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Informed Faith
My Goal is to Help You Understand the Bible and Strengthen your faith with a deep, accurate understanding of Scripture. This podcast offers clear and practical insights using the OIA (Observation, Interpretation, Application) Bible study method. Whether you’re new to Bible study or looking to deepen your knowledge, Informed Faith equips you with the tools to build a solid foundation for your faith.
Informed Faith
What Is Love?
What really is love? Can we define it, or are we forever chasing an elusive feeling? In this episode of Informed Faith, we explore how society's varied definitions of love often lead to confusion and misconceptions. To find clarity amidst the chaos, we turn to scripture—drawing from Ephesians, Romans, and John—to understand love as God defines it and how we, as Christians, are called to counter cultural misrepresentations with Christ-like love.
This episode uncovers the profound reasons for our capacity to love: being created in God's image, the example set by Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. We discuss how our transformation from sin to salvation empowers us to walk in the good works prepared by God. We emphasize that divine love is a gift, not something earned by our deeds, enabling us to love genuinely and sacrificially as we were intended.
We underscore that without love, the gifts of the Holy Spirt are meaningless, just empty noise. Highlighting the essential nature of love in all aspects of our lives, from family to community, we stress that love is not merely an emotion but an action. Through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we are equipped to love genuinely, making it the cornerstone of our faith and actions. Join us as we unpack these rich scriptural insights and learn how to live out true love in our everyday lives.
Citations:
Authentic Love-John Macarthur
Love, Actually: The science behind lust, attraction, and companionship-Harvard
Steve Winwood-Higher Love Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Social Links:
on this episode of Informed Faith. About a year ago, someone seeking advice wrote on the Reddit website that they were unable to feel love, and one of the responses they got was I feel the same way. I've never felt genuine love or connection with anyone. I feel hollow inside. All right, welcome to another episode of Informed Faith. My name is Patrick, your host. I'm excited to be here today. We've got a great topic. We're going to be talking about love. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, go to informedfaithbuzzsproutcom. You can check out the purpose of this podcast. Ministry man on his own.
Speaker 1:We have done a horrible job of defining love over the centuries. We have tried so many different definitions floating around of what love is it's become almost impossible to answer. In fact, there's an article it's a joinoneloveorg titled. 10 people explain what love means to them. They break it down into three different categories here for people that are not in a relationship, people that have been in a relationship a short amount of time one year or more than couples that have been in long-term relationships. That's how they answer what love is.
Speaker 1:It's three different takes on it. The first, for those who are single love is security. Love is indescribable. In fact, the person that said that said love is a sentiment not able to be characterized by words. Love is indescribable. In fact, the person that said that said love is a sentiment not able to be characterized by words. Love is about give and take. Love is respect. Love is being in sync. Then someone else says love is a commitment and then for couples that have been together for one year or more, they say love is vulnerability. Love is growing together. Love is knowing your significant other's love language. Love is healthy communication. Love is knowing your significant other's love language. Love is healthy communication. Love is equality. A healthy relationship, it says, in my eyes, is when two people are equal in a relationship. That's love. Then, for couples in long-term relationships, love is accepting their flaws.
Speaker 1:And how many of your relationships have been destroyed by the fact that you thought that love had something to do with sexual attraction or lust? There's an article that Harvard put out by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. It's a February 14, 2017 article. I'll connect it in the show notes. It says love actually colon and it says the science behind lust, attraction and companionship. It says scientists in fields ranging from anthropology to neuroscience have been asking this same question for decades. Turns out, the science behind love is both simpler and more complex than we might think. It breaks the romantic love into three categories lust, attraction and attachment. I personally have ruined a bunch of relationships because I thought that's what love was. How about in movies and marketing when they talk about making love? That's love.
Speaker 1:Humans have done a horrible job of defining love and in fact it's caused extremely high rates in divorce. Suicide. I hear people say it all the time I just wasn't in love. I thought I was in love, but I wasn't. It's not like we didn't have the definition right in front of us. Scripture is the guidebook for life. Everything that we could wonder that we encounter in our lives is covered in the Bible. As believers, we should desire to have an informed faith Once again, the purpose for what we do in this podcast, not just a surface understanding of scripture, but a thorough understanding, one in which we can use, in all of life's situations, stresses and trials, questions that we have In one of John MacArthur's sermons of May in 2004,.
Speaker 1:It was entitled Authentic Love and he says all you need is love. So, saying the Beatles. If they'd been singing about God's love, that statement would have a grain of truth in it. But what usually goes by the name of love in popular culture is not authentic love at all. It's a deadly fraud. Far from being all you need, it's something you desperately need to avoid. Deadly fraud. Far from being all you need, it's something you desperately need to avoid.
