MODERN LOVE (PART 1)
(Love Like That - February 12, 2023)
Series Big Idea: "When our relationship with God and others is right, the Church can be all God intended it to be"
Sermon Big Idea: “Selfless love is a priority for every Christian"
Key Scripture (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
I want to begin a series of sermons today about relationships. How do we have God-honoring relationships in this 21st-century world? It would be great if all of our relationships worked perfectly but in reality that isn’t the case. At this moment, some of you are having trouble or brokenness in a relationship. So, you desperately need some restoration and rebuilding. But, to rebuild there are some decisions that must be made. We are always making these decisions to build or destroy our relationships. Most times instead of using bricks to build our relationships we use them to throw.
So, to talk about relationships, we must talk about love. But we can’t talk about love without defining it. There is much confusion about love. During the 80s a woman named Tina Turner had a song out called “what’s love got to do with it.” In the song, she says it’s nothing but a secondhand emotion. On social media, we use the heart symbol to like something instead of loving it. So, is it just an emotion or does love really make a difference?
To answer that question, we must understand how God designed it, what He intended it to look like, and how He intends for us to live it out. Some of you here today have been hurt so much in relationships that you won’t give love a second chance. Others of you are confused by what it is. Some are trying to work on love. And yet others have just thrown in the towel and said, “I’m done.”
Our text today is 1 Corinthians 13. The Apostle Paul was dealing with a church in a place called Corinth. These people were confused about who God really was and so they misunderstood how to treat each other. Paul told them they needed a Course Correction. I want to give you my big idea at the beginning. When our relationship with God and others is right, the Church can be all it was intended to be.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, 5 does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
In these verses, love is contrasted between Selfless Love and Self-centered love. Let’s look at how Paul made a contrast between Selfless Love and Self-centered love.
Paul says in verse four that Love is patient and kind. He was saying that when love is at its best, it waits and is patient with someone. It waits through a personal struggle. It is patient with someone who is far away from God and just coming to God. It doesn't kick them to the curb! Young people, when you have a boyfriend or girlfriend who pushes you in certain areas, tell them, “If you really love me with God’s love, then you will wait for God’s timing.
It could be said like this, “Godly, selfless love waits but self-centered love hurries.” Wouldn't our marriages be improved by patience? What about people who make you crazy at work? How would things be different if we learned what Paul is saying here? But why does all this matter? Because God is patient with you and me. We are all sinners who have missed the mark, but God demonstrates His love “when we were still sinners” He died for us. Romans 5:8.
Some of us do what is called Ledger Love in our relationships. We keep a mental ledger sheet of the good, good, good, bad, bad, bad. And the other person better do some good to balance out the bad.
Listen, the reason some of our relationships don't function well is because of PERMANENT MARKERS. “I’m not letting it go” “I will be resentful.” Some of you have decades of resentment. From what a parent, spouse, or friend did to you, and you have used a permanent marker in your mind and said, “I am writing this down and not forgetting it.”
Paul says, “Love doesn't insist on its own way, not irritable or resentful.” Some of you have turned yesterday’s mistakes into yesterday’s weapons. Our relationships will never be the relationships God wants us to have if we continue down this path of Permanent Markers.
What do you need to erase this week? What do you need to let go of? God says He erases “as far as the East is from the West.” Psalm 103:12. Maybe it is a relationship with a parent or a sibling or even a spouse. When you see that person at work do you walk down a different hallway or when you are at a store, do you pick a different isle? Biblical Love erases, self-centered love uses permanent markers.
Conclusion:
An old legend says that in his old age, the apostle John was so weak that he had to be carried into church meetings. At the end of the meeting, he would be helped to his feet to give a word of exhortation. He would invariably repeat, “Little children, love one another.”
The disciples grew weary of the same words every time. Finally, they asked him why he said the same thing over and over. He replied, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and the observation of it alone is sufficient.”
How can you show patience and kindness this week to someone in your life who makes life difficult? If you are a follower of Christ, you have within you the power of the Holy Spirit to make the choice to love.
Pastor Beaver's thoughts and ideas are inspired by:
Holman Christian Standard Bible
English Standard Version Bible
King James Version Bible
Christian Standard Bible
Blomberg, Craig. 1 Corinthians. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.
Vaughan, Curtis, and Thomas D. Lea. 1 Corinthians. Founders Study Guide Commentary. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2002.
Taylor, Mark. 1 Corinthians. Edited by E. Ray Clendenen. Vol. 28. The New American Commentary. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2014.
Cole, Steven J. “Lesson 5: What Love Looks Like (1 Corinthians 13:4–7).” In Christian Family Living. Steven J. Cole Commentary Series. Dallas: Galaxie Software, 2017.
Vang, Preben. 1 Corinthians. Edited by Mark L. Strauss. Teach the Text Commentary Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2014.
Baker, William, Ralph P. Martin, and Carl N. Toney. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians. Vol. 15. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009.
Souter, Alexander. A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917.
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WORDsearch. Adult Questions for LESSONmaker. WORDsearch, n.d.
Barry, John D., Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016.
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Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
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Brown, Francis, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs. Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977.
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