God's View of the word "Love"
By Pastor Joseph Pellicone
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and
have not charity, I am become
as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the
gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have
all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though
I bestow all my goods to
feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have
not charity, it profiteth me
nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth
not; charity vaunteth not itself, is
not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the
truth; Beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth..." (I
Corinthians 13:1-8a)
The world awoke Sunday August 31 with the shocking news of the
death of Diana, Princess of
Wales, killed in a car crash in a Paris tunnel along with her
companion and the driver. During the
Westminster Abbey funeral service six days later, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair read the 13th chapter of I Corinthians
"in a voice that often betrayed emotion." The newspaper
wire services the
next day said no more than that about his part of the
observances. Not nearly as interested as the
approximately 2.6 billion people around the world who watched the
royal funeral on television, I
never found out if he had more to say by way of comment. But it
was, nonetheless, a small part of what constituted six days of
mourning that was deemed "almost without parallel in global
history."
The picture of a head of state reading a whole chapter from the
Bible, and the King James Bible no less, in such a setting and on
an occasion so unparalleled, should serve to warn mankind yet
another time that there is accountability for the carefree
lifestyle of modern man that operates as if there is neither
death nor eternity.
It's probably not hard to guess why the Prime Minister chose that
portion of Scripture to read. I
Corinthians 13 is the love chapter. The word found eight times in
that chapter translated "charity" is
translated "love" in I John 4:16 (and many other
places) where it says "God is love." The Prime
Minister took the liberty to substitute "love" for
"charity" in his reading. He probably was referring to
the way Diana felt about humanity with all of her charitable
works, especially with children; or the way England and much of
the world felt about her. But was he not reading from God's word?
Therefore, it would be wise and profitable if we considered God's
viewpoint of the word "love",
rather than the Prime Minister's.
We all know what the world's viewpoint of the word
"love" is; you hear it all the time in the
countless interviews, commentaries, news broadcasts of various
sort, and the songs- especially the
songs, a countless stream of them, with their accompanying rock
or country beat.
But I Corinthians 13, the first seven verses, is God's definition
of the word "love". Mankind as a
whole is not interested in God's viewpoint of things, and that is
a tragedy because God's view point
is absolute truth. Looking at the world through the eyes of God
would have been much more
profitable for man because his view is limited to appearances
while "the Lord looketh on the heart" ( I Sam. 16:7).
But man's understanding is darkened because of sin and he is not
going to see it short of the new birth. Looking at the first
seven verses of I Corinthians 13, you will notice that it is all
one definition. It's not like what you see in a dictionary where
there can be four, five, six or seven definitions of one word.
Here, in our text, we have different aspects of the same
definition. All of it taken together is God's definition of the
word "love." Take any part away and you don't have the
complete definition.
Notice something rather interesting about verse 2: "And
though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have
all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." From
the world's viewpoint, there
would be no problem accepting what that verse says. The world
understands that a person could
have a gift, say of prophecy, and use it for self-promotion
rather than for love's sake, and it
accomplish nothing. As a matter of fact, they see it all the time
in preachers and they're turned off by it. The world understands
that a person could have "all knowledge" and be
conceited, which is not a likeable trait.
Verse 3 is a different story. Verse 3 must be a puzzle to the
world: "And though I bestow all my
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing." In the world's view, how could it be
possible to "bestow all my goods to
feed the poor" and it not be love? How could "I give my
body to be burned" and it not be love?
From the world's point of view, verse 3 must not make any sense
at all, much like the rest of the
Bible is to them. The world would say that the person described
in verse 3 is all the things that make up the definition of love.
He certainly is one who "suffereth long and is kind";
is one who "envieth not" and "vaunteth not
itself" and "is not puffed up"; would be
considered as one who "doth not behave itself unseemly"
and certainly would be a person who "seeketh not her
own" and "is not easily provoked." That person
would certainly be considered by the world as one who
"beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things."
But God says, in effect, it is possible to do verse 3 and it not
be love. A puzzle for sure, to the
world. For example, a person can be a "symbol of selfless
humanity" (quote from Charles, the 9th,
Earl Spencer, in the eulogy to his sister) and it not be love.
