Scripture:  Luke 6:27-38

 I had a class in high school where the teacher loved to give group projects.  Almost every week there was some project that was supposed to be done throughout the week and then presented on Friday.  I became popular in that class among a certain group of students, and they would all scramble to claim I was their partner.  This is because they knew that if they did not do their part of the group work, I would just do end up doing it for them.  I wanted to get it done and I wanted a decent grade and more often than not the most efficient way to accomplish both of those things was to just do it myself.  While it was not as bad in higher education, in both college and even in seminary I was involved in group projects where I ended up covering the work of someone else.  Whether it was for school or work, chances are most of us have experiences where a person did not pull their weight on a group project, someone else covered for them, but the person who did not do the work gets the same grade and recognition as everyone else. 

At some point we have probably all heard the pithy proverb “work smarter, not harder.”  The idea behind this is to always find the most efficient way to get the job done. However, some people twist this a little bit, and they see working smarter and not harder as figuring out how to do the least amount of work and still get paid.  The person who does not really contribute to a group project might be a more common example, but other people take this idea to the next level.  Perhaps one of the most incredible examples is Joaquin Garcia, a low-level bureaucrat from Spain.    His job could be done at one of two locations, a water treatment plant or a central office.   He told the treatment plant he would be at the central office, and he told the central office he was at the water treatment plant.  In fact, he was at home doing whatever he wanted.   He pulled this lie for an amazing fourteen years, and he only got caught when he was to be recognized for twenty years of loyal service, and no one could find him.   Being able to do the minimum amount of work and still get paid is a balancing act that requires an odd level of skill, this is why when sociologist Roland Paulsen wrote his article about the subject for the Atlantic Magazine, he entitled it “The Art of Not Working.”  
 
The art of not working is all about getting the most you can while giving the least.  There are many who try to build their life of this philosophy, and there are some who would insist this is just practical wisdom and clever living.  In this morning’s scripture, Jesus describes a different way to live.   Jesus describes the art of grace, which is the opposite of the art of not working.  The art of grace is all about giving the most and being at peace with receiving the least.    The art of not working is all about finding ways to not work harder for personal benefit, but the art of grace is all about working harder to be more like God.

This morning’s scripture has similarities to a section of the sermon on the mount found in the fifth chapter of the gospel of Matthew.  However, the gospel of Luke once again tends to be a little bit more into the nitty gritty of everyday life.  For instance, the gospel of Matthew states to pray for those who persecute you, and this morning’s scripture does state something similar in pray for those who mistreat you.   Now praying for someone, even someone who has been unkind to us, is something that we might begrudgingly do.  However, this morning’s scripture takes it a bit further.  Not only should we pray for them.  Jesus tells us to do good for those who hate us.   Jesus tells us if anyone who takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  Jesus then sums up why we should be willing to do these things in verse 31: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” 

Since the 1600s, this has been referred to as the golden rule.  There is a decent chance that even someone without a church background could give you a decent paraphrase if you asked the, “What is the golden rule?”   Not just as Christians, but as society, we seem to recognize this teaching of Jesus as important.  Despite that we collectively do not always do our best at following it.   In fact, so much of conventional wisdom seems to go against this teaching of Jesus.

For years I have seen social media memes that some might describe as “tough love” memes.  I imagine the people who make these posts like to think they are “Just telling it like it is.”   These posts meant to be shared and re-shared over and over again will have matter of the fact statements such as “Respect is not given, it is earned” or “facts do not care about your feelings”, These could be seen as hardy salt of the earth proverbs, but the problem is they all go against the golden rule.   Because if respect is earned not given then that means we do not need to treat someone with respect until they meet the standard we set as right.   If facts are always more important than feelings, then that gives us permission to ignore the feelings of those we disagree with.  This is not how any of us want to be treated.  We do not want to be judged by someone else’s arbitrary, subjective standard or have how we feel ignored. These are not tough love statements, because there is no love in them.  In the same way, it is common to encounter people who believe, “If you respect me, I will respect you.”  They often declare this belief as if it is a fair statement that grants them some sort of moral high ground.  Yet this is a statement that Jesus directly refutes in this morning’s scripture. 

In verses 32-33: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners do that.”   There is nothing good or godly about being respecting the people who you think have earned it.  It is not much of a virtue to claim we are kind to those who have proven they are worth our kindness.   In fact, the beauty of the art of grace we do not need to prove ourselves to receive it.   Thanks be to God for that amazing truth, because we would all be in a sorry state if we had to earn grace.   