Speaker 1:He goes to Ephesians 5, 1 through 3, which says therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints. And John says. The simple command of verse 2, to walk in love as Christ loved us sums up the whole moral obligation of the Christian. After all, god's love is the single central principle that defines the Christian's entire duty. This kind of love is really all you need. In fact, in Romans 13, 8 through 10, it says Owe no one, anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law, for the commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet and any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. So we can move on from this place with a definition of love that is true and we can teach our children the true definition of love.
Speaker 1:Let's look through the lens of Scripture at what the Bible says love is, and you might be thinking, oh, we're going to be studying in 1 Corinthians 13, but let's start off somewhere else. If you have your Bibles, turn to John, chapter 15. Jesus is talking about the relationship of believers to Christ and the relationship of believers to each other, and in verse 12, starting in verse 12, he says something interesting. He says this is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. In verse 13, greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you that you love one another. So I can observe from that passage that, first of all, the love we're supposed to have for each other is first given to us by God. It says this is my commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so we were loved that way first. I can also gather that this is the highest form of love. It says in verse 13, greater love has no one than this comma, that one lay down his life for his friends. Which leads me to believe that the greatest kind of love is love that we got from God and that love was sacrificial in nature. To translate, the Greek word is agape, agape love or sacrificial love. That's the greatest love and that's the love first given to us by God. It's not a request that we treat others with agape love, it's actually a command.
Speaker 1:In Leviticus, chapter 19, god is going through the different sundry laws. In verse 18, he says you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. If you turn to Matthew, chapter 22, jesus is being challenged and it says here, starting in verse 34, it says when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
Speaker 1:One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law? And he said to him you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. That means everything written in the Old Testament. The same story is told in Mark, chapter 12, starting in verse 28. It says here one of the scribes came and heard them arguing and, recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him that is Jesus. What commandment is the foremost of all? And Jesus answered the foremost is hear, o Israel. The Lord, our God, is one Lord and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And then Jesus says there is no other commandment greater than these.
Speaker 1:In James, chapter 2, he's talking about being careful of personal favoritism. And he says, starting in verse 8, if, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well, but if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Paul in Galatians, chapter 5, might give us the clearest picture of this. He's talking about Christian liberty and how love fulfills the law. He says you were running well. This is starting in verse 7.
Speaker 1:Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Question mark this persuasion did not come from him. Who calls you from God? He says remember a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough destroys everything. I have confidence in you and the Lord that you will adopt no other view but the one who is disturbing. You will bear this judgment. This is the false. Whoever the false teacher is that's misleading them. Verse 13,. In the statement you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 1:So this idea of loving each other, this agape, sacrificial love, originally came from God and was a command to us that we love others in the exact same way. And you might say, patrick, that's impossible. We could never love each other as God loved us. With that same sacrificial love. Christ died on the cross for our sins. I know that I can never love my brother and my wife or anyone in that way so perfectly. I agree with you and on my own I've proven over and over again that I don't have the ability to love others my wife, my children, friends, neighbors as I should. But I have to keep reminding myself I am not on my own. You're not on your own either. We have the ability to treat others with this same love, because of a few things. Number one we're created in God's image. I have proof.
Speaker 1:Turn to Genesis, chapter one, starting in verse 26. And it says then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 27,. God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him. Get this it's male and female. He created them.
Speaker 1:Turn to Genesis, chapter 9, and it's a very similar passage as what we just read in chapter 1 of Genesis. It's a creation story. God is making a covenant with Noah after the flood that the earth had been washed clean of all the people except for a few, and of every living thing except for that which was on the ark with Noah. And it says here and God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky, with everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea into your hand. They are given Every moving. And in verse 6, it says whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed for in the image of God. He made man.
Speaker 1:Our original design was to be like God. God created us in his image, with his characteristics. But because of sin Adam's original sin, remember we all fall short of the glory of God. Adam's original sin is one sin was enough to condemn all of man to death. Christ is the propitiation, the fulfillment, the substitution for our death. And this is Romans 8 says now, because of Christ, if we believe in him, that he died on the cross and rose again. There is no condemnation for us, no death for us. We have everlasting life.
Speaker 1:Because of that, and in Colossians, chapter 3, paul proves once again that when we are born again, we revert back to, we conform to our original created image and characteristics, starting in chapter 3,. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Therefore, verse 5, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked when you were living in them. But now you also put them all aside. And here are the things to put aside Anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with his evil practices and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge. Listen to this according to the image of the one who created him. Listen to this according to the image of the one who created him.
Speaker 1:We have the ability to love others with the same sacrificial love that God has for us and because we were created originally in his image. The second reason we have the ability to treat others with sacrificial love is because God gave us an example to follow. It's not like we don't have anything to look at. Go to John 3, 16. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has already been judged because he has not believed in the name of the only Son, begotten Son of God. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world. That is Christ. And men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil For everyone. Who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed, but he who practices the truth comes to Christ. We have the ability to love others as God loved us, because we have tons of examples to read in Scripture. We have a model to follow. The Gospels accounts, many accounts of how Jesus treated others, and they're there for us to learn from and to take with us to remember and to help us in our other relationships. The third reason we have the ability to love others with this same divine love is because we're not alone.
Speaker 1:Turn to Ephesians 3, verse 16. Now, before I read that passage, I want to remind you that context is important. And in chapter 2, starting in verse 1, paul had said and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience Among them, we too all formerly lived in the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience Among them. We too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest" but God, being rich in mercy because of his great love, with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised up with him, seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us. In Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. So, formally, we were dead in our trespasses and we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, those who are not saved. So there was a spirit associated with our former selves.
Speaker 1:But now, if we turn to chapter 3, paul is discussing this mystery of well before that. He's also talking about Christ being our cornerstone, our peace and our cornerstone, and starting in verse 14 of chapter 3, he says For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Holy Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints, all the other believers, what is the breadth and length, and height and depth. And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. That you may be filled up means to the brim, to all the fullness of God. There's not room for anything else. You're completely filled up with just the fullness of God, the knowledge of the love of God.
Speaker 1:And it says here in my notes that spiritual power is a mark of every Christian who submits to God's Word and Spirit. It is not reserved for some special class of Christian, but for all those who discipline their minds and spirits to study the Word, understand it and live by it. Although the outer physical person becomes weaker with age, the inner spiritual person should grow stronger through the Holy Spirit, who will energize, revitalize and empower the obedient, committed Christian, we are not alone. We're able to treat others with the same sacrificial, agape love that God treated us, because we are empowered with the Holy Spirit. If you're a believer, you've got the Holy Spirit. It's not some special class of Christian, but you and me. We can be energized by the Holy Spirit, revitalized, empowered. We can be obedient to, we can be committed to God and to the things of God, to a holy, righteous life because of the Holy Spirit which dwells in us.
Speaker 1:For more proof that a believer, a regenerate person, has the Holy Spirit in them in Romans 7, starting in verse 13, paul's talking about that very thing that there is. Not only is there a regenerate person, but still sin which dwells in them. So there's both. Paul says here, starting in verse 21,. I find the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good, for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. I want to do the law of God. I believe the law of God is good, but I see a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a Exclamation point. Who will set me free from the body of this death. Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who will set me free. So then, on the one hand, I myself, with my mind, am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin.
Speaker 1:Then he goes on in chapter 8, remember that, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit, of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin. The Spirit replaced the law, so you're free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was, through the flesh, god did, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. And if you keep going there, in verse 9 of chapter 8, it says, however, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.
Speaker 1:If Christ is in you, though, the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. So you still have this body of sin, but the Spirit is alive in you because of your desire for righteousness, to live a holy life If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, starting in verse 12, brethren, we're under no obligation to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. If you are living by the Spirit, you are putting sin to death in your life. That means All who are being led by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God, for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out Abba, father.
Speaker 1:The Spirit himself testifies, with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children heirs, also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him, we have the ability to treat others with genuine sacrificial love, because the Holy Spirit resides in us. It gives us the power to do so. Philippians 2, starting in verse 12,. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. In 2 Corinthians 3, 18,. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as an amur the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Speaker 1:Paul, in his final letter to his protege, pastor Timothy, says this to him in chapter 1, verse 7. He says, for God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. And just to close this out, we go to 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20. It says this this is Paul again. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You're not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. That's right. We're not on our own when we try and love others the way that God loved us. On our own, it's impossible, but it's not with Christ and the Holy Spirit which indwells us. I need to remind myself too that sacrificial agape love is the basis for all other fruits of the Spirit. By the way, turn to Galatians 5, starting in verse 16.
Speaker 1:Paul says this, but I say walk by the Spirit. That's the same as saying being filled by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. So if you're filled with the Spirit, if you're filled up to the brim and have no other space in your cup, so to speak, because it's totally full of the Spirit, you won't carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. So the spirit is restraining, it's in opposition to the things that you want to do Verse 18,.
Speaker 1:But if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, he says, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now that means those who practice, means those who habitually practice those things. It's not to say that you will not sin and make mistakes and then repent and have to ask forgiveness and go on your way again. Those things do happen, but we're talking about someone here who practices these things as a matter of lifestyle Verse 22,.
