What Never Fails | CHURCH IN CHAOS | 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

You're listening to City Church Manchester. We

are a church that invites everyone to enjoy Christ

for the glory of God. If we can serve you in

any way then visit our website at citychurchmanchester

.org to find out more. We're going to be in 1

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 12 today. We're going to

read the last little bit and then the whole of

chapter 13. Let me read that passage for us now.

And yet I will show you the most excellent way.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels,

but do not have love, I am only a resounding

gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift

of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and

all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can

move mountains, but do not have love, I have

nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor

and give over my body to hardship, that I may

boast, but 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

dishonour 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, and 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. Wonderful.

Malcolm's going to come and explain that passage

to us. Great. Thanks, Sam. Well, good afternoon,

everyone. My name is Malk. I'm one of the pastors

here. And don't worry, if it is your first time

at church, I know what everyone is thinking.

You haven't accidentally walked into a wedding.

You are indeed at the right place, a normal church

service. But chances are, if you have ever been

to a wedding in a church, chances are you have

heard that passage read from the front because

it is. The wedding passage, isn't it? In fact,

I bet some of you in this room, I bet you had

this read at your weddings as well. It is the

passage that we often read to bring us to this

idea, this beautiful thing that we all want,

which is love. And it's so famous, I'll go as

far as saying that if you were to go to... online

and look at a local Christian Etsy store, one

of the first coffee mugs, one of the first t

-shirts you see will say some of the words from

here. Love is patient. Love is kind. Beautiful

words. You know, these are words that have gone

beyond the church, have made it into literature,

into movies. People know these words. But the

problem is, I think, that whilst it is often

read at weddings, The problem is when we associate

these words with nothing but romance, and we

all love a bit of romance, right? But when we

associate it with just romance, we are missing

out on what the Bible really intends these words

to do. And I know what everyone's thinking. Like

me, when you read 1 Corinthians 13, the first

place your mind went to was Winkle the cat. Now,

some of you might know this story. It was about

five, ten years ago. There was a beloved cat

called Winkle who sadly died. And his elderly

couple who looked after him when he died, they

were very sad. You know, he went to cat heaven

and everything. And they went and buried him

in his garden. And the man of the house went

and bought a local scrapyard. He bought this

little figurine of a man carrying a cross, I

think it was. And he thought that would be a

nice little gravestone for little Winkle in the

garden. And so he bought this thing and he put

it there and it sat there for years until one

day, some of you might know this story, his archaeologist

friend came over for dinner and went into his

garden and went, mate, what is that? And it turns

out Winkle's headstone was a first century relic

that was worth over a quarter of a million pounds.

It had just been sitting in the garden the whole

time. Not doing what it was meant to do, which

is to be observed and celebrated and studied.

And I think we can do something similar with

1 Corinthians 13. We can think of it of being

just a love poem. But if we stop there, we're

guilty of treating it like Winkle's headstone.

There's so much more. There's treasure here.

And I think that what we want to do today is

get underneath what the Bible says in these words.

All about what should be the guiding force that

should drive every single one of our life's direction.

Quite different to a love poem. The words contained

here tell you what you should be doing with your

life. Look at the first verse we read there,

the very end of chapter 12, halfway through.

Paul writes to this church in Corinth and he

starts this bit of his letter off by saying,

I will show you. the most excellent way. Now,

more than simply being just a poem about love,

this chapter of the Bible is meant to be unearthing

in us one of life's biggest questions, which

is, what is my life all about? What should my

life be about? Verse one to three, Paul writes

to this church and he says, it's possible, church,

it's possible for you to look like you are living

a life of fullness. It could be possible for

you to have all the wealth, all the looks, all

the treasures in the world, but actually under

the surface, you could be building your life

on something that doesn't last. That's Paul's

point in the opening verses here. And so the

question I want to throw out in front of all

of us today, whoever you are, wherever you come

from, the question I want to put in front of

you is, what are you living for? What is the

driving force in your life? Whether you're a

Christian or whether you're not a Christian,

all of us, every single one of us, we are living

for something. And maybe we don't always have

the time to think through what that is. You are

living for something today. What is your life

all about? If you took everything else away,

what is there? What is the central thing in your

life? What would you say? Another way I want

to ask this question that will be on the screen

is, what are you building? your life on? What

are you about? And however you might answer that

question, however we might answer that question,

I think it exposes what we love. So, you know,

think of the athlete who's all about getting

the gold medal. Everything about their life is

for the love of that medal, for the love of the

sport, for the love of winning, for the love

of the challenge, from what they eat, when they

sleep, where they go, who they marry, what time

they go to bed. Everything about their life is

about getting that gold medal one day, right?

