The Virtues of Love

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4

We come now to a marvelous section of verses in 1 Corinthians 13:4–13 that gives us the characteristics of true, Christlike love. Today we want to look at the virtues of love mentioned in verse 4. I think you’ll agree with me that we are going to need to display these virtues during the Christmas season. Even with all the joy and delight of this special season, Christmas can also be a time of high stress for many individuals and families. We need patience, with ourselves and others. 

So the first virtue of love Paul mentions in verse 4 is that love “suffers long.” That is, love is literally “long of temper.” It is patient. It doesn’t fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. Some people say, “Well, I don’t have much patience.” What they are really saying is, “I don’t have much love.” A lack of patience is in reality a lack of love. 

Then we read that love “is kind.” Christmas is a season when even people who aren’t ordinarily kind try to make an effort to be nice to others. But for the child of God, being kind is not a one-time effort. Kindness and courtesy are to characterize our treatment of people every day. Don’t ever underestimate what kindness can do. The world is watching to see if we care. 

Third, real love “does not envy.” In other words, it is not jealous. If you have love, you’ll be willing to give credit where credit is due. You’re not going to think that somebody else’s gain is your loss. You won’t cringe when other people are recognized. A fourth virtue of true love is humility. How our world needs a large dose of this! We’re so used to people bragging and swaggering. But love doesn’t “puff up” the heart with pride and cause the head to swell with self-importance. True love says, “I am sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me.” If you and your family radiate these virtues of love, this will truly be a merry Christmas for you!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Long-Awaited Visitation

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.” (Luke 1:68–71)

Notice two remarkable things from these words of Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, in Luke 1.

First, nine months earlier, Zechariah could not believe his wife would have a child. Now, filled with the Holy Spirit, he is so confident of God’s redeeming work in the coming Messiah that he puts it in the past tense: “he has visited and redeemed his people.” For the mind of faith, a promised act of God is as good as done. Zechariah has learned to take God at his word and so has a remarkable assurance: God “has visited and redeemed!” (Luke 1:68).

Second, the coming of Jesus the Messiah is a visitation of God to our world: The God of Israel has visited and redeemed. For centuries, the Jewish people had languished under the conviction that God had withdrawn: the spirit of prophecy had ceased; Israel had fallen into the hands of Rome. And all the godly in Israel were awaiting the visitation of God. Luke tells us that another old man, the devout Simeon, was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). Likewise, the prayerful Anna was “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).

These were days of great expectation. Now the long-awaited visitation of God was about to happen — indeed, he was about to come in a way no one expected.

John Piper 

The Value of Love

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:2–3

 How important is love? Think of its value. According to 1 Corinthians 13:2–3, it’s more important than a lot of things we consider to be important. In verse 2, Paul gives us a very impressive list of gifts and abilities that, taken together, add up to nothing when Christlike love is missing from our lives. The gift of prophecy is the first gift on Paul’s list (v. 2). 

I know enough about preaching to know that if you want to get a crowd, you can announce that you are going to preach a series of messages on prophecy. Man has an insatiable curiosity about prophecy. Far more people will come to hear a Bible study on prophecy than on love. But Paul says that love is greater than prophecy. And then Paul says love is greater than knowledge. People today value knowledge tremendously. They almost worship it. But as John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, once said, “All knowledge without love is splendid ignorance.” 

According to 1 Corinthians 13:2, love is even greater than faith. Now faith is incredibly important. You cannot know God without faith. Paul even strengthens the contrast here by talking about mountain-moving faith. What believer would not long for mountain-moving faith? Yet without love, even this mountain-moving kind of faith is nothing. What good is it to remove mountains if you can’t remove malice from your heart? Are you giving people the gift of love this Christmas? Verse 3 fits right in this theme, because it talks about feeding the poor and even giving our lives for the sake of others. 

Surely there is nothing greater you can do than to give all you have or lay down your life for another. Some people give money instead of love. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. People need to see Christmas love in action. How will you show Christ’s love this Christmas?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Mary’s Magnificent God

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” (Luke 1:46–55)

Mary sees clearly a most remarkable thing about God: He is about to change the course of all human history; the most important three decades in all of time are about to begin.

And where is God? Occupying himself with two obscure, humble women — one old and barren (Elizabeth), one young and a virgin (Mary). And Mary is so moved by this vision of God, the lover of the lowly, that she breaks out in song — a song that has come to be known as “The Magnificat.”

Mary and Elizabeth are wonderful heroines in Luke’s account. He loves the faith of these women. The thing that impresses him most, it appears, and the thing he wants to impress on Theophilus, his noble reader of his Gospel, is the lowliness and cheerful humility of Elizabeth and Mary as they submit to their magnificent God.

Elizabeth says (Luke 1:43), “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” And Mary says (Luke 1:48), “He has looked on the humble estate of his servant.”

The only people whose soul can truly magnify the Lord are people like Elizabeth and Mary — people who acknowledge their lowly estate and are overwhelmed by the condescension of the magnificent God.

John Piper 

Love Came Down

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

JOHN 3:16

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1 

Did you know that the true message of Christmas is found in John 3:16? Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is the heart of Christmas. Jesus is God’s great love gift, because Jesus came to give His life that we might have life and “have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Without a doubt, love came down at Christmas. 

Now, because Jesus loved us enough to die on the cross for our sins, what better Christmas gift could we give others than to share His love with them, that they might have life? Love is a gift our world desperately needs this Christmas season. In order to know and share Christ’s love, we need to know how Christlike love looks and acts. And the best place to find a well-rounded description of love is in the Bible’s great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.

Let’s concentrate on verse 1. What Paul has in mind here is the agape love of God. In verse 1, Paul writes, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” What Paul is saying here is that love is absolutely indispensable. The finest oratory on earth is no substitute for love. We’ve all heard the expression, “He talks a better game than he plays.” Paul isn’t forbidding us to talk about love. We need to be a witness. But when it comes to sharing Christ’s love this Christmas, we need to back up our verbal witness with the quality of our lives!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prepare the Way

“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16–17)

What John the Baptist did for Israel, Advent can do for us. Don’t let Christmas find you unprepared. I mean spiritually unprepared. Its joy and impact will be so much greater if you are ready!

So, that you might be prepared . . .

First, meditate on the fact that we need a Savior. Christmas is an indictment before it becomes a delight. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). If you don’t need a Savior, you don’t need Christmas. Christmas will not have its intended effect until we feel desperately the need for a Savior. Let these short Advent meditations help awaken in you a bittersweet sense of need for the Savior.

Second, engage in sober self-examination. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24). Let every heart prepare him room . . . by cleaning house.

Third, build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home — especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too. If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of the King’s arrival visible for the children.

Fourth, be much in the Scriptures, and memorize the great passages! “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:29)! Gather ’round that fire this Advent season. It is warm. It is sparkling with colors of grace. It is healing for a thousand hurts. It is light for dark nights.

John Piper 

When tragedy strikes, what do you do?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. Romans 8:17

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

How do you enlist suffering to make it your servant?

First, you receive it as a gift from God. Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b).

Second, rely on God’s grace, because with the gift comes His grace. 2 Corinthians 9:8 promises, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” God is going to be near you in a special way.

Finally, reflect on the glory of God. No greater Christian ever lived than the Apostle Paul. His greatest motive in all he endured was the glory of God. His pain became a platform from which he declared the glory of God.

ACTION POINT:

Receive suffering as a gift. Rely upon God’s grace. Reflect upon God’s glory. Choose to glorify Him through it.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers