Father, we thank you that you speak to us in
your word, that you're a living God, a speaking
God. And Father, we thank you that you're a loving
God. And we ask that you would help us to be
a loving church that reflects your love. And
we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the footy
season is over. If you haven't caught on to that,
I'm sorry. It's been over for a little while.
I know many of you are rugby league fans. Don't
hold it against me. I'm an AFL fan. But for footy
fans, it's a long wait. And we just have to sit
there and watch endless cricket until footy starts
again. And you sit there and you jump on your
phone and you look at the latest trade news.
Oh, the Swans got Charlie Kernow. If you don't
know who that is, that's okay. It's a good thing
for me. If you're a non -fan, you go, welcome
relief that footy just doesn't dominate everything,
because it can often do that for some people.
And for the players, well, they get a holiday.
They get a bit of a holiday, but not much of
a holiday. Then they get back to it. They get
to work and have a gruelling pre -season training.
And pre -season for a footy team is massive.
If you get a good one, it can set up your whole
year. But you've got to pursue the right goal
as a footy player. If you don't, it can be disastrous.
A great example of this is the 2018 Adelaide
Crows training camp. Did you ever hear about
that? The year before, the Adelaide Crows were
the top of the table. They made the grand final.
They lost to Richmond. But, gee, you know, they
came close. And everyone was expecting them to
bounce back. And they went, we need a new focus.
We need to build mental toughness. Our mental
toughness wasn't quite there on grand final day.
We're going to build mental toughness. So they
hired this company called Collective Mind. And
Collective Mind took the Adelaide Crows players
on a bus. They blacked out all the windows of
the bus. They started playing on repeat again
and again and again the Richmond club song, the
team that they'd lost to. They started verbally
abusing the players with personal information
that they'd shared in confidence and they manipulated
them in all sorts of horrible ways that I just
won't go into. All in the name of let's build
mental toughness. It was huge damage. The Crows
dropped from second down to 12th. Players left
the club. The coach resigned. And for many years,
many of the players had ongoing counselling from
this whole thing. Trust was severely broken.
The goal was pursued, let's build mental toughness
so we win more. But there was a greater goal
that was forgotten, wasn't it? Care for the players.
Protect their welfare. That's a much higher goal
than building mental toughness, isn't it? Immense
damage was done because the higher goal was forgotten.
Now the same thing can happen in our lives, can't
it? And can happen in the life of a church. We
can easily pursue lesser things and we can pursue
them too hard at the expense of greater things
that we should pursue more. And when we do that,
it's a damage to ourselves and others. Think
about our last year, our last five years. What
were we pursuing? Was it the right aim? Have
we been pursuing what we should have been pursuing?
Is our ultimate aim, is it assumed, is it neglected,
is it forgotten? Actually, what is it? What is
it we're meant to be doing here? What are we
pursuing? Well, this is crucial if you're a Christian,
because we need to know what it is we're meant
to be. focusing on and it's important too if
you're not just to understand what real christianity
is about so let's have a look today what is it
we're meant to be pursuing as a church and we
see that goal by looking at the church here in
corinth the church is a mess if you were to go
you know 2000 years ago back to corinth you would
find a church full of divisions lawsuits immorality,
idolatry, drunkenness, and it all stemmed from
the wrong pursuits. Some of them were going,
I want power. That's what I'm pursuing. Some
of them were going, I want to pursue freedom.
Some of them went, I want to pursue specky spirituality.
And Paul is writing to show them, guys, guys,
guys, you've all got the wrong goal. The whole
mess that is Corinth would be sorted if you pursued
the right thing. What is that right goal? Just
two words. Follow the way of love, or as the
ESV puts it, pursue love. That's the goal. Pursue
love. And that's our big idea for today. Pursuing
Christ -like love. is at the heart of being spiritual.
The three chapters that we've been looking at,
chapters 12, 13 and 14 of 1 Corinthians, are
in kind of like a sandwich. So you've got two
pieces of bread, which is the two chapters 12
and 14, all about the gifts. And then the middle
chapter, the meat of it, is this chapter on love.
It's the heart and soul of what being spiritual
is all about. So why should pursuing love be
our ultimate goal? Why is that spiritual? Why
is it better than other goals? What's love even
mean? Well, that's what we're going to look at
today. And there's three reasons we're given
why we should pursue love. Pursue love because
love is essential. Pursue love because love is
excellent. And pursue love because love is eternal.
Love is essential. Love is excellent. Love is
eternal. So let's have a look at those three
together. Here's the first one. Pursue love because
love is essential. So the Beatles nailed it.
Beatles and Paul would get on at this point.
All you need is love, you know. But we've got
to be clear on what love actually is. And that's
what Paul does here in the first three verses.
Have a look with me. If I speak in the tongues
of men or of angels but do not have love, I am
only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom
all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
a faith that can move mountains but do not have
love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to
the poor and give over my body to hardship that
I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
So here's what Paul does. He starts with the
ultimate gifts and deeds that you could possibly
have. Tongues of angels. This is the ultimate
in tongues. You know, all sorts of faith that
can move mountains. The ultimate sort of miraculous
power. Your body being burned as a martyr. And
he then follows it by this refrain three times.
If I have not love, I'm just a clanging gong
or... I gain nothing or I am nothing. He's saying
that the greatest gifts and the greatest deeds
are worthless without love. A few years ago,
Laura and myself and the family, we all drove
from Broken Hill to Sydney to see some extended
family. And while we were there, our car blew
up. Kia Carnival. We upgraded to a Toyota Kluger.
Man car. It's good. And we got all these cool,
like, accessories with it. You know, it's a very
old Toyota Kluger, but it's a top -of -the -line
old Toyota Kluger. And it had a seat warmer and
a sunroof, and the boot goes boop, boop, boop,
and does it all automatically. It's very cool.
And the salesman, he was trying to wow me with
all this. And I said to him, look, mate, I'm
not interested in any of that. My car just blew
up. I just want a good engine. I want something
that's going to handle the rough of the outback.
Don't sell me a lemon. No good having all the
accessories without the engine. I want a good
engine. Well, here Paul's saying to us, love
is the engine of the truly spiritual person.
Gifts, they're great. They're like a sunroof.
They're like, you know, an automatic boot. They're
bonus accessories that are really good. But the
engine, the thing that drives everything of being
spiritual, it's love. And that flips what we
value on its head, doesn't it? See, tongues,
all sorts of spiritual miraculous gifts, they
can look so impressive. They look like they're
something. Paul says they're just a banging gong.
If you're a Bluey fan, you'll know what I'm talking
about. This is Chattermax. Chattermax is this
little toy that goes, and the kids love to play
with it. The parents don't so much. It's loud,
it's unintelligible, and it contributes nothing.
That's what Paul's talking about here. Specky
gifts without love, it's just noise. He's showing
how crucial love actually is. But what is love?
Well, Paul shows us in verse 3 that we can even
get that wrong. We tend to think of love as a
verb. Love is a verb. And he says, yeah, giving
money to the poor or giving your body to service
or martyrdom, those are actions that appear impressive
and loving. But they too can be without love,
can't they? And he says if they're without love,
therefore they're worthless. Love is not just
an action, it's a heart attitude. See, what he's
getting at is this sort of idea. Late after church,
you could be having a chat and you're stacking
the chairs with people. And there's two ways
you can be stacking chairs, isn't there? You
can do the fake smile stacking chairs. Do you
know that one? Stacking chairs. When you're inwardly
seething, wishing others stayed back and helped
out. Or you can do it with the real smile. Yay,
I'm stacking chairs. And joyful and glad, and
your heart is being other person centred. It's
the exact same action, but it comes from a very
different heart posture, doesn't it? The fake
one has no love. And there's no benefit to you
doing it. It won't grow you. It doesn't honour
God. It's just hypocrisy that makes you bitter.
The good action is not enough. Love in the heart
is needed. Can you see how essential love is?
You can have the most amazing spiritual experiences
and have nothing. You can be more gifted than
Charles Spurgeon or Billy Graham. Paul says you're
nothing without love. You can perform greater
deeds than Mother Teresa. And before God, you
gain nothing if you didn't have love. Is fostering
a loving heart our pursuit, our priority? Have
we been seeking accessories and forgetting the
engine? Ask yourself, look at the last six months.
What have you been pursuing? Has it been love?
But that's not the only reason to pursue love.
Pursue love because love is excellent. See, love
is not like veggies. You know, veggies, they're
good for you, but they're yuck. Well, you just
pour lots of butter on it or something. But love
is beautiful. Love is good for you and tastes
good. It's like steak. It's joy. Take a look
with me at verses 4 to 7. Love is patient. Love
is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast.
It is not proud. It does not dishonour others.
It's not self -seeking. It's not easily angered.
It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight
in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes. Always
perseveres. That's a beautiful description of
love here, isn't it? It's the one that we always
have at the weddings. And who wouldn't want that
at their wedding? But for the Corinthian readers,
not only is this beautiful, it's also an arrow
to the heart. Maybe think of that next time you're
at a wedding where they read this. Because Paul
is showing how they failed to be loving. That's
what this is meant to do. It's meant to expose
how the Corinthians have failed to be loving.
