Paul begins our lesson today:

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Rosalyn Bishop
5 years ago
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1 All you need is Love Our world is saturated and infatuated with love. A simple Google search on the internet revealed to me the findings of a nonscientific study. The estimate for our music choice today, is that over sixty percent of the songs played on the radio are songs about love. I wouldn t doubt it. If I told all of you to think of a song dealing with love I could imagine spending the rest of church listing them all. All you need is love love, love, love she loves you yeah, yeah, yeah I love you, you love me loving you is easy because your beautiful love, love me do, you know I love you I could go on for a while when I think of it. What could happen when we have an over saturated and over infatuation with love songs? We could lose the meaning of the word Love. My mother once told me, Don t tell a girl you love her until you know what love is, because Matthew, you don t know what love is. There is a lot of truth in that isn t there? A person shouldn t profess their love for someone if they don t know what love is? Do you know how confusing love truly is? Look into a Greek dictionary and find what words are there for love. You will find four different words. Each word gives an entirely different meaning of the word love. The first word that you would find in the Greek language meaning love is Eros. With your ears and if you saw the word, you can imagine different words that come from Eros and this would help color a picture to the overall meaning of the word. Eros forms words like erotic. This word is used to describe the love between a husband and a wife. The second word is Phileo. This word in the Greek language describes a different kind of love than Eros, being that this is a love between friends. You can find a city named Philadelphia, as a city of brotherly love. The contrast between the two words Eros and Phileo are great. The two aren t interchangeable. The third word is stergo. This word describes the love that a parent has for their own child. Parents all around have a love for children in general, but their love is ramped up to another notch when dealing with their own children. And so this is the unique word that Greek gives to a parent who loves their child.

2 And finally the fourth word for love is AGAPE. This word is always used in God s word in how God loves us. This word is defined as giving all the love and favor that one has to another. Many include in the meaning of agape the idea of sacrificial love. For example God loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. That is agape love. These four words are all well defined in Greek, but in English we translate all four of these words as love. And so love get s watered down. Generalized, overused, and in the end love becomes normal and not special. Well, our lesson for today will reenergize your spirit because not only does it put on display the love that we are to model, but God s Word also shows us how this Agape love is able to do incredible things. For the past couple of weeks we have focused on the spiritual gifts of individuals. We then saw how each of us is blessed differently in different ways with different gifts. Last week we discussed at length that each of us with our own individual gifts fit perfectly together into one body of believers, and as each body part has a purpose, so does each Christian with their unique gifts. Today s focus moves toward the all-important subject of how do all of the preceding lessons we have studied work. How is it possible for all of us to use the gifts we have to the glory of God? And, how is it that in this body of believers, we are able to coexist with one another and work hand in hand with one another? All you need is Love! Paul begins our lesson today: 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. 13 Our lesson begins with the outline of a church and the various positions God has appointed individuals within the church. Apostles, prophets, and teachers etc.

3 But notice, not everyone serves in the same position. That would be silly and inefficient. So God has appointed some individuals to serve in their appointed positions because they have the abilities and gifts to do so. And so we see the result of the last couple of weeks. We see how God actually does give gifts to his believing Christians. We see that not everyone has the same gifts. We also see everyone fulfilling their purpose for Christ. However, there was one thing missing. Love. If you remember all of those different kinds of love from before, the love that you need is the Agape love. The sacrificial, I will go the extra mile, and do everything I can because I love you, kind of love. 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and 4 surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. You see? All you need is love! Usually these verses are chosen in wedding lessons. I often go the extra mile with the couple to show them the true meaning behind these words. In English, it would be easy for us to think about this love in our lesson as the love between a man and a woman. But did you see a couple in this lesson? Are the nouns man and woman even used? They are not. These verses are not talking about the love of a man and a woman, but instead focus on the type of love that one needs to fully use the spiritual gifts that God has given them. For example; God has given some of you the gift to be leaders. If you have been given that gift, yet you do not love the people that you are trying to lead, you will fail. Not everyone agrees with the leader, so the love that he must have is patient, kind, and is not envious, self seeking or rude. When you have a gift, whatever it might be, to use the gift and get the full potential of that gift, you need love. When a leader puts the needs of the group he is leading ahead of his own, slowly but surely the self seeking challenge is done away with and the leader is able to lead selflessly.

4 Some of you though, are not the leaders; you may be the support type. We dealt with last week that there isn t a less important part of the body of Christ. So, how then, does the supportive type fulfill their role? To fulfill your role, in the body of Christ, all you need is love. As a supportive individual you need to love your leaders and other helpers selflessly. One of the easiest things for a supportive type to do is remember all of the wrongs that have ever been done by the leaders who have led you. Yet, this is against what God has told you to do as the supportive type. You are to keep no record of wrongs. So let go of the times when you leader led you incorrectly or selfishly, and love them. And this is the neat part about the body of Christ. The same love that is commanded for one part of the body is commanded for the other part. There isn t a role within the body of believers that is void of the Agape love that is on display in our lesson. And that s what makes our lives a complete challenge filled with failures. No matter who we are, when we see how we are to love someone, we don t have enough time to enumerate all of our failings. We have been impatient, rude, green with envy, selfish, mean, cruel, and furious. And that was all in one hour. What did we do for the other 23 hours? More of the same. I don t know about you, but these passages make my heart sink because it shows me my sin in every facet of my life. As father, husband, pastor, or Christian, I have failed to live up to what Christ has set forth for me to do, and so have you. We have all fallen short. That s what is so amazing about Jesus. When we say, Jesus is perfect. Do we fully grasp what that means? Probably never will, but try to understand that today. Jesus is perfect. All of the ways that he was to love his neighbor, enemies, us, and all people, he was perfect. He never mumbled a rude comment under his breath, he never sought to fulfill his own selfish desire, he never once became impatient with the sinners he came to save, he was loving, in every way. The Love that Jesus displayed is AGAPE love every single day. Jesus lived his life because he loved us; he wanted to give us everything that we have failed at. To rid our souls from all sin, Jesus paid the ultimate price. He died on the cross for the sins of the world. The same Agape, sacrificial love that we are to have; Jesus had and never failed one bit. God so loved the world, agape loved the world that is, that Jesus came, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

5 I hope that after today, we begin to realize just what it means to love. There are different kinds of love, but English gives us only one word for love. Love is all around us. We are infatuated, saturated and inundated with love. Let s not become desensitized. We are to love like Jesus, because he first loved us. AMEN

But the greatest. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

But the greatest. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 But the greatest 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 But the greatest 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 1 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. 2