Speaker 1:But the fruit of the Spirit is get this love. Then joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. See how love is the foundation of all the other fruits of the Spirit, all the other characteristics that a believer has the behaviors, actions. Love is the basis of all the other fruits of the Spirit, all the other characteristics that a believer has the behaviors, actions. Love is the basis of all of that. I think that's important for all of us to remember.
Speaker 1:Now I know we probably thought from the very beginning that I was going to be reading from the famous section in 1 Corinthians 13, and I guess I want to end with that. Now this section has become famous because people think it's about romantic love and it's not. We have to once again be informed believers and understand the context of what we're reading. So a good practice to get in the habit of is to read the passages, or the chapters before the passage that you're reading, so you can understand the context. And if we go back to chapter 12, we see Paul. He's talking about spiritual gifts.
Speaker 1:Seems as though there was some dissension amongst the believers in Corinth about gifts. And if you read through chapter 12, you'll notice that these gifts seem to be the ones that were the fancy gifts. They were the more noticed gifts and they were having arguments about these gifts seem to be the ones that were the fancy gifts. They were the more noticed gifts and they were having arguments about these gifts and who was better than who and all these kinds of dissensions within the church. And it says here in chapter 12, now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols. However, you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one, speaking by the Spirit of God, says Jesus is accursed and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So you say Jesus is Lord of your life, you repent of your sins and you have the Holy Spirit. You're born again.
Speaker 1:Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit Got it. There are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same Spirit Got it. There are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons, but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit To another. Faith by the same Spirit to another. Gifts of healing by the one spirit to another the affecting of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues and to another the interpretation of tongues, but one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as he wills. And he talks about unity and diversity in one body. Everyone has different gifts, but you need to still. You're all still part of the same body and you need to get along. You need to stop getting in these arguments and dissensions over whose gifts are better than whose. And so we get to chapter 13.
Speaker 1:Its section is usually called the greatest gift, right. So here's what Paul says. He says if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Now we need to stop there real quick, because once again we're talking about a gift that is seen as being very high up on the chain of gifts. It's a real popular gift. You have the gift of speaking in tongues, man, you were seen as very, very holy and spiritual or maybe you thought of yourself that way and we have to be careful in this section to understand that the tongues that's being discussed here is not the same tongues, speaking in tongues that we come to understand now as believers. This tongues, he says, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, what he's talking about is other languages, not an extraterrestrial language that no one understands. And to prove that we can go back to Acts real quick, let's just talk about this real quick.
Speaker 1:Acts, chapter 2,. This is the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the day of Pentecost had come, you remember this? They were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house. Where they this is the disciples where they were sitting. The disciples had been told to go to Jerusalem. Jesus had told them this is after Jesus had ascended back into heaven, said, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And so they're there now in the supper room, and they appear to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And these tongues that are being described here Now. Keep reading there, verse 5.
Speaker 1:Were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven? And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. Not because they were hearing them speak in a language they had never heard before and could not understand. They were hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying why are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, judea and Cappadocia, pontus and Asia, phrygia and Pamphylia, egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, cretans and Arabs. We hear them in our own tongues, speaking of the mighty deeds of God. And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another what does this mean? But others were mocking and saying they are full of sweet wine, they're drunk.
Speaker 1:So this speaking in tongues I just wanted to touch on that that Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13 is not in the same tongues that we think of it today. Man, in his twisting of scripture, has taken this way out of the ballpark. So if I speak with the tongues of the languages of men and of angels, that does not mean when it says and of angels, that means the apostle was writing in general, hypothetical terms. There's no biblical teaching of any special angelic language that people could learn to speak. So he's just hypothetically saying this I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. What's he mean by that? Speaking in a weird language or in an alien type language? If there was gibberish and happening, it was happening. It didn't occur because of something God created or the Holy Spirit. That was because man had done that through their own design, when they were worshiping Baal and other idols, other false gods. A lot of times when they were speaking those languages of gibberish, they would, as they came to the climax, I guess in their gibberish or their sentence they would hit a gong or hit a cymbal and make it into some big deal. But that's actually what he's talking about there.
Speaker 1:If I have the gift of prophecy he goes on in verse 2, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. He's talking about a real gift, the gift of teaching, of prophecy. But look what he says there and know all mysteries, all knowledge and have all faith. He's describing something that's impossible. I know everything and my faith is. I have the highest amount of faith possible. I can even move mountains with my faith, but I don't have love, I'm nothing.
Speaker 1:Then he goes on in verse 3. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and the translation of this I found out is not just like you're writing a check, let's say you write a check for a million bucks and you send it to feed the children or something. That's not the type of giving he's talking about. Actually the translation is giving bit by bit, meaning that you actually go out, you travel to the third world country, I guess and you are handing out food and putting it in the hand of each individual, you are feeding, literally feeding an individual and people, person by person by person. That would be the utmost giving, not like writing a check. So this is once again an almost impossibility. And I give all my possessions to feed the poor. And if I surrender my body to be burned but do not have love, it profits me nothing. He's saying. You could be the best of all of these things, all these gifts, and still, if you don't have love for each other, you guys are nothing. You're getting nowhere. It's of no profit to you.
Speaker 1:Then he goes into verse 4. In the verses we just read, 1 through 3, the focus is on the emptiness produced when love is absent from ministry. And in these verses, 4 through 7, the fullness of love is described. And in each case by what love does? Love is action, it's not abstraction. And positively, love is patient with people and gracious to them with generosity. Negatively, love never envies or brags or is arrogant, since that is the opposite of selfless service to others. It's never rude or overbearing. Love never wants its own way, it's not irritated or angered in personal offense and finds no pleasure in someone else's sin, even the sin of an enemy. And on the positive side again, love is devoted to truth and everything and with regard to all things within God's righteous and gracious will. Love protects, believes, hopes and endures what others reject.
Speaker 1:So in light of this helpful context, we know that verses four through seven are dealing with romantic love, but our ministry to others. And we're not talking about missionary work to other countries and handing out food and building buildings. We're talking about our daily lives. When we are living, we are ministering. If we're believers, we're ministering at home, to our wife and children. When we're at work, when we're at church, when we're out and about, when we're driving, we are ministering through our lives, not just what we say but what we do. And this is clearly 4 through 7, about our action, about what we do. So let's read it now in that context Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous.
Speaker 1:Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, it's not prov. Then verse 8, love never fails. But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away. You see, paul's not talking about romance here, he's still in the mindset of ministry. Verse 8 refers to love's lastingness and permanence as a divine quality. Love outlasts all failures. And he strengthens his point on the permanence of love by comparing it to the spiritual gifts which the Corinthians so highly prized Prophecy, knowledge, tongues all of which have an end. But now it says verse 13, faith, hope, love, abide these three, but the greatest of these is love. You know, whether you're a believer or not, you spend your whole life looking for this kind of love. We really do, in fact.
Speaker 1:I want to prove that to you by reading you the lyrics from a very popular song back in 1986. I know a lot of you probably won't remember this, but there was a song called Higher Love. It was written by Steve Winwood. It was the Billboard Hot 100 number one song, topping the chart for one week beginning 30th of August 1986. Higher Love also spent four weeks to top the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and earned two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Speaker 1:So love must be a pretty important topic for everybody. Here's what it says. Think about it. There must be higher love, down in the heart or hidden in the stars above. Without it, life is wasted time. Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine. Things look so bad everywhere in this whole world. What is fair? We walk blind and we try to see falling behind in what could be. Bring me a higher love. Bring me a higher love. Bring me a higher love. Where's that higher love I keep thinking of In verse two?
Speaker 1:Worlds are turning and we're just hanging on, facing our fear and standing out there alone, a yearning and it's real to me. There must be someone who's feeling for me. Things look so bad everywhere in this whole world. What is fair? We walk blind and we try to see falling behind and what could be. Bring me a higher love. I will for it. I'm not too late for it. Until then, I'll sing my song to cheer the night along.
Speaker 1:So what have we learned?
Speaker 1:We learned that God is love. Love is a characteristic of God. It started with Him and he shared that characteristic with us when he created us in His image, so that we can enjoy his love and also share it with others around us. Love on its own, it's not just a feeling. Love is sacrificial in nature, it's an action and it's something that we're capable of sharing with others, because if we are regenerated through faith in Jesus Christ, his son dying on the cross for our sins, we're given the Holy Spirit as a helper that empowers us to be able to love other people. It's foundational for all the fruits of the Spirit that we want to have Love, joy, peace, patience Without love.
Speaker 1:We also learned that the gifts of the Holy Spirit don't mean much. They don't profit anyone anything. If you're able to speak really well or teach, if you're able to speak in tongues, if you're able to give all of your wealth to the poor, but you don't have love, it doesn't mean anything. 1 Corinthians 13 wasn't about romance. That was about ministering to others, something that we should be doing all the days of our life. We do it with our wife and children, people at church, people at work. Isn't it great that we have the Bible as the guidebook to show us how to be informed believers that know how to love others properly? I hope this has been as helpful for you as it has been for me. Take care and have a great week.
