The Power of Love
1 Corinthians 13:11-13
Sermon preached Trinity Sunday, May 22, 2005
by Jamie Arrington
Isn't it funny that what is meant to happen will happen regardless of how we try to make things happen the way we want them to? I talked to Rachel our church secretary early this week and discussed my sermon text and title. I told her I would be using the readings from this Sunday's lectionary, which included Psalm 8 and 1 Corinthians 13:11-13, Rachel informed me that the Corinthians reading was from the second book of Corinthians. I printed the daily reading for today and if any of you would like to see the printout you can observe that on May 14, 2005 the lectionary displayed the reading from the first book of Corinthians chapter 13. The reason that I am a bit perplexed over the change of books is that when Pastor Pearce and I discussed my speaking this Sunday I informed her that the Holy Spirit had guided me to use the appropriate lectionary reading the next time I was given the opportunity to speak.
I discussed with Pastor Pearce her sermon series "Quantum Christianity," and asked her "where do we go from here?" and somehow I ended up sharing the pulpit with her on Pentecost Sunday. And here I am standing before you on Trinity Sunday, the day the church rejoices in the impenetrable mystery that God is triune, three in one, the Father - Our Creator and Sustainer; the Son - Our Savior and Redeemer; the Holy Spirit - Our Teacher, Sanctifier and Comforter. How our Lord can be one God in three distinct persons is completely beyond the ability of any human to understand. Ironically, Pastor Pearce just ended her series on "Quantum Christianity," scientists have something that they call "quantum weirdness." In the quantum realm, reality is different from what it seems to be in our daily interactions. But, my friends the truth and the good news are still really simple. Science would agree that water is still H2O whether solid, liquid, or gas. I am sure that I can get an Amen as a testimony that whether our Creator is the Father/Mother, Son, or the Holy Spirit, God is still God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we accept this incomprehensible mystery as a fundamental article of faith.
In 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Paul give his final greetings to the people at the Corinth admonishing the people to Rejoice, change their ways, to encourage one another, and to live in harmony and peace; then the love and peace of God would be with them. Paul went on to say to greet on another in Christian love (to give one another a holy kiss) and let us not mistake it for a sensual or (Judas kiss) … you can see we don't have a problem here at Tab, in greeting one another in Christian love take a moment to reflect on how much love was shared during our "Passing of the Peace."
It is beautiful that some of us are wearing white for "The Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation," which will take place this afternoon. White is also the liturgical color for the Trinity, representing the holiness and perfection of God.
Paul wanted the people of Corinth to remember the needs facing their church. Ironically the needs facing the church of Corinth are paradoxically some of the same needs facing our denominations today. Paul and the Corinthians had to hammer out many difficulties to bring peace and reconciliation. They had to apply the principles of God's word and not just hear them. Paul makes it clear that as a body of believers we must rejoice." We must not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power unto salvation. The Psalmist declares as I do: Let everything that has breathe Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!!! Glory to God!!! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits - God forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases (dis-ease, flesh not being in line with the Spirit), God redeems us from the pit, and God crowns us with his steadfast love.
That brings us into today's theme, "The Power of Love." Love is power when it is put into motion. A songwriter pinned the words, "I want to know what love is? I want you to show me." Jesus said, "Here-in is love that a man would lay down his life for a friend." He gave his life that we might have life and even so more abundantly. The text says there are three things that will endure - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love. In morally corrupt Corinth, love had become a mixed-up term with little meaning. Today people are still confused about love. Love is the greatest of all human qualities, and it is an attribute of God himself. Jesus, the "Human One," as Pastor Pearce referred to in her "quantum series," is the embodiment of Love.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love does not say my religion and belief system is better than yours. Love is not irritable. Love does not keep a record when it is wronged. Love involves unselfish service to others, it shows evidence that you care. If I could speak in any language in heaven and in earth as it was when the tongues of cloven fire fell on the people at Pentecost, and I don't have love I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a changing cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, and I didn't love and respect others, what good would I be? If I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor, went on inter-faith peace walks, fought for social justice and systematic change, went to jail because of my beliefs and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it , but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. Love will teach us to love our enemies. Many times the very thing that we dislike in others is in reality, the things we dislike about ourselves. We draw people to us that are like us and we dislike what we see in them; which is in fact a reflection of ourselves.
Faith is the foundation and content of God's message; hope is the attitude and focus; be more importantly love is action. When faith and hope are in line, we are free to love completely because we understand how God loves. Let me take a minute to break this thing down. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For example hope is the feeling that what is desired is possible. Faith knows that with God all things are possible.
