church

INI
13th Sunday after Pentecost
August 26, 2012
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

LOVE IS AN ACTION WORD
I Corinthians 13:4-8

To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor
and glory forever and ever, Amen. The text for this morning's sermon comes
from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter thirteen, beginning with
the fourth verse, as follows:

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself,
is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not
provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love
never fails." So far our text.

In Christ Jesus, our loving and love-inspiring Savior, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

The other day I was browsing the internet and I ran across an interesting page –
“25 Fascinating Facts About LOVE.” Did you know, e.g., that singles are twice
as likely to find a date through friends and family members than they are
through other activities? First impressions are important; did you know that
80% of a woman’s first impression of a man is based on his posture – whether
he slouches or stands up straight? There’s an employment crisis in America right
now; evidently there’s a dating crisis, too. Researchers say that more than half
of all singles in America haven’t had a date in two years!

The whole list was interesting. But it occurred to me that it was really about
dating rather than love. Love is a much deeper subject. No other human trait is
so misunderstood, so hard to define. Sorrow, joy, hatred -- anyone here could
say what those words mean. But the exact definition of "love" - people have a
tough time with that one! And where do they go to find out more about love?
They go to the movies! Or they read sentimental novels. Or they watch Oprah
Winfrey. But that's like the blind leading the blind, and nobody gets any closer
to finding out what love really is.

You and I, though, don't have to go round and round searching for the meaning
of love. We have a book that defines it. The Bible - God's inspired truth. It
defines love so clearly that even the littlest child can understand it. Our text for
this morning is one of the best sections in the Bible on the subject of love. So
let's cut through the myths and uncertainties, and see what God has to tell us,
this morning, about LOVE. Our theme:

LOVE IS AN ACTION WORD
I. It's more than a feeling
II. It's what Christ did for us
III. It's what we are to do for others

Over the course of their careers, most pastors will perform dozens of weddings,
and go through many classes in pre-marriage counseling. So, what with one
thing and another, most pastors spend a lot of time finding out what the Bible
says about love. And when you do that, you’re apt to get a big surprise. Because
what God's Word says about love doesn't sound anything like what all the
songwriters and Valentine's cards say about it!

In the first place, real love is much more than just a "feeling." To deny that
love involves feelings would be silly, of course. Most everyone, at one time or
another, has had the experience of feeling romantically attracted to someone.
Sometimes it's a very strong feeling. It's what the songwriters call, "falling for
somebody." And that's a great thing. Unfortunately, what our society keeps
telling us in movies, TV and radio is that that's ALL love is - a special feeling.
And that’s just plain wrong. Saying "love is a feeling" is a bit like saying "a car
is a steering wheel." Certainly a car has to have a steering wheel. But it has to
have a whole lot of other things, besides!

C.S. Lewis once said, "love is not so much something you feel as something
you do." The Bible tells us that love is an action word! Did you notice anything
startling about the text I read just now? Here’s something that was startling to
me - it doesn't say a single word about what true love feels like. Rather, it tells
us how true love acts. "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love
does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek
its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices
in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things. Love never fails." Can it be that true love is always kind? That true love
never involves pride or jealousy? That true love is never suspicious, and never
hurts anyone? Can it be that true love always lasts forever? To me, that doesn't
sound much like the "feeling" of love everybody's singing about these days!

Love is an action word. And if you want to see a perfect example of love,
there's only one Person to look to - our Savior, Jesus Christ. Love is what Christ
did for us. Notice I said, "…what Christ did for us," not "…what Christ felt
about us." We talked about this in Bible class a while back. Jesus' love for
sinners wasn't just some kind of warm, fuzzy emotion in His heart. If that's all it
was, He could have stayed in heaven and "loved" us. No, Jesus' love was
ACTION! He knew just what kind of lost sinners you and I were, and He knew
that something had to be done about our sin. So He did something; He took
action. "Greater love hath no man than this," Jesus said, "that a man lay down
his life for his friends." Jn 15:13. And that's exactly what our Savior did. He
came to earth to pay, with His own life, the ransom-price to buy us back from
the eternal death our sins deserved. Thank God Jesus' love for us was more
than a feeling, because without that payment you and I would one day be
meeting each other in hell, instead of in heaven!

