 Well, here we are in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This is a chapter that is just referred to normally as the love chapter, and we obviously know why. As we begin, let me read to you 1 Corinthians 13 and we'll get into our study. Paul writes, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I've become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I'm nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy, love does not parade itself, does not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, does not provoke, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies they will fail, whether there are tongues they will cease, whether there is knowledge it will vanish away, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. So a friend of mine is speaking to his son, his son's a little boy at the time and says to his son, I love you so much. Little boy looks at his daddy and says, and I love you so much daddy. He says, but son, I just love you so much. And the little boy looking back says, and I love you so much dad. I really, really love you dad. I love you so much. And then the little boy stops for a moment and looks at his dad and says, dad, what is love? That's a great question, isn't it? What is love? In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 the apostle Paul gives to us some insight into that which we speak so freely about. He speaks concerning what love is. When you study your Bible, the Bible's simplest revelation of God is that God is love. When you read the writings of the apostle John, you will actually find that John in his writings give to us what are called three definitive statements concerning God. When you look at the Gospel of John chapter 4 verse 24, for example, he says God is spirit. When you look at 1 John chapter 1 verse 5 he says God is light. When you look at 1 John chapter 4 verse 8 he says God is love. So God is spirit, 1 John 1, 5, God is light, 1 John 4, 8, God is love. That's what God is. And so God is love and His children who are made in His image are also to love. So love for God and love for one another is the identifying characteristic of somebody who actually follows Jesus Christ. And as I was mentioning today because it seems that on occasion somebody who doesn't know the Lord may encounter somebody who professes to know the Lord. And that encounter is not always the best encounter, leaving the best impression. Sometimes people will say, I can handle Jesus, but I can't handle those who claim to follow Him. And part of the reason that may very well be so is because sometimes we simply do not reflect what He really is. Because love really is, according to Scripture, the mark of a believer. It's our birthmark. And God's love is a fruit that actually identifies us as a follower of Jesus Christ. In 1 John 4, 16 John said we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love and He who dwells in love dwells in God and God in Him. So the new life that we have in Jesus Christ has one chief characteristic and that would be the love of God. A great preacher of another time, a man by the name of Charles Spurgeon once said this. Spurgeon said if there is one subject more than another upon which I wish ever to speak, it is the love of Christ. But if there is one that quite baffles me and makes me go back from this platform utterly ashamed of my poor, feeble words, it is this subject. This love of Christ is the most amazing thing under heaven itself. The love of God, the love of Christ. And so one of the characteristics of love is that it reveals itself and it reveals itself in actions. Our first lessons in life that we have are not those that are necessarily given in words. The first lessons that we have are the lessons that we observe. We watch and we learn by behavior. Children learn by behavior. I have a granddaughter. Her name is Stella. Stella is five months old now. And Marie had her in my office in between services today. And she basically at five months takes over the office. She just does. I mean she commands my total attention. And she'll be there laying in her grandma's arms. And I have to come and sit next to her. And then I have to bite her. I have to bite her face. I just have to. It's just something about baby's faces. And I don't smother her with kisses, but I certainly don't stop kissing her. And I love that little baby. There's just something about her. There's just something about being next to her. And interestingly enough, at five months, she's beginning to recognize voices and starting to recognize faces a bit. And just last week, she was being held by Marie. And Stella was going to sleep. But then she heard my voice coming over the TV set because Marie was in my office holding her during church services. And Marie tells me instantly her head kind of is, you know, she shakes awake. She starts looking at the TV. And she starts listening to the voice of her grandfather. And I know that over time, she's going to know how deeply she's loved, even though she won't even know what that word means or be able to enunciate it, probably for a couple of years. Your first lessons that you have are not necessarily lessons that are given to you verbally. You see, it's easy for us to come into church and to hear verbal lessons. But the lessons all of us have learned that have gone into our character that's made us up are not necessarily all the lessons we've heard where our parents lectured us about certain things or our school teachers lectured us about certain things, gave us information. The first lessons that we learned were the lessons we observed. We watched. We had perhaps a dad who said, I love you and then treated us unkindly. We had a father who said, I love your mother who didn't treat her the way that a man should treat a woman. And so you get the word love mixed up because he says he loves her, he says he loves me, and this is how he acts. And that's what messes a lot of people up when it comes to such a subject as love. Love is revealed in actions. The lessons we learn, the first lessons are those given by action. So we learn what love is by watching others. We watch them as they live and we watch them as they give. And then we define those words by their behaviors. It's interesting how the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was ministering to his disciples, it's recorded in John chapter 13, how that it says that Jesus loved his own and he loved them to the uttermost. He loved them to the end. And when you look at that passage, it's stating Jesus loved them to the very end, to the full extent. And what he did is he demonstrated to them what the full extent of his love is that same night that he got up and washed their feet. He ministered to them with action, but John has to tell us that he loved his own to the end. He loved them to the uttermost. He demonstrated what love is, even though he knew that all things had been delivered into his hand and he was the master of all. Still the master of all gets up and washes the feet of his disciples. What is he doing? He's teaching them that the greatest in the kingdom is a servant of all, and the minister is one who loves. Jesus loved his disciples and showed them what it is. The heart of love. The heart of love is revealed in God sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die on our behalf. Romans chapter five verse eight says, God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So love is demonstrated once again in sacrifice and love is intended to do good to others. That's why in Romans 1310, it says love does no harm to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. The most famous scripture in the New Testament is John 316, a scripture that speaks concerning God so loving the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And when you read that scripture it reveals at least three basic things about God to us in the love of God. One, it reveals that God loves us, that God does not hate us because the scripture says God so loved the world. It also reveals that he loved us so much that he gave. He didn't leave us helpless but he rescued us and there was a purpose in it. He came with the purpose of keeping us from perishing. So love, the love of God is one that rescues and is a one that keeps us from going to hell. So if God loves us in such a manner, the Bible teaches if God loved us like that we ought to love one another. His kind of love is to be the airmark of our life if we're truly Christians. And God commands us to love one another. First Peter chapter one verse 22 says, now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers love one another deeply from the heart. Not in a superficial kind of way where, hey bro I love you man but with a deep sincere love for one another. That's what God has called us to. As I've been mentioning recently, God's love does not always characterize the church and it doesn't always characterize ministry. We're already noticing that in the church of Corinth, a very active church. As we've been going through Corinthians here, we have seen that the Corinthian church had an understanding of salvation. They had an understanding of the person of Jesus and we know that the gifts of the spirit were flowing. Yet with all of this, they were lacking in their love for one another. So it's very possible to be very active yet very unloving simultaneously. That's because activity can replace devotion and the Corinthian church was slowly leaving its first love. Now how had that happened? Well the church had gotten sidetracked and it forgot its first call, the first call was to love. It's interesting how that chapter 13 is sandwiched between Paul's teachings on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 12 verse 31, Paul had written, yet I show you a more excellent way. So the more excellent way that he's speaking about is the way that God has planned for the gifts of the spirit to operate. So having a spiritual gift or holding an office doesn't evidence spiritual maturity. There are people who can be called pastor or elder or deacon or deaconess. They can be called the head of a ministry in a church but that does not necessarily mean that they're really spiritually mature. When your church first begins, I've said this to my men in meetings in the past and I've shared this with those who are gonna go out and plant a church. When your church first begins, those whom you have to draw from to help to begin ministries are not always the most spiritually mature people. I can say that from experience. You know, being 30 years old, one month short of 31 when this church began, I can speak with experience on that. The guys and ladies around me were younger than I. There were some older ones but most of them were younger than me overwhelmingly and many of them were fairly new believers. Yet we still need to have a variety of ministries that are performed. And so what you do is you look for those who evidence the most maturity in the group but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're real mature yet because it takes time to mature. And sometimes church ministries have those who are called leaders who are not really spiritually mature yet. So you can be a leader in a church and still not be spiritually mature. At least not to the degree that one day you will be. So it's easy to be holding an office and not necessarily being mature. I was an assistant pastor at the age of 29 to a man who was 22 who was the senior pastor. A 22 year old senior pastor with a 29 year old assistant pastor. And I guarantee you at 22 he wasn't a very mature man. So you can hold a position but it doesn't necessarily mean that you are spiritually mature. You can also exercise gifts of the spirit and still have a lacking in spiritual maturity. So you can be a fairly new believer and have the gift of tongues or whatever be able to have a word of knowledge or something like that. But that doesn't mean that you're necessarily the most mature person in the church. So it's possible to hold an office. It's possible to minister the gifts of the spirit and yet not have spiritual maturity. And so having a gift or holding an office doesn't evidence spiritual maturity but having a love from God evidences a position of abiding in Jesus Christ. And so when I look now as I've grown older and gained more experience in ministry one of the things that the Lord has brought me back to especially recently when it comes to asking people to come alongside and to do ministry one of the things I look for is a maturity in their love of God and a maturity in their love for people because great damage is done by those who don't love the Lord deeply and those who don't love people very much. I've said this too often and it bears repetition here. I can still remember somebody who says I just love ministry. I love ministry, they said to me. It's people I can't stand. And so I said, amen, Marie, that's true. No, I said but there's some, there are people who think that way. I love being in the ministry but I just don't like people very much. You'll never be an adequate minister until you learn to love and you have to learn to love God first and you learn to love him daily. It's an ongoing process and then you learn to love others the way that God loves and it takes some time. How do you do that? You abide in the Lord. In John 15 verses four and five Jesus said, abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can you accept you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me and I in him the same brings forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing. In Galatians 5, 22 and 23 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Abiding in Christ produces the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is one word that is accompanied by eight words defining that one word. What is the fruit of the Spirit love? And then it's revealed in a variety of aspects of love. And so the Corinthian believers were not walking in the love of God. As we've seen they were selfish, they were self-willed and the love of God was not present among them. That's why Paul begins this chapter, chapter 13 in the way that he does. He begins by using various gifts as example and what he's pointing out in the first few verses is the gifts that he mentions can be misused to gain people's attention. He speaks concerning the gift of tongues and prophecy. He spoke of wisdom and knowledge. He speaks of faith, even sacrificial giving. Sacrificial giving is actually a gift and can be a gift of the Holy Spirit because Romans chapter 12 has a list of the gifts and in verse eight he speaks concerning one who has this gift of giving and he says the one who gives let him give with liberality or generosity. So he's speaking concerning tongues, prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, giving. He even speaks concerning martyrdom. Martyrdom can be a way of gaining attention and so what he's saying here is though I am a gifted believer if I do not have love I have nothing. If I do not have a copy I have nothing at all. So he says verse one though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I've become as a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Those things make sounds but they're lifeless. Though I have the gift of prophecy understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love I'm nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor though I give my body to be burned which is martyrdom but have not love it profits me nothing. None of these things as amazing as they may be in terms of gifts and sacrifice he's saying none of those things matter without the one thing that matters the most and that is love. So though I'm gifted if I don't have love I have nothing. That love he speaks about is the word agape. Agape is one of the rarest words in ancient Greek but it's the most common in the New Testament. Agape is unlike friendship. There's a Greek word that is used to define friendship it's the word phileo. It speaks of a fellowship friendship kind of love. Agape is not identical to phileo. It's not the same as store jay it's not the same as eros eros is where we get the word erotic from. It speaks about physical love. Agape is different. Agape is that self-giving sacrificial kind of love it's called the God kind of love. It's that giving with no expectation of receiving in return. It's the kind of thing that Jesus did when he demonstrated the full extent of his love in service and ultimately demonstrated his love by dying on a cross. It's how he took our place on that cross he died for us because in reality the soul that's in it shall die yet Jesus Christ what he does is he replaces us he takes our place on that cross and in doing so demonstrates what love really is it's sacrificial. In 1st John 4 9 through 11 it says and this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him here in his love not that we 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 had also to love one another. So love he begins to speak concerning what love is in verse four what is love? Well love is defined as a pattern for church life. This is what's supposed to be the life of the body. Remember in chapter 12 he had been speaking concerning though there may be many members yet there's one body. So this isn't for just certain people in the church who have this quality or this ability. It isn't for the super spiritual saints those that are remarkably different that you look at and say oh man what a wonderful person that is. This is for all of us. It's the remark of every believer. When I first got saved coming out of the background that I came out of which was self centered selfishness and it took many years for the Lord to purge all of that for me and it's still there. I shouldn't say all of that. It's taken years for him to purge the little that he has purged. But I had a friend. I had a friend by the name of George Adams and George and I knew each other when he and I were young. I think George is a year younger than I and so George was probably about 19 when he gave his heart to Christ and I knew George when he was around 18, 19 right in that age. That's when I came to know him. He used to hang around at a friend of mine's house and at Bill's house and that's how I got to know George and George as I knew him was you know an 18, 19 year old kid meaning the life you know the world pretty much revolved around him as it did all the rest of us. We were so narcissistic. We were so into ourselves. Even though as hippies we like to talk about loving one another and what this world needs is love and all of that. We really didn't love the way that we should have because love was a word that you use with one another to basically gain an advantage over somebody else and so I would say I love you man but that was just another way of saying and I'd like you to give me something to drink or I'd like some dope or whatever. It was just a word that you use to get what you wanted and it was in vogue and everybody was talking about it. It was real cool to be a hippie and it was real cool to walk around saying peace and love and all of that but there was no sincerity in any of that because anybody who's and I know I've got a number of people here who came out of that scene who came out of the drug scene and all you know that that is a lifestyle of taking. It's not a lifestyle of giving. You know we used to have a phrase that we'd use we'd give them a joint or whatever and we'd say first one is free. And it's just another way of saying you're gonna end up paying for this later on but I'll turn you on for the first time for free but you will end up paying. The first one is free. So there was never really this mentality of just doing something out of the goodness of our hearts that did not exist and George was kind of like the rest of us he was that way. And so what happened in the life of George I saw him in a certain way and then he's different. There's a change that's dramatic. It was not just a small change. It was huge and he cared and he talked warmly and he was nice and he wasn't asking for things and he's wanting to give more than to receive and I started seeing this and he had the most tremendous impact on my salvation because I saw a radical transformation in this young man's life. He's the guy who would witness to me and share with me about the love of Christ that I would listen to. There were a few others who were trying to do that before I got saved but I would look at them and I'd say you haven't changed an awful lot. You got no credibility with me because when you're in the world and you're like I was you're just very quick to not trust anybody and so the guys that were saying oh I love your bro and this and that I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him but George was different. There was sincerity. There was something real about him. There was something different and I began to listen to him. So he would on occasion when I'd show up at the house talk to me about God. He'd talk to me about Jesus and he'd share with me about the love of Christ and he was the one person who had my ear. I would listen to him because I saw changes in him. He was the guy when I would walk into the house and you walk in you know there's this how you guys doing kind of thing. He would walk up to me and hug me and it was very uncomfortable for me. I didn't really like men hugging me. If he was a chick I'd have been good with that but a guy I don't know. You know I did not really like that and yet there was something inside of me that responded to the warmth, the kindness and the genuineness. There was something different about this guy. So he would do that, he'd hug me. You know I love you man. And I'd look at him you know and I'd good you know what am I supposed to say and I don't love you but that's nice for you to say that I appreciate that. But he would do that and it was the little things like that that I started encountering with guys like George that started making the difference. It wasn't their arguments. It wasn't their wisdom. It wasn't their experience in Bible studies. It wasn't their ability to string some scriptures together to show me what a sinner I was. It was can I give you something to eat? Are you thirsty? How you doing? It was a sincere concern for me that I wasn't used to. I wasn't used to people being nice just to be nice. And it caught me completely off guard. I didn't know it was the love of Christ. I didn't know it was the mark of a believer. He couldn't explain it to me. He tried to, I love you because Jesus man has changed my life. He tried to explain it but he really did care about me. He still to this day cares about me. 42 years after giving my heart to Christ. He wrote me on December 24th and he says it's coming near your time of your spiritual birthday David. Thinking of you, love you man. He's been doing that for 42 years. Letting me know that he still thinks of me, that we're still friends, he still loves me. That's George Adams. And I'm telling you, that's the mark of a believer. A sincere love that comes from God. You can give your body to be burned as a martyr. You can speak words of wisdom and have words of knowledge. You can prophesy. You can do all of those things. But if you have not love, he says you're nothing. You're just loud like a symbol, like a gong. It just makes noise but there's no life in it. And that's what you're becoming if there's not love within you. And so that's the mark of a believer. What is love? Well, he starts to tell us concerning love. He starts to give to us some insight in verse four. He tells us what love is all about. In verse four he says love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Then he says love never fails. So it begins to give us some aspects of love. What is love? Well, it's the pattern for church life. It's what we all ought to be like. And so first he says, well, love suffers long. When it says love suffers long, that's another way of saying it's long-tempered. It does not react to those who continually are getting under your skin. It's long-suffering. How long am I gonna suffer with this? It's long-suffering. And sometimes it may be a long time. Lord God, when are you gonna remove this from me? And the Lord may say, I'm not. You're gonna have it for a long time. It's like when Paul prays so that this thorn in the flesh may be removed from him. And there are commentators who believe that the thorn in the flesh was not a spiritual warfare in the sense of a demonic attack, but very well could have been a member of the church that was just an irritation to him constantly. He has a torture stake. What he's speaking about is not just the thorn is not just something like you see on the rose bush. It's a stake. It's a full-on stake that's been jammed into his side and is causing pain constantly. And he says, three times I asked God to remove it and three times God said no. So what have I learned to do? He said, I've learned to embrace the thorn. I've learned that in my weakness and then I've been made strong because the Lord has a way of working through this. He has a way of doing something, perfecting something in me, making me more dependent on him. Love is long-suffering. Any parent knows that word well. You have a baby. You're either the father or the mom, you have a baby. And the baby as long as it can't walk and talk is cool. Then they drive and everything's different. Something happens to this sweet little precious goober. And you begin to wonder what happened? And whereas at one time it was easy to put up with the things that they do, sometimes you begin to pray, God I know that children are a gift from you but is it possible to return this one? And what do you do guys? You hold on, don't you? And doesn't it? Don't you go through some deep things? Don't you learn some deep lessons? You do. You learn an awful lot about yourself when you're a parent. You learn an awful lot about yourself when you're married. You even begin to learn a lot about yourself when you're single or dating. You begin to learn things about others, how you respond to them at all. And one of the things you'll discover over time is that love holds on. Love is long-suffering. Love is willing to put up and endure these things over time because that's the quality of love. I mean when you look at God, look at he's been long-suffering with us. How old were you when you got saved? I was 20. He was long-suffering for 20 years as I ran in rebellion against him. Long-suffering, God is long-suffering. He waits and there's suffering involved but he doesn't react quickly and we learn not to react quickly to those people who may push certain buttons in our life. So love suffers long. Secondly, he says love is kind. The word kind speaks of a goodness in action. It speaks of someone being gracious to other people. It speaks of people who are generous. Kindness is one of those attributes of love that I highly admire. My wife, and I'm gonna embarrass her for a moment here, not as if I haven't been embarrassing her for years but for this moment is one of the most kind women I've ever met in my life. She just is and she would argue with me and say she's not but she is. She's an amazingly kind, gentle woman and I've seen that kind of love in her. She has been, I get emotional, forgive me, here we go. Stop it, okay. She has been so kind to me for so many years. I have seen kindness in action. I know what it is and I admire it. When I meet men who have this aspect in their life, they're kind men, I am just, my heart is drawn towards that man. I love men who have a kindness. John Corson is a very kind man and when you're around somebody like him, it just teaches you what a real man is. He's just a gentle, spirited man. He's got a kindness about him. Mike McIntosh is a very kind man. Randy Walls is a very kind man. So I count these men as my friends and I admire them because of their gentleness of spirit because they're not running around puffing their chest out, trying to be tough and mean the baddest guy in town anymore. They are just kind individuals. Love is kind. When people would bring babies to the Lord Jesus Christ, you see kindness in action where he would take them up in his arms and he would hold them and he would bless them. And everybody knows that the children are, well, they can be messy, they could spit up on you. You know, they can grab your beard and start pulling on it. You know, babies do that, but you see them handing babies to Jesus. And