SEVEN CARDINAL VIRTUES
LOVE
DR. JIM DIXON
JUNE 3, 1990
1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13
It was almost 2,000 years ago, a Jewish lawyer asked this question, “Rabbi, what is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus Christ answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. And the first and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these two commandments depend all the law and all the prophets.”
Obviously, to God love is the cardinal virtue. What is more important to God than anything else is this: That we would love him, that we would love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind.
Now, I’m sure most of you here today, if you were asked, “Do you love God?” Most of you would say, “Yes, I love God.” But biblically the concept of the love of God is misunderstood many times by people. Sometimes we think we love God and we really don’t. And the Bible gives us two tests by which we may know that we love God and by which God knows that we love him. These comprise our two teachings today. The first is this. If you really love God, you will obey His commandments.
In the fall of the year, 1038, King Henry III, who was King of Germany, placed the body of his beloved queen Kunagunda in the tomb. He loved her. With her loss, he felt great despair. King Henry, wearied of the throne. The only one that he loved more than he had loved this queen was our Lord Jesus Christ himself. King Henry III thought to himself, I’ll leave the throne and I’ll go and I’ll join a monastery, and there I’ll spend the rest of my life quietly contemplating the glory of God.
Now, the priest who was the leader of this abbey or monastery was named Richard. He was sometimes called Poor Richard. He knew that King Henry III loved God, but he didn’t believe that the King should live the rest of his life in the monastery. In fact, he believed the King should remain on the throne. Poor Richard said to the King, “King Henry, do you understand that if you come to this monastery, if you come to this abbey, you’ll have to take a vow – a vow of total and complete obedience. King Henry III said, “I understand and I vow to you, that for the rest of my life I will obey your every command as you hear the voice of Christ.” Richard thought for a second and said, “Very well, this is my command. Return to the throne. Return to the place where God has placed you and serve there with all of your heart.” In obedience, King Henry III returned to the throne of Germany and he sought to serve Christ faithfully and to obey God in all things and God blessed him.
In the year 1043, he met Agnes who he married, and he grew to love her. In the year 1046, King Henry III became emperor of all Europe. And as Holy Roman Emperor, it was King Henry III who appointed four of the Popes of Rome more than any other king in all of history. King Henry III died in the year 1056, and above his tomb there was inscribed these words: “He learned to rule by obedience to God.”
There’s never been another ruler in all of history, an earthly ruler, more known for godly obedience than King Henry III. Why? Why did he long to obey God? Why did he long to obey Christ? The answer is simple. He longed to obey God and he longed to obey Christ because he loved God. He loved God with all of his heart, with all of his soul, and with all of his mind. Listen, to the words of Jesus Christ. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And then again, Christ says, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” And then again, Christ says, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. He who does not love me does not obey my word.” You see, this is why in the Bible, the Apostle John is able to say, “This is the love of God that we keep his commandments.” What could be clearer than this? If we love God, we’ll keep his commandments.
I hope you understand. This is a message the world doesn’t want to hear. The world wants to love God and do as it pleases, but the Bible says, if you really love God, you will please, you’ll be pleased to please God, to honor him, to obey him. We live in a world where Judeo-Christian values are eroding. The commands of God as given in holy scripture are being violated in our generation and in our culture like in no other time. Yet we live in a world where more and more people claim to love God. How can this be? The answer is that many do not truly love God because if we love God, no matter how difficult, no matter how fallen the world is around us, if we love God, we strive with all of our heart to obey him.
People have many motives in obedience. I think some people obey out of fear. Sometimes we, we suppose that fear is an improper motive. We think of rulers from history like Attila the Hun, of Vlad the Impaler, and Ivan the Terrible who ruled their kingdoms in fear and imposed obedience with reigns of terror. But we should understand that there have been good kings and there have been good kingdoms. There have been good nations which have used fear as proper motives for obedience or proper motive for obedience. Even in this nation, the United States, we used fear to motivate obedience.
