“A LOVE THAT IS SURE AND MATURE”

I CORINTHIANS 13:1-13

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Because I’m the mommy.  That’s why!  When was the last time you saw that bumper sticker. It’s been a while since I last saw that bumper sticker.  Whenever I do see it though I always get the feeling that there must be a mother in the car who’s about to go postal.

Children are very good at asking why? The why question usually comes after a parent says “no” and the child isn’t happy about it. For example,

No. You can’t have that cookie before dinner.  Why not?

No. You can’t go out and play in the rain.   Why not?

No. You can’t stay up and watch television.   Why not?

By the way there’s an interesting theological theory that says this tendency to ask why can be traced back to events that took place the Garden of Eden.  According to the theory after Adam and Eve were created the first thing God said to them was, “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Adam asked.

“Don’t eat the forbidden fruit,” God said.

“Forbidden fruit?   We have forbidden fruit?   Hey, Eve…we have forbidden fruit!”

No way!” “Yes, way!”

God said it again, “Do NOT eat the fruit!”

“Why not?”

“Because I am your Father that’s way!”

At this point God realized that He probably should have stopped creating after He made the elephants.  God felt that way even more a few minutes later when He saw Adam and Eve taking an apple break.

“Didn’t I tell you not to eath the fruit?” God said.

“Yea Dad. You did.”

Then wy did you?”

“I don’t know,” Eve said.

“She started it!” Adam whined.

“Did not.” “Did too.” “DID NOT!”

Finally God decided that enough was enough and for their punishment God decreed that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it hasn’t changed to this day.

Children are very good when it comes to asking the why question but children aren’t the only ones who ask the why question. Adults also ask that question all the time. For example,

Why can’t I park in that handicap spot?  I’m only going to be a minute.

Why can’t I wear that vulgar t-shirt? If you don’t like it that’s your problem. raunchy

Why can’t I turn the radio in my car all the way up?  So, what if it’s 1 o’clock in the morning.

The Apostle Paul knew what it’s like to deal with adults who act like children.  It’s the reason why he wrote those words to the Corinthians.  “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”

Paul wrote those words because people in the Corinthian Church who were acting like children.  They were showing off and trying to out do each other when it came to speaking in tongues.  Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, it sounds like gibberish.  So, when they came together to worship you had all these people shouting at the same time while speaking in tongue.  The cackling chaos made everyone in the church look like a bunch of fools.  So, Paul laid down some rules for speaking in tongues.  Then wrote those inspiring words.  Love is patient and kind.  It isn’t jealous or boastful.  It isn’t arrogant or rude and it certainly doesn’t insist on getting its own way all the time.  Paul then went on to say, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became an man, I gave up childish ways.”

So, here’s a question for you?  Do you think Paul would say the same thing to us today?  I think there’s a very good chance that Paul would tell us that it’s time to grow up.  It’s time to stop all the childish games.  It’s time to stop the name calling and the finger pointing that we’re seeing in the politicians and the televangelists, the bloggers and the talking heads, both the liberals and conservatives.  It’s time to stop the childish games that you see at work and at school, the childish games that you see while your shopping and when your with your family and sometimes the childish games that you see when you’re looking at the person in the mirror.

Here’s a thought.  Jerry Springer has made a fortune off of people who are good at acting very childish.  Wouldn’t it be great if people stopped watching his show and it went off the air?

When you give up childish ways you find a love that is patient and kind; a love that isn’t jealous or boastful; a love that isn’t arrogant or rude; a love that doesn’t insist on it’s own way all the time.

When you grow up you also out grow the why questions that people throw at God from time to time.  Those why questions have been front and center these past few weeks.  They go something like this: If God really loves us then why would God let that earthquake kill all those innocent people in Haiti?

Well, I don’t have an answer to that question.  All I can do is say the same thing the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Corinthian.  “For now I see in a mirror dimly.  Then I shall see (God) face to face and fully understand even as I have been fully understood.”  So, I don’t have an answer to the question why but I do have another question that needs to be asked.  The question is this:  Do you really want a God who keeps you safe and doesn’t let bad things happen to you?  Think carefully now because if you do want a God who keeps you safe and doesn’t let bad things happen to you you’re going to end up with a very different kind of God. You’re going to end up with a God who’s going to micromanage every second of your life. You’re going to end up with a God who tells you what you can and can’t do every second of the day. You’re going to end up with a  God who says, “No you can’t go out to that St. Patrick’s Day Party.  You’ll drink too much and I don’t want you to hurt yourself or someone else.” “No you can’t have that chocolate cake for dessert.  You already need to loose 30 lbs. What? Do you think you can clog your arteries with cholesterol and then expect me to keep you from having a heart attack?” “No, you can’t ride that motorcycle.  It’s dangerous and I know you.  You’ll break your leg and then come crying to me.”

“No you can’t buy that dream house.  It’s much too big and expensive.  Besides, instead of asking me to help the poor, buy a more modest home and give the extra money to Habitat for Humanity.  After all, if all the buildings in Haiti weren’t built so poorly all those homes and hospitals, schools and stores wouldn’t have fallen down and killed all those innocent people.”

Now I ask you.  Is that the kind of relationship that you want to have with God?  Do you really want a helicopter God; a God who hovers over you every second of the day and keeps you safe by telling you what you can and can’t do?

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became an man, I gave up childish ways.”

When you give up childish ways you do what Thomas Chappell did.  Thomas Chappell is a cab driver in Phoenix, Arizona.  He was in the news last summer along with one of his regular customers.  Her name is Rita Van Loenen.  Rita Van Loenen was one of Thomas Chappell’s regular customers because he took her to a clinic every week for dialysis.  One day Rita told him that her son was going to be tested to see if he was a suitable kidney donor.  Thomas Chappell later told a reporter “By then, me and the good Lord already had a talk.  He said, ‘Tom, you go give her one.  It will work.”  

So, Thomas Chappell said , “Rita, your son's a whole lot younger than me. He's got a lot more years. I'm gonna go down and go through the process and see if it will work.' I don't think she really believed I was going to.”  But he did and it turned out that he was a perfect match.  According to Rita, “If we were a closer match, we would've been siblings.”

How about that?  When you speak like a child, and think like a child and reason like a child you want to know why God would let you or someone else suffer from a deadly disease. When you become an adult you stop asking God the why questions and start asking God what you can do to help and when you do that, that’s when you find the life that truly worth living. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

January 31, 2010