he's a man, he's a man's man and yet there he is holding an infant in his arms, rocking them, blessing them, and I see kindness. And I say, that's what I want. I wanna be a man who's kind. Well, that's because love is kind. It has that quality of gentleness. He says, love does not envy. Love is the kind of attribute within you that when someone is blessed, you're actually blessed along with them. You're not wishing that you had what they have and that you deserve it and they don't. Love isn't like that. Love is able to rejoice when something good happens to somebody else and they join in the party with them and they rejoice alongside of them because of the goodness that had happened to them. It isn't envious. So the son who has been rebellious against the father, that prodigal, goes out and lives a life that brings, it brings shame to the father and causes heartache to all who love him. When he's recovered, he comes home and his father puts a ring on him, puts a robe around him, puts sandals on his feet, slaughters the fatted calf, has a party for him, and then the older brother sees this taking place and then actually berates the father. How is it that this one who's done so much to bring shame on this family? Who's wasted his inheritance on riotous living and with who knows who, and you have slaughtered a calf for him and you haven't even given me even the smallest gift in my life. I don't want to be like the elder brother. I don't want to begrudge somebody because God has been merciful to them. Love does not envy. He goes on to say, love does not parade itself. Love is not constantly seeking attention. It's not puffed up. It's not arrogant. It's not self-important. It doesn't have this attitude of, I am so important, I have arrived. John the Baptist, great example. John was six months or so older than his cousin Jesus. John goes out, preparing the way for the one who's to come after him, Jesus. And even points about, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His men began to be upset because the one whom you baptize is now baptizing others and more are following him. And John's responses are you, you upset on my behalf over this? I've already told you, I must decrease, but he must increase. That's love. I need to take the back seat. I don't need the attention. I don't need to be known. It's been said that the most beautiful sound on anybody's ear is the sound of their own name on somebody else's lips. There's that sense of needing attention. Love doesn't parade itself, is not puffed up, is not seeking that. You're not the person who comes in who has to be the center of attention at all times where people have to listen to your voice. There are some I've encountered over the years who are uncomfortable with silence and so they feel the silence with the sound of their own voice. They have to talk. They can't sit quietly and just allow people just to be quiet. If there's conversation going and conversation stops for a moment, first thing they need to do is jump in because they're gonna get uncomfortable with the sound of silence. Well, love doesn't seek its own. It's not pushing to be in the front. It's not parading itself. It's not self-important. He goes on in verse five and he says, "'Love does not behave rudely. "'It doesn't have poor manners. "'It doesn't treat people impolitely. "'It doesn't give flippant answers "'when people ask a question. "'Love is not argumentative with people. "'They're just putting down the clerks "'and the waitresses and husband or wife "'or even berating their children. "'Doesn't speak rudely and act rudely to them.'" I was sharing with you about my Philosophy 101 class about this gentleman in the class who used to interrupt the professor. I mentioned this just recently last week. You know, brother, now do you remember the story? I didn't finish it. There are a lot of stories that are unfinished. That was one of them. Brother, about two or three weeks after I received that love note from my schoolmate who was seated next to me, once again, our friend in the class raised his hand and interrupted the teacher. You have to get this into perspective. The teacher was maybe three feet away or even closer. It's in a classroom. He would lecture in the front of the class with little space between him and the students. So it would be like me standing right here in front of this row here and the guy would raise his hand in front of the teacher's face. So if the teacher's standing there, he'd raise his hand in front of his face and he'd yell, brother! And so it would distract the teacher. The teacher would walk off to the side but whenever he'd get in front of the guy, oh, brother! And then he'd ask his question. He did it every class. And so I mentioned I'd sit in the back and just fold my arms and say, here we go. And then he'd ask some question and then the teacher'd answer. One day, he did it. A couple of weeks or so after I'd received that note. Oh, brother! He puts his hand in front of the professor and the professor says, I'm not your brother! Shut up! He couldn't take it. I'm serious. I'm not your brother! I had veins were coming out of the side of his neck. They popped. He was upset. I felt so sorry for this young man. That professor got really mad and in front of the class, he yells out, I'm not your brother! Stop calling me that! Anyway, I'll keep going with the Bible. No, the class was silent. And that poor guy, I didn't know him. I didn't know him, though he was my brother. No, I didn't know him. But man, I thought, oh man, that. I was a young believer at the time. And I knew that's not how you treat people. Even if they irritate you, you don't do that. The next week, I mean, it got silent. The