Love That Costs Something

Transcript

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[0:01] Our sermon text today comes from 1 Corinthians 13 verses 1 through 7. If I could speak all the languages of the earth and angels but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. 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. 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.

[0:48] Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand anything. It does not take its own way. It is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Let's pray.

[1:20] Our gracious God, we ask for your blessing upon this word today. Would you speak your truth to our minds? Would you speak your truth to our minds and our hearts and help us to listen? These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[1:34] So this week we're focusing on chapter six of our book, and the emphasis is on love. Reverend Sanchez set the stage with three really, I thought they were really touching and beautiful poems, from three different acts, and the first act was of creation. We were created by a triune God, a God who believes, or a God who loved beloved community so much that God's own self is a living example of what it means to live in blessed unity.

[2:12] So we were created by a beloved community, and we were also created for a beloved community. God knew it was not good for humankind to be alone. And so created we are. We were created for Adam, a partner in Eve. In this partnership, there was belonging. In this partnership, there was fellowship.

[2:35] In this partnership, there was a reflection of God's own self. In this partnership, there was help for the work that would be faced and for walking through life. In this partnership, there was sharing, there was love, and there was equality. I want you to take just a moment before we really start, and I want you to think about the communities that you are a part of.

[3:01] And if you can, use your phone or a piece of paper with a pencil in front of you, and write down five words that come to mind when you think of these communities. We are a community of God's own. We were created for community. And I would venture to say that for the most part, these words that we wrote down were somewhat positive.

[4:22] Granted, we live in a broken world, so some of those words might have been negative. But we were created for beloved community. We were created for the goodness that community could offer. And that is all the goodness of God himself.

[4:39] Well, Act 2 comes next. And first there was the fall. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. And suddenly that beautiful, beloved community and the beautiful partnership that existed between Adam and Eve was flawed.

[4:59] And their sons, Cain and Abel, inherited these flaws. So instead of a beloved community of God ordained partnership, there was anger and resentment. And not just anger and resentment, but something deeper. It was this inward focus.

[5:19] Selfish action. You see, this once perfect community no longer felt as though they could trust God with their lives. They felt they had to fend for themselves, protect themselves, provide for themselves, look out for their own interests.

[5:38] And in their own interests. Those interests themselves. themselves became skewed. So they had to act selfishly as a matter of self-preservation. While God looked favorably upon Abel's offering to him, Abel's offering was selfless. He knew he had to give God the best of what he had, even at his own detriment if it came to that. And so he gave God the best. And God looked favorably upon that offering, and so Cain worried. He worried about what that meant for himself because God did not look favorably upon his offering. He worried. He kept the best portion for himself. So instead of doing what was right, he killed Abel. It was no matter to him. After all, he had enough to worry about being his own keeper. Must he be his brother's keeper as well?

[6:47] I think we've all been in the church long enough to know that the answer to that is yes. Absolutely, he must be his brother's keeper as well. In fact, that's what God calls us to. Now Act 3 is Pentecost. And what does that mean? What does that mean for us? We may be living in the age of Act 3, but Act 2 still informs our reality. And this self-preservation or self-interest of Act 2 is what Reverend Sanchez believes comes at the very root of racism. And not just self-interest, but a certain type of self-interest that captures your attention so effectively that you have little or no hope.

[7:42] We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. We are afflicted by the things that afflict us.

[8:04] We are afflicted by the things that afflict us. in love lives in God and God in them. So if we are living in the realm of fearful self-interest, then we are not able to fully live in God. So this chapter reminded me a lot of a Bible study I worked through kind of recently on the more excellent way to live and the more excellent way to love. It's a Bible study on First Corinthians 12 and First Corinthians 13 and Reverend Sanchez helps us to come to this conclusion that beloved community is just like the body metaphor in First Corinthians 12. We are all one body. We are interconnected. We are interdependent. So this Bible study by Faith Word uses both chapters of 12 and 13 of First Corinthians to confront racism in the American church and So listen to chapter 12, verses 21 to 26.

[9:09] The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And those members of the body that we think less honorable, we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect.

[9:34] Whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it. If one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

[10:00] Now, listen to this contemporary adaptation of the same passage and reflect on how 1 Corinthians 12 might speak to our cultural context. I'm not sure who the author is, but it comes from that same Bible study. And it has a powerful message for the church.

[10:22] You, the NFL, cannot say because we kneel at the flag for racial justice, I have no need of you. You have. Hollywood cannot say because you refuse to be Mammy, Jezebel, or the recipient of white saviorism, I have no need of you.

[10:45] You, the Academy, cannot say because your scholarship begins in story form and not in print, I have no need of you. You, standard of beauty, cannot say because you have tight curls, round hips and dark skin, I have no need of you.

[11:04] You, social norms, cannot say because your volume can be elevated and you express your ways and yourself in ways that make me feel threatened, I have no need of you. You, white church, cannot say because your singing is robust, your expressions demonstrative, and your Jesus demanding of liberation, I have no need of you.

[11:32] So I want you to think about this. How do you think of some of those same communities that you thought of earlier, those words that you wrote down? And what ways have you seen them communicate that they have no need of some of their members?

[11:55] The church at Corinth faced some of the same problems that we face today. Yes, the concept of racism is fairly new. In the grand scheme of things, it's really only around 400 years old. And the Corinthian church received this letter thousands of years ago, but they had economic and even ethnic divides where there ought to have not been any divides.

[12:20] The church is the place where we are all called to be example of beloved community that the world can look to as a guideline and as a beacon of hope in the darkness. The Bible says that they will know we are Christians. We are Christians by our love.

[12:36] That is what is supposed to separate the secular approach to anti-racism from the Christian approach. We are meant to work as one body. No one part is more important than another. If there is an infection in one part of the body, then the whole body is impacted. The whole body can become sick and even die if that one part, no matter how seemingly small, remains uncared for.

[13:08] This is where Reverend Sanchez would say, the part needs more love or a different kind of love than the rest of the body, and that's okay. It's okay because in order to have equality, there must first be equity.

[13:29] Society is infected with a deadly disease, and it's not just the disease itself. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted by the afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted.

[13:53] We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. We are afflicted by the afflicted and afflicted. and we cannot say to one part of society, I have no need of you. We can't even say I'm unaffected by you. We must learn to say, what can I do to make it right?

[14:15] If one member suffers, all suffer together with it. If one member is honored, all rejoice with it. This is why God arranged the body, giving greater honor to the inferior member so that there's no dissension within the body. So just as 1 Corinthians 12 says, we need to take special care to bring honor to those parts of the body that are hurting right now.

[14:47] What do we do to make it right? The answer is we need love. And not just love, but true agape love. And that sounds like a Sunday school answer. That sounds like a, something I would ask the students and they'd be like, Jesus, and everyone would laugh because it's true and I can't say they're wrong. Love is another one of those answers. Like we need more love, but it's not easy like that. It's not just saying, okay, I love you and it's all better. This is the type of love that Jesus gave us on the cross.

[15:26] So Christ demonstrated to us throughout his entire life on earth, what this self giving love is. But remember, we're stuck in act two. We're stuck in that act where we are encapsulated by what is self preservation.

[15:50] We are stuck in what is self important, what is self helpful. This type of love says that we live in a world of love even if we give up something we want. And even if we give up something we may need. And even if it means that we're going to suffer in the process and that's scary.

[16:15] Because nobody wants to suffer. But that's what Christ did for us. And he did it willingly and knowingly. He suffered for our sake. So we're called to the same exact agape love. That Christ gave to us. And every single member of the body deserves the same love from us equally.

[16:41] Christ gave every single member of the body this love equally. And so that means even if we know we will have to face suffering, we are still called to love with our entire beings. And that is so different from this root of racism. And that root of all sin that says we must protect ourselves at all costs.

