FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
LOVE
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 13, 1986
GALATIANS 5:22-25, CORINTHIANS 13:1-13
His mother was a powerfully built, dominating woman who found it very difficult to love anyone. His father, he never knew before he was born. His father died of a heart attack. His mother reared him, but she gave him no love. She gave him no affection. She gave him no discipline, and no instruction through those early years. She worked by day and at night she beat him. She grew to resent him. She wouldn’t even allow him to call her at work, though he was but a child and the other children had little to do with him, so he was alone most of the time. He was ugly and he was poor, and from the moment of his birth, he knew nothing but rejection. When he was 13 years old, the school psychologist said he probably didn’t even know the meaning of the word love. As an adolescent, he was ignored by the girls, and he fought with the boys. But he never won. He always lost.
Despite a high IQ, he failed academically. He dropped out of high school in his senior year, and he joined the Marines. He had heard that the Marines built men and he wanted to be one. But the other Marines began to mock him, to laugh at him, to make fun of him because he was weak and scrawny in stature. He still had an adolescent squeak in his voice. His face was riddled with acne. Though he was only 18 years old, he was already balding. He began to fight back. To resist authority, he was court marshaled and finally, he was dishonorably discharged. And so there he was a young man in his early twenties. He had no skill, no talent. He had no friends. He didn’t even have a driver’s license. He went to Europe thinking that he could run away from his problems, but things were the same. He did meet a girl. He married her. He brought her home to the United States. He hoped desperately that she would be his friend, an ally in the midst of a hostile world, but it was not to be. She bore him two children, but he never knew the status and respect that a father desires because she mocked him, and she laughed at him, and she too began to make fun of him. Like his mother, she was powerfully built, and she began to physically dominate him. She would beat him up. He was literally a battered husband, and she would throw him in the closet and lock the door and make him beg to get out. Finally, she kicked him out of the house.
He tried to make it on his own, but he was so very lonely. And so, he came back to his wife, and he begged her to take him in. He pleaded. He surrendered all pride. He came on her terms. Though he made a meager salary, he gathered all he had and gave it to her as a gift, but she threw it on the ground and she made fun of his feeble efforts to meet the needs of the family, and she made fun of his physical appearance and she belittled his sexual impotence in front of other people who were there, and he went home to his apartment and he fell on his knees and he wept bitterly as the darkness of his private nightmare enveloped him. Nobody loved him. Nobody had ever loved him. The next morning, he arose, and he was a strangely different man. He didn’t care anymore. He went out to the garage, and he took down a rifle he had hidden there, and he went to his newly acquired job at a book storage warehouse. It was November 22nd, 1963. And from the third floor of that book storage warehouse, he took aim, and he sent two bullets crashing into the skull of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Lee Harvey Oswald, the unlovable failure kills the one man who perhaps more than any other man represented all the success, the love, the affection, the popularity that he had never known. And in firing those two shots, he used the only skill that he had acquired in his entire miserable life. It is of course not possible to condone what Lee Harvey Oswald did 23 years ago, and like all people, he must one day stand before the Lord God Almighty and give an account.
But it is a sad thing, a tragic thing to see what happens to people when through the course of their life they never feel loved. There’s just not enough love in this world. It is a hurting world. But the Bible says God is love. We who believe in God through faith in His son, our Lord Jesus Christ, are given one command above all else, and that is that we would love our neighbors as ourselves, that through us the love of Christ might be seen in this world. By this, all men shall know that you are my disciples. Jesus said you love one another.
I have two teachings this morning. The first teaching is this. Love is powerful. It is very, very powerful. Because love is of God. Now, there are many different kinds of power in the world. There is an island in the Sunda Straight, halfway between the island of Java and the island of Sumatra. And this island is called Krakatoa. The island’s not much to look at today because, in August of 1886, the greater portion of the island was blown to bits in a volcanic eruption. And when Krakatoa erupted, the power that was harnessed was almost beyond comprehension. Boulders giant boulders were thrown fifty miles through the air. Buildings five hundred miles away shook. And the sound of the eruption, the sound of the explosion was heard three thousand miles away. It sent dust flying thirty-three miles above the earth, forming a canopy of dust that virtually enveloped the earth, changing weather patterns for months and years. Tidal waves went out from the eruption over the surrounding islands, killing 36,000 people. It is one of the greatest volcanic eruptions in the history of the world, and when people think of power, they think of physical force such as that.
