Thursday, June 8, 2006
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 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" (1 Corinthians 13:1-7).
IDEA: Christian love isn’t primarily an emotion.
PURPOSE: To help listeners be able to understand what the Bible means by love.
Cole Porter wrote a hit song with these lyrics:
What is this thing called Love,
This silly thing called Love,
I ask the Lord in heaven above,
What is this thing called Love?
Why do you think Cole Porter asked that question?
When you read in the New Testament what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, do you find yourself asking the same question, “What IS this thing called Love?”
I. Paul answers that question in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:
"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."
He defines love by describing it.
He tells us what love is by showing us what love does.
In 15 different phrases, he shows us love in action.
There are different kinds of definitions of concepts.
There is the definition from a dictionary: “music is the science and the art of tones.” “A diamond is native carbon in isometric crystals.”
There are definitions that come through a picture. It is better to listen to a concert or see a diamond shinging in the light than to go to the dictionary.
There are definitions that come by describing many facets of something. That is what Paul does here.
There are two things to notice that we might miss in these 15 phrases that define love.
II. The love of which Paul speaks is not primarily an emotion.
Some love that we talk about is an emotion.
The love of lovers: infatuation is a deep, overwhelming feeling.
A baby brought to a mother who has wanted that child for years: a biochemical change actually takes place in her body. The mother holding the infant in her arms is virtually powerless to do anything about what she feels for the baby. She doesn’t need a nurse to give her a pep-talk to produce those feelings.
Emotion is not what Paul is talking about here. Emotion happens. You don’t need any exhortation to produce the emotion.
CONCLUSION: Paul isn’t talking about the love of feelings.