This is a sermon that was given on Valentine's Day 2021 and focused on the phrase, "Love never fails," in 1st Corinthians 13:8. It emphasizes the importance of remaining committed in one's marriage and in one's spiritual relationship with Christ. A video recording of the worship service in which this message was preached can be viewed here.
Written Excerpts:
1 Corinthians 13:8 (NKJV) Love never fails. But whether there
are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will
cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
Introduction:
(Today's Best Illustrations)
Just before Valentine's Day, my construction superintendent husband,
Bill, casually asked me the name of my favorite perfume. "Sand and
Sable," I said, pleased I was getting more than just candy. With that
vital information, Bill confidently approached the clerk in the Penney's
perfume department and asked, "Could I have a bottle of Sand and Gravel,
please?" — Marion R. Hocking, Christian Reader, "Lite
Fare."
My husband and I were driving toward our rural home when I spotted
three deer about to cross in front of us. Noticing that my husband wasn't
slowing down, I reached over, gently touched his arm, and said, "Honey...
deer." He still didn't slow down, so I repeated more firmly,
"Honey... deer!" Suddenly, he hit the brakes, veered, and managed to
miss all three. After I caught my breath from our near-miss, I asked him why he
hadn't paid attention when I warned him. "Warned me?" he said.
"I thought you were being romantic." — Patricia Beecher, Horseheads, Christian
Reader
It was Father's Day and my Sunday school class of five-year-old boys
was working on homemade cards. I suggested they draw a picture of something
their father liked—maybe golf balls, a fishing pole, a pet. One youngster
raised his hand. "May I draw a picture of my mom? My dad sure likes her a
lot!" — Clara Null, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Christian Reader
Some people just don’t really understand what it means to love. I read
a story about…
(Illustrations Unlimited.) A woman was suffering from depression, so
her concerned husband took her to a psychiatrist. The doctor listened to the
couple talk about their relationships, and then said, "The treatment I
prescribe is really quite simple." With that he went over to the man's
wife, gathered her up in his arms, and gave her a big kiss. He then stepped
back and looked at the woman's glowing face and broad smile. Turning to the
woman's husband, he said, "See! That's all she needs to put new life back
into her." The clueless husband said, "OK, Doc, I’ll try to bring her
in on Tuesdays and Thursdays for more treatments."
(Sermonillustrations.com) Love
at first sight is easy to understand. It’s when two people have been looking at
each other for years that it becomes a miracle. – Sam Levenson, You Don’t Have to Be in Who’s Who to Know What’s
What
Similarly, we might say it is understandable when two people stand at
the marriage altar and promise, “I Do.” It’s truly amazing when after 20, 30,
40+ years they can say, “I Still Do!”
I believe the most appropriate passage of Scripture we can use to emphasize that point is 1 Cor. 13:8 “Love never fails…” Some of you might remember that I did a short series of messages about 5 years ago on “Biblical Principles for Marriage.” It turned out that the 6th and final message of that series also occurred on Valentine’s Day – 2016. To begin today, I want to share some of the same thoughts that I shared then regarding the subject of love.
What is love anyway?
* I’m sure most of us have heard about the three kinds of love expressed
by three common Greek words, eros (erotic, sensual, lust), philia
(family affection, kindness and compassion toward another), and agape
(divine love, self-sacrificing, unconditional).
Eros – sensual love; the word from which we get the word “erotic.” It
centers on outward attractiveness and arousal of sensual, pleasure-seeking
motives. It focuses more on the fulfillment and satisfaction of the one who
“loves” rather than the one “loved.” - This word does not appear in the N.T.
Philia – familial (family) love; the bond of affection that exists
between family members. It enjoys the emotional attachment and joy that
develops through the bond that exists with the one loved. It includes strong
friendship. On a few occasions in Scripture, depending on the context in which
it is used, it also implies physical intimacy.
Agape – divine love. It is the kind of love that is unconditional,
self-sacrificing, and committed. It is focused on the benefit of the one loved.
In all of the books and articles written about love, I suspect there
are probably just about as many different definitions of love as there are authors,
maybe more!
Love is that funny feeling you feel when you feel that you have a feeling you have never felt before. (Phillips' Treasury of Humorous Quotations) Well, that clears it up doesn’t it?
(The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) - While the
Hebrew and Greek words for "love" have various shades and intensities
of meaning, they may be summed up [like] this: Love, whether used of God or
man, is an earnest and anxious desire for and an active and [benevolent]
interest in the well-being of the one loved.…
Listen to these definitions that various authors have offered. Most of
them really describe what Paul was talking about in 1 Cor. 13.
C. S. Lewis – Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.
M. Scott Peck – Love is an
action, an activity. It is not a feeling.
Margaret Anderson – In
real love you [desire] the other person's good. In romantic love you [desire]
the other person.
Madeleine L'Engle – Agape
love is... profound concern for the well-being of another, without any desire
to control that other, to be thanked by that other, or to enjoy the process.
How long does love last?
Everything we have stated so far
helps us understand what the Apostle Paul was getting at in the description of
love in
First Corinthians 13:4-8 Love
suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself,
is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its
own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in
iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love
never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether
there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish
away.
Four phrases in these verses that give us the indication of how long love lasts. Love suffers long…. bears all things… endures all things… Love never fails.
“fail” – lit. to fall, fall off,
or drop; fig. to lose effectiveness, become inefficient. (A.T. Robertson) “love
survives everything.”
The filial type of love can
suffer pain, injury and even death after the prolonged cruelty from a loved
one. But agape love still survives, because it is not based on the worthiness
of the one loved, only on the deep desire for the benefit of the one loved.
When a man and a woman stand at the wedding altar before the minister, they hear words similar to this: Jack, do you take Jill to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in the holy covenant of marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others keep yourself only unto her, so long as you both shall live? If so, answer, “I do.”
I assume that nearly every couple standing at the marriage altar fully intend to honor these promises for the rest of their lives. But, just like the Christian life, marriage isn’t “a sprint.” It is “a marathon.”
It’s much easier to say “I Do”
when standing at the altar with nothing but hopes and dreams about the future. It’s
not as easy to say “I Still Do” years later when there is sickness, financial
disaster, job loss, or any number of other adverse situations that potentially bring
trouble into the relationship.
Similarly, it’s easy to promise the Lord we will faithfully love and serve Him when we first bow in prayer to confess our sins and accept His sacrifice in our behalf. It is quite another matter to passionately love Him and serve Him years later when there has been trouble, adversity, opposition, and heartache. There may be many circumstances and situations in a marriage that cause one or both spouses to doubt the phrase, “Love never fails.”
Is it possible for filial love to survive everything too? (i.e., the love between spouses, or other family relationships.) Yes, only if it is truly mixed with the divine (agape) love. It is not in our human ability, but only as we are filled with God’s love that is “shed abroad in our hearts” (Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.) It will not survive automatically.
Love will last longer when we intentionally
take steps to nurture it.
There are many passages of
Scripture in the Bible, esp. the NT, that give admonitions to husbands and
wives, which will help nurture love and keep it alive.
Ephesians 5:21-33 Compares
love between Christ and church with love between husband and wife.
v. 21 “submitting to one
another”
Ephesians 5:22 (NKJV) Wives,
submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:25 (NKJV) Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
Colossians 3:18 (NKJV) Wives,
submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
1 Peter 3:7 (NKJV) Husbands,
likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the
wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of
life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
Submission, sacrificial love,
understanding, and honor are all important elements for keeping love alive.
Today's Best Illustrations – My
son-in-law, Alan Jones, told me a story of a Hassidic rabbi, renowned for his
piety. He was unexpectedly confronted one day by one of his devoted youthful
disciples. In a burst of feeling, the young disciple exclaimed, "My
master, I love you!" The ancient teacher looked up from his books as asked
his fervent disciple, "Do you know what hurts me, my son?"
The young man was puzzled.
Composing himself, he stuttered, "I don't understand your question, Rabbi.
I am trying to tell you how much you mean to me, and you confuse me with
irrelevant questions." "My question is neither confusing nor
irrelevant," rejoined the rabbi. "For if you do not know what hurts
me, how can you truly love me?" — Madeleine L'Engle in Walking on
Water.
This illustration applies to marital love and Christian love. If we do
not know our spouse or our Lord well enough to know what hurts them, then we
cannot really love them.
Love and the Christian Life
Revelation 2:4 (NKJV)
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first
love.
(Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown
Commentary) “…thirty years had elapsed since Paul had written his Epistle to
them. Their warmth of love had given place to a lifeless orthodoxy. Compare
Paul's view of faith so called without love, 1 Co 13:2. “If I have all faith so
that I can remove mountains…”
(Albert Barnes) In this respect
they were in a state of declension; and though they still maintained the
doctrines of his religion, and opposed the advocates of error, they showed less
ardor of affection towards him directly than they had formerly done.
Am I as passionate about serving Christ today as I was years ago? As I stated earlier, it’s easy to promise the Lord we will faithfully love and serve Him when we first bow in prayer to confess our sins and accept His sacrifice in our behalf. It is quite another matter to passionately love Him and serve Him years later when there has been trouble, adversity, opposition, and heartache. Essentially, we are saying, “Lord, I still do!” To keep our love genuine and passionate for Christ we must nurture it.
Conclusion:
We have talked about divine love (agape) as the love that is not
seeking what it can get, but seeking to provide what is needed and beneficial
for the one loved.
When we talk about loving the Lord, it is obvious that He needs nothing,
so how can we seek to provide what is needed for the benefit of the One we
love?
1. When we do anything that brings glory to Him. Think of the number of
times in the ministry of Jesus when He did something, and it says the people
“glorified God.”
2. Jesus said, whatever you do for the least of these my brothers you
do unto me.
3. We also want to emphasize the fact that the love of God for us never
fails either!
Closing Song: More Love to Thee
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