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 13:1-4

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…

The Merriam-Webster

dictionary defines envy as “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage

enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same

advantage.”  It is caused when we

begin to embark on that slippery slope temptation to compare.

In a few

translations, the word jealous is used instead of envy.  However, there is a subtle yet very

significant difference between jealousy and envy.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines

jealousy as “vigilance in guarding a possession.” 

If a wife is being

ignored while her husband sits next to her on the couch staring at his phone,

she is jealous of his attention, but not envious.  Jealousy is longing for something that is

truly and rightfully ours that we’re being denied.  Envy is longing for something that belongs to

another and is not ours.  This doesn’t

mean that we won’t ever possess it, but for now, whatever that thing may be, it

is not yet ours.

Exodus 34:14

Do not worship any

other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

God even named

Himself jealous and there is no doubt about it that He is a jealous God.  When we spend our heart, mind, soul, and

strength on created things that God created instead of on Him, the Creator, He

gets jealous.  After all, those things

rightfully belong to Him.  God gets

jealous, but He never gets envious.

Love is jealous, but

love does not envy.

We may wish that we

had someone else’s car or home or career or anointing.

We may wish that we

had a spouse, parent, or child who was more like someone else’s.

We may wish that we

had someone else’s personality or appearance or height or health.

We may wish that we

were able to respond to situations the way that someone else does.

Envy; the painful or

resentful awareness with a desire to possess.

We may even compare

us to our own selves leading to regret.

We may wish that we

hadn’t done that or maybe long to have done that.

We may wish that we

hadn’t said that or maybe long to have just one more opportunity to say that.

We may wish that we

would have made a better choice.

We may wish that we

would have taken that word of advice a