Again, a person can be "a standard-
bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden" (another
quote from Charles' eulogy) and not have
love.
Now that may be hard to understand from the world's viewpoint,
but it's easy to see when you look at it from God's viewpoint.
The key to the whole matter is found, I believe, in the smallest
part of the chapter. It's what clarifies verse 3, and supplies
the essential ingredient for a correct interpretation of God's
viewpoint of the word "love". The smallest part, but it
makes all the difference in the world. I saw this illustrated in
everyday life when I recently had to purchase a can of insect
bomb to ward off a legion of flies around my house after manuring
my lawn. Not wanting to pay more than I had to, I compared the
ingredients of the can of Raid, which was two dollars more, with
the generic brand. There was essentially no difference in the
ingredients, but what struck me with complete amazement was that
bug spray is over 99% inert ingredients! Less than one percent is
active ingredients! But that smallest part makes the whole thing
work. Well, in this case, it didn't work too well - the flies
came back. But anyway, the smallest verse in I Corinthians 13 -
verse 6 - is the key that makes the whole chapter work:
"Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the
truth."
"Rejoiceth not in iniquity" means "hate sin"!
"Rejoiceth in the truth" - what's the truth? "Thy
word is
truth" (John 17:17), i.e. rejoicing in the Word of God! True
love from God's viewpoint is everything
I Corinthians 13 teaches including verse 6. True love must
include a hatred for sin and a love for
the Word of God! Leave that part out and you don't have true
love. Leave that part out and what
you've got is essentially the world's definition! Hey, the world
loves a person who suffers long and is kind; the world loves
people who don't envy; the world loves a guy who doesn't toot his
own horn (vaunteth not itself); the world loves it when a person
doesn't behave himself unseemly (except the Charismatics, who
love just the opposite); the world loves people who are not
easily provoked and that bear all things; and the world really
loves people who "believeth all things" - "you
believe what you want to and I'll believe what I want to and
we'll all be happy and fine as long as we're sincere, etc.,
etc." That's the world talking.
But include verse 6 in that equation and you have a completely
different story, one foreign to the
world which hardly hates sin and hardly rejoices in the Word of
God. With verse 6 included in the
equation, see how easy it is to accomplish what verse 3 says and
not love from God's viewpoint? I
want someone to tell me, for example, how the Missionaries of
Charity, which we've also heard a
lot about in the news lately, fit in that definition of love?
True love is everything in I Corinthians 13
including verse 6. Even the part that says "believeth all
things" makes so much more sense when you consider that a
person who is rejoicing in the Word of God believes all of it,
and rejects anything false ("rejoiceth not in
iniquity"). The smallest part of the chapter makes all the
difference in the world.
Let's look at a couple of ways the world thinks they're
expressing love, but are not according to
God's viewpoint of the word. And then finish up with some
reflection on us fundamentalists.
I. Love-Without The First Commandment? - Matt. 22:36-40
"Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus
said unto him, Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets."
In its attempt to express love, what does the world do every
time? Because it doesn't rejoice in the
truth, it skips right over this first commandment and majors on
the second. It doesn't even minor on
the first! Check it out for yourself; it's the case every time!
In no case in the world's benevolent
deeds are they ever interested in loving "the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind."
Take for example Live Aid, the world-wide charity concert put on
about twelve years ago that
raised $127 million for starving people in Ethiopia. Its' motto
was "Feed the World." It was, in fact,
a sixteen hour rock concert - the biggest of all time. How do you
figure God could be in that in any
way, shape or form? Some would say: "But preacher, look at
all the money that was raised for
starving children." If everybody involved in that thing
obeyed the first commandment as Jesus
instructed above, there wouldn't have been any money raised that
way. The issue is not whether
some good was done (which I question to start with) but whether
true love was expressed. True
love was not expressed according to God's viewpoint of the word.
"Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth." You can't hate sin and love rock
music. You can't hate sin and even like rock
music. You can't hate sin and even accept the lifestyles of rock
musicians. You're not going to get
the hog-pen clean by hiring a bunch of hogs!
