Faith, Hope and Love

February 3, 2013 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30 4th Sunday of Epiphany Year C Is it too early to preach about valentines day? It is February 3rd – probably a little too early to talk about Valentine’s Day, chocolates, and romance, and all that goes with it. But the good news is that it is never too early to talk about the true love of God. Valentines day is the day after Ash Wednesday – That should be an interesting challenge – the day after you promise to be good and do everything right, comes the day of indulgence. What are you going to do with all of the chocolate candy that you get for Valentines day? People are obsesses with love It seems that we are obsessed with love. You turn on the radio – and that it all that you hear about – Do you love me? If you search on amazon for book – you can find about 2500 titles on the subject of heaven, 10,000 titles on money, 16000 titles about sex. But 30,000 titles with the word love in them. WHAT'S GOD GOT TO DO WITH IT? If you “Google” the word love, and you have to be very careful doing this, you will find all sorts of websites,120,000,000 to be exact. Here are some examples that you will find: I love Dogs.com I love Cats.com (Although this one is a plea to spay or neuter) I love Cheese. Com I love Lucy.com We love the Iraqi Information Minister.com True Romance Dating Service.com Love Test.com Matchmaker.com The Love Calculator.com On this site you type in your name and your mates name and it gives you the odds of your relationship lasting. Alana and I got 41%) The interesting aspect is that on all these sites, love is seen as almost an entirely human endeavor. Love is a very important part of what it means to be a human being. Everywhere we are go – we are looking for love. And yet, if we think of love as solely something between two people- then we are looking for love in the wrong place. Pauls definition of love We have been studying the words of Paul for the last few weeks. He has talked about spiritual gifts, he has talked about the unity of the body of Christ. Today he talks about the importance of love. Chapter 13 – is the love chapter. If you go to ten weddings this year – you will hear this verse read at 91/2 of them. The virtues of love. Applying these verses to the relationship of two people – is actually a total misinterpretation of Paul’s point. The last thing that paul says in chapter 12 is - and yet I will show you the most excellent way. Love between two people is certainly something important to be celebrated. But the love that paul speaks of is bigger than that. Paul is not the pastor marrying two individuals. Paul has come to a troubles congregation to help them to get along in a better way. The more excellent way – is to live in the love of god in everything that you do – including going to church. Remember Paul is talking about spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts in a community is a sign that the holy spirit is working in that community. If we are a part of that community, then the holy spirit has given us a gift to use for the glory of god. We can celebrate that, we can use that gift. But don’t just stop there. We know the words – but do we live the life? There is a story about a man who was walking down the street. He passed a used-book store, and in the window he saw a book with the title How to Hug. He was taken by the title and, being of a somewhat romantic nature, went in to buy the book. To his chagrin, he discovered that it was the seventh volume of an encyclopedia and covered the subjects “how” to “hug.” Everyone knows that the church is a place where love ought to be manifested, and many people have come to church hoping to find a demonstration of love—only to discover an encyclopedia on theology. 1. What kind of church is Somerset? 2. Is it a place where folks can find a demonstration of love? 3. Or is it only an encyclopedia on theology? 4. Or is it people who only care about themselves? 5. Can people see and experience demonstrations of God’s love? 6. Folks need to see our love! All any of us really want is someone to love us. all any of us is looking for in life is love. In a world where domestic violence, unfaithfulness, and broken relationships are the headlines of the day – we are all looking for stories of love. Remember at the carnival there was always this machine called the love tester – you would pay your money, put you and on the lever, and it would tell you whether the relationship you were in was true love. Yet paul gives the true test of love here in Corinthians 13 Love Tester Is it patient? Is it kind? It’s certainly not envious, nor boastful, nor arrogant, nor rude Does it insist on its own way? Is it irritable or resentful? That love always seeks the truth It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things Love never ends Man plays Jesus – but does not live Jesus words The story’s told of an actor who was playing the part of Jesus in a passion play. As he was carrying his cross up the hill a heckler in the crowd made fun of him and said terrible things to him. The actor threw down the cross, walked over… and decked the guy. The director took him aside and told him “I know he was a pest, but I can’t condone what you did. Besides, you’re playing the part of Jesus, & Jesus never retaliated. So don’t do anything like that again." Well, the man promised he wouldn’t. But the next day the heckler was back worse than before, & finally the actor exploded and punched him out again. This time the director said "That’s it. I have to fire you. We just can’t have you behaving this way while playing the part of Jesus." The actor begged, "Please give me one more chance. I really need this job, and I can handle it if it happens again." So the director decided to give him another chance. The next day he was carrying his cross up the street. Sure enough, the heckler was there again. You could tell that the actor was really trying to control himself, but it was about to get the best of him. He was clinching his fists and grinding his teeth. Finally, he looked at the heckler and said, (pause) "I’ll meet you after the resurrection!" We have to work in the way we love one another Paul’s message to us – love the person, change the circumstance. Be patient with the person in all things, fix the circumstance. It is not only how we treat one another that shows love, it how we choose to live together that show true love to the world. How we forgive, how we cooperate, how we work together - demonstrates who we are as the church of Jesus Christ. When we know that God loves us – and that the love in our lives comes from God: we can love our enemies, we can love those who don’t deserve it, we can mature in the faith that God has for us, we can move away from self centeredness, and we can think about what is in the best interest of everybody. Love is always the more excellent way. How we feel in here, demonstrates how we love out there. But more importantly how we love in here demonstrated how we love out there. How we meet the needs of all of those out there who look for love, not just on Valentines day – but every day. Missionary cannot preach until he shows what love is There is a story about Doug Nichols I want to share with you because I think it illustrates what I have