The passage that we have been reading concerning this
series is First Corinthians 13:13, and I'll just read it once again.
Paul writes, "But now faith, hope, love abide these three;
but the greatest of these
is love. So in first Corinthians 13:13 Paul
summarizes the essence of the Christian life.
The pursuit of faith, hope,
and love. Now in the last two lessons that I've done, I have reviewed
with you the first two concepts of faith and hope.
And for those who may not have been there, I'll take a moment to review what we've talked about so that
the third lesson all kind of fits into context here. First of all I said,
faith was a mix of three elements.
First, knowledge that comes from the words of Christ found in the Bible.
Secondly, a decision to accept this as true and obey these
words. That's the other element for faith. And thirdly, the
ongoing experience of joy, and perseverance, and confidence
based on our knowledge, and belief, and obedience.
There is a quick summary of what is biblical faith: a combination of
knowledge, an act of the will, and experience. We
talked about hope and we discovered that hope was an experience that was
produced by faith. It was the absolute certainty
that we will receive what God has promised us, because first of all,
God is the one who guarantees it. And secondly, He has already given it to us.
That was Biblical hope. Not just hope in the world - wishing and hoping, but
Biblical hope.
So today we're going to talk about the third part of this verse, love. And why Paul says
that love is greater than faith or hope.
Now we need to understand something about words.
In the English language the word love is an all purpose kind of word that
describes the various levels of fondness that we have for different things.
For example, I love my dog.
I love OU/OSU football.
Got to be careful in this place, because I'll be losing some love if I don't.
And I love my mother. Wait a minute, I love my dog, I love football, I love my mother.
Same word, different meanings.
The New Testament, as we know, was written in the Greek language and the Greeks, unlike the
English, had a variety of words to express the different feelings
of love.
For example, the word phileo.
This was the most common word for love in the Greek - love or affection.
And the various words that come from this word show this. For
example, philos, the love of a friend. Philema,
a kiss. Philosophia, the love of knowledge.
Philadelphia, the love of - brotherly love, if you wish.
Philoxenia, a love of strangers, or as we say in English -
hospitality. Philanthropy, the love of mankind.
All love, all different forms of this word.
So it was a word that denoted the attraction of people to one another,
who are close to each other. It also included a fondness for things
and concern for hospitality, but it wasn't a word used in a
religious context. In religion
we didn't use this particular word for love. Another Greek word for
love, stergo. Stergo, it was a word used to describe the
affection between parents and children, also used to show the love
of a people for their ruler, or a dog for its master -
that kind of love. And again, rarely used in the New
Testament. Some forms of this Greek word also were used to describe a
house or a home. Then there's the Greek word Eros -
another word for love.
This word for love and affection denoting the craving and the sensual
longing between the sexes. It was the word the Greeks used when
describing the state of ecstasy that leaves behind
all will, and all reason, and all discretion.
The Greek god of love bore this particular name.
Much of the sexuality in pagan religions was based on the idea
that one could commune with the pagan god when reaching this state of
sexual ecstasy. This is what the pagan orgies and the
temple sex
was all about. Also this word used to describe the pleasure from the
arts or sports.
I love that movie. I eros that movie. I love
football. I eros football. I love the Mona Lisa, the
painting. I love this word right here for that kind of love.
And then there was the word agape.
Now in ancient Greek literature the word, this word here, was used infrequently.
Only one reference is found outside the Bible. Basically it meant to
welcome or to be generous with someone, and it was used to describe the
attitude that parents would have with an only child. A kind of -
spoiled kind of love. Like many other ideas the
Bible writers took this rather bland and obscure word and they
injected it with very special meaning to describe God's
attitude towards us. And then in time our attitude toward
God, and the attitude that we should have toward other people.
In the New Testament, when we see the word love in English it is almost
always the word agape that the writers chose to describe
Christian love, because it was different than phileo or stergo
or eros.
So Paul urges the church in Corinth to pursue faith,
and to pursue hope, and to pursue love.
But then he says, but love is the
greatest. And my questioning mind said to me,
why would love be the greatest? I mean, without faith we wouldn't be
saved, and without hope we'd be miserable.
So why is love the greatest? My lesson this morning is simply to
try to share with you some of the reasons I believe the Bible says that
love is the greatest.
Well, first of all love is a godly quality.
Love is something that existed before faith or hope. It is part of
God's nature. John says in First John 4:8,
"God is love." It doesn't say that God
is faith, or God is hope.
It says God is love.
God does not need faith because His word is truth, John 17:17.
Man needs faith.
But God does not need faith because he already knows everything. He
doesn't have to take anything by faith.
Man lives on hope, hope supports man's
yearning to be out of his sinful body and with God -
Romans Chapter 8:24-25, but God is not hopeful.
He is the one who possesses everything. He is the one who gives everything,
who guarantees everything.
He does not need hope to sustain Himself. Faith and hope are
things that God has provided for man, to save and to
sustain him. But love is a characteristic that belongs to God.
And it was present long before there was any need for faith
or hope, and for this one reason alone, love
is the greatest. Another reason, love is powerful.
I mean, what do you think moved God to create the world?
What moves God to save the world? John chapter 3, verse 16,
For God so
loved - not, for God so believed in mankind.
Or God had great hope for mankind. Is That's not what it says, "For God so
loved the world." What moved Him to do what He did for us?
Well, love is what moved Him to do what He did for us.
What moved Jesus to die for his friend?
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his
friends.
Jesus didn't say greater faith
has any man or greater hope. No. Greater love,
He said. Love is what moved Him to do what He did.
It's this agape love that is different from friendship or
family or sexual love. It's a love that has power, because
power is needed to express love in such a way.
That you can do something that blesses only someone else, but not yourself.
You have to have power to be able to do something that doesn't give
you anything, that only gives something to someone else. You have to be moved in
a powerful way. You need power to bestow favor on
one who is unworthy, who doesn't show
gratitude. It requires power to do such a thing.
And the bible says love is the thing that powers that
kind of action. You need power to love those who do
not love you. Those who are not appealing to you in any way.
It requires power to move you to act in a loving way towards people like
that. You need power to sacrifice yourself for somebody else. You need
power to care for those who can give you nothing in return. There is
nothing in it for you.
It requires power to exercise agape.
And so love is greater than faith or hope because love has power
to create,
power to regenerate, power to rejuvenate the
person who expresses it,
and the one who receives. Yes, we are saved by faith.
True. And yes, we are sustained by hope. Yes.
But that salvation would not have been possible if
God had not loved us first,
First John 4:19. A third reason why love is better:
love produces light.
In John 13:35 Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love,
or if you have agape
for one another". Notice here it's not if you have
philios for one another,
or stergo for one another, or eros for one another.
No. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have agape
for one another.
The love, the agape, that we have first and foremost for one another will be the
initial light that will display Christ
to the world. Interesting that Bob mentioned what he did as we were singing the song before
the sermon.
We didn't organize that, but he put his finger right on the,
right on the point here that I am making now.
People are not won over by our great faith or our confidence.
I think I'll be saved because he really feels good about his salvation. That's what most people would be
saved.
My teacher knows a whole lot about the Bible, man, he can quote that stuff all day long. I believe I'll give
my life to Christ. No.
It doesn't work that way. I mean, you need somebody who knows the Bible to teach
you the Bible.
But it is not his or her - the content of their knowledge that
impresses you to the point that you will what,
give up your life for Christ.
People are not won over by faith or confidence.
They're drawn by love as it is first expressed towards each other in the
church, and then as they experience themselves - experience it themselves.
People who see us helping each other, supporting each other,
sacrificing for each other, are drawn to this.
In the years that I've been preaching -met people that if I go somewhere else
to preach and they know that I'm from here, let's say, I've never heard them, really -
I've never heard them say, Oh, Choctaw - I've never heard them say, man are you people smart.
It's got to be the smartest church I've ever visited. My
uncle goes there, and he said those are some smart people.
Or they don't say, wow, of all the churches I've ever seen, best looking bunch.
They never say that. They never say - I'm not saying it's not true - they just don't say it.
Or, they sure know their Bible those people. And that might be true, that's a good thing but it's not the thing
that impresses them. You know what they say over and over again?
What a warm church you belong to. Those people are so
friendly, they're so kind.
They say things like, it seems that they love being together.
What are they saying?
The thing that impresses me about this congregation, it's the agape.
That impresses me. The others may be true, but the thing that impresses
me is the light. The light from the
agape is what impresses me.
Maybe they've been here on a Sunday when someone gets up. Mike, maybe, or Marty
gets to read the announcement, and says, I have a few cards.
And the cards are all - never, has there been, 21 years I've been here - I've
never seen them, I never heard anybody get up with a card and say I just want to say that while I was
sick, you miserable people - nobody called me, nobody sent me flowers.
I didn't get any food. What's the matter with you? You call yourself Christians?
That might have happened, maybe, but nobody has written a note like that. Oh the cards
that we get are always, what? Thank you so much.
The visits, the calls, the cards, the kindnesses. Thank you.
I love being part of this family. What are they saying?
Thank you for being the light.
So love is the greatest, because it is the thing in this world that most resembles,
most represents, most reflects the true God and the
very real presence of God.
When Jesus talks about light and salt, He's not talking about faith or hope. He's talking
about love.
