I’d like to begin by asking you to answer a question. How would you complete this sentence: My aim in life is _______________. What word, what phrase would you use? Success? Happiness? Comfort? Security? Recognition? Fun? No more manure? To be well known? Approval?
What does God say should be our aim in life? The goal that dominates our thinking? What we aim for.
I Corinthians 14:1 (Living Bible) “Make love your greatest aim.” Why, of all the things God could have said, “Here’s what you ought to build your life on”, why love?
We’re going to look in the Bible this morning to the love chapter, I Corinthians 13.
I Corinthians says we ought to make love our greatest aim in life because of its priority. Notice in the first few verses why it’s the most important value.
1. Without love all that I say is ineffective.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and/or angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (v. 1) Words without love are empty, just noise. The world is impressed by great communicators, charisma. But God isn’t impressed. He says words without love are nothing, ineffective. The Corinthians were real caught up in this. They were proud of their spiritual eloquence. They were great at talking the talk, but they were pretty weak at walking the walk.
“We’re just not communicating in our home.” Is that a problem for you in your home? Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe it’s because you’re not communicating or speaking in a loving way? We always listen and people respond to loving words. But we resent and reject unloving words.
2. Without love all that I know is incomplete.
“If I have the gift of prophecy, and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge… but have not love I am nothing.” You can be an intellectual giant, be a part of that genius strata, a MENSA member, have so many degrees they call you Dr. Fahrenheit, but it doesn’t matter. Without love you’re nothing. You can be brilliant, a walking Bible encyclopedia, memorize and quote the whole New Testament, split a theological hair sixteen different ways, answer all the Bible questions, unscruit the inscrutable but God says, “It doesn’t matter.” If you are not exhibiting love in your life, especially to those who’ve done you wrong, who’ve offended you, then no matter what you’d like it to look like, your spiritual depth is shallow.
“Knowledge puffs up, but loves builds up.” It’s better to have a right heart than it is to have a right head. We’re in a knowledge explosion. A study done at the turn of the millenium said that by the year 2010 there were will be 95% more knowledge available to humanity than there was as when we entered the second millenium. Dr. Hanz Finzel, in his book, “Chang is like a Slinky,” writes “The future belongs to those who can adapt rapidly. Christians need to learn to dance, that is to move quickly, responsively, and without the delay heaviness imparts. Be nimble. He quotes Karl Albrecht, “The sleepers in our society are in real trouble. What you don’t know can kill you!”
The world is exploding with information and knowledge. You can’t keep up with it. Yet are any of man’s basic problems being solved? No. The world is not looking for more knowledge; the world is looking for love. Without love all that I say is ineffective and all that I know is incomplete. Are we able to get along with others, especially with those who are of the household of faith? If we cannot, then all we say is worth nothing - ineffective.
3. All that I believe is insufficient.
“If I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing.” It doesn’t matter what you believe, if you don’t have love it doesn’t count. There is a misconception that all being a Christian involves is believing certain truths, doctrines, holding certain beliefs. Someone says, “I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus.” Big deal! So does the devil. The devil believes Jesus is the Son of God. But do you really love Jesus? Do you recognize how he chose to love you - giving himself for you even when you were a guilty sinner? He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments. He said, “By this will all men know you are my disciples, that you have love one for another.” He said, “Love those who persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely.” He said, “Forgive one another just as Christ has forgiven you. For if you won’t forgive, neither will the Father in Heaven forgive you.” If you have faith to move a mountain, but you don’t have faith to reconcile with those who have offended you, you have nothing.
Galatians 5:6 “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Some of you need to write this verse on your calendar. When you are tempted to be controlled by the past with all it’s wrongs, the only thing that counts is faith expressed through love. Faith is important but without love it is hollow and meaningless.
4. All that I give is insignificant.
“If I give all I possess to the poor but have not love, I gain nothing.” This says you can give everything you’ve got, not just tithing, you can give everything and still not have love. Why? Because you can give for selfish motives. People often give for different motives. Some people give for prestige, to get their name on a plaque. Some people give for power, to control people — a lot of times adults give to their adult kids in order to control them. Some people give to churches and believe that should give them a certain status in the church. You can give out of obligation, out of guilt. Just because you give doesn’t mean you’re doing it in love. You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving.
A guy told me one time, “I don’t understand. I’ve given my wife everything she’s ever wanted. She’s divorcing me.” You can buy your wife the biggest diamond ring in the world, but if you don’t love her it doesn’t count. Have you ever seen guilty parents trying to buy off their kids? Daddy’s not around so he buys his kid $150 tennis shoes that pump up fifteen different ways. A lot of hot air!
Just because you give doesn’t mean you’re doing it in love. If you don’t do it in love it doesn’t matter.
5. All I accomplish in inadequate.
v. 3 (Living Bible) “If I were burned alive for preaching the Gospel, but I didn’t love others, it would be of no value whatever.” I can rack up a list of impressive achievements, I can succeed in all kinds of great accomplishments, I can even sacrifice my life for the greatest cause in the world — the kingdom of God — but without love it won’t matter zip! It’s wasted effort.
Friends, we don’t often think of I Cor. 13 being a strong word, perhaps a word of rebuke from the Lord, but I challenge you this morning friends to examine the message and examine your heart.
If you claim to love the Lord and love His word, but there are those you will not love because they’ve hurt you or offended you. Then don’t bother going to the Lord for things. Your communication channels are blocked. The Lord isn’t listening. He says so clearly. “If when you bring your gift to the altar you know of someone who has ought against you, then leave your gift, and go and be reconciled to that brother, then come and offer your gift.” Today we are going to offer communion to those who are believers, but there are some stern warnings about the condition of your heart if you are going to take communion.
The point in these first few verses of the “Love chapter,” is relationships are more important than accomplishments in life. Success without love is empty. One day God is going to do an audit on your life and when He evaluates your life He is not going to focus on your accomplishments, or your bank account, but He’s going to look at your relationships to evaluate how you lived.
Parents - if you allow bitterness from past hurts to reside in your heart - if you do not work at reconciling with those who’ve offended you, your lack obedience and wilfulness will be reflected in the wilfulness and lack of obedience in your children. In fact, what you tolerate in the way of sin in your life will be multiplied and magnified in the life of your children.
God is saying I can have the eloquence of an orator, the knowledge of a genius, the faith of a miracle worker, the generosity of a philanthropist, the dedication of a martyr, but if I don’t love it doesn’t count.
A tip that speakers use is that they use repetition for emphasis. They say something over in many different ways in order to get the message across. Paul hits this from five different angles. All I give … All I say… All I am… All I do… All I feel… All these different things are worthless. My ultimate goal in life is to love others. There is nothing more important in your life. Life minus love equals zero. He says this over and over and over. Life minus love equals zero.
This is very, very important. There is no more important topic than the one we’re talking about this morning. Because life without love is zero. There is no message in the body of Christ that is more important than this one. If what Jesus said is true and people are watching Christians to see if they love, (Do you believe what Jesus was saying is true?) then, nothing is more important.
After he hammers in this point about the priority of love he then he moves on to the practice of love.
Colossians 3:14 “Most of all, let love guide your life.” How do I do this?
First, you’ve got to define it. It’s amazing to me that everybody uses this word but nobody can define it. There are thousands of love stories in the book store, movies, songs. We say, “I love my wife… I love God… I love Canada… I love hot dogs, I love ketchup.” We just throw this word out there. We talk about how it’s the most important principle but we can’t even define it.
I decided I would look up the explanation of love in the World Book Encyclopedia we have at the office. Instead it said “Love… See Sex“. Underneath is said, “and see Emotion“. I looked up “Emotion”. There was a long article on emotion. The word “love” was used one time and not even defined.
I didn’t feel too bad about that because love’s not an emotion in the first place. Love is not an emotion. Love affects emotions. Love creates emotions. Love causes emotions. But love is not an emotion. If it was, you couldn’t control it. Love is not an emotion.
So then I looked up Sex. Three page article on Sex. I found five sentences on love. Still no definition. I thought that is so typical of our society. We know far more about sex than we do about love. A lot of songs on the radio are not love songs they are lust songs.
The fact is, you and I need some lessons on how to love. We’re in a society today with so many dysfunctional families. Most people really don’t know how to love. We grow up with bad models in different places, movies, other stuff.
By the way, do you know why, in the King James Version, they use the word “charity”? In those times, as it is now, love had a wrong connotation. They had no more understanding about what love meant back in the 16th century than they do today. We’ve got to learn to love, the practice of love.
How do I practice love? The Bible is very practical.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. Love is not rude. It is not self-seeking. Love is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love rejoices in the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” What kind of lover are you? If this is what love is, I’m not a very good lover. I need some lessons. I need to learn how to love the people in my life.
We’re going to take this very seriously. We’re going to take each of these words in depth. This morning I just want to make two insights on the practice of love.
1. Love is an action. It’s not something you feel, something you say. Love is something you do. Notice all the action steps. These are things that you do. Love just doesn’t talk, it’s not just words, lip service. Love acts. It’s not just words. Love is an action. It’s a demonstration, not an inclination. Some of you have comforted yourselves greatly by saying, “O I have forgiven those who wronged me, and I chose to love them.” That can be CHEAP TALK - EMPTY WORDS without a practical demonstration of that love.
Probably the greatest black preacher of all time was Dr. E.V. Hill. He was the pastor of the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist church in Los Angeles. He was a tremendous man of God and an intellectual giant. The thing I think I liked the most about E. V. Hill is the clear sense of integrity. He was not afraid to call it as he saw it. Many times in his ministry in inner city Los Angeles he’s called things the way he saw them and pointed out injustice and pointed out things that were wrong and as a result many times his life has been threatened — death threats constantly on his life. One time, after something he’d said on Sunday morning, there was a threat that he was going to be bombed during the next week. He took that very seriously. One day coming home he noticed his car was not at home. He immediately thought either somebody has stolen it or they’re tampering with it, putting a bomb in it. He sat down on his front steps very worried. About thirty minutes later, his wife drove up in his car. He said, “What are you doing!” She was well aware of the threat. She said, “I got to thinking, this community needs you more than it needs me. If they were going to rig that car to be bombed I wanted me to be in it not you.” Hill said “I always knew that my wife loved me but now I understood what love was all about.” Love is an action. His wife had made a choice.
2. Love is a choice. You choose to love. You choose not to love. There is a myth that goes around that says Love is uncontrollable. “I just fell in love” — like it was a ditch or something. That’s not true that you can’t help it. Of course you can help it. The same people that say, “I’ve fallen in love” three years later are saying, “I just don’t love him anymore.” You choose not to love him anymore. It’s your choice. You choose to love. You choose not to love.
Love is not a feeling. If love were a feeling you couldn’t force it. You can’t force a feeling. Love is an action and love is a choice. When you don’t feel like it, is actually a greater expression of love and you act in a loving way than when you do feel like it. Christ loved us when we were unlovely and unloving. Genuine love is when you do the loving thing even when you don’t feel like it. Love is getting up in the middle of the night and helping a sick kid when that’s the last thing you want to do. Love is being patient with your husband or wife, or another church member when they’re acting like a jerk and they’re irritable. Love is giving a person what they need not what they deserve. Love is being willing to reconcile with a brother or sister in Christ who’s offended us and being willing to serve and work with them, sharing in the kingdom of Christ even when we still don’t think the same about everything. That’s love. It’s an action and it’s a choice. Nothing will speak more clearly to family members around us about the Love of Christ, than our willingness to humble ourselves and forgive and reconcile with others.
When you love in spite of your feelings, when you love even when you don’t feel like it, that’s what I call loving by faith. Acting in a loving way when you don’t feel like it. It’s easier to act your way into a feeling than feel your way into an action. If you act in a loving away eventually the feelings will come back. They will.
I read a story about a young mother who felt overwhelmed. She was battling depression, her schedule and demands on her life had heaped in on her. She said, “All I seemed to do was nag at my kids, bark at them and scold them incessantly. When I looked at myself I saw a screw. In my tears I cried out to the Lord.” In her quiet time of praying and reading the Bible the answer came in I Corinthians 13. She said, “Five words leaped out at me, `Without love I am nothing.’” So she wrote these words all over her house — put them on her refrigerator door, on the dashboard of her station wagon, on her calendar — “Without love I am nothing.” She said, “I realized the single most important thing I could do was love my family. So I began to live my life by love. I began to run my home on love power. It was as transforming as when I accepted Christ into my life. It brought the happiness back into my life and in my home.” She made a choice. And she took an action.
Paul says you need to make love — loving other people — the number one objective of your life. Why? First, because of its priority; Second, because of the practice – what it does in your life, the happiness it brings to yourself and others; Third, because of the permanence.
Permanence of Love
Paul says you need to make it your number one aim because it’s the only thing that’s going to last. v. 7-8 (Phillips) “Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love never fails.” You say, “My love failed, I don’t love that person anymore.” You didn’t love that person in the first place if it failed. Love is not based on feelings, it is based on the conscious choice to keep doing loving things and somewhere along the line you stopped making that choice. The good news is: You can learn some lessons of love all over and learn to love somebody you’ve never really loved with the genuine thing.
It says, “Love knows no limit to it’s endurance.” It’s durable. It’s going to last longer than an Everready bunny love. It’s eternal. It stays with you. Every other life principle is temporary except love. “I live for fun” — how long does fun last? “I live for money” — how long is your money going to last? “I live for pleasure” — how long does that last? “I live for security”, “I live for approval of others” … No other life principle that you choose to base your life on will last. Nothing lasts except one thing. Love. It’s permanent. Love is going to last for eternity.
v. 13 “In this life we have three lasting qualities — faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.” Why? Why is love greater than faith and hope? There is only going to be love in heaven. It’s the only one that lasts for eternity. You don’t need faith in heaven. The Bible says you’ll see God as He is. Everything will be reality. You won’t need any faith at all; It’s just there. You’re not going to need hope in heaven. Everything will be there. Everything you’ve ever needed and wanted. You’re not going to need hope. But heaven is going to be full of love. You will feel completely, 100% loved in heaven. It’s going to be a love extravaganza. Why? Because God is love. It doesn’t say “Love is God” — “God is love”. It doesn’t say He has it; it says He is it. In His presence you will feel loved. It’s the only thing that’s going to last. It’s the only life principle that’s going to take you from this life into the next one and still keep going.
John 13:34-35 “Jesus said, `A new commandment I give you: Love one another! As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know you are my disciples if you love one another.’” He says “a new commandment”. He doesn’t say a new suggestion. It’s commanded. The point I want to make: If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, for you, love as a lifestyle, is not optional. You don’t get to choose whether you’re going to be loving or not. If you’re a believer it’s a command. Love.
How are we to love? Jesus says “As I have loved you.” Jesus is our model. “I can’t love people the way Jesus did! He was perfect! I can’t love them the way Jesus did!” You’re right. That’s why you need Jesus Christ in your life. Only He can love through you. You can’t do it on your own. You can’t be the way I’ve just read to everybody. Never impatient, never gets angry! You can’t live like that. That’s why you need God’s power in your life. Only Jesus Christ can be that way and live that kind of love through you.
Love is the main thing in life. The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing! The main thing is love. Life minus love equals zip. Nothing! Zero! A waste!
He says, “All men will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” The sign of a Christian, the distinguishing mark of a Christian, is not a cross, not a crucifix, a dove, a fish on your bumper sticker, a crown. The sign of a Christian is love. How many people know you’re a Christian because of your loving lifestyle?
We sing about love, talk about love, pray about love, study about love, but do we do it? To develop love as your life principle, making it your greatest aim, means you’re going to have to take some action as soon as you walk out this door! You walk out of here and you bang into someone on the parking lot, if you’re serious about making love your lifestyle, it may require some radical changes. You’re going to have to take the initiative. Love acts!
First start acting loving in the relationships you already have. Think through all the relationships you already have or have had in the past ten years or so. See if you need to seek some reconciliation to some people you’ve been unloving to. Does that mean you are going to enter into a close relationship with someone again who hurt you in the past. NO! But it does mean there will be nothing in the air by way of old hurts or conflict that hasn’t been reconciled and forgiven. It is the only path that will bring God’s blessing back to you, to them and to all your other relationships. Start trying to make things right with the relationships you do have. But that’s not all.
If you make love your lifestyle, you’ll start enhancing and enlarging the number of relationships you do have. Do it to share God’s love with other people because that’s the most important thing. That’s what God is going to look at when He evaluates your life. You start expanding your relationships. You cannot live the loving lifestyle as a hermit. You spell love T-I-M-E. It takes time. You love your kids, you’ve got to spend time with them. You love your husband/wife you’ve got to spend time with them. You love Jesus, you’ve got to spend time with Him. It takes time, involvement, effort, energy. But it’s worth it.
Here at Rosebank we have a high priority on sharing the good news of the gospel with people so that they would turn from sin, and self to the Saviour. But you know what? People are attracted to the church that loves. People are attracted to Christ, they’re not persuaded to Christ. They’re not argued into the kingdom. They’re attracted by the love of God. The more our family here loves, the greater this church will be. People don’t care what we know until first they know that we care. They want to know we care. What people need is not more theology, not more oratory. They need the love of Jesus Christ.
I challenge you to join me in a love movement. Let’s consider Christ’s love for us as we come to the communion table.