PEARLS OF PAUL
THE LOVE CHAPTER – PART III
DR. JIM DIXON
1 CORINTHIANS 13
AUGUST 22, 1999
Antonio Stradivarius was born in Italy in 1644. He died in 1737 at the age of 93. Stradivarius is famous. He is famous because he made the finest violins this world has ever seen. A Stradivarius violin is renowned for its rich, resonating sound. A Stradivarius violin has a value which is virtually priceless. The amazing thing is that Antonio Stradivarius was poor. In fact, he was so poor he could not afford to buy the fine quality wood that other violin makers purchased. He was so poor that he had to use discarded lumber. In fact, he would use driftwood. He would go down to the harbor that was near the place where he lived, and he would pull wood out of the harbor, floating wood, wood just soaked through. He would take that discarded lumber back to his shop, he would dry it out, and he would prepare it in a special way. From that discarded wood, he made the Stradivarius violin.
Scientists have examined the wood in the remaining Stradivarius violins, and they have found that microbes have eaten away at some of the cellular structure in the wood, creating a fibrous infrastructure that produces the rich resonating sound. Incredibly, Antonio Stradivarius was able to take this discarded wood, able to take what society viewed as trash, and he was able to transform it into treasure.
The Bible tells us that all of humanity has been trashed, trashed in the sense that we are fallen. Of course, we were created in the image and likeness of God, and the Bible tells us we are the crown of God’s creation, and we are precious to Him. But sin has invaded the world and we are fallen. But Christ is able to take trash and transform it to treasure. That’s what Christ is seeking to do in my life. He’s seeking to take trash and transform it into treasure, and He has that power. That’s what He’s seeking to do in your life as well. In order to make treasure of us, in order to transform us, He is seeking to teach us heavenly love. He is seeking to transform us in such a way that we would begin to manifest agape love, or divine love, in our lives.
In 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, the Apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, defines divine love, agape love, God’s love. In the first three verses of this chapter, he seeks to exalt love by means of comparables, but when we come to verse 4, Paul actually begins to define divine love. He gives divine love 16 definitions, and you will be glad to know that we are not going to deal with all of them this morning. We are, however, going to seek to examine 4 of these 16 definitions of divine love this morning.
First of all, Paul tells us, “Divine love is patient.” Now, there are two Greek words in the Bible for patience. There is the word “hupomone,” and there is the word “makrothumia.” Makrothumia is the word that Paul uses here in verse 4. “Love is makrothumia.” The unique thing about this word makrothumia is that it describes patience with regard to people, always with regard to people. The word makrothumia literally means “long suffering,” so “love suffers long with people.” If you have divine love in your life, if you have the love of Christ in your life, you’re willing to suffer long with people.
Tony Campolo is Professor of Sociology at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He is a renowned speaker nationally, and he speaks at our church once a year. He has the most amazing stories. One story he tells concerns a time that he was asked to speak at a Pentecostal college in Pennsylvania. He drove to that college, and he was to speak in the chapel service on a weekday morning. Before the chapel service, eight members of the faculty at that Pentecostal college asked Tony if they could pray with him, and he said, “Sure.” The first couple of people prayed for Tony, and they asked the Lord to anoint him and use him, and Tony was very grateful for their prayers. But then this one individual began to pray for a guy named Charlie and Tony was confused. I mean, ‘What did this have to do with the chapel service?”
This guy began to pray about Charlie. Charlie was about to leave his wife, and Charlie was about to abandon his family and leave his children. This guy was just burdened about this friend of his named Charlie. He began to pray about Charlie and said, “Lord, you know who Charlie is. He just lives a mile down the road. He lives in that trailer, Lord.” He actually told the Lord the address of Charlie’s trailer.
Tony Campolo was thinking to himself, “God is omniscient. Doesn’t this guy know that God already knows where Charlie lives?” But this individual continued to pray for Charlie. “Lord, don’t let him leave his wife. Don’t let him leave his kids, and Lord, help him to come to know You and make a commitment to You.”
Well, when the prayer time was over, Tony Campolo just went ahead and gave his chapel talk. After the chapel talk, he got into his car, and he was going to begin the long drive home. As he got onto the highway, as soon as he got onto the highway, he saw a guy hitchhiking. He did not normally pick up hitchhikers, but he felt prompted. He felt prompted by God to pick this man up. He picks this man up and introduces himself. He said, “My name is Tony.” The guy says, ‘Well, my name is Charlie.” Tony Campolo somehow just sensed that this was the guy that this individual on the faculty of the Pentecostal college had been praying for.
Tony says to him, “Charlie, did you just leave your wife and children?” Charlie is absolutely stunned. He’s just absolutely stunned. He said, “Well, yes I did.” Tony Campolo said, “Well, God wants you to return to your wife and kids. I’m taking you back to your house right now. He turned the car around, and he drove right to Charlie’s house because he knew the address. He drove right to Charlie’s house, and Charlie couldn’t believe this. This was just unbelievable. He said, “How did you know where I lived?” Tony Campolo said, “God told me,” Which was at least partially true. Tony said, “Can I come into the house with you?” As soon as they arrived, Charlie’s wife opened the door of the trailer and she saw Charlie and she said, “Charlie, you’ve come back to us.” Tony said, “Can I come in and talk to you and your wife?” He went into the trailer, and he talked with them, and they both accepted Jesus Christ, asked Christ to come into their hearts to be their Lord and Savior. Today, Charlie is a minister, and their marriage is strong. He’s also a very good father to his children. It was a miracle of God.
Marriages across this nation need miracles because the institution of marriage is in crisis. We live in a nation where divorce is skyrocketing. This has been the case for decades in our culture and in our nation. So many marriages are breaking up. And why is that? Well, there are many reasons to be sure, but certainly one of the reasons is there is just not enough agape love. There is a lot of eros love in our culture, quite a bit of philia love, friendship love, and quite a bit of storge love, love for our children, but there’s not enough agape love, not enough heavenly love, not enough divine love, love that expresses itself in long suffering. A marriage just can’t work without patience for each other, patience with people.
I’m not saying that marriage is simply about suffering long. Barb and I celebrated, yesterday, our 28th wedding anniversary. We’ve been married 28 years. I can tell you that there’s been an awful lot of joy for us in those 28 years, by God’s grace. But there has also been times when at least Barbara needed patience. Isn’t that true in all of our marriages? Marriage is not possible without patience for people and a willingness to suffer with each other in the midst of our fallenness.
Of course, you can’t raise children without patience, without long suffering. Yesterday morning, our son Drew went downtown at 7:00 AM to take his MCATS. Those are the medical exams that enable you to get into medical school. It’s an 8-hour examination, and Drew has studied hard this summer for those exams. He was pretty nervous on Friday night, and then Saturday morning he got in his car and headed out down to Metro where the MCATS were offered. About five minutes after he left, Barb found his wallet that he had left behind. You need identification in order to take the MCATS, and so she got the wallet, jumped into the car, and went downtown and found Drew down there and rescued him once again. Of course, this morning Barb is taking Drew to the airport. That’s why she’s not at church this morning. She’s taking Drew to the airport so he can go back for his senior year at college in Boston.
It is not possible, is it, to rear children without patience and without the willingness to suffer long. Barb and I have needed little patience with regard to our children because we’ve been blessed with great kids. Some parents need great patience. Some parents have very difficult situations.
I have a friend named Brad Stenberg who lives in southern California. Brad and his wife Pep were missionaries in Africa. Brad was one of my friends in college, and Pep I knew in high school. I used to date her. They’re just great people. When I went out to Westmont College last summer to speak in the chapel service on the alumni weekend, Brad was there. I was talking to Brad. I said, “Where’s Pep?” He said she couldn’t come up because they couldn’t get a babysitter for the kids. He said how hard it is. One of their kids is severely mentally disabled and has tremendous behavioral problems. There are not many people who are willing to babysit kids like that. So Pep had to stay home, and yet she was glad to do it because this is a commitment they made. They could have institutionalized this child with no condemnation from any reasonable person, but they’ve chosen to rear this child, trusting in the love of God that it be sufficient for them, that God would give them the patience and the willingness to be long suffering. And the rewards have been great.
We are a culture in desperate need of love, God’s love, and we are a culture in desperate need of patience. You can’t get in your car and go on the highway without an awareness of the fact that we are in crisis with regards to patience. That’s why we have so much road rage out there on the highways of America. People just aren’t patient. We’re not willing to suffer long with one another.
Just last week I was driving my car. I was turning onto Arapahoe Road from University. I was making a lefthand turn. I was waiting for the green arrow. There was one car ahead of me. The green arrow came, and the car ahead of me didn’t go. I waited a few seconds. I felt like I was in a hurry. Of course, it seems like so often we feel like we’re in a hurry, doesn’t it? I was wondering why this car ahead of me didn’t go. I was just about to hit the horn, because we view the cars around us as objects in our way rather than as people, human beings beloved of God. I looked at this person in front of me and I saw that she was an elderly woman. She was starting to go, just very slowly. She was starting to go. Together, we barely made it through as the light turned yellow.
