Let's Talk About...LOVE...again!

Larry Dickens

November 23, 2014 AM

 

1 Cor. 13:1-13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 

Introduction:

            A.        We Can Teach About It - Matthew 22:37

            B.        We Can Encourage - Hebrews 10:24

            C.        The Motivation Behind Our Love Of God.  -  1 John 4:19

            D.        But Love Must Come From Within The Individual

                        1.         Parents Mistake

                        2.         Preacher’s Mistake

                        3.         Husbands/Wives Mistake

 

I.          Letting God describe what love is and does, and what love is not and does not - 1 Cor. 13:4-13

            A.         “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous”–

                        Three wonderful traits, “patient”, “kind” “not jealous”.

                        1.         Patience

                                    a.         “Patience” is motivated by love.

                                    b.         “Patience” waits before acting! – Mt 18:29; 1 Pet 3:20

                        2.         Kindness

                                    a.         Kindness- a virtue of God  and of man motivated by love.

                                    b.         Prov 31:20 - So why is Dorcas remembered?

                        3.         Not Jealous (envieth not)

                                    a.         Nothing more unloving and evil than envy- James 3:14-16; 1 Cor 3:3

                                    b.         Rachel’s attitude; Jacob’s sons; and the Jews toward Jesus.

                                    c.         Where love is, envy cannot live.                    

            B.        “Love does not brag and is not arrogant”  (not vaunting nor arrogant)

                        1.         Humility, as opposed to arrogance, boastfulness and pride.

                        2.         The proud love only themselves.

            C.        “Does not act unbecomingly”

                        1.         Not unseemly; not indecently, or inappropriately

                        2.         Seeks what is proper and becoming; in the best interest of others.

            D.        “It does not seek its own”

                        1.         Love does not plot for itself.  - Phil. 2:4; 1 Cor. 10:24

                        2.         Love is not selfish.

            E.         “Is not provoked”

                        1.         Not prone to violent anger or exasperation.

                        2.         James 1:19 -20

            F.         “Does not take into account a wrong suffered”

                        1.         Does not keep a running account of those who sin against him.

                        2.         How many times?  Love does not keep score.

                        3.         Thinketh no evil (KJV); i.e. does not “inventory” evil.

            G.        “Does not rejoice with unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth”

                        This is a contrast of what pleases you.

                        1.         Rom 1:32

                        2.         Psalm 1:1-2

                        3.         Psalm 122:1

            H.        “Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

                        1.         A disposition of patience and fortitude.

                        2.         Not gullible;  but believing all things worthy of trust accepted.

                        3.         However dark things may appear, those whose hearts are filled

                                    with this love still have hope.

                        4.         With this love there is nothing we cannot endure.

            I.          What Love Never  Does: “Love never fails” 

                        1.         Those spiritual gifts and miracles the Corinthian brethren were so

                                     excited about would soon pass away, but love would remain.

                        2.         1 Cor. 13:13,   But now abide faith, hope, love, these three;

                                    but the greatest of these is love.

 

II.        Why do people not love God? - John 5:39-42

            A.        No one can make you love God.  It must come from “within.”  - John 5:42

                            Other passages deal with God’s love for man; this passage deals with man’s failure to love God.

            B.        the church often deals only with the symptoms

                        1.         Failing To Attend The Assemblies. - (Heb. 10:25)

                                    The Problem Is A Lack Of Love For God.

                        2.         Failure To Give Properly. - (2 Cor. 9:7;  8:1-5) 

                                    Again, The Problem Is A Lack Of Love For God.

                        3.         Sometime We Get The Cart Before The Horse.

            C.        John 14:23 -  “If anyone loves..” “..He will keep my word..”

                        1.         Keeping commandments must be predicated on love of God.

                        2.         When The Love For God Is Weak... So Is The Service - Matthew 24:11-13

                        3.         When the Love for God is Great… So Is the Service - Rev 2:18-20

 

Conclusion:     Love Is the Indispensable Quality Of  The Christian’s Life. - 1 John 5:3

 

How Much Do You Love Him?  1 Jn 5:3; Mk 16:16