God's love went into action when, word became flesh. In the beginning was the word, or to quote Pastor Peace, "the relationship" and the relationship became flesh and dwelt among us. I like the way King James put it: John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Today's lectionary reading in Genesis, teaches us that God said, "Let there be light and it was light. God spoke light into existence and there was Light, God spoke and Word became flesh in the personage of Jesus and dwelt among us.
My brothers and sisters, we have to learn how to call those things that are not as though they are, we have to put our love into action. We have to become peace. We have to become the embodiment of love. Where there is hatred we have to become love. Where there is injury we have to become pardon. Where there is doubt we have to show ourselves faithful. Where there is despair we have to instill hope. Where there is darkness we have to become Light. A city that sits upon a hill cannot be hidden. We cannot light a candle and place it under a bush. Have you ever been in an audience and just your mere presence changed the dynamics of the situation. We must realize that we sit in heavenly places unaware. We entertain angels unaware.
Christ consciousness, enlightment, and illumination are one in the same. In the 28th chapter of Matthew we find eleven disciples (there were twelve but one was not present) in Galilee on a mountain that Jesus had directed them to be. This is after Jesus' resurrection. Wait a minute, wait a minute we have to put a book mark here. Did you see 20/20 news magazine and some of the other news reports? People are questioning Jesus' resurrection and people are traveling to sacred places trying to find the truth in the paradox of the "Da Vinci Code." Back to our text; when the disciples saw Jesus after his resurrection, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Church we have to learn how to give God the sacrifice of praise which is the fruit of our lips. Can you say Amen, Hallelujah, and Glory to God? The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords, The Keeper of the Heavenly Host. Give Him Praise. Jesus came to them and said, "All power in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded."
Before I take my seat I must share one of the truths that Jesus, Yeshua, Adoni, taught as he walked as "the Human One," He taught us a lesson that you will find in morning lectionary from Deuteronomy 6, when Moses instructed the Children of Israel: Now this is the commandment-the statues and the ordinances - that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land you are about to cross into and occupy, (hold up I'm getting excited in my spirit) Church do you realize that in these last and evil days that God has promised to make his face to shine upon his believers in these end times, God has promised to give us the wealth of the wicked. Delight yourselves in the Lord and the master will give you the desires of your heart. I was asked was I really happy or was my happiness just pseudo happiness? I am a living witness that despite the fact that I had many obstacles get in my way; I am truly blessed and happier than I've ever been. So we are like the Israelites we are about to cross into and occupy the place that God has promised us but it is conditional, we must teach our children and our children's children to fear the Lord our God all the days of our lives, and we must keep the decrees and commandments that have been given to us. So it will go well with us. So that we may multiply greatly in the land flowing with milk and honey, which we can look at metaphorically as the kingdom of God, so that we can realize that the kingdom is God is not here or there but it is inside us. The Lord our God is one Lord. We must love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our might. We must keep these words in our heart. The second commandment is that we love our neighbor as our self. And on these two commandments we can truly experience the "Power of Love," If we love God, we love our neighbor. But we must know who God is and love him in order to love ourselves. If we love ourselves we will not pollute ourselves with foolish ambitions but rather we will fix love as an emblem on our forehead, we will light the doorposts of house and hearts. We will sit on the interfaith council and learn how to respect the viewpoint of others even if they may seem to be different then our own, and we will find truth in the message that we are sending one another rather than finding fault we will find commonalities. We will began to realize that whether we call our Creator, Father or Mother, whether we call our creator Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, Yeshua, Rabbi, Messiah, or Adoni. I don't care who are what you call my master, I can tell you that the Head of my life is love and I can love God because God loved me first.
I can say as Paul I am a prisoner of the Lord and I beg you to lead lives that are worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, make every effort to maintain the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, on Lord, one faith, one baptism on God and Father of all, who is above all and through all in all.
When I was a child I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; when I became an adult I put away childish ways. We must no longer be children, tossed through and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. We must speak the truth in love, sometimes we have some things to say to others that are for their good but at times it can hurt. We must use the "Power of Love," we must grow up in every way into the body of Christ, who is love, the "Human One," the Head, the Christ, the First born, the Connector who enables the whole body to be joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love. Is there anybody here who loves my Jesus? Is there anybody here who loves my Lord? I can say as the songwriter, I was sinking deep in sin, Far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, Sinking to rise no more; But the master of the sea, Heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me-Now safe am I. Love went into action and lifted me. When nothing else could help it was Love Power that lifted me. Love, Love lifted me. When doctor's say you're terminally ill, when you spouse runs off, when your children won't do right, when your bills are too much for you and you don't know what to do allow "The Power of Love" to rescue you. It's all about "The Power of Love."
© 2005 by Jamie Arrington. All rights reserved. Please consult the author at tabernacle@tabunited.org if you wish to use the text of this sermon, in whole or in part.
