INTRODUCTION:

1. Well, this begins the series of messages that some of you have been waiting for. Last week I indicated that some of you had never experienced love, in the Biblical sense of the word. I also mentioned that some of you had never given love.

2. Well, this evening we will slowly begin to learn what real love is, according to the apostle Paul. Now remember, when I use the English word love or charity, I am referring to something that in the Greek language is called "agaph," which represents the highest and most noble concept of love.

3. You will remember, from last week’s study, that we learned of the necessity of this thing called charity....that you cannot effectively function as a Christian, no matter how spiritually gifted or naturally talented you are, without charity.

4. Is it not sad, then, that our own ignorance of the subject and our own lack of familiarity with the concept of Biblical love results in so many talented and so many gifted people thinking they are actually effective in their service to God, when from a heavenly perspective they are not?

5. By the way, I also hope that my reminiscing about my little brother on that Ford tractor last week didn’t distract you from the attempt at penetrating thought on the necessity of love.

6. Since I related that incident to you I’ve been thinking about my own childhood a great deal. You can learn a great deal by evaluating your own experiences in the light of God's Word. Amen? This is because when you look at your past experiences through the light of God’s Word there is a whole new perspective that you hadn’t appreciated before.

7. For example: Beginning grade school in an all Indian boarding school, and being the only white kid in a school that was attended by Sioux and Chippewa Indians was quite interesting. You see, my father was a government employee who worked in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. So, for most of my childhood our family lived on Indian reservations.

8. Let me show you how very distorted and wrong a child can be about certain things. I used to think I was a genius. And the basis for my confidence? I could simply out perform anyone in school in any subject who was in my grade level. For that reason I had to be a genius, I thought.

9. But from an adult’s perspective I have to admit that I was performing against youngsters who spoke no English until they began first grade. And why was that? Well, most of the Indian children lived so far out on the reservation that they had no contact with the English language until they reached mandatory school age. When that happened they had to live in the dormitories, since transporting them back and forth to their homes was impossible in the winter.

10. So, you see, as hard as it might be for most of you to imagine, it turned out that I was not a bona fide genius. And the more you think of it and the more you know of the situation, the more you will realize that even without the language problems they were saddled with they still were at a disadvantage.

11. Imagine being from rural North Dakota, having no access to radio, television or newspaper, and then reading about a lion in the first or second grade reader. A lion! Great! What’s a lion?

12. Of course, I knew what a lion was ‘cause I watched the lion acts on the Ed Sullivan Show, and my folks took me to the circus when it came into the nearest town, and my parents took me to the movies.

13. But how do you explain a lion to someone who has never seen a picture of one? Think he’ll believe you when you say it's a 400 to 500 hundred pound cat that can take a stallion down? No way he’s going to believe you.

14. Or how do you explain an elephant? Well, it’s an animal that weighs thousands of pounds, has huge ears, and its nose is ten times the size of its tail. It’s skin is really thick and tough, but also very susceptible to gnat bites. Will that kid, who doesn’t much trust white people anyway, believe you? Of course not.

15. My classmates were at a tremendous disadvantage in school until school officials wised up and began to show educational films and pictures of the things you and I already took for granted when we started first grade.

16. Think about that for a moment. Their alien experiences made it very difficult for them to adapt to and appreciate mainstream American culture. Do you realize that in certain respects we Christians face a problem that closely parallels the problem faced by my former classmates? Sure we do.

17. We know there is something called charity, love, that’s said in the Word of God to be a vital part of our Christian lives. And Paul has convinced us that we need this stuff called charity, this thing called love, to be really effective Christians. But what is it?

18. Mention a big cat like a lion and my classmates on the Indian reservation would picture a large alley cat in their minds. Mention love to a Christian and we invariably think of brotherly love or sexual attraction, or some hybrid of the two. Wrong in either case.

19. Why would Indian kids have such a hard time with a lion? Because a 400 pound cat seemed so unnatural, based on their limited experience. And why do Christians misunderstand or misrepresent charity so very much of the time? Because true charity, genuine love, is so unnatural.

20. As a matter of fact, folks, charity, so important to every Christian, is supernatural.

21. To show this and to show Christians what charity really is, Paul shows how charity responds to people. Let’s stand and read how love responds to people. First Corinthians 13.4a: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind."

22. Let me ask you a question: How do you naturally react to people? If you analyze it, you and everyone else in this room has two basic response patterns to people....active and passive.

23. When someone acts a certain way, or when they just are a certain way, sometimes you do something and sometimes you do nothing. You don’t much think about it, either. It just comes naturally.

24. But as we examine this short phrase, in preparation to biting off a larger chunk of Scripture about love next week, I want you to notice how charity’s response is opposite the natural response.

CONCLUSION:

1. So you have seen that charity (love), responds in an unnatural way, in a supernatural way, to people.

2. When man would rise up, charity suffers long. When man would do nothing, charity is kind. In each case, charity is opposite from the actions or the reactions of what is natural for man to do and to be.

3. You know, I know only One Who was long-suffering and did not give me the Hellfire I deserve. I know only One Who treated me with kindness after I rejected His love for me and who scorned His Son for so long.

4. Do you know the long-suffering and kind One? Is His precious Son your personal Savior?

5. Christian, is the response of love your response to people? Are you long-suffering, or do you find yourself blowing your stack to your children, becoming frustrated with your coworkers, getting short with your mate?

6. And are you kind? I’m not asking you if you are nice, for it’s possible to always be nice and still not be kind, in the Biblical sense of the word. When I ask if you are kind, I refer to actively dealing with other people in such a way as to lead them to repentance, if they are lost, or to lead them to serving Christ, if they are saved. That’s kindness.

7. You see, the kindest thing you can ever do for a lost person is bring them to Christ. And the kindest thing you can ever do for a believer is to keep him directed toward serving Christ.

8. If you will allow the Word of God to define those two terms for you then many of you have already realized the absence of love in your life. You have neither loved nor have you been loved. For none ever suffered you long and you do not suffer others long. For none was ever kind toward you, and you have not been kind to others, pointing them in the direction they ought to go.

9. A final word to parents before we move on. My grandmother Waldrip was a dear and sweet Christian woman who never comprehended real Christian love. She concentrated on the unconditional aspect of real love, but really projected her concept of love into the Bible . . . erroneously.

10. An example: Her youngest child was named Kenneth. Being the youngest of ten children, he was spoiled rotten. He was a wicked child who never honored either his mother or his father. And my grandmother was always apologizing for him and covering for him and making excuses for him.

11. Grandmother thought she was being kind. She thought she was loving her youngest son and protecting him. What she was doing was nurturing and cultivating sin in his life.

12. Parents, there is no better example of love than God. And yet, does He tolerate sin in the lives of His children? No. If you have a child who is in sin, you do them no favor by excusing or explaining it away. Further, you do the cause of Christ and your testimony no good either.

13. If you really love your kids, remember to love them the way God loves His kids. Deal with sin. Amen? It’s better for them in the long run.