Suffers Long, Kind, Not Envious

Introduction

And I’m going to invite your attention again this evening as we begin to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Our study, this series is involved in that chapter. And for those of you who may not have been with us this morning, this lesson and the ones throughout the week will be a continuation of that study on the subject entitled The Greatest of These, based on verse 13 of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. We’re delighted to have you with us tonight. I have said already in this series, I can’t imagine a more important, vital topic that we could be discussing as we learn how to do better what God wants us to do. But I want to take just a few moments at the beginning tonight to say to you who are members of this congregation, I hope you know how blessed you are.

You are blessed in just many ways to have men and their wives who are willing to serve this congregation and who are qualified to serve as elders and their wives, to have deacons who are serving you, to have two of the finest preachers that you could have, who are such wonderful servants of God, and I know that you feast at their feet every week, and to have their families in your midst. You’re truly, truly blessed. David and Heidi have been recent additions, I know, but they are quality additions to what’s going on here, and I think you’ve seen that already. And we thank God for them. And then you have song leaders, don’t you? My, my.

In which I was called two or three days before the meeting started by the song leader to ask me to help them plan ahead for their song leading. I hope you lift up the hands of these men who lead you in singing. Because it is a great blessing to think that those men are so concerned that they want the song service to be as valuable as any other part of the service. One of them said to me this morning, this is the part of the service where everybody actively participates. And it certainly should be a vital part of our worship. And when such diligence and effort is put into it, it’s a wonderful thing. And then the way all of you sing, that just adds to it.

And it’s not that we necessarily have to have beautiful voices. I’m thankful God doesn’t require that. But He certainly does expect us to join in with our hearts in the singing and all other parts of the worship. I hope you realize how blessed you are and take full advantage of the privilege of working together here in this place. Just another reason why I consider it a deep privilege to be invited here to work with you this series of meetings. And may God bless our efforts together.

I will not do that again tonight, but I do want to briefly review what we said. This chapter finds itself in the midst of a book full of problems. A book in which Christians, it seems, had so many difficulties, most folks would give up. But God did not give up. He sent the apostle Paul to teach them. And after they had become Christians, he had the Apostle Paul write them two letters so they could learn again what they needed to do. And throughout the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul was dealing with problems that they were experiencing. Now, I don’t know the full history of this church, but I have an idea. Those of you who do know very well this church has had problems. I don’t know of one that hasn’t had any yet.

And so you’ve had your ups and downs. I know you have. You’ve had your difficulties that you’ve had to face. But God doesn’t give up on us. Thanks be to God. And he has provided in this book one of the most wonderful examples of that, because in the midst of all of the drudgery of the difficulties and plodding through the problems they were having.

And then he concludes the book by saying to this group of worldly-minded, weak babies, let everything you do be done in love. So there’s hope for us. And I want to present that every night in this series, even though we’re going to talk about our shortcomings.

Because we can all, with the help of God raise the level to which we are able to carry out God’s will in this marvelous way.

As they tried to carry out God’s will in the first century. But what he’s telling them in the first part of chapter 13 is those spiritual gifts in and of themselves are not the things that are going to take us to heaven. They are not the things that are going to set us apart from the world in and of themselves. In fact, what he says in the first three verses is that even if you had the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of knowledge, the gift of faith, even if you gave everything you had to feed the poor, if it were not undergirded and motivated, motivated by the more excellent way, then it adds up to nothing. That’s how important this subject is, ladies and gentlemen.

And so for us today, whatever our gifts might be, the talents we have been given by God, and we’ve already outlined for you this evening some of the wonderful talents you have right here in this church. And I have an idea if the elders were to come up here, they could speak about so many of you and your contributions to the work. And thanks be to God for the gifts he’s given us. Non-miraculous gifts, but gifts nevertheless. But all of those things need to be surrounded and enveloped and undergirded and motivated by the greatest of these.

Seems to me that chapter divides itself well into four major divisions. We talked about the first one this morning. I’ve labeled it the prominence of love. Prominence because when you look at it compared to all the other things described in those three verses, everything else without love adds up to nothing. And so the prominence of love. It is the important, vital undergirding, the energy, the emphasis for everything. The second verses four through seven, the second section, could well be described the properties of love, or some folks could call it the perfections of love. What is love like? And it is there where we will spend our time this evening and for the majority of our series together. Verses 8 through 12 speak of the permanence of love.

We read those this morning, and you remember that God said love never fails. Prophecies will cease. Tongues will stop. Knowledge will pass away. And what God was speaking of in those verses is miraculous knowledge, miraculous faith, miraculous prophecy. Prophecy given directly by God to man to reveal his will. Those things were going to stop. Let’s spend just a few moments this evening summarizing these last two sections before we return to verse four. In verse 9 it says, For we know in part and we prophesy in part. You see, at the time the book of 1 Corinthians was written, there were people who were given prophecy as a gift, and they could prophesy in part. They could tell people who were Christians in part what God wanted.

There were folks who could speak in tongues. There were folks who had knowledge, but it was partial knowledge, partially what God wanted us to know. And it’s almost as if, as God was constructing his building, he put up scaffolding to help him get the job done at the beginning. But then verse 10 says, when that which is perfect has come. In contrast, ladies and gentlemen, to that which is in part, then that which is in part will be done away. The clearest understanding of verse 10 is to say that now the prophecy is complete. When the prophecy is completed, when the knowledge is completed, and God has revealed to us what we need to know to serve Him, then all these gifts will be done away.

They will cease. Ladies and gentlemen, we have what is perfected. There is not a prophecy that we need this day beyond what God has already given us. And thus the gift of prophecy by which people could speak directly for God has ceased, because we have the perfect law of liberty, by which we can know exactly what God wants us to do. We have been thoroughly furnished unto every good work, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17. Or as 1 Peter tells us, we have everything we need for life and godliness to do what God wants us to do. And so when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. But ladies and gentlemen, love never ceases. And so, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

We are now living in the age in which we have given, been given the maturity of God’s word. We are capable of growing as to full grown men by the full revelation of God’s will. And verse 13. I’ve described that as the preeminence of love, the preeminence of love. Now abides faith, hope, and love, these three. But the greatest of these is love. Well, if love is prominent, is permanent, and is preeminent, then don’t you want to know everything there is to know about it? If it is the undergirding for everything, don’t you want to say to God, God help me to know everything about that so I can put it into my life? And so God has described to us in verses four through seven, his description of love.

Now I don’t find a technical definition of love in God’s word, as men often try to define things. What I find here instead is a description of what love does. What you find in verses four through seven is 15 verbs, all of which describe the actions of love. I know men have tried to describe what love is in all kinds of ways, in poems and in book called Love is a Warm Puppy. People have tried to describe love in all kinds of ways and define it for us, but let’s take God’s description and let’s take it apart. And let’s see what God says love does. And then let’s see how intensely practical that is for me and for you. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s something we can take with us this very night and start doing better.

And so it’s not important during this series that we critique the lessons. It’s not so important that we analyze the preacher. What’s important is to take our own lives and put them in contrast and comparison to what God says love does. And that’s what I urge upon every one of us, myself included. Fifteen perfections of love. We’re going to examine these carefully, and we’re going to try to answer the question what does God expect me to do as I carry out his will in terms of love? Now let’s read together. Start with verse 4 with me. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. Well, you don’t see anything theological in that expression. You don’t see any deep psychological explanations that are so hard to understand that men can hardly figure them out. That’s not the way God describes things to us, is it? What you see here is practical behaviors. It’s as if God takes love and shines it like light through a prism, breaks it up into its component parts for us, and we can look at every color and see this is how love acts.

1. Love Suffers Long

Because Jesus in every way perfectly reflected for us on earth, what God’s love is like. So it’s entirely fitting, isn’t it, that we spend a great deal of time on each one of these, that God has chosen to show us how love acts. So let’s look at them carefully. Tonight we’ll deal with the first three. What does love do? Well, in the first place, the passage says, love suffers long. And so let’s take a look at that expression as it is found in this passage. Love suffers long. That expression comes directly from two Greek words. The first one is macros. We use that word a lot of times. Macro, things that are macro are things that are big. In Greek, they also meant things that are long.

So macro, and the second word used there is thumos, which means temper. So if you literally translated what God chooses to say about love in this first description, what he says is love is long tempered. And one thing I’m going to do with you during the series is I’m going to give you other translations that have been brought over into the English language for every one of these descriptions. I remind you this morning I said it’s kind of like pulling a flower apart. So now we’re looking at this little petal and we’re going to examine it closely. What are all the features of it? What does God tell us about that? Here’s another translation. Love is patient, or love is slow to lose patience, says Philip’s translation.

