1 Corinthians And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Why is Love the greatest? Perhaps it has something to do with the way God identifies himself with love. 1 John 4:7+8 says Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John tells us that God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. God does not just love, He is love personified. Replace the word Love with God in 1 Corinthians 13 and It reads…….
God is patient, God is kind, He does not envy, He is not proud, He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered and He keeps no record of wrong. God does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails.
Love was so important to God that he turned it into greatest commandment. In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Let’s look at the 10 commandments.
The first four are sins against God……
ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.
TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image
TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image
THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
The next six are sins against man………
FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
So by loving God with everything you’ve got and loving your neighbor as yourself you are obeying the whole law. It is imperative that we understand the magnitude of what Jesus is doing here. As Christians we recognize the law as the 10 commandments, but to the Jews it represented their entire existence, wrapped up in hundreds of laws which was their whole identity. Jesus was telling them that their religion and their way of life was no longer necessary. That there law meant nothing unless they loved him with all there heart. In Isaiah 64:6+7 it says that All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you.
Jesus goes on to call out the religious leaders of His day in Matthew 15:7-9 when he calls them hypocrites. He goes on to tell that Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ In other words, you can’t just go through the motions. You can’t just honor traditions and perform rituals without having an all consuming love for God. Being religious does not mean a person is right with God.
Jesus goes on to call out the religious leaders of His day in Matthew 15:7-9 when he calls them hypocrites. He goes on to tell that Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ In other words, you can’t just go through the motions. You can’t just honor traditions and perform rituals without having an all consuming love for God. Being religious does not mean a person is right with God.
Jesus also did something else here. By inserting the element of Love here, he changed the dynamic of what it means to be a child of God. By faith we accept Christ as savior, but love is now what motivates us to walk in obedience. Love compels us to want to please God, not religious obligation. Love inspires us to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, not damnation.
In 1 John 2:5+6 it says that if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. We were created to respond to the love of God. In turn our love for God compels and inspires us to walk in obedience. The entrance of love into the equation makes it possible for the grace of God to be manifested in our lives. Their can be no grace without the love of God. Salvation is no longer about performance, but faith and grace.
Ephesians 2:8+9 tells us that it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. That grace is always available to those who truly love the Lord with their whole heart. In Ephesians it says that there is grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. Grace only works for those who truly love the Lord with their whole heart. Now those who truly love God no longer need to be perfect to be accepted. 1 Peter 4:8 tells us that Love covers over a multitude of sins.
In 1 John 2:5+6 it says that if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. We were created to respond to the love of God. In turn our love for God compels and inspires us to walk in obedience. The entrance of love into the equation makes it possible for the grace of God to be manifested in our lives. Their can be no grace without the love of God. Salvation is no longer about performance, but faith and grace.
Ephesians 2:8+9 tells us that it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. That grace is always available to those who truly love the Lord with their whole heart. In Ephesians it says that there is grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. Grace only works for those who truly love the Lord with their whole heart. Now those who truly love God no longer need to be perfect to be accepted. 1 Peter 4:8 tells us that Love covers over a multitude of sins.
Because of this God is very serious about his desire that we love each other as he loved us. 1 John tells us that we are to love each other because he loved us first. Nothing we do means anything if we don’t know how to love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says that 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. 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. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says that 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. 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. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
John took it even further when he said in 1 John 4:7-8, 20 that everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. The Lord is very clear when he defines the characteristics of love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
Paul goes on to tell us what the enemy of love is.
1 Corinthians When 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. Think about the way children perceive the themselves and the world they live in. To a child the world revolves around them. They are the center of their world. They are self-centered and can only see their own point of view. Children are impatient and can be very cruel. Generosity, patience, selflessness are things that come with maturity.
In Ephesians 3:19, Paul is hoping that we will experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made mature and complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Success both individually and corporately happens when we learn how to love God and each other with an undying and self-less love. It is here where we reach maturity and completeness so that the body of Christ can be effective and productive.
In Ephesians 3:19, Paul is hoping that we will experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made mature and complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Success both individually and corporately happens when we learn how to love God and each other with an undying and self-less love. It is here where we reach maturity and completeness so that the body of Christ can be effective and productive.
Ephesians 4:14-16 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
No comments:
Post a Comment