The Greatest Is Love

We're blessed to have Pastor Dan return for a month.

And um we love Pastor Dan.

And uh he is uh a husband, a father, and as you know, a grandfather.

He's a pastor, he's a teacher, and he's uh a missionary pastor now.

And so we're so blessed to have him uh here this Sunday.

So Pastor Dan.

Well the pulpit got a lot smaller, I got a lot bigger.

Mark Prescott said at least my shirt fits.

Wow.

Wow.

He never he doesn't say those things when I'm close.

Sitting far over there.

I see you.

Uh what a blessing it is to be here with my church family.

Uh, for those of you who maybe don't know me, um, this was my home for 20 plus years.

This is the the church that started in our living room over by UC Davis Medical Center uh 20 21 years ago.

And so this is our home, this is our family, and yes, we live in the Netherlands now and we have a church home there, and we're building family and friends there, but uh, you guys are definitely our church family, and coming home is wonderful.

All of the symmetry of this morning, I had no idea my daughter was getting or my granddaughter was getting dedicated this morning.

That was a surprise to me as much as it was to you, and uh that was a wonderful moment.

Um, I didn't know it was Jackson's last Sunday, so I stepped into like, wow, uh, all of the symmetry this morning.

Um, I've stood up here with the Kirkland family as they've dedicated each of their kids.

And to watch Jackson now go and my granddaughters being dedicated, I'm just like, wow, mind blown.

But I do want to just pause and say, I got to see the raising of Jackson Kirkland from you know the time he was a small child up until the man he is today.

And I gotta tell you, uh, Rachel and JP, you guys have laid down a pattern of what it looks like to be faithful to the Lord and trust him in season and out of season.

And by that I mean walking along, you guys.

I know that there were times where it was really hard even to like stay part of this community.

There were so many other directions you could go, but you just said, Lord, you lead, we follow.

And I've watched you guys over and over say yes to God's lead.

And um, it doesn't always look like what we want it to look like.

There's times when we're like, really, God, that doesn't make any sense.

And I just want to tell you, if if you like me saw this beautiful example this this morning, it really does come down to not my will but yours be done.

And there are times there's just places where you're gonna hit where you go, God, I'm not okay with this.

Just keep following God.

He knows where you're supposed to go, he knows where you're supposed to be, and if you let him be God, he will take care of you and take care of your family.

And so thank you, Kirkles, for that beautiful reminder to all of us.

I know it was uh 18 years in the making, but uh well done.

And we just pray blessing over you, Jackson.

We're all so proud of you.

Yep.

And I mean, I only get like this one chance, so apologies.

I am gonna preach a sermon, but it's like a lot of kumbaya moments here as well.

But uh Ben and Stephanie Alderman, what a blessing you guys are to this church, this community.

Um, my time with you guys has been awesome, but I feel like I got to spend time with you, watching your family, watching the legacy of your life and your faith.

And I was like, oh, these guys are just so great.

And then, you know, with my interaction and handing off to Ben here at this church, I feel like some of you guys maybe came along a little bit later and like, wait, who's who's been in Stephanie?

Like, what do they do, you know?

And and I'm like, trust me, they're the stuff, you know.

And now you guys have gotten to see a little bit more of what I've been seeing, and I'm telling you, character is king.

I've said it over and over from this spot.

I say it everywhere I go.

I'm now saying that in the Netherlands, but character is king.

There's a lot of shiny stuff in this world, but what matters most is the character.

And character is what you do when nobody's looking.

It's not a show, it's not a mask, it's who you are and your essence.

And I saw in Ben and Stephanie this beautiful character, and I go, I love that they have gifts, they're very talented, but none of that was why I was drawn to them.

It was the character in their heart.

Because I know in the long run, that's the thing that's gonna make this church healthy and safe and biblical.

And so thank you guys for stepping into this space of leading restoration life.

I am just beyond thankful that God gifted this church with two people with such incredible character.

Uh that just, for me, I'm like on the other side of the world, and I'm like, rest life's gonna be okay because I know who who God put here.

So thank you guys for that.

You've done well.

Alright.

Anyone want a sermon?

Because I have one, and if you wanted, I'd be happy to give it.

Um, in the 1970s, when I was a kid growing up, we didn't have a TV, so I missed a lot of the cultural stuff that maybe some of my friends had.

But somewhere along the way, I was able to see the Gong Show.

It was a cultural phenomenon in the 70s.

It didn't last long, but if you're not aware, it's a variety show.

They're still on to this day.

I think people have always enjoyed just watching people get up on a stage and show their talent.

Sometimes it's not as much talent as you'd like, but just you know, you get the thumbs up, the thumbs down, and we have things like The Voice and America's Got Talent, and like those are some of the newer versions.

But back in the 70s, the gong show, they had this unique way of putting people up on stage and not just giving them a thumbs up and a thumbs down, but they had this giant metal gong and this big stick that they would hit the gong with, and when they hit it, it made this really pathetic, empty sound, bong.

And that was the way that you found out you got a thumbs down.

So if you were up there and like, uh, I actually went back, you can go and watch old gong show shows.

They're terrible.

But there was uh there was a guy up there and and his talent was playing songs like and I was like, Oh, he's still gonna get gong.

And they got the gong, but they never hit it.

Like he actually was so good at playing musical notes with his nostril that they let him go all the way through.

And I'm like, wow, that's incredible.

But the gong show was uh designed so that if somebody really stunk and the crowd started going, they would gong them and then they're done, and they just have to leave and and they don't win the$20 or whatever it was in the in the 1970s.

But you may not know unless you're a student of the Bible, that the original gong show was actually in the Bible, right?

So some of you who are students of the Bible who've read the Bible know in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, there is a gong.

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

And we're gonna discover some of that this morning because 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is one of those chapters in the Bible that if you had to take the entire 66 books of the Bible and you had to say which ones are the most important, which ones are the most formative, which ones, if I don't understand and apply those truths to my life, are there gonna be real consequences?

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

You'd be hard pressed to come up with one that's more important than 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

When I had an opportunity this morning to preach a sermon to you, I've preached so many sermons over the years.

I pulled this one out because it is the most important thing.

If you don't get this one thing right, God says whatever else you do is worth as much as bong, which is pretty sad and pathetic.

If you would like your legacy in life to be you are a big zero, a swing and a miss, a gong, a clinging symbol, then you can just disregard everything I'm about to say.

But if you want your life to matter, if you want God to actually say, Well done, good and faithful servant, if you want to get your Christianity right according to God, you better pay attention.

Because God gave us this one chapter to tell us the answer to the question, what matters most to God?

What does He want your life to look like?

How did God design the church to work?

And here it is, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, 13 verses.

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

It says this if I speak in the tongues of angels and men, but I do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clinging cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all the mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but I do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and give my body over to hardship that I may boast, but I do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease.

Where there are tongues, they will be stilled.

Where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain faith, hope, and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

This is the passage.

This is what God wants from his people.

Verses one through three kind of answer the question what is it, what does it mean to be a Christian?

What does God want?

And and and there's a really uh important truth in those first three verses, but it says here, if I if I speak in the tongues of men or angels, it says, if I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have faith that can move mountains, if I give all I possess to the poor, if I give my body over to hardship, and it just gives a few scenarios here that we might be impressed with, right?

So if you came in this morning and you sat down and you were this person, you possessed all of these things.

You speak in the tongues of men and angels, uh, you uh have the gift of prophecy, you can fathom mysteries and knowledge, you give everything to the poor, you give your body over to hardship.

I mean, if that was you, you would pretty much be like a Christian rock star this morning.

We'd all be like, that's what it looks like.

I don't know if I could ever live up to that.

And we do this sometimes in Christianity.

We have certain people that we go, that's what it looks like.

You know, that's what you know, Mother Teresa or Billy Graham, or these like iconic figures that you go, that's what it looks like.

Look what they did.

And so here, the apostle Paul uses this to kind of take us down a road that we've already been down, to help paint the picture for us of what we as people often think that's what awesome Christianity looks like.

And in fact, you could take any one of these, and if you just embodied one of these, you'd pretty much be a legend at Restoration Life.

And yet, after making this incredible list and saying, if you did all of these things, God then flips that on us and he goes, if you did all of that, you know what it would mean to me?

To the God of the universe, the God who created you, the God who died on a cross for you?

You know what that would mean to me?

Um nothing.

And he doesn't mince words, he doesn't say it's worth a little, it's just not as much as something better.

No, he says, nothing.

And I think this is hard for us to comprehend because we're so impressed with the list, we're sure God must be impressed.

But God says none of that stuff matters without love.

Love is the thing that God is most interested in.

How do you do in the category of love?

Are you a loving person?

Does God look at your life and go, now that's what love looks like?

Because without love, all of the other things that you could do for God don't matter at all.

God's not impressed.

God didn't give you a menu and say, just choose three of the ten here, do those well, and we'll call it good.

He says there's one thing, one, and it's love.

You know, many of you guys have heard a lot of sermons.

I grew up in church, I've heard so many sermons, I could, I'd have be hard pressed to even tell you how many now.

I've given a lot of sermons.

I mean, there's so many things that the Bible talks about, and we should talk about as well.

But in the busyness of being a Christian, in the pursuit of following Christ, it's really easy for us as Christ followers to lose sight of 1 Corinthians 13 and the message that's here.

And the message is really clear.

If you lose sight of this, the rest loses its meaning.

So don't ever lose focus on this love.

Love well.

Love often.

God is interested in love, it's the thing that makes everything else matter.

We could go so far as to say nothing else matters if you don't get love right.

And that's a pretty simple concept, but it's hard to live out.

We would like to substitute other things in there.

Well, I may not be that good at loving, but I'm pretty good at serving.

Oh, I might not be that good at loving, but man, my prayer life is on fire.

I'm not that good at loving, but I can quote scripture like you would in belief.

And God says, none of that matters without love.

Whatever you're busy doing for Jesus, if you don't have love, you've wasted your time.

That's what the Apostle Paul is saying here.

And again, it's a simple concept, but it's hard to live out.

But this is how God feels about your pursuit of his will.

Now, if we stopped right here, if the Apostle Paul stopped here and just went on to another topic, all of us would hear this and go, We love love.

Nobody here is like, I don't know, I'm not, I'm not really down with love.

Love is kind of that's not my thing.

No, we all love love.

Love is not a hard concept for us.

We all think it's wonderful, we get warm fuzzies about it, and everybody says, I'm so glad God says loving others and being a person of love is the most important thing because that sounds a lot easier than some of the other stuff on the list, like giving everything I own to the poor, like giving over my body to hardship.

I'll go with love.

Love sounds great, it's a warm, fuzzy thought.

And we can stop here, and all of you guys go, I love love, I love God, I love Sunday, life is good, I love coffee, where's my next cup?

And we can just go on with our little comfy life.

But God knows our heart, God knows our frailties, and God doesn't stop at verse 3.

God makes this point, He makes it well, but then He goes on to define love.

He says, Don't don't mistake what you think love is for my definition of love.

Because all of us have an idea of what God meant when he says without love.

And for most of us, our picture of love, our understanding of love is way insufficient when compared to what God actually means by love.

And you, like me, would easily give yourself a pass and say, Well, I'm pretty good at loving.

I mean, I love some pretty lame people sometimes.

I I I love I'm I'm pretty good.

Like most of us say, Well, I'm I'm better than those guys, for sure.

But this isn't what God says his definition of love is.

He gives us a very robust definition here in verses four through eight.

Now, I I also need to tell you there's uh there's a pretty well-worn path when it comes to a loophole or a workaround for this passage.

It's interesting if you've been walking with the Lord for a while.

There's many things that the Bible says very clearly that the church has a hard time actually doing.

And the reason is because all of us as sinful people, we have a tendency to take the word of God, the truth of God, and change it to meet our own needs.

This is what I would like it to say.

And we can do it so easily, so well, so effortlessly that sometimes you don't even realize you've done it.

And if everybody else around you is doing it as well, even the harder.

And you say, Well, I think I'm living the scriptures, but you're not.

One of the workarounds that I I have seen over and over and over, it's throughout church history.

If you look at the last 2,000 years of church, oftentimes people will find this little workaround.

Basically, what they do, what we do, is we change it from love to truth.

And the way we do that is we say, I love you too much to not tell you the truth.

In Jesus' name.

And there's so many truths in the Bible that can be really harsh for people to hear.

And we're like, you know, I just gotta tell you, brother, the Bible says such and such.

It's a hard truth, but I love you, love you too much to not tell you.

So I'm just gonna drop this boom on you.

And when we do that, oftentimes the person that hears it goes, ouch.

Like their face, their demeanor is like, ouch! You just sucker punch me in Jesus' name.

And you're like, I know, but love hurts.

I'm sorry to have to tell you the truth, but if I don't, you might go down the wrong path.

So I just did you a solid.

That's what love feels like.

And can I just tell you that's wrong?

Does truth matter?

Absolutely.

The Bible talks a lot about truth, but truth without love loses all its value.

You can't just substitute truth for love.

You've got to do the truth in love.

That means that the way you do it, the timing, the attitude you have, the face that you have, the voice that you have, all of those things matter as well.

It has to actually be an act of first and foremost love.

Or that speaking the truth doesn't actually help anything.

It's worthless.

It's a gong, it's meaningless.

And we see Christians do this all the time.

Probably the the poster child for this would be Westboro Baptist Church.

Some of you guys may have heard of them, they're not quite as relevant now as they have been in the past, but they were they've been in the news for the last 30 years because this is this little tiny dinky church in the middle of nowhere that has this outsized footprint because they show up at funerals.

So, for instance, 9-11 happened, people died tragically.

This group shows up with signs that says this is God's judgment on sinful America.

Well, people are putting their loved ones in the in the ground.

They also show up when like uh soldiers are over fighting terrorism and they die and some, you know, they get blown up and they come back in a casket with the the flag over it.

They show up at those funerals, same signs, God's judgment.

And you think, oh, all of us this morning, I don't think there's one exception.

We go, that's terrible.

Like, who would do that in Jesus' name?

That is not the heart of God, that isn't the word of God.

Those people are just horrible people.

Now, I know about all this because my wife introduced me to the unfollow book.

Uh, there's a gal who grew up in that church, and she was raised in that environment, and she believed with all of her heart that she was doing the will of God by supporting that movement.

And so she kind of helps all of us for outsiders like, how did they get there?

How did they open their Bible and go?

That's how we can glorify God by going and persecuting people while they're burying their loved ones, right?

And so she unpacks it and thankful to my wife again for uh introducing me to books or uh these paper things with words on them.

I know most of you guys don't really read books anymore, right?

But this book was incredible because it helped us get a peek behind the scenes to go, how does somebody get there?

And it's horrible.

It's there's no excuse for what they do.

But if we're honest, there's a little bit of Westboro Baptist in all of us.

And this is where, you know, this is a keep it real church, right?

This is where we have to keep it real.

Let's not just give ourselves a pass, oh, I'm loving.

Let's really ask, but how are you doing with that?

Because if we're honest, all of us have an idea of the type of people in this world who really kind of deserve what they get.

And when bad things happen to them, we're like, sucks for you.

If you'd have followed God, sucks for you.

Truth hurts.

Now, you may not be showing up at funerals protesting.

You're not that nasty of a person.

But we all see people where we're like, you know, you should have got a job.

Yeah, you shouldn't have been sleeping around.

You know, what's happening to you is kind of what you deserved.

If you'd have come to church, we could have told you, don't go down that road.

And when we see people suffer the consequences of their actions, there's something inside of us that just goes, I'm glad I didn't choose the easy, the easy, wide road.

You got what you deserved.

That was your own fault.

And it's really the same heart as the Westboro Baptist Church, just a few notches down.

We're not as nasty as them, but there's some of that in all of us.

And we rejoice when somebody gets their up-and-comings because they kept making wrong choices.

But this is not the heart of God.

This doesn't match the definition of love that is in verses four through eight.

And the first thing I want you to notice about verses four through eight is that the word that is used for love is agape.

And the reason that's important is because those of us who live in an English context, when we try to express this concept of love, we always use the same word, love, L-O-V-E.

The problem with that is I love peanut butter and I love my wife.

And they're just not the same.

The word's the same, but the meaning is drastically different.

I could never eat peanut butter again, and I'd be pretty much okay with that.

I love it, but I don't love it that much.

But I need this woman.

This is my wife, the love of my life.

They're on completely different planes, and yet I love peanut butter, I love my wife.

But not so in the Greek.

In the Greek, there's several different words for love.

And here, specifically, the word agape is used.

And agape love is unique.

It's not the same love you have for peanut butter, and it's not the same love you have for your wife.

This is God's supernatural, eternal love.

It's God love.

Now, he can teach us to love like that, and we can touch the outside of that, but that pure agape is really God's.

And it comes from him through us, and he is the source.

And so he's saying that if you don't have love, he's saying if you don't have my kind of love, agape love for others.

So the first three verses give us kind of a mandate: love well if you don't do anything, if you don't love well, nothing else matters.

And then verses four through eight give us a definition of what that love means.

And it says this love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it's not self-seeking, it's not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

And we read that and we go, oh, I like that.

I like that kind of love.

I want that kind of love in my life.

We read this passage at weddings all the time because we're like, this is really what it should look like.

This is God's definition of love.

And it's better than yours, it's better than mine.

This is the pure, untainted view of love.

Now, this is what God is asking us to have, and it's a pretty high bar.

But again, I know you, like me, could easily go, well, I'm I'm maybe like a seven out of ten.

I'm not doing too bad.

I mean, I like it, I agree with it, I'm trying to be like that.

But uh I would like you to do something that I'm gonna put my own name in.

Instead of love, I'm just gonna put my own name in.

I would encourage you to do the same because it changes how this reads.

Dan is patient, Dan is kind.

Dan does not envy, Dan does not boast, Dan is not proud.

Dan does not dishonor others, Dan is not self-seeking, Dan is not easily angered, Dan keeps no record of wrongs.

Dan does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

Dan always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Dan never fails.

Does that sound a little bit like heresy?

Because that's how it sounds to me.

I'm like, whoa.

I mean, I would love if that was true.

It's not me.

I didn't just read an accurate definition of me.

I would like to be that, but even as I say those words from this pulpit, I'm like, sorry, God, like that's a that's like blasphemous that I'm all of those things, I aspire to be, but I'm not there.

And neither are you.

And what that means is we've got a lot of work to do.

God says very clearly, if there's one thing you're gonna do for me, it's love.

Well, and then he says, This is what it looks like.

And then we put our name in there and we go, Oh, I've got a lot of work to do.

I fail all the time.

I can name so many wrongs that you guys have done.

I keep a record.

Like, oh, how come I'm not like this?

And we see in there, we could do much better.

And it makes me think about what we do as Christians so often when we go down the judgy route.

We should be putting our energy into being the people that God created us to be, that he invited us to be.

We should love like this.

This is what God wants from us.

This is what God desires from his people, that we would learn to love like this.

And you're like, can't I just go to another Bible study?

I could learn some more scripture, I could maybe teach Sunday school to the kids.

God would surely be pleased with that.

And yet God says over and over very clearly, if you do that but you don't get this right, that has no value.

Get this right.

So, friends, this is the most important thing that you could put your shoulder into.

Whatever energy you put into following Christ, this is the most important.

That we would be people who are known for love.

And that means the person who's closest to you, the people who live in your house need to be saying, Absolutely, that's Dan.

He does that.

Not you're just how you feel about it, but like, you need to be known for being a person who loves well.

Because if you're living like this, everybody around you is just like, I'll take some more of that, please.

It's wonderful.

It draws people, it heals people.

If you don't have love and you're following God and doing all the other things, I hate to say it, but you just have religion.

And religion doesn't save, relationship does.

And if you want to have a relationship with a living God, it comes through this loving well, receiving his love, passing it on.

Now, verses 8 through 12 says, but where there are prophecies, they will cease, where there are tongues, they will be stilled, where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

I know we've talked about in years past here this whole idea of cessationism.

There are some people within the orthodoxy of Christianity who say, I don't believe people speak in tongues anymore, I don't believe prophecy happens anymore, that was for a different time.

