IT'S THE GREATEST

Dr. Richard J. Henderson February 1, 2004

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Luke 4:21-30
I Corinthians 13:1-13
Psalm 71:1-6

Introduction

The Beatle's song says, "All You Need Is Love," as if love is the solution to everything.

Asked about his brand-new car, a man responds, "I love this car."

A young man tells of meeting his girlfriend for the first time: "I fell in love with her the first time I saw her...it was love at first sight."

A couple sits in a counselor's office. Through her tears the woman chokes out, "I don't love him anymore. I don't feel anything."

Shortly before his death Martin Luther King, Jr. was asked how he wanted to be remembered. He answered, that he didn't want to be remembered for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, or any of the other awards or honors he had been given. He said he hoped that people would remember that he tried to help people.

I

The apostle Paul writes about love to a very unloving congregation. We usually think of this passage in connection with a wedding service. Everyone is feeling emotional and we are celebrating the strong love between two people. These words of Paul are perfect for that important occasion.

In reality though, this beautiful tribute to love was originally written to a church that wasn't being very compassionate. They were an obstinate group who were constantly messing up, and Paul had to get after them all the time. They were doing just about everything wrong. They fought with each other, they acted immorally, they got most of their Christian beliefs wrong, and they complained a lot. Paul often had to write to correct them or scold them. Of all the churches Paul started, they were the black sheep.

John Calvin, the 16th century founder of our reformed faith, wrote about this congregation in his Institutes of the Christian Religion: "Among the Corinthians no slight number had gone astray; in fact almost the whole body was infected. There was not one kind of sin only, but very many: and they were no light errors but frightful misdeeds; there was corruption not only of morals but of doctrine. What does the holy apostle...do about this? Does he cast them out of Christ's Kingdom. Does he fell them with the ultimate thunderbolt of anathema? He not only does nothing of the sort; he even recognizes and proclaims them to be the church of Christ and the communion of the saints."

Paul looks at the situation in Corinthians and sees exactly how bad it is, but rather than write them off, he loves them and teaches them about love. He responded to their failures by loving them even more and trying to teach them what it means to love. The power of his words about love comes from the love that stands behind them. That Paul didn't disown this congregation, but taught them about love, was itself an act of love.

A well-known preacher talked about the struggle he and his wife went through with their son. Their son began running with the wrong crowd. Before too long he was using drugs. A short time later their son was facing a serious addiction to drugs. The preacher said they overcame this addiction by loving their son, and then loving him more, and then loving him more. He said, "I don't know what 'tough love' is, I just know we had to keep on loving him until he got out of this snare and could be free."

As Paul didn't write off the Corinthians, so they didn't write off their son, they loved him and showed him what love is

II

Love comes from God. The book of I John tells us that, "God is love, and those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them." God is the source of love. When we act in love we are acting in God.

Lasting love is not a sudden, dramatic feeling like an attack of heartburn or euphoria; it is the long term caring, sacrifice, and hope of sticking with someone through it all. Love that comes from God is enduring love - a love that faces hurt and disappointment as well as joy and encouragement. It is love that commits itself for the long haul.

A couple went out for dinner for their fortieth wedding anniversary. As they sat at a romantic table in the corner, the wife picked up her champagne glass and proposed a toast. "In spite of everything!" she said. "In spite of everything!" Yes, in a sense she was paraphrasing Paul's words, "love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

It may not make a lovely message on a greeting card, but not much about the demanding efforts of love show up there.

Love -agape in the Greek - is enduring love. God invented it. It's not something you try real hard to do, as much as it is something you pray to God to receive. Love is a gift from God.

III

You may have noticed that in the wedding service there isn't a lot of talk about love. In part that's because the word love has been watered down. For so many people it is a warm, glowing feeling that comes and goes.

In the wedding service we say a lot about faithfulness, commitment, and caring. In fact the service is tough and specific: "in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health." And then if that weren't enough, "As long as we both shall live."

There isn't much talk of how you are feeling today, but a lot about how you will endure the most difficult and trying days you might face. The service doesn't contain a lot of mushy, romantic language; it talks about the hard, enduring love that commits forever. It is about a love that is there even when the other is unlovely - even when the other doesn't deserve that love. It's like Paul with the church in Corinth.

Conclusion

God's love is an enduring love. In the Old Testament the word "love" doesn't usually appear without a modifier. Often we see love in the phrase, "The steadfast love of God." The Old Testament is constantly reminding us that God's love sticks with us through it all. It is an enduring, steadfast love.

One of the ways we can get into meditation and quiet time with God is to repeat a phrase over and over again to ourselves. It helps to clear our minds and focus our attention. The one I use is drawn from the Psalms, "God's steadfast love endures forever." I recommend it as a peaceful way to clear out the noise of daily life and center on the love of God, which will not fail us.

In the newsletter this month I wrote about a village in Israel. It is a community made up of Israelis and Palestinians who have lived together in peace for more than twenty years. They have raised their children together, they have lived as neighbors, and they have provided an alternative way of dealing with their differences.

When I heard of this community I thought of the difficulties they must face everyday. Think of the outside pressures they get to respond with hatred. Imagine how difficult it must be to try to work out their differences when they are surrounded by so much violence. I am amazed that they have made it for twenty years with all of the conflict surrounding them everyday.

They can only survive like this with love - the very difficult love that finds a way to keep caring for each other, that values peace rather than vengeance, that clings to hope. That is love put to its most difficult test.

That is the love that God gives us. In this life there is faith, hope, and love. Love is the greatest.

Amen.

©Richard J. Henderson 2004