That is their love. That is driving the direction

of their life. And I think loads of us, maybe

it's not a gold medal, but I think loads of us

have a gold medal equivalent. Something that

we think, that's what my life is about. That's

what's driving me. I think for loads of us, it's

relationships. I think it's probably the most

common answer. It's either the drive for a relationship,

that we don't have but we long to have. You know,

I just long for that boyfriend, that girlfriend,

that husband, that wife, that child. And so everything

about my life is about getting that or is about

the relationships we do have and we would do

anything to keep them. Does that make sense?

And this is the love that I think drives the

direction of lots of our lives. We're all living

for something because we all love something.

That's the point I'm trying to make. We're all

living for something because we all love something.

Love, whether you realize it or not, it is love

that is leading the direction of your life. And

here's the sad reality. And it's been such a

happy afternoon. I almost feel bad bringing this

into the room. The sad reality is every love

that we chase after, every love that we build

our life on will one day end. You know, someone

else gets the gold medal. And so that love is

taken away from you. You don't necessarily get

the relationship you were looking for. Or you

do get the relationship. But one way or another,

it ends. Ultimately in death. Because love like

that doesn't go beyond death. Every love will

fail us. And I probably don't need to spend too

much. Too long on this point. Because loads of

you, probably most of you in this room, have

experienced that kind of pain already in your

life. Where you have built your life on a love

that hasn't lasted. Where your world has been

rocked by a failing love. That's all of us. We've

all tasted that. But then comes along the radical

claim of Christianity. And we see the heart of

it here. in the words that we've read. And the

radical claim of Christianity, we've already

confessed it. We've sung it. We've prayed it.

And this is the claim, that it's possible to

build your life on a kind of love that, verse

8, if you've got your Bible open, a kind of love

that never fails. Build your life on a love that

never fails. And that is the love. that Paul

has in mind when he wrote 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

13. It's not simply a romantic love. This isn't

simply lovely poetry to be read in a wedding.

It's something more. And what I want to do for

the rest of our time is just talk about this

love, the kind of love that Paul is driving at

here. And so here's the question. What is love?

Baby, don't hurt me. Someone was singing it in

your head, right? What is love? Specifically,

what does Paul mean when he writes the word love?

Because he writes it, if you scan your eyes over

the passage, he writes the word love nine times

in just 13 verses. So it's clearly, it is the

theme of this passage. And it's really important

that we figure out what Paul means by love because

it's so easy to open up the Bible and to project

onto the Bible. your worldview rather than letting

the Bible project into you its worldview does

that make sense so we need to figure out well

what does Paul mean by the word love because

for us when in the English language the word

love is so broad it's an interesting word when

you really think about it you know I love my

wife I also love steak Those are two very different

kinds of loves. You know, I don't normally desire

to cook my wife, nor do I normally desire to

grow old with steak. Though, if I'm being honest,

saying out loud, I do want steak to be a part

of my life until the day I die. I love steak.

I'm getting myself confused here. I love steak,

which means I like it. But I love my wife. When

I say I love my wife, what I mean there is I've

made a promise to her, the promise to forsake

all others, the promise to in as much effort

as I can to lay down my life for her. I am utterly

committed to her. That's the kind of love that

we have for our husbands and wives, don't we?

And that's more in line with the kind of love

that Paul is talking about here. Now, I'm sure

some of you know this. In the New Testament,

there are four main words that the Bible uses

for the word love. And we've got a word that's

for familial love, like love in the family. There's

a word that's for friendship love, love between

friends. And then there's a word for romantic

love and sensual love. But they are none of the

words that Paul uses here. Paul uses the word

which is the most common word used for love in

the New Testament, which is agape. There it is

on the screen, agape. It's the love that is all

about another person's... good. So it's not primarily

about feelings. Primarily, there is deep affection

involved, but I've got a little definition there.

