This morning, we

continue our message series helping us to better understand and live out

unconditional love.

This series is

entitled, “Love Is” and it is based on that familiar passage found in

1 Corinthians chapter 13. 

We were created by

God with the need for love that can only be expressed through relationships.

As there are

different types of relationships, there are different types of love.  There is, however, a type of love that we are

to express toward anyone and everyone. 

In fact, the Bible teaches that if we learn how to express this type of

love toward God and others, that we will entirely fulfill all that God’s law

requires of us. 

This distinct type

of love is the love that God has for us. 

In the Greek language, it is the word agape.  It is this type of unconditional love that

we’ll be covering through this message series.

To be able to

possess and express this unconditional love, we’re going to break it down into

parts as Paul chose to do in his letter to the Corinthians.  He taught all about spiritual gifts and said

that it is not using these gifts that truly matters, but how we choose to use

them, our motive, that matters to God. 

We can do all sorts of good things for God, but if we do not do them as

an expression of God’s love, then they are pointless, useless, and meaningless.

1 Corinthians 13:1-5

1 If I speak in the

tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong

or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all

mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but

do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give

over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain

nothing.  14 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…

Now depending on the

translation of the Bible that you read, you may read that love does not

dishonor others, that it is not rude, does not behave unseemly or unbecomingly,

does not behave rudely, does not act improperly, is not ill-mannered, is not

injurous, and that it doesn’t force itself on others.

The next thing that

love is not is self-seeking.  Other

translations say that it does not seek it’s own, takes no thought for itself,

doesn’t seek it’s own advantage, isn’t selfish, doesn’t look out for its own

interests, does not insist on its own way, and isn’t always, “me

first.”

Sometimes it’s

easier to point out all of the things that love is not rather than what love

is.  It is easy when we see selfish

attitudes and behaviors that are rude and hurtful and easily recognize that

those things are not expressions of God’s love. 

If all of these things are not love, then what is?

* Click *

Love is honorable.

When we act with

honor, we will not be rude or unbecomingly or act improperly or force ourselves

onto others.  When we act with honor, we

won’t look only to our own interests or insist on getting our own way or act selfishly.

The Merriam-Webster

dictionary defines honor as “to salute with a bow in square

dancing.”   

Well, maybe that’s

not exactly the definition that we were going for.  However, it is a perfect picture of what

honor looks like.  To honor someone, I

bow my life down in order to lift theirs up. 

To honor the king, people bow down before his throne symbolically

representing how they intend to live.  To

honor a judge, we rise as they enter the courtroom.  To honor a bride, we also rise to our feet as

she enters the room and begins down the aisle.

The more appropriate

definition for honor, however, is “to regard or treat someone with

admiration and respect.”

To honor is to

assign worth and value.  It is both how

we treat and how we act toward something or someone. 

Honor can be both

taught and earned. 

Some were brought up

to never call teachers by their first names. 

Some were taught to t