…..the greatest of these is love.

…..the greatest of these is love.


(Lesson is based on the chapter “When We Surrender to the Holy Spirit” from book by Jim Cymbala “Spirit Rising”)

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

This scripture goes on to say that other gifts will also become useless but that:

13 ….Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

The kind of love described in this scripture and in many other in the New Testament is not reserved for a few select believers or special men and women involved in ministry. It's what Paul calls a life that “will always honor and please the Lord" (Colossians 1:10), and it's God's purpose for every one of us. Now that his love has provided our salvation, how unworthy of Him are lives lived in selfishness, bickering, and prejudice. And after all of His mercy, how can we not love other people? Even when they disappoint us? Is that our experience with Jesus? Has he jumped down our throats when we failed? Has he put us on some losers' list because of our inconsis¬tencies and broken promises? No, his love endures and has proved greater than all our faults.



A life of love is also the only way to "please the Lord" (Colossians 1:10). Since God is an emotional being, he experiences joy and sadness just as we do. Our daily words and deeds can cause him displeasure or move him to rejoice over us with singing. What an amazing thought! Today you and I can please the God of the uni¬verse. Although he is beyond our comprehension, omnipotent, omni¬present, and omniscient, His heart can still be touched by our loving actions, even in commonplace activities. What else but love could please a God of love?



Love is always the bottom line. That's why the Bible declares: "For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love." (Galatians. 5:6). Even though the sign of God's covenant with Abra¬ham was the circumcision of all baby boys, a new day has dawned and a better covenant has been established. Circumcision, race, talent, money, fame, education, or anything else we highly treasure becomes irrelevant in comparison with love. Each of us individually and every Christian church has been ordained by God to reveal this love as the indisputable sign that we belong to Christ.

The following is directly from Jim Cymbal’s book:



A loving person, or better yet, a church full of loving people, has tremendous power to influence people for God. A few years ago, an older couple from a southern state visited our church. We had a mutual friend, and the couple came to my office after the service so we could be introduced. They both seemed a little emotional as we chatted, and soon I learned why.



"Pastor," the man said, "I want to tell you something before we leave. We go to a very conservative church, and the service we were just in was very different for us. But it was more than the loud sing¬ing, hands lifted, and the obvious emotion of your congregation. We understand that, and we were blessed by it all. But you see" ¬he paused, his voice cracking - "we've never worshiped with black people and Latinos before, never once in our lives." (Hayward’s Note: If you have ever read any of his other books or know anything about The Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, you know it probably has the most diverse congregation in the country.)Then he contin¬ued. "What's more, when you directed folks to greet one another, all kinds of men I've never met hugged me as if was their brother." Tears now filled his eyes. "I felt more love this morning from strangers than I've ever experienced in my home church for the past thirty years."



What a blessing! He never mentioned my sermon or how the choir sang. What touched his heart and opened his eyes was God's love flowing beyond all the fences that had been carefully (and reli¬giously) erected over the decades of his life. The love he experienced that day wasn't something that could be taught to a congregation. "Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other" (1 Thess. 4:9). God is the instructor and dean of students in the school of love. For us he makes the lesson amazingly clear: "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (1 John 4:16). There it is for all of us to ponder. Or as I like to say “to cogitate”! 

Doctrinal discussions (not fights) have their place. But it's not our “denomination” that proves we live in God. It's only love. It often seems that the so¬ called culture wars that take place in the name of God and morality can often radiate more bitterness than love. That defeats the purpose of Jesus' message. "Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law." (Romans 13:10). Of course, we're not the first to need an attitude correction. When Paul wrote to the Corin¬thians about whether they could eat food that was sacrificed to idols, he started his answer by addressing the tone of the conversation. "Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. (1 Corinthians 8:1).

Nothing is accomplished when we fuss with others in an unloving way. The outside world looks in and says, "If that's the way Christians are, I don't want any part of it!" If we want Christianity to be attractive to unbelievers, we need to represent ourselves in a loving way. Jesus was a friend to sinners. It is love that drew people to him. They liked to hang out with him. How many unbelievers could say the same about us. "Whoever lives in love" - that's the final exam for each of us. May God help us to remember it always.



Perhaps the hardest question we need to address is, how did those believers in Colosse develop that strong love for all the saints? How did Paul get to the place of unselfishly caring for people like a nursing mother, willing to make any sacrifice, if necessary, for their spiritual welfare? Paul gives us the answer when he explains that another min¬ister told him "about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.” (Colossians 1:8) It wasn't an earth-based love that the saints in the city of Colosse were experiencing; it was the Holy Spirit's love replacing their human limitations and earthly tenden¬cies. It was supernatural love because it belonged to God - God, the Holy Spirit.



This is an important lesson for us. Most of us know that Christ is the perfect model of love. We know the message in 1 Corinthians 13 about the preeminence of love, and we know that God is love. But then we foolishly try harder, to love more, in our own strength. We make well-meaning deliberate attempts to overcome selfish hab¬its and our natural distaste for cranky, obnoxious people. But when we react unkindly and sense failure, we just go back to the drawing board, convinced that if we only try harder, or read more Scriptures, we'll somehow get better at loving others.



But Paul spoke of "love in the Spirit," which is something totally separate from human ability. Remember his teaching to the Gala¬tians: "The fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians. 5:22). Love is a fruit grow¬ing within us from a supernatural source. It's not our love, yet it is,



In conclusion: Thank God for His Unconditional Love.



Final note from Hayward: I highly recommend this book and any other by Jim Cymbala. Some others are: Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire; Fresh Faith and Fresh Power.