The power of the gospel is not just information about history or rules, it's the
story of the love of Jesus dying for sinners like you and me.
The power of our Christian life is not about how much we believe or how convincing we
can be in a religious argument, it's the witness of our loving attitude toward one another
and those who come here looking for the Lord. The people who come here are looking for light
in their life, in their marriage, in their family, in their soul,
because there is darkness in the world. There's darkness in their soul. There's
darkness in their hearts,
and they're looking for light.
The power of the Gospel brings people to Christ, but it is the light of our
love that makes them love the Lord and each other as well.
And so we get back to the question, what is love? What is it?
In the world, love is always about feelings.
Feeling close, feeling secure - to parents and family. Feeling intimacy,
feeling trust with our friends. Feeling concerned, feeling
appreciation for things of beauty, feeling appreciation for strangers,
feeling good about the nation.
Feeling sexual passion.
The Bible does not condemn these feelings. They are a natural part of the human experience, but when the
Bible talks about love, it talks about something that goes beyond feelings.
That's why it used a special word to describe love.
And so in the Bible, love is first and foremost the characteristic
of God.
A generosity of graciousness, a kindness not based on feeling, but rather based
on principle.
A holy and perfect God is kind, and generous, and welcoming
as a principle of His being, not based on how we
are. It's based all on how He is.
He is love.
Secondly, Biblical love is a creative power.
Love based on feeling takes.
Love based on feeling needs. Love based on feeling
searches for satisfaction.
Love in the Bible, however, is the kind of love that empowers others to
life, to love, to joy.
In other words, human love needs and takes, Biblical love
gives and empowers - very different.
Thirdly,
Biblical love is a bright light. I've mentioned it already,
human love eventually fades because of death, or loss of interest.
Biblical love gets brighter and brighter because the source that powers it
in the hearts of men is God, Himself.
To make sure that we would not misunderstand this greatest of all things,
God demonstrated this love as a person in
Jesus Christ. The cross, behind the screen,
that big aluminum cross there, Dave and others fashioned it.
I forget who did it. John, was it John? Dave, who did it. No. Anyway,
We had one of our members make that cross,
put light on it. I remember when the building, the renovation was over - the screen was down during
the singing and then it just came up as a kind of a surprise. It came up. And people went, ah!
And they saw the cross.
Why are you putting a cross up there? and I'm thinking, why are we putting a cross up there?
Really? You wonder in a Christian church why we would display the cross?
Why is it back here and not back there? So you would see it
while whoever is preaching here - is preaching the Word of God. So that you
would see it when you're taking the communion, and remember, this is love.
This is what created this place.
This is what sustains this place. This is what to look at when
things are dark, because in the cross we see the light of
God's everlasting, never fading,
always empowering love.
Jesus, as a human, felt all the things
of, excuse me, all the feelings rather, of human love.
But because he was God, He also demonstrated agape love for
all to see. And we see this love when we see a
godly character in holiness, and purity, and knowledge
in ourselves. We see this creative power in miracles and in
His resurrection, and in the promise of our resurrection.
We see the bright light of His mercy, and kindness, and sacrifice
always when we see the cross of Jesus Christ.
If God is love and Jesus is God, then
Jesus is love.
When I see Jesus I not only see the father, but I see what love is
really all about, as well.
When I'm thinking way too much about myself, when I'm thinking way too much about how
I feel, and how I'm being treated, and how unfair the life is to me, and what I ought
to be getting and blah blah -
it's all about me.
I take a look - I come here Wednesday, I come here Sunday, and I see
the cross.
And I'm reminded that I am called to live a cross-centered
life. I'm called to live a life of light.
Not a life where it's all about me.
Because a life where it's all about me is death,
It's darkness, it's foolishness, it's weakness, it's sinfulness.
So in the last few lessons I've tried to share with you the great triad of the Bible:
faith, hope, love.
And love is the greatest of these because it is the first and it will be the last.
Long after faith and hope are no longer necessary, love will still be
part of our heavenly experience. As a matter of fact, it will be the
sum total of our heavenly experience.
Loving God as He loves us,
with no need for faith anymore. No need for hope anymore.
Only love will remain.
One thing is sure at this point, God loves each one of us with
this love. The question this morning is, if we also
have this kind of love in our hearts for God and for others?
Jesus will fill our hearts with this love,
of course, if we come to Him, if we have not. In repentance
and in baptism.
And Jesus will also renew this love, if we've let it grow cold through
sin, and laziness, and neglect.
If we are restored to Him again. And so, if you are lacking light
this morning, if you're lacking love this morning,
whether you need it for yourself or you need to begin giving it to
others, and you may need the help of the church in doing that, then we encourage you to come forward now.