Treating others the way that we want to be treated, means we let go of our standards of behavior and measurements we try to hold people to.  It means we give others the benefit of the doubt and we treat people with a basic level of dignity and respect even if they have nothing to earn that basic level of dignity and respect.   We should be willing to do that for others, because God was willing to treat us mercifully even when we did not deserve it.   In Romans Paul writes about this: “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.”  We have all done what we know is wrong, we have all made the willful choice to put ourselves first, we have all acted in ways that cause harm and deny God’s goodness.  By God’s standard we are all ungrateful and wicked.   If God used the standard of “respect is earned, not given” we would all be rightfully doomed.
 
Thankfully, that is not God’s standard.   God is a God of Holy Perfection, God is a God of justice, but God is also a God of extravagant mercy.  It can be seen consistently throughout the entirety of scripture that God consistently chooses side of mercy.   After stating we all fall short of the glory of God, Paul makes this clear in Romans when he writes this beautiful truth: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

 Do to others as you would have them to do, is all about treating other people the way that we want to treated.  It is about treating others the way that God treats us.   Ultimately the way we want to be treated is with grace and mercy.   Treating other people in the same way is the art of grace.  Unlike the art of not working, the art of grace is in fact hard work.  It requires us to actively put others first.  When it comes to doing that in our lives, I think there are two things we should keep in mind as we learn how to be more grace-full people. 

First, we should consider verse 35 of this morning’s scripture.   Here Jesus reiterates that we should love our enemies and be good to them.  The example he gives for how we do this is give to them without expecting to get anything back.  We should do this because God is merciful, and God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.   Far too often, we tend to shun mercy and kindness because we assume the worst of people.  We hold those in need with cynicism and suspicion instead of mercy.  We should follow the teachings of Jesus and the example of God the father and lead with mercy.   Instead, cynically assuming people in need are just trying to take advantage of the system, we should try to meet the needs of others if we can.

 I understand there are bad apples out there.  I understand there is a need for wisdom and discernment, but we should not let jaded cynicism or assuming the worst stop us from helping people.  If we were truly in need, we would want people to help us out, so that is what we should do for others.  We should show mercy to others.  If it turns out they are trying to scam us out of a few bucks, then come the day of judgement that is on them.   We should strive to be faithful in being merciful, doing good for all, giving without expecting anything back, and being kind to everyone, even the ungrateful and wicked.  Because that is the way that God treats us.  

Second, this morning’s scripture is all about how we relate to our enemies.  It addresses how we are to respond to those who have wronged us.  Jesus challenges us to reconsider who we label enemies and why do that in the first place.    It is frightfully easy to take those who we disagree with or who seem incredibly different and brand them our enemies.  This is often done by labeling others as “those people”, we instantly create an “us vs. them” scenario.  When we do that, it becomes very natural to say things like “respect is earned not given” to those who we consider not us.

When we tear down those “us vs them” walls it becomes much easier to love others.  We should realize that all people belong to the same group, specifically all people need Jesus.   Saints and sinners, friends and enemies, us and them- we all need Jesus.   Instead of lumping people into little categories we should draw the circle wide to include everyone, because there is only one category of people, we should put people in and that is the category of people who need Jesus.   I need Jesus, you need Jesus, we all need Jesus. Out of God’s endless mercy, God has sent his only son, that all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God has been merciful to us, and when we realize that we are in the same category of people who need Jesus it is easier for us to be merciful to everyone else.
 
 In this morning’s scripture, Jesus challenges our default assumptions and urges us to lead with grace.  This can be hard work, because it requires us to put others first and to lead with mercy.  Yet, it is worthwhile because as Jesus states in this morning’s scripture, “your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.”  So may we lay aside our cynical attitudes and may we be willing to treat people with mercy and compassion.  May we not divide others into categories or label anyone our enemy, but may we recognize and value the sacred worth of all people.  May we be kind to others the way that God is kind towards us, may we love the way that Jesus loves.   Using mercy, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness as your colors of choice may your life be a beautiful masterpiece that illustrates the art of grace.    
 

