A Church Called Love (Part 3) Love Reigns Supreme

what we have so far

We’ve looked at two ideas so far in our walk through 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13. The first that it doesn’t matter what we do (speaking in different languages (human and/or angelic), prophesying, understanding all there is to know, or giving all we have to the poor), if we do not have love it’s nothing and our “service” is nothing. The second idea was that love is fundamentally and foundationally others-focused. We are called to love God and love our neighbors (Mk. 2:30-31).

Now we come to the end of this short section of 1 Corinthians and find that Paul is circling back to one of the main themes that started this entire discussion: love reigns supreme.

Is this loving?

What would you consider to be the guiding principle of your life? Before you say or do anything is there something, some sort of filter, you automatically process any and all situations through? If you were talking to Paul about this, I think he would say that the filter for everything you and I say or do ought to be love. Paul would hope we’d be consistently asking ourselves: Is this loving? But why is this the case? He tells us.

Love never ends.

As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:8-13, ESV)

not everything all-important, some things come to an end

I like to chew gum. It’s important for me to have some gum ready to go at all times (even while playing the drums). I also like to breathe. And, it’s also important for me to be able to breathe at all times. So, if I had to choose, would I pick chewing gum or breathing?

You know the answer.

You know the answer because you know that even though a lot of things can be really important, not everything is all-important. This is clear in the way Paul sets up his argument from verses 8 to 13.

Paul begins with a statement I’ve far to easily breezed over in the past: Love never ends. For you Greek lovers (like me) out there, Paul said that love never katargeō. It could be translated as never dies or never comes to an end. To put it positively, love lasts forever—it’s eternal.

There are things that will come to an end, though, and Paul gives us three: prophecies, tongues, and knowledge. These won’t last forever—they’re not eternal. Aside from tongues, which Paul says will cease, he uses the same Greek word as he did for the never ending nature of love. Prophecies and tongues will katargeō—they will come to an end.

Why, though? Why is it that prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will stop? Why will they not go on forever into the new heavens and new earth?

the partial must give way to the complete

Paul anticipates this question (as he often does throughout his letters) and explains why some things will end in three different, but related ways.

1. Some things will end because they are not complete, and what is not complete will not last.

2. Some things will end because, just as adults need to let go of childish things as they mature, some things need to be left behind for better things.

3. Some things will end because what we see now isn’t as clear as it will be one day.

We know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. There is coming a day in which all that is left to be completed will be completed. This is (in my understanding) the second coming of the Son of God and the restoration of all things. This is the day in which the Lord will return to rule here on earth as he has been ruling from his throne, but in a more perfect sense. One of the big differences between now and then will be that this rule will take place on a new earth as it is joined with a new heaven (i.e., realm of God). This new home will be one without corruption; this new home will be perfect—it will be complete. And, so, what isn’t perfect will come to an end.

The point must be made, however, that this is not the same thing as saying that prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are not worth valuing or pursuing today. They most definitely are as Paul makes clear elsewhere in 1 Corinthians. Prophecies are real today. Tongues are real today. Knowledge is real today. They are are useful, but none of them are complete; they are partial. This situation is not dissimilar to the way in which the Old Covenant gave way to the New. The Old was not made obsolete (as the writer to the Hebrews said) because there was anything wrong with it. On the contrary, it was holy. It was made obsolete because something better came along (the incarnate Christ and the New Covenant).

Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are important, but they are not all-important and so they must give way to what is.

faith, hope, and love remain

How then shall we live?

And, of course, Paul helps us here as he writes: “And now remain: faith, hope, love--these three. But love reigns supreme.” (1 Cor. 13:13) In comparison to prophecies, tongues, and knowledge that will not last forever, faith, hope, and love—these three, together—will go on forever. At the completion of all things our faith, hope, and love that we have now will expand and continue forever. Any trust you have in God today will expand when forever gets here. Any hope you have in God will grow when forever gets here. And any love you have for God will increase when forever gets here.

So, then, why not live like that’s actually true today? Why not practice now what we will be doing forever?

Those are the questions for us. You may want to prophecy—God bless. You may want to speak in tongues—God bless. You may want to know all there is to know—God bless. But let’s not pursue those wonderful and good gifts at the expense of those that will last forever: faith, hope, and the greatest—love.

Why is love the greatest?

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40, ESV)

Let all that you do be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14, ESV)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6, ESV)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12, ESV)

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16, ESV)

Do you see the persistent theme throughout these portions of the Bible? Love reigns supreme.

Whether it be the truth that the entire Old Covenant law is dependent and fulfilled in love. Or whether it be that in everything Paul insists we do it in love. Or whether it be that neither circumcision or uncircumcision is greater than love. Or whether it be that God’s love for us is perfected in us as we love. Or whether it be that God is love and if we make our home in love we live in God and God in us.

In all of these, love is the greatest.

This will be the major reality of the new heavens and new earth. The eventual home of God on this planet with his people like it has never been before.

It will be a world ruled by love, through the one who is love, with those who live in love.

A Church Called Love (Part 2): What is love?

definitions are tricky

If I say I hate asparagus, pretty much everyone knows what I mean. It means I really don't like it (which is absolutely true). Now watch what happens when I switch out asparagus for something else. If I say I hate Eric, pretty much everyone knows what I mean then, too. And pretty much everyone would agree that I don’t mean the same thing as when I said I hated asparagus. Why’s that? The same word was used. Even my tone (which can’t be captured here) could have remained the same and you would still understand the second usage of hate as something quite a bit stronger than the first. This works with love, as well.

I love my wife. And by that I mean that I have chosen to happily and without hesitation lay down my life for her. To which you, after reading that sentence, would probably be totally fine with that usage of love. What do I mean, though, when I say that I love roller coasters? Hopefully not the same thing as when I said I love my wife. Further, what do I mean when I say I love God?

What do we find if we turn to the dictionary (which, just to make sure there isn’t any confusion, I think is a good idea) for a definition of love? Several options.

an intense feeling of deep affection
a great interest or pleasure in something
a warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
a score of zero

Feelings, pleasure, attachment, enthusiasm, devotion. All these definitions give us a sense of what love can mean, but none of them paint the entire picture. Love can mean you’re totally devoted to a person or it could mean you’re about to lose a game of tennis. I can say I love my wife and I love roller coasters and mean different things, because definitions are tricky.

context is king

What do we do when we can’t figure out what a word means in the Bible? A word study, of course!

Whether or not someone knows Greek (the language in which the New Testament was originally written), they probably know that ἀγάπη (agape) is a Greek word for love. And they probably know it’s used a lot in the New Testament. For instance, Paul uses it (and the verb cognate, ἀγαπάω (agapao)) 9-times in 13-verses in 1 Corinthians 13. (There’s another word for love in the New Testament, φίλος (philos)/φιλέω (phileo), but it is not used as often as agape. The tricky thing with philos/phileo is that it can sometimes mean friend, or even kiss.)

Defining words is not easy and defining an often used word like love is no different. In some places, like John 3:35, the definition seems pretty much self-evident. There the apostle writes, “The Father loves (agapao) the Son and has given all things into his hand.” One of the things I love about John is how he likes to use different words to mean the same thing. Later, in chapter 5, he writes almost exactly the same thing, but this time uses the Greek word phileo for love instead of agapao: “For the Father loves (phileo) the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.” (If you’d like to look into this feature of John’s writing further, check out John 21:15-17.)

Moving out from the New Testament, but using the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint, LXX), we could look at a verse like 2 Samuel 13:1, which reads: “Now Absalom, David’s son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time, Amnon, David’s son, loved (egapesen) her.” If you know this story, you might be a little concerned with the usage of the word love here, because what happens next is nothing short of horrific. Amnon takes Tamar and humiliates her because, as the text says, the love he had for her overcame him. And, less we think that there is something odd going on here with the English translation, the Greek translators of the Old Testament chose to use the word (egapesen), which is a form of the word (agapao). The same word used by the Apostle John for the love the Father has for the Son. Depending on the context—even in Greek—one word can mean something positive and true, and in another sense something twisted and dark.

We’ve arrived at the familiar conclusion that, even with an original language study, it’s context that drives the definition of love, because context is king.

LOVE IS OTHERS-FOCUSED

So, here we are once more at the question driving this article: What is love? We can continue to give thanks to God for the Apostle Paul, because he lays out some very helpful characteristics of love for us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 as he writes:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

A couple things to note here right off the bat. First, this is almost certainly not an exhaustive list of characteristics for love. Second, this list can be divided up into two main categories: what love is/does, and what love is not/does not do.

Love is/does: patient, kind, rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love is not/does not: envy, boast, arrogant, rude, insist on its own way, irritable or resentful, rejoice at wrongdoing.

When we further stare at these characteristics of love, it becomes clear that one group focuses on others and the second focuses on the self. Those without love have little to no care for anyone other than themselves. They make much of themselves, and they’re rude when they do it. Instead of backing up and allowing someone else to lead, they insist that their way is best. God forbid they don’t get their own way, because they’re irritable and resentful. This, then, manifests itself into the tragedy of rejoicing when evil befalls others. Someone without love has become a person who has turned in on themselves, and to turn love around so that it is focused back on ourselves, is little more than the age-old idolatry of Genesis 3. I should make something clear here before going forward. Saying this is not the same thing as saying we ought not to care for ourselves or think we’re worthwhile as human beings. It’s exactly the opposite. Far from a call to think we’re worthless, it’s a call for us to love the God who loves us more than anyone else in the universe has or ever could. And, thus, gladly receive the love he has for us. This is the essence of true self-worth.

On the flip side, someone with love is patient and kind. They believe that another person’s time is just as important, or even more important than theirs. Those with love are kind to other people. They rejoice with the truth they find in the world. They bear, believe, hope, and endure in all circumstances. Someone with love lives their life in such a way as to see others (God and their neighbors) as the worthy recipients of their love. They are others-focused, because love is others-focused.

the embodiment of love

After the Israelites were freed from their 400-years of unjust captivity and forced labor in Egypt they found themselves on the edge of the Promised Land. An entire generation had died, but here they were, about to step into what God had been calling them to for 40-years. But…there was a problem; a big problem. They had become a forgetful bunch, who didn’t always trust the one who rescued them. So Moses exhorts them to remember their calling into a life intimately connected to God; to remember what it’s like to be the people of God in a world who doesn’t know him. And he does this by reminding them of who they are, and whose they are.

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Dt. 7:7-8, ESV)

Lest any of the ancient Israelites of Moses’s day think that they were God’s people because they were great in number, he reminds them that they were actually the fewest of all peoples. In other words, they were not God’s people because of who they intrinsically were—a large collection of wanderers—they were God’s people because, as Moses says, “the Lord set his love on you and chose you.” There goes all their boasting in anyone but God. There goes all their reliance upon anyone but God. And there goes all their reception of self-worth from anyone that would say anything different than what God has already said. The Lord set his love on the ancient Israelites because he “loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers.” The ancient Israelites were loved by God because that’s who God was, and that’s who he continues to be today.

Fast-forwarding a few thousand-years, we find a similar thing being said about God and Christ from the Apostle Paul.

…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Ro. 5:8, ESV)

Can you imagine doing this for someone who was dead set against you? How about someone who had made it their life’s mission to discredit everything about you? How about someone who tried to destroy all you made? I can’t. But this was the exact situation God was in. He had reached out to a world he made with his hands—to a people he crafted individually—and he was met with a resounding, NO! So, what did he do? He decided it was best to step down into the world, live among his creation, teach them what it meant to be truly human, and then allow them to put him to death in the most horrific way possible at the time. While we were still going after anything but God, Jesus—the second person of the triune God—-gave up his life for us. Why did he do this? To show his love.

Understanding love is not merely to ascend to an appropriate definitional standard. Love is much more real and solid than that; it’s much more complex than that. In the end, love is a person. And that person, who is the embodiment of God, is by definition the embodiment of love.

a story about jesus

So, what would you say to friend who asked you to define love? Are you going to Google “What is love?” and then read off the first few definitions, putting together a definition of your own? At least you’d be doing some research. Maybe you do a word-study throughout the Bible? That’s not bad, either. You’ll get a lot of useful material. You might, though, just flip open your Bible to 1 Corinthians 13 and read aloud.

You could do any of those or none of them. One other thing you could do, though (which I think Paul would gladly approve of), is to read through the gospels until you know them like the back of your hand and then tell your friend a story about Jesus. The Jesus who preached to his followers about what it meant to be a part of the kingdom of God. The Jesus who didn’t turn away children, but warned those who did and would. The Jesus who confronted some of the religious leaders of his day who sought to control people instead of showing them God. The Jesus who healed people who trusted him. The Jesus who wept over Jerusalem before heading in to be crucified. The Jesus who resurrected, ascended, and sent the Spirit of God to minister to us as we live our lives.

To define love, just tell a story about Jesus.

A Church Called Love (Part 1): “…but have not love.”

without love, nothing

Burgers or pizza tonight?

What about burgers or pizza for the next 40-nights? What about for the next 10-years? Or, what about for the rest of your life?

At first the question is simple, because not much rides on it. It doesn’t really matter if I have burgers or pizza tonight, because I could have the other one tomorrow, or something else entirely. Now, if I had to choose one of those foods for the next 40-nights, things get more interesting. Further, if I had to choose one for the next 10-years, or the rest of my life. Now, we’re talking about a big, life-changing decision.

Let’s try another one.

If you could pick only one characteristic for your local church to be known by, what would it be?

Acts of service?
Generous hospitality?
Miraculous healings?
Sound teaching?
Unwavering faith?

I know what I’d choose from those five options. I know what I’d choose because of how incredibly important I believe it to be. Churches live or die based on what is taught and, ultimately, lived-out by those who make up a church. It’s not a far walk from believing that Jesus isn’t really God, to believing that salvation isn’t really possible, and so believing that these “stories” of Jesus in the Bible aren’t worth your time.

That being said, if I had to choose just one characteristic for my local church, it wouldn’t be on the list above. I know, I know, it wasn’t fair how I framed the question, because you didn’t know picking your own characteristic was actually allowed. A thousand pardons, please.

If I had to pick, it would be what Paul considered to be the most important. It would be what he, in 1 Corinthians, exhorts his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to make the foundation of all they do. It would be what Paul believed gave meaning to everything else.

The apostle writes this in 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:3:

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The message seems to be pretty straight forward. If Paul (and by application, you and I) doesn’t have love, it negatively affects all he does. It doesn’t matter if he can speak in different languages (humanly or angelic). It doesn’t matter if he has prophetic powers, or if he is able to understand all mysteries and all knowledge, or if he has total trust in God. It doesn’t even matter if he gives up his own body. If he does not have love, whatever he has said or done has come to nothing.

The message is clear: without love we are nothing, and there is nothing.

Why is this so? Why is it that without love, it doesn’t matter what we do? To answer this, we must first take a step back.

you are not far from the kingdom of god

In one sense, what Paul just said there in 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:3 doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to us, nor does it matter to the world, if we have not considered ourselves to be living in the same world as Paul. For Paul, the world as we see it now, was not all there is. There were other things going on that weren’t readily visible to everyone. To put it another way, Paul really believed that God was doing something in this world that really changed the way those who followed him could and ought to live. This thing that God was doing is commonly called the kingdom of God (or heaven).

The kingdom of God was (and is) the reign of God in and through this world that Paul, you, and I live. It is the place within the world where God’s rule, influence, and way of life is being practiced and experienced. The kingdom of God is not some far off dream of an escape one day; it is the actual present-day reality of those who bow the knee to Jesus. And both of Paul’s knees hit the floor in front of Jesus.

Jesus talked about the practical reality of the kingdom of God like this:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. (Mt. 4:43-45a, ESV)

He was confronting this convoluted half-truth that God had called his people to love their neighbors and to hate their enemies. This was never what God had called them to do; instead, it was a manipulation of the real request God had made for his people: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Lev. 19:18, ESV)

And so, Jesus being Jesus, he announces to those who had been following him that if they are going to be a part of his kingdom then they are going to live in the truth of who God was and continues to be: love. Those who live in the kingdom of God (Jesus-people) are going to live like their king, and their king does not hate his enemies. In fact, he died for them (Rom. 5:10). So, his people are not going to hate them; instead, they are going to love them as their neighbor, because the kingdom of God is a place where love reigns supreme.

One day, as was pretty typical, someone came up to Jesus with a question about what type of life God had actually called his people into:

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mk. 12:28-34, ESV)

The scribe knew what he was talking about, but I’m not sure he knew the implications of what he was talking about, or he at least didn’t want to fully accept them. There is nothing more that God asks of his people than to love those who were made in his image. This is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. In other words, there is nothing more special to God that you could offer him than to love other people. The implication, however, of agreeing with this is striking. If you trust Jesus and you trust what he has said then you are not far from the kingdom of God. You’re right there. You’re at the doorstep of living in the reality of God being king; the reality of Jesus being king. The next step is to move forward from mere agreement to living it out.

called to love

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:31-35, ESV)

One of the last things Jesus tells his disciples, before his eventual crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, is to love one another. Now, on one level this is not a new command. This had been given ages ago. God’s people were always instructed to love one another. However, on another level, this command from Jesus was as fresh as could be. Here he is, the king of the kingdom of God letting his disciples know that he is going away and there is but one thing they are to do: love one another. The reason, as Jesus says, is that by their loving one another the world will know that they are his disciples. And, as a result of the world knowing that they are Jesus’s disciples, the world will have a chance to know Jesus. That’s how love works in the kingdom of God. It is given to others, so that others would know God.

The Apostle John drills down on this point in his epistle to an early church body when he writes that, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8, ESV). It’s not hard to see how Jesus’s words in John 13 still hung in the ears of John years later. He took to heart what Jesus meant by calling his disciples to love one another and that was worked out for a group of early Jesus-followers through John explaining that those who don’t love, don’t know God, because God is love. It’s pretty cut-and-dry. They (and we) could not call themselves disciples of Jesus (i.e., God) and have no love for others. The two are (and continue to be) mutually exclusive realities. They either do not love others and thus prove that they don’t love God. Or, they love others and thus prove that they actually love God.

John naturally continues this line of reasoning in writing that, “…we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn. 4:16, ESV). Those who remain/live in love, remain/live in God. The two realities go hand-in-hand. It’s not like there are a bunch of hoops to jump through in order to be connected to God and helpful to the world. The calling is simple: love.

okay, but, what is love?

Now, although the calling is simple, the practicalities and real-world application of that calling bring with it all the complexities we could imagine, which is why we ought to be so thankful for Paul because of what he wrote down for the Corinthian church (and us, two-thousand-years later).

Paul began with the truth that our speech and our actions are meaningless if we do not have love. Next, he will continue down this road by describing to us some of the characteristics of this slippery word love. Because, if you’re anything like me, the question that’s been buzzing around your head throughout this article is: what is love?