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by mattrose » Sat Apr 26, 2014 12:27 pm
Notes for this week: God puts up with an awful lot and keeps on loving
GOD PUTS UP WITH AN AWFUL LOT AND KEEPS ON LOVING
Last week we put a pause on our “God is love” series to focus on and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And now, in this series, we’re on the homestretch. We’ve been considering the phrase “God is love” from 1 John 4:8 & 16 alongside the famous “Love chapter” in 1 Corinthians 13.
Our premise has been that if “God is love,” we can replace the word “Love” in 1st Corinthians 13 with “God” and get an accurate portrayal of what God is really like.
So far we’ve talked about how:
God is patient
God is kind
God is not jealous
God does not boast and is not arrogant
God is not shaming and is not stubborn
God does not lash out or keep a record of wrongs
God does not rejoice at evil, but with the truth
And now we’re in the homestretch for this series. All that is left in this famous section of the love chapter for us to consider is v. 7 and the first 3 words of v. 8.
It says (NKJV)
[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
It says (NIV)
[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
So far, in this series, I’ve taken the statements about love in order. I’ve not skipped around. But today, for the 1st time, I want to break that mold and take the 1st and 4th statement together. Let me quickly explain why:
One thing we have not discussed much in this sermon series in the poetic nature of 1 Corinthians 13. There’s a reason why it is read so often at weddings. It’s not just that the content is superb, but it also sounds beautiful.
It’s a poetic sounding chapter. Poetry is a kind of language or literature that uses things like repetition, rhyme, meter, alliteration, assonance, hyperbole, etc.
The 1st paragraph is marked by the recurring phrases “If I” and “But have not love” and the word “Nothing.” READ
The 2nd paragraph repeats phrases like “Love is” and “Does not” and “Is not” and “always”
READ
The 3rd paragraph repeats phrases like “Where there are” and words like “Child” and “Now.”
READ
It’s a very beautiful passage.
But I don’t just point that out for the fun of it. When we recognize elements of poetry in literature, it should affect our interpretation of the words.
For instance, how many of you have written a really sappy love letter? How many of you have listened to the lyrics of a really sappy love song?
Lots of lines about swimming across oceans
Walking across countries
And not even remembering past love interests
In other words, exaggerations. Poetry uses exaggeration. It’s not lying. It’s over-stating to express the point. It’s called hyperbole. And ancient Jewish people used it a lot
And, personally, I think it’s pretty clear that Paul is using hyperbole in v. 7.
Does love really bear all things? Does it always protect?
Does it believe everything? Trust everyone?
Does it hope that it’ll rain and be sunny? After the fact?
Are there no exceptions?
I want to suggest that it’d actually be dangerous to interpret this verse in an overly literal sense. This verse could be misused to persuade women to stay in dangerously abusive relationships. Doesn’t love bear ALL THINGS and endure ALL THINGS? Doesn’t love ALWAYS trust and hope that the guy will change for the better?
I don’t think that’s what the verse it saying at all.
The verse is poetic. I think it’s the most poetic verse in the entire chapter. The “all things” (NKJV) or the “always” (NIV) are not meant absolutely. They convey a passionate commitment of the lover for the beloved.
There are exceptions to the basic rule
To “Bear all things” doesn’t mean continuing to take unrepentant abuse forever and ever.
Or, to go with the NIV translation, what do we call a parent who literally “always protects” their children?
We call them “over-protective”
There comes a time, as a parent, where we have to let our children enter the world. We take a risk that they can survive with a babysitter, outside, at school, at college, on their own.
The fact that the next 2 lines in v. 7 are about believing, hoping, trusting confirms this. We have to believe and hope and trust because we’re not micro-managing everything.
So the “all things” and the “always,” here, are, I think, hyperbole. They are not absolute. The passage is saying that love puts up with an awful lot. That’s it is willing to trust more than we might expect. That it remains hopeful longer than most. That it keeps loving even when most people would expect it to give up.
So I’m taking the 1st and 4th phrases from v. 7 together because I think they are very similar. Love “bears all things” I’m rendering as “God puts up with an awful lot”. And “endures all things,” I’m rendering “keeps on loving.”
So “God puts up with an awful lot and keeps on loving”
Next week we’ll look at the 2nd and 3rd phrases because they seemingly fit together too. They’re about believing and trusting and hoping.
And then in the final week of the series we’ll look at the final phrase: Love never fails.
Now, the Greek word involved in our 1st phrase comes from the word for a roof. But it’s the verb form. It’s the word for what a roof does. It’s designed to be able to put up with a lot (rain, snow, wind). A good roof lasts a long time, through many kinds of storms.
God is willing to put up with a lot in his relationship with us. Like a good roof deals with rain, God deals with our tears. Like a good roof deals with snow, God puts up with our coldness, even coldness toward him. Like a good roof deals with wind, God sticks with us when we’re tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine.
God puts up with us, even when we are the problem. He’s willing to put up with an AWE-ful lot.
Our other phrase is usually translated as “Endures all things” (NKJV) or “always perseveres” (NIV). The Greek word is a very common one. It means to remain, to hold fast, to bravely bear, to preserve, to linger, to stick, to stay… especially through trying times. You can tell it has a lot in common with our 1st phrase. Love keeps going… and going… and going (like the energizer bunny?).
But this phrase does add something to what we’ve talked about so far. If we only knew that God puts up with an awful lot, we wouldn’t be sure about God’s attitude toward us through the process.
Human beings sometimes put up with a lot from another human being. They stay in relationship despite all the annoying habits of that person, all the idiosyncrasies, all the rudeness, even outright rebellion… but often their attitude toward the person changes. They stay in relationship, but they are bitter. They hold a grudge.
The passage says that love perseveres. It perseveres as love. It doesn’t devolve into anger or bitterness. It remains love.
Despite our pasts, our presents, and our futures…
Despite our weakness, our sin, our rebellion…
God’s love for us doesn’t turn into something less than love. God’s love perseveres. It endures. It keeps going and going and going. It might take a tough form, but whatever form it takes it’s always flowing from love.
I want to wrap up this message by focusing on 1 particular passage of Scripture that I think illustrates these 2 principles about God’s character of love incredibly well.
It’s the story of Hosea, found in Hosea 1-3.
Hosea was a prophet of God. The way a lot of prophecy happens in Scripture is that God would speak TO the prophet and the prophet would speak TO the people. But Hosea’s case is a little different in chapters 1-3.
It says in Hosea 1:2 that the LORD began to speak through Hosea. It wasn’t going to be Hosea’s words that conveyed God’s message. It was going to be his very life.
God told Hosea to do something strange. He told him to marry a woman named Gomer who would cheat on him repeatedly.
Hosea obeyed. He married Gomer. Things may have started out alright, but before too long she was repeatedly cheating on him. She had 3 children. Hosea had the right to name the children, but they were not his kids. Hosea 2:4-5 says they were children of adultery.
Hosea put up with a lot for many years. But eventually, Gomer wasn’t just sneaking around. She moved out. She gave herself completely to another.
And Hosea filed for divorce.
But what God wouldn’t let Hosea do…
is give up on Gomer… to stop loving her.
In fact, later on, God told Hosea to show his love to her again… in spite of all her sin… In spite of all her unfaithfulness… Hosea was to keep loving Gomer.
Now why would God put his prophet through all of that?
Why would God tell Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife?
Why would God tell Hosea to put up with years of cheating?
Why would God let Hosea experience the pain and hurt of divorce?
And why would God command Hosea to subject himself all over to the pain of his past by marrying her again?
The point of this whole story is to illustrate the kind of love that God has for His people. God sees His people as His bride. He’s bent toward them, even though He knows they’re bent toward sin. He is faithful to them, even though He knows they aren’t always going to be faithful to Him. He loves them, even though they don’t always love him.
He puts up with an awful lot and keeps on loving. He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. His love never fails.
Here's my take: