The Way of Love
Enniscorthy Christian Fellowship – 31st December 2006 1 Corinthians 13*
St. Michael’s had always been a very wealthy church. Its 300 members usually gave an annual offering of over a million dollars. Over the years, however, the neighbourhood around the church began to deteriorate. The church members moved out to the suburbs, Eventually the members of the church avoided that part of town except on Sundays.
One Sunday, shortly after a young priest had joined the church staff, the church members were gathered after the morning service for coffee and pastries. In the spring months they loved to gather in the beautiful flower garden outside the church.
As the elegantly dressed worshipers sipped coffee and chatted in the garden, a homeless man shuffled in off the street. He entered through the garden gate without looking at anyone. But all eyes were on him. He quietly walked over to the table where a spread of expensive pastries were displayed on silver trays. He picked up one of the pastries and bit into it, keeping his eyes closed.
Then he reached for a second pastry and placed it into his coat pocket. Moving slowly and trying not to be noticed, he placed another into the same pocket. The garden buzzed with whispers. Finally one of the women walked over to the new priest and said, “Well, do something!”
Still feeling a little awkward in his new position, the young priest handed his coffee cup to the woman, walked over to the table, and stood next to the homeless man. He reached under the table, where the empty pastry boxes had been stored. Then he picked up one of the silver trays loaded with pastries and emptied them into a box. He did the same with a second tray of expensive goodies. Then he closed the lids on the boxes and held them out to the homeless man. “We’re here every Sunday,” the priest said.
The man smiled, cradled the boxes in his arms, and shuffled quietly out of the garden and down the street. The priest returned to his coffee cup, smiled at the woman holding it, and said, “That’s what you meant when you said, ‘Do something,’ wasn’t it?”
It may not have been what that woman meant, but it’s close to what God would want. At the end of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul writes: “And now I will show you the most excellent way” v31. This is “The Way of Love.”
Paul had been teaching the church in Corinth about sorting out important issues in their church life. Proper behaviour in their worship, the proper use of spiritual gifts, about recognizing and valuing every different role in the fellowship. These were important issues for the church. But there was something even more important.
This last Sunday of 2006 we again declare that we want our church to be biblically based. We want to get these issues that we’ve been looking at over the past couple of months, right. We want to worship God in a way that honours him. Recognise and use our gifts to encourage each other. Serve God as he has called us. But even if we got all these things ‘right’ in 2007 and failed to follow this part of Paul’s teaching, everything else would be pointless! This section of 1 Corinthians is crucial for our church as we step into a new year. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
A. The Priority of Love v1-3
Someone has said, “In every religious controversy it is love that leaves first.” It was happening in this church. There were arguments over money, marriage, food and clothes, divisions over favourite Christian leaders and favourite spiritual gifts. Paul warns them that if love leaves their fellowship, they’ll have nothing left! Paul stressed the priority of love in a 3-fold way:
1) Without LOVE what we say is offensive
The church in Corinth were impressed with eloquence and oratory. Those with silky smooth public speaking were up on a pedestal in their fellowship. One of their favourite gifts seems to have been the gift of tongues. But Paul says, that even if he spoke eloquently in another human or heavenly language, and had not love in his heart – he would be like “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (v1).
As worshipers entered a pagan temple, they would strike a large cymbal that was hanging at the entrance. It was an empty pagan ritual. That is what speaking without love is like. Like a kid with a set of cymbals it would be loud and attention grabbing, but in the end empty, of no value, even offensive and annoying. Without love, what we say is offensive!
We could praise God in beautiful songs, pray eloquently, preach captivating sermons, but if we fail to have love in our hearts, then all we are doing is making an empty, meaningless noise that grabs people’s attention but in the end, will just annoy and offend. Jesus said in Mark 7:6: “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
The evidence that we are filled with the Holy Spirit is not how well we pray or speak, but how much we are growing in love for God and for people!
2) Without LOVE what we know is useless
We are also impressed by knowledge – by people with degrees and letters after their name, or winners of quiz shows. Even in churches, we’re impressed with those who have amazing knowledge of the Bible.
And of course knowing God’s Word is important. Truth is crucial! But Paul says, without love, it’s useless. v2: “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, I am nothing.” If we don’t know love, what we know is useless.
“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” 1 Corinthians 8v1. Think of the Pharisees. They knew the Scriptures, but they didn’t have love. Luke 11v42: “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.” They could debate with Jesus about the teaching of the Law, keeping the Sabbath, fasting, but they missed God’s love. Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”
We can fall into that trap. We debate and argue over what the Bible says. We fall out with each other, criticise and ridicule each other, talk behind people’s backs. We divide and compete. We claim to have knowledge, but where is the love? 1 John 4:8: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” And as we argue and compete with each other, a lost world dies without hope, without love, without God!
3) Without LOVE what we do is worthless
Thirdly, Paul states that without love, what we do is worthless. We could have faith that can move mountains. We could give all our money away to charity. We could even sacrifice our lives for the cause of Christ. But if this isn’t motivated by love, then it’s worthless. Self-sacrifice can be motivated by false motives: selfishness, attention seeking, pride.
We could put a €1000 in the offering box, but if it is not the expression of our love for God and others, then it’s worthless. We could do crèche for a solid year, but if its not an act of love for God, for the kids, and for each other then it’s worthless. God wants everything we do to be motivated and directed by love: Galatians 5:6: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”
4) Not an Optional Extra
Paul could not emphasise it any stronger. A lack of love doesn’t just reduce the value of what we say, know, or do. It removes it completely. The Message paraphrase says: “So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” 1 Cor13:3b Love isn’t an optional extra. It’s not a spiritual gift that some have and some don’t. It is the heart of the Christian life! The first fruit of the presence of God!
B. The Problem of Love
So, if love is so important, why do we struggle so much with it? Someone has said: “It is no chore for me to love the whole world. My only real problem is my neighbour next door.” This is the problem of love. We can nod our heads and agree to the concept of loving everyone. The problem is that we are called to love real people, men and women and kids who are as imperfect as we are!
This is what Paul is talking about. The love that we should express to one another is not some kind of idealistic dream of us living in wonderful perfect harmony. It is the love that’s expressed in a community where hurts are caused, disappointments occur, wrongs are done. Where the easy option would be to pack it all in and leave!
That’s why, the New Testament writers chose an unusual word for love! The Greek language has different words for love. The love of pop songs and films is the what is meant by the Greek word eros - intense physical desire or sexual love, this isn’t used in the NT. There’s the brotherly love of philos, reciprocal love, love for family and friends. It appears a few times in the NT (Mat10:37 or John 11:36.) But neither word caught the idea of Christian love. This was a completely different kind of love. And so Paul and other NT writers used a different word that wasn’t commonly used. They took this word, agapē, and filled it with new meaning.
C. The Properties of Love
So what are the properties of agape love? Well it’s difficult to define it as it’s not an abstract thing. Rather, it’s understood by seeing how it acts, seeing it in action.
Ultimately this love is defined by God’s act of giving – the gift of Christmas, Jesus God’s Son: 1 John 4v10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” This is the love that is God’s priority in our lives. This unconditional, gracious, undeserved, unfailing love. Without this kind of love everything we say, know and do is worthless. Here, Paul knows what the Corinthians are going through as a church. And so he defines this love by how it should impact their relationships with each other:
“Love is patient” They were struggling with division in their fellowship and so he starts by saying how love reacts to when people are difficult. It is patient, suffers long, doesn’t give way to bitterness or rejection.
“Love… is Kind” But love doesn’t just passively put up with people. It also positively does good for people. It seeks the good of others and expresses itself in friendly acts.
“Love… does not envy” This fellowship was also struggling with competition – some people thought they were inferior: “my gift is less important, I wish I had his”. Paul says love is the best antidote for jealousy. Love celebrates the gifts and possessions of others without envy!
“Love…does not boast, it is not proud” Others thought they were superior because of their prominent role in the body: “my gift is much better than his.” They needed a love that would humbly see that their gifts were given by God for the benefit of others.
“Love… is not rude.” This fellowship also had to deal with difficult issues. Ch 6 shows that disputes needed to be sorted. This had to be dealt with grace, tact & politeness.
“Love… is not self-seeking.” Instead of self-assertiveness and demanding their own rights, they needed a concern for others. They had to be willing to lose out, for other people’s benefit. Spiritual gifts were not to be used not to benefit themselves but for the “common good.”
“Love… is not easily angered.” When difficult issues are dealt with, we sometimes respond in anger or a loss of temper. When people accuse or criticize us, our blood boils. We demand payment for our offense. But this anger destroys. Love has a cool head. Paul literally writes, “love is not angered!” It refuses to be provoked. It swallows angry words before we say them rather than having to eat them afterwards.
“Love… keeps no record of wrongs.” And when issues are dealt with, they’re dealt with. Wrongs and hurts are not stored up to be brought out when someone fails us again. Forgiveness is complete. We wipe the slate clean. No score is kept. We forgive as we’ve been forgiven. And when our memory tries to bring old hurts to the surface, we forgive again!
“Love… does not delight in evil” In fact love gets no satisfaction from the failures of others. Bad news even when it happens to people who’ve hurt us brings no pleasure to love.
“Love… rejoices with the truth” This does not mean that love hides from reality, or cops out of confrontation. Instead it is pleased when the truth comes out and is acted on and God is glorified. Love desires honest relationships.
1. A different kind of love story
This is not a romantic ideal, a Hollywood love story. This love is grounded in the real world where people hurt us, or betray us, or crucify us! This is a love that reaches out to those who do not deserve it; that puts others first; that forgives and restores relationships; that sacrifices itself for others. It is God’s love for us!
D. The Promise of Love
This passage is often read at weddings. But even there we are painfully aware that human affections can fail. Even the intense love between husband and wife sometimes ends in betrayal and divorce. But agape love carries a promise. A promise that says, “I will always love you.” “Love… always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” v7 It’s not gullible or unrealistic, but it’s willing to think the best of people. It never gives up on anyone, because God never gives up on us!
The pastor and author Stu Weber grew up with a terrible temper. He even stopped playing church-league basketball because his temper kept flaring, embarrassing himself and the church. A decade passed. "I hadn't had a flash of temper for years," Weber said. "I thought, I'm actually growing."
Then his oldest son made the high school basketball squad. Weber started to terrorize the referees at his son’s games. He received nasty letters from church members. Then he got another note from Steve: "Stu, I know your heart. I know that's not you. I know that you want to live for Christ. And I know that's not happened at these ballgames. If it would be helpful to you, I'd come to the games with you and sit beside you."
“Steve saved my life," Weber said. "It was an invitation, a gracious extension of truth. He assumed the best and believed in me."
This is the kind of love the Christians in Corinth needed. It would have been easier to pack their church in. It was a mess, with immorality, lawsuits, division, arrogance, selfishness. Instead Paul calls them to be committed to each other! To love each other as a family no matter what! Agape love is much more than an emotion. It is a choice, a promise to always seek the good of others, to always stand with that person.
Why? Because this love is not dependent on the person being loved. It is totally about the love of the one giving the love – “For God so loved the world” John 3v16 Why? Because we were cute, we deserved it, we were trying hard? Of course not. When we were his enemies, caring nothing about him, God loved us and sent his Son to die for us! God loved us because he is love. We are to love because we have received God’s love!
John 13:34 “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” As we allow God to pour his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to love others in this community and world-changing way!
E. The Permanence of Love
This love lasts, in fact, it is eternal. “Love never fails.” v8
1) Spiritual gifts are temporary
A few weeks ago we saw that even although spiritual gifts are crucial for the church to grow, they\are temporary. “But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” Paul possibly mentions these 3 because they were at the heart of the controversy in the church.
2) Spiritual gifts are Incomplete
These gifts will stop because they are incomplete in their revelation of God. “We know in part and we prophesy in part.” v9 They enable us to understand more of the nature and character of God and share this with others. But they’re limited in what they can do. They can’t give us a perfect picture of God.
Paul illustrates this in v12. The city of Corinth was famous for it’s bronze mirrors. They were renowned for their quality, but still looking at the reflection was nothing to seeing that person face to face. Even the best mirrors reflect images imperfectly. Even the best and most able use of spiritual gifts only reflect the nature and character of God imperfectly. They’re nothing compared to seeing God “face to face.”
But one day “perfection comes” and “the imperfect disappears” v10. I believe that this is when Jesus comes back to take us to be with him forever. Then we will “know fully even as I am fully know” v12 In heaven, we’ll not need the poor reflections of the image of Jesus that spiritual gifts give us – because we will see him face to face!.
3) Spiritual gifts are for earth
In that day, we’ll “put childish ways behind” us (v11). It is okay for a child to talk, think or reason like a child. A child should be a child. But when they grow up we expect them to behave like an adult.
It’s okay that just now we focus to some extent on things to do with our life down here. Family, work, health. Even developing our spiritual gifts and our ministries. But one day all these things will be left behind like kid’s toys. We won’t need them in heaven!
4) Love is for ever
But not love – because love will remain, it will never fail: v13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Faith will remain as only those who are trusting in Jesus will be there. Hope, because we will forever have the joyful and expectant anticipation of all the good things that God has in store for us.
But more than anything else, heaven is a place of love. Love is the greatest because it is the core of life in heaven. It is what heaven is all about. Now we get glimpses, tastes of God’s amazing love for us. But there we will be saturated in his love. We’ll experience the fullness of God’s love. We’ll love God and each other forever!
Conclusion
So we shouldn’t condemn ourselves for not expressing this agape love perfectly now. Neither should we expect anyone else to! But God does want us to live it more each day: Philippians 1:9: “And this is my pray: that your love may abound more and more...” This is God’s eternal goal for your life – to grow in love, to be more like Jesus. If we are not growing in love, no matter what else we are doing, we are missing out on God’s goal for our lives
Let’s make this our priority in 2007. To love others as we’ve been loved!
And let’s do the same in church. There will be other things we’ll want to develop in. We want to be active in 2006 in serving God. But let’s focus on the most important, the most excellent way - loving God and loving other people!