Grace and Peace

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV)

Paul writes in hyperbole to make a point—a point which we shouldn’t stretch beyond the author’s intent.  He is not saying that love bears lying and bragging and ungodliness without taking a stance.  He is certainly not saying that love is neutral on issues of holiness.  Love does not bear blasphemy against God or the Scripture without opposing it.  Rather, Paul is lead by God to use the word, “stego,” which means to cover or to support.  While it has been translated various ways in various translations, it seems that the idea involves protecting another. When I am walking in the love of God, I protect others, their reputations, and their name from ridicule or harm.  I won’t gossip if I am serious about loving others.  When there is sin involved, I will attempt to deal with it in such a way that it causes the least possible harm to all involved—and does the most possible good. Love doesn’t expose a sin just to gloat or pridefully condemn another.  Regarding the congregation of believers, it involves a basic orientation which recognizes brothers and sisters as members of the same body.  Paul in speaking on spiritual gifts has made this point in Chapter 12. To tear down another believer ultimately hurts me.  Developing this characteristic of love in our lives leads to unity in the body, which is so important to Jesus!

What is it that ought to prompt me to protect another?  The certain knowledge that God’s grace has covered my sin makes me gracious and protective toward others.  We find in the Old Testament a rich treasure of understanding about the nature of the God Who loves us. One item found in the ancient tabernacle, the center of Israel ’s worship, was the mercy seat. We find this spoken of in Leviticus 16. Blood of the sacrifice would be sprinkled on the mercy seat by the high priest. The mercy seat was a covering for the sins of the people, typical of a God Who would throw the mantle of His love over sin in the cross of Jesus Christ. When God forgives us, He doesn’t bring up our past sins; they are buried and gone.  God’s New Covenant promise to us is that our sins will be remembered no more.  “As far as the east is from the west,” the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 103, “so far has he removed our sins from us.”

Love is willing to go to great lengths to extend the grace of God. John MacArthur tells the story of a young soldier sentenced to die during the reign of Oliver Cromwell in England . The soldier was engaged to a young lady who loved him dearly, and she pleaded with Cromwell to spare his life, but to no avail. The young man was to be executed when the curfew bell sounded, but when the sexton pulled on the rope repeatedly there was no sound to be heard from the bell. The young lady had climbed into the belfry and wrapped herself around the clapper in order that it was unable to strike the bell. Her body was smashed and bruised, but she refused to let go of the clapper until the bell stopped swinging. Finally, she managed to climb down, bruised and bleeding, to meet those awaiting the execution. When she explained what she had done, Oliver Cromwell was so moved that he commuted the young man’s sentence. One poet recorded the story:

“At his feet she told her story, showed her hands all bruised and torn.
And her sweet young face, still haggard with the anguish it had worn.
Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light.
“Go, your lover lives”, said Cromwell, “curfew will not ring tonight!”

The pierced hands, feet, and side of Jesus, which extended God’s grace to us, beckons us to be merciful to others in turn.

It (Love) does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  (1 Corinthians 13:6 ESV)

Love does not take delight in evil; that is, love finds no pleasure in things that are wrong, base, or ungodly.  It does not so much mean that a person delights in wrong doing themselves, but that they get a thrill in hearing something derogatory about someone else.  It is one of the quirks of human nature that we prefer to hear of the misfortune of others, especially their fall into sin, rather than of their godliness or success.  Love should never find pleasure in a bad report about someone.

The flip side of the coin is that love should rejoice with the truth. That is not as easy to do as it sounds.  There are times when we definitely do not want the truth to prevail; and still more times when it is the last thing we want to hear.  Real love has no desire to veil the truth or parse the truth.  It has nothing to hide and is glad when the truth is revealed.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; (1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ESV)

Anger comes naturally to human beings. If you don’t believe it, go to the nursery and locate the sweetest little baby you can find. Then take away his bottle and that sweet, innocent child will contort his face into something that looks like it’s right out of The Exorcist.  Anger is not a learned response; it is deeply ingrained in our humanity.  Even when we grow up and learn to mask our immediate reactions that does not mean we are immune to being provoked, irritated, angered, or aggravated and in turn becoming resentful and lashing out.  When anger leads us to sin it makes a fool of us.  A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control (Proverbs 29:11).

