What's Love Got To Do With It
Trey Little | 18-Apr-10
"What's Love Got To Do With It?"
It is good to be back in the pulpit this Sunday and before I go any further I want to say "thank you" to all of you. Thank you for the gift of allowing Leslie and me to take a few days away to rest and re-boot. We had a wonderful time and we are very grateful for the opportunity. I also want to thank you for welcoming my in-laws. I listened to Jackie's sermon on our website and based on his words two things are for certain: first--he, like me, recognizes what a special group of people you are and what a special body of Christ MMPC truly is. And second--now this is on the website--in his words--he counts it a privilege for me to be his son-in-law!!!
Listen, I have something on my heart that I want us to spend a little time on--it is LOVE. I have been thinking about how often we use this WORD--but I wonder how often we use LOVE.
So over the next several weeks we are going to seek a Biblical understanding of this word LOVE.
As our overarching guide we will begin with, what is known to many as "The Love Chapter." Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 13 (pg. 1137 in your pew Bibles).
Now, let me set the context for you before we read it.
Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. In Roman times Corinth was a city of wealth, luxury, and immorality. There was no other city like it. To live like a Corinthian meant to live a life of debauchery. It was interesting, I thought, that it was customary in a stage play for a Corinthian to come on the scene drunk. Many of the Corinthians placed their devotion to Aphrodite--the goddess of love.
In the midst of this environment the church in Corinth existed.
And where we begin our reading is on the heels of Paul's writing to the church about spiritual gifts and about how the Body is made up of many parts. In other words, the body of Christ--the church--is not a place filled with a bunch of clones--people looking, dressing, and acting the same. It is a body of people who each have their own God given gifts. But at the end of the day--those gifts lose value when absent of love.
Listen now to the word of God.
"We loved it!"
I have said those three words at least once per day over the past week. "We loved it!" What is the "it" you may be wondering? The "it"--at least for Leslie and me--at least for this past week--is, of course, our trip to Mexico. We loved it. We loved everything about it. We loved the white sand beach. We loved the Caribe Cooler smoothies--complete with Pineapple and Banana. We loved the Huevos Ranchero and the French toast we had for breakfast. We loved the fresh Pico de Gallo we ate with every meal. We loved not caring one minute about what time it was. We loved the fact that our most difficult decision each day was where and when we would eat. We loved the morning walks. We loved not being able to every fully comprehend the exchange rate--or at least we didn't let it bother us. We loved the friendly, relaxed, "no problem" lifestyle that is so contagious in Mexico--even the dogs and cats are laid back down there. Simply put: we loved it!
What do you love? What is your "it"?
I have been doing some thinking lately--scary thought I know--but when you have several days of no real concern and no time pressure to be anywhere you have time to reflect. And I reflected on this word LOVE. I thought to myself, as a preacher I am among the guilty. We preachers have been guilty for a long time for telling you, 'LOVE EACH OTHER!' We urge the church to 'be patient, be kind, be forgiving, don't boast.' We are guilty of instructing people to LOVE without really telling you how and why you can.
Perhaps that is why I have been so convicted by this question: "What's love got to do with it?"
Why in the world would Paul just all of the sudden start talking about the characteristics of LOVE? Why would he spend so much time talking about the various gifts given by the Spirit and then throw this description of LOVE in there? Why would he spend so much time discussing the church and its similarities to the human body--many parts but still one body and then talk about LOVE?
What's love got to do with it?
I think Paul would answer: "Love has everything to do with it!"
Here is why. Take a look at what Paul said as the lead in to what he had to say about love. He said at the end of chapter 12: "And now I will show you the most excellent way."
The Greek for "excellent way" is more literally translated "beyond comparison." The way that Paul was getting ready to share with the Corinthian church was a way like no other--it was a way to live and be the church that had no match. It was and still is the way that was modeled by our Lord. It was and is a way of AGAPE--love that is not an emotion but instead an action. It is unconditional, selfless--servant love.
And I think that Paul is teaching the church that even though spiritual gifts are important to the functioning of the body of Christ, they lose their value if love is not behind them. Love is beyond comparison--love is the most important--no matter what your "it" is in your Christian walk--love must be a part of it.
But there is something very crucial we must address.
Notice that Paul didn't write: "Trey is patient, John is kind. Kim doesn't envy nor does she boast, Gaye isn't proud." Nor did Paul write, "Leslie is not rude, she is not self-seeking, Jim is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrong." Nor did he write, "Robert does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Mark always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres--Lynn never fails."
