Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
13. I titled this lesson, Love Is. Paul, after dealing with so many
problems in this church at Corinth, and their misuse of the gifts
that God had blessed them with, He brings it down to this point. Love. I tell you, love settles
a lot of matters, doesn't it? Love settles a lot of matters
and it covers sin. Now let's look at this chapter
here. And as we look at it, I want
you to keep this in mind. What we have before us is the
love of God shed abroad in the heart. Apart from the Word of
God and the Spirit of God, we would not know what love is.
In this sinful world, in this sinful human race, We would not
know love if we didn't have the Word of God to tell us. Go out
and ask people what love is. I mean, I'm not talking about
people who are saved, but the world. You'll get all kind of
goofy answers. But the Word of God gives us
what love really is. Now Paul says here, well let
me go to verse 31. Verse 31 of chapter 12. Paul says here, but covet earnestly
the best gifts. Those gifts that edify the church,
that glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, that's best for the body of Christ.
Covet those gifts earnestly, and yet show I unto you a more
excellent way. Then he says here in verse 1,
"...though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not
charity which is love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal." The Corinthians prided themselves in having high eloquence
in speaking, oratory, they really put a high value on oratory. And I have to say, I really like
to hear someone that's a good speaker. There's a program, I
don't know, I can't remember the name of it, but it's a program
and these people on the program are storytellers. And I go in
there and I listen to them. I like the way they tell it and
how they tell it. I just find it enjoyable. But
Paul says here, he said, though I have the tongue of men and
angels and have not love, I'm just sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. It's like those wind chimes you
have on the porch. And the wind is blowing, just
chiming, and after a while, that gets irritating. I mean, after
a while it's like, enough is enough, go take those things
down. But that's what it is, I'm just a tinkling cymbal, that's
all it is, just chiming, no rhyme or reason to it. And preaching
with no heartfelt love for the people you're preaching to is
useless preaching. You know, Paul spoke of preaching
the truth in love, and I think, To have love is to have the greatest
gift. Of course, we know Christ is
the greatest gift, but if you have Christ, you have the love
of God shed abroad in your heart. And to have love is to have God.
Not to have it is not to have God. He that loves not knows
not God. And then he says, and though
I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries
and knowledge, and I have all faiths, so that I could remove
mountains, you know, people would like to be able to have that
kind of faith, and have not love, I'm nothing, I have nothing to
talk about, nothing to boast in, if love is absent. If I could tell the future and
preach the mysteries of the Gospels and have great faith, yet without
love, I'm useless. I'm nothing. It would be all
show and dishonoring to God. I would end up making a show
out of myself is what would happen without love. It's better to be filled with
love than to be filled with gifts. If there's anything, any gift,
if there's any grace that we would desire, that we would grow
in, 99.9% of all believers you'd ask, we're
going to say faith. We say, I want to grow in faith. But really, the greatest to grow
in is love. The greatest gift to grow in
is love. Love to one another, love to
God. And the greatest gift God can
give me is a heart to preach the truth in love to you. To be able to come here week
after week, and it's not a duty, it's not a job, this is not a
job, but I really desire to come here and preach to you the gospel
in love. that you and I could gather around
our Lord and hear from Him, and to do so in love. I think it
was Scott Richardson said one time, and I won't get it verbatim,
but he was talking about two ways you can preach the gospel,
and he was using an example of feeding chickens. He said, you
can take the feed and you can just throw it at them. Or you
can take it and just drop it down and let them have it. Now you can take the gospel,
and I've heard it done in the past, or you can just throw it
at the people. Or you can preach it in love
as being one of the people you're preaching to. I preach to myself
every time I preach to you. And he says in verse 3, And though
I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, And though I give my
body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing."
There's no spiritual profit in it. We think that a man who would
do such things, who would give all his goods to feed the poor,
that he'd give his body to be burned, that man must be full
of love. Well, not so. The Pharisees. The Pharisees did what they did
to be seen of men. There are many who give to charity. Probably, I'd say, the number
one reason is tax break. It's probably the number one
reason that the world gives to charity. I'm not talking about
the church. The world, they give to charity. Number one, it's
a good tax break. And then number one is good PR.
Or number two is good PR. But Paul says here, to do that
without love, he said, it's not profitable at all, at all. The love that Paul is dealing
with here is the love of God shed abroad in the heart, and
he's giving us a description of what love really is, the love
of God shed abroad in the heart, what it really is. And then he gives us the character
of love. There's a character that shows
up, or that shows itself, when love is present. When the love
of God is shared abroad in the heart, here is how it is going
to come out. This is the way it's going to
come out. And it's one of the greatest marks of sonship. You
know, after the Lord had risen, He asked Peter, Do you believe Me?" That's not
what he asked him, is it? He said, Do you love Me? Do you
love Me? By this John said in John 13,
35, our Lord said this in the Gospel of John, By this shall
all men know that you are My disciples. And how is that? If you have love, one to another. That's how people will know you're
my disciple. If you have love, one to another.
And then we have this character of love. Love suffereth long,
in verse 4, suffers long and is kind. Love envious not, is
content. It's content. If the love of
God has yet broadened your heart and you love Christ, you're content. You will find contentment in
whatever the Lord has given you, wherever He's placed you, you'll
be content. Love vaunteth not, that is, it's
not proud and arrogant and conceited. It vaunteth not itself. It's
not puffed up. Let's look at these. Love suffers
long. It's long-suffering. Parents
put up with a lot out of their children because they love them. Because they love them. You don't
put up with a lot out of other people's children, but you do
out of yours. Because of the love that you
have, that fraternal love that you have to that child. That
paternal love. I thought of the story of Absalom
and David. Absalom was trying to take the
throne from David, his father. He was trying to dethrone him
and take over the kingdom. And when Absalom was killed,
remember he's hanging in that tree and he's killed. David wept
and he cried and he said, Absalom, Absalom, would to God I had died
for thee. Absalom tried to dethrone his
father. He tried to take his kingdom, tried to destroy his
father. And yet, David's love to Absalom,
when he finds out of his death, he said, Oh, Absalom, Absalom,
I would to God, I would have died in your place. And he meant
it. He meant it. Love suffers long.
Look how long-suffering the love of God is with us. Since we've
believed, since we've believed, how cold has our heart still
been? How often have we sinned against the Lord? How often have
we done that? And yet, He's long-suffering.
The Scripture says He's long-suffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, that any of His children should perish. He's
long-suffering to usward. And then it's kind, it softens
the heart. I thought it's like fabric softener.
I know you're going to think, honey, where did you come up
with that at? When I was growing up, we didn't
have fabric softener. Mom would hang the clothes on
the line. Now, some of you older people, you know what that's
about. And you put those clothes on, it felt like a burlap sack.
Didn't it? They were rough. They were just
rough. But now you put them in the dryer, you put fabric softener
in them, and they're, man, they're just nice to put on. That's what
kindness is. It softens the heart. It softens
the attitude. And then love envies not. You
know, envy is a fleshly trait. You can be sure when there's
envy, the Spirit of God's not at work. It's the Spirit of the
flesh, the Spirit of darkness. Love envies not. There's not a parent in here,
if their child succeeds, if their child succeeds above anything,
any success they've ever had, there's not a parent in here
that's jealous of that. Are you? You're not jealous of
that or no? But it's not greed. Love where
the love of God reigns. You are not grieved if I'm successful
or if one of you are blessed with finances or whatever the
Lord's given you, the whole body rejoices. We're not grieved. It's like, dang, why didn't I
get that? No, we're not grieved at all.
Not when love is at work. Now, when love is not at work
and it's envy, that's flesh. That's just us naturally. Then love is not rash. It's not
rash in judgment. It thinks the best. This is what
it's saying. It thinks the best. It wants
the best. It desires the best of others. And it just wants to thank the
best of you. Listen in Proverbs 10, 12, Hatred
stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. Is that not
what our Lord did for us? Did He not cover our sins? I tell you, if God would open
up our hearts and our lives, I mean, if he'd just take it
all out of the closet and put it out there, we'd be too embarrassed
to come here. If he would show who and what
we are, we'd be too embarrassed to leave the house. You know, the Lord only gives
us a real, we really just have a small knowledge of sin, I think.
We couldn't bear the full-blown conviction of sin. He gives us
a conviction of sin. Christ knew what the full measure
of sin was. But you and I couldn't handle
that. We would go into such despair we couldn't handle it. He gives
us enough knowledge of it to grant us repentance of it. Love is not puffed up. You know, there's just some things
that don't mix. Pride and love do not go together. They don't
go together. And it does not behave itself
unseemly. It seeks not its own. It's not
easily provoked and thinks no evil. Love does not behave rudely. It's not rude. said that he was meek and lowly
of heart. He was never rude. Never rude. And it seeks not her own. Love
seeks not her own. Love looks after others first. My mother, and of course all
you other mothers I know too, I've seen you, when the children
are at home, you're serving your guests, You know, they come over
to eat. You're the last one to sit down
every time. You're the last one. Not us men. Not us men. We're like hogs going
to the trough. We sit down first, don't we?
You just go to anybody's house. Who sits down first? The men.
But I tell you what, the lady of that house, she sits down
last. Mom cooked for nine of us at
home, and she was the last one, and still to this day, the last
one to sit down, just same as all you other mothers. You're
the last one to sit down. You seek not your own. Looks after others. Love's concerned
with the well-being of others. I tell you what, where this reigns,
listen, where this reign, where this kind of love reigns, that
home cannot fail. It cannot fail. Where this love
reigns. It's not impossible. And it's not easily offended. Love recognizes that everyone
can have a bad day. Well, he's just having a bad
day. That's love. I don't know why he did that.
I don't know why he's acting like that. That's flesh. That's
not love. That is not love. But I've learned this over the
years. People who are easily offended are people who think
too highly of themselves. That's where that comes from.
to be easily offended, I assure you, that person thinks too highly
of themselves. And then love thinks no evil. It's not the first thing it thinks
of a person. The first thing it thinks of
a person is not evil. It's not evil. That's what it's
saying. Because where the love of God is shed abroad in the
heart and it reigns, that's not the first thing you think of.
is evil. Henry had this written down.
He said, it's not suspicious of others, not easily suspicious
of others, and does not look for faults in others. You know,
you'd think we'd hang it on our refrigerator and read it at least
once a month. I have been going over this for
a few days, and I tell you, I find it very convicting. I do, I find
it very convicting. And love rejoices not in iniquity,
but rejoices in truth. Love rejoices not, it takes no
pleasure in the iniquity or the fall of someone else. You know, the Scripture says,
Rejoice not when your enemy falls. Love doesn't read, because you
see that that could be you. You know, a believer sees everything
in the light of the gospel. That drunk out there, that could
be me. You know, just everything out
there could be me. And yet God has snatched me like a brand
from the fire. Now, brethren, if that doesn't get us, If that
doesn't move us, nothing will. Nothing. But it rejoices in the truth.
You know, one of the things that God hates is a lying lip. He
said He hates lying lips. It rejoices in truth. Truth of
the gospel, in being truthful. It rejoices not. Rejoices not,
not in iniquity. Someone said this on this iniquity
part. What is in us is what we usually
point out in others. Love recognizes love and evil
recognizes evil. I thought that was a good statement.
What's in us, we point out in others. And then it beareth all
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. Love knows that all things are of God, and love keeps us
together in spite, in spite of our sinfulness. You know, my
dad and mother chased me, but they never ran me off. They had
reasons to, but they didn't. I mean, they chased me, but they
dealt with me. And love keeps us together. Here's a good statement, someone
I read. Love covers with silence all
things. It covers with silence all things. Then love never fails. Where
there's failure, love is absent. Then charity never faileth, but
whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there
be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it'll
vanish away." All the gifts, and Paul's telling the Corinthians
and us that all these gifts that have been mentioned will not
be needed someday. Faith will give way to sight.
