From the Pastor |
I was driving home the other day when a song started to play on the radio: Land of Confusion by the band Genesis. Now, I was in High School when this song was first released and I have heard it MANY times since then, however, this time… I have to say… the chorus struck me… it seemed to really resonate with me.
“There's too many men Too many people Making too many problems And not much love to go round Can't you see this is a land of confusion.” Too many problems and not much love to go round? Yeah… that sounds about right, doesn’t it? Seems strange though, considering we talk about love all the time. I love my husband and my family… I love pizza and oddly enough… the Walking Dead. Love… one little word with so many meanings. I mean I certainly do not love pizza the same way I love Greg and Jeremy. (At least I hope not.) Yes… “Love is a many splendored thing!” And yet… There really does not seem like there is much love going round. Why is that? Maybe we need to look past that one little word and think of it the way they did in the ancient Greek language that the NT was originally written. They had many words for “love.” In Greek Eros refers to passionate/ romantic love; storge was used to express love of family; philia referred to friendship as a kind of love; and agape refers to selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. Agape love is what we lack. This was true for the church in Corinth. They were divided… fighting… utilizing their Spirit given gifts to elevate themselves while putting down their fellow Christians. Paul takes them to task over this. Reprimanding them for their selfishness and divisiveness. We are no strangers to the kind of division in communities that Paul speaks about: racial, denominational… political. And our strategies for negotiating these divisions leave a lot to be desired. Paul reminds the Corinthians and us that we are all part of the Body of Christ… we ALL have been given different gifts to serve in different ways. No one part is better or more important than another, but for the Body of Christ to function we MUST work together to serve the ONE LORD! It doesn’t matter what we do… if we do not have agape… Divine love… it is nothing… it means nothing. It doesn’t matter if you have been gifted to speak in tongues… the gift of prophecy or all knowledge… It does not matter if you have a faith that can move mountains or if you give everything you possess to the poor… If you DO NOT have love… if you are not doing these things out of love for God and neighbor… It means NOTHING! If we want to understand this in today’s context… Look at a man who gives large sums of money to charity. Is he doing it out of love, care and compassion for those in need… or for a tax write off… or maybe just some good publicity? Think about that for a moment… it is about what is in the heart… what the motivation is. Are these things coming from a place of agape love? Is it selfless and sacrificial… unconditional? Agape love is the love that comes from God. It is the love that was revealed and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. Scripture tells us that this love… agape love is divine love. “…let us love one another, because love is from God… God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” (1 John 4: 7-9) Jesus commands “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It is the Greek word agape that is used in every one of these instances. Not romantic, familial, friendly love… but divine love… sacrificial love. This is the love Paul says we need to emulate… this is the love Paul goes on to describe. Love as we know it, human love, is just like we are… imperfect! Paul is describing God’s love, divine love that is truly perfect. This love is what we are to strive for! Love – Agape love – the Divine Love of God is: Patient and kind It is NOT envious, boastful, arrogant or rude. It is NOT selfish, irritable, resentful. This kind of love does not delight in anything evil but rejoices with the truth… Now, let’s be honest… who here is fully living lives of God’s love? Always patient? Always kind? Never selfish or boastful or rude? I can’t speak for you but I fall seriously short of those goals pretty much on a daily basis. But God’s love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God’s love NEVER fails. Everything else--everything else—will end. But, not God’s love. Not that kind of agape love. For it is that love that God has had for us since the dawn of creation. It was that love that caused God to send Jesus to live among us… to demonstrate and reveal this great love to us. It was that love which put Jesus on the cross and then into a cold, dark tomb. It was that love which brought the Resurrection which vanquished death and sin forever. It is that love that binds us to God. And, it is that love that is supposed to bind us to each other in the Body of Christ. The problem we have in our world AND in the global Christian church today is that there are so few people living out God’s love in the world. “There are too many problems and not enough [agape] love to go round.” There are not enough people who make the right use of their spiritual gifts; who humble themselves to serve others, according to the dictates of God’s love. There are too many who seek their own honor and glory… looking to gain status and power over others… looking for wealth and to their own selfish desires. But Paul reminds us the more excellent way, love—agape. Love in its fullest and most extensive meaning, true love for God and humankind. Without this the most glorious gifts are nothing. For love is a busy, active thing that never ceases to work. It is always finding ways to express itself for the good of others. Of the three most wonderful gifts given to ALL Christians (faith, hope and love) Love is the greatest because Faith will one day become sight, and Hope will end in the fulfillment of God’s promises… but Love… Love will always remain because God’s love for us will never end. We are drawn into that love of God, and we are remade by that love. Love leads us into thinking and caring about others, wanting to make things better for others. So strive to live that kind of love and, at the same time, know that that divine agape love is already yours. For God loves you… sacrificially… unconditionally… Amen.
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Yeon Shin
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