The Source of Love
“Love is a choice.” “You have to
choose to love.” We hear statements like these inside and outside of the
church. Perhaps we understand what these statements are attempting to
communicate. Indeed, love does engage our decisions, but the source of biblical
love is more powerful than decisions. As John Piper said, love “is not just a
decision you make moment by moment. It’s
an overflow, a work of God within us.”
If you have been going to church for a while, this might be the 100th time you’ve heard 1 Corinthians 13 read, and you are thinking, “Yep. Love never ends. Got that one. Yawn.” Many of us in this room already heard that without love we are nothing. We already know love is patient and kind and humble. But the point of today’s scripture is not about what love is, but about what love does and does not do. In other words, here Paul is not defining love in the abstract. He is practically applying love to the Corinthian situation and telling them why some of their attitudes are unchristian and unacceptable. At that time the Corinthians were puffed up and divided. They were insisting on their own way and so were taking each other to court. They were insisting on their own way as they ate their own meal at the Lord’s Supper without any regard to the poor. They were jealous as they compared their spiritual gifts. In this messed up context Paul is now exhorting them to apply agape love to their daily lives. If we are completely honest about ourselves, we know how hard it is to love our spouse, our children. It’s hard to love my church. It’s even hard to love God at times. We’re running on empty. So how can we apply agape love to our life? What is the source of biblical love?
The Holy Spirit
The answer is the Holy Spirit. According to a new study, more than half of
self-identified Christians in America say the Holy Spirit is not a real, living
being, but is merely a symbol of God’s power, presence, or purity. But the
Bible says the Holy Spirit is more than just a positive energy, moral
conscience, or good thoughts. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit
of Christ. The coming of the Holy Spirit was promised and fulfilled on the day
of Pentecost. God promised, "I will put my spirit in you.” (Ezekiel 36:27) Jesus promised, "I will ask
the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate to be with you forever… the
Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach
you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (John 14:16,
26) The Holy Spirit is a real, living being – the Helper, the Counselor, the
Advocate, the Comforter, and the Companion. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to apply agape love to our challenging
situations.
In today’s scripture Paul tells us what love does and does not do this way:
Love is patient;
love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in
wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things (vv. 4-7).
These attributes are all good, but the question is “Is this practical?” “Is this attainable?” All these attributes are Christ’s attributes, Christ’s character. Jesus is patient, but we know we are not. Jesus is kind and meek and humble, but we are not. The standards of agape love seem unattainable ideal. It is true that they are not easily attainable by everyone, but they are attainable all right only by those who were born from above and now have the Holy Spirit with them. The Bible says, “God’s love [agape] has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rom 5:5) The Holy Spirit is the source of agape love.
Repentance
If God’s part is to pour out His
Spirit upon us, our part is to welcome
the Spirit and choose to allow him to
change us by filling our hearts with his perfect love. It’s called repentance. Repentance does not simply
mean we feel remorse or ask for forgiveness. Repentance literally means to turn. It means to turn from my ways. It
means to make a real change to be in alignment with God. Repentance is a
lifelong process. This morning we sang Charles Wesley’s “Love Divine, All Loves
Excelling.” This hymn describes our Christian journey from beginning to end – how
God transforms us through his Holy Spirit with his perfect love. In particular,
verse 2 goes like this:
“Breathe,
O breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast!
Let
us all in thee inherit; let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and
Omega be;
end
of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.
We all have our sinful nature – “our bent to sinning.” We all have our wandering hearts – “prone to wander and leave the God we love.” But the Holy Spirit encourages us, nudges us, gives us new desire to turn and be in alignment with God.
Recently, I had a chance to have a meal with a homeless person and listen to the story. As I was listening, I realized how ignorant I was. Millions of Americans are evicted every year because they can’t make rent. And I pretended that was not happening. The Holy Spirit nudged me to see and repent. I repented my ignorance. I repented my apathy. I repented my loveless heart. The other day during a pastor’s gathering I heard one pastor talking about how hard for him to become an U.S. citizen, and how easy for some others, as he referred to the current southern border situations. For me personally, it took 13 years to become a permanent resident. I am still in the naturalization process. As I was listening to that pastor, I realized I was also tempted to say, “I earned this. I worked so hard for this. Now I have been accepted. Shut the door after me.” The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see that once I have been accepted in the system, I too worry about security. Laws, order, and security are all important. We need them. But along with them, we Christians can and must be more loving, welcoming, compassionate towards refugees and immigrants. The Holy Spirit helped me to see many biblical characters – Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and Naomi, Joseph and Mary, and most of all, Jesus himself – were all foreigners and immigrants. I repented my self-centeredness. I repented my fears and insecurities.
Already Won
Perhaps some of us in this room may
feel frustrated because of our slow progress toward Christian perfection on our
journey. We feel like we are still childish. It’s hard to be patient when a baby
cries through the night. It’s hard to be kind when a car cuts in front of us.
It’s hard not to get irritated when our best-laid plan goes awry. It’s just
hard to love our spouse and our children as described in today’s scripture. But
there is good news! The game has already been won. It has already been borne;
it has already been endured by one person, Jesus Christ our Lord.
What does this mean? It means that we can put all of our life in perspective. When I was a child, I used to play soccer with my friends and pretend that I was my favorite athlete, Diego Maradona. I imagined myself having all of his skill. Of course I didn’t, but I was able to enjoy pretending to be Maradona because the game had already been won. He was already the all-star. He was already a champion. But what if I was deluded and thought that I actually was Maradona, that it was my responsibility to lead Argentina to a World Cup championship? That would be an impossible, unattainable task. How often we tend to be like that! How often we act like the world is riding on our shoulders, like we have to bear and endure it all! The game has already been won, and we are invited to enjoy playing a backyard game. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. You are I are a new creation. We are God’s beloved. God’s love already has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. And today the Spirit invites us into his perfect love. May we listen and say yes to the Spirit. May we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his perfect love. May we turn from our way and turn to God’s way, one degree at a time. As we listen, allow, turn to the Spirit daily, Charles Wesley’s glorious hymn will be our reality.
Finish,
then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be.
Let
us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee;
changed
from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,
till
we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.
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