[17:07] Did you know Christ didn't have a guarantee that we would turn to him if he suffered and died for us. The Bible says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We must love before we have any guarantee that we will be okay.

[17:23] And we must love no matter what our greater instincts tell us to do. because not only did Christ do this for us, but he called us to this same type of love. And that is what Reverend Sanchez refers to as cruciform discipleship, which is discipleship that takes the form of the cross. Discipleship even when, and perhaps especially when, it gets hard. And discipleship to Christ is love. So this is where 1 Corinthians 13 comes in. We have the goal of chapter 12 in mind, and that is to be one body with perfect partnership with each other, one body who forms one beloved community, one body who loves each other with the agape love that Christ loved us. And that's great, but we're human and we're broken, and our first instinct is to protect ourselves in our own interests. So how do we do this? And Paul tells us, love is not natural for us. Our world is in a broken state, and to know how to love with this agape love is difficult. So Paul laid it all out, and he said, love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It's not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever it is. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every

[19:02] circumstance. Take a moment, we're going to take just a bit of silence, and look over chapter 13 verses 4 through 7, what I just reread. Which one of those is the hardest way for you to love? What's the most difficult way? What's the most difficult way? What's the most difficult way? In our state, as broken humanity, we can't do it. We can try, and we should try, and we need to try, but we'll fall short. From that same Bible study, there's this quote from Reverend Denise Kingdom Greer, and she says, If 1 Corinthians 13 is the measure by which we are meant to love one another, then America has never loved people of color, and the church is complicit. And that's a knife to the heart. And let me tell you something, just because we are unable to love in this excellent way that's laid out for us in chapter 13, doesn't mean we are innocent.

[20:38] We are guilty of ignoring the pain from members of our own body. We are guilty of trying to push them away from the body. We're guilty of attempted dismemberment. We're guilty of not loving as we were called to love.

[20:55] But Christ didn't just come as our example. He came as our redemption, and he came as our hope. He came as our redemption to wash this guilt away. But he also came as our hope. I said we are unable, and that it's impossible to love as we're called to love, and that's true, but only because we're unable to do so of our own will.

[21:22] With the hope that Christ gives us, we can have faith. With the empowerment that the Holy Spirit gives us, we can have strength. So we are unable to love the way we ought to when we solely rely on ourselves.

[21:38] But we've never had to solely rely on ourselves. We have the hope of Christ and the empowerment of the Spirit. So that leaves us with one thing, and that's not a single excuse. Philippians 4.19, says that God will meet all our needs. So we need to push away the desires and fears. If we set our minds on things of God, not on earthly things, we'll be able to love as Christ loved. And we can only do this by faith. And Jesus brings us the hope that we can rest our faith on. We can love with agape love, because he showed us how to love. And we can love with agape love, because he redeemed us from our shortcomings. And we can love with agape love, because we can trust in him to care for our deepest needs.

[22:32] So this life is but a blip in the timeline of eternity, and will ultimately be cared for in every possible way. Our love might cost us suffering in this life, but our most important needs will be met in every single way.

[22:49] But we should not ever confuse this concept of having to wait. We do not wait until heaven to receive the fullness of life that God offers. We do not suffer for a reward that's far away. When we live in agape love for one another, we get the reward of this beloved community, of a healthy community that supports each other. And it includes a fullness of life that God promised us here and now. So reading 1 Corinthians 12 makes it clear that the love described in 13 is not just important for us to show others as individuals. God is calling for the church as a whole to act with love as a whole body. And the church body cannot function well if some of its parts are being excluded, hurt, and told they're not needed.

[23:46] Now as we close today, I want you to wonder, where is one place that you see a hurting area of the body, and what can you do to show agape love in that area? Let's pray. God, we thank you that you are our example of perfect love. We thank you for your perfect love over us, and your perfect love that guides us to love each other.

[24:18] God, we ask that you help us to do exactly that. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.