All You Need Is Love

I’ve observed something. I’ve observed there’s a dance that is done – it’s done all over the country. In fact, many places around the world. And I call it the Silicon Valley Shuffle. The music is very, very fast. The rhythm is very, very upbeat. And the people, I mean, they dance with intensity and passion. And often to the point of fatigue. There are four words that describe the Silicon Valley Shuffle as I watch it at times in my own life and in the lives of lots of friends. It’s bigger, better, faster, and more.

And so, we live at a pace where, if you don’t work till, if you don’t want to work till seven or eight o’clock at night, go work someplace else.

And then, pretty soon, you think about well, you’ve got to do that with your kids. So, if they’re going to be really good, you’ve got to start them young so, like, at two years old they’re playing soccer. You know, three years old, they can’t pick up the bat but they’re trying to get it off that tee ball.

And you know what? If you really want them to do well, then you get that tutor. I have a friend, who told me his parents got him a tutor in the sixth grade and half a day, every Saturday, he was preparing for the SATs.

His sister scored a perfect score on both the SAT and the ACT. Went to an Ivy League school, and now has changed her phone number twice and has no contact with her family. Does not want to ever talk to them ever again.

See, the Silicon Valley Shuffle is about pressure and about demand and about making it happen. And it’s very unconscious and the music is always playing, 24/7. Wherever you’re living, there’s this pressure. It’s got to be better. It’s got to be bigger. It’s got to be faster.

And then if it gets better and bigger and faster then you look at what you’ve got and then it’s got to be more. And the music just speeds up. And it produces something. It produces this desire to be all and to do all and to have it all. We don’t say it, but our lives reflect that I’ve got to be it all. I’ve got to do it all. I’ve got to have it all.

And you’ll notice on your notes, I put three things that, over time, this will produce. It’s created a very, very complex world that moves too fast, that delivers too little, and demands too much.

So, the question I want to ask and answer with you is, is it possible to break free of the high-speed, high-pressure, high-demand, guilt-producing dis-ease of our complex lives?

I took the word “dis-ease” because, it means something’s wrong. And I put the hyphen in it because there’s sort of a dis-ease. There’s a lack of ease. There’s a lack of sense of pace. There’s a lack of peace.

And when you have a physical disease, what do you do? You go to the doctor, right? I mean, your temperature goes up, you feel terrible, and usually, if you’re doing the Shuffle, you say, well, “I’ll just get through this, I’ll keep going to work.”

But eventually, you go to the doctor and when you go to the doctor, you want a doctor who does something very, very important: to make a proper diagnosis before they give you a prescription. Correct?

I mean, if you went and say, “I don’t feel very good.” He goes, “Hey, I got some pills on that shelf, take these.” “Well, wait, wait, doc, doc, hold on.” Or, “You know what? I’m really struggling with,” and you tell him one thing and he goes, “Good. Tomorrow morning, six a.m., surgery.” You’re going, “Whoa!”

See, the key to the right prescription is a proper diagnosis. You want him to really figure out what’s wrong before they start pumping drugs in you or cutting you open.

And the same is true spiritually. So I want to take you this morning to just a little stop to the “simplify your life” doctor. And in order to do a little diagnosis, I’m going to ask, like a doctor does, right? When you walk in, he goes, “Well, how long you been having this? Is there any of this in your family? Tell me about your diet. Tell me about your exercise. Do you have any stress in your life?” And then you laugh.

But they ask a lot of questions. That’s how they do a diagnosis. And so, the question I want to ask you is, is what do you want to be known for? That’s the first question because there’s something behind the bigger, better, faster, more. Bigger, better, faster, more.

There’s something in you and something in me that creates this momentum and this drive and this pressure and this demand and part of it is going to be rooted in: what do you really want to be known for?

And we heard it. I want to be known as a kind and loving person, I want to be known as a person who’s fair. Other people would say, I want to be known to be a great mom or a great dad or I want to be known as an excellent student.

I want to be known, as one person said, a person who solves some problem, is very knowledgeable. I want to be known as someone who’s very wise. I want to be known as someone who’s…

And if you had to write down, “I want to be known for,” what would you write on your notes? What would you write?

