June 28, 2015
Summer Fruit: The
Loquat of Love
1Corinthians 13 Notes Not Edited (I played with my grandson instead)
SIS—Love is the very essence of Christianity
defined by the very character of God and demonstrated by the actions of His
Son.
I am sure you have
heard the phrase, “elephant in the room.”
This refers to an issue so big it cannot be avoided in a
conversation. As we have a conversation
this morning, “there’s an elephant in the room.” That elephant is the SCOTUS—Supreme Court of
the United States. Particularly, this
elephant refers to two landmark decisions this week. The first dealt with a part of the Affordable
Care Act (Obamacare) that states people can receive subsidies from the Federal
Exchange if they register through exchanges set up by the states. Thirty-seven states or so did not set up
exchanges and people applied for healthcare subsidies through the Federal
Exchange—anywhere from 6 to 10 million people depending on what you read. In a nutshell the SCOTUS majority argued, and
I paraphrase, “Well, the law was not written properly so we are going to fix
it.” Sounds innocent enough. However, the SCOTUS doesn’t have
constitutional power to make or fix laws.
That’s what “kings and potentates” do.
We live in a Republic. The second
decision is even more monumental. The
SCOTUS dug deep into the Constitution (Article 14) and found a “natural” right
for homosexuals to marry. That’s now the
law of the land in all fifty states.
Basically—and again I paraphrase—the majority on the Court argued that
people have a right to marry whomever they love. As much as my philosophical mind would love
to tackle these two wayward ex cathedra announcements from the high and not so
mighty court, I want to talk about one word that has surfaced hundreds of times
on blogs and other media. That word is “love.”
The court mentioned
in their majority decision the natural right to “marry whomever you love.” Setting aside the obvious irony of
associating “natural” with the practice of homosexual behavior consider the
controverted application of the word, “love.”
Even if the justices were right—and they are not—what does “love” mean
anyway.
Here’s another use
of the word love I’ve seen many Christians use in the context of this decision
by the Court. “We must hate the sin but
love the sinner.” That’s a cliché that
floats around Christian discussions fairly regularly. It’s a good cliché, but it is bad
theology. Nothing like this phrase ever
appears anywhere in the Bible. In fact,
many verses say just the opposite.
Listen to the words of the Psalmist as just one example (Ps. 5:5):
The
boastful cannot stand in Your presence;
You
hate all evildoers.
Notice it doesn’t
say: “You hate the evil men do.” It doesn’t say, “You hate the evil, but love
the doer.” We might hope that it had
said that. We might find some “loophole
of love” if it did say that—but it clearly does not say, “God hates the sin but
love the sinner.” If you are an
unrepentant, rebellious person who persists in practicing whatever behavior you
feel like practicing, without any consideration of God’s law—much less any
remorse for your behavior—the Bible clearly says, “God hates you.”
That’s shocking
because we think of love and hate as two opposite virtues. In regard to man, this is true. In regard to God, this is false. Saying, “God hates sinners” or saying “God
loves sinners” are two ways of saying the same thing. God is indivisible. God’s virtues are inseparable. What seems like a contradiction to man is
simply the paradox of God’s nature. We
cannot resolve this paradox. We must
accept it.
The crux of the
problem with applying God’s love to unrepentant sinners stems from
misunderstanding the meaning of love.
When we want to get the definition of a word we look in a dictionary. When we need to understand the meaning of a
word, like love, we must look in the Bible.
So, let’s look at the Word of God and see what God says about the
meaning (and operation) of “true love,” or real love.
READ 1CORINTHIANS
13. True love has three primary aspects.
1. True Love
is PREEMINENT (1-3)
Now, that’s a very
important word. Well, love is a very
important virtue. Love is a big virtue
that cannot be described in a small word.
It requires a big word like, “preeminent.” Preeminent means, “surpassing all others.” Love
surpasses all other virtues. We read:
1If I speak human or angelic
languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and
if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am
nothing. 3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and
if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
It is important to
note here that Greek had five primary words corresponding to our word,
love. The three most common are eros, phileo, and agape (and there
various forms). Eros was a favorite of classical Greek poets and writers. It describes sensual, sexual, or romantic
love. Popular among the Greeks, it does
not appear in the N.T. Phileo roughly conforms to our idea of
brotherly love or deep friendship. It is
used in the N.T. on several occasions. Agape was not favored among the
Greeks. It was viewed as a cold,
emotional commitment to the welfare of another—not high on the classical ladder
of virtue. Yet, it became the word of
choice to describe the true form of love that derives from the character of
God. If I had to describe agape in a few words I would say it is “sacrificial love.” Love that gives expecting nothing in
return.