And here's my here's my proof text.

It says right here, where there are prophecies, they will cease.

God foretold it.

Why do you think that still happens today?

It's right here in the Bible, Pastor Dan.

Of course, I've read the Bible, I know it's here, but can I just tell you, it doesn't just say that they will cease.

It says when they will cease.

Right?

In this passage, Paul says, these sign gifts, these supernatural gifts, they exist now.

They won't always exist in their current form.

They will cease at some future date.

And then he tells us what it is.

He says, in the future, when all these things happen, you'll know we don't need the sign gifts anymore.

When completeness comes, when what is now in part disappears, when we see God face to face, when we are fully known.

And there's this beautiful description of this future time, this future reality, when some of the things we experience right now change.

And we actually can see God face to face and be fully known when the mystery is removed.

The end of the Bible in Revelation 21:4, he speaks about the same thing.

Revelation 21:4

As the Apostle John helps us to see a vision of how things are gonna end.

He says this, he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Same words.

We know when this is gonna happen.

Anybody been there yet?

No, hasn't happened yet.

It will happen, hasn't happened yet.

And the in-between, until that day, our job is to love well.

There will be a day when the sin nature will be removed, when you'll be renewed, and you'll see God face to face, and without that sin nature, you will love everybody like this passage easily, effortlessly, all the time.

But we're not there yet.

It's a wonderful promise.

I look forward to being there.

I cannot wait to see all of you when we're there.

And we're just loving each other unconditionally, agape love just flowing everywhere.

It's great.

But the Bible says we have a chance to practice that right now.

Because God is love, because God gives us his spirit, God can give you this kind of love today for the people around you.

You can love well now if you let God's love flow through you to them.

This is on offer.

Not just on offer, this is God's expectation for his people.

This is what God wants from us.

Verse 13.

And now these three remain faith, hope, and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

Does faith matter?

Absolutely.

Does hope matter?

A hundred percent.

But the greatest is love.

It's not that nothing else matters, it's nothing else matters without love.

You may have heard people make mention of this, but you can go about 40 days without food.

It would be hard, but you can do it.

People have done it.

You can go 40 days without food, and you probably won't die unless you've got some other health problems.

40 days, no food, your body would just somehow figure out a way to metabolize and survive.

You can go about four days without water.

You can't go 40 days.

You stop drinking water, you got about four days, and you're done.

You can't live your body can't function without water.

And you're always, you know, perspiring water is coming out of your body, and without replenishing that, you got four days, you're done.

But you got four minutes without oxygen.

Just stop breathing for five minutes and see how that works out for you.

It's not very long.

Four minutes, you got to take a breath.

Now, most of us are breathing much more frequently than that, but you need oxygen to live.

And the point that Paul's making here is yes, faith matters.

Yes, hope matters.

These things are important, just like food and water are important for your body.

But if you don't have oxygen, food and water don't matter very much.

If we took all the oxygen out of this room, none of us would be going, I wonder, I wonder how I can get a good cup of water.

It would be the last thing on your mind.

All you would need is a breath of oxygen.

You can worry about the water later.

You got plenty of time for that.

And that's what Paul is saying here.

If you don't have love, why are you so worried about all of the other things?

This is the single most important thing, and you need to get this right.

And everything else then has meaning, but not without love.

You can't be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ without agape love in your life.

It's not possible.

Everything else becomes meaningless.

Love is the most powerful force for good that exists.

It's been around from eternity past, and it will be with us for eternity future because God is love.

Love's example is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Love's representative is the church, and the church is you.

God's entire plan is built around his people following his example.

If we are the people of God, we must love well.

The encouragement of this passage is that you make this kind of love, this agape love, your life goal.

Because unless you get this one thing right, everything else will have no value.

We all know the world we live in is full of brokenness, full of hurting.

It's not a surprise.

Uh, we see that all around us.

But God's answer to the brokenness is love.

His love demonstrated for us, extended to us, poured through us, so that the world could find the hope and the healing that it needs.

But it's all dependent on the church, the people of God, saying yes to the will of God and actually giving that love to the world.

And that comes down to each one of us as individuals.

You are an opportunity for agape love to flow through you to those around you.