been trying to say this morning. Doug Nichols went to India to be a missionary there, but while he was just starting to study the language he became infected with tuberculosis & had to be put in a sanitarium. It was not a very good place to be. It was not very clean & conditions were difficult because there were so many sick people there. But Doug decided to do the best he could in that situation. So he took a bunch of Christian books & tracts & tried to witness to the other patients in the sanitarium. But when he tried to pass out tracts, they were rejected. No one wanted them. He tried to hand out books, but no one would take them. He tried to witness, but he was handicapped because of his inability to communicate in their language, & he felt so discouraged. Here he was. Because of his illness he would be there a long time. But it seemed like the work that he had been sent to do would not be done because no one would listen to him. Because of his tuberculosis, every night at about 2 o’clock he would wake up with chronic coughing that wouldn’t quit. Then one night when he awoke he noticed across the aisle an old man trying to get out of bed. He said the man would roll himself up into a little ball & teeter back & forth trying to get up the momentum to get up & stand on his feet. But he just couldn’t do it. He was too weak. Finally, after several attempts the old man laid back & wept. The next morning Doug understood why the man was weeping. He was trying to get up to go to the bathroom & didn’t have enough strength to do that. So his bed was a mess & there was a smell in the air. The other patients made fun of the old man. The nurses came to clean up his bed & they weren’t kind to him, either. In fact, one of them even slapped him in the face. Doug said that the old man just laid there & cried. Doug said, "That next night about 2 o’clock I started coughing again. I looked across the way & there was the old man trying to get out of bed once more. I really didn’t want to do it, but somehow I managed to get up & I walked across the aisle & I helped the old man stand up." But he was too weak to walk, so Doug said, "I took him in my arms & carried him like a baby. He was so light that it wasn’t a difficult task. I took him into the bathroom, which was nothing more than a dirty hole in the floor, & I stood behind him & cradled him in my arms as he took care of himself." "Then I carried him back to his bed & laid him down. As I turned to leave he reached up & grabbed my face & pulled me close & kissed me on the cheek & said what I think was `Thank you.’" Doug said, "The next morning there were patients waiting when I awoke & they askedif they could read some of the books & tracts that I had brought. Others had questions about the God I worshiped & His only begotten Son who came into the world to die for their sins." Doug Nichols says that in the next few weeks he gave out all the literature that he had brought, & many of the doctors & nurses & patients in that sanitarium came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord & Savior, too. He said, "Now what did I do? I didn’t preach a sermon. I couldn’t even communicate in their language. I didn’t have a great lesson to teach them. I didn’t have wonderful things to offer. All I did was take an old man to the bathroom & anyone can do that." SUM. Someone has said, "They will not care how much you know, until they know how much you care." There is a more excellent way, & that is the way of Jesus Christ. This morning if you are here & outside of Jesus Christ & you don’t know Him as your Lord & Savior, we extend His invitation to you. We pray that you will respond as we stand & as we sing. Faith, Hope, Love Finally, faith, hope and love are the most important parts of our faith. Faith in what we can’t see, and hope in the promises of God. One day – our faith will be replaced with sight, and things hopes for will be replaced with reality. But in the meantime – love remains the same. Faith, hope and love – all of these are important parts of our live – but the most important is love – Because when we recognize the love of God that is present in your life – there is no limit to the things that you can accomplish or the gifts that God will give you to use! Short paraphrase of chapter 13 If I talk like an angel but I don’t have love I am nothing. If I talk like a prophet, If I give away my money, but I don’t have love, I am nothing. Love is good, Love is kind. And love will never end. Prophets will stop talking, teachers will stop teaching, but love will never end. When I was a baby, I spoke like a baby, I thought like a baby. But not I am growing. I am not a baby anymore and I know how to love. So God gives us faith, and god gives us hope, and god gives us love. But the best thing of all, is love. Let us pray….. The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia assigned to be the guide and "gofer" to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet. Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you? Mother Teresa looked at him. “You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea?” she asked. Yes, he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said. “You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” Mother Teresa understood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor and she made it hers as well. She knew that they more than anyone else needed good news. On a Saturday morning, in Nazareth, the town gathered in the synagogue to listen to Jesus read and teach. It was no big surprise. He was well known in the area; it was his hometown. He was raised there. They wanted to learn from him. So when he read from the Isaiah scroll, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor” everyone understood these words to be the words of Isaiah. It is how that prophet from long ago defined his ministry. When Jesus finished that reading he handed the scroll to the attendant and sat down. In that day you sat in the Moses Seat to teach to the people. Today preachers stand in a pulpit. So all eyes were on Jesus, waiting for him to begin his teaching… Hope Do you remember the story of Pandora's Box in Greek Mythology? The lovely Pandora was sent by Zeus to be the bride of Epimetheus. One of Pandora's more endearing charms was her curiosity, but that quality also proved to nearly be her undoing. One day Mercury, the messenger, sent a box to the young couple. It was meant for them to enjoy, but under no circumstances were they to open it. Well, of course, it is the old story of the forbidden fruit. Told that she could not do it, it became the thing that she desired to do the most. So one day she pried it open and peeked inside. Suddenly out flew swarms of insects that began attacking them. Both lovers were stung with the poison of suspicion, hatred, fear and malice. Now the once happy couple began to argue. Epimetheus became bitter and Pandora wept with a broken heart. But in the midst of the quarreling, they heard a tiny voice cry out: Let me ou t, to sooth your pain. Fearfully they opened the box again, and this time a beautiful butterfly flew out. It touched the couple and miraculously their pain was healed and they were happy again. The butterfly we are told was hope. It is hope that sustains us; it is hope that sooths our pain.