True Love Series

[True Love]

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

This material was originally presented in PowerPoint format to a student ministry. If you have questions or would like a copy of the original PowerPoint, drop me an email at robert.fox@alltel.com

[True Love]

Slide Graphic: shamelessly sentimental pictures of me and my wife Tammy at our wedding

This is the last lesson in our series on relationships.

We picked on the ladies first two weeks ago when we talked about “what a guy wants.” We talked about how men and women were designed by God differently, and that there is a cycle of unconditional love and unconditional respect that is necessary to keep a relationship running.

Last week we turned the tables and talked about “what a girl wants.” We talked about how women are the crown of creation – the ezer kenedgdo – the life-saver we men desperately need. We talked about men being the “point man” who protects the woman. We talked about how women are designed to be warriors, commanded by God to conquer the world, subdue it and rule it right alongside men, and we talked about the beauty God created inside each woman, and the responsibility of a man to use his strength to provide the freedom for a woman to be the beautiful, unique creation she already is.

Today, I wanted to wrap up by talking about “true love”. What is it? Does the bible have anything to say about true love? Does it exist? If so, for what purpose? Is it for everyone? How do you find it?

We’ve heard myths and legends about true love all our lives, to the point where we absolutely believe the stories. It’s like rice at weddings. Very few marriage ceremonies end these days with people throwing showers of rice on the couple. Why? Because eating uncooked rice will kill the little birds who eat it, right? It will swell up in their little stomachs and they’ll burst in horrible agony. Today everyone thows wild bird seed. (BTW, note to the guys. As you get older, some of your friends will get married. Here’s a tip – you’re supposed to take the rice/seeds OUT of those little bags before you throw them.)

Oddly enough, there isn’t a shred of truth to that myth. Miyoko Chu, a Cornell University ornithologist, has stated there are no documented cases of birds ever dying as a result of eating rice. Arkansas has hundreds of thousands of acres of rice farms. The rice farmers will back me up on this one - all kinds of birds eat that rice all the time, and very seldom do they cook it first.

So, if you didn’t even know that, then what do you know about true love? How much is myth, and how much of what they say is true?

[What Do You Have Worth Living For?]

Slide video: scene from “Princess Bride” where Miracle Max blows up Wesley’s lungs with bellows and asks “What do you have worth living for?” When he presses down on Wesley’s chest to make the air come back out, Wesley says “True love.”

Isn’t that what we all really want? Male or female? Oh, it would be nice to be fabulously wealthy and what not, but really, every one of us would say that what we really want is true, true love. A soul-mate. Believe me, that’s not a youthful fancy that you grow out of. The desire for a kindred spirit to walk with you through live, watching out for and supporting one another – that desire never goes away. We are designed by God for this.

The disciples once asked Christ the meaning of life. His answer was that the meaning of life was this – to know God personally and to make him known.

This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

[Three Kinds of Love]

Slide graphic: cartoon of man and woman embracing, with thought balloon “True Love!”

Slide text:

EROS physical love

PHILOS brotherly love

AGAPE true love

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)

There are three kinds of love spoken of in the Bible.

EROS is physical intimacy. It includes sexuality, but also includes all the face-to-face, staring deep into each other’s eyes kind of feelings. It is the “chemistry” component of love. Our society today seems to claim that this is true love, and many people today go through physical relationship after physical relationship trying to find true love.

PHILOS is companionship. It is the should-to-shoulder, brothers-in-arms, working together for a united goal. This mutual support is a powerful thing, and absolutely essential to a relationship, but it isn’t true love any more than EROS is.