This past week I once again saw this kind of love lived out in a relationship. For 48 years of marriage the wife has battled all kinds of sickness and disease, and through some of the most horrific physical and emotional times I have ever heard of, her husband stood by her side. He cared for her and sacrificed for her and now when there is nothing left for him to do - he sits by her side and holds her hand. The love this man has for his wife is truly a love that is patient and kind. It is a love that continues to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things, and even now as they face the separation of death, I can say with certainty that their love will never end, and I say that with certainty because it is what God tells us. True love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never ends.
Because this passage is often read at weddings, we may think of it only in terms of marriage, but the love Paul is talking about here is not just the love between a husband and wife. It’s also the love we should see between a parent and a child. I leave this afternoon to go visit my parents and as I look back on my own life I realize that my parents love for me has beared all things, it has believed all things, hope all things, and it has endured all things. Their love for me endured through the many highs and lows of my life. I also realize that though I’m 46, soon to be 47, their love for me doesn’t end. If you are a parent of grown children you know this to be true. The love of a parent doesn’t end when their child turns 21, it endures and continues to hope and believe all things are possible.
While this kind of love is what is needed in marriages and families today, we really need to expand this out and understand that Paul is not just talking about family relationships here. Look back and remember the larger context of this passage. The last 2 weeks we looked at 1 Corinthians 12, and what Paul has just been talking about is how the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the people of God in order for us to become one body. Look back to 1 Cor. 12:4-7.
God gives each of us gifts so that we can be one body.
It’s like a good choir; we need the sopranos, altos, tenors and basses all singing their unique parts in order for the song to sound good. We not only need the different musical parts, we need the variety of tones and expressions of voices to give the song depth and character. What Paul is saying is that for the church to be a reflection of Jesus, for us to be the body of Christ in the world, we need everyone singing their part, we need everyone using the gift God has given them, but then Paul says there is something else that is needed, there is something else to strive for and it is the glue that holds the body together, and that is love.
Look at 1 Cor. 12:31, Let me show you a still more excellent way. That more excellent way is the way of love, and so the kind of love Paul goes on to describe is not reserved for husbands and wives, or parents and children, this is the kind of love that holds the body of Christ together. This is the kind of love we need to have for one another. We need to be so committed to our brothers and sisters in faith, to one another gathered here this morning, that we will be patient, kind, forgiving, and humble with one another. The love we show needs to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things, but let’s be honest, if we struggle to show this kind of love in the covenant of marriage and in the commitment we make to our families, what hope is there that we will ever be able to love each other in the church with this kind of love.
There is no hope of our being able to love each other like this if we are looking within ourselves for the source of this love. If we just try harder, we won’t love like this. The only hope for us to be able to truly love one another is if we are willing to turn to God and ask him for this gift of love. This is what Paul is saying in 1 Cor. 12 & 13. God gives us gifts so that we can be the body of Christ. The gift of prophecy, leadership, wisdom, teaching and healing are given to us to help us become the body of Christ, and the same is true with the love that holds the body together. The love we are called to have for one another doesn’t come from someplace deep within us, it comes from God and it is formed in us when we place our faith and trust in Jesus.
If we want to be more loving to our spouses, family and friends, if we want to be patient, kind, forgiving, humble and hopeful with one another in the church, then we need to stop trying to be more loving on our own and start turning to and trusting in God.
If we go back to the gospel of John, we hear Jesus say, this is my commandment that you love one another. So Jesus commands to love, but he only says this after he first says this, John 15:4-5. So love is only possible when we abide in Christ. Loving one another is only possible when we draw our strength and power from God. When we connect ourselves to God and , we will bear much fruit and the first fruit of God’s spirit that is formed in our lives is love. Again it’s Paul who tells us that the fruit of God’s spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, but notice that the first fruit is love and in many ways, it is the love God gives that brings all the rest of those qualities, or fruit, into our lives. As love forms in us we will be more joyful, peaceful, patience, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.