professor kept lecturing. Everybody was kind of like, whoa, let's get out of here as soon as we can before he yells at us, that kind of thing. The next week, the professor walks in front of this guy again and the guy raises his hand and says, oh, brother, again, and then he puts his hand. He clamps his hand over his mouth with both hands. I'm sorry, the professor, oh no, that's okay. You're my brother, we're brothers in the Lord. He was so guilty for the whole week. You know that he was doing that. How did I do that? How unkind I am? It was his opportunity to repent in front of the whole class, you know? So, love does not behave rudely. I've seen it, I've done it. Have you ever been rude? I've done it, I've done it. God forgive me. Rude-ness, that's not love. Being point blank, speaking your mind, that's not loving. And I've been that way. I have been that way. I've hurt people with my big mouth, you know? By not saying things kindly. I've had years of trying to learn to say things with kindness. The home I came from was pretty upfront. On your mind, you just say it. We didn't fight each other. I mean, if you came in and you saw me talking, you may think, boy, he's rude. It was just, it's not rude, it's resultless. That's the way we are. It's just that was the way we were. See, we took what we were used to and used as a standard and it was the wrong standard. I had to get into the word and God started teaching me just like I'm speaking right now. You don't have to get rude with people. You don't have to be abrupt with people. You don't have to be cutting with people. You shouldn't use your tongue like a sword injuring people. Be kind. Why do you speak like that? Why do you say what's on your mind? You have to give people a piece of your mind. Why do you have to do that so much? There are people who have given pieces of their mind out so much that they don't even have a mind anymore. They've given so many pieces out, they don't even have it. But God is saying, no, don't be rude. Be kind. He says in verse five, love doesn't seek its own. It's not selfish. It's not self-centered. It's not narcissistic. Love is prepared to give up for the sake of others even what it is entitled to. So it's not always seeking to be pleased. Love is actually willing to give, that which may be their own, but they're more than willing to share it with somebody else. Love, he says in verse five, is not provoked. Love is not thin-skinned. Doesn't get angry easily. Love isn't always fighting for their rights. He says in verse five, love thinks no evil. When he says, thinks no evil, that word think literally speaks of cataloging. Love does not keep lists. It doesn't catalog people's slights. There are those who do, by habit, keep a list in their mind of things that have been said to them by those who have hurt them and then they can bring it up in a moment's notice about, oh, you said this. And I haven't forgotten when you said this to me. When did I say that to you? In 1973, it was April 4th at 6 o'clock. There are people, some of you were raised by people like that, or perhaps some of you have close friends who are like that. You said this to me. When did I say that to you? You said it to me five years ago and I haven't forgotten. You're kidding me. I had somebody approach me at a pastor's conference years ago now who said, I've been angry at you. And he's a pastor. And I said, Pastor Chuck, I'm sorry. No, he said, I've been angry at you for what you said to me. And I said, what did I say to you? And he shares it with me. And he'd been angry at that time. I think he had said something like five years. I said, did I say something to you like that? I am so sorry. I didn't realize I did. I'm sorry. But I'm also sorry for you in another way. And he says, in what way? I said that you have carried this for five years. You could have released it a long time ago, but you didn't. You've been carrying it for five years? I said, that must be a very heavy burden for you to carry, for you to feel obligated to come and tell me how angry I made you five years ago. That really is something I'm sorry for on two levels. One is I hurt your feelings, but two, that you didn't release it. Forgive me. There are those who do catalog things they never forget. And sometimes, sadly, they're the same people who are imagining that people are saying things about them or doing things to them. Any of you ever hear somebody say, don't give me that look? And you go, what look? Don't give me that look. What look are you talking about? I know that look, that I don't care about you look. And what you were thinking about when you gave that look was, boy, I'm hungry. I'd like to go home and get a burger. You weren't even thinking of what they think you're thinking of. And they're just hypersensitive. So we just need to learn some things. Don't keep a list. It's just not worth it. He goes on and he says, love doesn't rejoice in iniquity. Love doesn't justify things that are done that are wrong. What does it do? Well, in verse 6, love rejoices in the truth. Love does not compromise. It walks a straight line and rejoices in things that are true. Love bears all things. When he says it bears all things, love supports. Love protects. Love covers. Proverbs 10.12 says, hatred stirs up stripes. That love covers all sins. Proverbs 17, verse 9, he who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. So love supports. Sometimes I've had people approach me who've wanted to gossip to me about another pastor or somebody that we may both know. And my response is normally the same. I'm not to receive an accusation against an elder, but by the mouth of two witnesses who are eyewitnesses and seeing that you're coming