The world desperately needs it.

But God gave you a free will.

You have to cooperate with God.

Yes, God.

I will receive your love and I will give your love.

When someone comes to the church and they're depressed, they should find love.

When someone comes to the church and they're angry, they should experience unconditional love.

When somebody comes to the church and they're lonely, they should feel loved.

When someone comes to the church and they have fear, those fears should be met with love.

When someone comes to the church and they're hungry, we should give them love.

Love them well.

When somebody comes to the church and they're neglected, give them love.

The church is God's dispensary of love to the world.

We have to get this right.

Love God, love each other, love your neighbor, love your coworkers, love your enemy, love well.

You know, when we started this church 20 years ago, we we had to vote on the name of the church with Restoration Life.

Love it or hate it, that's our name.

That's what that's what we we uh like 20 of us in a room voted on.

I think actually Rick and Gail were there.

So if you don't like the name, blame it on Rick.

Uh I don't know what you voted for, Rick.

I I actually voted for Restoration Life.

It was the bridge or restoration life.

Those were the two finals.

So we could have been the bridge church, but we ended up being uh restoration life.

And the reason that we landed on that, if I remember right, is because as we talked about it as a group, if you could pick one word that describes what the Bible's all about, you couldn't do better than restoration.

You know, it starts in a garden and everything's perfect, and then you flip through all the pages and all the chaos, and you get to the end of Revelation, and it ends in the garden and everything's perfect.

And it's really a story of like coming full circle, starting in perfection, how we got broken, how God fixes it, how we respond to God's invitation, and how God gets us back to good.

That's the story of the Bible.

It's a story of restoration.

Something was perfect, it got broken, and God fixed it.

He restored it.

And so we said, restoration life, that's what Christianity is all about.

But according to chapter 13, without love, that can never happen.

Love is the thing that makes restoration happen.

It all flows through love.

Kind of like oxygen.

It's all around us, but without it, nothing else happens.

We cease to exist.

Love is the thing that makes it possible for restoration to happen.

And so I want to leave you with this challenge.

How are you doing with chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians?

When you put your name in there, how does that land on your ears?

When you think about your life and the way you interact with others and the way they see you, are you known as somebody who dispenses agape love freely often?

Do you love your enemies?

Do you love your coworkers?

Do you love your neighbors?

Do you do it well?

Because according to chapter 13, that's what it's all about.

And I just want to encourage you, brothers and sisters, because I just get this little bit of time with you, you're going to hear a lot of great messages from the Bible.

And I want you to hear them, I want you to listen to them, I want you to apply them, but I don't ever want you to think for a second that if you do them without love, they have any meaning.

Because the moment you go there, you've abandoned the word of God.

It's that important.

Now, if you love really well, but you can't quote more than three verses, I don't see anything in scripture that says God's gonna go, that's a miss.

I'd think it's important to memorize scripture.

It is.

But love is so much more important.

If you could walk into a room and say, I may not have a lot of things right as a Christian, but I know I've got love well.

You're doing something right.

That's the most important thing.

So as you go through life, keep that at the center of your thinking.

Love well.

Amen.

Father God, thank you for the way that you love us.

We experience it over and over.

God, throughout my entire life, I've felt so loved by you.

So many times are I'm like, I don't deserve this.

Why would you even care?

Why do you put up with me?

Why again can I come to you and say sorry and you always forgive me?

Why, why, why?

And yet, Lord, I know the answer to that is because you are love.

Not you have love, but you are love.

And you never run out.

And you've given me unconditional agape love my entire life.

I've seen you do it in the lives of others around me.

And Lord, I know that your desire for my life, for every life that is listening right now, is that we, your people, would love like you.

So, Lord, continue to give us grace, continue to give us direction, continue to empower us.

But Lord, make us people who love well.

And God, I just pray over restoration life that this would be a house of restoration, that every person who walks into this place and becomes part of this community would be attached to an agape love that helps people who are broken get healed, that makes people who are unsafe feel safe, that uh restores, that rebuilds.

God, we know love is powerful.

Lord, I pray that it would be in abundance here.

That this would be a place where your love is felt and experienced regularly, deeply.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.