Most of you drove to church this morning. You didn’t walk or ride your bike. Most of you drove and you stopped at the stop signs you were supposed to and you stopped at the red lights. You turned from the appropriate lane. You stayed within the speed limit or close to it. Why did you obey these laws? You did it out of fear. Fear that you would get a ticket, fear that you’d be pulled over by a cop or maybe fear that you’d have an accident.
Sometimes fear is a proper motive. Even in the Bible, sometimes God seeks to motivate our obedience by fear. The Bible says, “As obedient, children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who has called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct for it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. If you invoke as Father, Him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout this time of your exile.”
The Bible says that we are to render acceptable worship to God with reverence and awe for God is a consuming fire. There’s a lot of passages like that in the Bible and in the New Testament, we are told that many of the judgments of God that fell upon the people of Israel are meant to serve as warnings to us that we would not love evil as they did – that we would not receive the judgment of God as they did. Now, it is true that perfect love casts out all fear and it is true that he who fears is not perfected in love. But you see, the reality is this. God would rather have you obey him in fear than not obey Him at all.
Now, there are other motives. Sometimes people obey God because they want rewards. Some people obey out of a desire for reward. All the religions of the world offer rewards for obedience. In the Muslim religion, in the world of Islam, Islamic men are promised that if they are obedient in life, they’ll go to paradise. In paradise, the first thing they’ll receive is a 300-course dinner. 300-courses followed, I assume, by Rolaids. And then this obedient Islamic person will be given youth, eternal youth. He will be given a palace with 80,000 servants and 72 wives. In Islamic thought, frankly that means 80,072 servants. And these Islamic men are promised that if they want to have a child in paradise, they can have a child by any of these 72 wives and the child will grow from birth to maturity in one hour. None of the hassles of the teenage years. Now, these rewards, which are very carnal, were made up by Mohammed and he put them in the Quran because he knew he needed the incentive of reward in order to motivate obedience.
Well, God knows this and God does offer you reward for obedience. He offers you heavenly rewards. They’re not carnal, but He offers you heavenly rewards that are beautiful. Of course we know we do not attain heaven by obedience but only by faith in Jesus Christ, but the Bible tells us that once we get to heaven by faith in Jesus Christ, our varying rewards will depend on our faithfulness and obedience now.
The Bible also makes it very clear that that we are given earthly rewards for our obedience. Have you ever read Psalm chapter one? The Bible says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, for his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. He’s like a tree planted by rivers of living water that brings forth its fruit. In and out of season, its leaf does not wither in all that he does, he prospers.”
You see, God wants us to know that there are rewards for obedience. Even Malachi 3, “Bring the full tithes into My storehouse. Put me to the test. See if I won’t open up the windows of heaven and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” Reward for obedience.
Sometimes in the Bible, God does use the incentive of fear. Sometimes he does use the incentive of reward, but He tells us there’s a better way. There’s a better way, there’s a better motive. That better motive is love. If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments. What pleases God most is that your obedience would be rooted in love. The biblical word for love is the word agape. And the original meaning of the word agape is to honor. That’s the original meaning of the word. If you love God, you want to honor him, you want to please him. If you want to honor God and you want to please God, you must obey God. That’s why Jesus says, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.” This much is certain if we don’t keep the commandments of God, we don’t love him. It is also true that even some people who do keep the commandments of God, we do not love him.
Look at the Scribes and the Pharisees. They obeyed many of the commandments of God, but they did it out of pride. They didn’t obey these commandments in order to please God, but in order to be pleased with themselves. They didn’t obey the commands of God in order to exalt God, but in order to exalt themselves. They did it out of pride and out of self-righteousness. It would’ve been better for them if they had obeyed God out of fear, godly fear, reverence and awe. It would’ve been better for them if they had obeyed God because they desired the rewards that only God can give. It would have been best for them, best for them if they had obeyed God out of love. If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.
We understand this as earthly parents. I know that with Barb and I sometimes when we instruct Drew and Heather, sometimes their obedience has been rooted in fear and the knowledge that we will discipline. Sometimes their obedience has been rooted in a desire for reward because we sometimes use that incentive. What pleases us most as moms and dads? What pleases us most is when our children obey out of love. When our children obey because they want to honor us, they want to please us. And God feels like that. He wants love to be our motive.