Interestingly, the word rendered “resentful” in the passage above translates the word, “logizesthai” which is an accountanting word.  It is the word used for entering an item in a ledger so that it will not be forgotten.  That is precisely what so many people do in growing resentful.  The NIV renders it “keeps no record of wrongs.”  The idea is a person whose anger leads them to keep score of all the sins that someone has done against them.  Many people nurse their anger to keep it boiling by brooding over how they have been offended by others.  One of the greatest lessons in life is to learn how to forgive and make the choice to forget.

You might say, but what about righteous anger?  Didn’t even Jesus get angry? What does Scripture say about that?  Well, let’s look at Ephesians 4:26, Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.  There are times when anger is an acceptable, even necessary, response. So what characterizes indignation that is truly righteous?

Righteous anger instead usually involves an injustice done against another; where we move to defend one who is oppressed.  It is appropriate when God, His purpose, or His will is profaned and perverted.  But even when righteous anger is an appropriate response, it must express itselfs the right way; in Christ-like love which hates the sin, while loving the sinner!

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27 ESV)  Lets bear in mind the truth of this passage of Scripture.  Anger, even righteous anger, must not lead us to sinful responses.  Anger must not be carried and nurtured within our mind and heart, because that leads us to bitterness and resentment and gives Satan a stronghold in our life.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (ESV)

At the root of our fallen, sinful nature is the desire to have one’s own way.  The Corinthians were textbook cases for this unseemly facet of our flesh.   At every turn they looked out for their own best interests. They were rude to one another during the Lord’s Table celebration.  They were taking each other to court before unbelievers.  They were competing with one another to demonstrate the most flashy spiritual gifts.  They were lining up behind various teachers and arguing for the superiority of their particular favorites.  They were taking freedom in Christ to the point of license.  Old Blue Eyes popular song, “My Way” could have been their national anthem…and ours as well!

But God uses Paul to point out that love isn’t about asserting one’s rights and taking all you can, instead love is about giving.  Jesus’ disciples were into power, control, and personal rights, too, but He set them straight (and us, also) in chapter 20 of Matthew’s Gospel:

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28 ESV)

Not only the command of Jesus, but the example of Jesus calls us to a life of service and sacrifice.  Rather than that being a life of drudgery; it is life of blessing.  Instead of having it your way today, why not do it God’s way!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (English Standard Version)

Paul continues the negative description of love in verse 5 by asserting that it is not rude.  J.B. Philips, in his translation, states, “love practices good manners.” Other translations use language like, “does not act unbecomingly”or “doth not behave itself unseemly.”  So just what is Paul driving at here?

Paul may have in mind the conduct of Corinthian believers at worship as described in chapter 11:2-16; as well as that in chapter 14.  In those passages, there are several examples of Christians “behaving badly.”  Rudeness as a behavior is actually a composite of several negative characteristics.

At the heart of rudeness is a thoughtless disregard for the feelings and sensibilities of others. It is a form of disrespect. We act unbecomingly when we simply don’t take time to think through our actions and words.  We instead plunge ahead with whatever it is we are determined to do.  Americans are especially good at this; reticence is not generally found  among our conspicuous traits!  Sometimes we act rudely toward others because we are simply careless and unguarded.  Learning to look out for the concerns of others—sensitivity—is a key component in overcoming rudeness.

