LOVE - Week 1
May 3, 2009
Love Matters Most
1 Corinthians 13

Take your Bibles and open them up to I Corinthians Chapter 13. This is one of the most popular chapters in the Bible – it has been given a name – it’s called the "Love Chapter." Because in this chapter we find probably the most descriptive, comprehensive, detailed explanation of what real true love is. We see how love acts and what love does. And over the next 8 weeks we are going to spend time digging out of these passage what it means to really love.

 

The Bible has a lot to say about love. And while I can’t plum the debts of every verse – we would be here for days if I did – but I want to give you a answer to the question, "What’s so special about love?" Why are we looking into this now? So here we go.

Love is the core of God’s character.

There are lots of attributes of God you can find in the Bible. The Bible says that God is holy. The Bible says that God is a God of justice. But over and over through the Bible we find the underlying core character of God is love. "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."

I John 4.16

God is the lover in the Bible. Some people have twisted up images of God – think that God is harsh, demanding, or even cruel. But over and over the Bible paints a picture of God as love.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him…" PS 103.8,11

The Bible tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. God is love!

It was the love of God that made a way for us to come back to him. Love is the core message of the gospel. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish buy have everlasting life." John 3.16. God proved his love for you when he saw you far from him and he offered up his only Son Jesus to die in your place, to pay for your sin and to forgive you! That is amazing love! God is love!

We need to study love because when we do we are studying God. We need to live in love because to live in love is to live in God. We need to become more loving because to become more loving is to become more like God.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in I Corinthians 14.1 "… follow the way of love …"  The NLT puts it this way "Let love be your highest goal." Love is to be our primary objective in life – not in our top 10, or top 5 things, not as one of several new years resolutions, "this year I want to be a more loving person" – number one. Your top priority. "Is that right? How do you know that?" Because Jesus said it.

One day, as crowds of people were pressing into Jesus, a man asked Jesus, "What was the greatest commandment?" This is what he said.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12.30-31

In your outline circle the word love. Love is the most important commandment. All of life boils down to a love for God and a love for people. I just got back from spending some time with many of our men on retreat. We cracked open this passage for two days. We called it the Jesus Creed. We learned what it means to really love God and love people. But here is what I told them, and what I want you to grab hold of today – Nothing is more important than relationships.  Nothing. Loving God and loving people is what life is all about. We can run through life chasing after things, chasing after accomplishments and miss the core reality of life. Nothing matters more than love.

This is the entire theme of the Bible. The whole Bible can be summed up in one word: love. Paul wrote to the Galatian churches - "The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" Galatians 5.14. Jesus said - All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments(love God and love people)." Matthew 22.40

The theme all the way through God’s Word is simply this – love is what matters most in life.  But it’s funny how we can totally miss that.

Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthian church because they were having trouble. They were all believers, they had given their life to Christ, and they had even been blessed with some amazing things.Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines." I Corinthians 12.7-11

All of this great stuff was going on in the church, but the problem is, while all this was going on, they were killing each other. Their relationships were in the tank. They had constant fighting and bickering. People were posturing themselves for power. They were dragging each other into court and suing each other. There were all kinds of immorality going on in the church, marriages were falling apart, and divorce was rampant. There was so much conflict that the church was being ripped apart. And what his church needed was to learn to love each other. "You guys know a lot of stuff, but you haven’t yet learned to love – and that’s the most important thing."

It’s easy to point to this church and say, "Man, they were messed up." But, it’s hard to look in the mirror because the same thing can happen to you. You know how I know? Because, it was happening to me - Liz and I met in the 5^th grade. We literally grew up together. And when we married we were very young. The first several years were rough. One day Liz sat down and said, "This isn’t working" – we made a commitment to each other, to God that we would learn how to love. Twenty 23 years later, I wouldn’t take a million dollars for what we have. I am madly in love with my wife! But God had to show us both how to love.

And maybe you know a lot of stuff, and you’ve been in the church and you can quote me chapter and verse, but listen, if your not growing in love, your missing out on God’s top priority for your life. Love is what matters.

Love is the most important thing we can do in life.

Paul sits down to write this church what God’s love looks like, acts like, and what it will produce in your life. And he starts by saying why love matters most.

Nothing I say will matter.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

(I Corinthians 13.1)

Words without love are noise, empty, worthless.

Nothing I know will matter.

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge … but have not love, I am nothing."

(I Corinthians 13.2)

You may be a genius, if you don’t have love in your life doesn’t matter.

Nothing I believe will matter.

– "… if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."(I Corinthians 13.2)

Following Jesus isn’t just about knowing the right things, it’s about living a transformed life.

Nothing I give will matter.

– giving isn’t necessarily loving. You can give for lots of motives (glory, give to get) Giving things can’t ever be

Kids don’t need things, they need you! They need love

"If I give all I possess to the poor…but have not love, I gain nothing."(I Corinthians 13.3)

Nothing I accomplish will matter

– "If I…surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."(I Corinthians 13.3) See why we need to focus on love?

Review – in God’s book, the only thing that matters is – do I love him, do I love people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

– (v13) Three things endure: faith, hope, love – greatest of these is love.

Love is the greatest power in life.

Love is God’s top priority for your life.

 

What’s so special about love?

 

I had lunch with a friend of mine. He is a growing believer, God is doing some fresh new things in his heart. We were discussing church strategies and structure. And as he was cutting up his meal, with fork and knife in hand, he paused, made eye contact with me and he said, "I think the greatest need of our church, is love." That conversation was several months ago, but I haven’t been able to shake it out of my mind. The greatest need in our church is to really and truly love one another.

But it’s not limited to our church. Across the country, people outside the family of God have the wrong impression that being a Christian is about disliking things, opposing certain types of people or boycotting businesses. We have become known for what we are against more than what we are for. Now, don’t get me wrong. Yes, we need to take moral stands. Yes, we need to call people to truth. Absolutely! But, when we take those stands, and when we share truth it must be done soaked down, covered up and overflowing with love.

That is the way Jesus did it. Yes, the greatest need in our church is to love more deeply, more authentically, more genuinely. The greatest need in your home is to learn to really love each other. The greatest need in your marriage is to learn to live out real unconditional love. The greatest need in your friendships is to learn to love. What we need is to learn to love!

And let me add this, over the past few weeks as I have been preparing this series, I have done some honest soul searching and I’ve come to realize that I need this probably more than anybody. I can easily shift into self-centeredness. I can quickly go to tasks and things and forget about people. And I need to learn to love. So we all have a ways to do. And for the next eight weeks, we are going on a journey to learn what real, true, authentic, genuine love looks like, acts like and produces in us.

Craig, why do we need to study love?