Hi. Again, let me welcome you to OnMission - we are so thankful that you are with us, following this blog and joining with us as we seek to truly know God.

If this is your first time reading, my name is Howard Edwards; I am an OnMission pastor, and, at least initially I will be the main contributor to this blog. But again, I extend an invite to anyone who might like to help research or contribute directly to this blog to feel free to contact me by email.

As we turn to God’s Word, let us pray:

Almighty God, our Father in Heaven: Give us eyes that see, we want to know You. Give us ears that hear, we need to hear Your Word. Give us hearts that Love, transform us so we might Love as You Love. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen

Scripture:

Now let us first turn to the Bible. We are reading from a letter written through Paul. Paul hated Jesus and Paul encouraged and participated in the violent murderous persecution of Christians in the few years after Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.

But astonishingly, God chose Paul, as Jewish a Jew as you could ever meet to preach the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus. Letters that God inspired through Paul form over 25% of the New Testament. Today we are reading from a letter to a congregation in Corinth.

Paul had taught the people of Corinth about Jesus, but something had gone wrong.

Instead of Loving God, people loved only what they could get from God or what He could do for them. They leveraged the Gospel for personal gain and fame.

For the people of Corinth worship had become a self-glorifying sensational experience; an emotional high. Prayer had become self-serving - a wish list of wants and expectations. 

For them, life in Christ had become about getting more out of the world and had very little to do with loving God.

So in this letter, the Church is confronted. God is saying, “look at yourselves - look at the stuff you are chasing after; the stuff you desire; the junk you worship.” Then God points us toward a better way - a way revealed when hearts and minds and souls are centered on God.

So today we hear the Word of God through a letter from this man Paul:

And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.

If I speak in the languages of men or of angels, but I do not have Love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I reveal truth, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains, but do not have Love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have Love, I receive no benefit.

Love is patient, Love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. And though now these three remain: faith, hope, and Love, the greatest of these is Love.

Today we are reflecting on an essential, yet rather misunderstood word.

When we understand this word, it binds the Scriptures together into a remarkable unity. The books of the Bible were inspired and authored by God. God’s Word was recorded in a variety of genres and languages, by men in remarkably varied religious, cultural, social, political and economic circumstances over a period of more than 1,500 years. Today we are reflecting on what, or more precisely Who, brings these texts into unity.

During WWII, the allies implemented a global deception strategy called “Bodyguard” to protect their top secret military activities. British prime minister Winston Churchill famously said, “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”

From the moment Eve desired that one fruit God had not given her, up until this very moment, we have been rebelling against God - fallen humanity has been at war with Him. And in this time of war, the word Love has been surrounded by a bodyguard of lies.

Today Love is used so casually to mean everything from devotion, desire and delight, to enthusiasm, elation and lust.

But Love, that Love that Jesus spoke of, the Love that God’s Law points us to - the Love revealed by the Prophets - the Love that is the very image of God - that Love has been obscured by a bodyguard of lies; it is diminished and misunderstood - ask 100 people, “What is Love?” How many would respond with God’s declaration that He is Love?

Yet this is the very crux of Scripture. The central Truth - God is Love.

Jesus said, this is how God Loved the world; He gave God the Son Jesus Himself - to lay down His life that we might live. 

Jesus defined His followers by Love - He said that when they Love God, their Love for His people will parallel and embody God’s everlasting lovingkindness - His Love will be revealed in them by their Love of others.

God is Love. Jesus said this truth is the key to hearing God’s Word clearly. Love is the lens through which Scripture’s Truth is perfectly revealed.

Consider the reading Cathy read for us today - twice we heard God is Love. It said if we don’t understand Love, we cannot know God. It said we Love, because God first Loved us - it said if we don’t Love others, we neither know nor truly Love God.

Consider these truths - their implications have eternal consequences.

Love is extraordinary in its implication. To Love is to embrace people with compassion, mercy and generosity - it is the epitome of selflessness, loving even to the point of dying so that others might live.

Love is a spectacular paradox - Love causes us to sacrifice ourselves in the service of God, only then to find God who is Love sacrificing Himself and serving us. This is the miracle of Love - as it is infinitely expended it is infinitely expanding. It sends us in compassion to comfort and supply the needs of others, only to find our greatest need supplied and our eternal debt paid.

We read 1 Corinthians 13 and heard an expansive, infinite illumination of Love … yet sadly, too often this text is enslaved to the mundane service of the bodyguard that surrounds Love.

How often have we sat, needing God; needing to know Him; needing to  know His Love, only to hear platitudes like:

"In 1st Corinthians 13 we find practical advice for us and our relationships ..."

"This is how we must be more loving..."

"Today we will look at 16 ways to improve your love life ... "

"Replace the words “Love” and “it” in this passage with your name and read it aloud. Paul is talking about you!"

NO - no he's NOT.

I was created to bear the image of God - but I am not that - the image is tarnished - I am a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness and restoration - so when He did what He did for each of us, when His acts of Love revealed Who He is and because of His Love He offered to just wipe the slate clean, how could anything remain the same? How could we not be reshaped and reformed and restored by Love that gives all and seeks nothing more in return than to be received. God is Love. Paul is pointing us to the image and nature of God. Will you receive Him?

Replace the words “Love” and “it” in 1 Corinthians 13 with “God” then read it aloud. This is God… do you know Him? This is the God OnMission wants you to meet and come to Love.

1 Corinthians 13 inspires us to look outward and upward - to see God, to Love Him.

As we reflect on Love we encounter a multi-leveled, multi-directional, multifaceted truth - Love evokes Love and elicits Loving. This is the miraculous impact of Love on the life of Christians. It is why God’s Christ, the Christian and the Church are known and recognized by Love.

Still many people will ask, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to follow Jesus? But at the core of this question are the words “must” and “do”, so sadly when we ask this question it reveals we have missed the point.

Love is not a duty - it describes where we are heading and is the perfect depiction of the One who awaits us there. Love is a glimpse of Heaven - a glimpse of that future reality of life with God that is given to us here and now. As the Christ follower Loves, they practice, experience and anticipate eternal life with God.

When a person knows Jesus, they will Love because God Loves. Love defines, inspires and guides everyone reborn in Christ. The impact of Love is an attitude and nature centred on God; it is the very mindset of Christ!

The natural instinct of any Christian is obedience to God. Jesus tells us all the Law and the Prophets depend and are grounded in Love; so what we “MUST DO” actually becomes a non-issue - it's irrelevant - a Christ follower naturally Loves and desires to live life as Jesus did - Loving God - that is worshipping Him in every word and deed - Loving others as God Loves them. So, Laws and commands become obsolete. To command a Christian to obey or Love would be like commanding their heart to beat.

Love causes the Christ-follower to lift their gaze above and beyond this world and to fix their eyes on Jesus. And paradoxically, Love is the end of the Law because Love is the perfect fulfillment of the Law.

This is the impact of Love - hard hearts become tender hearts - those deaf to God’s Word can hear it - eyes blinded by desire for the things of this world are opened to the brilliance and glory of God - Love eclipses any mortal devotions, desires or delights - and so Love rules and the Christ follower, they Love because God Loves.

Amen


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