THE 4TH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY (1/28/07)
Sir, we would see JESUS! 
Emmanuel, Asheville, NC 
1 Corinthians 12: 31b - 13:13
IN THE NAME OF JESUS!

?¨The Greatest of These Is LOVE!?Æ

Dearly beloved, please pray with me: Gracious God and Father, in Your Son, Jesus Christ, You have called us out of darkness into the marvelous light of Your saving love. Now You ask us to let Your light shine in our daily lives, so others may see what a difference Your perfect love makes in our lives. Forgive us where we fail to shine as we should; and graciously bless our hearing of Your Word this day, so that the Holy Spirit enables us to let Your light shine more clearly on those around us as we grow in our love for You and those whom our lives touch. O Father, help us, for Jesus?? sake. Amen.

In the name of Jesus, precious, beloved people of Christ:

I suspect many of us have heard the adage a number of times, YOU CAN??T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER. It??s a way of saying that one should not judge things or people only by outward appearances. One really needs to know what??s true at a much deeper level. To only know what one observes on the surface may not be reality at all.

Well, there??s One who is never fooled by outward appearances, and that??s our LORD GOD! He always looks beyond the surface. Jeremiah records this Word of our holy God, ?¨I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.?Æ [Jeremiah 17:10] That reality underlies what Saint Paul says in our text about people doing extraordinary works being nothing at all if love is not what motivates those deeds. The Spirit led him to write that this is true even if he were to have such a strong faith he could move mountains. In fact, he went on to reveal that if he did what seemed to many the greatest of all charity ?± giving absolutely all he possessed to the poor ?± if not motivated by love, his gift is totally worthless in the eyes of God. 

When our holy and righteous Lord looks beyond the fa?Åade of our actions, words, and thoughts, He is searching for LOVE! ?± True, genuine, God-like LOVE! In fact, the Lord reminds us in our text that of all the spiritual gifts He gives to us, only three things will last ?± ?¨faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.?Æ

Since we all will finally face God as our Judge, we better know for sure His standards for genuine love. Love which meets the Lord??s criteria first and foremost must find its source in God who is love. It is a response to the overwhelming mercy of our heavenly Father in Christ Jesus and His forgiving grace. That among other reasons is why our holy and righteous God tells us in His Word, ?¨Without faith it is impossible to please God.?Æ [Hebrews 11: 6] When we trust Jesus as our Savior, our heavenly Father binds us to the very heart of God. It is only in faith that we can please the Lord. Thus Jesus tells us in the Parable of the Vine and the Branches, ?¨Without Me you can do nothing.?Æ [John 15: 5c] God-pleasing love must above all always have its source in this intimate union with our Triune God.

In addition, God-pleasing love emulates the very love of our heavenly Father. Thus, St. Paul goes on to tell us in our text, ?¨Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.?Æ 

If your body is not beginning to squirm or your conscience isn??t beginning to burn, they should be. Who can measure up to such Christ-like love? For example, if you knew for sure one of your closest friends was about to betray you, would you like Jesus then address that individual who turned from a close associate into your worst foe as ?¨Friend??Æ [Matthew 26:50] In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus did exactly that to Judas, hoping that thereby His disciple, by that time driven by Satan, would repent of his evil plan and deeds? 

Yet Jesus did far more than that. In the midst of His intense agony on the cross as He bore the punishment for our own sins and all our lack of love, as well as the sin of the whole world, He had you and me in His heart, too, as He prayed, ?¨Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.?Æ [Luke 23: 34] Each and every one of us daily falls woefully short of our high calling in Christ Jesus. Yet this is the very reason Christ went to the cross that He might embrace us in forgiving love and grace. When we by the power of the Holy Spirit trust Jesus as our dear Savior, the Lord buries our sins forever in the depths of the sea and doesn??t even remember our failures any more. Rightly we sing of God??s amazing grace in Christ Jesus.

So does that mean that we have no need to strive with the Lord??s help to emulate the love of our God? GOD FORBID! Christ??s boundless love has been poured out on us to change us even now. Saint Paul tells us ?¨Christ died for all that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.?Æ [2 Corinthians 5: 15] In unending mercy our God doesn??t give up on us. He called us to be members of Christ??s own body when the Spirit brought us to faith in Jesus as our Savior so that we may bring forth increasingly the fruits of faith active in loving. 

In infinite grace, our merciful heavenly Father has not left us alone in our striving to love both God and others in greater measure. Having brought us by the Spirit??s power to faith in God??s mercies in Christ Jesus, He richly and daily continues to pour out upon us the gift of His Holy Spirit so that faith, hope and love increase. The Spirit draws us into the community of believers where we then help one another mature in faith that shows our trust is alive by loving in larger degree. While none of us will reach a state of perfection here on earth, our life together in the body of Christ involves constantly growing both in faith, hope, and in loving. In Ephesians 4: 15-16 Saint Paul describes our earthly pilgrimage as God??s redeemed people this way: ?¨ . . . speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into [Jesus] who is the Head [of the body], that is Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.?Æ

God??s Word here tells us that it is impossible to grow in our ability to love without our dependence upon and the direction of our Lord Jesus, the Head of the body. In fact, we couldn??t even exist in the body of Christ without that tie in faith. We are literally held together by our dear Savior. Yet Paul at the same time points up that our growth does not take place in isolation from one another either. We grow ?¨as each part does its work.?Æ You and your efforts are needed by others, and you and I in turn likewise must be nourished by our fellow believers. 

Since our spiritual progress hinges upon our receiving the Spirit of God, where do we receive His enabling power? God tells us through Paul in Ephesians chapter 6 that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. [6:17] Our gracious God provides ample nourishment and direction, as we the people of our living and all-loving God gather around His Word and as Christ ties His Word and promise to the visible elements in Baptism and the Lord??s Supper. It is here that we are fueled for our continuing growth in living, loving faith. Let me repeat that: It is in the Word of God and the sacraments that the Holy Spirit shares with us His own power to facilitate such growth. 

You see, though we are harassed both from without and within by Satan, the world, and our own sinful flesh, by God??s grace the Spirit continues to dwell within us. He holds before us His unchanging truth that these three ?¨things will remain ?± faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.?Æ So, dearly loved people of Christ, with the Spirit??s aid may we all grow in the grace of loving ?¨not just with words or tongue, but with actions and in genuineness!?Æ [1 John 3: 18] Then indeed to God will be the glory. Amen. 

To GOD alone be all glory!

© The Reverend Frederick A. Stiemke, Vacancy Pastor