"The Portrait of Love"

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Rev. Min J. Chung

(Sunday Worship, September 19, 1999)

 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It alw ays protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. NIV

 

I. IntroductionA. Continuing from last week, we are talking about some principles

concerning love. Even though this chapter is preached at many weddings, its a scary chapter, because even if we do all these incredible things, speak in tongues, prophesy, have incredib le knowledge of mysteries, have faith that can move mountains, give our bodies to the flames, if we dont have this crazy little thing called love, it is nothing. So what does it mean to have love? This is important information, because no matter how I serve, how I give my life to all kinds of things, it is nothing if I dont have love. A loving person is a person who has the genuine motive to love and serve God and His people and not himself. Its talking about that inner desire, inner passion, inner motive to serve God and other people, not to serve myself. What is the reason you serve and do all kinds of things? Is it for the recognition of people or for the glory of God and for His people to be edified? Thats what it means to have love. Its talk ing about the desire and motive of everything I do. When I do all kinds of things, like the things talked about in 1 Co. 12, exercising the gifts, serving others, doing incredible things, do I have the genuine desire and motive of love? Is that portrayed and expressed? If we really have that within, if thats our motive and intention of everything we do, verses 4-7 will be the portrait. That person who has a genuine intention and motive of love in his heart, when he serves, he is patient. That per son with a motive and intention of loving God and people will be kind. She is not easily angered. On and on. So as we think about that lets talk about these fourteen characteristics in detail. Each point can be a sermon in itself, but w ell categorize them into three parts. Its not a functional or conceptual division, but a literary division.

II. Body

A. Two "Is" of Love1. Love is patient. Love is kind. Paul puts these two together

intentionally. These two represent respectively loves necessary passive and active response toward others. The passive response is patience. Longs uffering. You suffer long. Even though you might be frustrated, if your genuine intent is love, you suffer long. As you suffer long, your reaction to others is kindness, which is the active response. You love not only passively€longsuffering and forbeara nce€but actively; you act in goodness in their behalf. When you study the word patience or longsuffering, you find that the word is used in a few other places in the Bible. 1 Th. 5:14 talks about our patience, longsuffering toward all men. James 5:8 says that because Jesus is coming, judgment is coming. So be patient. Wait a little while. Suffer long and be kind toward other people. 2 Peter 3:9 talks about Gods patience. The reason why Jesus isnt returning is not because of His laziness, but because of His patience. Hes suffering long for one more sinner to turn to Christ. Thats why Hes longsuffering. Thats why Hes delaying the return of Jesus Christ. Someone who has the genuine intention of love is patient. God is longsuffering toward men, b ecause judgment is coming. Arent you so thankful that Christ didnt come the day before you accepted Him? Just as He had longsuffering for you, just as He waited for your conversion, just as He didnt return the day before you came to Christ, ju st as He did that for you, you need to suffer long for others. One of the songs says that He does not give up on the hopeless ones. Hes patient. Also we need to be actively kind. So another song says simple act of mercy. You dont even need to do great things, like giving someone a car. Give someone a smile. We can do that. Simple acts of mercy are supernatural if you have the genuine motive of love. Supernatural hellos. Supernatural smiles. They have power if you have a genuine motive. T he love of God is transferred and the power of God goes forth to that person.

2. Many times people say, "Our church is so superficial," as if superficiality is because of the quantity of time. In Scripture, superficiality is not due to the quantity of time, but the quality of love. I have many brief intera ctions with people, but when Im filled with the Spirit Im valuable to people. When I shake peoples hands after service, there is a lot of supernatural handshaking going on. Why? Because all week Im praying. As I shake your hands Im praying. Ive h eard comments about how people were

encouraged and blessed through that handshake. Ill do that all day. All week I pray so there will be supernatural power in that handshake. Its not the quantity of time but the quality of love. Simple acts of kindness with genuine love within will generate incredible power. Thats why patience and kindness are intertwined in Rom. 2:4: "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God's kindness l eads you towards repentance?" Paul is talking about the judgment of God and how we misuse the kindness of God; we dont apply it to others. Kindness and patience are intertwined. Gods kindness, longsuffering leads to repentance. Whe n that is transferred to us, that is the method of evangelism€patience and supernatural kindness. It has incredible ministry power because thats what led us to repentance. God will use those characteristics and lifestyle in us to lead others to Christ. A person who has the genuine intention and motive of love will manifest supernatural patience and kindness.

B. Eight "Nots" of LoveIts great because when it says not, all I have to do is replace love with my name. Pastor Min does not envy. Pastor Min does not boast. Its just me. If you dont have the heart intention of love, you have the heart intention of selfishness. You have dual motives. Lets talk about the eight nots in a positive sense€you envy, you boast. You envy and boast because youre living for yourself.

1. Envya. Envy means burn with zeal. Paul uses it in 1 Co. 3:3: "You

are jealous. You are still worldly." Your own sinful desires. What do you desire? The affection of people, respect from people, approval from people? When someone else get s more, you envy. Theres something you want more than the glory of God. You have that evil desire for yourself within, and because of that youre jealous. Paul uses it in 1 Co. 4:18. Many people in the Corinthian church were envying for the affecti on of the community. As they exercised gifts, they envied the approval of people. Do you covet the affection of people? We do that in many different ways. Think about why you wear nice clothes. You desire the affection of people, if not the opposite gender, then someone else. At least you want to look OK. Or think about why you are nice to people. Being nice is good. Simple acts of mercies with the genuine motive of love have power.

Simple acts of mercy with a selfish motive have a different resul t. Most of you are nice in order to get something€the affection of people. You want to be liked. Some people are non-confrontational. Others say that youre so nice. But think of it carefully. Why dont you confront people? Because you want to avoid c onflict. You might say, "Thats because I dont want to hurt their feelings." Thats deep but go deeper. The deeper reason is: "I dont want to hurt their feelings, because if they get hurt by me, they wont like me." What are you doing? Youre envying. You covet affection. That can be redirected. If you look at other verses, passages in the New Testament, that word, envy, is used positively. Here it is used in terms of negative zeal and action. But you can turn it into a positive. Turn it into a good thing.

b. 1 Co 12:31 tells us to covet the greater gifts. Many times we covet the greater gifts for bad motives, but covet them with good intentions€to love God and serve people. Direct that energy positively. In 2 Co 11:2, Paul is talking about ministering to people. Paul was different than us, totally opposite. He wants to present the people hes ministering to as a virgin bride to Christ. Paul had a positive zeal for his people to be the bride of Christ, to be pure. He wanted it more than anything. He s using that zeal not for himself, not for the affection of people but for others. Rev. 3:19 talks about the Laodicean church which had no zeal. Apathy is selfishness. They were so zealous for themselves. Jesus is saying. Be zealous and repent. Seek the right desire. My question to you is: when are your emotions moved? When you play sports, why are you so zealous to win? Its because you want to be exalted or you desire the affection of people. Why do you want to win that video game so badly? To put your name up on that high score list. You must channel that zeal to win into a zeal to love people and God. Dont say "I dont have passion, thats why I dont have passion for God." Do you know why you dont have passion for God? Its because you have so much passion for yourself. The Bible says to use that for the glory of God and His people.

2. Boast

a. It is similar to envy, but boasting is actions from an inordinate desire to call attention to oneself. Maybe this is closer to seeking respect than affection. Envy is more for affection. Boasting is more for respect. A lot of times we boast through exaggeration. If someone asks you, "How were you in high school?" Oh, just a member of the National Honor Society. "What did you get on the SAT?" You got a 1390 but you say, "Close to 1400." It is true, bu t what is your intention when you use little exaggerations? What is your inordinate desire? Pastors do the same. "How many people are in your church?" "Oh, about 400." Then I know they have 300. Think about humorous people. Why d o you want to make others laugh? There are two kinds of humorous people. Some humorous people make fun of themselves and are funny that way. Those kinds of people are probably desiring affection from people. People who desire respect are humorous by m aking fun of other people. It might not always be in a bad way, but its usually by cutting people down. Thats fascinating. How do you know all this Pastor Min? I am like this! Why do you show off your skills, possessions, car, degrees, letters befo re and after your name? How about small group sharing? What do you do? Your turn is coming to share. Youre not listening to what your fellow small group members are saying. Youre thinking about what youre going to say. Your turn comes. You share. Youre done and it continues to go around the circle. Youre still not listening to them. Youre thinking, "How did I do?" So nobody is listening to each other in small group sharing. The wrong application is "Im not going to share unti l I have a good motive." Dont avoid the problem. Face it. Share and as you do, try to have good intentions. Listen to other people. Forget about the dumb things you said. If you look stupid, so what? Keep going. Fight. Face the problem. Dont avoid it by saying, "Im not going to do it." As you do it, repent. Pray beforehand, pray during, pray afterward. Pastors do the same thing. I dont want to say anything bad about this pastor who I really respect. He was one of my Sunday sc hool teachers in Korea and I met him when I was somewhere in America. He didnt know me because I was one out of three hundred Sunday school students. I said, "You were my Sunday

school pastor!" So we got to know each other. Later I met him a few times in different places and one time I met him on the East Coast. I was in a long line for the bathroom. Someone was standing in front of me, and when he turned around, I saw that it was him. "Hey, its you!" Here is the interesting thi ng. As soon as he saw me, he started to speak louder. "Oh, you were in my Sunday school, werent you? How old were you?" He wanted everyone to hear him and know that this kid who was in his Sunday school had grown up to be a pastor. I respect him, but he did that. Im also like that. When I go to Barnes and Nobles with my kids, they read a lot of books so people are amazed. Sometimes I get free coffee because of that. There are books all over the table because they read so much. When they want to clean up the table, I say, "Dont clean it up." Why? Because I want people to see that those are my kids. I want them to say, "Theyre so smart!" So wicked, isnt it? You have a wicked pastor.

3. Prouda. Proud mean puffed up. It means youre like this [small] but

you think youre like this [big]. So you think you are bigger than you really are. In America, we use the phrasebig head. His heads so big he cant even get through the door. Make sure you can get through the door. Its an incorrect evaluation of yourself. Romans 12:3, which talks about the usage of gifts, says have a sober judgment about yourself. What are you really like? Do you have pride about you r looks or some gift you have? For some reason, when were good at something, we magnify it and think that we are that great at every other aspect of our lives. We do this with spiritual things as well, as if peoples approval of our spirituality counts. What counts is Gods approval on His scales. Are you going to be found lacking? Mene mene, tekel, parsin. (Daniel 5:25) Are you going to fly off the scale because youre so little on the scale of God? Have a correct evaluation of yourself. Hes given us the ability to do whatever we can do. He can always take it away. Apart from Him we are nothing. By the grace of God I am what I am. Its not because of anything about myself, but because of the grace of God.

b. I was so happy preparing this, because I realized Im so pathetic. But I am so happy because I have the answer! I can go to God. He will strengthen me and change me. Its so easy to repent. Ive been having a great time repenting, because Im seein g my sins and Hes cleansing me. When you see me next year, Im going to be improved. I am having fun. Can you tell? Are you having fun?

4. Rudea. If youre self serving, youre rude. It means behaving

unseemly, shamefully, disgracefully. In 1 Co 11:2-6 it talks about womens head coverings. Its a controversial topic. Its not a sin to not wear head coverings. Paul was talking abo ut a cultural thing. Some women didnt want to wear them. But it was for a deeper reason. It was because authority said to wear it. It was basically rebellion. This word, rude, is used there. You dont act rude if youre really loving. We should say, "Ill do it for the glory of God, for edification, for love." It was a humility issue, a "my right" issue. Me, me, me, me. In some sense, you need to respect culture. Ill mention two cultures.

1. You need to respect your parents culturea. Even in America there are different cultures.

In order to respect your parents culture, you need to tell them that you respect them in their own way. If youre loving, youll do that. For example, if youre from an Asian background, bowing shows respect. Its nothing objectively. You bend your back a little bit. Yet that person will take it and his or her heart will be moved and theyll feel valued and respected in their soul. Respecting ones culture is a simple act of mercy. Supernat ural love is shown. Dont you want to do that for the sake of edification and the glory of God?

2. You need to respect the culture of the churcha. Every church has a different culture. In a

culture, if youre not going to sin by obeying, do it. We tell you that when you give offering, try to put it in a white envelope. Its not a sin if you dont do it. But when youre at home, you can think about it and prepare it as

you prepare to give your heart to God, rather than getting a wrinkled dollar bill out and putting it in the offering plate€thats not a healthy attitude. Its not sinful not to use an envelope, but its nice to do it. Think, "Is it sinful to put money in the envelope? No. Then Ill do it for the sake of love, for edification and for submission to authority." Is it bad to do it or is it me, my right?

b. Why are we rude? When youre rude to underdogs, this is your motive: Im not gonna get anything by being nice. Let me say this, rarely people are rude to stars. Why? Because you can get something from them. If theyre nice to you, you get affection and attention. How do you treat people? Do you treat them different whether theyre stars or underdogs? Do you treat the quarterback better than the bench warmer? Somebody is always better treated than nobody. Do you treat good-looking girls better t han "existing girls"? Of course, all the ladies in CFC are beautiful. Thats why Im nice to all of you. Do you treat people with titles better than people without them? Do you treat your boss better than a new worker? Is it different? Then youre rude. What is your intention and motive?

5. Self-seekinga. When our motive is false, we are self-seeking. If you are

not self-seeking, you dont seek your own good, but the good of others. When you are asked to do something, you calculate. What is in it for me? Many of you calculate and weigh it out. Do you do it only if you gain something? Or do you do it because its good for other people? That shows your motive. Think about a little more complicated situation. When you do something, "I gain, but it is bad for others,"€do you still do it? A little more complicated. "If I do this, I lose, but its good for others,"€do you still do it? For Christians, if it is good for the glory of God and people, we should do it.

b. It was fascinating when we were discussing whether we should do the special praise with all the pastors and officers for this Sunday. Every year we check, because if we dont need to do something, well change it. Initially most people didnt want t o do it because its so uncomfortable to stand

up here and sing. We went around and all the people who didnt want to do it confessed that it was because of their selfish motives. I yelled at them. If we do it, will people be edified? Yes. Itll be goo d for the church, to introduce the pastors to the newcomers. Did I want to do it? No. Because in the years before, the officers were better singers. (These guys are better workers.) I was thinking, we gotta look good. We arent going to sound good, so I didnt want to do it. I was thinking, we are going to be terrible. But when we practiced last night we sounded pretty good, so I was happier. Isnt that so wicked?

c. When I do things because I gain, I gain nothing. When you see God face to face you will get nothing; you will get no credit, no matter how much youve done. No matter how much you practiced for special praise. If there is no correct motive, there w ill be no credit.

6. Easily Angereda. If I have a wrong motive, I get easily angered. If you are

not easily angered, you are not easily provoked to anger by those around you. Why do you get angry? James 4 says I want something but I dont get it so I am angry. Let me compare mysel f to the apostle Paul. I consistently get angry with my kids at 8 oclock every night. Why? Because at 8:30 Im meeting someone. At 8 oclock Ive gotta give them a bath, do devotions with them, dress them, kiss them and put them to bed. Then I gotta go meet someone at 8:30. I get mad, because when I say, "Lets take a bath. Clean up your room," theyre so slow. What is my internal subjective reaction? I want to strangle them. Psycho. Anger. I thought about why do I get angry? Is it righteous anger or sinful anger? You know why Im angry? Because I want to keep the time. I want to be punctual so that the rumor will spread that Pastor Min is a godly, punctual pastor. I repented. After that I was angry for the right reason. " ;You gotta listen to dad!"

b. When did Paul get angry? He got angry in Athens (Acts 17:16) because the city was wholly given to idolatry. Notice it says love is not easily angered. You can have righteous anger when the glory of God is in it. When people arent worshiping , serving, loving God, you can get angry. Paul was angry not because his kids werent taking a

bath so he could get respect from people. I was angry for my sake. He was angry because people were serving idols. Do you get angry for the glory of God or f or yourself? We should repent of our sins before God and be angry that billions of people in this world are serving and praising God. You should get frustrated in bed at night because there are a billion people in China who do not love God. You should g et frustrated because there are a millions of people in India who do not know God. We should be frustrated and get angry and have sleepless nights and wet pillows and pray for them, turning our frustrations and holy anger to God so that His glory will fil l the earth.

7. Keeps a Record of Wrongsa. Literally it means you keep an account. You become

an accountant. Whenever someone does something wrong to you: Ding! Do you do that? When I want ______ and dont get it, I become an accountant. I keep a record of wrongs especially when people sin against me. Ding! When I do good to them: Ding! And then when they dont repay me: Ding! We easily forget the good people do for us but we remember the wrongs they do to us. We incredibly remember the good things we do for others.

b. Unforgiving people are deeply selfish. You want something but dont get it and keep a record of wrongs. Can you imagine Jesus dying on the cross, keeping a record of our wrongs? He carried all the sins of this world. If He were to do that, we d be in serious trouble. Why is He so forgiving? Because He has no concern for himself. It doesnt matter how we offend Him and His infinite holiness, because He has no concern for Himself.

c. Peter came to Jesus asking, "How many times should forgive?" Hes boasting a little bit. "John is always bothering me, Lord. I forgave him seven times. How many more times? Up to seven times, Lord?" Jesus replied, "Sev enty times seven." Peter was a fisherman, so he started counting on his fingers and a couple of days later, he said, "490 times, Lord?" Jesus is saying to forgive a number he cannot calculate. Whats wrong is that youre counting the r ecord of wrongs. Dont count, just forgive. Dont think about how many times he stabbed you. A loving person

whose intent is to love God and others will not count how many times hes been stabbed.

8. Delights in evil, but rejoices with the trutha. Its a summary of all those things. Basically, love hates sin

and rejoices with the truth. It rejoices in the spreading of the gospel. It talks about all the social injustice, all the things in the world, all the sins in my heart and all the s ins in other people. Someone motivated by the glory of God will hate sin and love the truth. This is the gospel. Basically when it says he hates sin, it means that he loves God and the truth. That man or woman is moved by the things that move the heart of God.

