The Unspoken Language Of God Series

[PLAY VIDEO “LOVE IS EPISODE 1]

-for many people, the month of June can mean many different things. For some of you it means the start of summer vacation, time to either do nothing, or to get a job. For some it means completely reworking your schedule because your kids are on vacation. When I grew up it meant going to the beach every day (I know, hard life). But now, being a staff member at a church, it means something different. It’s the start of wedding season.

-that’s right, this is the time when weddings start pouring into the sanctuary every weekend. And almost every single one of them will read the “Love Chapter”, I Corinthians 13. Hey, it was at my wedding. It’s just the good Christian thing to do.

-but this chapter, it was never intended for weddings. It was intended for everyone. It was written so all Christians would know how to share the love of God.

-too often we’ve equated love with a romantic feeling and that’s it. If I was to say I’m in a loving mood, first most people would say that’s not like me. Then most of you would right away think I’m talking about Lorie. We jump to that conclusion.

-the simple fact is though, we as Christians are supposed to love everyone.

-Mother Teresa said this: “Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor . . . Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.”

-that’s a pretty strong expectation for us to live out, let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Wow. Can you say that everyone who has spent time with you left better and happier? I know I can’t. The amazing thing is though, from what I know of Mother Teresa, she can. She was an amazing beacon of what love is really like.

-somehow over the course of time we have almost removed I Corinthians 13 from the Bible and turned it not from a section about us as everyday Christians but into a chapter as an instruction for marriage. Yes, it’s good advice, but that’s not it.

-we are supposed to be living this chapter out in our every day lives as lights that shine for Jesus. It is how we’re supposed to treat others, and not just those that we think should be treated well, it’s for everyone.

-so today we’re starting with the first section of this chapter.

**I Cor. 13:1-3 -> 1If I had the gift of being able to speak in other languages without learning them and could speak in every language there is in all of heaven and earth, but didn’t love others, I would only be making noise. 2If I had the gift of prophecy and knew all about what is going to happen in the future, knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would it do? Even if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, I would still be worth nothing at all without love. 3If I gave everything I have to poor people, and if I were burned alive for preaching the Gospel but didn’t love others, it would be of no value whatever. (LB)

-kind of puts a focus on the importance of love. Anything we do, if it doesn’t have love, it’s useless.

-but it’s true. In a few weeks we’re taking three different mission trips from this church, almost 100 people going out and serving from this congregation. That’s amazing. But before we go with the Sr. High we have meetings about the importance of what we’re doing and there’s something we mention almost every year. How you act, your attitude, the love you show speaks volumes more than any specific act or acts you do. You can have an incredible kids klub with two hours of solid Bible teaching, the kids loving it, the kids wanting to follow Christ, but if at the end you get upset and tell a child to shut up, you have just ruined the last two hours.

-the old saying is true, it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. Are we as Christians speaking with the love of God?

-showing love is a very tell-tale sign of how close we are to God.

1. TO HAVE GOD IN US, WE NEED LOVE IN US

-it’s like we’ve said here before, you can tell what kind of a tree you are by the fruit you produce, and what is the first Fruit of the Spirit? Love…