1 Corinthians 13

Christopher Morley said  that if you were given five minutes warning of sudden death
to say what loved ones had meant to you, all the telephone lines
would be occupied by calling up loved ones to stammer out that you love them.

Love has been called the queen of  words, and it deserves that designation.

Paul's exaltation of love in 1 Corinthians is true insight.
Even a casual reading of this great passage, if it can be read casually,
leads one into the presence of spiritual greatness.

Here is where one breathes pure mountain air.
Here is where one treads lofty places.

Let us note some of the  characteristics of this supreme virtue and value.

True Love  Shares!

Love has a sharing quality that makes a place for others.
As our modern life becomes increasingly complex,
we need more of the spirit of love that keeps before us our total responsibility.
As we become more and more interrelated, we depend more on each other.

Health, education, government  -- and all phases of community life --
represent opportunities for sharing and for more  enlightened leadership.
As we love people, we will feel our obligation to  contribute our best for the best of all.

This love will reach out to  include all mankind.
We must do what we can to usher in an era of good will among men.
This will do more than anything else to halt the insane world conflict
that is bringing our social order to the brink of ruin.

True Love Builds!

Godly affection is a wonderfully, creative force.
It moves people constructively.
It paves the way for a meeting of minds
it provides the atmosphere in which respect is nourished.

Paul is saying that love is  more important than eloquence, stronger than knowledge, loftier than  charity.

Love builds faith!

Carlyle once wrote:
"My kind mother did me one invaluable service.
She taught in her own simple version of the  Christian faith."

How indestructibly the good grows and propagates  itself,
among the weedy entanglements of evil.

Loving parents can  transfer their faith to their children and others.
Faith is caught in this sense.

Love builds character!

Parents must assume some of the  responsibility for the integrity of their children.

A well-known educator says:

"Studies show that integrity is largely an acquired characteristic.
We tend to grow into a state of integrity, rather than how it  is given to us.
While we have such rules as the ten Commandments, 
constitutions, and civic laws, and rules of the game, they are not enough.

Knowledge is necessary, but it is inadequate.
Significant  influences on our youth are in the home situation and with their  friends.
Within the home, the mother is the greatest influence.
The  teacher in the school is important,
but not merely to the degree of importance the mother attains."

Love Is Sacrificial!

Love that is worthy is costly.
When a person loves a mother or loves a great cause,
he must pay for his affection in the finest contribution he can make.

Genuine love demands that we probe beneath the surface
and seek to eliminate the conditions  causing the evils
that plague us as a race and as individuals.

Simple preaching against war is not enough.
We must create the conditions of peace in modern society,
and that is not easy nor inexpensive.

A coin tossed to  a beggar really begs the issue of poverty.
It does not, in itself, even seek  to solve the social problem involved.

Great evils are not exorcised by  superficial sympathy or a patronizing attitude.
The price of solution is higher.

Parents must face with love the problems of teenagers.
One of the hopeful signs of the day is the fact that parents
are blaming themselves for the troubles of their children,
but children must remember that they cannot continue the blaming process.
As children grow into adults, they are responsible for themselves.
Whatever problems they might have acquired from  their past with their parents;
they must face and solve.

Love is costly in its exercise of necessary discipline.
Love is not only tenderness; it is also tough.
Love may involve stiff rebuke , and even, coercion.

No loving parent would want to leave a splinter in his child's foot
because he would hurt the child in removing it.
Punishment for misdeeds is expensive when administered in love.

Yet, who will deny its necessity in the violation of the law
that would protect and conserve the rights of all?

When parents are willing to sacrifice for the moral and spiritual development
of their children,  they are wise.
And their children in maturity , may well rise up and call them blessed.

A pastor passes along this incident:

"A mechanic,  after a hard day’s work was seen by a friend
catching a baseball with his son.

The friend stopped and looked over the fence and said, "Paul, aren't you tired?"

"Why, yes I am. Of course, I'm tired."

"Well then, what are you doing that for?"

"Oh," he said, "I'd rather have a backache  now than a heartache later on."

That was one wise parent.

The home is the scene of our greatest opportunities.
All too often, it is the scene of  our greatest failures.

A real home is a gymnasium because it has a  program to give the child a healthy body.
It is a lighthouse because it  reveals breakers ahead,
and shows a clear way past them.

It is a playground for innocent games and sports.
It is a workshop where the child is taught to  do things.
It is a forum where honest and open discussions
of life’s great  problems are helpfully conducted.

It is a health resort where mothers are natural physicians.
It is a place of worship for the child learns of a  Heavenly Father
whose love finds ready response in the heart of  child.

Lack of spiritual training is the greatest single cause of juvenile delinquency.
This is confirmed in a report from a municipal law expert.

Roger Arnebergh, Los Angeles city attorney, and a juvenile court  judge,
who studied cases of 8000 boys and girls under 17
involved in law  violations, reported
that only 42 of them attended Sunday school regularly.

Everything in life begins in the home.

Mothers, you have an awesome responsibility.
And you are not alone in that  responsibility.
We can also say, "Fathers, you have an awesome responsibility."

Love is the difference!

Let us as parents dedicate ourselves to love God with all our heart
and with all our soul and with all our might,
and love our children all the way to heaven.

Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White
Email  Dr. White at hleewhite@aol.com