It is that kind of
love that has a place of preeminence in the economy of God. Agape love
is more than a simple virtue. It
represents the very character of God Himself.
The Bible says succinctly, “God is love (agape)” (1Jn. 4:8). Biblical love, true love, is more
than what God does. It is His very nature.
Love is the very
foundation of the gospel of salvation. It is the very foundation of all
creation. God created the world (and all that’s in it) out of a desire to “love
it” (Ps. 145:9). He reclaimed the fallen world (and everything in it) driven by
His love (Jn. 3:16). Love is the very summation of the entire Law of God (Mat.
22:38-39). Love isn’t something God does. It isn’t how He acts. Love is the
very nature of God, Himself (1Jn. 4:8). The Bible is not understandable unless
every verse is read and interpreted wearing the lenses of love. Even justice
and wrath cannot be understood without understanding love. Love is to life what
water is to a fish. A fish is in water and water flows through the fish. The
fish cannot be separated from the water any more than God (and man) can be
understood apart from love. Since love is eternal, even when one gains the
fullest measure of understanding of it, his ignorance of it will be infinite.
Love is listed first in the fruits of the Spirit because of its preeminence
over all other virtues. Nothing is more
important or more powerful than true love.
2. True love
is PRACTICAL (4-7)
True love is not an
idea. It is an action. For love to be love it must be applied. One must “do” something in order to
demonstrate biblical love. The only kind
of love the Bible knows as real love is “love in action.” Love begins with the character of God and
ends in the actions of His people. Real
love, “is love in action.” Look at Jn.
3:16
“For
God loved the world in this way:
He gave His One and Only Son.
He gave His One and Only Son.
God loved and He
gave. True love is love in action. We
express our love to God in large part by expressing God’s love to our
neighbors. Look how Jesus connects these
two aspects:
Mat.
22 37 He said to him, “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. t 38 This is the
greatest and most important command. 39 The
second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love is
“practical,” not philosophical. I think
far too many Christians miss the mark of the Great Commandment by a mile
because their love is not much more than an idea. Paul in this great passage gives us a
“checklist” of sorts by which we can evaluate our “love level.” Let’s check our “love levels” as we scan
verses 3-7.
4a Love is patient. Am
I patient? This aspect of love is not as
easy as some might think. Literally you
could expand this word to mean, “Love
remains steady when someone pushes you to the boiling point.” The word
translated, patient (HCSB), is actually coined from two words and literally means
“great explosion” or could mean “great suffering,” which is why the KJV
translates this phrase, “Love suffereth long.” The word here can refer to any kind of violent
movement like a tornado or a volcano.
Has someone ever irritated you so much that you were ready to “spew
wrath upon them like a volcano?” If you
don’t, then you are patient.
4bLove is kind. Am
I kind to others? Someone helped us evaluate this aspect of love by submitting the
following proposal: "If someone
were to pay us ten cents for every kind word we’ve ever spoken about people,
and then take back five cents for every unkind word we’ve ever spoken about
people, would we be poor or rich?”
I’m afraid that many would find themselves in the poorhouse of
kindness. We can so easily recognize
when others are unkind to us, but often we blind, deaf, and mute when it comes
to be kind to others.
4cLove does not envy. Jealousy will eat away at love like an
acid. We cannot love others if we resent
who they are or what they might have.
Jealousy or envy is love turned wrong-side-out. There is nothing at all wrong with admiring
somebody that has had some great fortune befall them or if the possess some
great skill. Admiration is not
envy. There are many people who have
skills that I don’t possess and I admire them greatly.
I
think of a great juggler I read
about this week. He had finished an
early show in one city and had a later show in a nearby city. The schedule was tight so he was driving a
little too fast on the highway. Sure
enough, a Highway Patrolman pulled him over. When the Deputy asked the driver
why he was speeding, the driver answered that he was a magician and a juggler
and he was on his way to Branson to do a show that night and didn't want to be
late.
The
deputy told the driver he was fascinated by juggling, and if the driver would
do a little juggling for him that he wouldn't give him a ticket. The juggler
told the deputy that he had sent all of his equipment on ahead and didn't have
anything to juggle. The deputy told him that he had some flares in the trunk of
his squad car and asked if he could juggle them. The juggler stated that he could, so the
deputy got three flares, lit them and handed them to the juggler.
While
the man was doing his juggling act, a car pulled in behind the squad car, a
drunk got out and watched the performance briefly. He had been pulled over for drunk driving
many times and failed many field sobriety tests. Oddly, he then went over to the squad car,
opened the rear door and got in. The
deputy observed this puzzling behavior.
The patrolman went over to his squad car, opened the door and asked the
drunk but polite man what he was doing. The obviously drunk driver replied
politely, "Might as well haul me off to jail, there’s no way on earth I’m
going to pass that sobriety test."
Love does not envy
others, but admires the skills others might have and appreciates the good fortune
that comes to others. Do you love enough
not to envy others?
4d[Love] is not boastful. Do you measure people by your standards? Of course, many people do just that but they
fool themselves into thinking they are really just applying God’s standards to
others. Think about those that struggle
with the sin of homosexuality. As
someone that does not face this temptation, it would be easy for me to say like
the religious Pharisee, “Thank you Lord
that I am not like that horrible homosexual”.
The problem with that is, according to Luke 18, you are not only as
bad as that homosexual but your sin is compounded by your pride. Love does not grade other people who miss
God’s standard. Love “speaks the truth” with humility in hopes of lifting
others to the standards God has set—not some prideful standard we have set ourselves.
4e [Love] is not conceited. The great Roman orator, Cicero, once
gave a grand speech in Pompey. After he
stepped down from the speaker’s platform, he said to a contemporary named
Atticus, “Good heavens how I showed myself off” (Pulpit Comm). Love isn’t a show off. Love doesn’t toot its own horn. Conceit focuses love inward and nothing is
left for anybody else. It’s not about
me—it’s about others.
5a [Love] does not act improperly. What could be a more practical way to
demonstrate your love than to “show good manners.” Love is not vulgar or off-color. Literally, to act improperly means to act “without
shape.” It refers to no standard
of decency. Do I always act with a
well-mannered, G-rated attitude toward others.
5b [Love] is not selfish.
1Cor. 10:24 reminds us, No one should seek his own
good, but the good of the other person. Once
again this reminds us that true love always sends blessing outward to others.
5c[Love] is not provoked. This
closely aligns with the aspect of patience.
Love rises above the natural tendency to lash out at others even if we
feel justified in doing so. It uses
different language from paitience to once again remind us that our obligation
to love can be sorely tested by difficult people.
5d[Love] does not keep a record of
wrongs. The
ESV reads, “is not resentful.” You have heard that the Lord calls upon
us to “forgive and forget.” This
is the “forget” part. You will never
truly love someone else if you keep a logbook of their failures. You will become “resentful” that leads to
bitterness. Bitterness is to love like
spraying Round-Up on weeds. The love
will wither and die.
6a Love finds no joy in
unrighteousness. Have
you been driving on the freeway and someone zooms past you twenty mph over the
speed limit. As he blasts by you do you
secretly hope to see him pulled over to the side of the road with a police car
parked behind him? That’s “finding joy in someone else’s sin.” Sure, he deserved it. He’s the one who sinned. No. Seeing others—even our enemies—suffering because
of the consequences of sin should break our hears.
6bBut [Love] rejoices in the truth.
We should never rejoice over the plight of a sinner,
but we should acknowledge the power of truth and rejoice that ultimately God’s
Truth, God’s Law, God’s purpose will prevail. We should long to see more and
more people “embracing the truth of God’s
Word.” True love must rest solidly
on a foundation of God’s Truth. Anything
less than that standard in a relationship is not love, but mere
sentimentality. It has no eternal value.
Verse
7 really serves as a poetic summation of the practicality of Godly love: It
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. True
love is powerful, principled, and positive.
Powerful in what it can bear.