It means a settled purpose to act in a way for

the good of someone else, regardless of their

response. In other words, it is saying, I am

going to choose to do good to this person, even

if they don't really like me, even if they don't

do the same for me. I am going to love them unconditionally.

I am going to act for their good. It's affections

that turn into actions to benefit someone else,

despite how they might respond or feel about

who I am. I think that's a really good definition.

That's a really solid definition. I didn't write

it. I'm not bragging. I've got this online somewhere.

That's a great definition of the word agape,

but I think the Bible has an even clearer definition,

actually. And it's... Letting the Bible, I think

we should let the Bible explain what this word

means. Let the Bible translate the Bible. 1 John

1 John 4:8

chapter 4 verse 8, it's on the screen. It's a

verse that just says, God is agape, God is love.

That's the kind of love that God is. And so what

we're talking about here in 1 Corinthians 13

is a kind of love, the kind of love that Paul

is calling the Corinthian church. Two, the kind

of love that he's saying, build your life on

this kind of love, it's the kind of love that

he's saying, you should love one another with.

It isn't simply romantic love. It's the kind

of love that God himself is. And it's really

important that we allow this passage now to challenge

us, to speak to us, and not all just come into

this room assuming that we know what love is.

Because we've heard these words read before.

Because I just think it's so easy for all of

us, wherever you're coming from, it's so easy

for all of us to think that we are building our

lives on this kind of love when actually we might

be in danger of building our lives in something

that's far away from the kind of love that we're

reading about here. And I don't say that to try

and be like click bae and get your attention

or try and scare anyone in the room. I'm saying

that because that's exactly what's happening

in the church in Corinth. Now let's just think

about this a minute. The Corinthian church, they

were a church like us in this room right now.

It was a body of people who were turning up every

week to worship God. They were serving in the

life of the church. Some of them were leading

in the life of their church. They could walk

the church walk and talk the church talk. You'd

walk in and go, wow, this church. This church

in Corinth, this is an amazing church. They totally

look like really brilliant, amazing followers

of Jesus. But as we've been seeing throughout

this letter, under the surface, we see that this

church, this young church, have actually started

to build their lives on failing loves. And I

think there are just two really common loves

that we do, that we see in this passage. that

there are two common loves that we can build

our lives on, that if we do it, they're gonna

fail us. So just look at verses one and two with

me. It'll be on the screen as well. I'll read

it again. Paul writes to this church and he says,

if I speak in the tongues of men or angels, but

do not have agape, do not have love, I'm only

a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I

have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all

mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith

that can move mountains, do not have love, I

am nothing. And here's the problem with the church

in Corinth. They were building their lives on

failing loves. The first thing I wanted you to

see is they were mistaking their giftedness for

grace. They're mistaking their giftedness for

grace. Let me unpack that. You know, chapter

13, it comes after, chapter 12 and it comes before

chapter, thanks for those of you who are joining

in here, 14 to make sure you're awake. After

chapter 12, before chapter 14, if you scan your

eyes either side there, what do you see those

chapters are about? They're all about the supernatural

gifts of the Spirit. So if you were here last

week, we were seeing how Paul was writing to

this church and he was talking about these abilities,

these supernatural abilities that come from God.

to build up the church and to unify the church

in the mission of making Jesus known. So he's

just been talking about supernatural gifts. He's

about to talk about supernatural gifts. And then

he just stops and goes, hey guys, let me just,

I'm feeling very romantic right now. Let's just

write a little poem about love. Why is it here?

Well, I don't think it's any coincidence that

it's here because he's writing to a church who

are super gifted, a really gifted group of people.

They had You know, amazing leaders. These were

guys who had heard the apostle Paul himself preach.

You know, far from what we're experiencing in

this room right now, St. Paul himself, they heard

his words. They'd seen amazing things happen

in their church. Supernatural things, healings,

miracles, prophecy. And for this young church

that has just heard about Jesus in this secular

city of Corinth, They're growing. Despite all

odds, the church is blowing up. More and more

people are coming to faith in Jesus. The reality

is, if this church was in Manchester, all of

us would be looking down the road at that church

and going, man, I would like to be them. And

let's be honest, some of you would go, see you

city, I found my new church. Because they were

an impressive group. But the big problem was,

ultimately... This group, this church, they were

far more interested in using their giftedness

to serve themselves instead of serving God and

serving one another. It's the absolute opposite

of agape love. You know, instead of a call to

sacrifice, a call to lay down for the benefit

of others, they were doing the absolute opposite.

They were trampling over others that they might

look. that they might look impressive. They wanted

people to look at them in the life of the church

and go, whoa, look at that guy prophesying over

there. Isn't he super amazing? Look at that preacher.

Isn't he like just the best? That's how they

were using their gifts. It was all about... Then

they want to come across spiritual. They want

to come across impressive. And so they were using

their gifts. Instead of pointing to God, the

one who has given them these gifts, instead they

were saying, hey, give me the glory. Give me

the praise because I'm pretty great. They were

mistaking their gifts for grace. Thinking that

because they looked impressive, because they

were doing and saying a lot of the right things,

then surely they're good. They're a healthy church.

They're good with God. And what does Paul say?

Look again, scan your eyes over verses one to

three. He's saying, you can have all the gifts,

church, even the amazing ones. You can have the

gift of tongues. You can have the gift of prophecy.

You can have the gift of faith, even faith that

can move mountains, whatever that means. He says,

but if you don't have love, you are nothing.

Really interesting. In the Greek. The word nothing

means nothing. Zilch. Emptiness. It's a pretty

bold thing that Paul writes here. And so he's

challenging this church. You are challenging,

sorry, you are building your lives on the wrong

kind of love. And just before we, I don't know,

judge them too harshly. let's allow this passage

to do what it's meant to do and let God's word

be like a mirror in our lives. That when we read

it, we allow it to shine into our lives and help

us see, well, who are we? Because when I read

this, I think, don't we all do this? Isn't this

me? Isn't this you to some degree? Don't we all

know what it's like to have that desire to fake

it till you make it? To really rely on your impressiveness,

to rely on your gifts, to rely on whatever you're

good at to get you through life. And worse than

that, we then bring that kind of thinking into

our relationship with God. We think we can try

and impress God. And we forget those words in

Matthew 15 where Jesus says to the Pharisees,

to the people who looked really impressive, but

actually underneath were empty. He says that

they honor God with their lips. but their hearts

are far from him. Let's just, you know, for me,

as I was in this this week, held this passage

up as a mirror in my own life. And I was thinking

about it with preaching. You know, right now,

I open this book and I have the opportunity to

speak words of truth, to try and help people

see the reality, the beauty of this book. And

yet there can always be this desire in the back

of your head going, man, I hope everyone in this

room likes me right now. I hope I don't upset

anyone. I hope I don't say anything stupid. I

hope, you know, I look good in front of people.

That's really dangerous ground. Really dangerous

ground for us. Because what that means is that

we're in danger of, I'm in danger of building

my life, building my confidence on the wrong

kind of love. I could build my confidence, build

my life on the love of people. The approval of

man rather than building my life on the selfless

agape love of God himself. My heart, your heart,

the Bible says, is actually really deceitful.

More deceitful than we probably realize. And

it will, your heart will put its love and it

will also look for love in all the wrong places.

We know this, don't we? I mean, how many of us

can testify to that fact that we have chased

after something in our life, looking for it to

fulfill us, looking for it to be the love that

we need in our lives, only to find at the end

that it was empty? It hurt us. It abandoned us.

It let us down. John Calvin was a famous Christian

in the Reformation, and he said that the human

heart is a perpetual idol factory. You know,

we can so easily, each of us, we can so easily

make idols out of our gifts and out of what our

gifts can get us. You know, we fake it to make

it. We use our gifts, we use our charm, we use

whatever we're good at to just get attention,

to get affection, to get admiration from people.

And when we do that, The danger is that those

then become the loves that are the driving force

of our lives. They become the thing that we build

our lives on. You know, I live for this kind

of love. This is what I'm about. And then actually

when I build my life on a love like that, then

I go out and that's how I love other people.

Because the love that I'm chasing is the love

that I'm then going to pass on. The love I build

my life on is the kind of love that is going

to come out of me at certain points. And so Paul

is writing to a group of people who are not that

dissimilar to us. And he's warning them in chapter

13. He's saying, hey church, don't mistake your

gifts for grace. Just because you're gifted in

the life of the church, just because church might

be doing really well, it doesn't necessarily

mean that your life is built on the unfailing

agape love. But also verse three, he says, don't

mistake service for salvation. Look at verse

three with me. You've got your Bible still open.

He says, if I give all I possess to the poor

and give over my body to hardship that I may

boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Now Paul's point is not only that you may be

gifted in your life. But you might be someone

who is outwardly ultra committed to really good

things. You could be like a 10 out of 10. Christian

on the outside. You are the hardcore member of

church who turns up early and leaves late because

you're so interested in serving. You're the one

who's serving on every team. You're stretching

yourself across the board. You're tithing even

more than that. You're not just giving 10%. You're

giving 20%. It's hurting you that much. I mean,

Paul says right there, you could be someone who

gives all that you have to the poor. I don't

know if anyone in this room has done that. If

you met someone who gave all they have to the

poor, you go, wow, what a compassionate, amazing

person. He says, you could give your body to

hardship. That literally means you could give

your body over to be burnt. That's what that

means. In other words, literally someone who

is ready to die, someone who's ready to be burnt

at the stake for being a member of your church.

He says, you can be that person. You can look

like that. Other people go, wow, look at that

lady. She's amazing. But we can easily mistake

all of this Christian activity and service for

a heart that is reliant on love. And Paul is

saying, no, no. Guys, it's possible. It's possible

to do loads of Christian stuff, loads of good

stuff. But without love, it's nothing. It's very

possible to outwardly look like you are building

your life on the right things, but inwardly,

you've never experienced or received the kind

of love that we're talking about. And so, let

me ask you the question again that we asked a

few minutes ago. What are you building your life

on? Whose love are you living for this afternoon?

Because here's the point I think Paul is making.

He's saying giftedness, activity, service, these

things that you're good at, all of those things

will fade away. Every single one of them will

fade away. Look at verse eight. He says, prophecies

will cease. Tongues will be stilled. Knowledge

will pass away. And if your life and if your

love is found in your own giftedness, And if

your confidence is found in your service, in

your abilities, in your commitment, then Paul

is warning you right now that those things will

fade. And as quickly as they fade, you will fade

as well. If your life, however, is built on God,

if it's built on this agape love, then you won't

worry. when gifts fade and when things change

because they were never the foundation of your

life anyway. Your life was built on something

much bigger, much better. But if you do, Paul

is saying, if you do choose to set your life

on you, your abilities, your gifts, your preferences,

then God, who is a good God, whether you believe

it or not, he will give you those things that

you chase after. I actually think one of the...

The most challenging, maybe the most scary verses

in all of the Bible is found in Romans 1, verse

Romans 1:24

24, where it says that God will give you over

to the desires of your heart. Maybe some of you

think, great, I know what my heart desires. I'd

love God to give me those things. But the point

that Paul is making here is there is a warning

here for every single one of us. If you build

your life, on the failing loves of this world,

then eventually they will fail you to the degree

that they can blind you from the fullness and

the majesty and the glory of what your life is

meant to be about. They can blind you and take

you away from God himself. And instead of calling

you to a life of fullness and glory, The failing

loves of this world will bring you into a world

of emptiness and nothingness. And so really,

1 Corinthians 13 is actually a really heavy passage.

We read it at weddings like, oh, that's lovely.

But really, I think when we get under the surface,

we see that far from being a love poem, it exposes

our desperate need for true love. And so it sets

us up nicely for me to ask us, I think, what's

probably one of the most important questions

we can ask ourselves. Where is true love found?

Where is true love found? And how can I go about

building my life on the kind of love that will

not hurt me, that won't abandon me, that will

never fail me? Because it's a real battle, right?

We're not talking about pie in the sky, Disney

princess movies here. We're talking about real

life, nine to five, raising kids, getting sick.

In all of those things, I want there to be a

love that won't fail me. I want my desire, I

want to build my life not on the love of this

world. I don't want the approval of man. I'm

battling against the idols of the flesh. Where

can I go to find true love? It's a real battle,

right? And maybe like Paul in Romans chapter

Romans 7 · chapter mention

7, we know what it's like to say, I have this

desire to want to do good. I have this desire

to want to know love and love like that, but

I can't do it. I can't do it. No amount of effort

is helping me build my life on a love that won't

fail me. My heart fails me all too often and

I want to change. But how? How? How can we change?

This is what I think the big secret, the big

uppercut of 1 Corinthians 13 is. Your love can

only change once you've been changed by love.

Your love can only change once you've been changed

by love. And this is a central claim to Christianity,

that it's only when you and I... in our brokenness,

in our weakness, in our lovelessness, is only

when we receive the love of God himself, when

we build our lives on a love like the one that's

being described here, only then can we move from

emptiness to fullness. It makes me think of those

words in John chapter 7, where Jesus is amongst

John 7 · chapter mention

the crowds, and he says to this group of people

who are looking for love, who are looking for

life, who are full of questions, he says, whoever

drinks living water, out of them will flow living

water. In other words, Jesus is saying, whoever

builds their life on the agape, on the love of

God, out of them, that kind of love is going

to flow. It's an amazing claim. And this is where

the Corinthians are getting it wrong. Because

no amount of giftedness in their church, no amount

of service could change them. The only thing

that is able to change their hardened hearts,

the only thing that's able to change the direction

of their lives is love. And what is this love?

Let's read it. Verses four to seven. 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. Here's something

I can tell you. None of us in ourselves are able

to love like this. person who this scripture

is truly about. And who is it? Who does this

sound a lot like? Who is it who is love is patient?

Who is it who says my heart is that none should

perish but that all should come to eternal life

in me? Who is it who is kind? Who when the woman

was caught in adultery he came alongside her

and instead of condemning her He loved her and

raised her up out of the mess of her life. Who

is it who is not envious, who does not boast,

who is not proud? Who is it who left the glory

of heaven itself, who came down off his throne,

who came down, humbled himself into this world,

born in a manger, born into the muck of life

for the benefit, not of himself, but of others.

Who is it who does not dishonor others, but instead

is the lifter of the lowly? He doesn't look down

on the weak and says, you disgust me. He lifts

them up. Who is it who is not self -seeking?

Who, for the joy set before him, endured the

cross? Who didn't live for his own glory, but

lived for the benefit of others? Who is it who

is not easily angered, but is slow to anger?

Who is rich in love? Who is compassionate? Who

is it who keeps no record of wrongs? Who is it

who says, I take your sin, I take your iniquity,

I hurl it into the depths of the sea and I will

never bring it up to stand against you ever again.

Who is it who does not delight in evil? Whose

hands have never typed the wrong thing on a laptop?

Whose words have never cursed? Whose feet have

never been quick to rush into an evil situation?

Who is it who rejoices with the truth? Who more

than that says, I am the truth. Come to me. Who

is it who always protects like a shepherd who

guides his sheep? through the valleys, even the

valley of death, keeping his sheep safe against

the wolves of this world? Who is it who always

trusts, who always hopes, who knows that there

is a glorious future ahead of us? Who is it who

always perseveres, even to the point of being

nailed on a cross where he bled and he died and

he endured the sin of this world? Who is it who

never Love has a name. And his name is Jesus.

That's who this passage is about. There is only

one place where we will find a love like that.

There is only one place where you and I can run

to to find a love that will not fail us. And

it's the love of Christ. And just two things

to wrap us up here. When we come into that kind

of love, when we run to that kind of love and

build our lives on a love like that, the first

thing is, it's a love that says, come as you

are. Come as you are. You know, Jesus doesn't

scan this world looking for the gifted people

of the world. Going, well, I'll have you on my

team. You know when you're a kid and you pick

one at a time for your football team? That's

not how Jesus operates. He doesn't look and say,

what can you offer me before I consider giving

you this love? You don't need to impress him

to get his attention. You know, that's Paul's

point in verse one there where he talks about

this clanging cymbal. He's talking about this

picture of pagan worship where the worshipers

would go to the temple and they'd over and over

again clang the cymbal to get the attention,

to wake the gods up, to say, hey, look at me,

look at me, look how great I am. We don't need

to do that with Jesus. This love says no. Just

come as you are. It's like the best host of the

best house. Don't bring wine. Don't bring the

dessert. Just come as you are. Don't even worry

about showering. In fact, Jesus goes beyond that

and says, not only do you not have to bring your

best to come to this kind of love, the credential

is bring your worst. Bring who you truly are

to him. Jesus says, come to me, all you who are

weary, heavy laden. guilty, carrying the weight

of this world. Come to me and I will give you

rest. Bring me your errors. Bring me your sin.

Bring your worst. That's what the love of Jesus

says. Come as you are. And secondly, it's a love

that covers the cost. You know, the Corinthians

were living like they could earn this kind of

love by their religious activity. Look how amazing

we are. Look how gifted we are. Look at all this

stuff we're doing. We're giving everything to

the poor. Some of us are even being burned at

the stake. And Paul's saying, no, that's not

how you get this kind of love. This love isn't

given at the cost of its receiver. This love

is given at the cost of the giver. Why? Because

it's an agape love. It's a cross -shaped love.

It's a love that has paid the price, that has

done the work. that you and I might be the receivers

of this love. It's a love that says, I love you

regardless of how you feel towards me. Just think

of those words in Romans 5, while we were still

sinners, while we were still running away from

this love, while we were still building our life

on the loves of this world, still, Jesus said,

still, I will go to the cross for you. Despite

how you feel towards me, here is love. So the

invitation is now rest in that love. Hear this.

Jesus cares very little about your gifts. He

cares a lot about your love. So rest in his love.

Don't try and impress him. His love is offered

to you at his expense. And here's why I'm going

to wrap up here. Here's why 1 Corinthians 13,

I think, is just so beautiful. Because this kind

of love that we're talking about here, it has

no end. Look at verse 13. Paul says, and now

these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But

the greatest of these is love. Why is that? Have

you ever stopped to really ask yourself, that's

the end bit of the wedding, isn't it? We all

go, that's lovely. What does it mean? Why does

he write that? Here's what I think it means.

Paul is saying, there is a day coming where you

won't need faith anymore. He's saying there is

a day coming where you won't need hope anymore.

Why? Because, he says it right here, we will

see him face to face. We will see him. All the

promises of God will be fulfilled in that moment.

And so we don't need faith anymore because we

can see him. We don't need hope anymore because

we are with him. But we will always have his

love. Love never ends. His love never fails.

It won't fail you then. And church, it won't

fail you now. God's love will never fail you.

And so just hear this as we close. Every other

love, according to the Bible, ultimately is going

to fail you. But there is only one love that

we can truly... Truly no, won't fail us because

it's the only love that has passed through death

and now stands in eternity. Not even death can

separate us from this love. And so let's close

with this question. Which love are you building

your life on? Which love is driving your life?

Because Jesus claims that there is a love available.

Whoever you are, whether it's your first time

in church or your millionth time in church, whether

you're coming from a strictly religious background

or you've never ever opened a Bible in your life,

Jesus' claim is that there is a love that is

available to you and it is a love that will never

fail you, will never leave you and never forsake

you. Don't you want to be loved like that? And

don't you want to learn to be able to love other

people like that? Then we can turn to Jesus.

We can call out to him. We can let go of the

failing loves of this world and we can build

our lives on the one love that will never, ever

fail. Let me pray for us. Oh Lord, we thank you.

We thank you that we can have confidence that

God, you are a God who loves us. We thank you

that you call people like me, people like us,

people who know what it's like. To chase after

the wrong loves of this world. To build our lives

in the wrong places. God, I thank you that you

have not abandoned us. And instead, in your love,

you call us to yourself. To turn to Jesus and

to build our lives in a love that will not fail

us. Oh Lord, I pray that your word now would

just be planted deep in our hearts. Lord, that

we would be assured of your love as we turn to

you. And Lord, that we'd be convicted of the

love that maybe, the loves that we've put in

the wrong place. God, help us to change. And

thank you that you have not abandoned us, but

you have given us yourself, that we may have

life and love and fullness. And so Lord, speak

to us now, even as we sing and as we pray. Come

and meet with us. We pray these things in your

name. Amen.