A certain medieval monk announced that he would be preaching the next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lit a candle and carried it to the crucifix.

          First, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.

          Jesus, in his death on the cross for our sins, is the ultimate demonstration of the love of God.  It was because of his love for us that Jesus died.  That is the model of love that the Bible holds up before us.

          It isn’t just a high standard:  it is an absolutely pure and perfect standard of the meaning of love.  God is love, and Jesus is the visible demonstration of God’s love.

          Not only does Jesus demonstrate love, but he calls us to also love.  If we are going to call ourselves Christians, that is, followers of Jesus, then we must take seriously his call to us to also demonstrate love.  Jesus said, “A new command I give you:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

          Paul gave us a very good picture of what love looks like in I Corinthians 13.  When he writes this, he is speaking to the church.  It’s very interesting where he puts this wonderful gem about love.  He has been writing to the church at Corinth about the dissentions in their church.  And right in the middle of his teaching about how things should be done in the church, Paul places this wonderful chapter about love that is perhaps one of the most well loved chapters in the Bible. 

          As I read it, I want you to think about it on three levels.  First, this is the kind of love that God has for us.  This beautiful depiction of love is a picture of God’s kind of love.  It all starts with God’s love.  Second, think about it as far as yourself.  How are you doing at loving the people around you?  And third, and I suspect this was what Paul intended in the first place, think about this sort of love with respect to the church.  Is this the kind of love we practice in our church towards one another?  And beyond that, is this God-love the kind of love we as a church practice towards our community? 

          I realize that’s a lot to think about, but I am going to trust that as I read this passage, you will allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart whatever message God wants you to hear.  And I would encourage you to meditate on this scripture in the coming week, too.

          I am reading that beloved passage, I Corinthians 13.

           ¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If 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 have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 ⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸Love 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. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When 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 childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor 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.

 ¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

          I don’t know what God wants to say to you through this passage.  Maybe God is speaking to you about your personal relationships with those closest to you.  Love makes a big difference.  Love is so much more than just a feeling.  Love is action.  Love is not just a noun:  it’s also a verb.  And love in action makes a difference.

          Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells the story  of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband.      The woman said, “I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me.”

          So Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan.  “Go home and act as if you really love your husband,” he told her.  “Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make 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. Tell him then that you're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him.”

           With revenge in her eyes, the woman smiled and exclaimed, “Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!”

          So she went home and she did it with enthusiasm. Acting “as if.”  For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing.

          When she didn't return, Dr. Crane called her and asked, “Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?”

          “Divorce?”  she exclaimed. “Never! I discovered I really do love him!”

          Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds. 

          I don’t know whether that story is true or not, but I think the principles are true, either way.  When we treat someone else with love and kindness, they generally respond by treating us with love and kindness.  It’s a win-win situation.

          So why in the world would we do anything else?  Well, remember that we are sinners, and by nature we are sinful and selfish.  Acting out of love is not always easy for self-centered sinners, and that in fact is what we are.

          What about in the church, as in the situation that Paul was actually addressing?  What Paul really is saying here is that regardless of our opinions or our disagreements, if we treat one another with love, our problems will become inconsequential.  As someone has said, “Love covers a multitude of sins.”  It’s funny how, if we are truly acting in love, our quibbles seem to just melt away.

          I’d like us to think about this passage in just one more way.  What would happen if we as a church decided to love the people in our community with I Corinthians 13 love?

          What do you think that would look like?  Paul begins by telling us what won’t work:

          ¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

          In other words, no matter how eloquent your pastor or your Bible teachers, without love, they are simply annoying noise.  No one cares what they are saying if they don’t have love.

                ²If 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 have not love, I am nothing.

          If your church possesses great wisdom, and we all know the Bible from cover to cover, and we pray mighty prayers so that people are healed and miracles happen in our church, but have not love, it just doesn’t matter.  Without love, it’s not worth a thing.

                ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

          If we have the very best program for the needy and we do everything possible to help; if we fast and pray continually, but have not love, it’s not worth one whit.  It’s worthless.

          So what does this love that we need look like?  Well, when we look at our neighbors, here is how we will act towards them with love.  Now the neighbors of our church will include those who visit our church on Sundays, those who live and work in the community, and those who share our building during the week, for starters.  So this is how Paul says we are to relate to them.

           ⁴Love is patient, love is kind.

          When we love, we will be patient and kind.  That means thinking of their needs more than we think of our own needs.  It means making sure they are comfortable and cared for.  When a stranger comes into our building, we will treat with as much kindness as we would the most important, valued guest in our homes.  We’ll learn their name, for starters.

          It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

          If they have more than we have, we will not be envious; if they have less than we have, we will not be proud or boastful.  It’s terribly easy for most of us to judge people when we first meet them.  When we meet someone, we quickly size them up and decide whether or not this is someone we like; someone worth getting to know.  That is not how love acts, according to the Bible.  Instead, we decide to love them regardless of how they first strike us, and to offer love and grace to them in Jesus’ name whether we particularly like them or not.  The question that should be going through our mind when we meet someone new is not whether or not this person fits in or whether or not we like this person.  Instead, we should be asking, how can I extend the love of Jesus to this person?

                ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

          We treat every person, no matter who they are, with kindness and politeness.  We don’t ask ourselves what this person can do for us or for our church.  We try to reach out in love to see what we can do for them.

          We will not be rude or self-seeking.  So we will make sure their needs are cared for before our own.  We will all be on the lookout to make sure our visitors are comfortable and welcome.  We will see to it that they are not left wondering what to do.  We will learn their name and help them find their way around.  If you meet a visitor, don’t just say “Hi” and move on; introduce them to someone else and help them feel at home.

          And we don’t look for reasons to get angry with our neighbors.  We don’t keep mental records of everything they do wrong.  That includes neighbors who are sometimes annoying.  We are looking, instead, for ways of loving them and expressing our care for them.

                ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

          We’re not looking for the negative; the ugly; we are rejoicing when there is goodness and truth.  There are almost always two sides to every issue in the world.  You can always find bad characteristics in good people and situations and good characteristics in bad people and situations.  Your life will be a whole lot happier if you will look for the good.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

          Do you see that love is a whole mindset?  This is the way that God calls us to, and it is what we see in Jesus.

           ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

          Love protects the other person, love trusts.  Love hopes for the very best, not because we are wishing for good luck, but because we have this great underlying hope in God.  We know that God is good and that God will win in the end.  We know that our hope for this life is that God will always be with us and our hope for eternity is that we will be with God in heaven.  That is why love always hopes, always perseveres.  Our hope is in God, not in ourselves. 

          And because of the love that God places in our hearts, we want to share that hope with the world.  Starting with the person who walks through the door a stranger; starting with the friend or relative who is struggling; starting with the people who live and work and go to school in our community. 

          This week, you will have many, many opportunities to love others in God’s way.  Will you take these wonderful words of I Corinthians 13 and let them seep deep into your soul.  Pray them for yourself.  Pray them for your church.  Pray that you will have opportunities to express God’s love in your world this week.

Prayer

Gracious God of love, we thank you for these words of scripture that speak to our hearts.  Lord, we know how often we fall short of loving in our daily lives.  Forgive us for not loving those around us.  Forgive our church for not always loving our neighbors.  Help us to receive your love first, and then to grow in our love for one another and for those in our community.  

Lord, I pray that each person here today would take these words to heart, and that they would look for ways of loving in the way we learn to love in I Corinthians 13.  Even if we are just going through the motions, like the woman in the story who hated her husband, may we discover that in doing love we will be surprised to discover that we truly love.

Most of all, we thank you for your great love for us.

Amen