Living in the Overflow
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
April 10, 2005
Morning Worship
Introduction
When I was on the high school cross country team, we would do some of our training at a nearby lake. Our coach wanted us to train on the hills so that we could be better conditioned for various meets that required running up and down steep hills.
The lake had an overflow that helped to control the depth and level of the lake. There were times when the overflow was opened and allowed to drain some of the water from the lake. It would be an outpouring of power and strength that made one stand in awe.
As Christians we believe that Christ does many different things that are similar to that overflow at the lake. Christ displays His power by sending various times of outpourings.
• Christ pours out His power to transform
• Christ pours out His blessings to assist
• Christ pours out His Spirit to sanctify
• Christ pours out His grace to forgive
• Christ pours out His presence to comfort
• Christ pours out His love to encourage
The reality is that the love of Christ is so vast that it has to spill out of heaven. We have been called to live in the overflow of Christ’s supreme and divine love. Everything of consequence in this universe flows from the overflow of Christ’s love. When we live in the overflow, it changes our lives. The overflow changes our behavior. The overflow changes who we are and how treat others.
Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love resting. Long-suffering is love enduring. Kindness is love’s touch. Goodness is love’s character. Faithfulness is love’s habit. Gentleness is love’s self forgetfulness. Self control is love holding the reigns. Donald Barnhouse
Open your Bibles with me this morning to Paul’s great expression of Christ’s love:
1 Corinthians 13:1-8.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails
The Value of Love (1-3)
There is nothing more important in your life than the love of Christ. It is your most valuable possession. The agape love of Christ is your strength in times of weakness, your hope in times of despair, your glory in times of difficulty, your best when life throws you the worst. The love of Christ is your everything.
The word that Paul uses here is the Greek term agape. Agape is the highest of all Greek words for love. The reality is that God places His love in our heart through the person of Jesus. Agape is love in it’s highest form. It is the divine demonstration of love found only Christ and when that love invades a person’s heart it sweeps all hatred, malice, deception and similar behaviors away.
Paul makes it abundantly clear, agape is a matter of personal choice not a matter of personal strength or of personal ability. It is a personal choice whether or not you will allow God to love through your life. No matter what is done to you allow Christ to love the world through you.
1. Your gifts are meaningless without love
The work of the Holy Spirit brings gifts into the lives of those who place their faith in Jesus. Those gifts are given so that we are able to serve Jesus not in our ability but with the ability he instills within us. We cannot serve Jesus to the level of His strength without having His love living within us.
2. Your life is pointless without love
Paul says that without love: I am nothing. In essence, if we do not possess the divine love of Christ within us, there is no point to our life. Just because you are breathing does not mean that you are really living. The sad fact is that far too many people settle for merely existing rather than living. If you do not have the love of Christ living within you, you are just existing and not really living.
3. Your efforts are fruitless without love
As Christians, we are called to bear fruit and show ourselves ready to serve Jesus whenever and wherever He sends us. The reality is that our efforts will never amount to anything more than just our human work without the power of Christ’s love as a driving force in our lives.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
The Victory of Love (4-8)
Paul gives an exhaustive definition of agape love here and does so with an incredible eloquence that shows that Christ’s love is far more than just talk, it is action. Paul does not give us some long and dull definition of love but rather He gives us a formula for victorious living. As this comes together for Paul he seems to be asking an unstated question: How should a Christian behave?
1. Love is patient
The word that Paul uses here refers to the way we deal with people. Paul says that we are to suffer a long time with other people. No matter what the evil or injury committed against us. No matter how others have neglected or ignored us.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
2. Love is kind
The word king means to show favor to others and move beyond hurt and injury. Paul shows that love is strength of grace that allows us to grant forgiveness.
3. Love does not envy
This is not having feelings against others because of what they have - spiritual gifts, position, abilities, possessions or anything else. Love is not begrudging but rather shares in the joys of others.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
4. Love does not boast
Paul says that love does not brag or seek recognition. The behavior of love seeks to give, to recognize others, to honor others and applaud when others succeed.
5. Love is not proud
The word here for proud means to be puffed up or conceited. The behavior of love does not look at oneself as being better than others. Love is humble and seeks the best.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
6. Love is not rude
Love does not act in a way that is disgraceful or brings shame to the name of Jesus. Love treats people with respect.
7. Love is not self seeking
The Greek word that Paul uses here literally means to worship oneself. This is exactly the problem of modern society because we have become so full of ourselves. The simple reality seeks to serve others, not to be served by others.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
8. Love is not easily angered
Paul uses the word that means quick tempered or being ready to take personal offense. Love does not allow the emotions to control and it does not become angry without cause.
9. Love keeps no record of wrong
This means that we cannot think evil of others and continuously focus on the wrongs that we have suffered because this will lead to resentment and bitterness. Love endures evil and keeps its focus on the truth.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
10. Love does not delight in evil
Paul says here that love does not take pleasure in doing what is unrighteous. In other words, if we have the love of Christ within us, the ability to do what is wrong still exists but we will make ourselves miserable doing so.
11. Love rejoices with the Truth
Love rejoices when the truth is finally discovered and when it is victorious. The reality is that we can rejoice in all situations because when the truth of God is within us we always have victory.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
12. Love always protects
Paul is saying that love has the power to cover every area of life and to give the needed strength to support every area of life. Love gives us the supernatural strength to stand and cover the faults of others.
13. Love always trusts
The word Paul uses here means to have a perfect trust. Love gives us an ability to have a divine trust that helps us to see God’s work in our lives. It also gives us the ability to see the best in others.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
14. Love always hopes
Paul says that love literally never loses hope and has every expectation of finding triumph. Love refuses to accept failure and has bright hope for the best.
15. Love always perseveres
Paul uses a military word here that means to withstand an attack. This means that the love of Christ is our strength and acts as our fortress during attack. Love endures every assault that comes against it and stands firm until the victory is won. The love of God gives us the ability to love even in the most difficult of circumstances.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love?
16. Love never fails
Paul closes his definition of love with a bold statement that love never fails. In other words, the love of Christ is always successful. The power of our lives is found in the reality that Christ’s love gives us the ability to succeed.
In essence, love describes the very character of Jesus Himself and if we want to become more like Him we must allow His love to penetrate the deepest corners of our hearts. We must be willing and open for the overflow to come and fill us with Christ’s love.
Conclusion
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-38
Notice all of those things that do not have the ability to keep the love of Christ from our lives.
• The love of Christ is more powerful than life itself, death cannot even keep it from us.
• The love of Christ is more powerful than spiritual beings, even the most diabolic plot from Hell cannot keep it from us.
• The love of Christ is more powerful than time itself, even when time comes to an end the love of Christ will remain
• The love of Christ is more powerful than mortal strength, even the greatest power on earth cannot keep it from us.
• The love of Christ is more powerful than any distance, even the deepest of depths or the highest of heights cannot keep it from us.
• The love of Christ is more powerful than all of creation, absolutely nothing in all of the universe can keep it from us.
This list looks all inclusive and seems to have covered all of the bases. However, there is one thing that can keep you from the love of God that is found only in Christ Jesus; you. You are the only thing standing between the overflow of love that falls from Heaven and your need. You are the person that keeps you from experiencing the overflow and it’s awesome power. You are the only one that can accept the filling of the overflow.
Are you living in the overflow of Christ’s love? The choice is yours and you can live in the overflow of His divine love.
