out.

He told me: “A dangerous ice slowly spread throughout my heart—the ice of cynicism, an attitude that didn’t care of people changed because, of course, they didn’t want to anyway.”

Thankfully, God didn’t make it easy for him to escape his call.

Instead, God resurrected his call to ministry during his family vacation.

While he was reading and praying at a park, three children with bag lunches, dirty clothes, and dirt-streaked faces plopped themselves down on the grass beside him.

Before he could move, the oldest child launched into a complicated story of dysfunction: “Hi my name is Deanne and I’m 12-years-old,” she said.

“My sister is Kristy and she’s 10; and my brother is Mikey.

Actually, though, we all have different dads.

My dad is dead; Kristy’s dad disappeared; and Mikey’s dad beats him up, so my mom is divorcing him.

My mom and her boyfriend are at the casino because they need time alone, so she bought us all a barbecue burrito at the gas station and told us to stay at the park for two hours.