But there was no real power in Krakatoa. There was power to destroy, but there was no power to heal. There was no power there to forgive a person of sin. There was no power there to mend a broken heart. There was no power there to rear a child, to wholeness and maturity. There was no power there to meet any of the inner needs of mankind. The only real power the Bible says in this world is the power of love because love is of God and God is love.
You see, it was the love of God that transformed Mary Magdalene. She was a harlot. She was demon-possessed seven times over, a sexual prostitute, socially rejected, her self-esteem shattered. But one day she met the Son of God, and the love of God transformed her, and she was the last at the cross, and she was the first at the empty grave. It was to her that the Lord Jesus Christ presented Himself, resurrected and alive even before He appeared to the twelve. She became a disciple of the Son of God, and she served the kingdom of Christ all the days of her life—all because of the transforming power of the love of Christ.
It was the love of God that transformed Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector and a crook. He was hated by the people. Small in stature. He climbed a sycamore tree so that he might get a glimpse of the son of God. Jesus looked up, called him by name, and they shared lunch together that day, and Zacchaeus would never be the same. He was transformed by the power of the love of Christ.
It was the power of God that transformed all the apostles, Peter, the Galilean fisherman, and James and John, the sons of Thunder. They were transformed by the love of Jesus Christ and with His love, they went forth and they changed the world, the love of Christ. It is powerful.
I’m sure that very few of you have ever heard of Kim Ree. He was a Christian civilian living in South Korea during the Korean War of the early 1950s. In 1952 he was taken captive by a communist leader. This communist leader ordered Kim Ree shot. He was to be executed. Now, Kim Ree was the owner and the director of an orphanage. He took care of little children and there was great pressure put to bear upon the communist leader to spare Kim Ree’s life. And so, this communist leader did a horrible thing. He spared the life of Kim Ree, but he took his 19-year-old son, Kim Ree’s 19-year-old son, and he executed him. He executed that 19-year-old boy in the presence of his father. Well, the fortunes of war changed in the subsequent months. The United Nations forces captured that communist leader in 1953, and he was brought to trial, and to that trial Kim Ree came. But he didn’t come for vengeance, he came for mercy. He pleaded that mercy might be shown to this communist, and he asked the court for an extraordinary request. He asked if this communist couldn’t be given into his care. He said, “I will take care of him. I will teach him. I will educate him. I will show him the love of Jesus Christ. I will show him the meaning of love.” And it’s a historical fact that the court released and entrusted this communist into the hands of Kim Ree. That was 33 years ago. Today, that one-time communist leader is a retired Christian minister who has preached the gospel of Christ and the love of Christ in Korea for more than 30 years. How is that possible? Only by the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
In 1969, the American Red Cross was collecting supplies and medicine, food, and clothing for the suffering people of Eastern Nigeria, which at that time was called Biafra. A package came to the American Red Cross, and inside that package, there was a letter and the letter read, we have just recently become Christians and we now want to help people for Christ’s namesake. We won’t be needing these anymore. Perhaps you can find some loving purpose for the material.” Inside the package, the American Red Cross found five Ku Klux Klan robes. The American Red Cross took those robes and cut them into small pieces and used them to bandage suffering black people in Africa. Symbols of hatred transformed into instruments of love by the power of Jesus Christ and by the power of the love of Christ. Five Ku Klux Klan members one day encountered the Son of God, and the love of Christ transformed them.
Now, if you’re a Christian, you had some day, some time, some moment when you encountered the Son of God, Jesus Christ, when he became real to you, and at that moment, you invited him to come and be the Lord and Savior of your life. When you did that, He sent His Holy Spirit within you to dwell, to take up residence within you like a seed. God Himself came within you and God sent His Spirit within you for a purpose that the indwelling spirit might now transform you into the very lightness of the Son of God.
You know, there’s a difference between the Fruit of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit. The Gifts of the Spirit are individualized. There’s no one gift that is meant for everybody, but the Fruit of the Spirit is generalized. It’s corporate. The Fruit of the Spirit is meant for every Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian is meant to manifest love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Every Christian is meant to manifest the love of Jesus Christ. But tragically, there are many Christians who have the Holy Spirit living within and still don’t manifest the power of love. The Holy Spirit has not released the power of love in their life, and there’s a reason for that. Biblically, the Holy Spirit will not unleash his power in your life to love other people until you resolve and resolve daily that you are going to love others—until you make up your mind and your will that you want to love other people for Christ’s sake—until you begin each day with that heart’s desire. Then and only then as the Holy Spirit’s power released in your life or mine.
Peter said, “His divine power has granted to us all things which pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence, that we might escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passions and become partakers of the divine nature. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, every effort to supplement your virtue with knowledge, every effort to supplement your knowledge with self-control, every effort to supplement your self-control with steadfastness, every effort to supplement your steadfastness with godliness, every effort to supplement your godliness with brotherly affection and every effort to supplement your brotherly affection with love. Every effort.” It’s as we’re willing and as we resolve to make every effort that the power of the Holy Spirit is released. If you’ve heard anything else, it’s a lie. Every morning we must rise up and resolve that we’re going to love somebody for Christ’s sake then and only then says the Holy Spirit within begin to release the power of love. And it is powerful.
Well, secondly and finally, love is costly. It is very, very costly. The Bible says God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son love always leads to giving and sometimes that giving is expensive. Now, I heard a story, I’m sure it’s fictitious of a circus and Moscow, which had a beautiful lady lion tamer, and she was the smash hit of the circus, and everyone came to see her, and she had perfect control over all the animals. One day this beautiful lady lion tamer went inside a large enclosure, and inside that large enclosure, there was the fiercest lion of all, and the crowd waited with anticipation. And at her command, this fiercest line of all came meekly and put its paw around her and nuzzled her with affection, and the crowd thundered its applause—except for one man—and when the applause had ceased, this man said, “What’s so difficult about that?” And the ringmaster said, “Sir, are you volunteering? Are you willing to try it”? And without hesitation, the man said, “Sure, but first of all,” he said, “Get that lion out of there.”
Now that’s kind of a dumb story and it doesn’t really have anything to do with anything except sometimes people volunteer for something and they don’t really understand what they’re volunteering for. They don’t count the cost. And God wants you to understand if you’re a Christian, he wants you to understand the moment you signed up, you made a commitment. And that commitment was risky. That commitment was that you would love people for Christ’s sake no matter what the cost, and sometimes it is costly.
Little more than 150 years ago, there lived a man whose name was Jeff. Jeff was a lieutenant in the United States Army, stationed at Prairie Duchien, Wisconsin. In the year 1832, Jeff was 24 years old, Jeff fell in love with an 18-year-old girl whose name was Sarah. Sarah was beautiful and she was slender, and she had bright, beautiful hazel eyes. The moment Jeff looked into her eyes; he knew that he had fallen in love. Now, Sarah’s father was named Zach, and Zach was Jeff’s boss because Zach was a colonel in the United States Army, also stationed at Prairie Duchien, Wisconsin. Zach didn’t want his daughter, Sarah, to marry Jeff. He said it wasn’t personal, but he just didn’t want Sarah to live a military life and have a military husband. But the truth was that it was personal. Zach just didn’t like Jeff. And there came a point when Zach told Sarah that she couldn’t see Jeff anymore, but Sarah and Jeff snuck out and they continued to see each other.
Finally, in June of 1835, Sarah and Jeff went down to Kentucky and they were married secretly, and when Zach found out he was enraged. It was a tragedy he thought, but the real tragedy was yet to come because, on September 1st, 1835, Jeff and Sarah became gravely ill with extreme cases of malaria. It was fever season, and on September 15th, 1835, Jeff got out of bed very weak with a high fever, and he made his way over to Sarah’s bed and he knelt over her bed, and he said,” I love you,” and he saw her close those bright, beautiful hazel eyes for the very last time. And when Sarah died, Jeff was shattered, and for eight years he lived recklessly, isolated from people for eight years.
