Good morning.  As we begin today with Valentines Day approaching us, I would like to spend the next couple of weeks taking a look at love.  And I want to look not just at love, but Record-Breaking Love

In 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, director of the Guinness Brewery, while on a hunting trip, became involved in an argument about the fastest game bird in Europe.  It dawned on him that it would be helpful to have a book of world records; and thus was born the Guinness Book of World Records, which has been published regularly since 1955.  It's remarkable what people do to get their names in that book.  One man, for example, balanced on 1 foot for 76 hours and 40 minutes.  A New Jersey couple set the record for kissing non-stop.  It amounted to 30 hours, 50 minutes, and 27 seconds. 

I thought that today I would attempt the World Record in Preaching, just kidding.  But you know what, there's 1 statistic that you'll never find in the Guinness Book of World Records.  There has never been anyone strong enough, tall enough, or fast enough to jump into Heaven on his or her own.  Lots of people have tried, but there is no one that is good enough to do that.  The only way to make it to Heaven is to accept this Record Breaking Love that God has for us.

After we have received His Record Breaking Love, we are to then love others, and today I want to spend a while looking at love.  How is Your Love Life?

Before we begin, let’s take a look at our text for this morning.  If you would turn with me to I Corinthians 13:1-8.  This is most commonly known as the love chapter.  Here in I Corinthians 13:1-8 it says, “1”                                                                       *(PRAY)*

Maybe you heard about the guy who fell in love with an opera singer.  He hardly knew her, since his only view of the singer was through binoculars—from the third balcony.  But he was convinced he could live “happily ever after” married to a voice like that.  He scarcely noticed that she was considerably older than he.  Nor did he care that she walked with a limp.  Her mezzo-soprano voice would take them through whatever might come.  After a whirlwind romance and a hurry-up ceremony, they were off for their honeymoon together.

She began to prepare for their first night together.  As he watched, his chin dropped to his chest.  She plucked out her glass eye and plopped it into a container on the nightstand.  She pulled off her wig, ripped off her false eyelashes, yanked out her dentures, unstrapped her artificial leg, and smiled at him as she slipped off her glasses that hid her hearing aid.  Stunned and horrified, he gasped, “For goodness sake, woman, sing, sing, SING!”

Well, this chapter is not a definition of love, but rather a display of how love is to make a difference each and every day of our lives.  In chapter 12:31 Paul is showing the superiority of Love to all the other gifts.

Love is the greatest!  It’s essential in our service for Christ. So let’s look at some of the qualities of love as displayed in these verses.

In the first 3 verses we find that even if we do these great things, we are nothing more than an annoying gong.  We are worthless without love.  Without it, we ACCOMPLISH nothing, we ARE nothing, and we PROFIT nothing.

Let’s look at love, “Love is... Patient”
“Charity suffereth long.”  A good illustration of Christ-like patience is seen in the life of Abraham Lincoln.  From his earliest days in politics, Lincoln had a critic, an enemy, who continually treated him with contempt, a man by the name of Edwin Stanton.  Stanton would say to newspaper reporters that Lincoln was a “low cunning clown” and “the original gorilla.”

He said, “it was ridiculous for explorers to go to Africa to capture a gorilla when they could find one easily in Springfield Illinois.”  Lincoln never responded to such slander; he never retaliated in the least.  And when as President, he needed a Secretary of War, he selected Edwin Stanton.  When his friends asked why, Lincoln replied, “Because he is the best man for the job.”

Years later, that fateful night came when an assassin’s bullet murdered the president in a theater.  Lincoln’s body was carried off to another room.  Stanton came and, looking down upon the silent, rugged, face of his dead President, he said through his tears, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.”  Stanton’s animosity had finally been broken, but how?  By Lincoln’s patient, long suffering, non-retaliatory love.

So, the first thing that we see is that Love is patient.  In Ephesians 4:2 it says, “Be patient, bearing with one another in love.”  We often hear that patience is a virtue, and we think, “Well, it isn’t one of my virtues.”  However, if we want to love in the way God intends us to love, then we need to work on our patience.

Next we find that no matter how much love is ill-treated or scorned, no matter how much it is ignored or neglected, no matter what, it suffer all these things and stays kind.
“Love is... Kind”
To be kind is the active outpouring of love.  The word “Kind” means to be mild, gracious, easy on other people.  It means volunteer to share the burden, help carry the load.

The Sunday School Times told of an elderly Christian who was a shut-in.  She said, “I have 2 daughters who take turns cleaning my small home.  Jean comes and makes everything shine.  Yet she leaves the impression that I’m an awful burden.  But when Mary comes, no matter how dull the day or how low my spirit, she’s so cheery that my heart is tuned to singing.

