Jack Graham - All You Need is Love
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There is no person that God cannot save! There is no promise that God will not keep! There is nothing that our God cannot do! I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This is our message series THE WAY HOME. And we know Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life" and He brings us home to Himself and to one another. Yes, it is a loveless, hateful world, but God has given us love and that love is not a human love: it is a love that lasts. God said, "I've loved you with an everlasting love". He said, "My love will never let you go, my child".
And so we are held in the hope of Jesus Christ. The greatest thing in the world, the most powerful force in the world is love. Greater than hate is love! Especially God's love! I love the music of Hal David and Burt Bacharach back in the day. In the 60's and the 70's. Like, "I Say a little Prayer for You" and I can't think of the rest of them right now, but the one I've never forgotten was "What the World Needs Now is (what?) Love, Sweet Love".
Well, that song endures, and it's a great sentiment for sure. "What the world needs now is love, sweet love". And yet, it's a world in which there's so little of it, it seems. And what the world really needs is God's love, God's sweet and saving love. The greatest power on earth is the power of love that has brought us together; it's His family. And it's a church family, we are committed to developing and discipling godly families and marriages that honor Christ; and thus, this marriage and family series. We want to raise up a new generation and generations to come, We love families, we love you, we love one another.
We do this... why? Because we love people, we love babies, yes, we love babies in the womb and out of the womb. We love children. because sometimes we get the criticism that all we care about in the pro-life so-called movement, that all we care about is babies in the womb, or babies who are born and then we forget about them. That's not the truth. We care about children of all ages and those children that are born are blessed so often to be a part of this church or an adoption process, or in the foster care ministry and it's a lie from the pit of hell to say that Christians that care about life don't care about all children.
And we have a problem in the nation: 400,000 children who seem to be unwanted, but we know because of God's love that every child is wanted! And so it's the call of Christ and it's the call of the people of Jesus to be engaged in this process, why? We say that we are pro-life in our belief, in our faith, our biblical world view, yes, and we are pro-love in our actions. So all you need is love, thank you, John and Paul. All you need is love, thank you, John and Paul, not the apostles, but the Beatles. Jesus has called us to love one another. He said, "as I have loved you".
And what is the love of Christ? It is the love of the cross which is agape love. Now, if you've been around the church or around your Bible a little bit, you know there are multiple words for love in the Bible and in the ancient world. But the primary love spoken about in the Bible is agape love, which is the sacrificial love of God; it is a love that lays down its life. This is how we love; that we are willing to lay down our lives for one another. And this, of course, starts in our homes, in our families and marriages. And the marriages who make it, lifelong marriage are authentic because love is authentic. Love is real and love is resilient and love is ready to serve. And love is righteous in that it comes from God. It is the love of God that never lets go, that keeps going.
And so this is why we say it's never too late for your marriage, it's never too late for your family. Your marriage is worth fighting for. Whatever it takes to keep going. Why? Because the Bible says love never fails, and that's a word, Love never fails which literally means love never fades like a flower. And so how are we to love? There are multiple, multiple commandments and admonitions to love in the Scripture. But 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is one of the most powerful and personal passages and chapters in all of the Bible.
So what we're going to do is read it. Because what you have in 1 Corinthians 13 under the inspiration, word by word of the Holy Spirit, you have the lyrics of love, you have a song about love. Think about all the love songs that have been written. Well, this is the greatest of all. Someone even described 1 Corinthians 13 as an expression of the Sermon on the Mount. That the verses that we find from Paul here amplify what Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount.
What I do know about 1 Corinthians 13 is that it is a portrait of Jesus Himself, a portrait of Christ. When you read 1 Corinthians 13 and you're like me, it's intimidating because I know I can't love like this; I don't love like this at all times. But I know someone who does love like this and that is Jesus Himself. And if this is a portrait of love, and that's what it is, then the only one who can sit for this portrait with perfection is Jesus Himself. So when you read the word love you can just insert the name Jesus as well because of His love.
Verse one says: "If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Here we're about to see the priority or the preeminence of love over anything else. If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Life without love is nothing; it's a big zero! It doesn't matter how much you own, how much your wealth, your health, your accolades, your applause; if you don't have love, it's a zero! It adds up to nothing! Verse 3: If I give away all I have, and deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient".
Now watch this because we're about to see in the next verses the practice of love. If the first part of the passage is just the preeminence, the priority of love over all other things, then here is the practice of love. And you're about to read 15 admonitions. They are all verbs. Why? Because love is a verb. Love is something you do; love is so much more than a feeling. This is how people get it upside down. You know, like the one fellow who said, "What is love"? He said, "Well, you know, love is the feeling that you feel like you're gonna feel when you never have felt a feeling just like that".
Well, that kind of love is shallow and sentimental. It doesn't last. But real love is a verb that acts. It's not static; it's active. So there are 15 of these: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth". And then we see the perseverance of love: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things". And then we see the permanence of love in verse 8: "Love never ends" or "love never fails".
And that is the outline of the passage. I want you to think as I briefly walk you through this little passage: What if your marriage looked like this? What if your relationship as husbands and wives, parents and children lived this love? It says, first of all, love is patient. It's longsuffering; it doesn't have a short fuse; it's not irritable or constantly critical. But love is always, always giving and serving. Why? Because love is longsuffering; it puts up with a lot. It doesn't quit when things go wrong. It's longsuffering. We give one another a break. You don't expect perfection. Then love is kind.
Too many people see kindness, especially men, kindness they see as weakness. After all, it's the survival of the fittest that win. No, we value courage and standing strong. And we need men, I know some men today are called toxic simply because they're courageous and strong. We value courage and standing strong, but kindness is powerful. Kindness is strength. It is the love that moves us to be kind and courteous to people who are weak or people who are hurting or people who are difficult and demanding. The word kind here has its root word useful. Love is useful. It acts of love and ministry and service and in kindness. It is kindness that can heal the hurts of the world, and this is what love is.
And this is what love does. Kindness. It's the sweetness and the blessing of a man and a woman who treat one another as Christ would treat us. And then on the negative side, he says, love is not jealous. It is love that makes it impossible for us to be envious of others; to be competitive with one another. In the marriage relationship, as the Scripture teaches us that "Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church" and "wives are to be submissive to their husbands as unto the Lord".
And so in this marriage relationship we are not to be competitors but completers. In the marriage relationship there is never to be infighting and struggling as to who is in charge, or jealousy. Love celebrates in a general sense the celebration of others. It cheers one another on. Deb Graham is my greatest cheerleader, and I hope she feels the same encouragement from me. We cheer one another on. We're not jealous of one another. We're not constantly bickering or fighting. In a grateful heart, you want to know how to get rid of envy in your life, and that competitiveness that wants to run over people?
The way to beat jealousy is to be grateful to God for all that He's done for me. Therefore, I can cheer on what God does for you. So we're not jealous of others, we're not envious of others, including our own spouses. Love is humble. Where it says in verse 6 that "it does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices in the truth". Love is not soft regarding right and wrong, good and evil. No, love is tough, but it is tender. We speak the truth in love. But it is humble. Love and pride are the opposite. Pride is a word which means here a windbag or a blowhard. You don't boast; you're humble. To be boastful is to be a know-it-all; to think you always have the right answer.
I'm especially telling young couples, I say this to husbands of all ages: you can either right all the time or you can be happy. What is it about us, we think we have to be right, I do! This is one of the biggest flaws in my life. I think in a discussion with my beloved, I think I always have to win the argument. You don't always have to be right, if you want to be happy. But to be boastful. Empty trucks make the most noise and so do empty brains. Love is not egotistical or self-centered, but humble. Humility is genuine. It's not thinking lowly of yourself but it is not thinking of yourself. It is getting your mind on Christ and the people you love.
Verse 5 says love is not rude. Rudeness and crudeness is a way of life for so many people today. And the word rudeness here; it means behavior that is unbecoming, behavior that is crude and rude whether it is our words or our deeds. I'm trying to figure out a way to say this other than the way I'm going to say it, but rudeness is... not to be rude, just don't be the north end of a southbound horse. That's what I'm trying to say. Unbecoming behavior, starting with your marriage.
So often we treat the people we love the most with the most criticism, the most crudeness and rudeness. Love I like to think, is shown in the little things. Love in the little things. It's taking your loved one, your husband, your wife by the hand and just holding it. I saw an older couple walking down the street yesterday. I was walking Rowdy, trying to keep him under control. And this older couple came along and they were older than me for sure, and they were holding hands. I thought what a beautiful picture. Just a couple. No body was watching. They just still holding hands after all those years. I don't know how many years. Just being kind and doing the little things.
When's the last time, guys, you opened the car door for your wife? Oh, I guess that means none. I heard nothing I plead guilty; I don't do that enough. Somebody said, "If you see a man opening a car door for a woman, it's either a new car or a new wife". So, don't be rude! Don't be crude! Be at your best. I mean, even around the house, don't be rude, don't be sloppy, don't lay your stuff on the ground in front of somebody else. Guys, pick up your underwear; just pick it up. It's rude; it's crude.
Alright. Love is unselfish. Verse 5, "it does not insist on its own way". We're constantly battling self, aren't we? So in order to live this kind of love, I have to die to myself. The way up in that is down for the loving Christian. I have to get on my knees and surrender my will to the will of God. Jesus is the greatest example of this: "for the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve". Love, verse 5, "is not irritable or resentful". You're not in a state of constantly being ticked off or thin-skinned. We often lose our testimony with unbelievers in the world because we're so irritable constantly. We don't treat people well. And you can't afford to lose your temper.
Some people just lose their mind, and they don't have that much to lose, in the way that they treat other people. Love is the cure. Carl Menninger, a great psychologist of yesteryear, said, "Love is the greatest medicine on earth". But one final thing and I'll close this message. Love conquers; it never fails. With all these expressions of love, it is love that endures; it is love that is authentic. An authentic love is fail-proof. Authentic love will fail-proof your marriage. It is patient, it is kind; it responds, it doesn't react to everything; kind to people who are critical of you and unkind to you and difficult towards you and difficult and demanding.
Love (final point) endures these tough times. Love endures tough times. And everybody in here at one time or another, maybe even right now, your marriage is going through some tough things. Deb and I were married when we were both 19. We were college sweethearts. Probably too young, but it's worked out after all these years later. But we have one thing, we had a love for God and therefore, that love in us. It was love for one another and the calling that God placed upon our lives. But you know, the first five years they say are the toughest in a marriage; just getting started. And many marriages break up early.
Well, our marriage got tested early on. Many of you know our story. My father was brutally murdered the summer that Deb and I got married. We went through that. About a year, 18 months later, Deb's father, Doyle Peters, wonderful man. I loved her daddy as she loved her daddy. He was diagnosed with melanoma cancer. He was gone in about six months. Forty-three years of age. Within a couple of years, my mother, brokenhearted from the loss of her husband, my dad, died of a sudden coronary, a heart attack. She died of a broken heart, no question. So in the first five years of our marriage, we said goodbye to three of our parents.
What some of you don't know about us, Deb had, we had three or four miscarriages in the first five or six years of our marriage. So we went through some tough times. God tested us at the start. And I can tell you that the testing of our faith and the testing of our love made us stronger together. Unfortunately, over the years as a pastor I have seen couples give up when the going got tough. When the house is on fire; it burned down because they didn't persevere and keep going. It's been said, if you're walking through hell, just keep walking; go through.
So many people when they're going through it, they just quit. Some people, they give up when the house is on fire because they can't take the heat. But God tests your marriage as He said, so we're not unusual. I don't tell you that story about us as a sob story, but only to relate to the fact that all of us go through things in life. And I guarantee if not already and yet to come, others, we all will be tested in our love. Love will be tested. But I'm happy to say that I've seen multiple, multiple, multiple, many, many marriages in the fire go through it and get through it and grow through it!
Jesus talked about this to change the metaphor. When the storms come, when you're walking through a storm, Jesus said, "The rain falls on the just and the unjust". It comes to anybody. "In this life you will have tribulation". There are going to be tough things. What are some of these tragedies? Illness, financial ruin, a prodigal child, alcohol addiction, drug addiction, physical handicap. Job lost and unemployment. The death of a child. A spouse who doubts God or leaves the faith. Depression, disrespect, disagreements, infertility. Bad choices that a spouse may make. Satan himself attacking your marriage. We all will be tested. It's not a matter of if but a matter of when!
And for some of you, it's right now. Your marriage will be tested. But what holds you together when everything else is trying to tear you apart is a total commitment to Christ and to one another. Marriage is not a 50-50 thing; it's one 110 percent and 110 percent together. Our marriage is our most important commitment in life. More than your buddies, more than your hobbies, more than your career, more than your money, more than your achievement, more than applause, more than your kids even, and your grandkids is your marriage.
It's what holds you together when the kids are gone or when life tumbles in is your love for one another. And that love trusts God and trust one another. It's the trustworthiness that says, "I'm here to stay no matter what". "Love never fails". The Bible says "A three-fold cord is not easily broken". That three-fold cord, I tell young couples as I prepare them for marriage, is the man, the woman and Christ.
A three-fold cord will not be easily broken. And every problem we face is an opportunity to grow closer together; to get stronger in our unity; to get better, not bitter. So don't allow the trials of your life, whether they're today or tomorrow to drive you apart. Help them to drive you to Jesus and to one another. Love finds a way. The love of Jesus is the way. And the love of Jesus triumphs. Christ is God's proof of His love for you. "That God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".