Love Takes Time—for Fellow Believers

My dear friends in Christ,

     How much time do we have? We could take that question two ways. How much time do we have here on earth? We don’t know the answer to that one. We’re here only as long as God gives us. How much time do we have each day? That’s easier to answer. 24 hours. 1440 minutes. 86,400 seconds. The amount of time we have each day doesn’t change. The question we will ask ourselves over the next three weeks is, “How does God want us to use our time?” How do we use our time with our fellow believers, for our neighbors, and for the Lord?

     Paul’s congregation in Corinth looked like a vibrant, growing congregation. They had plenty of money to maintain their ministry, and they had the opportunity to share some of that wealth with members who didn’t have as much. They also had a tremendous surplus of gifts and talents they could use to build up each other in their faith. Paul listed just a few of those spiritual gifts in chapter 12. Some had the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in different tongues, and interpreting tongues (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). With all these gifts, they were equipped to do everything God had called them to do. They could preach, they could teach, they could minister to the sick and suffering, they could reach out to different cultures in their neighborhoods, they could determine the difference between God’s truth and false teaching.

     The Lord gave these gifts for a purpose. Paul told them, "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7). For the common good—to benefit the entire congregation and continue sharing the good news about Jesus. Each gift that the believers received was to be used in harmony with all the other gifts they had received. Sounds like a great church to join, doesn’t it?

     Unfortunately, the members of the congregation weren’t taking the time to show love to each other. They were more interested in using the gifts they received for their own benefit. Some said, “I don’t need you! My gift is better than yours!” Their attitudes were causing yet another division in the congregation. It was an ugly scene when Paul wrote to them!

     God has blessed Salem with all the gifts we need to carry out our ministry. It’s tempting to think that our gifts aren’t as good as the ones the Corinthians had. We don’t have the gift of speaking in tongues, or healing. That’s not really true. God has given us those gifts. We have members who are able to speak a different language—a valuable gift when you meet someone in the store who doesn’t speak English! We have members who work in hospitals and clinics to help people with their health and eyesight—a gift of healing. We have so many gifts here at Salem, and the Lord has given us all these individual gifts “for the common good”—to love each other and to build up God’s kingdom as we work together for our common good.

     The trouble begins when we, like the Corinthians, become dissatisfied with all the gifts we have. “I wish I could sing or play like… I wish I could give all the right answers in Bible study… I wish I could knit like… I wish I could rebuild a motor like…” Along the way, we forget about using the gifts we do have.

     We can also become overconfident in ourselves: “No one else can sing like me…work like me…get the job done like me…” and we hold ourselves up while we put others down. We criticize the job someone else did with their gifts and proceed to lay out how “we would have done it.” We whisper in the hallways and set the airways ablaze with “behind the back” comments about other members, teachers, pastors—our fellow believers.

     Neglecting our spiritual gifts is just as bad. We are able to use our talents to help, but we make excuses not to use them. We’re afraid. Someone might criticize me. I don’t have enough time. Or, I just don’t want to!

     There is tremendous potential for danger when we don’t use our gifts. The Bible describes our congregation as “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:7). We can end up tearing that body apart, limb from limb, with our hurtful words and our thoughtless actions, or with our refusal to do the work God has called us to do. It’s easy to point the finger at others, or simply ignore what God tells us this morning, but we need to look at ourselves and ask, “Have I taken the time to love my fellow believers or not?”

     The answer almost every time is, “No!” Without love, what do we have? Paul answered the question for us: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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 have not love, I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). We can be the greatest witnesses to the gospel, preach to thousands in stadiums across the world, but without love what are we? NOTHING!

     "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3). We can have a full wallet and bank account, give it all away and sacrifice ourselves to rescue someone else, but without love what do we have? NOTHING!

     Paul laid out God’s expectations for us in his letter to the Galatians. "The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other" (Galatians 5:14-15). On the outside Salem’s ministry can appear to be alive and thriving. Without love for each other, God tells us that we have NOTHING!

     What is love? It’s hard to define, because we use the word “love” to cover so much. We love our spouse and children. We love our friends. We love pizza or hot dogs. What is love? In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul used a special word for love. It’s the Greek word agape. That’s not romantic love, or the love between friends. Agape love is God’s love. It is unconditional, undeserved, and often unreciprocated. It’s love that loves us no matter what!

     Listen to how Paul used agape in verses 4-8. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Notice how he describes love with action words. That’s God’s definition of love. He put his love into action. We can see that love most clearly when we look at the Son he loved and sent to save us. Jesus is God’s love in action. Can you see him in these words?

     “Love is patient.” How many times did Jesus have to repeat what he said to Peter and the others?

     “Love is kind.” When a crowd of parents brought all kinds of fussy infants and high speed preschoolers to Jesus he said, “Let the little children come to me!”

     “Love does not envy.” Jesus never complained that he didn’t have the latest clothes or the newest technology. He was satisfied with simple things God gave to him—clothes on his back and food in his stomach.

     “Love does not boast…is not proud.” How many times do we hear Jesus deflect attention away from himself? "Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ" (Matthew 16:20).

     “Love is not self-seeking.” Jesus didn’t come to get the glory. He told his disciples, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

     “Love is not easily angered…keeps no record of wrongs.” Can we forget Jesus’ prayer as he was nailed to the cross? “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Jesus is agape in action!

      There’s one more key word from that section that we can’t miss. How many times did Paul say, “Love always…”? Four times! That’s exactly how Jesus loved us. He always loved us perfectly. He never messed up. He never left anyone unloved. His love drove him to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. John wrote in his first letter, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Jesus loved us with agape love by dying on that cross. He paid for our sins—for all of our unloving attitudes, unloving and hurtful words, and our loveless actions toward each other.

     Forgiven. Able to love. So, as Paul describes it, we can leave behind our childish ways and start living as mature believers who are able to and really do love our fellow believers. Let’s celebrate the gifts God has poured out on our congregation’s 835 baptized members. Let’s make a Spirit-filled effort to take each other’s words and actions in the kindest possible way. Take a moment to say “thank-you” to the people who have taken the time to show their love. Appreciate the hard work that others do, especially if it wasn’t done the way we would have done it. That’s how our love—agape love—can show itself in action. Look for ways to show your love just like Jesus showed it to us!

     When we take time to love our fellow believers, we are giving the one gift that will last. For a long time I puzzled over Paul’s words at the end of the chapter. "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). How could love be greater than faith and hope? Aren’t they all equal?

     Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). There’s a beautiful definition that covers both faith and hope. Both focus on Jesus. We know that he is our Savior and one day we will live with him in heaven. When we finally get there, faith and hope will be complete. We won’t need them anymore. Love, God’s agape, will continue forever. That makes it the greatest spiritual gift of all!

     Take time to love your fellow believers. When we take that time, we’re building relationships that will last much longer than a few years of sitting together in the pews, serving on a board or committee together, helping with Sunday School or VBS, or sitting together with friends at school. We’re building relationships that will last forever. Amen.