Above all, she makes me feel that she loves me.  They’re both good Christians, you understand, but what makes the difference is their attitudes!  Mary has the extra touch of grace that this Old World so badly needs.  She does everything with a loving heart.”

What is our attitude in helping others?  Do we assist people grudgingly, making them feel like a burden, or do we demonstrate heartfelt concern that leaves them uplifted and blessed?

Patience and kindness are directly parallel to the two dominant aspects of God’s love, which are “mercy” and “grace.”  Mercy means that God does not give us the bad things like judgment that we deserve for our sins.  Grace, on the other hand, means that God does give us good things.  Things like blessings that we don’t deserve.

Patience is a matter of passively taking the bad from others that you may not deserve, kindness is a matter of giving the good to others whether they deserve it or not.

So love is kind.  Again in Ephesians 4:32 it says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”  Without kindness, who can truly love others.  At some point everyone does something that makes them deserve a penalty, but kindness in love looks over those mistakes and continues to love.

“Love isn’t... Envious”
Mark 15:9-11 says, ““Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.”

Acts 7:9 talks about how his own brothers where moved with envy, or jealousy and sold Joseph into slavery.

Here we see that love is not envious.  Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote the best-selling book, “When Bad Things Happen To Good People.”  I recently read a story about a psychologist who was trying to write a similar book at the same time.

Kushner's book came out first, and it got all the praise.  It sold a whole lot more than the other fellow's book, and people kept talking about it all the time.

The psychologist had to go to another psychologist for some psychotherapy.  They talked about his envy of Kushner.  Every time Kushner was on a television interview, the other fellow went mad with jealousy.  He couldn't stand it.  Why should Kushner be praised and not him?  Why should Kushner's book sell so well and his so poorly?  The counselor tried to help him get it sorted out, to get it in perspective, to bring things back in line.

Here's what they discovered: Kushner's book was better than his.  Why?  Harold Kushner spoke from experience.  He and his wife had a son with a disease that causes a person to age rapidly.  At the age of nine, a child looks as if he's fifty.  His skin is wrinkled; his hair is falling out, his bones are brittle; he dies in his early teen years.

Parents don't know what to do, how to feel, how to cope.  How much suffering can a family stand?  How much suffering can parents watch in their children and not go mad?  What's the meaning of it all?  Rabbi Kushner sits down at his desk and starts writing.  He writes with the tears in his eyes and a knife in his heart.  He writes with stones of heaviness in his soul.  He writes about suffering, and his tears blot the ink on the pages.  He writes about suffering as a sufferer.  People know he's not a doctor reading some medical chart.  He's a hurt, bruised, and tormented man.  When he writes about suffering, they listen because he knows suffering in his own soul.

But what of the psychologist?  He wrote a great book about suffering without having to suffer.  He wanted to tell people what it was like and how to cope with it without feeling the aching in his own heart.  When people turned away and went to Kushner, envy sank its fangs into the other writer's soul.  Envy lurks in every short cut we make in life; we want to get what someone else is getting without doing the things they've had to do in order to get it.

Envy has the potential to kill our love life.  speaking of envy, I can't think of anything that I do, that someone else doesn’t do better.  People at school are more disciplined to exercise, a lot of people sing better than I do, Nellie has a better GPA than I do, and Bob Russel can speak better than I do.  Envy is at the heart of jealousy and where there is envy, there cannot be love.

“Love isn’t... Boastful”
It is not puffed up.  Love doesn’t say, “I’m better than others”, and it makes no comparisons.  In the book of Philippians Paul gives a list of reasons why he could boast before the Lord, but he says that he doesn’t.  Why?  Because Paul understood the idea of love.  He loved what Christ had done for him, and he was not about to begin boasting in himself.  So love must be without boasting.

“Love isn’t… Proud”

Pride is a huge issue in our society today.  Everywhere we look you can see pride in action.  On May 31, 1889, there was a terrible flood at Johnstown, Pennsylvania.  Thousands of lives were lost.  The event was one of the most significant news makers of that year.  A story was told about a man who lived through the flood.  Every time he got a chance, he would tell people about it.

Well, several years later that man died and went to Heaven, where he was told that he could have anything he wanted.  The man said he wanted a great hall where he could tell his story to tens of thousands of people.  The wish was granted.  The day came.  The hall was packed.  As he was ready to make his talk about the Johnstown flood, the master of ceremonies told him he would be the second speaker on the program.  He would be speaking following the message by a man named Noah.

Quickly you can see that this man would have been humbled, and that is the cure for pride.  In I Peter 5:5 it says, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  If we are to truly love, then we must be humble and there must not be pride in us.

Next, “Love is not... Rude”
Paul may have had in mind the way an arrogant, loveless, individual treats his or her neighbor. Proud unloving people can be very rude at times.  What Paul is telling us is that there is no room for rudeness in a person that is trying to love the way that God desires us to love others.