So this love that Jesus commands us to have for one another and the love Paul calls us to have for our brothers and sisters is a gift from God and it flows into our hearts and gives shape to our lives when we accept that God first loves us. I have to say that when I have read 1 Corinthians 13 in the past I have always read it as God speaking to us about how we are to love, which of course He is, but I read this a few weeks ago and began to think about how the love talked about here is really a reflection of God’s love for us. Listen to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 again and think about how this really is talking about God’s love for us.
God is patient with us, God is kind and forgiving. God does not rejoice in our wrong doing – or our sin – God forgives us. God’s love bears with us through all our faithfulness and failures, God’s love believes all things are possible for us, and God doesn’t just hold out hope for us - he paves the way for a future with hope, and God’s love endures through all things – look at Romans 8:37-39. There is nothing that can separate us from this love of God. God’s love endures
If we aren’t sure about how much God loves us, then we need to take a good look at the cross because it was on the cross that the love of Jesus beared all things, believed all things, hoped all things and endured all things. The love of Jesus didn’t just bear the physical pain of being nailed to a cross; the love of Jesus bore our sin and the separation from God that our sin brought. On the cross Jesus said, My God, my God why have you forsaken me, and many believe it was that moment that the sin of the world was placed on Jesus and instead of escaping that moment, Jesus’ love for us bore that sin and paid the price so that we could know God and the life God offers us.
On the cross, the love of Jesus believed all things were possible. Right before Jesus breathed his last breath he said, it is finished. Jesus isn’t talking about his life being finished because he knows his life is not over. Jesus knew there was a resurrection coming, so what was finished was the power and the consequence of sin. Jesus believed that a new life was possible for all of us. He believed that we were now going to be able to experience the fullness of life and life eternal. On the cross, the love of Jesus bears all things, believes all things, it hopes all things and it endures all things. The love of Jesus didn’t just endure the physical pain and the pain of being separated from God, but the love of Jesus endured the ridicule of the people and the betrayal of his friends. It’s on the cross that we see so clearly just how much God loves us, and when we accept this love for ourselves and when we allow God’s love to wash over us and work in our lives, we will be able to love one another the way God calls us to.
On our own, loving others this way is impossible. We might find one or two people that we could maybe love this completely, but not everyone in the body of Christ, this kind of love is only a gift of God and it is only formed in us when we can accept the love of God for ourselves. God’s love for us bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things and it endures all things. God’s love for us never ends – so let us accept this love so that we can then love one another.
Because this passage is often read at weddings, we may think of it only in terms of marriage, but the love Paul is talking about here is not just the love between a husband and wife. It’s also the love we should see between a parent and a child. I leave this afternoon to go visit my parents and as I look back on my own life I realize that my parents love for me has beared all things, it has believed all things, hope all things, and it has endured all things. Their love for me endured through the many highs and lows of my life. I also realize that though I’m 46, soon to be 47, their love for me doesn’t end. If you are a parent of grown children you know this to be true. The love of a parent doesn’t end when their child turns 21, it endures and continues to hope and believe all things are possible.
While this kind of love is what is needed in marriages and families today, we really need to expand this out and understand that Paul is not just talking about family relationships here. Look back and remember the larger context of this passage. The last 2 weeks we looked at 1 Corinthians 12, and what Paul has just been talking about is how the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the people of God in order for us to become one body. Look back to 1 Cor. 12:4-7.
God gives each of us gifts so that we can be one body.
It’s like a good choir; we need the sopranos, altos, tenors and basses all singing their unique parts in order for the song to sound good. We not only need the different musical parts, we need the variety of tones and expressions of voices to give the song depth and character. What Paul is saying is that for the church to be a reflection of Jesus, for us to be the body of Christ in the world, we need everyone singing their part, we need everyone using the gift God has given them, but then Paul says there is something else that is needed, there is something else to strive for and it is the glue that holds the body together, and that is love.
Look at 1 Cor. 12:31, Let me show you a still more excellent way. That more excellent way is the way of love, and so the kind of love Paul goes on to describe is not reserved for husbands and wives, or parents and children, this is the kind of love that holds the body of Christ together. This is the kind of love we need to have for one another. We need to be so committed to our brothers and sisters in faith, to one another gathered here this morning, that we will be patient, kind, forgiving, and humble with one another. The love we show needs to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things, but let’s be honest, if we struggle to show this kind of love in the covenant of marriage and in the commitment we make to our families, what hope is there that we will ever be able to love each other in the church with this kind of love.
There is no hope of our being able to love each other like this if we are looking within ourselves for the source of this love. If we just try harder, we won’t love like this. The only hope for us to be able to truly love one another is if we are willing to turn to God and ask him for this gift of love. This is what Paul is saying in 1 Cor. 12 & 13. God gives us gifts so that we can be the body of Christ. The gift of prophecy, leadership, wisdom, teaching and healing are given to us to help us become the body of Christ, and the same is true with the love that holds the body together. The love we are called to have for one another doesn’t come from someplace deep within us, it comes from God and it is formed in us when we place our faith and trust in Jesus.
If we want to be more loving to our spouses, family and friends, if we want to be patient, kind, forgiving, humble and hopeful with one another in the church, then we need to stop trying to be more loving on our own and start turning to and trusting in God.
If we go back to the gospel of John, we hear Jesus say, this is my commandment that you love one another. So Jesus commands to love, but he only says this after he first says this, John 15:4-5. So love is only possible when we abide in Christ. Loving one another is only possible when we draw our strength and power from God. When we connect ourselves to God and , we will bear much fruit and the first fruit of God’s spirit that is formed in our lives is love. Again it’s Paul who tells us that the fruit of God’s spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, but notice that the first fruit is love and in many ways, it is the love God gives that brings all the rest of those qualities, or fruit, into our lives. As love forms in us we will be more joyful, peaceful, patience, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.
So this love that Jesus commands us to have for one another and the love Paul calls us to have for our brothers and sisters is a gift from God and it flows into our hearts and gives shape to our lives when we accept that God first loves us. I have to say that when I have read 1 Corinthians 13 in the past I have always read it as God speaking to us about how we are to love, which of course He is, but I read this a few weeks ago and began to think about how the love talked about here is really a reflection of God’s love for us. Listen to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 again and think about how this really is talking about God’s love for us.
God is patient with us, God is kind and forgiving. God does not rejoice in our wrong doing – or our sin – God forgives us. God’s love bears with us through all our faithfulness and failures, God’s love believes all things are possible for us, and God doesn’t just hold out hope for us - he paves the way for a future with hope, and God’s love endures through all things – look at Romans 8:37-39. There is nothing that can separate us from this love of God. God’s love endures
If we aren’t sure about how much God loves us, then we need to take a good look at the cross because it was on the cross that the love of Jesus beared all things, believed all things, hoped all things and endured all things. The love of Jesus didn’t just bear the physical pain of being nailed to a cross; the love of Jesus bore our sin and the separation from God that our sin brought. On the cross Jesus said, My God, my God why have you forsaken me, and many believe it was that moment that the sin of the world was placed on Jesus and instead of escaping that moment, Jesus’ love for us bore that sin and paid the price so that we could know God and the life God offers us.
On the cross, the love of Jesus believed all things were possible. Right before Jesus breathed his last breath he said, it is finished. Jesus isn’t talking about his life being finished because he knows his life is not over. Jesus knew there was a resurrection coming, so what was finished was the power and the consequence of sin. Jesus believed that a new life was possible for all of us. He believed that we were now going to be able to experience the fullness of life and life eternal. On the cross, the love of Jesus bears all things, believes all things, it hopes all things and it endures all things. The love of Jesus didn’t just endure the physical pain and the pain of being separated from God, but the love of Jesus endured the ridicule of the people and the betrayal of his friends. It’s on the cross that we see so clearly just how much God loves us, and when we accept this love for ourselves and when we allow God’s love to wash over us and work in our lives, we will be able to love one another the way God calls us to.
On our own, loving others this way is impossible. We might find one or two people that we could maybe love this completely, but not everyone in the body of Christ, this kind of love is only a gift of God and it is only formed in us when we can accept the love of God for ourselves. God’s love for us bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things and it endures all things. God’s love for us never ends – so let us accept this love so that we can then love one another.
