F. Harry Daniel
Second Presbyterian Church
Sermons: May 13, 2007

"Ties That Bind"

"By this you know that you have passed from death to life in that you love one another." This was John's definition of the new condition of life and this was the secret of Christianity's explosive growth. "See how these Christians love one another" Yes, and their pagan neighbors, their persecutors, their enemies, all of them loved in the name of the risen Lord.

The first vocation of Christians has been since the beginning and is today the vocation of active, dedicated love. The task is to turn it from an idealized abstraction into a hunger and thirst, an utter commitment, a daily goal in actual concrete action. As Augustine said, "A person is as a person loves."

This morning once again, let us look at love's ideal as it is described in 1 Corinthians 13. In the courage born of accepting love, we look love's ideal in the face, admit that we do not measure up to it, and yet yield ourselves again and again to love as the power that can make sense out of this world in which we live. All of life is a progress report, for the Christian, of movement toward this love.

The word agape (love) is very rare in secular Greek. It became the ultimate Christian word for love, and finds its model in God who "makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." Whether a person is a saint or a sinner, he/she shares in the gifts and the benevolence of God. Agape is unconquerable benevolence, undefeatable goodwill and caring, it is the spirit which will never seek anything but the other person's good, no matter what the other person does. It is not something which just happens or something which we cannot help. It is an act of will. It is the attitude which, no matter what the other person is like, and no matter how we may feel emotionally towards him, will seek the other person's good, and will not hate. The opposite of this Christian agape is not hate, the opposite is indifference. Agape is undefeatable caring. It is an attitude to all people which reproduces the attitude of God.

Let us look at the ideal and allow it to speak again.

1. Paul describes the worthlessness of all things without love in vs. 1-3. Let’s read it together.

The personal capacity for love and the ability to give it is worth more than any other form of wealth. Love makes relative all other values. It is the basic attribute which alone conveys worth.

In vs. 1 and 2 Paul analyzes qualities, and in vs. 3 achievements. No attitude and no achievement mean anything without love.

He focuses on the religious gifts which the Corinthians prize highly. Not even faith is enough. Not even confidence and trust in God that makes a person an open channel for the special action of God is enough. Even the ability to sustain serene assurance about life that carries through sickness, pain, and disappointment, grief, and death is not enough. Even self-sacrifice is utterly valueless.

Passionate faith can be a cruel thing; a hurting and cutting thing because it knows no love. Acts of charity can be done with grim duty and a certain contempt which allows one to stand on one's own little eminence and cast one's pearls. It may be done with smug, crushing rebuke and no charity at all. It can feed on self-display and glory.

Substitute your own values in the if clauses: if I am successful, if I find security because I am good at what I do, if I own a lovely suburban home and the objects of the good life, if I have a circle of friends and the right investments to see the kids through college and for retirement . . . and have not love, what good is it? Isn't that our problem now? We focus on things. Have we gained everything and have not love, what does it gain us? You know the answer: a lot of pain.

Without love there is no depth perception of God, who is love. So people can't understand each other in relation to God and the universe without love.

2. Paul describes the characteristics of love in a series of short sentences that tell vividly what love does and does not do, in vs. 4-7. Let’s read it together.

Passively, agape love is patient. It suffers long. When wronged, it refuses to give way to anger, or despair. It possesses uncomplaining endurance.

Actively, such love is kind. It gives time to another person. It is not motivated by a tendency to be done with that person. It is goodness and concern coming from the heart. It is rich affection unwavering in its devotion to others.

We need both: patience that bears with evil, but to endure wrong could be the triumph of fear and passivity. Sensitive kindness that confers good and seeks justice is vital.

Then Paul gives a negative description: Love never begrudges others their gifts, nor is it eager to show off its own. Difference in talents never becomes a barrier for love. It is strong enough to endure differences in endowment, in status, and circumstances; and strong enough to endow with graciousness those who are so gifted. Love never says my gifts are indispensable when compared with yours. Love never builds a kingdom of power, self-protection, viewing others as a threat.

Love doesn't insist on its own way. It is willing to sacrifice individual good for the larger good. That is the secret to a strong church. Each member is willing to give for the good of the whole. Love is not concerned with one's own rights, especially when it involves advancement at the expense of others.

Love is not irritable, bad-tempered. Service and commitment without love easily becomes vindictive and retaliatory. Love isn't easy, and can't be thin-skinned.

Love is not resentful; literally, it does not "reckon wrong." Here is the picture of one who doesn't keep a record of wrongs with a view to getting even. Love has an amazing power to forget. He was a difficult person when offended: "He never forgot such incidents, which was one of his fundamental weaknesses. He might bury the hatchet for a time, but he gave the impression of always carefully marking the spot!"

Love rejoices in justice, not wrong. Nor does it become cynical. It has no glee in seeing someone stumble in road of life. It is never glad when others are wounded and defeated.

Paul ends on a positive note: Love is not shaken by hardship, suffering, reproach or ingratitude. Love knows that it is never called to "always believe the best about people." That is too naive. Rather, love is realistic but never loses heart. Love never ceases to move forward towards God’s kingdom. Love can't be conquered. It holds its ground. You can never make love cease to be love.

In the pain, tragedy, and violence of life it is love alone that triumphs without losing its character. It alone offers true stability. Those who truly love us, never impoverish us.

3. Paul describes the permanence of love in vs. 8-13. Let’s read it together.

Love has the last word. Love never falls to the ground, like the petals of a flower. There is no decay in love. Love never loses its strength; it is not like a traveler who sets out on a long, weary journey and grows tired. Love is inexhaustible. Love never leaves its place; it is immovable. Love never drops out, like a tired church member might do. Love can outlast anything; when the toys given are gone, the gifts of love remain. When the photographs may fade and precious mementos crumble, the gift of love remains. When death seeks to blot out love, it lives on. Disappointments, disillusionments and defeats can never rob love of its power.

Human achievements die with the individual, generation, or civilization; they are swallowed up in the oblivion of the ever-receding past. Love persists into eternity. The gifts the Corinthians prized so highly will pass away, tongues, prophecy, knowledge. All those gifts and abilities we prize so highly, they are but the childhood of the Christian faith. Faith, hope, love, these three lead to maturity.

Love is even greater than faith and hope. It grows from less to more. This is the root of all good, the beginning of all blessedness, because it is the source of all likeness to God, who is love.

Nothing gives the quality to life which love does, that is, the self-giving kind of love known as agape. That is why it stays on and on, and why it is the greatest, most enduring of all!

It's love alone that counts. It's love alone that triumphs. It's love alone that endures.

On the 2nd Sunday of May and the 3rd Sunday of June, we honor and remember those who have shared their gift of love with us; our parents and others. We live in a vast network shaped by love. Paul calls us to do more. The gift of love we have received? We can't pay it back, but we can pass it on. What this world needs is clear-eyed, deeply committed love. Make love your aim. It is the more excellent way. You don’t believe that? Ask you mother.