Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Tuesday,
What is the ONE, most significant word, in every language in the world? I think it’s LOVE! And if you are a Christian, would you agree that “LOVE” is the centerpiece word of the Christian faith? Have you ever tried to paraphrase the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, as you understand it?
Here’s my attempt today: “Because Almighty, Creator, Holy God LOVED the human race so extravagantly, He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to live among us and teach us God’s truth. And because Holy God was unwilling to see all humanity perish for all eternity, because of our sinful rebellion against Him, including our rejection of His truth, God sent His Son Jesus to the CROSS, to pay our sin debt price by becoming our atoning sacrifice with His death. So that whoever would recognize God’s extravagant LOVE and repent of their sin, trusting Jesus’ death to be sufficient payment for their sin, would be delivered from their sin condemnation and drawn into an eternal life, love relationship with God!“ Wow! May I urge you to take a moment, with pencil in hand and write your own version of John 3:16 as you understand the outrageous LOVE of God?
Today we’ve arrived at what many people call ‘the love chapter’ in the Bible. Do you know which chapter I mean? We’ve been looking at the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Christians in the big city of Corinth, in the mid first century. He has been addressing some serious and controversial issues which were sadly building a bad reputation for these first Christians, in that crazy city filled with many religions. Clearly Paul was overwhelmed when he considered the outrageous love of God for sinful, decadent, wicked humanity.
God not only creates and births each person, but God also sustains each person’s life by keeping their heart beating and their lungs breathing, every moment. Yet so many people use every waking moment to pursue their own pleasure and ignore God or reject any notion that God even exists. Wouldn’t it be considered justice if God simply let humanity’s wickedness go out of control as they slaughter each other, ending the human experiment?
Yet instead, God poured out His justice wrath on His own sinless Son Jesus, so wicked humanity could have a chance to be set free from their sin bondage!! In fact the unreasonable reality of God’s LOVE is a major theme with all the Biblical writers, drawing humanity to give serious consideration to the HOPE we can find in God as we receive and respond to God’s unimaginable, unconditional, consistent LOVE reach to us!
That’s why the apostle Paul wrote this about himself: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy…the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst…I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life…” (1 Tim. 1:12-17) Because of this, Paul was convinced one of the powerful, convincing evidences of the genuine, transforming, salvation work of the Holy Spirit in a Christian should be the LOVE of God seen in their lives, heard in their words, and experienced in their selfless service. Pause. Did you get that? Do you agree with that?
So as Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 13 it is such a powerful and carefully crafted treatise on Godly love we’ll take two or three days to try and dig deeply to grasp as much as we can of what Paul was being led by the Holy Spirit to write. Paul began: “If I speak in the tongues of men or angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Cor. 13:1) While we’ve probably all heard the droning on and on of voices we try hard to ignore, we’ve also heard eloquent speakers, we’ve heard tender loving voices, and we can only imagine what angelic voices sound like.
Sadly, we also have too often heard voices which have wounded us, intimidated us, offended us. Voices we have tried hard to forget or ignore or avoid. Those voices are worse than loud noise, they are like deadly weapons which wound our soul deeply. Pause for reflection. Is your voice welcome by ALL who hear it, because you speak truth in love, wrapped in grace and mercy? Or is your voice ignored or rejected or silenced? Or is your voice a wounding voice, harming other people?
I think it would be wise to stop right here, but I leave you with this powerful statement, also written by the apostle Paul, about our voices: “Let not any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building up others, according to their needs, that whatever you say may benefit those who listen.” (Eph. 4:29)
The ‘lessons learned’ reflection questions and study notes at the link just below will be very helpful to you, and I know the worship song will bless your soul as it calls us to recognize that “Not one Word of God has Changed” and I’ll be here with my Bible open to 1 Corinthians 13, waiting for you tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: 1 Cor. 13:1
Choose below to read or listen.
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Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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