I am personally convicted as I study this passage and come to this phrase.  I am a forceful personality (stop laughing), have strongly held opinions, and often speak my mind in and out of the pulpit.  I wonder if sometimes that does more to turn people away from Christ than draw them to him?  Have I been more concerned with saying my piece and getting my point across, than being sensitive and gracious to others?  Especially, have I been graceless in my attitude toward and communication with those with whom I disagree?  These are questions that you might ask yourself also.  Love is more than just being gracious and considerate, but it is never less.  If people don’t see the gentleness of Jesus in us, they are less likely to hear the gospel we proclaim.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant.  1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

In the second of Paul’s negative assertions concerning love, he uses a word used nowhere else in the New Testament translated in English as, “boast.”  The word literally means to “be a windbag.”  Gordon Fee says it suggests self-centered actions in which there is an inordinate desire to call attention to oneself.  It refers to a parading of one’s accomplishments; it can be seen as the “other side of envy”, for it involves attempting to make others jealous of what we have. While envy seeks to put others down, bragging is an attempt to lift our selves up.  It is the particular sin of pride running wild.

It doesn’t take a Bible scholar to recognize that God takes a dim view of pride.  In Proverbs, we are told that pride is dishonorable (Proverbs 11:2), destructive (Proverbs 16:18), and that God hates it (Proverbs 8:13).  Pride is the sin of Satan and being the destructive being that he is; he uses every trick to turn humanity to the same path - so that we exalt ourselves above others and even God.

Seeing the danger of pride is fairly easy, the more difficult task is learning how to overcome pride?  Melvin Newland points out three great scriptural princilples to help us.  First, we must remember our mortality.  We are not God; we are but flesh.  “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (James 4:14 ESV)  We do not know the span of our life; only God does! Pride causes us to forget our place, but remembering that our lives here on earth are temporary and hang so precariously is a sobering dose of reality.

Last, let’s acknowledge God’s sovereignty.  While we are mortal, destined one day to die physically, and while we are fallible, failing with regularity, God is immortal and infallible…and He is in control.  “For God is the King of all the earth;sing praises with a psalm!  God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.” (Psalm 47:7-8 ESV) When we act with pride and become arrogant and boastful; we act as though we have forgotten that God is in sovereign control and not us.  Let’s remember He is the Creator and we are the creation.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant.  1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

Today, we continue to the next destination in Paul’s description of love.  This is the first in a series of negative descriptions, which we find in the last half of verse 4.  Envy or jealousy is a universal problem.  We see it all around us today, do we not?  Many conflicts can be traced to jealousy.

The word used in Scripture here is actually a fairly neutral word meaning “to have a strong desire”.  Zealous is derived from the same root word and that can be a very good thing if we are zealous for the things of God.  In Paul’s context, of course, the meaning is negative.  It refers here to a strong desire toward an unworthy end.  Paul uses it to remind us that love does not act with a strong desire to seize from another person what he has or it does not act with a sinful possessiveness toward our own possessions in the face of the need of another.

How does envy grow in our lives?  It begins with self love.  This is the base ingredient in jealousy-our prideful orientation to look out for our own best interests first and foremost. Next, we mix in ingratitude.  Think about it, Christians are far from immune to ingratitude. What percentage of our prayers are prayers of thanksgiving to God, instead of requests for things?

Then we begin to compare ourselves to others.  When we do that it’s hard not to be envious of some people; they seem to have it all. Our sinful nature wants those things for ourselves, and wishes that we were in their place with their stuff.   That brings us to discontent.  When I compare myself with another, and find myself lacking, I then become discontent with what I have. It is at that poing that resentment tends to add itself to the mixture.

But love does not envy. So, how am I going to allow God to produce in my life the fruit of the Spirit which is love; a real love which does not envy?

Lastly, I need a changed perspective that looks at life with contentment.  I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:11-13) Contentment with the path God has for my life is a strong antidote for envy.

Love is patient and kind.  1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV)

Having already commented on the patience of love, I would now like to turn our attention to the kindness that flows from love.  Kindness is not simply an emotion or mere feeling; it is much more.  Jesus was a man with emotions like the rest of us; when He saw the multitudes, the Bible says, He felt compassion for them.  And yet kindness isn’t measured by intentions or feelings.