But after eight years, he decided to take a riverboat down the Mississippi River. On that riverboat, he saw Zach, Sarah’s father. He hadn’t seen Zach in eight years. And when the two of them saw each other, they both began to cry and in the midst of their common loss, their common pain, and their common hurt, they became best friends, and their friendship lasted through the years that followed. They both entered the arena of politics, and they both became highly successful. In fact, Zach ultimately attained this nation’s highest office. In 1848, he became president of the United States. His name was Zachary Taylor. Jeff didn’t do so badly, he became a United States congressman, a United States Senator, United States Secretary of War, and ultimately Jeff too became president, but not president of the United States. He became the 1862 president of the Confederacy. His name of course was Jefferson Davis.
Toward the end of his life, Jefferson Davis said that if he could live his life over if he could rewrite the script, he never would’ve met Sarah. He never would’ve looked into those bright, beautiful hazel eyes because he said the three months of marriage—those three months of happiness—just couldn’t begin to cancel out all the years of pain, all the years of anguish and loss, it’s been said that “it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Some people don’t really feel like Jefferson Davis didn’t. If you’re a Christian, then you must believe that if you’re a Christian, you must believe it is indeed better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, and when you stop to think about it, it really doesn’t matter whether you love your wife or your husband or your parents or your children or a friend, someone in your neighborhood, someone at work. Anytime you love anybody, you give them the ability to hurt you. Anytime you love anybody, it’s a risk. They can hurt you by their death or by the words that they say or the things that they do. But as Christians, we’re simply called to love people anyway, love them unconditionally.
You see, Jesus Christ came into this world knowing that he was going to die on Calvary’s cross, but he came anyway because he loved us. He said, “Take up your cross and follow me. I’ve given you an example that you should follow in my steps.” Don’t let anybody ever tell you that Christianity is the same as the religions of the world. It is not.
Have you ever looked at a statue of Buddha? He sits under the bow tree in the lotus position. His lips are slightly parted. He has a contented smile on his face that shows that he has passed beyond the power of anything in heaven or on earth. To touch him, he has the bliss of detachment—the highest goal, the very goal of all the Eastern religions. “He who loves 50 has 50 woes. He who loves 10 has 10 woes. He who loves none, has no woes.” He has said, “His eyes are closed.”
Jesus Christ hangs on a cross. His arms outstretched, His body, broken, His blood shed. “Greater love, hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” “You are my friends,” He has said. “A new commandment I give unto you—that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” Love is costly.
In 1864 (and with this we’ll close) a young woman was walking over the hills of southern Wales in Britain. Her husband had died only a few months before, and she was carrying in her arms, her little child. It was a long walk. She had gone to live at the home of an uncle. She was a mile from the house, and she would never reach that house—because a sudden blizzard came over the hills of Southern Wales, thick was snow. It was hours later that rescuers and friends found her; her body was buried under a pile of snow. Her life snuffed out. They were surprised to find that her outer clothing, much of it had been taken off, but they soon understood why, because when they rolled her body over, they found that she had dug a hole and she had placed her little child in that hole, and she had wrapped her little child in her own clothing. She’d used her dying body to protect that little child’s life. Because she had done that, that little boy was alive, and his name was David Lloyd George. He grew up in the home of his uncle. He grew up to become the Prime Minister of Great Britain. It was David Lloyd George, who helped to formulate the Versailles Treaty, which brought peace at the close of World War I. One of Britain’s greatest statesmen, he died in 1945 at the age of 82, and he never would’ve lived at all had it not been for a mother’s sacrificial love.
Now, the world can’t understand this, but if you’re a Christian, God wants you to love people, even as a parent, who loves a child. God wants you to love all people with the same kind of love, the same depth of love that a parent has for a child. Because you see, that’s the kind of love that God in heaven has for all the people on this earth. It’s a goal that he has set before us, a goal that none of us can really attain in this age of the world, but the goal is there just the same. We are called to love sacrificially for his namesake.
The Bible says, “In this is love that he laid down his life for us. And so now we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” God wants us to love people in such a way that we lay down our lives for them each day. If we do that, we would soon discover that love is costly, but it is also powerful. A new commandment I give unto you. “You love one another, even as I have loved you. Let’s pray.