You know, I got to thinking of my mom. I talked to my mom this last Wednesday on the phone. She’s 86 and soon to be 87. My mom told me how grateful to God she is that she’s still able to drive. As far as I know she drives well, but, you know, older people don’t see quite as well, and their reaction time is slower, and they need patience from other people. I hope people give my mom patience when she drives, and I want to learn to be more patient when I’m in the car, more willing to suffer long with those around me. I believe that the patience we show to others or the lack of it will one day come back to us, if by God’s grace, we live long enough to be elderly. If we’re not patient with others now, how can we expect others to one day be patient with us. Love is long suffering, makrothumia.
Then Paul says love is kind. This word, in a sense, is related to patience. If you’re not willing to suffer long with people, you’re not likely to be very kind. The words are joined.
Barbara, last Sunday, took my mom to the airport. She had decided she would walk my mom all the way out to the gate because that helps my mom. Barb went to park the car. As she went to park the car, the airport was crowded out at DIA. She finally found somebody who was getting ready to leave and she waited. This person took quite a while, but she waited. Finally, this person backed out and Barb was then going to take the slot. Suddenly another person just came racing around the corner and just zipped right into that spot that Barb had been waiting for. This other person then got out of the car. Barb was just kind of angry. Barb said to her, “I’ve been waiting a long time for that spot. It wasn’t very nice of you.” She said, “Well, so what!” and she just stomped right into the airport. Barb looked at this woman’s car and there was a bumper sticker on it that said, “Die, Yuppie Scum!” I was thinking, wow! There’s not enough kindness in this world. Not a lot of patience and not a lot of kindness. Not a lot of either one.
The USA Today reported this past week (and so did the local Denver newspapers) that the Catholic church and the National Catholic Reporter is conducting a contest. They’re conducting a contest looking for the face of Christ. They’ve asked artists all across the United States to, either through a painting or a sculpture or a photograph, submit their idea of the face of Christ. They’re going to give a cash prize to the winner. So apparently in the upcoming weeks and months, artists all across this nation are going to be working on the face of Christ. It can be either a painting, a sculpture, or a photograph. The Catholic church has said it can be a man or a woman because they’re just looking for something in the face that reminds us of Christ. Of course, Christ can be equally seen in a man’s face or a woman’s face. Well, I’m pretty confident that the woman Barb met at the airport isn’t going to be the face of Christ.
But who is it going to be? The National Catholic Reporter has stated that whoever they choose they know it’s going to disappoint many, and I’m sure that’s true. But I know this: Whoever they choose, it’s going to be a face—whether it’s a painting or a sculpture or a photograph—that is going to manifest kindness. Don’t you think that’s obvious? The face will have to manifest kindness if, indeed, it’s the face of Christ, because Christ is kind.
The Greek word here is “chrestos.” It’s just like the word “Christos,” which is the word for the “Anointed One” or the “Christ,” but the word for kindness is the word “chrestos.” This word is one of the mercy words. It’s like “eleos,” which means mercy. Or it’s like “charis,” which means “grace.” It’s part of that whole group of words that includes “sympathos,” from which we get the word “sympathy,” or “splagchnizomai” which means “compassion.” To say that Christ is kind, and to say that we are called to be kind, means that we are to be people of mercy and people of compassion. Mercy and compassion.
I saw this last week. The NFL is starting up another year. It’s one of those statistics that’s virtually meaningless but kind of a curiosity. I saw where the NFL uses three thousand cows a year to produce the leather for their footballs. Some animal rights groups are upset about this. They’re actually upset about this, which kind of amazes me that they’re upset about the three thousand cows that are used to produce the leather for the NFL footballs. I mean, how about the three million cows consumed by NFL players every year!
But isn’t it true that we live in a strange world? Certainly, kindness to animals has a proper place. Biblically, animals are to be used for food and clothing. The Bible makes that clear. And yet certainly there’s a certain kindness we should properly show to animals if we exercise our God-given dominion properly. But how much more important is kindness to people? There are people out there who are kinder to their pet than they are to other human beings or even to the person next door. If you’re a Christian and you’ve taken the name of Jesus, you’ve been called to manifest the very kindness of Christ. Love is kind.
I’ll tell you whose face the National Catholic Reporter could choose. They could choose the face of my mom. I look at my mom and I never cease to see the kindness of Christ.
One of my favorite illustrations from history concerns Booker T. Washington. I think most of you have heard of Booker T. Washington, an African American, one of the greatest African Americans our nation has been blessed with. Booker T. Washington, in 1881, founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He served as President of that Institute until the day he died. He was involved in civil rights, a devout Christian, a man known for his kindness, renowned for his kindness.
