Today’s Scripture

Psalm 71:1-11             Jeremiah 1:4-10         

1 Corinthians 12:31b – 13:13             Luke 4:31-44

 

 

And now, these 3 remain:  faith, hope, love.  But the greatest of these is love.

 

This passage on love is often taken aside from the context in which Paul writes.  As we see this passage it is the ultimate writing on what love is and is not.  Whether one of your favorite passages or enjoyed at a wedding, it is very good as we go back into God’s word to see what love really is.  But we also want to read this passage in relation to how the Holy Spirit led Paul to write this in his letter to the Corinthians.

 

In the past two weeks we have followed Paul’s letter to the church in regard to worship and congregational life, especially the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We have read what the gift the Holy Spirit is and how that Holy Spirit works in and through individuals as well as in and through the church.  In the third article of the creeds we confess how the Holy Spirit calls each one to faith through the word, makes us holy in the forgiveness of sins, and likewise works within the entire Christian church just as he does in each individual

 

As we get all wrapped up in this thing and that thing in the church, God, through Paul, pulls us together in what the one true church is all about, love.  That is God’s love, God’s perfect love, and how that love is manifested through believers, through the church.

 

In the “God for Us” lessons that review the basics of the Christian faith, we look at some statements,

            I love you when…

            I love you because…

            I love you, but…

            I love you, even though…

            I love you.

 

What kinds of limits or conditions do we find that we put on our love to others in this world?  What would make us stop loving someone?  Which of these “I love you” statements sounds most like unconditional, undeserved love?  Yes, it is, “I love you, period.”  That is God’s love to you in its fullness.

 

God has given the church and individual believers different kinds of gifts.  Immanuel has different strengths and weaknesses than do our neighboring congregations.  Those have different strengths and weaknesses than does Immanuel.  Together, as one body, the church we share across our borders and exist to enliven the entire church.  It is the same with individual believers and as we are joined together as the church.  Each has different gifts that interact, that interrelate, that interconnect, that are interdependent, just as our are made of so many different parts.  Even though we often misuse those gifts, God does not necessarily withdraw them, but constantly works in and through his people (Holy Spirit) to bring these gifts to glorify him by proclaiming Jesus Christ, who is his love to all people.

 

            Now God takes us beyond those individual things that we so often get all bound up in.  He takes us to the greatest gift.  Love.  Without love, and love as God gives, all of our other gifts, abilities, knowledge, wisdom, is for naught.  But coupled with love, God’s love, all of these gifts are brought together as the effective and working body, his church, his working in the world to bring others to faith in Christ for this, his love to all.  Love is all-motivating both in seeking and in using spiritual gifts.  Love is the highest and universal duty of the church.

 

            Paul defines what love is and what love is not.  In v. 1-3 we are told what happens where there is no love.  In v. 4-7 we are told what love does and does not do.  In v. 8-13 we are told that only faith, hope and love remain eternally.  All else will pass away.  And the greatest of these three is love.

 

            Read v. 10-12 again, summarizes what is happening here.  “But when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.  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 childish ways behind me.  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  In eternity we will experience and be this perfect love in its fullest as we see Jesus, who is love, face to face.

 

End:  faith, hope and love. 

            Faith is important – we are saved by faith alone.

            Hope is important – without the hope of eternal life, the resurrection, we have no hope (if in this life only, we are to be pitied more than all – but we have this hope).

            Does my faith save someone else? No

            Does my hope save someone else?  Not necessarily

            Does bringing the love of Christ to another save someone else?  That is what the Holy Spirit works through.  Without love, all is naught.  With love, the love of God in Christ, all is alive again.  That love is in His word by which faith is incubated in the heart of the hearer.  That love is fruit, showing faith through the actions of believers, witnessing to others what God is.  God is love.

 

            Here is a coat.  Go stay warm.  That coat is pretty cold, isn’t it?

            I care for you – let us get you warm with this coat.  That coat now carries some love in it, doesn’t it. 

            God cares for you – he has sent this coat through me so you will know his love in Christ is real too – now we have real love in that coat.

            PADS – ABLAZE – FELLOWSHIP – WEB PAGE – SERVICES AND SHARING THE PEACE – GREETERS AND “MUGGING” – OUTREACH AND INREACH – THE NEAT THINGS THIS CONGREGATION DOES – ENCOURAGING OTHERS – SHOWING SINCERE INTEREST IN OTHRES FOR THEIR IMMEDIATE NEED AND THEIR ETERNAL NEED ALIKE.

 

Love :

 

Ephesians 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved.

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1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

 

1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

 

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.