I hope you are looking forward to delving into the famous Love Chapter – 1 Corinthians 13 – in our sermon series this Fall. What could be better than LOVE for a church to spend some time talking about?
Of course, lots of us are already “experts” on love, aren’t we? We “love” chocolate cake; we “love” The Saints; we “love” golf [ok, that might be taking it too far]. In fact, we “love” so many things that I wonder if we have so watered down the meaning of the word that it just doesn’t mean anything? We “love” our car when it’s brand new and everything is operating at peak efficiency. But, as things happen and times go by, and it picks up a few dents, and the motor starts to rattle, and oil starts to leak, and the AC quits working, and the paint wears thin, “love” is no longer what we feel for that car, right? Maybe, what we first called “love” really never was “love” at all. It’s much more similar to “enjoying” something as long as it is useful.
And all that’s fine – that’s just how we talk. No one REALLY “loves” food or places or things in the same way that they “love” people, or in the same way they “love” God, right?
Here’s the problem: if we aren’t careful, our “over-use” of this word MIGHT carry over into how we think about people. That’s really what was going on in the church in Corinth. My guess is that the word “love” was frequently heard at that church – “Oh how I love Jesus”; “Jesus loves me, this I know”; “I love the way Apollos preaches – he’s so much better than Paul”; “I am really loving this Communion wine – fruity, but with a strong finish”, and so on. But they didn’t love each other, and that was made clear in how they treated one another. Despite all their apparent spirituality, their lack of love for each other destroyed everything they were doing. They were, to quote Paul – “nothing”.
So, let’s not be “nothing”. Let’s learn all we can about “love”. More importantly, let’s make sure we live out what it means to “love”.
~Ambrose Ramsey
