Love God Love people – Permanent love

JOKE:

The Sunday School teacher was describing that when Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom she turned into a pillar of salt, when Bobby interrupted. “My mommy looked back once while she was driving,” he announced, “and she turned into a telephone pole.”

—————————————————————————————

Love God; Love People

Week 3 – The Permanence of Love

 We learn in the book of 1 Corinthians that love is permanent, greater than even faith and hope in its longevity and durability. Because of this, we must sow love into the people around us knowing that it will outlast every other investment we could ever make here on earth.

Welcome everyone! I’m so glad you’re here as we’re wrapping up our series Love God; Love People, where we’ve talked a lot about God’s love, and the example Christ set for us. Today, we’re tying it all together by looking at the permanence of love and the importance of sowing love into the world around us.

As an example of this love-filled posture, I want to share a story about a selfless one who loved people, Mother Teresa.  Let me share a story of someone who had the opportunity to meet her. . .

“During my first encounters with Mother Teresa. . .I was struck by her profound humility. I knew that she was world famous and I had imagined that all famous people have a sense of their own greatness, a pride that shows through in their words and manners. There was none of that in Mother Teresa. There was an apparent selflessness in her, a quality that is not easy to find, even in non-famous people. It was as if she was totally unaware of herself, as if she was aware of only God and others. I had never met anyone in my life as humble as Mother Teresa. She was as humble as the poor whom we would lift up out of the gutters. Her humility was strikingly beautiful to me. Mother Teresa embodied so many other qualities as well, qualities that are all too rare in the world today.”

Humble. Kind. Caring. Compassionate. These are all qualities Mother Teresa shared with others and these are several of the specific ways we are called to love others as we follow Jesus.

What we haven’t discussed yet in this series is the eternal impact our choices have on others and the importance of keeping a long view of love, the gospel, and the redemptive work of Jesus.

In week 1 we took a look at the greatest commandment shared by Jesus. When confronted by the Pharisees Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (1 John 13:34-35)

 Is it possible that Jesus simplified the commandments for us to help us stay focused on what matters most? Maybe He was trying to get our energy fixated on one of the few things that will last throughout eternity.

 I’m sure that many of you are familiar with the “love” chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. If you’ve been to a wedding ever, chances are that you heard some part of this chapter quoted or referenced. It’s a powerful passage, with deeply insightful truths about love.

And in the back half of the chapter, the apostle Paul says something amazing about love, which is pertinent to our time today.

1 Corinthians 13:8–13 (NIV): Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 Love never fails.

But all the prophecy, the tongues, and the knowledge will fade away. Pastor Bob Utley has this to say about verse 8;

“These were the spiritual gifts which the Corinthian Church was magnifying (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-3). . .the context is affirming that all spiritual gifts will stop, but love will never stop. There is no emphasis in this context on the time element of one gift versus another. Spiritual gifts are a part of time, not eternity. Love is eternal!”

In the Corinthian church, they were all wrapped up in spiritual gifting, and church I believe in the spiritual gifts, they should be and still are a part of the body of Christ.  But for the church at Corinth they were more wrapped up in the gifting to the detriment of their call to love one another.

Are there things we apply too much emphasis on in our current church culture?  Are there things we have focused on, possibly to the detriment of Jesus’ command to love God and love people?

I have been in church for over 40 years.  Share the story of Joy visiting church and being looked down upon.

For many of us, as we get older and experience more of life, we realize there’s only a few very important things in life. We begin to see more clearly that things like our profession and possessions aren’t truly as important as the people around us.

This clarity seems to be a bit of what Paul is describing in 1 Cor. 13:9-12.  He compares what we see now to seeing our reflection in a mirror, which at the time of his writing, would’ve been dim and imperfect.​​

 Several commentaries mention that Corinth was famous for its polished metal mirrors. They were the best available in that day and age, but they still reflected a distorted image.

What we see and understand now is a dim reflection of divine reality. It’s an understatement to say that there’s still so much we just don’t know.  Hod is still showing me, hopefully show you more revelation about who He is and whose you are.

With that said, we can know what God has revealed to us through His word. And this brings us back to 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV): And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 Paul says of the three things that remain, the greatest of those is love.

 Love remains past all other things because love is the basic character of God. It permeates His being and flows through all He does.

1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

God. Is. . .Love.

And when all else fades away, when nothing of this life remains, God will still be there. . .His love will still be there. And for us as believers, we trust by faith that we will spend eternity with God, engulfed in love.

So this reality brings back to sharp focus the call and command of Christ from  John 13:34-35 to love God and love people.

John 13:34–35 (TPT): 34 “So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. 35 For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.”

This is what matters, this is what will last above all others things. Love is as powerful a force in the world that you will find.

Paul said it this way. . .

1 Corinthians 16:14 (TPT): Let love and kindness be the motivation behind all that you do.

Martin Luther King Jr. said,

“We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way.”

How has the power of love impacted your life?

Where have you seen redemption, forgiveness, and compassion?

How do you love others?

If love is what really matters. If it is the greatest commandment beyond even faith and hope. . .then I know there are a lot of us in the room who need to take a long look at our priorities and energies.

We’ve got to think about how we’re investing in the world around us.

Do we have a posture of humility, compassion, and grace? Or do we see the world with selfish and self-serving eyes. Looking first and foremost to what we can gain and how we can build bigger storehouses for ourselves.

Remember, what we see here and now is only a distorted reflection of the divine reality that we will experience one day. We walk by faith, not sight as we follow the example of Jesus. He is our good Shepherd.

I mentioned last week it is so easy to love those those who think like us, have the same interest as us, but much more difficult to love those that have different views then we do,   Still we are called to love.

I’m sure most of us have thought about love at some point in our lives.

We hear about it on the radio and we see it portrayed in movies.

We say it all the time, “I love their pizza!” Or, “I love this song!” But I’m not so sure we think much about the primary place love plays in the gospel. It was because God “so loved the world” that He sent Jesus.

And, as we learned today, or at least were reminded of today, is that God, in fact, is love. So, it makes sense Jesus would sum up all the writings of the law and the prophets by simply saying, Love God, Love People.

 This is our call. Simple not always.

It’s as difficult as any instruction in its application and execution, but couldn’t be a simpler command to memorize and meditate on.

So what do we do about it?

First of all, I’d take some time today or this week to take an honest inventory in your own life. Where do you see love at work? How do you actively love God? Others? And if you feel a deficiency in these areas, what are you going to do about it?

Secondly, take a look at where you spend your time, energy, and money. Does it align with the things you say you love? Does it align with the 2 things God has instructed us to love?

If not, then consider some actionable steps this week. How can you more clearly bring love into alignment with your time, energy, and money?

And finally, if you haven’t ever heard God loves you, then let me tell you today that He does. He absolutely loves you. He loves you so much He sent Jesus into the world to live, die, conquer death, and rise again triumphant.

God loves you on your worst days just the same as on your best days. He even still loves you if you have been actively ignoring him your entire life, angry at him, or unconvinced that He’s real.

God is love.

And? He loves you.