There won't need to be any more prophecies or future because
there won't be no future. We'll be with the Lord. And knowledge. I thought about this when I read
this, whether there be knowledge. I was a machinist for 40 years. It's useless now. That knowledge is useless. In heaven, all this knowledge
that we have acquired in order to make what we call make a living
is useless. You learn a trade, you learn
a skill, whatever it is you do, you do it for X amount of years
and one day you come up and you punch the clock for the last
time or you walk into that office for the last time and it's over
with and that knowledge that you used all those years is no
more needed. Isn't that something? Knowledge. And there'll be a
time when nobody will need to stand in the pulpit and tell
you of Christ. Because you'll be there. You'll
be there. And you'll know even as you're
known. You won't need that. You won't need this, what we're
doing this morning. Now, we know in part and we prophesy in part,
so we have nothing to brag about because all that we know is just
a little bit. That's all we know. I've learned
that. You know, people call, you know, we have what we call
geniuses. Well, you take them outside of
that little area they're in and they can't even, they couldn't
even function. Everybody has an intelligence
in a certain area. Outside of that area, they're
not. We only know in part. The little part that we even
know of God, that we know of Jesus Christ, that we know of
glory, that we know of paradise, is just a little part. It's just
a little part. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part will be done away. When
perfect knowledge of God, of Christ, and the mysteries of
God's kingdom has come, our imperfect knowledge, our weak faith, and
all these gifts will be just like toys. They'll just seem
as toys, because Paul says in the next verse, When I was a
child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child,
but when I became a man, I put away childish things. There's a time for childhood, and there's a time for manhood.
And blessed is the man who knows the difference. But here's what he's saying.
You take the most instructed, educated man there is, and you
take a child and what it knows. Let's take a two-year-old child
and what it knows. Watch the comparison. I mean,
the difference between what this man knows and what this two-year-old
knows is just not even comparable, not even on the same page. That's
what Paul is saying. When I was a child, I spake as
a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when
I became a man, I put away all those childish things. When we reach our full maturity
in Christ, And that's in glory. We never reach it here. Then
shall we act like we ought to act, and know as we ought to
know. For now we see through a glass,
darkly, but then face to face there won't be no covering, there'll
be no darkness. We know right now, what we know
is just like looking through a cloudy glass. But then we're going to see Him
face to face. I cannot imagine, it's hard to
imagine, but really looking into the face of Jesus Christ. That's
why we're here this morning. We're here to worship Him. We're
reading about Him. And then one day, one day, And
it's not going to be long for anybody in this room, even the
youngest ones. Life is short, period. If you
live to be 80, 90 years old, it's that fast. As my dad said
once, he was talking about the kids, us growing up and everything.
He said, it seems like it was just a dream. Just a dream. But one day, I
and you, are going to look, in a very short period of time,
into the face of Jesus Christ. And all this other stuff, this
knowledge and all this stuff, and the things that the Corinthians
were being envious of and having trouble over, it's gone. It's
gone. It was just needed for a little
while. Face to face. Now I know in part
But then shall I know, even as also I am known. I can't imagine
that kind of knowledge, that you just know it. Wouldn't it
be nice? Wouldn't it be nice if you just
went to school and you just knew it? You walked into the classroom,
well I know that, I got the answer to that. They put the big complicated
math problem up there, well I know the answer. You know. You know. It's amazing. It's just, you'll know even as
you aren't known. And now he said, Abide of faith,
hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is
love. Why is that so? Well, faith someday
is going to give way to sight. We won't need faith no more.
And hope someday is going to give way to reality. If you have
something, then why do you hope for it? You don't. You got it.
Hope is going to give way to reality. Faith is going to give
way to sight. Love is going to continue to
grow and grow. It's going to expand. I mean,
we can't even begin to comprehend what love really is until we
stand in His presence. And that is one thing that will
not be gone. It will abide. This is one that
will abide forever and ever and ever. It will do nothing but
expand. That's what love is. Anytime someone wants a definition
of love, don't talk about a warm, fuzzy feeling. Because those
things, they come and go. Take the first Corinthians chapter
13. There is a description of the love of God. That's it.