Jump Start # 396 

1 Corinthians 13:4 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant.”

  The “love chapter” – 1 Corinthians 13. Love has been the themes of great songs, movies and books. Romantic love leads to weddings. We used to have a saying growing up, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Sally pushing the baby carriage.”

  The love verses here in Corinthians are read often at weddings. Paul isn’t talking about marriage, boyfriends and girlfriends or even romance. Paul is talking to the Corinthians about getting along. They seemed to excelled in NOT getting along. They fussed over preachers, they sued each other, they divided over the Lord’s Supper and were inside out about spiritual gifts. They misunderstood them and used them as a means of feeling superior. Chapters 12-14 are about spiritual gifts. Paul explains them. Paul tells of their function and purpose. Paul gives instruction about how they are to be used. In the midst of this, he throws in “the love verses.”

• Love is: patient, kind, rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, never fails.

• Love is not: jealous, bragging, arrogant, act unbecomingly, self seeking, provoked, takes into account a wrong suffered, rejoicing in wrong.

  Love is. Love is not. The love Paul writes is from the Greek “agape” which is the highest level of love. It is a choice, not an emotion. It decides to love, not based upon the behavior of others, therefore it is not reactionary. This is the love that God has for us.

  The Corinthians needed to hear that. We do too. Much of their fussing would disappear if they had the proper attitude toward each other. I wonder if the same would work for us. It’s sad to see brethren fussing, and often it’s over little stuff, and often it leads to folks leaving and even starting new congregations. Why? This kind of behavior only makes the Devil smile. If folks can’t get along here, how in the world do they expect to spend forever together? I wonder if God will put some of us on the same log for about 10,000 years, until we start liking each other.

  Our verse today introduces the “love theme.” Paul begins by saying, ‘love is patient.’ Patience is found in the fruit of the spirit and the virtues of a Christian. Be patient. Love is patient. Now we could talk about patience and driving or patience with kids, but that’s not the context. Paul is talking about patience with other Christians within the same congregation. We need that.

  As a preacher, I’m always concerned about time. I want worship service to flow like a well planned and thought out operation. Every detail, every part matters. But you get the song leader and he’s standing in the pulpit, flipping through the song book looking for what he wants to lead next. He has picked out his songs. He’s doing it, “Live.” Every stares. Or, the guy who is supposed to read Scripture and he can’t find the chapter in his Bible. He didn’t put his ribbon there. Or the man giving announcements that is just rambling on and on. On those that are late, every week. Those things make me want to SCREAM. Paul says, ‘love is patient.’

  But I’m not sure Paul even has Sunday worship service in mind. He’s talking about the relationship with each other. Patience is needed. Some understand. Some don’t. Some have to be told, more than one time. Some ask the same questions, over and over. Some excel and some seem to be stuck in neutral. Some are doing well and some want to bring in baggage and ideas and teachings from their past and not all of these are true and accurate. Patience.

  The lack of patience makes us bitter toward some. It makes us be short with them. It causes us to remove ourselves and not want to be around them. The next word Paul uses in this love chapter is kind. Love is kind. See the connection? Without patience, it’s hard to be kind. Patience is on the inside and kindness is on the outside. Patience is an attitude and kindness is a behavior. It’s hard to be kind without first being patient. It’s hard to be patient without being kind.

  Some folks really try our patience. Some have to make a joke out of everything and that gets old fast. Some tell you the same things over and over. Some take ten minutes to tell a two minute story. Some are slow. These things are easy to see. They are in others. It’s hard for us to think that those in the congregation need patience to put up with me. The mirror is a wonderful spiritual tool. You mean others need to be patient with me? Yeah, that’s right. Some of us talk too fast. Some of us interrupt others. Some of us always seem to be in a hurry. Some of us don’t take the time to explain things because it’s been explained once and isn’t that enough. Some want to get to the point of things so much that they miss the history of why people are the way they are. You see, that’s me.  It’s hard to imagine that people need to be patient with me, I’m the preacher. But they do, they really do. And this is the key of these love verses—not looking at the other person, but holding that mirror up and looking at what you see.

  Love is patient. Love is kind. Growth takes time. Change takes time. Love understands. Love waits. Love accepts because God accepts.

  Interesting chapter. I wonder if it helped the Corinthians? I wonder if it helps me?

Roger