One day Booker T. Washington was walking around in one of the suburbs. He was in a nice section just taking a walk. All of the people who lived there were white. This one woman looked out of her house and saw this black man walking down her street. She did not recognize him as Booker T. Washington. She had some wood that needed chopping, and she called to him. She said, “Mister, would you come and chop some of my wood for me? I need some help chopping it.” He came over and chopped her wood. It took hours. He chopped all of her wood and then hauled it into the house and put it by the fireplace. She offered him a quarter, which he turned down.
As he was leaving, this woman’s daughter came into the room. Once Booker T. Washington had left the house, this woman’s daughter said to her, “Mom! Do you realize who that was?” She said, “No, dear.” The daughter said, “Well, that was Booker T. Washington, mom!” She knew the name and she felt horrible. The next day she went over to the Tuskegee Institute. She went to the office of the President, and she found him. She said, “Oh, I’m so sorry for yesterday.” He recognized her. He said, “Don’t apologize.” He said, “It’s alright. In fact, I needed the exercise. Also, it’s just a privilege to do a favor for a friend.” Isn’t that an incredible response? Particularly when she was only sorry because of who he was. She only apologized because of who he was, and yet he showed her kindness.
We’ve been called in Christ to show kindness to people, even to people who are involved in sin as Jesus showed kindness to the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. The Pharisees showed her no kindness. We are to hate sin, but we are to love sinners, and we are to show kindness to all people.
Well, thirdly, Paul says love is not jealous. It is not jealous. Of course, the Bible is filled with examples of jealousy. In Genesis, chapter 4, Cain is jealous of Abel. In Genesis, chapter 16, Sarah is jealous of Hagar, her maid, who conceived a child for Abraham when Sarah was deemed barren. Sarah was so jealous, the Bible tells us, that she made Hagar’s life miserable. In Numbers, chapter 12, we’re told how Miriam, the sister of Moses, was jealous of Moses. She was jealous of Moses’ leadership and popularity. She says, “Does God only speak through Moses?” She was jealous and envious of God’s anointed. We come to 1 Samuel, chapter 18, and we see Saul, king of Israel, jealous of a shepherd boy named David, jealous of David as he rose in prominence. The people were saying, “Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his ten thousands.” From that day forth, the Bible tells us, Saul set his eyes on David to destroy him in jealousy.
We come to Daniel, chapter 3, and we see how certain Chaldean counselors in the court of Babylonia were jealous of three Jewish counselors named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was their jealousy that led to the whole episode of the fiery furnace. You come to John’s gospel, the third chapter, and you see how some of the disciples of John the Baptist were jealous of Jesus. They said to John the Baptist, “The people are leaving you and going to Jesus.” They were jealous. John said to them, “I must decrease but He must increase. My joy is full.”
Of course, you see glimpses of jealousy, perhaps, between Paul and Apollos as you look at the Epistles. There are moments of jealousy between John and Peter. It all begins with Satan. In Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, we see that Satan was jealous of God Himself, and he said, “I shall ascend above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I’ll make myself like the most high God.” Jealousy is a satanic disease that Satan would just prosper and spread across our culture.
There’s a little jealousy in you and in me, a little envy in you and in me. We all have a capacity for this. The word for jealousy… there are actually two words in the Greek, the word “zelos,” which means “to desire strongly something that belongs to someone else,” and then the word “phthonos” which means “envy.” It really implies that you not only want what somebody else has, but you don’t want them to have it. That’s jealousy, when you want what someone else has and your kind of are bitter about it and you resent the fact they have it. You see, love is not like that because love delights in the blessings that other people have. Love longs to see other people prosper. Love isn’t focused on self. Love is focused on others.
In the year 1503, Leonardo da Vinci was invited by the leaders of the city of Florence to paint a fresco on one of the walls of the Great Council Hall in the city. Leonardo da Vinci, at the time, was 51 years old and he was world famous, considered the greatest artist on the earth, and certainly a brilliant man. He agreed to paint this wall in the Great Council Hall in the city of Florence, although he did not want to use a fresco technique. He was asked to paint a military scene, one of the Florentine victories, and he did this. At the same time, the leaders of the city of Florence asked another artist to paint another military scene on another wall of the Great Council Hall. That other artist was a young man, 28 years old, and his name was Michelangelo. There can be no doubt that the two greatest artists of the Renaissance were Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Michelangelo painted a battle scene on another wall in the Great Council Hall in the city of Florence. After both artists were finished, people began to make comparisons. This is the nature of people. They began to make comparisons. Most people said, “You know, this young artist, this Michelangelo, his painting is superior, we think, to Leonardo’s.” This all came back to Leonardo da Vinci, and he began to feel jealousy, began to feel envy. It changed his life. He still painted some great works, and indeed, it was in the same year that he completed his Mona Lisa, perhaps the most famous painting of all, but the rest of his life he lived in bitterness. He lost his joy. That’s what jealousy does. It just saps joy from us, and it produces bitterness. It takes joy out of life. Love is not jealous because love doesn’t focus on self. Love focuses on others and seeks their blessing.