Love endures long, says the amplified version. Love is long tempered. It’s the quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation, which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish.

It’s associated with mercy, and it is used often of our God.

It’s the ability, brothers and sisters, to be wronged and wronged and wronged again and again. To have the ability to retaliate, and never even to think of it. Love suffers long. And I can tell you, in the day when Christ presented this notion as being a virtue by which to live, it was certainly not accepted. The common notion among the Greeks and the Romans was this if you’re insulted or if you’re offended, strike. Any insult or an injury was to be quashed quickly by the hero? Aristotle thought you were a big man if you whacked back at your enemies. That’s not what Jesus taught. And don’t we have that same notion today? You’re a man, you’re a hero when you tell somebody off. And when somebody injures you, you stand up like a man and get them.

That’s the common notion of this old world. But God says love doesn’t act that way. Now, does the Bible provide us with models for this marvelous characteristic of love? You see, in English, love is long suffering. In Greek, love suffers long. It’s a verb. Does God suffer long? We sang that beautiful song tonight. I’ve never sung that one before about the prodigal son. And the song is crying out, Lord, do you really want to take me back? After I’ve gone out and squandered my living and riotous living, you really are going to accept me back. And then in that last verse, wasn’t that wonderful? It brings tears to your eyes. As he looks up and he sees God with his hands out, stretched out, waiting and not even waiting, but doesn’t it say he ran to meet him?

The sinner who had wasted his living with harlots. God, you’ll take me. And the resounding answer comes in that parable spoken by Jesus and many others. Yes, God will take you.

But that all should come to repentance. Aren’t you glad, my beloved? How many times have I gone back to God having done the same thing again? And I say, God, I’m back again. Would you please forgive me? And God opens his arms to us. He doesn’t want anybody to be lost. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if our love acted the same way? Long suffering. God is long suffering. And surely the ultimate illustration of long suffering of all that we could pick in Scripture is found in Luke chapter 23 and verse 34. And you probably don’t need to turn there. I’ll tell you the picture, and you can tell me what Jesus Christ said. The scene in Luke 23 is when Jesus was nailed to the cross by his enemies.

After they had beaten him and spit on him and slapped his face and said, Who’s slapping you?

And at any instant, brothers and sisters, he could have called twelve legions of angels and wiped them out.

And instead, he took it. And as he hung on the cross, he looked down on those pitiful excuses for human beings who were standing there mocking him. Why don’t you come down from the cross? And he said, God forgive them. But they don’t know what they’re doing.

Jesus came and showed us who God is. And that’s the kind of example he manifested for us. Love, brothers and sisters, suffers long. We haven’t begun to understand what that means. And I hope that you, as I’m trying to do in your own life or trying to put this into reality with yourself. Where is it that we fail so many times? We give up. We’ve had enough. And we’re going to let somebody know we’ve had enough. We don’t suffer long. How could we apply this to our homes? Nah, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all suffered longer at home? Husbands and wives struggle through all kinds of adjustments.

I don’t have any peculiarities, but my wife sure does. And I suppose your wife does too. Most of us husbands are perfect. And there are adjustments to be made, aren’t there? And peculiarities. We had the privilege Friday night of talking to about 25 young people, young couples who were getting started in their married life. And Merrill and I were there, and we got to talk to them about some of these things. And we’re talking about some of the ways you have to adjust.

And thank God for that. Let’s not fight it so much. Let’s build on one another’s strengths.

Sexual adjustments, money management problems, acceptance of personal habits, peculiarities. We need some long suffering at home, don’t we? And I think we all said amen Friday night when we were talking about these difficulties between married people. That isn’t it so many times the little irritating things that get us going? The little nitpicky, stupid little thing that we just get up to here with, and so we have at it. And I’ll tell you, beloved, so many times the same things happen in the church. And what we need is we need folks who see that undergirding everything we do at home, in the church, and every other relationship is we need to act like love acts. And love suffers long. Ask Jesus Christ. And you say, I can’t relate to him.