Scripture:  Luke 6:17-26

Often one of the qualities that some of our most loved movies have in common regardless of the genre or when they were released is how quotable they are.  Many of us likely have beloved quotes from some of our favorite movies that are often floating around somewhere in the back of our minds.   Given how much we love a good movie quote, it is odd just how often we get them wrong.  For instance, one of my absolute favorite movies is Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and arguably the most well-known quote form that movie is “Luke, I am Your Father.”  But that line does not actually appear in the movie.  In the same way nowhere in all of Star Trek television or movies does Captain Kirk ever say the phrase “Beam me up Scotty.”   There are dozens and dozens of examples of movie quotes that are misremembered.  Often it is just a simple issue of remembering the scenes but not getting the words quite right.  However, there are a few instances that are a real head scratcher.  For instance, one of the supposed most well-known quotes from the movie Casablanca is “Play it again Sam.”  That line is not anywhere in the movie, the closest is a character saying, “Play it once Sam, for old times’ sake.”, which is not even that close.  For whatever reason, there are some quotes from movies that we tend to collectively remember incorrectly, and the incorrect quote is what becomes the one spread far and wide.
          
  I would not fault you if you thought something similar was happening with this morning’s scripture.  Because this morning’s scripture might sound familiar to us.  One of Jesus’ best-known teachings are the “beatitudes” a series of “blessed are” statements.  This morning scripture sounds very similar but also may not sound quite right.   Unlike misremembered movie quotes, that is not quite what is happening here.   It turns out in the gospels there are two versions of the beatitudes.   The more familiar version is found in the gospel of Matthew where this morning’s scripture comes from the gospel of Luke. There are some minor but fairly important differences between these two versions.  For instance, the first statement found in Matthew is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, where Luke records “blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” 

The statements of blessing in Matthew tend to be spiritualized whereas the statements in Luke tend to be focused on the physical conditions of the people Jesus is speaking to.   This morning’s scripture from Luke also contains statements of woe which Matthew does not have.  So given those differences it is not surprising that the Matthew blessing statements are the more popular and more well-known ones.  They tend to feel a lot safer and more comfortable.  This morning’s scripture really presses against some of the culture messages we are inundated with.  This morning’s scripture can cause us to question our assumptions about what it means to be blessed, but this morning’s scripture can also point us to how we can more authentically be a disciple of Jesus. 

Blessed is a tricky word to define.  Like a lot of abstract concepts, it is an idea we feel like we have an understanding of but it is an idea we struggle too fully articulate.  The opposite of being blessed is being cursed, and that is a state we generally want to avoid.  So often we usually hear people claim they feel blessed when the circumstances of life work out in a way to give feelings of happiness or peace.  We often reduce the idea of being blessed to an attitude of focusing on the positive rather than the negative.   While focusing on the good in our lives instead of dwelling on the hardship can do wonders for our general outlook, it is kind of hard to square that understanding of being blessed with what we find in the bible, especially in this morning’s scripture.   Because poverty, hunger, sorrow, and being hated are objectively not great places to find oneself.  Yet, those are the very qualities that are lifted up in this scripture as being blessed, which really brings about the question what does it mean to be blessed? 

We find the concept of being blessed throughout the bible.  The way blessing and being blessed are described are varied with a lot of depth throughout the bible, but a common trend does emerge.  Being blessed means to have God’s attention.  The blessed in the bible are the people that God has a special care for.  To be blessed means that God has a specific concern for you.  Blessings, which are often positive in the bible, are the physical results that come from being blessed.  Often when we count our blessings, we consider the positive in our life to be an indication that we are blessed, but it often works the opposite in the Bible.  Being blessed does not mean comfort or an overabundance of blessings.  Being blessed means that God has a special care for you.   In that light, this morning’s scripture begins to make more sense. 

 When Jesus says blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, and blessed are you who weep, that is exactly what he is saying.  Those are the people who are blessed.  This is not to say that Jesus is glorifying or idealizing poverty, but rather Jesus is reinforcing a theme found throughout scripture.   Consistently throughout scripture God is on the side of the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the marginalized.   Throughout the bible God is the protector, defender, and ultimate advocate for the poor.  Psalm 146 gives a good example of this.  Verses 7-9 state, “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts u those who are bowed down.  The LORD loves the righteous.  The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow.”

