The Key Ingredient

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  January 30, 2022

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Read 1 Corinthians 13:1 – 13
 
Our New Testament lesson found in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth comes from what is frequently referred to as the “Love Chapter” and for good reason.  Contained within the thirteen verses of this chapter is the consummate description of perfect love… love beyond measure… love beyond compare… love that is greater than any other gift we can ever imagine.
 
In this current climate that we find ourselves living in, love often seems to be in short supply.  I think that Hal David and Burt Bacharach may have said it best with their classic 1960s hit, “What the World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love…”
 
Now, in the chapter preceding our text, Paul talked about a variety of spiritual gifts… gifts that each of us have been given by God that we are called to use for His glory.  Paul also talked about how each of us have been given different gifts and that we are to use those different gifts in working together as the body of Christ. 
 
In the last verse of that chapter (1 Corinthians 12:31), we find these words that lead us into the Love Chapter… “And yet I will show you the most excellent way.”
 
In other words, it is as if Paul is saying, even with all the spiritual gifts that you have been given and the ways in which you have all been called to work together as parts of the one body of Christ… there is still something else that you need to consider… still something else that needs to be added… still something else that the world needs just a little more of… THE KEY INGREDIENT which is the most excellent way for you to use those gifts as the body of Christ.
 
And as we reflect on our New Testament lesson for today, we will see that THE KEY INGREDIENT really is love.
 
Now, if we were to take a look at Paul’s letter to the Galatian church, we would find these words, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22 – 23, RSV).
 
This list of spiritual fruit that is manifested when we use our spiritual gifts reads almost like an ingredient list.  And if you have ever looked at the labels on the food items you find on the grocer’s shelves, you know that the most important ingredients are always listed first.
 
And at the close of our text this morning, Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
 
That is why for the rest of our time together today, I want us to focus our attention on the theme THE KEY INGREDIENT with the understanding that love really is the key.
 
The key to what you might ask… well, the key to everything.
 
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
 
And in John 15:13, Jesus says, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
 
And 1 John 4 (7-8) we read, “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.”
 
And lest there be any confusion about love being optional, Jesus told the Pharisee in Matthew 22 (37-38), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
 
Is there really anything else that we need to say about love?  Is there any doubt that love is THE KEY INGREDIENT? 
 
But someone might be wondering, can it really be that simple?
 
Well… yes, and no…
 
It all sounds wonderful, kind of like the lyrics from that old Barney song, “I love you. You love me.  We're a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.  Won't you say you love me too?”
 
And yet, when it comes right down to it, sometimes love can be awfully challenging… or perhaps it would be more accurate to say people can make loving them awfully challenging.
 
But the Lord’s command to love does not contain any disclaimers about loving only those who are loveable… or those who are easy to get along with… or who are at least appreciative of our efforts to show love.
 
Love is an action word.  It is not passive.  In other words, love is best displayed in how we act and react in the presence of others.  It is lived out in the ways in which we do as the Lord has commanded us… by loving one another.
 
Let’s think about the night that Jesus was betrayed that we read about in John 13.  Jesus had eaten a final meal, the Last Supper, with all of His disciples, including the one He knew was going to betray Him.  Earlier that same evening, He had even washed all of their feet… including the feet of the one who was going to betray Him… and He told His disciples that He was setting an example for them to follow… showing loving kindness to them all… even to the one He knew was going to betray Him.
 
Then after He sent His betrayer, Judas, away to do what he had planned to do, Jesus told the remaining disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34 – 35).
 
And if we want people to know that we are Christ’s disciples, there is one thing that we will need…  and that is THE KEY INGREDIENT which is love.
 
Now, in our text, Paul wrote:
 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.   Love never fails.
 
Yet, how often do we find ourselves becoming impatient and acting in a less than kind fashion to the people God calls us to love?
 
How many times have we fallen prey to the green-eyed monster of jealousy and envy or wanted to make someone else jealous by boasting of our own successes and achievements?
 
And how easy would it be for us to become prideful and arrogant in responding to someone who has really gotten our goat?
 
And if we’re being honest with ourselves, how easily do we fall into the trap of being self-seeking, insisting on having things done our own way?  You know that old saying, “It’s my way or the highway…”
 
And have any of us ever gotten angry, rehashing and rehearsing all the wrongs that have been done to us by someone else?  I for one would have to say, “Guilty as charged…”
 
Now, in the Message Paraphrase it says that love, “Puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.”
 
But, once again, if I hold up that verse up as a mirror to my own actions, I find myself falling short…
 
Yet, all hope is not lost.  Although you and I may not be able to live up to Paul’s description of perfect love, there is One who does.  
 
Perhaps you may remember a while ago, I shared something that I read in one of Max Lucado’s books that suggested we read 1 Corinthians 13 starting at verse 4 and try substituting our name in place of the word love. 
 
For example, Heidi is patient, Heidi is kind, etc.… but, before I could even get past the first few words I would have to stop. 
 
But if we substitute Jesus for the word love, there is no problem because Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus does not envy, Jesus is not proud, Jesus does not dishonor others… you get the picture.
 
Jesus is the perfect example of perfect love.  And even when you and I fail to make the grade, guess what?  God loves us anyhow!
 
We have the assurance that no matter what… no matter how badly we mess up… nothing can ever come between us and God’s unconditional love for us.
 
In fact, Romans 8 (38-39) says:
 
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
Now, if we turn our attention back to 1 Corinthians 13, verse 8 starts with three very significant words “love never fails.”  Some versions of the Bible say “love never ends” and still others say “love never dies.”  And regardless of which translation we look at, the meaning is still the same… the perfect love of God is unconditional and will never let us down.  It is infinite, it is eternal, and as Paul said, nothing can ever separate us from that love.
 
By contrast, if we keep reading, the text suggests that other spiritual gifts may fade as time goes on, but love is THE KEY INGREDIENT.  It is the one thing that is constant… and it will remain to the bitter end.
 
Paul explained that as we grow and mature physically and spiritually, our eyes of love and enlightenment are opened more and more, and we begin to see ourselves in the way God sees us. 
 
Verses 11 and 12 of our text in the Message read:
 
When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.  We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
 
This journey through life will take us through many different phases and stages and there are an infinite number of lessons for us to learn along the way… along with an abundance of blessings for us to receive day by day.  We just have to keep our hearts and minds open to what God has in store for us.
 
And then when we come to the end of it all, as Paul writes, “… faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
 
In my work with hospice patients and their families, I have seen how this verse plays out in real life. 
 
When people are coming to the end of their earthly lives, it is not about how much money or material gains they have amassed.
 
It is not about all of the extravagant trips they may have taken. 
 
It’s not even about the power and prestige they may have earned throughout their various careers.
 
When it all comes down to it, nothing has more meaning and leaves a greater impact on this world than the faith, hope and love that we share with one another. 
 
And even for those persons who may not have professed their faith in God or a higher power and may have even believed that there was no hope… even they seem comforted with the assurance that they too have access to THE KEY INGREDIENT in life which is love.
 
Love that is shared through the compassionate care of a nurse placing a cold compress to a fevered forehead… love that is shared through kind words whispered by family members and friends… love that is shared with a soft kiss to the brow or a hand being held ever so gently.
 
Love is THE KEY INGREDIENT. 
 
Far greater than any family heirloom or monetary inheritance we can imagine, there is no greater legacy that we can hope to leave than love. 
 
I read a quote credited to Saint Teresa a while ago which said:
 
I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’ rather He will ask, ‘How much love did you put into what you did?’
 
… a gentle reminder that love is indeed an action word.
 
Love is what sent Jesus to a cross at Calvary so we might have eternal life.
 
And love is what the Lord desires from us in return and commands us to share with the world.
 
Love is THE KEY INGREDIENT… and it is absolutely what the world needs now…
 
Amen.

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