He is so far above me. Well, what about Stephen? In Acts 7 and verse 60. You remember that case? Where Stephen had spoken up for what was right. He’d preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Jewish people hated him for it. They gnashed on him with their teeth. They drug him outside the city, and they were taking large rocks and throwing them at him till he died. And as he lay there receiving that from his people, what did he say? Lord lay not this sin to their charge. I’ll tell you, I need to learn more about long suffering. Because love suffers long. When people deal with other people, long suffering has a great effect. I have read about Abraham Lincoln. And I’m not trying to put him above other men as I might Christ Jesus.

But he did illustrate this principle in a wonderful way. One of his outspoken enemies, and he made enemies, both before and after his being elected president. One of his most outspoken enemies was a man by the name of Edwin McMasters Stanton. Stanton couldn’t stand the ground he walked on. And he let everybody know it. During their campaigns, he would call him a low-cunning clown. One time he said it’s ridiculous for people to go to Africa to find gorillas. When they can find one right here in Springfield by the name of Abraham Lincoln.

And people said to him, Why in the world are you doing that? This man hates you. He said he’s the best man for the job. And so Stanton served with Lincoln throughout his presidency. He never did accept Lincoln’s politics. He never agreed with him on very many things. But it is said by Lincoln’s biographer that when Lincoln was shot on that fateful evening, and his body was taken to a small room where he was lying there dying. Stanton entered the room. And as he looked on that silent face with all of its ruggedness, with tears in his eyes, he said, There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen. He never did agree with his politics, but he could not resist the man’s patience.

He couldn’t resist his non-retaliating spirit. And shouldn’t it be so with Christians? But I’ll tell you, my beloved brethren, so many times brothers in Christ not only do not suffer long, they don’t suffer at all.

Brethren hardly suffer each other at all sometimes. Could I ask you to keep your marker here in 1 Corinthians 13 and turn with me to the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. And let’s read this marvelous description of what it should be like among brothers and sisters in Christ. Verse 1 beginning, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. With all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Isn’t that a beautiful description of how it should be? Brothers and sisters, we’re all at different levels of development as Christians. We need to be patient with each other.

We need to help each other along the way. That doesn’t mean you ignore mistakes, you ignore sin. But let’s help each other. Let’s think of ourselves as being a family. And in your family, don’t you want to help your children get back up again? You don’t want to stomp them when they’re down. With all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love.

2. Love Is Kind

As we continue on to the second point that God makes. He says, love suffers long and is kind. And is kind. Let me read you another translation of that one. This one is taken also from Philip’s version. I really liked the way he translates this one. Listen carefully. He said, love looks for a way to be constructive. Now you may not think that sounds like kind. Love is kind. Love looks for a way to be constructive. But I really believe he’s gotten the essence of what this word means. Love is kind. You see, what this word comes from is the Greek word crestos. Krestos. Which literally means useful or gracious. In fact, let me read you a definition of that word. It primarily signifies fit for use, able to be used, and hence good, virtuous, mild, pleasant.

In contrast to hard, harsh, sharp, and bitter.

It’s gracious. Love is kind. What I see God telling us here, brothers and sisters, is the flip side of long suffering. Long suffering endures the injuries of others, and kindness pays them back only with what’s good for them, what’s constructive? What’s useful. Long suffering says, I’ll take anything from my enemies. Isn’t that what Jesus did? And kindness says, I’ll give anything to my enemies that meets their needs.

That is constructive to build them up. Love is kind. Useful to others. Anything that helps. This is not abstract, ladies and gentlemen. This is not some philosophical discussion. This is God saying, here’s how love acts. It’s going to act in behalf of other people to build them up, to give them what they need to do something constructive. This is not a sweet attitude. You see, sometimes we think of kindness is, oh, he’s so kind. Sweet attitude. And there’s nothing wrong with a sweet attitude, but that’s not all God’s talking about in this passage. This is a useful deed to help someone else. It gives itself away for the benefit of others. Love is kind. And I can tell you that in this surrounding, in the book of 1 Corinthians, it’s less than ideal.

I think sometimes we get the idea, oh, this is such an ideal, nobody could ever live up to that. Well, that’s probably true in the ultimate sense, but I want to remind you, where did God put it? He put it in the church of Corinth. And he says to those brethren, you be long-suffering to each other. You mean the guy’s taking me to court and I’m going to be long-suffering with him? Not only that, you return to him what he needs. Be kind to him. We have any models for that in Scripture. Oh my. Our Lord God and Jesus Christ modeled that perfectly for us. They did only what was best for us. Let’s turn to the book of Titus, chapter 3 and see. How far did God go to help us, his enemies?

The sinners who did not come to him when he called us. How far did he go to be kind? Titus chapter 3 and verse 4. But when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. What did God’s kindness do for us? When we rejected him, he sent Jesus Christ, who appeared among men and gave his life for all of us, even while we were spitting in his face. He did what was useful for us, what was best for us in the midst of adversity. But there’s another thing I want to show you here that I learned fairly recently in my study.

Look with me at Matthew 11 and verse 30. Because you’ll see a use there of a word that isn’t translated in any version I’ve seen to be the word kind. But it could well.

Well, Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Now I’m going to give you a little quiz here. In that last verse, verse 30, of all of those words there, which one do you think relates to this subject? Is kind. Love is kind. Jesus said, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Well, I’ll tell you. The word easy translated in my version is the word crestos. It’s a form of that word. My yoke is easy. I’ve always kind of struggled with that.

What do you mean, my yoke is easy? It’s hard to follow Christ. He said to us, Don’t you expect to have peace on earth? I’m not sending you peace, I’m sending you a sword. You’re going to have enemies. People are going to hurt you. They’re going to persecute you. They did me. What do you expect? Then he says, My yoke is easy. I really think what Jesus is saying there is, My yoke is kindly.

It’s what will lift you up. It’s easy. Only in that sense. And if you think of it that way, is it my first thought, ladies and gentlemen, as I look at myself and I’m trying to portray love in my life? Is it my first thought? What can I do to be useful or helpful in every situation? How can I repay their hurt with things that are good for them? And could I say just a word about that in connection with husbands and wives and parents and children? That doesn’t mean that love never disciplines. Sometimes the most useful thing I can do for my child is to take him back into the back room when he has directly rebelled against what I told him to do and blister him, as my mama used to say.

And God has provided a place for that. And may I suggest you use it when necessary? I don’t mean God wants us to abuse our children. But love would say to that child, when he has directly rebelled against your authority and what we said to those young couples the other night, I want to say again tonight, there’s a time to discipline strongly with physical punishment. There’s a time for that.

And I’m watching Christians in their families letting the children run the house.

And they’re saying to me, Oh, we don’t want to whip them. That’s an inhumane thing to do. You’ve been listening to too many psychologists. If that child challenges the authority of who’s in charge in that house, you best win that battle. And God says, if you don’t beat them with a rod, you hate them. You don’t love them. Love does what’s useful. And what’s useful on some occasions is discipline. Is that true in the church as well, brothers and sisters? Sometimes when someone has strayed from God’s word and will not be brought back by teaching and exhortation, sometimes the kindest thing to do is to withdraw your fellowship so that they can be shamed. Love is kind. And God, in his tenderness and his mercy, has also said to us, he will administer wrath to those who rebel against him.

Love is kind. I like this example, which is not original with me. Here were two people meeting head on. They were on a sheer cliff. There’s a very narrow passageway that could only have room for one person to walk. And they’re going opposite directions. On this side is a sheer drop, sheer death. On the other side is a sheer wall going straight up, no way you can climb up it. And the two people are meeting. This one’s going that way, and this one’s going that way, and they meet. And there’s no way to scooch around each other. So what does love do? One of them lies down and lets the other one walk over it.

3. Love Does Not Envy

Sometimes love doesn’t mind getting walked on if it will help someone else. Love does what’s useful with the soul salvation of the other person in mind. Let’s be challenged to determine to be kind. Don’t you see how you can walk right out of this building tonight and start applying these principles immediately with relationships in life. God does not mess around with some philosophical notions. He tells us how love acts. Let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 13 and look at one more tonight. The third characteristic of love, as God describes it, is love does not envy. Love is not envious. You see the word from which that comes in the Greek? Zelos. It means to boil. Let me read you some descriptions of people that have given about envy or jealousy.

Shakespeare said it’s the green sickness. That’s where we get our notion being green with envy. Solomon, the wise man of old, said it is the rage of man in chapter six of Proverbs. He says it’s the rottenness of the bones in chapter 14. And Barclay says it’s the meanness of the soul. Let me ask you to turn with me to James chapter 3 and see what the New Testament says about it. Love does not envy. That means it doesn’t boil over with the successes of others. It doesn’t get out of shape because someone else gets ahead of me. Or maybe is more praised than I. Or more recognized. But James, the third chapter, verse 14 says, But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing will be there. You stick envy into a situation like this, church, you’re going to have confusion and all kinds of evil things. May I remind you quickly of some passages in the Old Testament where envy got involved? How about with Adam and Eve’s first two boys? Cain and Abel. As Cain was envious of his brother’s position before God. And he ended up murdering. How about with Joseph and his brothers and the family of Jacob? You remember the envy that existed there and all the evil things that come? They wanted to kill him. They sold him into slavery. And what was Joseph’s reaction?

I’ll tell you, my beloved, Joseph’s reaction was as close to love in its perfection as you’ll see coming from a human being. Because he took their evil jealousy and he did what was good for them. Marvelous example. But many others in the Old Testament illustrate what envy can do. It can destroy us from the inside out. Proverbs 27 says, Who can stand before envy? Song of Solomon 8 6 says, Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are as coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame. Who can quench it? And I want to say to the husbands tonight, you need to let your wife know that she is so secure in your love that you envelop her with the security that she is the most precious, beautiful, and wonderful thing on earth to you.

That second only to God and Jesus Christ, she is your queen. And what you’ll have is the destruction of envy in your house. And wives, you need to do the same thing for your husband. Because there’s nothing more destructive than when one spouse thinks the other one may have somebody else in mind. It’s destructive. There shouldn’t be the first hint of that in our homes. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. It has a vehement flame. It’s destructive. And God would have us not to have any part in it. When love sees someone powerful, successful, prosperous, popular, rich, beautiful, gifted, love is glad. And love rejoices for them. Leonard Bernstein once asked, you know what the hardest instrument is to play in the orchestra? Maybe you’ve heard this.

It’s second fiddle.

Because everybody wants to be first fiddle. I have a little relationship with athletics. You know what’s hard to do in athletics is to sit on the bench and watch the other guy out there getting all the glory. That is hard to do. You know what you’re sitting there thinking? Coach, I’m better than he is. Put me in there. And you’re sitting there boiling. That’s what the word is. You’re sitting there boiling because he’s getting all the glory. You think that ever happens with preachers? I like the story I heard not long ago about the wife of the preacher who brought a tape home and said to her husband, the preacher, said, I want you to listen to this tape. I’ve listened to it several times. It’s the most wonderful sermon I have ever heard.

And you can see the steam starting to rise.

And the next day she said, Have you listened to that? No, I didn’t listen to that yet. A few days later, have you listened to it? Yeah, how was it? Oh, it was all right.

There’s a tendency in us, brothers and sisters, not to want somebody else to get ahead of us.

Love is not envious. And I ask you to give yourself a little test. Let someone who is on a par with you in your job, in your family, or someone who’s beneath you in terms of position. Start succeeding beyond you and see how you act. It’s a good test of how love is playing out in your life and mine. Love doesn’t envy. Well, I don’t know how you’re feeling about all this. You may be feeling tired. I’ve run over time, but this is such wonderful practical material for us. Love is the greatest thing there is. And God tells us how it acts. And ladies and gentlemen, that doesn’t mean you’ve got to feel like doing that. You think God felt like sacrificing his son on the cross for us?

Conclusion

No, but he did it anyway. Love is supremely an act of the will that says, I’m going to conform my life to what God says no matter what. Love suffers long. Love is kind. Love envies not. Much more could be said. But that’s enough for tonight. If you’d get your song books out. We don’t want to close this service without providing the opportunity for someone to obey the gospel if you’re ready to do so. In the book of 1 John chapter 5, God says, this is love that you keep God’s commandments. And his commandments are not grievous. Someone says, Oh, God, I love you. And he’s going to ask you, Well, why didn’t you do what I said? You say, God, I love you with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind.

Jesus is going to say, Then why didn’t you believe in me with all of your heart, like the eunuch did? And because you heard about me and became convicted, you immediately said, What would keep me from being baptized? Why didn’t you do that? If you say you love me. Maybe there’s someone tonight who’s ready to obey the gospel. We wouldn’t want to leave without giving you that opportunity. This song is to further encourage you. If you’re a Christian who’s fallen away, won’t you come while we stand and as we sing?