Finally, , love is not boastful. Love is not boastful. The Greek word here is “perpereuomai.” This is the only time it’s used in the entire Bible. It’s based on a Greek word “perperos,” which is not even found in the Bible at all. That Greek word means “to vaunt or exalt oneself.” Love doesn’t vaunt itself. Love does not exalt self. Love exalts others.
There’s a certain humility which, if we believe in Christ, we should have. I mean, there’s a certain humility that should be basic to every Christian man and woman because it takes a certain humility to become a Christian. You’ve got to acknowledge that you need a Savior. You’ve got to acknowledge that you’re a sinner in need of grace. It takes humility to become a Christian. Christians should be characterized by humility.
I read recently of a ceremony the White House conducts every year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It’s a very crazy ritual where the White House brings into the Rose Garden a turkey. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, they bring a turkey in. In a special little ceremony, the President of the United States pardons the turkey. This takes place every year and has taken place every year since the administration of Harry Truman. He began this in 1947. Every year for over 50 years now, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the President of the United States pardons a turkey in the Rose Garden of the White House. This turkey is sent to a Virginia farm, and it is allowed to live out its days with ample food, never to be carved. A pardon for a turkey.
Well, the ceremony is obviously crazy, and I think it was established for the purpose of levity, but it does convey a truth, a truth which we, as Christians, should understand. And that is we are all turkeys in need of grace. We are turkeys in need of pardon, and we surely understand that if we’ve come to Christ.
We used to have a little slogan around this church, “We’re all bozos on this bus!” It was really just the same concept—that we’re all fallen, we’re all sinners, we all need mercy, we all need grace, we all desperately have needed His pardon. As a community of believers, we need to take ourselves not so seriously, though taking Christ seriously. We need to live lives of humility towards each other, and we need to seek to exalt not ourselves but to exalt others. Of course, if we’re not humble, then sometimes Christ seeks to humiliate us that we might find humility.
I want to close with this little story. It concerns Don Shula. Don Shula was the coach of the Miami Dolphins for many years. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. He won multiple Super Bowls. For a period of time, he was extremely well known and quite famous. He is a Roman Catholic. He’s been described as a devout Catholic, and he is known as a pretty humble guy. But by his own testimony, he tells this story to show that he has had times when he struggled with pride.
He and his wife were on vacation up in the state of Maine. They were in a little village in Maine, staying in a little hotel there, kind of a quaint place, in the summertime. Don Shula’s wife wanted to go to the movie. Don said, “I don’t want to go because people know me. I’m probably going to be recognized if we go, and I’ll have to talk to people. I just don’t feel like putting out the energy.” She said, “Don, this is a little village in Maine. People aren’t going to know you.” He said, “Well, I’m really famous.” She said, “Let’s just go,” and finally she talked him into it.
They wound up going to the movie. They go into this little movie theater. There are only a few people in it. The movie hasn’t started yet. As soon as they come in the back door into the movie theater, all the people who are in there just turn around and look at them and begin to clap, begin to applaud. Don Shula turns to his wife and says, “See, I told you!” Then he sits down right next to somebody who is there. He turns to him and says, “I can’t believe that you all recognized me.” The guy said, “Recognized you?” He said, “Mister, I don’t have a clue who you are, but the manager said when the tenth person comes in, he’ll start the movie!”
Now, sometimes I think God uses little incidents like that, hopefully, to give us a little greater measure of humility. God wants us, as believers in Christ, to be each day a little humbler, each day a little more patient, each day a little more kind, less and less jealous. He wants us to grow in love.
You know, love doesn’t seek to exalt itself. Love seeks to exalt others, and it seeks to exalt Christ. So, love is patient, willing to suffer long with people. Love is kind. It shows mercy and compassion. People see Christ in those who have love. Love is not jealous. It’s not focused on self. It delights in the blessings of others. Love is not boastful. Love does not seek to exalt self but seeks to exalt others. Let’s close with a word of prayer.