Secondly, and finally, if we love God, we not only will obey his commandments, but if we really have this virtue of loving God, then we’re going to love people. The Bible says these two things, if you really love God, you’re going to seek to obey Him, and if you really love God, you’re going to love people.
I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Well, I love God. It’s people I can’t stand.” Sometimes we all feel like that but the reality is that if we really love God, we’re going to have a heart for people. We’re going to want to help people. We’re going to love people. The Bible says, “If anyone loves God, and hates his brother, he’s a liar for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God, should love his brother also. You see, the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.” That great commandment is joined to the second great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If we really love God, we’re going to love people and it’s going to begin with the family. As Christians, God has told us we are to love our families. You know, it’s just hard to make it through life. It’s just hard to live in this world, this fallen world where there’s so much suffering and so much rejection without some kind of family to love you.
Most of you’ve heard of Bart Starr. He was an NFL quarterback. Some say he was one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks in football history. He was the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. During the season of the Super Bowl I, during the season of 1966, Bart Starr made an agreement with his boy Bart Jr. Apparently Bart Jr. was having a lot of trouble in school, and Bart Starr said, “Son, for every perfect paper you get, I’ll give you a dime.” The boy was excited about this.
Well, you see that season Green Bay played the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis and Bart Starr had one of the worst games of his life. He’s on national television, and Bart Starr just couldn’t do anything right, couldn’t hold onto the ball. He couldn’t throw the ball right. He was missing all of his receivers. He had the kind of game like, like John Elway had in the last Super Bowl. He felt horrible. Green Bay was annihilated by the St. Louis Cardinals on national tv. Bart Starr felt humiliated. On the flight home that night, it was late. It was 12 midnight when Bard Starr got home. He just felt like a loser. He went into his bedroom and there on his pillow was a note from his son, it said, “Dear Dad, I watched the game tonight. I thought you were great, Dad, I love you.” Bart Jr. had taped two dimes to the note.
You see, that’s what needs to happen in families. I mean families really need to love each other. They need to hold together. As Christians, the love that we express in our families is meant to be even greater than the love that the world offers. In fact, in Ephesians chapter five, God’s instruction to Christian husbands is this, “Love your wife with the same kind of love that Christ loves the church when he gave his life for her.” That’s love. The will of God is this, if you love me, you’ll love people. And it begins with a family. Love your wife so much, you’re willing to die for her. That’s the command of God. If you love me, you’re going to love people. And it begins in your own family.
It extends beyond the family. It extends to the church. In the Bible we are commanded to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible says, love the brotherhood. If you’re really a Christian, you’re, you’re going to have something of the heart of God and you’re going to love people and it’s going to extend from your family to the church. You’re going to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, that’s not easy. I think you would agree with me, perhaps, that there’s a lot of Christians that aren’t that easy to love. Some of us are kind of jerks. There are times when there are some Christians out there who in the name of Christ will try to use their Christian faith to manipulate business. You’ve met them. There are Christians out there who, who will judge you in Phariseeism, in their own narrow mindedness, in their own self-righteousness. There are Christians out there who are self-righteous and extremely hard to get along with, but Christ says, love them, love the brotherhood, love your brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible says it’s only as we love each other as Christians, that the world’s going to be drawn to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The world is supposed to look at the church and say, “Wow, do these people ever love each other!” The Bible says that as Christians, if we love one another, the world will be drawn to Christ like a magnet.
Most of you have heard of the U.S.S. Pueblo. It was a United States intelligence ship that was captured in January of 1969 by the North Koreans in the Sea of Japan. Eighty-two American men were taken captives, and they were abused through various atrocities. Thirteen of them were made to sit each day without motion in chairs for hours. And they had 13 chairs and each chair was numbered. Each of these 13 men had to sit in the same chair each day. The first day, the North Koreans came out and they took the man who was in chair number one and they beat and flogged him. They explained to the other 12 that they were going to come in every day and they were going to take this same man in chair number one, and they were going to beat him and flog him. They were going to do this every day till that man died, and they were going do it in front of the other 12.
They came back the second day and they took that guy in chair number one, and they beat him and flogged him. They came back the third day they did it again. The 12 watched. They couldn’t take it anymore. The fourth day the North Koreans came in and they were amazed to see that another man was sitting in chair number one and he was ready to take the beating voluntarily. The North Koreans went ahead and beat him. The next day they came back and they found still another man was sitting in chair number one that day volunteering for the beating. And so it went day after day as the 13 began to rotate, voluntarily taking the beating. The North Koreans became so frustrated that after a period of days, they just ceased the affliction. If you’ve read any of the reports from those men who are captured aboard the U.S.S Pueblo, you know that it was love that bound them, willing to bear each other’s afflictions, bound to each other, supporting each other in the midst of great persecution. It was love that bound them, that enabled them to survive and to not be conquered by their common enemy.
I hope you understand that if you’re a Christian, you’re at war. The Church of Christ is at war, and Christ said, “Love must bind us.” We must be willing not only to share each other’s joys, but we must be willing to share each other’s afflictions. It’s only by this that we’re going to survive. I can promise you that in this upcoming decade and as we move closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ, the Church of Christ will be tested. Those Christian bodies that are not willing to love each other will fall apart. We are called to love the brotherhood, that the world might look at us and marvel at how, indeed, we are bonded together. This love for people is to extend beyond the family and is to extend beyond the church. It’s even to extend to our neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself. The Bible says, your neighbor is, anybody who’s in need. Anybody who’s in need.
In the summer of 1928 in the state of Massachusetts was a young man walking out on a pier by the ocean and he tripped over a rope. He fell into the cold ocean water. This man didn’t know how to swim, began to drown. He struggled. He cried for help. There was another young man sitting in a deck chair at the end of the pier sunbathing. An excellent swimmer, he didn’t get out of the chair. He just watched this drowning man as he cried out, “I can’t swim. Help me!” There were other people further away. They saw what was going on and ran down the pier. Some of them dove into the water, but they couldn’t reach the drowning man in time. The man died. The man sunbathing in the deck chair never got out of his chair. He just watched.
The family of the man who died sued the guy in the deck chair. They sued him. This was in 1928 in the state of Massachusetts. And finally the state of Massachusetts and the United States government ruled that this man in the deck chair had no legal obligation to help this drowning man. He was not criminally responsible. The court of our country agreed with Cain that “I am not my brother’s keeper.”
Well, you see, according to the laws of this world, there’s no obligation to love your neighbor. No legal obligation but according to the law of God, there is. If you love God, the Bible says you will love your neighbor. I can tell you one thing about that man who was in the deck chair so long ago. He didn’t love God. He couldn’t have loved God and watched another human being die when he was capable of helping. “If you love me, you’ll love your neighbor.” The Bible says, “If anyone has the world’s goods, sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
As Christians, we claim to know the truth. The world will never care that we know the truth until the world knows that we care. So Jesus Christ says, “Love your neighbor.” This love extends not only to the family and to the church and to the neighbor, but this love is so great that it extends even to our enemies. This is the great mystery of the love that we’re called to manifest. That we would love our enemies. Jesus Christ said, “I say to all who hear, love your enemy. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those that abuse you.”
I really don’t have time to go on to a another point I wanted to make but I hope you understand the will of God, that if you love God, you must love people too. That begins with your family. It extends to the church, and then again to your neighbor and even to your enemy. This love is a very special kind of love. If you really love God, you’re going to seek to obey him and you’re going to love people. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I’m a noisy gong or a clinging symbol. If I have prophetic powers and I understand all knowledge and all mysteries, and I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but I have-not love, I am nothing. If I give away everything that I have to the poor and deliver my body to be burned but have not love, I really accomplished nothing. Faith, hope, and love, these three remain but the greatest is love.” As it says in first Corinthians chapter 14 verse one, make love your aim. “Make love your goal.” Let’s close with a word of prayer.