up sharing with me your grief or your grievance against this pastor, my recommendation, scripturally to you, is for you to go and speak to the pastor and let them know how you feel. And I normally will say, what's your name? And they'll say, put into a master. No, they'll say Bill. Bill what? Bill Jones. All right, Bill. You came out of such and so church? Yeah. I'm going to call your pastor and I'm going to let him know I spoke to Bill Jones and that Bill Jones is going to come and speak to him about a grievance that he has. And so I'm going to ask you to do that this week because I'll be calling him at the end of the week. That way you can get these things settled because when you come and start sharing with me grievances you have about somebody else, I can't do anything to help you. And all you're going to continue to do is to carry this grievance and it's going to become a burden. You're going to be bitter and it's going to destroy the fabric of the love of Christ is supposed to keep us together. So you have the responsibility to take your problem to the one you have the problem with not to bring that problem to me. You know, in my earlier days before I learned not to be rude I still remember pointing at my ears when somebody did that once and I said, do you see these? These are called ears, not trash cans. And I really don't want to receive trash about somebody. What you really need to do is you really need to go and speak to them because that's how these things get resolved. But when you go out and begin to share with everybody else to get them to take your side you're dividing the body of Christ and God according to Proverbs chapter six has a hatred for those who so discord in the body. So you don't want to be under God's anger. You want to be walking straight with him. So that's why we speak the truth in love. That's why we want things to be done properly. And that's why I will support a brother or a sister especially if somebody is making a false accusation against them and encourage people to do the right thing. He goes on to say love believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Believes all things is not suspicious. If it's going to make it air at all it'll be on the side of grace. Hopes all things. Well even if somebody is proven to be untrustworthy love still wants them to be recovered. Endures all things. It stands against all opposition, holds fast and then he says love never fails. Love lasts. It's the one thing that lasts for eternity. Finally he says whether there are prophecies they'll fail. Whether there are tongues they'll cease. Whether there is knowledge it'll vanish away. For we know in part we prophesy in part but when that which is perfect has come then that which is in part will be done away. The gifts of the spirit are operating while we're here on the face of the earth. But when the Lord Jesus Christ returns those gifts that we have now here on earth are not necessary in the way that they've been necessary prior to his return. There are those who will point to the scripture and they'll say that verse 10 is in reference to the Bible and they'll say that's why the gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer in operation but the problem is that's not what the scripture's saying. This is speaking about the one who's going to come who is perfect who's going to bring all things to completion which is Jesus Christ. When you're in heaven you're going to be knowing even as you are known. There's going to be a perfection there. The gifts of the spirit as they operate here on the face of the earth are temporary. He says in verse 11, when I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child I became a man I put away childish things. Now we see in a mirror dimly that then face to face now I know in part then I shall know just as I also am known. I've had people ask in the past this one question I've had this more than once and that is when we're in heaven are we going to know our loved ones who have gone to the Lord before us? Well we know people and will we recognize them? And the answer is obviously yes. We know in part now but then we'll know everything. So in heaven when we're together in heaven which is something that's rather cool to think about just for a moment when we're in heaven together we'll know each other and recognize each other. You may be thinking will I look identical to how I am right now? And I say, unless you Jesus, no. We'll have a perfect body. No glasses, no white beard, it'll be great. But we will know each other there's no doubt about it. What about those who've gone before you that you've never met? Like my mom tells me my grandfather for example her daddy was a believer. She gave me his Bible and well marked Bible what my grandfather had. My mom says her memories of her dad are always with him sitting there in his little chair reading his Bible. Apparently my grandmother, her mama who died when my mom was 10 months old. Apparently her mama, my grandmother was a believer also. So one of these days when I go to heaven I will meet my grandfather and my grandmother and I will know them and I will know them. I have a baby, Marie and I had a pregnancy that we lost through a miscarriage and one of these days I will meet my child in heaven. See and for me that gives me great joy and great hope. And I will know you and you will know me and you know the apostle Paul. There are people who say oh I'm gonna go and find the apostle Paul I'm gonna stand in line to see him and I say that's so cool, please do. That way the line is shorter for Jesus. And I can go hang with him, that's a good thing. So now abide faith, hope, love, these three but the greatest of these is love.