God’s Love: AGAPE (2)
(Life After Pentecost XII)
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
A theologian said, “Every
person is born with God-shaped hole in his heart. When we try to fill it with
anything other than God, the result will be only temporary satisfaction. God is
the only perfect fit for the hole.”
I heard John Ortberg, pastor of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
preach to a large group of pastors. He said, “We were made for soul
satisfaction. We cannot live chronically with dissatisfied
souls. And if we do not find satisfaction in God and His goodness to us, we
will look for satisfaction someplace else. We cannot live chronically with dissatisfied souls no matter how hard we push ourselves. And
that’s why a lack of soul satisfaction always has the effect of making sin look
good.”
Both quotations are important
and they stress one point: humanity is
searching for something. There is an emptiness in us
and we are trying to fill it with anything. Unfortunately, we are never
satisfied.
Paul has a warning for the
Corinthians. They were full of spiritual
gifts; they were “religious”. Yet this is very dangerous. Sometimes we become
religious without God. Rev. Jonathon
Swift (1667-1745) said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not
enough to make us love one another.”
Paul is challenging them and
us today. We need the love of God manifested by Jesus Christ in our
lives, in our empty lives so that anything we say, do, and serve will
have meaning and aim.
So what is Agape?
Paul begins with patience. (Yergaynamid e)
1- Love is patient: the Greek word is makrothumein. It is used for being patient with
human beings. We need to learn to suffer with people a long time, no matter how
much evil others will do to us. This means to be slow in anger. Oh, I need to
learn this. I need this so much. Usually we jump to conclusions quickly.
Abraham Lincoln appointed
Can you ask God to give you
such love?
2- Love is kind. (Kaghtser
e)
The original meaning is that
love is sweet to all. We can have tough love but also we can be kind. It is a
wonderful way to represent Christ by being kind to each other.
3- Love does not envy. (Chi Nakhantsir)
Someone said that there are
two kinds of people: those who are millionaires and those who would like to be
one. There are also two kinds of envy. The first is the envy about having
things. The second is grumbling and criticizing that others do have what we
don’t. Marriages are destroyed because of envy. Relationships are destroyed
because of envy. “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the
bones.” (Prov. 14:30)
4- Love does not boast (chi korozanar)
You cannot love someone by
imposing yourself on that person. God does not love us that way.
5- Love is not proud, (Chi hebardanar)
In another translation, it is
not inflated with his own importance.
I am important. My needs are
the most important things. I am the center of my life. Soul
satisfaction, looking for my own satisfaction. This is not love. This is
the destruction of love and relationships.
One of the vices of pride is
that it introduces misunderstandings. Have you seen people who always think they
are right. I am always right.
Once a man
went to the opera. It was new musical
piece written and was sung for first time. While he was listening, he said to
the man who was sitting next to him. “Wow, she is singing very bad.”
The man said, “That is my
wife.”
He quickly changed, “What I
meant that whatever she is singing is very bad.”
The man said quietly, “I
wrote it.”
6- Love is not rude (Anvayel varmounk chounenar)
In another translation, “it
does not behave gracelessly.”
Another meaning for grace in
Greek is charm. God’s love can be seen in the face of a person, in his/her
actions and words.
7- Love is not self seeking (Irene Chi pndrer)
In another translation, “Love
does not insist upon its rights.”
The Greek words literally
mean self-worship.
There are two kinds of
people, those who always insist on their rights, and those who remember
their responsibilities. According
to Barclay, there are those who always think life owes them and those
who never forget what they owe to life. One of the important qualities
that God teaches us is to love the other without expectations, called UNCONDITIONAL
LOVE. As a pastor, I teach this value and counsel couples. Stop asking, “What’s
for me”. Unfortunately, we are raised with this concept: interests. “Scratch my
back and I’ll scratch yours.”
8- Love is not easily angered (pargoutian chi kekervir)
God’s love helps us to
control our temperament. There are classes about anger management. Well, here
is a good solution: have God’s love. It
is good medicine for temperament.
9- Love keeps no record of wrong (charoutioun chi khorhir)
In another translation, “it
does not store up the memory of any wrong.”
The key word is store up (Logizeshthai in Greek). It is the word the
accountant uses. It is the word used for entering up an item in a ledger so
that it will not be forgotten.
It hurts me when I try to
reconcile families or people. They keep remembering the old things that can be
put behind and look forward. If we look continuously to the wrongs of people,
we will be filled bitterness and anger.
There is nothing wrong in
evaluating the old, starting with a new page and trying not to repeat the same
old mistakes. But Paul is saying something else. Constantly going back and
reminding ourselves of the old stories will not help. I have seen in many they cannot forget the
old. Whenever we do any conversation, we go back to the old stories.
10- Love does not delight
in evil (aniravoutian
vera chi khentar)
Love does not find any
pleasure in evil- doing. It does not rejoice when someone is falling down, when
someone is wrong. I am saddened when I see a person is in trouble, stealing,
drugs, prostitution, and so on. I can rejoice when someone is caught in some
kind of addiction. Although, I want that person to stop when he is hurting
himself and the society, but I cannot rejoice, in fact we all need to weep and mourn
for our sins and for our sinful life.
Now for the next week we will
continue with this chapter. We have 5 characteristics of love coming up. Love
rejoices with the truth, protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Love never
fails.
Let us summarize.
We have an emptiness
in our lives. If we try to fill it with whatever we can find, it leads us more
to sin and falling in the trap of an unsatisfied life. The emptiness that we
have can only be filled with Jesus Christ and his presence, which teaches us God’s
love. God is love. Only way to find God’s love is through Jesus Christ and his
presence in us. Even if we can have all the gifts of the Spirit and no love, we
are nothing.
Please examine your life this
morning and in the coming week. Where am I short in experiencing God’s love in
my life?
Maybe there is a sin that you
are not bringing to God. That sin is becoming a hindrance to grow, to have His
love in you. Confess it to Him. Surrender to Him.
Allow God’s love to overflow in you.
Amen.