Message Follow Up | Solid Rock / Sinking Sand: Part 4 – Love
By Matt Dawson
Yesterday we finished our series on FAITH. A four week discussion on what/who we are building our faith on and the unique foundation of Forgiveness and Love that represents our Faith in Jesus Christ.
I read a passage yesterday about understanding Love from 1 John 4. Simply, that we love God because He first loved us and HIS love is what is expressed through us.
My wife has mentioned to me that I sometimes openly mock the phrase “Love Wins” because I reject everything that people try to use it for.
I would like to take a moment to clarify WHY I don’t like nor associate myself with #LoveWins.
The primary foundation for LOVE WINS is built on the sinking sand of OUR HUMANISTIC VERSION of LOVE. Our version of love that is conditional, weak, emotionally driven, and will falter and fail given the proper circumstances.
From the 60’s “Make Love not War” to the 70’s “All You Need is Love” all the way up to our latest use of it in marriage equality “Marriage is now for everyone – #LoveWins.” There was even a book titled “Love Wins” written several years ago trying to convince Christians that hell possibly didn’t exist and that a LOVING GOD could not possibly condemn someone for eternity to such a place.
PLEASE NOTE: All of these expressions and agendas are fueled by our definition and understanding of love. All of them use the LOVE WINS tagline with the promise of a fair, lasting, and enduring love that won’t fail… and all of them are FULL OF CRAP!
Then we read this definition written by Paul to the church in Corinth:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
The definition we read is about a LOVE that surpasses our ability to LOVE. It’s the passage we all read at weddings because we WANT this kind of love. However this LOVE is simply NOT a description of OUR HUMANISTIC VERSION of Love as an ACTION/VERB. This definition is a proper noun and REQUIRES US to find out WHO or WHAT love is.
If I put my name in it’s place – it becomes a lie.
Matt is patient (hardly).
Matt does not boast (when I’m sleeping).
Matt always trusts.
Matt WILL NEVER FAIL.
Go ahead, put your name in that definition and see how far you get. Put any person, place, or thing you want in place of love, and you cannot line it up with truth. It will fail you at some point.
Now, put Jesus in place of the word Love:
Jesus is patient.
Jesus is kind.
Jesus does not envy others.
Jesus does not boast and is not proud or rude.
Jesus is not self-seeking, or easily angered.
Jesus keeps no record of wrongs.
Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Jesus NEVER FAILS.
THIS is the Truth.
So…if you hear me openly mock the tagline #LoveWins – its because I can’t stand our pathetic attempts to lift “love” up above all things to unify and justify our emotional concept of love. It is flawed at best and possibly does more harm than good in our post-Christian culture.
However, if you’re talking about LOVE in the context of Jesus alone… then I’m with you. HIS LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL. #LoveWins #JesusWins.