You can scarcely pick up your TV remote control these days without running into some courtroom scene. Investigators still haven’t decided whom to charge in the murder of a 6-year-old Colorado girl. Turn the newspaper page and you’ll read another story about some Gov’t official being investigated or indicted for improper conduct while in office. And now we’re hearing of the investigation involving the highest office in the land, with details previously reserved only for steamy novels and restricted movies.

These courtroom visits remind me of a poster that you may also have seen. It reads: If being a Christian were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Paul had to ask just such a question of the Christians in Corinth. Paul had some serious problems with the behavior of some folks in the church at Corinth. That’s why he had to write to them about THE GLORY OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. He shows us 3 things: 1) that great talents and deeds are worthless without it. 2) It is the greatest Christian virtue of all. And 3) It lasts forever.

Before we can go any farther, you need to know a little about the situation there. Please remember that these letters of Paul always answer questions or address situations that have come up in the churches he founded. Paul told them that they didn’t take a back seat to anyone in spiritual gifts, but there but he had heard some things that concerned him. They would have a fellowship meal and then celebrate communion afterwards, much like the first Lord’s Supper. Some of them had turned the church’s fellowship meal and Lord’s Supper celebration into a drunken feast, without concern at all for their fellow Christians.

Others were congratulating themselves on how open-minded they were. There was even a man in the church who had committed the crime of incest and had not been disciplined by the congregation. Some apparently had even boasted about how they had responded to the situation.

That’s enough cause for concern, but it’s not all. There was a party spirit among the people. They had organized into warring factions. Some of them preferred Pastor Apollos; others Paul, still others liked Peter better. Apparently they were also going around drumming up support for their particular faction. Ever heard of that happening in a church?

That’s still not all. They held grudges against one another to the point that they even took their fellow-Christians to court to settle petty disputes that should have been handled in Christian love. They had become the laughing stock of Corinth for the public way they had handled their disputes. Some of the members of the church were also boasting that they had more of the Holy Spirit than others did.

Sounds like a can of worms, doesn’t it? But wait a minute–some of their problems are still with us. Some of them are in every local congregation and all of them are still around in one part of the visible church or another.

People still hold grudges against their fellow-Christians. I know of some people holding grudges 10, 20, 30 or more years. People still argue in the church to the point where I have heard a man say that he’s had more hurtful things said to him inside of the church than outside of it. Others have said that there is more unconditional love in the local bar than in the church. People still keep extensive records of wrongs, carefully stored away and filed for quick and easy future reference when it’s time to get even.

We also need to hear what Paul has to say about THE GLORY OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. First, he reminds us that great talents and deeds are worthless without this love. Paul writes: 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love, genuine Christian love is a better idea than what they

doing. The sin of lovelessness is common among us who are in the conservative wing of Christianity. Yes, we are to speak the truth, but we must always speak the truth in love. It’s supposed to build the other person up, not tear him down.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

It’s hard to talk when the church bell is striking and you’re standing right underneath it. That’s the way it sounds with the person who has many gifts from God, but doesn’t have love. You might just as well have no gifts from God if you don’t know how to use them in love.

Even if we could know everything there is to know about God this side of eternity, it still would amount to a big fat zero without love. Even the greatest works of charity, even sacrificing one’s own life, is worthless without love.

The Lord Jesus gave us the greatest example of Christian love this world has ever seen. Before I go any farther, we need to be sure that we’re on the same page here. When I use the word love, I’m not talking about romantic love or even friendship love. No, this is Christian love, the love that loves the unlovable. While we were still enemies of God, Jesus died for us! Jesus saw us helpless and dead in sin and loved us so much that he left behind his throne and his crown to be born into this pain-filled world. He died the bitter death of the cross to pay for our sins. In the 2^nd Letter Paul wrote to these people in Corinth, he said: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us to make us God’s righteousness in him.

The result of this act of love is that, as Jesus commanded, forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. We Gentiles are the objects of God’s love in Christ. Now think back to that question on the poster: If being a Christian were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Before a case goes to the jury, the Judge must instruct the jury on what to look for and to obey the guidelines he lays out for them. If you or I were on trial for our faith, the Judge would instruct the jury to look for certain attitudes and actions, as Paul lays them out for us in today’s text:

 · 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Imagine yourself in the jury room discussing these evidences for Christian love one by one.

Love is patient–love remembers how Jesus was treated and how he responded. He didn’t curse, didn’t condemn, bur instead committed his cause to him who judges fairly. The Lord wants you and me to remember how much we sin each day and how patient he is with us.

Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

True Christian love sees everything as a gift of God and not something we earn or deserve. Love sees talents and treasures as gifts to be used in the Lord’s service and not as something to brag about.

Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered; love keeps no record of wrongs. Once again we are to take our cue from the Lord Jesus. When someone sins against you, the new person inside of you is to pray: Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing. Love loves the unlovable person and seeks ways to show that love. Love is not quickly angered, love is patient in attitude and action. Love is not rude; God’s people are to remember that Jesus died for that person with whom you are so angry that you can’t see straight. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love buries the hatchet, handle and all. Love doesn’t look for an opportunity to “get even.”

The word Paul uses for keeping a record of wrongs is the same word used for the forgiveness of sins. That reminds us of several things. When God forgives sins, he forgets them. The Bible tells us that the One who knows all things actually FORGETS. He tells us in Micah 7:19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Now that’s interesting. The deepest part of the ocean is in the Pacific off of Japan. The Mariana Trench is more than 6 miles deep. If you’ve been following the making of the Movie Titanic, you know that the ship lies 2 ½ miles down. You know something? it’s dark down there! You need light to see down there. Even God can’t see our sins when he buries them in the sea.

God drowns our sins in the depths of the sea and then posts a no fishing sign. No fishing for your own sins, now that Jesus has taken them away from you, and most certainly NO FISHING for the sins of others which are also lying at the bottom of the deep blue sea, right next to yours.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always perseveres. Love doesn’t pass on slander and love doesn’t want to hear it either. Love makes an effort to care even when its not an easy thing to do. Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love doesn’t lose faith that the Lord’s loving way is always the right way.

Love is so glorious that it will never pass away. Love will outlast even the greatest of all the other Christian good works. Look back at the text with me again now, the 2^nd last paragraph:

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We won’t need to be taught about God in heaven, because we will see God as He is. We won’t need faith anymore, because there won’t be anything to take on faith anymore. Hope will become sight; there won’t be anything left to hope for because you will have all of God’s blessings for all eternity. BUT LOVE REMAINS FOREVER. LOVE WILL BE THE MAIN DISH AT THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.

The story is told of a man who had a dream. He dreamt that he had just arrived in heaven. He told St. Peter how grateful he was to be there and asked Peter for just one glimpse of Hell, so that he might rejoice all the more over his salvation. He was given that glimpse of hell.

In Hell he saw a long table extending as far as the eye could see, laden down with most delicious food he had ever seen. But everyone around the table was starving. When he asked Peter for an explanation, he was told: “Everyone is required to take food from the table only with 4-foot-long chopsticks. They are so long that no can reach the food from the table to his own mouth, and that’s why, in Hell, the capitol of Satan’s selfish empire, everyone is starving.”

They returned quickly to heaven, and they saw there the same scene, the long table filled with the same rich foods and he also saw there the same 4-ft-long chopsticks. But, in heaven, everyone looked happy and well-fed.

The man said to Peter: “The people here in heaven have the same long chopsticks that the people in Hell have. Then why are they starving in hell while everyone up here is well fed and happy?” Peter replied, “Because in heaven, we feed each other.”

Even in heaven, even in that perfect place, the greatest goodness is love. And praise God, this gift lasts forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Wayne Dobratz, Pastor

Trinity Lutheran Church (LCMS)

Hampton, IA