The Perfect Lover!

Part 1

Sermon Notes:

Saturday, February 13, 2010 & Sunday, February 14, 2010

Last Sunday After the Epiphany

 

Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor

Sun Lakes United Methodist Church

9248 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, Arizona 85248

(480) 895-8766

 

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NRSV

1If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends.  But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.  9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.  11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.  12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.  13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

 

A.  Introduction

    1.  Peanuts Comic Strip

        a.  In one delightful Peanuts Comic Strip, Lucy is leaning on Schroeder’s piano.  Schroeder is ignoring her and playing some piece from Beethoven.  Lucy says, “Guess what?  If you don’t tell me that you love me, you know what I’m going to do?  I’m going to hold my breath until I pass out!”  Schroeder stops playing, looks up and replies, “Breath holding in children is an interesting phenomenon.  It could indicate a metabolic disorder.  A forty-milligram dose of Vitamin B6 twice a day might be helpful.  I think that’s probably it.  You need Vitamin B6.  You might, also, consider eating more bananas, avocados and beef liver.  Schroeder goes back to playing his piano. 

        b.  A dejected Lucy sighs and says, “I ask for love and all I get is beef liver.”

    2.  Today’s Message

        a.  On this Valentine’s Day weekend I begin a two part Sermon Series entitled:  THE PERFECT LOVER!

        b.  Today, I remind us of the importance of love for our lives and how the world desperately needs real love.  Next Sunday we will focus on Jesus who is the perfect lover!

 

B.  Love is important to our lives!

    1.  Orphanage in South America

        a.  There is a sad story about an orphanage in South America.  This institution contained 97 children who were from 3 months to 3 years of age.  The babies and children were well fed.  They were properly clothed and had good medical treatment.  However, there was no one available or hired to love or play with the children.  Within two years 34 of the children were dead and 21 were emotionally disturbed.

        b.  The children were emotionally starved.  They had everything, but love.  And we humans need love to live.

    2.  Earache

        a.  Amy was crying.  Mother said, “What’s wrong hon?  I thought your earache was all better after you took the medicine this morning?”  Amy replied, “Daddy just drove into the garage and I’m waiting for him.  He’s never seen me with an earache, and he was gone and didn’t get to love on me.”

        b.  We all need love.  Love is mighty important to our lives.

 

C.  The world desperately needs real love.

    1.  Church Robbery

        a.  Some years ago I came to understand the world’s desperate need for love.  I was serving a Church in Arizona’s richest and most upscale community.  Two fellows left the Finance Committee meeting.  They paused to talk in the parking lot.  A car pulled up and out from one window emerged a sawed off shotgun.  The two Church members were robbed at gunpoint.

        b.  No place is exempt from evil and hatred.  Every spot on the globe needs love.  Every day we hear of violence, cruelty and mayhem.  Wars still rage on.  Terrorists are still active sometimes being stopped and sometimes killing many people.  Violence and crime are still a reality.  In our local news, two child abusers were recently convicted and a mother sits in jail as the authorities try to figure out if she killed her baby or gave him away.  Our world needs love.

    2.  Hollywood’s Greatest Lover

        a.  Sadly in our culture we pursue a distorted kind of “love.”  What we too often seek or proclaim as love has to do with self-centeredness and lust.  A Christian writer a few decades back said it well and it still rings of the truth:  “According to Hollywood the World’s Greatest Lover is a 3 times divorced 50 year old man with fake teeth, a face lift, and a toupee, who is living with a drug addicted 20 year old would be starlet.  And the extent of this “Lovers” parenting skills is to visit with his children for no more than two hours per year.”

        b.  This my friends is not what love is about.  This is not the love that the world so greatly needs.

    3.  Today’s Scripture:  1 Corinthians 13:4-8

        a.  Today’s Scripture lesson tells us what real love is like:  “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends…”  (I Cor. 13:4-8a RSV)

        b.  This is the love we need.  This is the love the world needs.  This is real love.  And above all this is the love you and I are called to show to others.  Next Sunday we will talk about this “1st Corinthian Love” in more detail.

 

D.  Conclusion

    1.  Today, we remember:

        a.  Love is important to our lives!

        b.  The world desperately needs real love.

    2.  Next Sunday we remind ourselves:

        a.  The world desperately needs real love.

        b.  Jesus is the perfect lover!  He’s the one you and I and the world need.

The Perfect Lover!

 

a.  Love is important to our lives!

b.  The world desperately needs real love.

c.  Jesus is the perfect lover!

 

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NRSV

1If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends.  But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.  9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.  11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.  12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.  13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

 

John 3:16 NRSV

16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.