To be kind is not to be wimpy and afraid to confront another person. Some picture kindness as almost a serene indifference, a mushy fuzzy thing that says “Anything goes.”  That is not the Scriptural picture of kindness; in fact kindness will sometimes need to confront and to challenge; it will need to help correct, for it understands that it is not a loving thing for one Christian to allow another to live recklessly and sinfully and do nothing about it.  It costs something to be kind.  In his book, A Gardener Looks at the Fruit of the Spirit, Philip Keller reminds us that “it is the kind physician who lances the boil, drains off the poison, cleanses the wound, and so restores the patient.”

Neither is kindness random.  You might have seen a bumper sticker which urges us to “practice random acts of kindness.”  Now, I appreciate the sentiment, but the kindness of which Paul is speaking here is not random nor irrational; on the contrary, it involves a clear motive and is done with clear purposes which build up people and glorifying God!

Patience and kindness can be described as two sides of the same coin, the passive and active senses of the same character trait.  Patience involves staying our hands and our mouths from rash responses or inappropriate action choosing instead to trust God in the matter.  Kindness, on the other hand, is the active sense of spontaneous action done for the good of others.  It involves actively seeking the good of another, and doing so with a gentle spirit.

Kindness takes love on the road; it works for the welfare of the one loved. Can we not agree that in this cruel world, we are presented with plenty of opportunities all around us to be kind toward others, to demonstrate this critical quality of love to a world which knows so little of love?  An American general by the name of McAuliff, who found himself at Gastogne surrounded by the enemy, said, “Men, we are surrounded by the enemy. We have the greatest opportunity afforded an army. We can attack in any direction!”  So it is with the opportunity we have been afforded; we can be kind literally in any direction, for there is such a need for this world to see kindness exemplified and the love of Christ magnified.

Love is patient.  1 Corinthians 13:4a (ESV)

The word “patient” here means forbearance; a slowness to repay another for offenses; a slowness to build resentment. Whenever you encounter this word in the New Testament, it almost always refers to patience with people rather than events or circumstances. Patience in this context involves the ability to suffer mistreatment at the hands of someone else without allowing bitterness and anger to over take us. John Chrysostom said of this word, “It is a word which is used of a man who is wronged and who has it easily in his power to avenge himself but will never do it.” Another said that it is “a calm endurance based upon the certain knowledge that God is in control.”

Patience is not indifference. Indifference is not a sign of love, but patience is. So when someone wrongs you, it is virtuous to show patience—a loving concern which withholds vengeance—rather than indifference, which basically has a “who cares” attitude toward a person.  Patience is a virtue, indeed, but one which is in short supply today!

We need to recognize that patience is not merely something we conjure up within ourselves. The Scripture describes it as one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5); it is thus something that the Spirit of God produces in our lives as we cooperate with Him.  How can we cooperate with the Spirit and honor God in this area?

We can abide in Christ.  What does it mean to abide in Christ? It means to commit ourselves to daily communing with God in prayer and in the study of His Word.  Further, it means not being content to merely read the Word, but to be a doer of it. It means confession sin and asking God’s Spirit to control us and guide us through the day.

We need to discipline ourselves to slow down.  God gave the Sabbath day to humanity in order to remind us we need a place for rest, relaxation, and worship in our schedules.  We need to understand the importance of rest and refreshment in our lives.  We need to get away from a utilitarian, accomplishment-driven way of life; where our value as individuals is wrapped up in what we get done. This hard-driven pursuit of accomplishment lends itself strongly to impatience, as we view interruptions as impediments to our goals, rather than potential opportunities to trust God, to minister to people, or to learn patience. Take your foot off the accelerator and slow down the pace of life if you find yourself struggling with impatience!

In order to forge this quality in our lives, God may use some tools we don’t like so well. Tribulation works patience in our lives, the Bible declares, and when we experience difficulties, especially persecution for the cause of Christ, patience is likely to be one good result. If you ask God for patience, He might send tribulation—but in His plan, it is certainly worth it.