TEXT : 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
TITLE: The Properties of Love #7 : Love believes, hopes ,
endures all things
Date : 16 /10 /2011
Today I want to
deal with the last three
of the 15 verbs which the
apostle Paul uses , either
by way of a positive or a negative illustration to help us
understand what biblical love is like .
I would also take some time, in conclusion, to exhort
you to pay careful attention to this subject . We have taken our
time to meditate on the properties of
biblical love , because this is what lies at the heart of our
Christian being . Whatever we cannot fail
to be, is this !
Dr Francis
Schaeffer who has greatly influenced my own thinking in many
matters in the ‘1990’s by his writings
, writes on this subject of
Christian love in a book
entitled “The Great Evangelical
Disaster “ . In it is a chapter entitled “ The
Mark of the Christian” . I quote from it : “ The
church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then
, is the dying culture going to consider
us? Jesus says : ‘By this shall all men know that your are my disciples if you
love one another .’ In the midst of the world , in the midst of our present dying culture , Jesus is
giving a right to the world. Upon His authority he gives the world the right to
judge whether you and I are born again
Christians on the basis of our observable
love towards all Christians.”
[1]
Those words
have been with me for many years now
and they have challenged me ever since I
have read them.
The other
truth I want to reinforce once
again, as we close this study
on these 15 verbs , is this
:
“Being “ must always
come before “ doing” . Who
we are must precede what
we do. Our “loving being “ must govern
and must lead us to our “ loving doing “ .
We cannot invert this truth . If we
place “ doing” before “being”, we become mere philanthropists or activists.
Paul warns us about this in 13:1-3
.
Beware then
that you do your good works from
a heart of love for God ! Do not
allow a guilty social conscience ,
stirred up by a social gospel preacher make you think that this is an acceptable
sacrifice or service to God . Nothing substitutes
obedience to God . To love God is to
obey God . Learn to work from the
platform of true worship. Take your heart
to God before you get
sucked into endless activism . Mary was a wiser woman than Martha
in this regard (Lk 10:42) .
Do not allow a wrong
theological or philosophical way of
thinking induce you to think that heaven is gained by being more
busy with things . Unfortunately that is
our human default position . Learn
to do your work from the platform of
worship ! You will ultimately do
more that is significant in God’s eyes .
The motive
for Christian love must begin with the implanted love of God in
your heart through the agency of the Holy Spirit ( Rom
5:5) , and it must be cultivated in
our hearts . It is He that will implant
the discipline of biblical love in your
heart , and it is He that will help you
do , what you may find humanly
impossible to do - like forgiving your enemy . An English poet, Alexander Pope (1688-1744)recognizes
this when he writes : “to err
is human ; to forgive, divine !”[2]
And now ,
with these things in mind, we will continue, once more, to
give consideration to the last
few aspects of love .
Four times Paul says, “ Love bears , believes , hopes , endures …. all things !”
(i)
Love
bears
or covers all things ( dealt
with last week)
(ii)
Love believes
all things (NIV "trusts" ; Gr
-pisteuō)
(iii)
Love
hopes all things (Gr. elpizō)
(iv)
Love
endures all things (NIV “always
perseveres” Gr.hupomoneō)
We have to understand that this is not an
unconditional , naïve , uncritical endorsement
of everything that people do or say
. Verse 6
has already helped us to understand this !
1. Love believes all things : The
root meaning of this word ( pisteuō ) is, "to
be persuaded of", and hence “ to
place confidence in ; to trust; to
believe “ . Charles Hodge
says that love is
not suspicious, but readily credits what
people may say in their own defence…”
. “Love always gives the benefit of
the doubt” ( Leon Morris) .
Now , this aspect of love
doesn't imply that we must blindly and naively swallow all that is presented to us at face value . The Puritan writer Matthew Henry says it well : "Indeed Love does by no means destroy prudence (caution/discretion). Wisdom
may dwell with love, and love may be
cautious."
The Scripture certainly does not require us to believe everything
uncritically . In fact there are numerous times when Jesus
or the apostles warn us not to
believe everything !
(i)
(Matthew 24:23-26 ESV) Then
if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not
believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform
great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the
wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do
not believe it.
(ii)
(1
John 4:1 ESV) : Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out
into the world.
It is clear from these two texts that we are
exhorted to manifest discernment with
respect to the possibility of false
teachers and false teaching . So we have to be careful about that !
What does Paul then mean here, “ Love believes all things “ ?
Remember the context
? This is written to a Christian
church - a church where man centredness ( and self centredness which is only another expression of man
centredness) was busy destroying the life of Christ in the
body . Paul had to redeem this situation
and help them to see how they needed to respond in a godly , loving way to one
another . In this context of the church
, the members needed to
stop being skeptical and distrusting
at everything that they were saying to one another - for the sake of love !
This principle needs to find practical application
in our own lives . I have observed it frequently that our first
tendency is to "think evil" of people before
we "think good" of them. How often have we not been ashamed when our evil thoughts about others have been proven wrong ! Biblical love believes the best about others . That is where we need to start . If you are having difficulty with this , and constantly find yourself
being cynical in terms of judging other people’s motives , than pay now that
God would forgive you and help you to
have a clean heart on this matter .
Jesus , although He knew that the rich young man
in Mark
10:17ff came to Him with a wrong
motive, loved Him (10:21) and told him the truth about himself
in such a way that he went
away with the ability to be more
honest and truthful about himself- even though it hurt right now ! Love always leaves people in a better shape
than it finds them , even if it means that
we are going to have to dismantle some
false theology or thinking
about God and ourselves in this process! The loving Divine Surgeon often cuts in order to heal . [ A similar pattern of thought may be
followed with Peter & John and the
beggar at the temple gate called ‘ Beautiful’
-Acts 3:1-10 ] .
2. Love hopes all
things : In the same manner
Christian love hopes the best with regard to our Christian brothers and sisters . This is
not an unreasoning optimism, of course .
Christian hope is not grounded in uncertainty, but in Him who holds the future and the destiny of people in His omnipotent hand . He has given as wonderful promises in which we may find a
rich resource for hope . As a
Pastor I am in situations where Christian
and non Christian people are terribly unsettled by an event
which induces a feeling of
hopelessness in them. Many times in the ICU when life hangs on a
thread , I have to remind them that it is right to
trust God by having hope in the recovery of their loved one . As long
as there is life there is hope ( see David and his deathly ill son in 2 Samuel 12:16,17) .
Sometimes , the desired things we pray for in the church, or the changes we hope for in our church
and those who we pray for in terms of their conversion don’t
materialize in the short term .
But hope has got a long rope ! With God all things are possible – and while
there is life there is hope . It is a characteristic of a loving Christian that they are
possessed of a hope that is steadfast
and sure .
3. Love endures all things : (NIV “always perseveres” Gr.hupomoneō) . The Greek word used here is a military term and it means to sustain the assault of an enemy . Love is tough ! Love is standing in the midst of a battle of hard wills and unbending egos ,
and still maintains its loving disposition . That is the love of God that has been poured into our hearts .
This hope
and endurance is
characterized in George Müller of Bristol . One day he began praying for five of his friends. After
many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were
converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered
in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years
he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded,
for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.”
Conclusion :
In verse 7
we are then reminded that biblical love bears patiently with the hurts which we may receive from others .
It does nt needlessly expose the sins of others . It covers them . That is what Jesus has done for us . Such
love goes on believing the best
about people. It refuses to be
cynical . Even when love is betrayed, then love turns to hope because God is still God and He may still overrule in the sin of others . Biblical
Love is never overwhelmed by hopelessness – because at the end there is
not death or fate – there is God ! And even when hope becomes dim and hope seems lost, love endures. It
endures the deep hurt that seems so final with a triumphant confidence that the
God , who gives His children peace is still on the throne.
Tragically, in the Corinthian church this love had been almost extinguished , but thankfully through
repentance with God’s help and God’s Word ,
such love may be rekindled .
The life of the
church depends on this .
Three reminders in closing :
- Love is a command - an imperative – not an optional extra – Romans 13:8
- If you are a Christian, this love is in you. It is the Spirit’s work in you - Rom 5:5 ; Gal 5:22
- Practise this love . Gifts must be stirred up ( 2 Tim 1:6) ; Christ learned obedience . Seek to see all these fifteen characteristics in action in your life , and pray that this will be the norm in our church . The world will look at us and they will know that God truly is in our midst .
And now let
me exhort you one more time in closing ….
Remember that
God truly saves sinners in the fullest sense of that
word! Salvation makes
a massive difference in your life.
Under the Word of God you will
be transformed ,
particularly in this matter of biblical love .
Pastor Al Martin in a great essay on “The practical implications of Calvinism” makes this
profound statement in connection
with this fact : “Now whenever we are confronted with great doctrinal statements in Holy
Scripture, God does not leave us merely with the statement of doctrine. The end
of God’s truth set before the minds of God’s people is that, understanding it,
they might know its effect in their own personal experience . The end for which
God gave his truth was not so much the instruction of our minds as for the transformation of our lives. But a
person cannot come directly to the life and experience, he must come mediately
through the mind. And so God’s truth is addressed to the understanding and the
Spirit of God operates in the understanding as the Spirit of wisdom and
knowledge. He does not illuminate the mind simply that the file drawers of the
mental study may be crammed full of information. The end for which God instructs
the mind is that he might transform the life.”
I trust that this detailed meditation over 7 weeks has
helped you to gain perspective on this
most important Christian grace , and remember that
all the teaching from the Word of God in these
previous weeks fails, if we do
not take cognizance of the fact, that it must be turned into action . I plead with you by the mercy of God not to let these words
from sacred Scripture fall on
deaf ears , but to let God’s Word walk
out of our lives !
Pray constantly that this attitude which was also in
Christ , might be yours and mine . We
might yet see a modern miracle emerging here in our midst , as the love of
Christ triumphs over this present darkness that has taken the hearts of so many people in our city and
country captive .
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