God’s Valentine
I Corinthians 13:1-3
VALENTINE’S DAY! NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE WHERE OR HOW IT ORIGINATED, but we do know who is responsible for keeping it before the public’s eyes---the greeting card, candy, and floral companies.
St. Valentine is the designation for several saints. The most prominent are 2 martyrs whose feats are celebrated on February 14. One was a priest and the other a bishop. We don’t know much about them, but we do know that they died on the same day!
The custom of sending “valentines” or “love tokens” usually anonymous, probably had only an accidental connection with St. Valentine. It really owes its origin to a belief held in medieval Europe. It was believed that at the start of the second fortnight of the second month that the birds began to mate. The poets picked up on this, blending mating with love and hence valentines! I only know that when I was a boy, I thought that girls were for the birds. Was I on to something? No, I really discovered in my teens that this whole love thing is really quite nice.
In a sense, every time we meet for worship we celebrate love—God’s love for us. He sent us a Valentine—His Word! Then He sent us His Son who is love personified---a “living” valentine.
When Thomas Edison was 38 years old, his wife died leaving him a very lonely man. Six months after her death, Edison began looking for a new mate. He would leave no stone unturned in a systematic search reflecting his scientific nature. Although he liked to be portrayed in the media as a genius who worked in solitude, Edison had quietly assembled a fine research team to search for a new wife.
He hated social events, but dinner parties in the home of friends in Boston helped him meet many candidates at one time. He was proud of this efficient approach. But rather than making a calm, rational choice, he fell head over heels for an 18-year-old young lady from Ohio. She was everything he wasn’t—religious, cultured, and beautiful, plus young enough to his daughter. He threw his normal caution to the wind and acted like a lovesick fool until Mina Miller would agree to marry him. An iron-willed, self-disciplined, workaholic found himself bitten by the love bug. He was unable to concentrate in his research lab and whiled away weeks writing silly notes to an 18-year-old. Finally, after their marriage, Edison settled back into his inventive routine.
SEVEN STAGES OF A MARRIED COLD
First Year: “Sugar Dumpling, I’m really worried about my baby girl. You’ve got a bad sniffle and there’s no telling about these things with all the stuff that’s going around. I’m putting you in the hospital this afternoon for a general checkup and a good rest. I know the food’s lousy, but I’ll be bringing your meals in.”
Second Year: “Listen darling, I don’t like the sound of that cough and I’ve called Doc Miller to rush over here. Now you go to bed like a good girl, just for Poops.”
Third Year: “Maybe you had better lie down, honey. Nothing like a little rest when you don’t feel good. I’ll bring you something for lunch. Do we have any canned soup?”
Fourth Year: “Now look, dear, be sensible. After you’ve fed the kids and got the dishes done and the floor waxed, why don’t you lie down?”
Fifth year: “Not feeling good? Take a couple of aspirin!”
Sixth Year: “I wish you’d just gargle or something instead of sitting around barking like a seal.”
Seventh Year: “For Pete’s sake, stop sneezing! Are you trying to give me pneumonia?”
Back to Mina Miller. She wasn’t bothered by Edison’s poor hearing or even his chronic halitosis. She just brushed the dandruff off his coat and fell in love with him. This is the kind of love that sees the best in others.
Miss Miller totally accepted Edison because love is not always practical or rational.
We do strange things when we’re in love. And so does God! He loved us even when we were breaking His lase and His heart.
In our text today, the Apostle Paul compares love with several other prized gifts. In every case he shows that no matter what else a person excels in, he is of little value unless he has the greatest gift of all---God’s love.
This love is not sentimental or theoretical. It is not cheap, theatrical love. It is a deep, quiet, strong love born of God. It is His love for us and in us.
At his clinic in Topeka, Kansas, Dr. Carl Menninger instructed his entire staff that the most important thing they could offer any patient was love. He said, “If people can learn to give and receive love, they will usually recover from their physical or mental illness.”
I once heard a church leader say, “Pastors, I urge you in your preaching, teaching, and counseling to get people to love one another. That’s the answer to our problems today.”
In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus call all of us to this. He said that loving God and one another was the greatest commandment of all. And then in John 13:34, He said that people will know that we really are His disciples if we love one another. We’re to love others as He loves us.
Without a doubt the greatest need in the world today is the love of God.
A teacher in an adult education creative writing class told her students to write “I love you” in 25 words or less, without using the words, “I love you.” They had 15 minutes to complete this assignment. A woman in the class spent about 10 minutes looking at the ceiling and wriggling in her seat. Then she began to write frantically. Later she read the results to the rest of the class. Three statements was all she needed. Here they are:
- “Why, I’ve seen lots worse hairdos than that honey.”
- “These cookies are hardly burned al all.”
- “Cuddle up, I’ll get your feet warm.”
Need I say any more? She got the highest grade.
Let me share with you 6 things in I Corinthians 13 that Paul says pale in comparison to love.
1. Love Is Greater Than Words (vs.1)
The Corinthians prized the gift of speech. They enjoyed the eloquence of their orators. Demosthenes, Sophocles, Euripides, and other silver-tongued speakers were the idols of the day.
Persuasive speech is a great gift. Each century had produced its outstanding orators. Patrick Henry declared his determination to achieve liberty and a nation arose to fight for freedom. Winston Churchill inspired and encouraged England during the dark days of WWII. Ronald Reagan was called the “Great Communicator” because he could move people to action. Martin Luther King Jr. is another example. And some believe that President Barak Obama was elected due to his ability to inspire others.
And of course there are also examples of what persuasive speech minus love will produce---Hitler, for example. Paul compares words without love to tuneless crashes and hollow sounds—no harmony or melody—just so much noise.
The explosion of Christianity in the Roman Empire was due to the fact that Christians preached the love of Jesus and backed it up with a practical demonstration of love for people. They had a good teacher. Jesus loved in very concrete ways, with a towel, with a whip, and with a cross. The best type of love is that which is tough, pure, and holy.
In Stockholm, Sweden, a woman was injured as she rushed to catch a streetcar. She stumbled in front of the moving car and was caught beneath it. The police sent for a crane to lift the car off her body. While waiting for the crane a crowd of people gathered out of curiosity. One man pushed through the crowd, crawled beneath the car, and said to her, “Take my hand.” As she took his hand she felt warmth and courage. This clamed her and prevented her from going into shock. After the crane arrived and the woman was released, she said, “I never thought an outstretched hand could mean so much.”
God has stretched His hands to help us. They have nail prints in them. We, in turn, should be willing to help others and offer our outstretched hand to them.
2. Love Is Greater Than Prophecy
Prophecy: Declaring the revealed Word of God; predicting coming events based on the Word.
Preachers are remembered not by what they said, but by how they lived. The pastor under whose ministry I was saved and discipled was a man who lived for God and loved people. I don’t remember a single sermon he ever preached but I do remember the life he lived and the impact it had upon me.
There are many popular preachers who preach out of wrong motives---money, recognition, power, and fame. They are great communicators, but what about their personal lives? What do we really know about them? When they fall (and there have been several who have), how great is their fall! It has devastating consequences not only for them, but for their audiences. Words spoken must be backed up by godly lives, lest hearers are disillusioned with regard to the faith of the speaker.
3. Love is Greater Than Knowledge (vs.2)
Knowledge minus love can produce terrible things. For example, more efficient ways to abort babies, and chemical and biological warfare. Knowledge by itself compounds our problems rather than solving them. We need a marriage of love and knowledge. Love transforms our learning into power. Love puts feet to facts.
A woman went to her pastor and said, “I’ve been a Christian for 20 years. I’ve read books on how to win souls. I’ve memorized scripture. I’ve taken courses on how to win the lost. And yet I haven’t won one person to the Lord. Why?” The pastor’s answer surprised her. He said, “Is because your eyes are dry.” Then he went on to explain: “You have failed not for want of knowledge, but for lack of love. When you really love someone’s soul, you will care enough to weep for them.” Psalm 126: “He that goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Well, that lady went home to read the Bible and pray with a broken heart. As she prayed, her heart became strangely warmed. Her unbelieving sister came to her mind. She got up from her knees to fin her sister and admitted in love, “More than anything in this world I want you to become a Christian.” That very night her sister come to know Christ.
4. Love Is Greater Than Faith (vs. 2)
Faith is a great gift, to be sure. Without it we cannot please God. It is the foundation upon which love can build. An individual must come to Christ in faith before he can know anything of God’s love. But faith minus love is nothing. When the Risen Christ interviewed Peter on the beach, what question did He ask? Did He ask, “Peter, do you believe in Me?” No, of course not. The burning issue was LOVE.
Look at verse 13. It is plain to see that of the three greatest gifts, love is the greatest. It surpasses faith and hope because it is the most God-like. It is eternal, while faith and love will one day pass away, because we shall see Him face-to-face.
5. Love Is Greater Than Benevolence (vs.3)
Examples of giving without living:
- out of compulsion
- to rid one’s self of guilt
- to attain personal attention
- to get a tax break
- to buy influence
We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving. Gifts must issue from a heart of love or the receiver will be short-changed and the giver will be left with a hallow heart.
6. Love Is Greater Than Martyrdom (vs.3)
To sacrifice one’s life can result from something other than devotion to Christ. It could be fanatical devotion to a cause, such as the examples we see in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Sometimes it takes more courage to live for Christ than to die for Him. In fact, in Romans 12:1, we are urged to do just that. The self-centered man is put to death in order that love may do its best. Living the love of Christ is the greatest challenge, the highest calling to which a person can respond.
Conclusion
Love is the greatest force in the world---great than words, than knowledge, than faith, than benevolence, than sacrifice. It alone is able to:
- chase doubt away
- banish fear from within
- conquer indifference
- motivate us to witness
- send us to our knees
- inspire us to leave all for follow Christ
So, how is your love life? Is it all-encompassing and ever expanding? Remember, we are commanded to love God, our neighbor, our fellow believer, our enemies, and the sinner. This is a tall order, but we can do it if our hearts are bathed in the love of God. May God grant us the courage and will to seek this greatest gift of all.