C. Four "Always" of Love1. The first always is that it protects; the last is that it perseveres. In

the middle are the words trust and hope. Protecting and persevering are present things. Trusting and hoping are future things. Our God is an un seen God, so we cant see Him. Therefore, we need hope and faith to see whats coming. If we have that future perspective of faith and hope, in the present we will protect and persevere. Protect means that you cover. Love covers a multitude of sin s. When you have hope in God, you can cover over sins. Persevere means were are not passive but we actively have positive fortitude. We persevere. Perseverance is the endurance of a soldier who is in the thick of battle, who is undismayed but continu es to fight vigorously. If you have the intention of love for God and people, youre a soldier fighting against the sin of your heart. Keep persevering, loving the truth, hating sin. When you see idolatry, you get angry; you serve God and love Him. T hats what love is.

D. Let me just say three practical things. How can I have more love?1. We need to see God

a. Why do I say that? Because it says, "Now these three remain, faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Out of faith, hope and love why is love the greatest thing? Because we dont see Jesus face to face now. So we ne ed faith and hope right now. Those things help us to see whats coming. When we see Jesus for eternity, well still have faith and hope, but those things will be dominated by love. Well be filled with love. Right now we need to see Him with faith and h ope. The more and more we see Him, the more love will dominate our hearts. See Him. Clear out

the blurred vision and see Him more and more everyday. Then youll be filled. Lord, help me to see You. Spend time with the Loving One so you will be transfor med with His love.

2. Make love a habit in your lifea. All the verbs in these verses are present continuous. But all

it means is this. You do it now. You do it tomorrow. You do it the day after. You do it the day after that. Present continuous means always. Make love a habit. In order to b e loving, keep doing it. As you encounter situations, keep applying it, be kind. As you see Him face to face, receive the love of God, then apply it. We are habitual beings, so make love a habit in your life. It will be ingrained gradually by constant re petition. Thats the most encouraging thing in Scripture. We progress. We arent perfect, but we progress.

3. Praise and repenta. How do you praise? Replace the word love with Jesus.

Jesus is patient. Jesus is kind. Those are the characteristics of Jesus. Who is He patient toward? Who is He kind toward? Me. Thats how He is towards you. If you think about Jesu s and how patient He is with you, youll praise Him.

b. How do we repent? Just replace the word love with your name. Pastor Min is patient. Oh Lord, Im sorry this is not true! Itll help you to repent. Apply these things so our motives will be pure and filled with love for God and others.

III. ConclusionA. Jesus is so patient. Praise Him, saints of God. Jesus is so kind to me.

Praise him, saints of God. Jesus does not boast. He cant. Hes not proud. Hes not rude to me. Praise His name. Jesus is not self seeking or He wouldnt have gone to the cross. Jesus is not easily angered, except when He drives out the merchants in the temple courts. Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. My sins are infinite. If you kept a record of my wrongs, Id be in serious trouble. Thank you that they are deleted. Prai se Him, saints of God. You arent patient. Repent, saints of God. You arent kind. Repent, saints of God. You envy. Repent, saints of God. You boast, youre proud, youre rude, youre self seeking. Youre so easily angered, because you dont get what you want. You always keep a record of wrongs. You have deeply imbedded things in your heart, but theres no excuse for that as a Christians. It doesnt matter what kind of parents you have. Youll be

forgiven as saints of God. There is no excuse for keeping a record of wrongs. Repent so well be people who rejoice in the truth, hating sin. Well protect, trust, and hope, so well persevere. Thinking about how distant we are from representing Him. Lets praise Him for who He is and how Hes making us like Hi m and perfecting us in our lives.

B. A lot of times when we sin, we confess and repent for our external sins. We need to do that. But there is a reason why you sin. There is a heart motive, a desire that causes you to sin. You need to confess and repent about that. Otherwise, when you b ecome more religious, it become behavior modification, not inner transformation. And youll do religious things with the same motive you had when you sinned. Thats still sin. You might do religious things, pharisaic things. Martha was doing religious things outside but inside she was serving herself. God desires pure motive and pure heart. Even if you can move mountains with your faith, if you dont have the heart motive of love, its nothing. Oh, saints of God, change your hearts. Lets pray. Lor d, help me to have a broken and contrite heart that loves you and people, so whatever I do will be transformed to serve and love You. Then people will see You through me and their hearts will be moved to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Its a you and God  thing. Empower me to love. My heart is so wicked. Im live for myself so much. My heart is so wicked. Change me so I can live for you.

Suggested Closing Song:

These Things Are True of You