Just put your own name there in 1 Corinthians 13 where you see the word love--soon you, like me, will be made a liar. We can't love like this on our own. This kind of love is one WE cannot produce, but God's love is also a love we cannot resist!
What's love got to do with it? Love has everything to do with everything.
The key to this kind of love is living as loved people. It's having a deposit made before you ever write a check. It is being filled up with a love that is worth giving.
1 John 4: 19 says, "We love because he first loved us."
You see, the love that Paul writes of is not ours--it is God's.
We can build another building or another five buildings--but if there is no love in them--they are just buildings. We can teach a Sunday school class--but if there is no love--we are simply talking heads. We can cook 500 meals and serve them to the homeless--but if there is no love it is simply KP duty. We can quote Bible verses to new Christians--but if there is no love it comes across as pious. We can continue to grow in the number of people who call MMPC their church home--but if there is no love we are nothing more than a social club.
I am so convicted by Paul's exegesis of the word love that we are going to spend the next several weeks taking a deeper look into how this love he speaks of can become more to us than just a word we use to describe a Yucatan getaway.
My wife Leslie plays a Scrabble game on her Iphone. It is actually a pretty cool APP because she can play against other people right from her phone. It is kind of comical for me to watch--I give her a little grief because of how intense she gets when she plays. Constantly thinking of which way to play--which word to use. The other night she was playing and she used the word MERCY on a line which included a double letter space and a triple word space and she hit the jackpot. She got 60 points for that one word. In terms of the game Scrabble--that was a home run. It caused her to be filled with great excitement--to the point where she shouted out with great joy.
Friends, on a Scrabble board--the word LOVE may get you 10 points. But in life--the ACTION of LOVE--according to Paul--is the way to play! And over the next several weeks we are going to unpack this word LOVE and explore its true value in our daily lives as well as in the life of this particular body.
But for now I challenge you to consider the question again: "What's love got to do with it?"
I can tell you this--it had everything to do with my forgiveness and salvation--what about you?
Seems to me that the LOVE of Jesus should impact all we do. "Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. Jesus is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails!"
AMEN.
It is good to be back in the pulpit this Sunday and before I go any further I want to say "thank you" to all of you. Thank you for the gift of allowing Leslie and me to take a few days away to rest and re-boot. We had a wonderful time and we are very grateful for the opportunity. I also want to thank you for welcoming my in-laws. I listened to Jackie's sermon on our website and based on his words two things are for certain: first--he, like me, recognizes what a special group of people you are and what a special body of Christ MMPC truly is. And second--now this is on the website--in his words--he counts it a privilege for me to be his son-in-law!!!
Listen, I have something on my heart that I want us to spend a little time on--it is LOVE. I have been thinking about how often we use this WORD--but I wonder how often we use LOVE.
So over the next several weeks we are going to seek a Biblical understanding of this word LOVE.
As our overarching guide we will begin with, what is known to many as "The Love Chapter." Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 13 (pg. 1137 in your pew Bibles).
Now, let me set the context for you before we read it.
Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. In Roman times Corinth was a city of wealth, luxury, and immorality. There was no other city like it. To live like a Corinthian meant to live a life of debauchery. It was interesting, I thought, that it was customary in a stage play for a Corinthian to come on the scene drunk. Many of the Corinthians placed their devotion to Aphrodite--the goddess of love.
In the midst of this environment the church in Corinth existed.
And where we begin our reading is on the heels of Paul's writing to the church about spiritual gifts and about how the Body is made up of many parts. In other words, the body of Christ--the church--is not a place filled with a bunch of clones--people looking, dressing, and acting the same. It is a body of people who each have their own God given gifts. But at the end of the day--those gifts lose value when absent of love.
Listen now to the word of God.
"We loved it!"
I have said those three words at least once per day over the past week. "We loved it!" What is the "it" you may be wondering? The "it"--at least for Leslie and me--at least for this past week--is, of course, our trip to Mexico. We loved it. We loved everything about it. We loved the white sand beach. We loved the Caribe Cooler smoothies--complete with Pineapple and Banana. We loved the Huevos Ranchero and the French toast we had for breakfast. We loved the fresh Pico de Gallo we ate with every meal. We loved not caring one minute about what time it was. We loved the fact that our most difficult decision each day was where and when we would eat. We loved the morning walks. We loved not being able to every fully comprehend the exchange rate--or at least we didn't let it bother us. We loved the friendly, relaxed, "no problem" lifestyle that is so contagious in Mexico--even the dogs and cats are laid back down there. Simply put: we loved it!
