May 10, 2020
Morning Service

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Last week we kind of returned to the basic motivational factor of following Jesus by looking at the two commands that Jesus said “hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:40) They are to love the Lord your God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as yourself.  These 2 commands summarize and simplify the Law for us.  We allowed the Apostle John to explain the importance that love holds in our relationship with our Savior as well as with our brothers and sisters.  He revealed to us that it really is everything because it is who God is. 

1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

God is love and it is His love for us that is behind the entire salvation story.  He loved us enough to allow His Own Son to die upon the cross for our sins to clear the path for us to have an intimate relationship with Him.  As we recognize and acknowledge just how much God does love us, we then will naturally return His love with ours.  “We love Him because He first loved us.” (I Jn. 4:19) Our love for God will then naturally evolve into a selfless love for others.  It is impossible to love God and hate our brother.  God is love, it is who He is.  We are to be like Him, so we to need to let love be who we are as well.

 If love is to define us, then we need to be able to define what love really is. The culture and society that we live in today has developed a very shallow and selfish definition of love.   They define it as that warm, fuzzy, good feeling that you get when you find that special someone or even something that makes you happy and contented.  “I love my new car.”  “I love my coffee.”  They allow their form of love and the pursuit of it to even supersede moral values as they believe you it is their right to find the things that make you happy at any cost.  Love to them is something that is to be pursued and found at any price for their own self-satisfaction.  They just don’t get the real meaning at all.  Siri gets a little closer as she defines love as an “intense feeling of deep affection.”

It is no coincidence that on the exact day that we are defining love, it is Mother’s Day.  I believe a mother displays in her actions the truest definition of love.  Mothers are devoted to their children for life and only stop loving on the day of their funeral.  A mother’s love is not only a “warm and fuzzy feeling” especially at 2:00 in the morning as she nurses her sick child, but it is a connection and devotion that gives her the strength to give even when her tank is empty.  It is a selfless giving of yourself to someone who you care deeply for and are deeply committed to; truly loving them as much or more than they love themselves.  Of all the people in this world that love me, I know my mother loves me in a much deeper and unique way than anyone else.  A mother’s life of selfless devotion to her children gives us the best living example of the definition of love that best imitates the life Jesus lived.

Paul, through the Holy Spirit, also defines love for us in his letter to the Corinthians.  As we look at what many call the “love chapter” today, I want you to look at it from 2 different views.  This scripture is often used to describe the love needed in a marriage relationship and also can describe the love we need to have for all our brothers and sisters.  Today I also want you to consider that Paul is describing for you how it is that God loves you.  I for one have never read this chapter with this perspective in mind and I find it very enlightening.  Paul begins this discussion by emphasizing the importance of love much like John did for us last week.

 

  1Co 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  (2)  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  (3)  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

            We talked last week about the emptiness the Pharisees must have experienced in practicing religion by going through the motions of following the rules.  Here Paul tells us that we can do some pretty extraordinary acts of devotion, but without love they are worthless.  Love must be the motivating factor in everything we do; our love for God and our love for others.  If not for the fact that “God so loved the world,” Jesus’ death upon the cross also could be considered meaningless.  Love is the foundation we must build upon.  Paul now gets down to truly defining what love looks like not only in our lives, but also in how God loves us.

 

 1Co 13:4-7 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (5) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (6) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

            Right off the bat, Paul tells us that “love suffers long.”  This totally goes against the world’s definition of love in that they believe it always involves a warm happy feeling.  True love endures tough times; suffers long and can be painful.  God’s love for us is one that is long suffering and patient with us.  Our love for others needs to be the same.  We are not to walk away from a relationship just because things aren’t going well.  A commitment to love is one that is committed to working through the hard times and not quitting when the going gets tough.  God will not give up on us, so don’t give up on each other.  Paul then defines love in depth through the rest of these verses and it paints a beautiful picture for us.

            Love is not selfish; it does not envy the success of others or boast of its own success.  Love is given unconditionally and is not given with the intention of receiving something back.  Love does not have hidden agendas, but is pure from the heart.  Love never rejoices in injustice, but rejoices when the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.  This description of love is not only for us to follow, but it defines how it is that God loves us.  God rejoices in our good choices and endures with us through the bad ones.  He is our biggest advocate to succeed and our closest friend when we don’t.  God is love.  Love defines who God is and it is you that He loves exactly like we just described it.  We are to be like Him and imitate that same love to others.  Paul finishes this chapter strong and also issues a challenge for us.

 

1Co 13:8-13 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.  (9)  For we know in part and we prophesy in part.  (10)  But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.  (11)  When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  (12)  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  (13)  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 

 

            Paul plainly states that love is supreme, reigning over both faith and hope.  Love again is the foundation we must build on. He also challenges us to begin to apply that understanding at a much deeper level.  It is time for us to grow in our faith and to do that we must grow in our love as well.  Love God with all your heart, soul and mind and love others as you do yourself.  As I look back on my journey with my Lord, I realize just how little love I had at the beginning.  I was following Jesus but not in the true loving fashion that I should have been.  I simply was going through the motions because it was the right thing to do.  Love was not my true motivation; but over time I allowed God to change that.  My love for God now defines who I am and all that I do.  With maturity comes understanding and with understanding growth.  Following Jesus is based upon our love for Him.  It is a relationship that we have with Him.  Cultivate that relationship by spending time with Him through Bible study and prayer.  Make your relationship with Him a priority and in so doing everything else will fall into place.  Many of our struggles are brought on because we place someone else or something else in first place rather than Jesus.  Love God with all your heart, soul and mind and let Him take care of the rest.  God is love and it is you that He loves.

 

Heavenly Father open the eyes of our hearts to recognize how much You truly love us and help us to love as You do.