“Love isn’t... Self-seeking”
Love is not preoccupied with I and me.  It does not grasp for it’s own rights.  It doesn’t put down its neighbor by elevating its self.

Innsbruck—In 1964, Italy’s bobsled team was heavily favored in the 2-man bobsled event.  But as they awaited their second run, the lightly regarded British team was in a state of despair.  After a sensational first run, their sled had broken an axle bolt, and it seemed certain they would have to drop out.

The team from Italy with their second run already completed, acted swiftly.  They stripped the bolt from their own sled and offered it to their competitor.  In one of the greatest upsets in the history of the Olympics, the British team went on to win the gold medal, while the favored Italian team finished third.  Four years later, that same Italian team drove both their 2-and 4-man sleds to Olympic victory.

When it comes to true love, it is not self-seeking.  It is not in a relationship to see what it can get, but rather it is there to see what it can give.

Next, we see that “Love isn’t... Irritable”
It is not easily provoked.  It doesn’t have a short fuse, doesn’t get angry at the slightest problem.

A magazine once carried the following humorous story about criticism: “The wife of a hard-to-please husband was determined to try her best to satisfy him for just one day.  ‘Darling,’ she asked, ‘what would you like for breakfast this morning?’  He growled, ‘Coffee and toast, grits and sausage, and two eggs— one scramble and one fried.’  She soon had the food on the table and waited for a word of praise.  After a quick glance, he exclaimed, ‘Well, if you didn’t scramble the wrong egg!”

Do you know some people who are like this?  They are easily angered.  Well, here in this passage, Paul tells us that real love is not easily angered.

“Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs”

Logizomai, it is a term that was sometimes used by bookkeepers, and it may carry the idea of keeping a ledger.  When love is present we don’t keep a “scorecard”.

In On This Day by Carl D. Windsor, the page for Valentine’s Day includes this anecdote: "Even the most devoted couple will experience a ’stormy’ bout once in a while.  A grandmother, celebrating her golden wedding anniversary, once told the secret of her long and happy marriage.  ’On my wedding day, I decided to make a list of 10 of my husband’s faults which, for the sake of our marriage, I would overlook,’ she said.

"A guest asked the woman what some of the faults she had chosen to overlook were.  The grandmother replied, ’To tell you the truth, my dear, I never did get around to listing them.  But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, Lucky for him that’s one of the 10!’

In his book, Lee: The Last Years, the author reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house.  There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal Artillery fire.  She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss.  After a brief silence, Lee said, “Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it.”

You see, it is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.  So, love keeps no record of wrongs.

“Love Does Not Delight In Evil, But Rejoices With The Truth”

Now I am not going to spend time on this, because common sense says that love does not delight in evil things happening, but that it rejoices in the truth of the good things that God provides us.

So moving on, “Love is... Protective”
The love that God desires us to have for one another is a protective love.  When love is love, it is acting in protection of others.  The Bible tells us that “this is love, that a man lay down his own life for another.”  This is a love that protects at all cost.

Several years ago, Coach Joe Paterno and his Penn State football team were playing Alabama, in the Sugar Bowl, for the National Championship.  They probably would have won, but they had a touchdown called back because there was a twelfth man on the field.  After the game, Paterno was asked to identify the player.  Coach Paterno said, “It’s only a game.  I have no intention of ever identifying the boy.  He just made a mistake.”  No matter what, love always protects.

“Love is... Trusting”
Love always believes the best about someone, it believes they are innocent until proven guilty.  Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands.  When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset.  “You’re running around with other women,” she charged.  “You’re being unreasonable,” Adam responded.  “You’re the only woman on earth.”

Well, the quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest.  It was Eve.  “What do you think you’re doing?” Adam demanded.  “Counting your ribs,” said Eve.

If it is real love, it never questions the other, because it is trusting.  Now this can backfire, but God desires that all love the same, and therefore, everyone will be trustworthy.

“Love is... Hopeful”
In spite of disappointments in others, it keeps its eye on the prospect of a good outcome.  Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed a word of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved one or a trusting friend.  Even when the outcome looks bleak, true love is always hopeful.

Next, we see that “Love is... Enduring”
Love endures without limit.  There in the passage it says, “always perseveres.  Love never fails.” 

When the great but dissolute Russian poet A. S. Pushkin finally married in 1831, it was, as he said, “the 113th time he had fallen in love!”  Obviously, he didn’t really know the meaning of the word.  Perhaps it was the 113th time he had fallen into like or lust!  True love is a commitment that 2 people make to one another, not a hole in the ground into which they happen to fall.

Now perhaps you don’t feel that love is all that important.  Well let’s look at the last verse of chapter 13.  Here it says, “1”                                                                      Let’s Pray