March 28, 2021
Sunday AM
1 Corinthians 13
There is a difference between natural human love and divine love. Christians usually intermingle the two and mistake one for the other. They are not the same by no stretch of the imagination. You can’t generate what doesn’t originate in you. Just because you want to love people with the kind of love God gives, does not mean you can generate it out of your own will. You have to have His help. It’s something you have to have help with daily. You have a capacity to pool and hold the love of God. If you’ll go there daily and get your tank filled up, when you go out into the world, you’ve got something that other people don’t have. Even Christians that don’t make that effort. So, you can’t generate what doesn’t originate. That’s why Satan cannot create, he can only imitate.
In verse 3 of this chapter, He is demonstrating how strong human love can be. Many people can give a lot out of their own human love. But, human love, ultimately, will let you down. It has its limits. Divine love does not have limits. It will come through for you. What our natural human love can’t do, God’s love can do. God IS love. We have been born of God, so we have His love in us. It was given to us when we became born again. We only need to take the time to develop it. You must water the seed of Agape so that it can grow up and take over the old man. Ephesians explains it as, “taking off the old man, and putting on the new.” You don’t do that from the outside in, you do it from the inside out. It is supernatural. With your own natural human ability, you are not able to live the Christian life like the bible says. You have to have God’s super on your natural. You can’t do it with human sufficiency. It does not matter how talented or gifted you are. You don’t have the ability to live the Christian life like God has designed us to live it. You have to have His help! Love does not come and find you; you must pursue it.
Worship will bring everything that God is, into your life. Faith, hope, and love. These things will remain forever! If we had went after love like we have gone after faith, we would be miles down the road ahead of what we are now. Most of your faith problems, are actually a love problem. Jesus spoke to that himself and said, “If you speak to the mountain, but you are in doubt, you need to fix the doubting.” Many times, our faith isn’t working because of the love issues in our heart! That’s where worship comes in. Worship will fill your spirit to the degree, that it will spill over into your soul, where the fears and doubts are, and the love will take it over. The love of God will trump anything. In order to be moved by compassion, you have to be full of compassion. You can only be moved by what you’re full of. You can get full of anything you want to get full of. Yourself, pride, fear, etc. Or you can be full of love, faith, and power. You can be full of confidence in a God that can take care of you in the midst of anything. The whole world could be collapsing around you and you know that your God will take care of you because of what’s going on inside of you. God’s word is like a hammer. Wisdom is knowledge pounded in. We need certain truths pounded into us. God is good all the time, and He’s good to me. God’s going to do good things in my life. I’m coming out of where I’m at. Things are getting better, not worse. I may have struggled with some things last year but this year I’m coming out. This year I’m getting better. God is no respecter of faces. The devil has lied to you and told you it won’t work for you. But this will work for anyone! The only way it won’t work for you is if you believe it won’t work for you. Don’t believe that lie! You are the apple of your Father’s eye. He loves you with a love that can’t be quenched. It’s unconditional. He will do anything for you! He loves you!
The Holy Spirit wills to pour out the spiritual gifts constantly. But He is limited by human vessels. Picture it like a faucet. When it is on, it is heaven. But He could not pour out like He wanted to because of the issues in the Corinthian church. That is why He took the first 11 chapters to correct the problems. In chapter one they were dealt with over division and strife. In chapters 2&3 He deals with their carnality and envy. This is what we have to realize: we have an enemy here, and adversary, he is set on stopping any forward progress that anyone makes in the kingdom. You have to deal with him. The good news is, we have power over him. But its power that you have to know and exercise. If he can divide you, he can conquer you. He starts with you. He will use anyone and any circumstance to offend you. This can be offense at another person, leadership, your pastor, your husband or wife, your mom or your dad. When you’re offended you’re divided from your life source. It is all about division, and he will do whatever is necessary to stunt your growth.
Stay with your church. Especially your closest siblings in the family of God. Live in a thick web of interdependent relationships. Quietly defy the individualism that is wreaking havoc across the west. Surrender your autonomy to Love. Place yourself in the constraint of community. For it is there we are set free. Give up your preferences for the sake of others. Enroll in the school of Agape. When you fail a course, throw yourself upon God’s mercy. Come back to the table, eat the bread, drink the wine of the Spirit, ingest the forgiving love of God. Repent! Repent again! And again! Risk vulnerability. We will get hurt and we will hurt in return. That’s part of facing grace. Our greatest wounds come from relationships. But so does our deepest healing. And the risk is worth it!
If you think you don’t need people, you’re deceived! If you want to run fast, run alone. But if you want to run a long time, run with people. We need each other! If people can hurt you, people can heal you. Don’t listen to the lie of separation. Do not separate yourself from people thinking that you will be alright!
When you are hurt you begin to put up walls. We perceive life through our childlike lenses which are made up of our life experiences. God is trying to love us, but He can’t get in because of all the walls we have erected around us in an effort to protect ourselves. He can’t get to you! God don’t like being separated from His kids. God don’t like being restrained from loving you like He wants to love you! He wants to come into your life and love you like you’ve never been loved. He wants to remove all your problems and pain. If He is anything less than that, He is not God! If He is anything less than that, He is not a Father! He is full of eager yearning. His heart yearns to be with you! His heart longs to get into your life. He wants to be God to you. What is it that keeps Him out? The walls we have built up. Our self-protection mechanisms. When you build these walls, it not only separates you from people, but it also builds mistrust in you. If you can’t trust people don’t think you can trust God. It is impossible to see these areas on your own. Because you are looking through the lens of a child. But when you get in the presence of God and His love starts to come into you, He will slowly and gently begin to remove the veils. The very things that blind you. There are things in all of us that only love can fix. The very thing you need is exactly what you are shutting out! People are going to mistreat you. It’s inevitable. But when you’re operating in the love of God, it can’t get in you. It can’t affect you. Love will always take the chance. It will take the risk. While we were still sinners, God took a chance. He crucified His own Son with no guarantee that we would love Him back. This is How God designed life to be lived! And it cannot be done apart from His love. You can’t forgive people like God does without His love. It starts in your spirit but flows over into your soul where you will see the biggest change. A supernatural sense of peace will come into you. Peace is born out of that love. All the things you are looking for are found in love.