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"THE HOLY SPIRIT LOVES!"
TEXT:
1 Cor. 12:31b-13:13
INTRO:
My first car was a 1964 Corvair that I got from my father. It was a
good car. When I got it however, I had it painted Pearlescent White
with a beautiful blue sports stripe down the middle from front to back.
I put two engine scoops on the rear deck lid (that's where the engine
was) to give it the appearance of power, and dual glass packs on the
exhaust lines to make it sound powerful. It attracted a lot of
attention ... and that was the idea, but underneath it was still the
same old ugly grey car that my dad had owned. Though it looked goodand
sounded powerful it had not really changed, it had the exact same engine
in it and no real additional power; for all its new looks and sounds it
was no different actually!
Without love the gifts of
the Spirit are just the same as that car I had, the talents might give
the appearance of something spectacular, they might even help the church
sound spectacular, but underneath there may be no more real power!
It is only when those our
talents operate in a loving church
that they really create great benefit!
The most essential ministry
of the Holy Spirit is that of love ... it is the very
Fruit of the Holy Spirit
according to Paul in Gal. 5:22 that is
the essential power of the Gospel!
God help us to be not only
a gifted church body but a loving one!
PROP.
SENT:
The Bible teaches us that the central ministry of the Holy Spirit is the
ministry of love. The church is called to demonstrate the fruit of the
Holy Spirit as the foundation for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
I.
LOVE'S PRIORITY 1 Cor. 12:31b-13:3
A.
Excellence 1 Cor. 12:31b
1. Paul's statement
here "and now I will show you the most
excellent way" is intended to guide this very gifted church
into a healthy balance between gifts and love.
a. Without love the
gifts were meaningless, that is the following argument in the text.
b. With love however
the gifts will have greater meaning.
c. The
"most excellent way"
is the way of love ...
the topic of the entire 13th chapter!
2. While the gifts are
momentary and temporary love is fundamental to Christian life at all
times.
3. Nothing is
superior to love, it is the very foundation of God's nature and so
this includes the Holy Spirit too.
a. What moved the hand
of God to save us? It was His love! Jn.
3:16
b. The
Fruit of the Spirit is superior to the
gifts in term of impact; however the ideal is to have both, but gifts
without the fruit is meaningless!
4. Nothing is more
important than love, Jesus said this would be the hallmark of
Christianity, it would be how the world would identify us as Christ’s
disciples;
"by this
shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one
another."
Jn 13:35
5. Love moves the
heart more than anything!
ILLUS:
THERE'S A STORY OF A BUSINESS MAN PACKING FOR A TRIP AND HIS LITTLE SON
WAS HAVCING A GREAT TIME PLAYING AND WATCHING HIM FROM THE BED. AT ONE
POINT THE BOY HELD HIS 2 FINGERS UP AND SAID "DADDY, LOOK A THIS!"
TRYING TO KEEP THE LITTLE BOY ENTERTAINED, THE MAN REACHED OUT AND STUCK
HIS TINY FINGERS INTO HIS MOUTH AND SAID "DADDY'S GOONA EAT YOUR
FINGERS!" (PRETENDING TO EAT THEM)
HE WENT BACK TO HIS PACKING UNTIL HE HEARD HIS LITTLE BOY CRYING. THE
DAD SAID, I DIDN'T REALLY EAT YOUR FINGERS, SEE, THEY'RE RIGHT THERE!
THE LITTLE BOY LOOKED AT HIS FINGERS, AND THEN SAID. "YEAH, BUT WHERE'S
MY BOOGER? IF YOU CAN EAT YOUR SON'S BOOGER, NOW THAT'S LOVE!
B.
Extremes 1 Cor. 13:1-3
1. Paul now launches
into the problem facing the very gifted church at Corinth, the great
abundance of gifts and the great absence of love!
a. They were right to
promote the gifts but not at the expense of love!
b. They used the gifts
to promote spiritual pride instead of humility; the result was a very
competitive church.
2. They were relying
on only the gifts and were neglecting the dynamics of love.
a. Their witness would
suffer in the community; all the gifts in the world would not win the
lost!
b. God's love however
would really draw people!
3. Nothing is more
powerful than love!
ILLUS:
A FIFTH GRADE TEACHER AT LAKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA
WAS TAUGHT BY A MR. ALTER. THERE WERE 14 BOYS IN HIS CLASS THAT WERE
TOTALLY BALD - BUT ONLY ONE OF THOSE BOYS WERE BALD WITHOUT A CHOICE IN
THE MATTER. THIS BOY, NAMED IAN O'GORMAN HAD UNDERGONE CHEMOTHERAPY FOR
LYMPHOMA ... AND SO HE LOST ALL HIS HAIR. BEING A YOUNG BOY HE FELT
SINGLED OUT AND ODD, SO THE OTHER 13 BOYS IN HIS CLASS DECIDED OUT OF
LOVE FOR THEIR FRIEND THEY WOULD ALL HAVE THEIR HEADS SHAVED! ONE OF
THE BOYS WAS REPORTED IN THE PAPER AS SAYING, "THE LAST THING IAN WOULD
WANT IS TO NOT FIT IN, WE JUST WANTED TO MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER." IAN'S
FATHER CHOKED BACK THE TEARS AND SAID, IT'S HARD TO PUT WORDS TO!"
– SOURCE UNKNOWN
4.
The healthiest churches are ones that are
both loving and TALENTED! It is not possible to have a good
church that is TALENTED and not loving however!
ILLUS:
THERE MAY WELL BE MANY CHILDREN THIS CHRISTMAS THAT RECEIVE MANY GIFTS
... BUT IN SOME OF THOSE HOMES ALL THESE GIFTS WILL NOT MEAN MUCH
BECAUSE THESE CHILDREN DON'T FEEL LOVED. CHILDREN WHO GROW UP WITHOUT
LOVE, BUT SHOWERED WITH GIFTS AS A REPLACEMENT DO NOT GROW UP HEALTHY!
GIFTS ALONE WILL NOT MAKE A CHILD FEEL SPECIAL OR WANTED. YOU CAN'T BUY
LOVE, YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT! NO GIFT WILL REPLACE LOVE IN A CHILD'S HEART
OR MIND, WHAT THEY NEED AND WANT MOST IS LOVE ... THEN THE GIFTS WILL BE
SPECIAL!
– SOURCE UNKNOWN
5. There is little
room for interpreting Paul's comments here in any other way but
directly! Even if the church had all the great gifts like tongues but
had no love they would be making just noise!
a. The clanging gongs
and cymbals were common in Corinth, they were used to call worshippers
to come to the temples to worship the idols Dionysus and Cybele.
(1. Dionysus was the
god of revelry and ecstasy, the god of wine.
(2. Cybele was the god
of nature.
b. Loud cymbals and
gongs were banged on to call people to worship,but it was empty since
they were only dead idols, it meant nothing!
6. Paul likens the
Corinthian Christians who ignored love but emphasized the gifts with
these empty practices of idolatry!
a. Without love they
were not ministering in the gifts, they were just making garbled noise!
b. There can be no
ministry without love!
7. Notice how Paul
ends this verse 2, without love he
says, "I
am nothing,"
not "I have nothing."
a. They had bragged
about the gifts they have but Paul says they are nothing without
love.
b. Even the most
powerful gifts are without meaning if they are absent of love!
8. Love is a priority
in God's Church!
II.
LOVE'S POWER 1 Cor. 13:4-13
A.
Emptying 1 Cor. 13:4-7
1. Paul now begins to
describe God's love ... the kind Corinthian believers needed in their
church, the kind that all Christians need.
a. He starts by
describing how patient love is, it is kind, does not envy ... it is not
self-seeking!
b. God's love is
emptying, putting aside personal desires for the other person’s benefit,
seeking the other's best interest!
2. Love can change any
situation, and it is not just a feeling, it is action!
ILLUS:
ABIGAIL VAN BUREN (DEAR Abby) TELLS OF A LETTER THAT APPEARED IN HER
COLUMN SEVERAL YEARS AGO, WRITTEN ABOUT A MINISTER BY THE NAME OF GEORGE
CRANE. HE TELLS ABOUT ONE WIFE WHO CAME TO HIM FOR COUNSELING ABOUT HER
MARRIAGE ... SHE HAD COME TO HATE HER HUSBAND. SHE SHARED HOW SHE HATED
HIM SO MUCH THAT SHE WANTED TO DIVORCE HIM, BUT NOT JUST GET RID OF HIM,
SHE WANTED TO HURT HIM AS MUCH AS SHE COULD IN THE PROCESS OF DIVORCING
HIM! DR. CRANE SUGGESTED AN INGENIOUS PLAN THAT SEEMED QUITE STRANGE TO
HER COMING FROM A MINISTER. HE SUGGESTED THE FOLLOWING: "GO HOME
AND ACT AS IF YOU REALLY LOVE HIM, TELL HIM HOW MUCH HE MEANS TO YOU,
PRAISE HIM FOR EVERY DECENT TRAIT YOU CAN, GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO BE AS
KIND, CONSIDERATE, AND GENEROUS AS YOU CAN BE. SPARE NO EFFORT TO
PLEASE HIM, MAKING HIM BELIEVE YOU LOVE HIM. AFTER YOU'VE CONVINCED HIM
OF YOUR UNDYING LOVE AND THAT YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT HIM, THEN DROP THE
BOMB THAT YOU ARE DIVORCING HIM. THAT WILL REALLY HURT HIM BIG
TIME!" WITH A DELIGHTFUL REVENGE IN HER EYE SHE SAID, "BEAUTIFUL!
WILL HE EVER BE SURPRISED!" SHE WENT HOME AND WITH GREAT ENTHUSIASM DID
EXACTLY AS THE PREACHER HAD TOLD HER! FOR 2 MONTHS SHE SHOWED HIM LOVE,
KINDNESS, SHE LISTENED, SHE WAS GIVING OF HERSELF, SHE WAS SUPPORTIVE,
SHE SHARED WITH HIM AND PRAISED HIM FOR EVERY DECENT THING SHE COULD IN
HIM. AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS SHE NEVER RETURNED TO TALK TO MR CRANE, AND
FEELING CONCERNED ABOUT HOW THINGS MIGHT HAVE GONE HE CALLED HER. SHE
ANSWERED THE PHONE AND HE ASKED HER, "ARE YOU READY NOW TO GO THROUGH
WITH THE DIVORCE?" HER RESPONSE WAS INTERESTING, SHE SAID, "DIVORCE!
NEVER! ... I DISCOVERED I REALLY DO LOVE HIM." WHAT HAD HAPPENED IS
THAT SHE HAD PUT INTO ACTION WHAT LOVE IS ... AND IT PRODUCED THE REAL
THING! HER UNSELFISH ACTIONS HAD CREATED A NEW LOVE IN HER HEART THAT
CHANGED HER ... AND HIM! THAT IS THE POWER OF REAL LOVE!
– SOURCE UNKNOWN
3. You will notice in
this description by Paul concerning God's kind of love that there are
no references to feelings or emotions, just actions!
Paul tells
us what love DOES, not how love FEELS!
4. In this list it is
obvious that love does not seek its own way, it is self-emptying!
a. Unselfish love is
hard to resist, it has great power!
b. That is why God is
hard to resist, He sent His son to die for us, not to get something for
Himself but to bring something to us!
c. When someone
realizes the kind of love God has for them it is hard to resist that
love!
B.
Eternal 1 Cor. 13:8-10,13
1. Now Paul describes
the enduring nature of love, it never ends!
a. All the gifts of
the Holy Spirit that help the church now will not be necessary in heaven
when the church is perfect!
b. However,
even in perfection Love is still the foundational quality of life!
c. In this sense Paul
states that love will go on even long after the gifts
have ceased, and
therefore it is obviously more important!
2. God's love can
change things forever!
ILLUS:
IN THE BOOK, "THE GRACE OF GIVING," STEPHEN OLFORD TELLS OF A BAPTIST
MINISTER DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BY THE NAME OF PETER MILLER.
THIS BAPTIST MINISTER PETER MILLER HAD AN ARDENT ENEMY BY THE NAME OF
MICHAEL WITTMAN, AN EVIL-MINDED SORT WHO DID ALL HE COULD TO OPPOSE AND
HUMILIATE THE PASTOR. ONE DAY WITTMAN WAS ARRESTED FOR TREASON AND
SENTENCED TO DIE. PETER MILLER THE PASTOR TRAVELED 70 MILES ON FOOT TO
PHILADELPHIA TO PLEAD FOR THE LIFE OF HIS ENEMY. COMING BEFORE GENERAL
WASHINGTON HE ASKED THAT WITTMAN BE PARDONED AND SET FREE. GENERAL
WASHINGTON REPLIED, "NO PETER, I CANNOT GRANT YOU THE LIFE OF YOUR
FRIEND." "MY FRIEND?" REPLIED THE OLD PASTOR, "HE'S THE BITTEREST ENEMY
I HAVE, HE IS NOT MY FRIEND!" WASHINGTON EXCLAIMED, "WHAT! YOU'VE
WALKED 70 MILES TO SAVE THE LIFE OF AN ENEMY? THAT PUTS THE MATTER IN A
DIFFERENT LIGHT, I’LL GRANT YOU HIS PARDON," AND THE GENERAL DID! PETER
MILLER TOOK WITTMAN BACK TO HIS HOME, NO LONGER AN ENEMY, BUT NOW A
FRIEND ... LOVE HAD WON THE DAY!
– SOURCE UNKNOWN
3. Paul now explains
that even in prophecy and the gifts which reveal things to us they never
reveal everything fully! Even the gifts have limits, but love does what
knowledge cannot do, there are no limits for love!
a. There have been
very uneducated people who have been very successful in relationships
because they understood the nature of love and gave it!
b. There have been
very knowledgeable people too who have failed miserably in life and
relationships because they have never understood the importance of love!
C.
Evidence! 1 Cor. 13:11-12
1. Paul now describes
that the nature of love matures us ... his statement that
"When I became a man I put away childish
things" indicates an act of will and cooperation on his part,
the perfect tense in Greek indicates it was an act in a moment of time
that to Paul was a final decision ... with results that NOW are
observable!
a. Love cannot be just
in words, it must be in action as well!
b. Love is taught not
just with words, but by deeds!
ILLUS:
IN THE CLARENDON SCHOOL IN ENGLAND, THE STUDENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO
TAKE SECONDS AT THE DINNER TABLE. HOWEVER, THE PERSON SITTING ON EITHER
SIDE OF THEM COULD SERVE THEM ANOTHER HELPING. THEY DO THIS TO TEACH
THEM TO NOT THINK OF THEMSELVES OR THEIR OWN NEEDS, BUT IN LOVE TO THINK
OF OTHERS ... AND THIS MATURING PROCESS BEGINS WHEN WE ARE YOUNG IN
SMALL WAYS!
– SOURCE UNKNOWN
2. Paul's point about
"seeing a poor reflection in a mirror"
has to do with how imperfect our understanding is about things ... and
yet, how perfect love can be.
a. Mirrors were famous
in Corinth but only the rich could afford the highly polished ones, most
of the common people bought cheaper models that were made from metal
that didn't have a high sheen to them, so the reflection cast from them
was anything but perfect or good, they only got a poor reflection!
b. Gifts and knowledge
only offered a murky glimpse of reality, but love conquers all!
c. Where words fail to
communicate love, actions can!
There
is a God in the Post Office
This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way
to know who sent it, but there is a beautiful soul working in the dead
letter office of the US postal service.
Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month.
The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and
talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a
letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her.
I told her that I thought we could, so she dictated these words:
Dear God,
Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you
in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as
my dog even though she got sick.
I hope you will
play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a
picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I
really miss her.
Love, Meredith.
We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and
Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on
it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope
because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the
way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the
post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter
yet. I told her that I thought He had.
Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch
addressed, 'To Meredith, in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it.
Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies.' Taped to the
inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened
envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and
this note:
Dear
Meredith,
Abbey arrived
safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey
right away.
Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays
in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our
bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I
am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have
something to remember Abbey by.
Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you
write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I
picked her especially for you.
I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.
By the way, I'm easy to find; I am wherever there is love. Love, God
3. The evidence of
love our lives and in a church will help others receive the evidence of
the gifts as well!
a. With love the gifts
mean a great deal!
b. Without love they
mean nothing!
4. Paul concludes the
chapter by saying that of all the things that are important, the gifts,
faith, hope... none is greater than love!
a. Don't ignore the
gifts by any means ...
b. But be sure to
follow after love, the “more excellent
way!”
CONCLUSION:
The Bible declares that "God is love,"
therefore a central attribute of the Holy Spirit is love.
In
Galatians
5:22
Paul goes so far as to say "LOVE"
is the very fruit of the Holy Spirit!
Nothing the Holy Spirit does therefore is done without love being at the
core.
Not
even the gifts of the Holy Spirit are useful without love!
The
highest work of the Spirit ("the more
excellent way" 1 Cor. 12:31b)
is that of love.
The
TRUE church is one filled with love … and talents!
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