What do you love? What is your "it"?
I have been doing some thinking lately--scary thought I know--but when you have several days of no real concern and no time pressure to be anywhere you have time to reflect. And I reflected on this word LOVE. I thought to myself, as a preacher I am among the guilty. We preachers have been guilty for a long time for telling you, 'LOVE EACH OTHER!' We urge the church to 'be patient, be kind, be forgiving, don't boast.' We are guilty of instructing people to LOVE without really telling you how and why you can.
Perhaps that is why I have been so convicted by this question: "What's love got to do with it?"
Why in the world would Paul just all of the sudden start talking about the characteristics of LOVE? Why would he spend so much time talking about the various gifts given by the Spirit and then throw this description of LOVE in there? Why would he spend so much time discussing the church and its similarities to the human body--many parts but still one body and then talk about LOVE?
What's love got to do with it?
I think Paul would answer: "Love has everything to do with it!"
Here is why. Take a look at what Paul said as the lead in to what he had to say about love. He said at the end of chapter 12: "And now I will show you the most excellent way."
The Greek for "excellent way" is more literally translated "beyond comparison." The way that Paul was getting ready to share with the Corinthian church was a way like no other--it was a way to live and be the church that had no match. It was and still is the way that was modeled by our Lord. It was and is a way of AGAPE--love that is not an emotion but instead an action. It is unconditional, selfless--servant love.
And I think that Paul is teaching the church that even though spiritual gifts are important to the functioning of the body of Christ, they lose their value if love is not behind them. Love is beyond comparison--love is the most important--no matter what your "it" is in your Christian walk--love must be a part of it.
But there is something very crucial we must address.
Notice that Paul didn't write: "Trey is patient, John is kind. Kim doesn't envy nor does she boast, Gaye isn't proud." Nor did Paul write, "Leslie is not rude, she is not self-seeking, Jim is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrong." Nor did he write, "Robert does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Mark always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres--Lynn never fails."
Just put your own name there in 1 Corinthians 13 where you see the word love--soon you, like me, will be made a liar. We can't love like this on our own. This kind of love is one WE cannot produce, but God's love is also a love we cannot resist!
What's love got to do with it? Love has everything to do with everything.
The key to this kind of love is living as loved people. It's having a deposit made before you ever write a check. It is being filled up with a love that is worth giving.
1 John 4: 19 says, "We love because he first loved us."
You see, the love that Paul writes of is not ours--it is God's.
We can build another building or another five buildings--but if there is no love in them--they are just buildings. We can teach a Sunday school class--but if there is no love--we are simply talking heads. We can cook 500 meals and serve them to the homeless--but if there is no love it is simply KP duty. We can quote Bible verses to new Christians--but if there is no love it comes across as pious. We can continue to grow in the number of people who call MMPC their church home--but if there is no love we are nothing more than a social club.
I am so convicted by Paul's exegesis of the word love that we are going to spend the next several weeks taking a deeper look into how this love he speaks of can become more to us than just a word we use to describe a Yucatan getaway.
My wife Leslie plays a Scrabble game on her Iphone. It is actually a pretty cool APP because she can play against other people right from her phone. It is kind of comical for me to watch--I give her a little grief because of how intense she gets when she plays. Constantly thinking of which way to play--which word to use. The other night she was playing and she used the word MERCY on a line which included a double letter space and a triple word space and she hit the jackpot. She got 60 points for that one word. In terms of the game Scrabble--that was a home run. It caused her to be filled with great excitement--to the point where she shouted out with great joy.
Friends, on a Scrabble board--the word LOVE may get you 10 points. But in life--the ACTION of LOVE--according to Paul--is the way to play! And over the next several weeks we are going to unpack this word LOVE and explore its true value in our daily lives as well as in the life of this particular body.
But for now I challenge you to consider the question again: "What's love got to do with it?"
I can tell you this--it had everything to do with my forgiveness and salvation--what about you?
Seems to me that the LOVE of Jesus should impact all we do. "Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. Jesus is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails!"
AMEN.
