Epiphany 4 I Corinthians 12:27-13:13

Epiphany 4 I Corinthians 12:27-13:13

January 31, 2016

For the past two weeks we’ve used this part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians to show how we’ve been SAVED BY GRACE TO SERVE. Since God has made us members of his family through faith in Jesus, we can serve WITH PURPOSE. Even though we are unique individuals with different gifts, the Holy Spirit has joined us together as a body so we can serve AS ONE. Now today the Lord shows us how it all works. We are saved by grace to serve IN LOVE.

There's no topic in life that's talked about more than love. It's the subject of thousands of books, songs, and even scientific studies. But just a quick glance through 1Corinthians 13 shows that most of what's written, sung and talked about love doesn't even come close to what God describes here in only a few words.And what I find is that I still have so much to learn about love. There’s no mention of my RIGHTS; what I DESERVE; my NEEDS; my FULFILLMENT. Love isn’t about me. It’s about you.

Love is so WIDE.“Love is patient, love is kind” (v. 4a). The Greek word for “patient” means “long-suffering,” or “being willing to put up with a lot.” Genuine love has staying power and is not easily angered. So someone took out the trash but forgot toput a new bag in the garbage can. You could badger them about being more responsible, or you could show your love by doing it yourself. Not because it’s your job but because love sets no bounds & no limits in what it will do for others. We are saved by grace to serve as one in love.

While love is infinitely wide, its HEIGHT might surprise you. Paul goes on to say that love “does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking…it keeps no record of wrongs” (vv. 4b-6). Love keeps a low profile. It doesn’t draw attention to itself and the things it has done. It isn’t concerned about image or putting itself above others.Love doesn’t keep score of wrongs or rights. So you’ve put in a lot of time on a project and only a few people seemed to notice, but someone else does one little thing and gets all the attention. You could rant and rave about “who does he/she think they are” or you could swallow your pride and speak well of them. We are saved by grace to serve as one in love.

Love keeps no record of wrongs and covers over a multitude of evils, but that doesn’t mean there’s never a time to confront sin. There is, but love does it to help. When someone is caught in a sin that’s becoming deliberate and habitual, Christian love compels us to reach out to warn and help a brother or sister see their sin and bring it to Jesus for forgiveness. The goal is to reach the point of telling them, “God forgives you.” And then don’t bring up the issue again. We are saved by grace to serve in love.

Love is wide andmodest. And how LONG is it? Paul continues: “[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (v. 7). “Always, always, always, always” says Paul. Love is so LONG it goes on forever. It never quits. So when you hear a couple say that they have “fallen out of love”, or members turn the cold shoulder to one another, or they stop reaching out to one another, it’s because don’t yet know what love is and are looking for it in all the wrong places. Love gives; sin takes. Love seeks the good of others; sin seeks its own good. Love finds a way; sin gives up. Love is not like a gas tank that eventually runs out of fuel but it flows forever…for others…and for free without expecting anything in return. Love never, ever fails.

When we hear this section of I Corinthians, we feel embarrassed and ashamed with guilt and afraid. These words describe love as itis supposed to be, how God expects it to be, and each word hits like a hammer blow to my conscience. I sin and fall short of putting my name by each description. I cannot say,“I am patient, I am kind. I do not envy, I do not boast, I am not proud or rude, I am not self-seeking or easily angered, I keep no record of wrongs… I always protect, always trust, always hope, I always persevere.” And my sin condemns me to hell.

But Paul didn't write this just to show how much we fail at love. He wrote it to show how God’s love succeeds. These words describe God’s patient, kind, selfless, forgiving, unfailing love for sinners like you and me. “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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

If you believe that Jesus is your Savior and that he died for your sins and rose again, it’s because Jesus has already made his home in your heart. His love is in you, bursting at the seams to show in all our relationships. "You were buried with Christ by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit, we, too, may live a new life!" Instead of regretting how much your love has failed, repent and rejoice that Jesus’s blood-bought forgiveness is yours! Thenlive inthe freedom of his love as it flows into your heart, through your mind, and out into your life!

One day soon the Bible will have accomplished its goal of bringing as many sinners to faith in Jesus as possible. Every believer’s hope of heaven will become realityand we will see it all face to face. There will be no more sin to plague our lives and we will be all grown up in Christ, knowing fully, even as we are fully known.And there will be no more need to hear another sermon about love because perfect love is all we will know.

Until then Jesus gives us to each other in his church that we may serve in love... not in ideal surroundings but in a harsh and faulty world, where God’s love for uswill never fail. Nowlet us continue to grow in his grace and in the knowledge of our Savior. That’s how his love grows in our hearts and works through us inall the ordinary events of day-to-day life in a far-from-perfect world. That’s where God’s love shines the brightest through his people. That’s where we need it most from each other.“By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Amen