Principled in what it believes; and positive with the hope that the last
chapter of God’s Book declares His people the winners!
Now verses 4
through 7 can help you when you wonder:
“are my actions loving?” Am I patient,
kind, humble and the rest? Then, you are
fulfilling the Great Commandment to “love your neighbor.”
Even the famous and
profitable, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream
Company, proves that true love
means, “love in action.” The liberal leaning leaders founders of
the mega-business have always loved the homosexual agenda. There love isn’t mere sentimentality, or a
lofty philosophy. They show it by their
actions. When the Supreme Court declared
homosexual marriage legal in all states, Ben
and Jerry’s renamed and repackaged their chocolate chip cookie dough ice
cream.
Here’s the “scope”
from an article on MSN.com: The company
renamed it, "I dough, I dough," on Friday to celebrate the Supreme
Court's ruling on gay marriage. A bevy of other companies -- like Southwest
Airlines and Target -- tweeted their celebrations as well.
True love is
preeminent. True love is practical.
3. True love
is PERMANENT (8-13)
8“Love never ends.”. . .
13Now these three remain: faith,
hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
But the greatest of these is love.
Let me give you a
cliché to apply to this present situation created by the SCOTUS: “The
real Supreme Court of the Universe is not in Washington!” All the hoopla and celebration of those
praising the SCOTUS decision legalizing homosexual marriage will be
short-lived. Ben and Jerry’s new ice
cream praising homosexual marriage will melt quickly in the fire of God’s
judgment.
Even the president
bedecked the White House in the Rainbow Colors associated with the homosexual
movement. There were parties and
celebrations in the streets. Homosexual
love has finally gained equal footing in our nation—at least in a legal
sense. Many found a reason for
rejoicing. But, the celebration won’t
last.
Homosexual love
will not last. One year from now. Ten years from now, 100 years from now, or
however long Yahweh delays His coming, but sometime for sure, God will sit as
the Chief Justice of the Eternal Supreme Court and as a majority of One
declare: “Homosexual marriage is a violation of my eternal law and I sentence
you to eternal punishment in hell forever.”
Does that sound
harsh? Does that sound UN-loving? I suppose if one does not understand what
true love is, that does sound harsh and unloving. But, that is the truth. Which is more loving—to know this truth and
not warn others to flee while there is still time, or to share this truth from
a heart that truly loves the souls of men and women so they can receive God’s
love and avoid God’s wrath? If one is
truly honest, one must agree that the only “loving” act would be to warn others
and plead with them to repent of sin—any sin, every sin, sinfulness—and fall
into the arms of a God Who truly loves them.
Yahweh, the very
ground of Being and One who defines what love really is, has declared His own
angst over the fate of those that reject His love. Yahweh, declares (2Pet 3:9):
9 The Lord does not delay His
promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to
perish but all to come to repentance.
God does love
homosexuals in the same way that He loves all sinners. he died so homosexuals could be free from
their sin, free from His coming wrath, and free to fall into His loving
embrace. God proves His love by His
actions, as Paul records:
Rom
5:8 But
God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us!
As we think of the
Fruit of the Spirit, we see that love is number one. It is preeminent. All other fruit in this basket of the Spirit
flow out of the Loquat of Love. I had
not anticipated, nor could I have anticipated, that as I began this series with
the Fruit of Love, the Supreme Court would legitimize homosexual love with a
decision from their bench. I am sad
because this was the death blow to our nation.
We have lost more in this one decision than we can imagine. We have dipped the beautiful flower of the
virtue of love into the excrement of human erudition. Love, from a worldly perspective, no longer
means much—if it ever did.
The question for
God’s people is this: what do we
do? The answer requires only one word,
“love.” We continue to love the lost
world, not with the shallow sentimentality or twisted notions of love that the
world has, but with a love that showers forth from God, Himself, the Source and
definition of love.
As I contemplate my
remaining ministry in the context of a quickly decaying country, a country that
now fully embraces what God calls an “abomination,” these words from a great
preacher guide me:
“If
sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if
they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring
them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our
exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”—Charles Haddon Spurgeon
There is nothing
more powerful than love. Let’s make sure
that the “Loquat of Love” is one of the spiritual fruits in our basket.
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