This
week, we continued our series, “What is Love?” This week we discussed 1
Corinthians 13:5. In this verse we are given more things that love is NOT. The first one we talked about this week is
not being self-seeking. The Greek word here is zeteo. It paints a picture of
one who is so bent on getting his way that he’ll twist the facts, look for
loopholes, put words in others’ mouths, try to hold others accountable for
promises they never made, leap on insignificant mistakes as opportunities to
twist someone’s arm. Sounds like the kind of person who might have a career in
politics J
It
also can describe one who gets so upset about not getting what he wants that he
will drag others to court to get what he wants. This is not talking about
legitimate legal disputes. Paul was addressing a growing trend in Corinth
The
next thing love is NOT is easily angered. Strangely enough, the word “easily”
is not in the original Greek text. Some believe that the King James translators
may have added it to appease King James who was known to have a pretty short
fuse. That is speculation, but certainly within the realm of possibility. The Greek word is paroxsuno and is a compound
word made up of para – which means to come alongside (like para-legal or
para-medic) and oxsus – which means to pole, prick or stick with a sharp object
with the intent to provoke. That is the verb form. So Paul is saying not to be
one who CAN be easily provoked. I picture this provoking to be like the
classic, back-seat sibling battle. “He’s touching me!... He touched me
first!...” If people at work know you
are a Christian, and you let someone else provoke you to anger, when you snap,
you provide a bad example of love.
Finally,
we talked about keeping no record of wrongs. The Greek word for keeping the
record is logidzomai. It is actually an accounting term. It gives a picture of
keeping painstaking detail of every mistake, disappointment, failure, or
perceived wrongdoing in order to use it for future opportunities. Guys, you
might think this is what your wife does, but remember, you’d do the same thing
if you were capable of remembering like her ;)
You
see, God chooses not to keep record of our wrongs. As soon as we seek
forgiveness, He forgives and casts our sin as far as the east is to the west
(Ps 103). He does not bring them up again. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says that he “reconciles”
the earth through Christ Jesus and is not counting man’s sins against him. He
reconciles the “books” that contain all our sin and it is balanced by the blood
of Jesus – leaving an empty ledger. Unfortunately,
the enemy likes to keep his own set of books and try to show you and others
that there is still a debt – one that needs to be exposed. Proverbs 10:12 says
that hatred stirs up dissention, but love covers over all wrongs. 1 Peter 4:8
says that love covers a multitude of sins.
Love does not seek to expose the sin of other, but cover it. This does
not mean condoning it, but simply not exposing it. Allow grace to do its work.
Grace will teach us to say no to ungodliness (Titus 2:11-12).
Nowhere
is this example more clear than in Genesis 9:18-29. Shortly after Noah and his
family exit the ark and begin rebuilding the earth, Noah gets drunk and naked
in his tent. He has three sons. One of them, Ham, sees his father’s condition
and exposes it to others. The two other sons choose not to look at their
father’s condition but instead cover him up (a picture of grace). The one who exposed, Ham, had a son named Canaan . Yes, the same as the land of Canaan
Instead
of looking for the faults in others – both in the world and in the church family
– let’s look for the good. When we find the junk, let’s help people through
their junk instead of exposing it. Instead of condemning sinners for their
sinful actions, love them and extend grace. I’, not saying accept sin. I’m
saying love sinners. Let grace do its work!
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee,
visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