They're not like this. They've got factions where
people have got superiority and inferiority complexes.
They're celebrating immorality. Many of them
are selfish. Instead of being a beautiful community
of love, they're messy, dysfunctional, and a
cesspit of misery. See, a great way to feel what
they would have felt as we read this is to put
your own name where it says the word love. So,
you know, see where it says love? Okay, here's
what you do. You put your name there. Brendan
is patient. Oh, Brendan is kind. Oh, sheesh,
not last week. You know, you just go through
it and you think, yikes, that's not me. But then
here's the next thing you do. Put Jesus' name
there. Jesus is patient. Yep. He's been putting
up with me for a long time. Jesus is kind. Yep.
He treats me far better than I deserve. It fits
what Jesus is like, doesn't it? He is the embodiment
of love. And better yet, what we read here is
how Jesus has loved you and me. I mean, we see
it ultimately at the cross, don't we? What amazing
love that Jesus would bear our sins. All the
times where we've been loveless and unloving,
he took that punishment on himself. That's how
loving he is. Seeing how unloving we've been
and how loving Christ has been toward us, do
you know what it does? When we see those things
clearly, it moves us to pursue love. I don't
know if when you were a kid, did you ever line
up the dominoes? You know, not the pizza boxes,
the little dominoes, and you line them all up.
And I remember seeing on YouTube a big domino
train where someone just did heaps and heaps
of them. And they knocked that first domino and
other dominoes fall and fall and fall and fall
and fall. Do you know what? Jesus' love for us
is like that first domino. It's like a giant
first domino that knocks over a whole bunch of
other dominoes. When we experience Jesus' love,
It moves us to be loving. When we believe it,
it moves us to be loving. When we feel it, it
has this knock on effect so that we become more
loving. When I think back to times where I've
most been loving as a husband, as a dad, as a
friend, as a pastor, it's when I'm most conscious
of Jesus' love for me. There's such joy and thankfulness
that comes when I think, yeah, he's loved me
so much. I mean, there's plenty of times where
I'm a real selfish jerk and not very loving at
all. Just if you're thinking, oh, Brendan, that's
not true. Wait till you get to know me. It's
okay. There are times where I lose sight of Jesus'
love. It drifts from view into the background
because there's so many other things that need
to be pursued. And the constant fight is to keep
looking at the endless ocean of Christ's love
for me. That's a big part of pursuing love, is
to see how loved I really am. So what's it look
like to do that? Well, one way would be, say
you're heading to work or to school drop -off,
and before you go... Read a phrase from 1 Corinthians
13. Just pick one of these. Love is patient.
You know, there's the first one. And then as
you're driving, think about how Jesus has been
patient with you. How has Jesus been patient?
Well, gee, you know, like you think about all
the sins and all the times I've grumbled and
been unloving. And then you spend time thanking
Jesus for his patience, saying sorry to Jesus.
that he had to be patient with you and asking
him for help that you would be more like him.
That is a key to pursuing love. But that's just
one way. You don't have to do it that way. You
could read a book on God's love. You could listen
to a sermon on God's love. You could read a part
of the Bible all about God's love. I'm just here
saying to you, make a plan. You won't pursue
love and become more loving. if you're not aware
of your failure to love and conscious of Christ's
love for you. Make a plan. How are you going
to pursue love? Now, I don't know about you,
but these things have got me already wanting
to pursue love more. But there's still one more
reason that we should, and here's our last reason.
We pursue love because love is eternal. 8 to
13. Love never fails. Love never ends. But where
there are prophecies, they will cease. Where
there are tongues, they'll be stilled. Where
there's knowledge, it will pass away. For when
we know in part and we prophesy in part, but
when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child. I
thought like a child. I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood
behind me. For now we see only reflection as
in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part, then I shall know fully,
even as I am fully known. And now these three
remain, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest
of these is love. So what are you meant to do
with these verses? Well, imagine you're standing
there in glory. You're in heaven. What do you
see when you're standing there in heaven? Love.
Everyone loving everyone else as if they were
Jesus. That's what makes heaven heaven. If you
look around in heaven, you're not going to see
prophecies. Oh, there's some prophets over there.
If Isaiah and Jeremiah are there, they're going
to be like, well, I used to be a prophet. I've
kind of changed careers. I'm all about love now.
They were actually pretty good prophets, so they
were about love too before. But there won't be
any tongues. There won't be any prophets. There
won't be any words of knowledge. No one's going
to say to you in heaven, hey, I have a word from
the Lord for you. Because you're already there.
In glory, the one thing that will remain is love.
But all the gifts, they're going to cease. Do
you know what the gifts are like? The gifts we
have are like milk. They have an expiration date.
Eventually they're going to go off and get chucked
out. But love, it's like honey. It just lasts
and lasts and lasts and is always good. I don't
actually know if that's true of honey, but that's
what it seems like from my perspective. And it
makes sense. It makes sense that love is like
that. Because... Before creation even began,
what do we have? We have the Trinity. God is
love. Three persons in loving communion. That's
who God is. He's love. Love is at the heart of
the universe. So Paul's saying, it's up to you.
You pursue what you like. You can pursue something
will fade away and disappear and is going to
expire like milk, or you can pursue something
that just goes on forever. What are you going
to pursue? I think it's obvious what we should.
Seek after love. It's eternal. It's glorious.
It's heavenly. I know which one I'd be devoting
myself to. And do you know what happens when
we do? We actually, here as a church, we get
a little entree of heaven. It sorts so many things
out. Want to see our church grow? Like new people
coming in? Let's just get really good at loving
each other and them. Want to see people have
sound doctrine? A big part of that is loving
people well. And you can sort out a lot of things
when you love people well, can't you? Because
they're willing to listen. No one cares what
you think if they don't think you care. Do you
want to see people have rich worship and joy?
Let's make church a place that's a loving community
that makes people overflow with joy to God because
they go, wow, God, you've given me such loving
people around me. Love sorts out a lot of messes,
doesn't it? So let's recap. We started by asking,
are we pursuing the right things? Are we distracted?
Are we putting too much focus on lesser things?
Are we like the Adelaide Football Club in 2018?
What should we pursue above all else? And here's
what Paul tells us. Pursuing Christ -like love
is at the heart of being spiritual. Pursuing
Christ -like love is at the heart of being spiritual.
We saw that we should pursue love because love
is essential. Love is excellent. And love is
eternal. So what's this mean for us? Well, if
you're here today and you're checking out Christianity,
I'm glad you're here. I hope you've seen today
what true Christianity looks like. It drives
people to pursue a radical otherworldly love.
And it gives those people the power to make real
steps in that direction. to become incredibly
loving as they experience Jesus' love for them.
If you're here and you're not a Christian, I
want to ask you, couldn't our world use more
of that right now? Just look on the news. There's
hate between Israel and Palestine, and that's
just one pocket of the world. So much everywhere.
Even in our own community in Cairns, I mean,
there's tribalism, there's vengeance, there's
envy, there's pride, there's theft, there's all
sorts of stuff. And day to day in our own families
and homes, it's easy to lose it at the kids,
it's easy to lie, it's easy to be selfish, isn't
it? What else can truly and deeply change people?
The only thing I've seen is encountering Jesus'
love. Why don't you try it? If you're not a Christian,
come have a chat with me. I want to take you
out for coffee. I'll even pay for the coffee.
And let's look at Jesus' love together. And if
you don't like the cut of my jib, you can go
out with someone else. That's fine. But let's
do coffee. But if you're here and you're already
a Christian, I want to ask you, has pursuing
love been your goal for the last few years. I
have to admit it's not as much of a focus for
me as it should have been. And today's been a
good reminder for me that it's something I need
to be intentional about. Maybe I need to put
a post -it note on my bathroom mirror or on my
home screen or something like that. Pursue love.
This is a reminder that I do it in every sphere
of my life. See, it's about being conscious of
it because it easily drifts to the back burner,
isn't it? It's easy to pray about other things.
It's easy to forget that that's what we're here
to do at church. It's easy to stop reflecting
on, what have I been doing wrong? How have I
been unloving? And to not ask yourself, how should
I be more loving going forward? We need to work
together as a church to pursue love. And I want
to close by saying, wouldn't it be amazing if
all of us were transformed to be more loving
like the Lord Jesus? You might even want to shut
your eyes for a sec. Just imagine. What would
our homes and workplaces look like if we pursued
love? What would our church look like? If we
pursued love, can you imagine how great it could
be? I think it's already a great church. I really
love being here. Can you imagine how great it
could be if we intentionally pursued love more
and more? It would be truly a slice of heaven.
But the only way we're ever going to see that
happen is if each of us pursues love. And motivated
by Christ's love for us. How about we do that
together as a church, eh? Let's pray. Father,
we ask that you would help us to be truly spiritual
by pursuing love. Help us to follow the way of
love, to seek love, to chase after it. Help us
to know your love for us. Help us to take the
love of Christ, to have our hearts warmed by
it, softened by it, and may Christ be our example
of just how amazingly loving even sinners like
us can be. We ask, Father, that you would help
us to be loving, that your spirit would be at
work in us to make us more loving. And we pray
this in Jesus' name. Amen.