1 Corinthians 13:1-13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Love is an emotion that escapes our reality in the fullest sense. We might have the giftings of God manifested in us. We might think we are on track to knowing God and understanding him because we have been given special spiritual gifts and knowledge, but the absolute completeness of God’s love usually escapes our understanding. We often are a resounding gong, announcing the presence of God in our lives, but absent of his eternal and everlasting love. Love is especially troubling to us because we know John said, God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:16) If God is love, then why does He not prevent lethal afflictions in our bodies? Why do we die of all kinds of diseases, wasting away in pain? Why does God allow natural disasters such as floods and droughts? Why is He not there when one of our loved ones is killed by an accident or is murdered? Why do battles, wars and skirmishes mark the landscape of our lives? Why? Why? Why? Why is the promise of God’s love so difficult for us to accept as a reality? The answers to these many questions have to be wrapped up in something that we cannot conceive of, and that is to be like God in nature some day forever. Jesus did not come to make our lives better. He came to deliver us from the finite existence of the flesh. He came to make everything new in our spiritual lives. Jesus tells the Pharisee, Nicodemus, the truth about our life on earth, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3) The purpose of life for humans is to become children of God: born again, eternal, brothers and sisters to the Son in the household of God forever. The business of being born alive in Christ is often one of travail, not understanding what the pain of life will bring about eventually in our existence. Some people experience more pain that others, but the purpose of God always remains the same: to enlarge his household. What can we call that purpose? Love. Love wraps up the whole plan of God for our existence. Jesus encourages us in our lives of flesh to imitate God’s love. He tells us that the rules and commandments given on Mount Sinai distill into love. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40) Even though these commandments, regulations, rules seem harsh and unbending, they represent God’s desire for us to be holy, in right relationship with him, so that we will love him with all ours hearts. He also desires us to love others as we love ourselves because we are in right relationship with the Creator of all things who loves everyone, everywhere. “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:27-31) Only God can fulfill these demands on our lives. He is not fleshly or evil. He is loving and kind, as Jesus said, He is perfect. Jesus tells us to be perfect as God is perfect for He loves his enemies. This demand surpasses our ability; we are designed to fight back for our own survival. The goal for all Christians is to express God’s love in ALL SITUATIONS.
Paul expresses conditions that we do not possess and no one who has ever walked the earth has possessed. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Even if we are supernatural in our abilities and all knowing in everything we do, we are still hopelessly lost when we do not love as God loves us. And his love is beyond our imaginations and far beyond our understanding. We function in our human milieu, not in God’s dominion. In his kingdom, where God abides in complete authority, we will experience constantly his attributes and likeness forever. For God is love and love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Within this environment of God’s presence, the essence of the finest perfumes of love will permeate our very beings. Jesus had experience in this environment of love so He tells his followers now on earth about his love for them. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:9-13) What are Jesus’ commands? To love others as God has loved us. Jesus kept his Father’s command by laying down his life for others. What others? The good, the bad, the rebellious, the ugly in deeds are his focus in loving the world. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:9-10) Jesus always did the will of God, so He gave his life for the world. This was the purpose of God, to save people from their sins and make them into new-born children of God, with his likeness on them in the fullest measure. Does that mean we will never sin for God’s nature is sinless. No, for we carry the shroud of sin on our lives, and until our demise this shroud will always be with us. But the Holy Spirit of God, the power of God is with us. He makes us alive to God and He will resurrect us some day from the veil of death. So, we will remain in Jesus’ love by faith, believing in the works of the Spirit of God and not in our own effort to be good. For IN CHRIST, we are good, carrying within our souls the attributes of the Living God.
Our special spiritual gifts given to us to function in the body of Christ on earth will someday cease, for we will be with God, so we will not need to manifest to the world, the goodness, greatness of the Body of Christ, the church. In heaven, just like marriage, those kinds of relationships and gifts will cease, Where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. Now we know God only vaguely, but it is a hope that has been generated deep inside us from our birth. We wish to know God, to know his purposes, and his ways. So we live by faith. This faith is placed in Jesus, for He lived and died for us. Because of his mighty miracles and healings, we know he represents God in all of his glory. . . .in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:2-3) In and through Jesus we know the Father God and his design for us. We IN JESUS become perfect, capable to enter the perfect domain of the everlasting kingdom. What energizes this eternal life in us? It is love; God’s love. We are no longer strangers to God, no longer immature in our behavior. We attempt in everything we do to emulate God by loving others as we love ourselves. We emulate Jesus by loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. We are a perfect depiction of God in the flesh by loving. Are we always good at it, always consistent in our love? No, for we are still in the wilderness where the climate is hot then cold and dangerous to our survival. But love motivates our hearts; it is with us when we are sleeping and with us when we are awake. Love never leaves our souls. Now we love in part, but through the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, we know the direction of our lives should be love. The cloud of the Spirit is with us by day and with us at night through the pillar of fire. The Spirit never leaves us and neither does the Love of God leave us. On earth we only participate partly in God’s fulness, but someday breakfast companions we will be with God and with his complete love for us, for that love will never cease. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. How should people know us as Christians? Not with speaking in tongues of men or of angels, not as resounding gong or cymbals of religious activity. NO! Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) Christian brothers and sisters, when your journey on earth ends, let your coffin be draped with the flag of love, letting everyone know that God’s banner over you is his love. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment