Love Is the Engine: Christ Formed in Us

And so these Corinthians and many of us today will put so much emphasis on these spiritual gifts as if we find our value and our worth and our identity in these temporary earthly things. But he says there is one thing, one gift that will never cease, and that is love. It is the one thing that will never disappear. That's why he said in verse eight, love never ends. Agape love is the one thing given to us and empowered by the spirit of God that will never disappear. Why? Because God is love. [01:00:40] (42 seconds)  #loveNeverEnds

You may not have a public audience or this huge platform, but he's saying I've given you the greatest gift. You may not have what he has or she has or what they have, but God is saying, I've given you the call and the command to love. You have love. And if you have the son of God in you and he's put his spirit in you, then he has given you the most excellent, the greatest gift he could possibly give, the thing that lasts forever and ever. [01:04:31] (28 seconds)  #giftOfLove

Now here's the bad news. When we look at this, none of us perfectly love. We will all fail at some point in in our love. So why? Why do we fail? Because I hate to break it to you, But you're not Jesus, and I'm not Jesus. So why, Paul, are you telling us to love like Jesus if we're not Jesus? Bingo. Exactly. I think the only way we can truly reflect this kind of agape love, the only way is when Christ is formed in us. [00:51:00] (43 seconds)  #christFormedInUs

Now think about this. In our lives, right, think about everything that you've come across. That which produces benefit for the longest period of time is that which is most meaningful to us. We're wired to love the things that last. For example, life what's better? What's more meaningful? Lifelong service to the homeless or an afternoon at the soup kitchen. I think lifelong service would be more meaningful. What's more meaningful? Committed marriage forever or a one night stand. What does your heart long for? [00:56:21] (37 seconds)  #lastingMeaningMatters

And God is eternal. And his love will never end. And when we are with him in heaven, his love for us will never fail. It will never cease. And our love for him will never disappear because we will always be in love with him as long as we see him for who he is. And we will continue to love each other in heaven and for eternity forever and ever even when all the other gifts no longer have any purpose. We will live and walk in his love forever and ever. [01:01:22] (28 seconds)  #eternalLoveForever

There are some of you, and this weekend, who will be coming to church with your moms to spend time with her. Maybe you're a mom who who's come to church because your kids asked you to. And I pray that though church might not be normal for some of you, I pray that nobody leaves today without inviting Christ to come to dwell inside of you. I pray that that you will give the spirit an opportunity to come in and and transform you from the core of your being so that he will transform you to be the most beautiful version of yourself. [00:54:54] (39 seconds)  #inviteChristIn

And he would say, it doesn't matter. He'd always say this to me. He'd say, it doesn't matter how many degrees you have if you don't have the temperature. What he was saying is it doesn't matter if you have a master's degree or a doctorate degree if you lose your warmth for God's people. Doesn't matter if you have a PhD, if if you don't have a fire for Jesus and a passion for Christ, then all of it is meaningless. [00:42:14] (28 seconds)  #warmthOverDegrees

Many of you probably had this verse read at your wedding or maybe you went to a wedding recently where first Corinthians 13 was read. And it's totally fine for weddings, but it's important. And I want you to know, church, that this passage is not about romantic love. It's not about romantic love at all. It's about agape love, a committed covenantal love even when the romance fades away, even when the feelings are all gone. Agape love remains. [00:45:47] (33 seconds)  #agapeNotRomance

And so that's why I think it's okay to read at weddings because that's what marriage should be about. Right? And and then this passage, understand, isn't really a warm and fuzzy passage like the greeting cards and bookmarks make us to think this passage is. No. But if you understand the context, this passage really is a rebuke, a correction to the Corinthian church. [00:46:20] (23 seconds)  #corinthiansCorrection

And as I found myself feeling like I'm not enough, I felt the Lord speak over me that week, especially as I was preparing for this message. And I felt the Lord speak over to me saying, Greg, I have given you the most excellent way. That's the ministry of love. You be faithful to that. And I believe he's speaking that over every single one of you who has Christ in you. I've given you the most excellent way. Who needs to hear that? You may not have the gift of service or administration like someone else, but he's saying I've given you the most excellent way. [01:03:43] (47 seconds)  #mostExcellentWay

And I was like, how in the world do you have over 50 words for snow? Well, because there's different kinds of snow. There's words for dry snow. There's words for wet snow. There's drifting snow. There's strong snow. There's snowflake snow. There's, dry sugar like snow. There's a word for snow that blows into your igloo. There's a word for that. And so there are very, there there's a lot of words to describe falling snow, but when you come to the English language, do you know that there's only one word for love? You know what that word is? Love. That's the only word we have. [00:29:14] (37 seconds)  #oneWordLove

And so we have a a love available to us, but if it's a selfish love rather than the sacrificial dying to myself agape love, then it's just a bunch of noise coming out of your mouth and nothing going into people's hearts. He goes on in verse two, and he addresses some more very impressive gifts that people desired and wanted because of how it made them look. Prophecy, knowledge, and faith. [00:39:56] (31 seconds)  #selfishLoveIsNoise

Then there's the gift of knowledge, and knowledge is having a deep grasp and understanding of God's word probably more so than the other people in the room. And that's by the spirit of God. But Paul's point is the same. Without love, your gifts amount to nothing of lasting value if you're doing it just for yourself. You know, my my, father, many of you guys know my dad. [00:40:57] (25 seconds)  #knowledgeNeedsLove

And so are you loving when you serve? Love is the engine. It provides the power and the meaning behind everything we do. And, again, agape love is just dying to ourselves, getting ourselves out of the way, and it's prioritizing the needs and the building up of another person and serving for the glory of God. That kind of love will give power and meaning to everything. I think about the late pastor Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, and he shares about the story where one day after service, a lady comes up to to him to introduce herself, and she says, I come from another church on the other side of town. [00:43:11] (40 seconds)  #servingWithLove

And perhaps each characteristic listed here might con connect to your life in some way, perhaps to a chapter in your life. And so what if we were to do an exercise and you're to insert your name into this scripture? What would it look like? For example, if I took my name, could I say Greg is patient and Greg is kind, Greg does not envy and Greg does not boast, Greg Greg is not arrogant, and Greg is not rude? And you go on and then actually, if you get to the last verse of the scripture, would say, [00:48:09] (33 seconds)  #personalizeLove

At its very core down to its roots, it's a fig tree. That's what it is on the inside. And so what it is on the inside is eventually what's gonna come out on the outside. Unless some miracle happens and something inside of it transforms it and it becomes appleistic to the core and becomes an apple tree at its very roots and its very being, only then will apples begin to come out and be produced. Something has to change on the inside and in the same way we are human. [00:53:00] (35 seconds)  #changeFromWithin

And so we could try really hard in this season to work on being more patient and being more kind. Try not to envy as much and not boast as much and we could try to be something and we might look like that for a season, but eventually our tongue will slip and our flesh will fail. And what's inside, our humanity will come out. But if you have Jesus inside of you, at the core of your being, if Jesus is at the center of your heart [00:53:41] (36 seconds)  #ChristAtTheCore