Perhaps the most amazing thing the Bible tells us about true love is that it has
no illusions. So often we hear about someone who "fell in love at first sight"
with somebody else, only to "fall out of love" later on, when they their illusions
about that person were shattered, and they found out what the person was
really like. But the Greek word in our text for love is agape, and "agape-love"
has no illusions. To have agape-love for someone means that you know
everything about that person - his sins, his weaknesses and his shortcomings -
and you love him anyway. The actions Jesus took in His agape-love for us are
even more amazing when we realize that he was doing it for people He knew
were absolutely "unlovable" sinners! In fact that's exactly how Paul defines love
in Romans 5: "Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will
one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us!" Rom 5:6-8.

Whenever I've had counseling sessions with couples who are considering
marriage, we always flip to I Corinthians 13, our text for this morning, and talk
about love. They always seem surprised that God would set such high standards
for true love. And they are high standards – in fact they seem absolutely
unreachable! But I always try to remind them that there is one Person who did
reach those high standards of love, and surpassed them - Jesus Christ. I like to
have the couple read the passage out loud, and for every time the word "love"
occurs, substitute the name "Christ." Let's try it: "Christ suffers long and is
kind; Christ does not envy; Christ does not parade Himself, is not puffed up;
does not behave rudely, does not seek His own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
Christ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Christ bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Christ never
fails." It fits perfectly, doesn't it? The action word love is what Christ did - and
does - for us!

We are on the opposite side of the church year, now, from Lent. But the events
of our Savior’s passion are never far from our thoughts. We think about the
active, doing love of the Savior of sinners. We consider the weary footsteps of
our Lord as He trod the path of sorrow and suffering. You know, Jesus wasn't
forced down that road – He went of His own accord, willingly, out of love for
you! And when Jesus had drained the cup of suffering to its last, bitter dregs,
when He cried out from the cross, "It is finished!," my friend, in that moment
He lifted the burden of your sins from your shoulders forever! Truly, Jesus went
to the cross to be "stricken, smitten of God and afflicted," for a reason. He did
it so that you and I might come away from the cross "redeemed, restored, and
forgiven!" In the eternal mansions of heaven, you and I will be praising our
Savior for His love – for the active, doing love which saved us from eternal
death and earned for us eternal life!

Love is more than a feeling. It's what Christ did for us. And -- love is what we
are to do for others. True, action-style love is the greatest gift it is possible for a
Christian to have. All through this part of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is
talking about different spiritual gifts that God gives to Christians. But love, he
says, is the most important of them all. He says that if he could "speak with all
the tongues of men and of angels" but didn't have love, he'd be no better than
"a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal." In other words, if you don’t have love,
you’re just making noise. Paul confesses that even if he were the greatest
prophet in the world, the wisest man in the world, had the strongest faith in the
world, if he didn't have love, he would be NOTHING.

Remember, true love is something you DO, not something you FEEL. When
you get home from church today, why not try an experiment? Look up the
sermon text and try substituting your name for the word "love" in those
passages. I guarantee you'll see where your work as a Christian is cut out for
you! Jesus wants us to take our cue from Him. He said, "This is My
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you!" Jn 15:12. And
that's a tall order. It means acting out the love we have for our fellow Christians
and our neighbors in general. It means, first, applying the example of Christ's
love in the way we treat our spouses and family members, regardless of how
they treat us. It means supporting the work of the Gospel -- beyond a few
dollars plunked in the collection plate on Sunday. It means getting involved
with the troubles our fellow-members may be having, and doing our best to
sympathize and help. It means showing concern for those in our community
who desperately need the saving Word of life, and haven't been getting it.
According to the Bible, love is an ACTION word, so let's take action!

“Fascinating Facts about Love.” Did you know that, on average, men fall in
love after the third date? But it takes 14 dates for the average woman to fall in
love. But once again, I wonder if they’ve got the definition of “love” quite right.
Because LOVE IS AN ACTION WORD. It’s more than a feeling; it’s what
Christ did for us, and it’s what we – with the power of the Holy Spirit working
in our lives – can do for others. Let’s resolve that we, in our lives as Christians,
will carry that active love of our Savior to as many people as we can! In Jesus'
name, AMEN.