  The poor, the hungry, the oppressed are blessed because God’s favor and protection is upon them.   This is a reality in the kingdom of God.   In their book Deep Justice in a Broken World Chap Clark and Kara Powell put it this way, “Any biblically rooted understanding of the kingdom of God cannot be separated from God’s commitment to uphold justice by providing for the needy . . . God who reigns over all of creation looks upon the brokenness of his children, and in his mercy takes special favor of behalf of those most affected by humanity’s sin and rebellion.”  Those who have been systematically impacted and hurt by the broken and fallen state of the world are the ones God has special care for, and that is why they are blessed. 

Even if a fuller understanding of a biblical notion of blessed, this morning’s scripture can still be difficult for us because of the statements of woe.  I do think the beginning of verse 20 is key to understanding this morning’s scripture.   It states, “Looking at his disciples, he said . . .”   This morning statements of blessing and woe were not a general teaching but were directed to his twelve closest disciples, and that context is incredibly important.

 This morning’s scripture takes place early in the ministry of Jesus.  The scripture that immediately precedes this morning’s is when Jesus had finalized picking the twelve.  Then this morning’s scripture begins with a great number of people gathering.  I imagine what this had to be like for the 12 disciples.  They had just been honored by Jesus to be chosen as one of his closest followers.   Now a large crowd from all over has assembled, they spent the day watching Jesus do miracle after miracle.   I imagine those twelve men had to be overflowing with excitement.  They had to feel like they were on the ground level of something that was going to be big.  They saw how huge the crowd was, and they might have thought this was only the beginning.   Perhaps they saw fame in Jesus’ future which also meant fame in their future.  Just like today they would have known that fame leads to influence and power and wealth.   I have to wonder if any of the disciples that day felt like they had hit the jackpot, they had hitched their wagon to the right star, and they were on their way to having it made. 

If any of the disciples felt that way, then when Jesus looked at his disciples and delivered the statements of blessings and woe, it would have been a dose of reality that re-grounded them in what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus.   Jesus starts by reminding them who God is for and concerned about, which means the people that Jesus is concerned for.    Jesus then reminds them that if their focus is on wealth, comfort, and reputation then their focus is on temporary earthly things and not on heavenly things.  If our focus in on ourselves and on what we can get, then our focus is not on God.   It also means that our focus is not where God is focused and we are not focused where Jesus was focused.

Jesus’ message in this morning’s scripture was meant not for the multitudes, but it was meant for his closest followers.   If you consider yourself a disciple or if you consider Jesus to be your Lord and Savior that means the truth of this scripture is that it was intended for you to hear.   This means the first aspect of this scripture, that God is on the side of the poor and the oppressed, is for us to hear.  If God’s focus is on those who are the most without and the most in need, then that is where our focus should be.  If God is the protector and defender of the poor and marginalized, then it means those are the people we should be seeking to help and shelter as well.  The poor, the hungry, the hurt, the hated are the people this morning’s scripture defines as blessed because God is on their side.  Perhaps as the people of God, it is our job to be the blessings for those who are so blessed.   As the body of Christ, as the hand and feet of Jesus, we should have compassion for those that God cares about and seek to meet their needs. 

In the same way the dose reality the woes hit the original disciples with should also re-center us on what it means to follow Jesus.  These woes are the inverse of the four “blessed are you” statements.   They point us to where our focus in life should not be.  We cannot be sharing the love of God and being a living example of Christian witness if our focus is on the things that Jesus pronounced woe upon.   If our focus is on accumulating more and more wealth then we are not going to be very good at generously providing for others the way that God generally provides for us.  In the same way if all our time, energy and effort goes to make ourselves comfortable, to create an environment where we never weep, then we cannot see the great hurts in the world.  If we do not see the hurts, then we cannot join God in trying to tend to those hurts. 

 There is a lot of hurt in this world.  There is a lot of injustice and pain in the world, and if the magnitude never brings us to tears then it’s because we are intentionally ignoring it.   For instance, current data estimates 10 children die a minute from preventable causes.  In the past half hour that is over 300 children, half of which are infants who died and did not have to.  That SHOULD cause us to weep.   It should break our hearts.  If our focus is on acquiring wealth, getting the finest food in life, and ensuring we are always happy and comfortable then our focus cannot be on God, or the people God wants us to focus on.  I know we do not have the resources to save them all, I know we cannot help every hurt, but we can still help. We may not be able to fix all the world’s problems, but we can, we must do something.  Every small faithful step we take builds for the kingdom of God and aids in the transformation of the world. Every time we give of our resources to help someone else, every time we give our time to help provide for another person, every time we stop to truly see and recognize the need of another person then we are joining in on the sacred work of God.  We are a blessing to those whom God has special care for.    

This morning’s scripture can be uncomfortable because it challenges us to pursue compassionate actions instead of personal comfort.  This scripture reminds us that the way of Jesus is to focus less on ourselves and more on others.  So may we have compassion and care for the people that God has special care for.   May we love what God loves and be saddened by what saddens God.   May we have generosity for the poor, compassion for the hungry, and weep with those who weep.  May we realize that being blessed is not about what we have but by how we can be a blessing to others.    
 

Scripture:  1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Songs have been written to cover just about every topic imaginable, but there is one subject that seems to be the most popular:  A crazy, little thing called love.   It is estimated that more than 100 million love songs have been recorded.  The variety of love songs is staggering as they appear in all genres.   The songs tell us that love is all we need and that we will do anything for love.  Yet most of these songs do not actually define love, they won’t do that.  There are some that give some definition.  Tina Turner cynically asked “what’s love got to do with it, and defined love as a secondhand emotion.   Other songs are a bit more positive and assure us that love will never give you up, never let you down, and never hurt you.  Singers of all varieties love to crone about love and hit the high notes when they proclaim, “I will always love you”, but they rarely actually say what love is.  

On the one hand, perhaps they do not need to.   Perhaps they do not need to define love, because on some level we know what love is.  Love is less something we explain and define and more something we feel on a deep level-which is why it is such a good topic for songs.  Yet on the other hand, how we use words matter and definitions are important.  Love is a kind of hard word to define in English, because of how the word is used.  English has more than 170,000 words.  It is one of the languages with the most words in active use in the world, yet we use the word love in a lot of different contexts.   We use the word love to define the attraction and connection between two people.  We use the world love to define how we relate to the divine, and we use the word love to describe how we feel about pizza.

 Because we do not ever define the word well, it does lose some of its meaning.  Grammy winning song writer Jimmy Webb points this out in his book Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting.   Where he wrote about love that the word is “overused and has no good rhymes.”  Despite the fact it is overused, especially in songs, I think Jackie DeShannon was right when she sang “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.  It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.”  If that is true, then it is important to define just what this world needs.  It is important to answer the question, “What is love?”  And this morning’s scripture goes a long way in helping us do just that. 

There is a decent chance that you have heard this scripture before, because this is the go-to scripture for weddings.   It makes sense, and it kind of works.  After all, if a newlywed couple treated each other with love as it is described in this scripture then they would be off to a great start.   However, this morning’s scripture is not about weddings.   This morning’s scripture is part of the same general thought that started in 1 Corinthians 12 and continues into 1 Corinthians 14.  The past two weeks we explored 1 Corinthians 12, as a reminder and to get us all on the same page.   The church of Corinth had a question about spiritual gifts.  While we do not know the exact question, we can infer from Paul’s writings that it had something to do with some gifts being more important or special than others.   Specifically, we get the idea that there were some in the Corinthians church who seemed to believe that those who spoke in tongues or prophesied were somehow better than those who did not. 

Paul really tries to emphasize this is not the case.  He points out that all spiritual gifts come from the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s purposes, and he points out that the church is like a body where all fulfill their role, and all roles are needed and equally important.   From there he turns to this morning’s scripture, to teach the Corinthians the most excellent way.   The point that Paul makes is that the most amazing spiritual gifts are not worth much if our motivation is not in the right place.   The church of Corinth desired these charismatic, exciting outward manifestations of the holy spirit, but Paul is urging them to instead desire an inward change.  Their faith is not defined by the outward stuff they can do, but rather by a changed heart, a heart defined by love. 

 Thankfully, Paul then goes on to define love.  In just a couple of verses he does a much better job than most love songs at telling us what love is.  Paul describes love as an entity and gives it characteristics.  Love is not this independent thing, but rather it is an internal attitude that impacts and effects our thoughts and actions.  So by describing the characteristics of love, Paul is telling us how love should impact and influence our thoughts and actions.   Love should lead us to being patient and kind.  It is out of love that we should refrain from being envious, being blinded by pride, or act in anger towards others.  Love should motivate us to protect others, and love should be a source of strength in our life that keeps our hope from wavering and enables us to preserve, because we know love never fails.  

This kind of perfect love that Paul describes is the very love that God has for us.  God proved this love to us through Jesus.  On the night he gave himself up for us, Jesus met with his closest disciples in an upper room.   The gospel of John records he told them many things including Greater love has no one than this:  to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.”  One of the disciples who was in the room that night used this experience to give their own definition of love in the epistle that he wrote.  In 1 John 3:16 he wrote: “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his lie for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”  

Love is Jesus Christ crucified.  It is through the cross we see the perfect love of God displayed.  A love that does not keep record of wrongs but blots our sins, transgressions, and iniquities.  A love that is kind beyond measure, a love that is not self-seeking but fully selfless, a love that perseveres, and a love that never, ever fails.  This morning’s scripture defines love, and the mighty acts of Jesus Christ prove this love.  Love, as defined by this morning’s scripture is not just a poetic word.  It is not just a theoretical or ethereal concept.   Love is an attitude of the heart that inspires us to action. 

Jesus himself was clear about what kind of actions we should be motivated towards.   He said the greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.  He said the second command is like it to love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus demonstrated this love.  He demonstrated his love for God by being obedient to God to death, even death on a cross.  He demonstrated his love for neighbors by laying down his life both for his friends and for the whole world.  The love that Jesus put into action, was the perfect love of God and one of the final points that Paul makes in this scripture, is that we too can love in this way. 

After Paul defines love so well in verses 4-7, the scripture does seem to take a bit of a turn.   Verses 10 and 11 state: “but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.  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.”  In this morning’s scripture Paul ties maturity to perfection and perfection to love. 

 This connection between maturity, perfection, and love was one that fascinated John Wesley, the found of the Methodist movement.  It was a connection that he saw repeated throughout the scripture.  In our United Methodist tradition, we believe that faith is not a static thing, but through the Holy Spirit working in our lives our faith grows and matures.  As our faith matures, it transforms and changes us to the point where we reach Christian perfection.  Christian perfection does not mean we are flawless.  There can still be missteps, bad connections and accidental fumbles.  Christian perfection is when we truly and fully love God with all of our being, we truly and fully love our neighbor as ourself, and we willfully do not sin.

Christian perfection is when we learn to love perfectly.  Christian perfection is when the definition of love that Paul gives in this morning’s scripture is also a description of who we are.  One of the things we still believe that we got from John Wesley is that Christian perfection is not a theoretical ideal.  This is not some sort of impossible standard that we will never reach, but that this is a reality we can live into.  About loving others, Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.”  Jesus would not have told us this if it were not possible.  So we believe that Christian perfection is a level of maturity we can reach.    Not only can we achieve it, but we should strive for it and make it our goal.   

This is the same the point that Paul made for the Corinthians in this morning’s scripture.   They were desiring flashy spiritual gifts, but Paul urged them to not strive for these gifts but to strive for love.   The Corinthians wanted outward manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but Paul urges them to desire an inward change.  This morning’s scripture urged the Corinthians and us to pursue a perfect love that will change us from the inside out, that will bring us to maturity, and that will lead us to fully love God and love neighbors just like Jesus did. 
            
Jesus gives us the perfect example of perfect love to follow.   He loved sacrificially, and we can do the same.  Jesus sacrificed his life for the whole world, but we can follow the example of Jesus without going to the same scale as Jesus.  Instead of the whole world, we can start with one person at a time.   Instead of giving our lives like Jesus did, we can offer up what we have.  We can sacrificially give of our resources, not just our excess, but we can share what we have to provide for those who do not have.  We can sacrificially give of our time to meet the needs in the world around us.  We can also sacrifice our assumptions, our comfort, our belief that our viewpoint is always the right one so that we better have empathy, we can better have compassion for, and we can want mercy for people who might be different than we are.  In following the example of Jesus and relying on the empowerment of the holy spirit we can become perfect in love.

This morning’s scripture lays out the most excellent way.  It succeeds where many love songs fall short, and it defines love.  May we desire that the Holy Spirit works in our life so that we may be perfected in love.   May we pursue Christian perfection, not as a theoretical goal but as, by the grace of God, an achievable transformation of our hearts and lives.  May truly and fully love God with all of our being.  May we truly and fully love our neighbors.   Friends, the Beatles really were right.  All the world needs is love, and may we be the ones to show it to them what love is.