Take another example. Can you imagine having a charity to raise
money for AIDS research and usethat occasion to cry out against
the perpetrators of AIDS - the homosexuals! The reason you can't
imagine it is because it is never done. With God's viewpoint of
the word "love," no way can you have that kind of a
benefit without screaming out something against homosexuality, in
spite of what the Walt Disney Company says! How bad is it
getting? In the April 1997 issue of the Plains Baptist
Challenger, an article told of a student counselor in Pava,
Illinois who administered a personality test to students and
announced that those who received one particular score could be
gay! That's how bad it's getting! I heard just recently something
very chilling. Christian legal advisors are now telling us that
to avoid being sued for slander we should refrain from using the
term "homosexual" in the pulpit for the scriptural word
"sodomite." Now, I'm all for scriptural words. That's
not the point. The point is: what in the world is slanderous
about using a perfectly legitimate dictionary word to describe a
perfectly abominable practice! The Bible says they
"...burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly...." That's "homo"
"sexual." I realize the Christian legalists are trying
to protect us. But how bad has it gotten? When I was a kid even
unsaved people thought nothing wrong with calling them
"queers," let alone "homosexual." It wasn't
slanderous. The word "queer" means "odd," and
that's what they are! Back then, "homosexual" was the
polite term.
We could go on and on. How many of these charity functions, these
benefits, ever deal in the
slightest with what Jesus taught about the first commandment?
Look at one of the Beatles songs
"All You Need Is Love":
Love, Love, Love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.
Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.
There's not even a remote reference to God in these nonsensical
lyrics.
If you are rejoicing in the truth part of real love, you've got
to deal with the first commandment
before the second. Then you can handle the second the right way.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." People just don't get it. If half the effort
expended for charities were channeled into loving
"the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind," the outcome would be holiness
instead of the world's unholiness. And I think we would find that
we wouldn't have half the problem we have in this world. All this
human energy wouldn't have to be exerted in the first place
because we would have God to fight the problem. A good lesson can
be learned from King Jehoshaphat when he faced an insurmountable
obstacle in his day:
"It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab,
and the children of Ammon, and
with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to
battle. Then there came
some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great
multitude against thee from
beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in
Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.
And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and
proclaimed a fast
throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to
ask help of the LORD:
even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
And Jehoshaphat stood in the
congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD,
before the new court, And
said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and
rulest not thou over all
the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power
and might, so that none
is able to withstand thee?...O our God, wilt thou not judge them?
for we have no might
against this great company that cometh against us; neither know
we what to do: but our
eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the LORD, with
their little ones, their wives,
and their children. Then upon Jahaziel...came the spirit of the
LORD in the midst of the
congregation; And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou
king Jehoshaphat, Thus said the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor
dismayed by reason of
this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. To
morrow go ye down against
them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find
them at the end of the brook,
before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in
this battle: set yourselves,
stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O
Judah and Jerusalem: fear
not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD
will be with you...And
they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the
wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went
forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye
inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe
his prophets, so shall ye
prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed
singers unto the LORD,
and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out
before the army, and to say,
Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they
began to sing and to
praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon,
Moab, and Mount
Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For
the children of Ammon
and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly
to slay and destroy
them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir,
every one helped to
destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in
the wilderness, they
looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies
fallen to the earth, and none
escaped." (II Chronicles 20:1-6, 12-17, 20-24.)
Love, by skipping the first commandment!? Nonsense!
Let's see what else the world does because they leave out love's
essential ingredient.
II. Love - So We All May Be One? - John 17:21
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I
in thee, that they also may be one
in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me."
The theme "Let's get together" we hear all the time
from the world and from religion is based on a
"God is love" philosophy and that portion of the above
verse that says "That they all may be one." It
goes something like this: "God is the Father of us all; we
are all His children, so let us all embrace
one another; let us all be one." That's what the Ecumenical
movement is all about! That's what
Habitat for Humanity is all about! That's what Promise Keepers is
all about! That's what ministerial
associations are all about! It doesn't matter what everybody in
it believes - we all love each other!
There's a certain Southern Baptist preacher in my town, and every
time he sees me, he tries to
persuade me to join in the Monday morning ministerial association
meeting over coffee. I just saw
his picture in the local paper along with the other officers of
the association. The officer in the picture from the Catholic
church was a nun! In the caption under the picture it said the
officers were
recently installed at Holy Spirit Catholic Church! Now let's say
he were to catch me at an extremely weak moment and I agreed to
attend one of those meetings; and let's say he convinced me to
join the association, and let's say they elected me an officer
(which wouldn't be impossible in a small town). There I would be
in that picture with that Catholic nun! Joe Pellicone, saved out
of the Catholic church, right back in there amongst them again!
No thanks! I once got in trouble for calling it the
"ministerial assassination," but that's what it is!
If we accept love, however, from God's viewpoint and are
rejoicing in the truth, we would have to
include the rest of what John 17:21 says: "That they all may
be one; as thou, Father, art in me,
and I in thee, that they also may be one in us...." Also
again in verse 11: "that they may be one,
as we are." Oneness of the people must be as the oneness the
Father and Son have with each
other. Aside from the fact that the Father and Son are equal in
essence and attributes, they are also
one in the truth, the Word of God. That is foreign to the world's
idea of oneness where truth matters not. Listen to the words of
the Lord Jesus in His prayer to the Father in verse 8: "For
I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they
have received them, ...." Getting
everybody together without that complete teaching from the Word
of God provides nothing but a
gigantic mess like what was assembled at Shinar in Genesis
chapter 11.
The world skips the first commandment to "help"
humanity, and embraces a syrupy, slushy, wimpy,
watered down love at the expense of truth. But what about us? Are
we Bible-believing Baptists
sending out a strong enough signal of true Biblical love?
III. So Where Does That Leave Us? - Galatians 5:6
"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any
thing, not uncircumcision; but faith
which worketh by love."
As I go down the list of items in I Corinthians 13 that make up
the definition of love, I would have to say that it's that
smallest part of the definition, verse 6, that is supposed to be
our strong suit. But if I may be permitted to limit this
discussion to us preachers since we're supposed to set the
examples, as I go down the list, it seems to me there have been
times that I recall where preachers haven't been very kind,
whether they've suffered long or not, myself included. There have
been times where preachers have envied other preachers. There are
preachers who vaunt themselves. Let me say this in all kindness
to every preacher who is a self-promoter: it sticks out like a
sore thumb! Maybe you don't realize you're doing it. If that's
the case, maybe a friend in the ministry will come put his arm
around your shoulder and kindly tell you. Next, don't think that
the Charismatics have the corner on "behave itself
unseemly." I heard on the way out to this Bible Conference
that one of our brethren in the faith, whose name I honestly
don't recall but if you are hearing this - no offense, promised
to pour ice cubes down his pants if he got a certain number in
church! I think he actually did it! How about this one gentlemen:
"is not easily provoked"!
Maybe if we preachers have been weak at times in these and the
other areas of true love, maybe
our strong suit is not as strong as it should be. If we hate sin
like we're supposed to and truly rejoice in all the Word of God,
I don't see how we could ever become guilty of not being strong
in the other areas of the definition. Is the world, and our
brothers and sisters in Christ seeing a clear signal, hearing a
clear sound as to what true love really is? For if the trumpet
give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
Conclusion
The week following Diana's fatal accident, the lead story in U.S.
News & World Report included a
photograph of Diana, Prince Charles, and their two sons, in
happier days. Included in the caption
under the photograph were these first three words printed in much
larger type than the rest:
"Whatever love is." That was the answer the
about-to-be-married Charles gave an early
interviewer who asked him if he were in love. He was being
truthful. He didn't know. Those same
three words would be a fitting epitaph for a world that equally
doesn't know what love is. And they
won't know until they have Jesus Christ in salvation, for God is
love. May we who know Him ever
radiate in our daily lives the love that is of God to a world
searching for it as we "rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth."