FAITH AND LOVE

 

1 Corinthians 13:13

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  (Slide 1)

Paul closes off 1 Cor 13 called the love chapter with three virtues which I am going to talk about today.

Faith is explained beautifully in Heb 11:1:   Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.   (Slide 2)

Faith is belief, trust, and loyalty to a person or thing. Christians find their security and hope in God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and say "amen" to that unique relationship to God in the Holy Spirit through love and obedience as expressed in lives of discipleship and service.  In simple terms you trust God.

I will give you two examples: Abraham left to go to Ur of Chadea's and went to Canaan.  Age the age of 75.  He and Sarah had their only child at 90 and 100.  (Slide 3)

Age ishould never keep us from doing what God has called us to do.  Moses was 80, Aaron 83, Caleb 85, Haggai 90, John wrote Revelation when he was over 90. 

My second example is when I am Lois went to the North the 1st time.  We ended up pastoring in the North 17 years.

Faith is taking God at His Word and trusting Him

Next virtue is hope.  Hope comes because you walk by faith.  Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.   (Slide 4)

Hope means you believe you have a future.  I found in my study on this that the archiac meaning was a feeling of trust. 

Let me give you three scriptures on hope.  (Slide 5) Jer 29:11:  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Explain

Is 40:31: but those who hope in the Lordwill renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Phil 1:6:  6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Your hope is build on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

The last Virtue is love.  There are four words for love in the Bible.   (Slide 6)

Phileo - Friendship

Storge - Family - I am four children and 7 grandchildren and I love them so much.  I would do anything for them.

Eros - Passionate love

Agape - Love God has for man.  Love with no strings attached.  I think the best explanation of love is found in vs 4-8 of this chapter.  (Slide 7) 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. 

I love that phrase love never fails.  Jesus put love in a practical sense.  In John 15:13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  Jesus did and we live in the reality of His love everyday.  He came to give us life and with it abundance.

The exciting part is we get to repricate and live in that love moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day.  Close with when I told Lois I love her and she told me she loved me.

Faith and love are based in the Love of God.  God loves you and your faith in that love gives you hope and a future.  No matter how old or young you are.