Now, the problem with this question, it was kind of interesting, is, we all have two lists of what we want to be known for. There’s the list that when, someone like me asks you this, I mean, no one is writing, “I want to be known as an axe murderer,” okay? I’m thinking we’re okay on that one, right?

But I’m figuring there’s not a lot of you who say, “I want to be known for being a driven, over-extended, hurried parent, who doesn’t connect with my kids.” Nah, that’s not a good one. “I want to be known for a very successful businessperson who has been through two or three marriages.” No, no, no, no. “I want to be known for someone who’s way too busy to have any meaningful deep friendships.”

See, what I’m going to say with my lips and what I intellectually want to be known for is one list. And then, your schedule and my schedule and your words and where your time and energy and money goes is a separate list.

And the bad part about life is like when we go to the doctor. When they ask, “How are you eating?” We tell them stuff like, “I think pretty good. I mean, fairly healthy. You know, I roll out of bed, coffee, no breakfast, get a danish, have a candy bar at noon, and eat a decent supper. I mean, isn’t that good?” Not that I do that, I’m just, that was hypothetical.

Do you see the difference? Well, let me ask one more question. If you could get it down to one word, just one word, what would you want to be known for? And I realize that’s super hard, but if there was one word that could describe you.

One word where, if you’re a parent, your kids would say, “This describes my dad or my mom.” Or if you’re married, your spouse would say, “This is what, the one word that epitomizes what, when I think of my mate, it’s this.” Or one word that really epitomizes what my closest friends think of me, what would it be?

Got it? I’m going to suggest that there might be a lot of good solutions, but there is one word that, no matter what word you came up with, if it’s not this word, that your word is a distant second.

And not that there’s anything wrong with wanting to be a good mom or a good dad or a hard worker or a successful businessperson or to start your own company or to be a great athlete or a great artist.

Those desires are fine, but you can do – if you could fulfill all those desires, but if you didn’t fulfill this one word, according to God, all of those are not like a close second, they’re like, such a distant, distant, distant second. If this one word does not describe my life and your life, we will find ourselves missing what matters most. And I’m convinced, the only way to simplify your life, is to get clear on what really matters.

The apostle Paul would write one very, over-arching principle. And he’s going to tell us that anything minus love is nothing. Anything. Any success; anything powerful. And then he’s going to tell us, put another way, that everything minus love is nothing.

And you might say, “Well, Chip, well, where did you get that?” The apostle Paul is writing to a church. I mean, they’re high capacity, they’re very gifted, they’re situated in a part of the world that, where they, I mean, they have just great influence.

It’s the Corinthian church but, I mean, they have a lot of Shuffle problems. They have dysfunctional relationships. The things that matter most aren’t going very well.

And so, there apparently was, maybe, a tattle-tail. A good tattle-tail who, sort of said to Paul, “You know that church? They’re not doing very well. Here’s all the issues.” And the first four or five chapters, he talks about: they’re suing one another and there’s divisions and it’s, all the things about living the way Jesus said, they’re just not doing very well. “It’s not what you taught.”

And then later, Paul gets a letter and they have a number of questions. They have questions about marriage and questions about singleness and questions about divorce and questions about lawsuits and questions about the Lord’s Supper and questions about all kinds of things – the gifts of the Spirit and spiritual maturity.

And so, Paul is writing this letter to address all these specific issues. And one of the issues, he opens it up in chapter 12, verse 1. He says, “Now concerning spiritual…” Now, you, most of your Bibles, you can actually open up, because we’re going to go to chapter 13 in just a second.

But if you open your Bibles to chapter 12, I want to give you some context here. He says, “Now concerning spirituals.” Literally, it’s spirituals. Now, most of your Bibles will say spiritual gifts because when it’s not completely clear it’ll be in italics. And then 12 is about gifts and 14 is about gifts.

But if you study all through those chapters very carefully what you understand is, the major overarching issue of chapter 12, 13, and 14 isn’t gifts. It’s spiritual maturity. Or, what’s it mean to be spiritual?

Because, the Corinthians believed that what made you spiritual was, they were really into the gift of tongues – speaking a language that they hadn’t learned – and they felt like really spiritual people had this gift.

Paul will argue in chapter 12 that that may be a very important gift, but the most spiritual gift is prophecy, because it benefits other people and it reveals God’s truth.

And look at chapter 12, look at the very end, look at verse 31. He says, “Now,” he makes this, talked about all the gifts and their role in spiritual maturity. And then he says, “Now let me show you a more excellent way.”

And then he opens it up and he says, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I’m a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing.” Could you go in your notes and just underline: “but have not love,” “but have not love,” “but have not love.” Three times. Right?

“But have not love.” And did you notice the progression? It goes from not very good to bad. Then to worse. And so, he takes that gift that they esteem, and he says, “This ability to speak in another language that you haven’t learned, if you could even speak it in angel’s languages, but if you don’t do it with love, I mean, you guys really think this is the biggie? If you don’t do it with love, you just become like a gong and clanging cymbal.”

And he’s referring to their background. In their background in pagan worship, they believe that you had to wake up the gods. And the way they would wake up the gods is they would start their pagan festivals. Is they got, bong, bong, ching, ching, ching, bong, bong. And they would make all this noise that didn’t have any music or any sense to it to get their god to wake up.

And so, Paul’s giving a little dig to them because there’s not love in this group. They’ve got a lot of gifts. They treat each other badly. They gossip about each other. There’s division. There’s disunity. They’ve got all kinds of dysfunctions in this church.

And he’s saying, “You want to really be spiritual?” He said, “If you had this greatest, greatest gift ever, that you think is so hot, without love, you just basically come like the beginning of your old, pagan worship services.”

And so, actually, it produces nothing. Then, notice he goes on to say, “If I have.” So, he moves from a, performing, something that you do, to something that you possess. And then he goes back to his spiritual perspective of, if prophecy is the highest one, and he goes, even if you have that and you knew mysteries, you had all this knowledge. And you had this faith, you could trust God that, I mean, supernatural things would occur. If you do that without love, not only does it not produce anything, you become nothing. Think of that. That’s your essence.

And then, he finally says, “If you exercise,” I’m sure he’s thinking here, the gift of giving that he explains to them later. If you are so sacrificial in your giving, that I mean, it’s lavish. I mean, ten percent, you blew by that. Twenty percent, you blew by that. Fifty, sixty, seventy percent of your income. You’re lavish. In fact, you decide at one point in time you would actually lay down your life, allow your body to be burned, be martyred sacrificially. You are providing. But he says if you didn’t do it out of love, it profits you nothing.

I want to summarize love’s supremacy and what I’ve done here, I’ve taken a little bit of liberty because in the context, Paul is speaking to them about the focus they need to have. They lived in a complex world. They were a very gifted church. They had a lot going for them.

And so, I wanted to apply this passage to us and so performing in your world with the greatest gifts and abilities without love, jot down, “produces nothing.” Performing. Some of us are good at performing because we have learned that when you perform you get strokes and affirmation. And strokes and affirmation, although it’s not like real love from in depth relationships, it feels pretty good and it’s a cheap substitute.

Second, possessing the best, the finest, the most amazing things you can imagine, without love, you become nothing. Now, in the context here he was talking about possessing these amazing gifts.

And what you possess in terms of position and privilege and what you possess in terms of the esteem of other people and what you possess in terms of reputation and how old are you and how quickly are moving up? And what you possess in terms of your little kids and can they hit the ball or run faster or farther than other little kids?

And those, what you want to be known for, these get into the things that drive you. This is why so many people are living in SUVs and eating fast food five nights a week – from minivan to minivan, from practice to practice.

This is why people don’t eat dinner together and don’t have time to eat dinner together and why couples see each other briefly in the morning, see one another with blurried eyes, and re-connect, not very well, at ten o’clock that night. And keep thinking, okay, there’s more to do, there’s more to get done, the to-do list is longer, I’ve just got to keep it going. And then the lie, but when this season is over, it’s always just a season. But seems like the seasons stack up on one another.

And third, sacrificially providing for those you love, the neediest. The greatest cause on earth, without love, profits you nothing. I mean, a lot of us, with our motives and our heart, it’s not we’re trying to live insane paced lives. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who’ve said, “I’ve tried to slow down, I’ve tried…and I just keep getting pulled back into the rushing river of movement, demand, push, go, make it happen, innovate. You’re losing it. Market share. What about this? Providing?”

And so you want to provide for your kids this, and provide for yourself this, and provide that, until you can accumulate and… Now, listen very carefully. Every time you buy into a lie, and the biggest ones are so subtle, they’re coated with such significant amounts of truth, that you feel like you’re between the rock and the hard place and you can never get out.

Here’s what I wrote. Many of us live very hurried, overextended, complex lives with shallow, superficial relationships, even with our closest friends and families, because we have unconsciously learned to believe performing well, possessing much, and providing stuff is what life is all about.
Many of us live very hurried, overextended, complex lives with shallow, superficial relationships, even with our closest friends and families, because we have unconsciously learned to believe performing well, possessing much, and providing stuff is what life is all about.

Your value as a person, your significance, you’ve got to perform well. Who you are, what you do, what people think has to do with possessing stuff. Some of it’s intangible and some of it is very tangible.

How you doing with this? Boy, it’s quiet in here, isn’t it? And this isn’t – you know what? This is, you don’t get a free pass on this because you’re a pastor. As I’ve looked at my DNA and my schedule and when I look at the list of, not what I say, but the list of, what does my behavior say? What does my schedule scream? Where does my money go?

I feel like there’s a constant battle of fighting against this belief system that possessing, performing. And even the altruistic: “I’m going to provide for,” can get me going at a pace that isn’t good for my soul. It isn’t good for my marriage. It isn’t good for my parenting or grand-parenting. And it kills friendships.

So, if that’s the diagnosis, what would the doctor say? What would the “simplify your life” doctor say? Here’s a prescription for transformation.

Three things he would say. He gets his little pad out. You know, “Put your shirt back on. I’ll be right back in just a second.” Little prescription pad’s coming out.

Number one. The secret to simplifying your life is focus. Now, this isn’t earth shattering, is it? You’re trying to do too much. Oh! You’re trying to accomplish too much. Oh! You’re trying to get your kids involved in too much. Oh! You need to do less. But do it better, deeper, more relational. But you need to do the things that matter most. Oh, okay.

Knowing that we’ve all done that and tried that and it lasts for two days to two weeks, depending on our personalities.

Rx number two. You can only do less when you purpose to love more. This, for me, is the biggest “ah-ha” of this series and this message. I have tried many, many times to tweak my schedule. Right? I’ll do a little less of this, a little less of that. And I already, I go to bed early, I get up real early. I mean, I’ve read time management books like you all have. I do my “A”s first before I do my “B”s and then I do my “C”s. I do know how to multi-task.

And I’m one very intense person. And yet, I watch it just multiply and multiply and multiply until, different seasons of my life, I feel like I’ve got the seven plates spinning or juggling the balls.

And then somehow, well, that can lay there for a couple minutes and I’ll give my attention over here. Ooh, that’s my marriage, it can’t lay there very long. And what, you’ve done it, right?

If just tweaking things was about intelligence, I’m talking to a really smart group of people who, you would have figured that out by now. This is a lifestyle issue. This is a mindset issue.

And this pressure and this demand has us going all these different directions and then sedating our pain and our loneliness with videos and technology and food and un-health. And that’s why we have so many addiction issues. Because right before people get ready to crack, they just find a substitute to make them feel better.

I was in South Africa and afterwards went to Zimbabwe. And I have to visit orphans. The simplicity of their life, “I love God. I love these people. They love me. We want to help others in the way that we’ve been helped.” And I just thought, that is a blessing. And what I realize for me was, the only way, this was a big “ah-ha.” I’ve tried to do less. But other stuff creeps in, right?

There’s always that great opportunity. And then, it always comes with, here’s a great opportunity, it’s right down the middle of the plate and, by the way, this great opportunity is only going to come now and if you don’t swing at it right now your kids are going to miss it or you’re going to miss or the business is going to miss it.

And it’s strategic and it’s great and you can do this and you could add it to your schedule, you’re not going to take anything off but you’re going to mentally say and act like you are.

And so, one more thing gets on there, right? And I just realized, my “no” isn’t strong enough to keep stuff off my plate until I have a lot stronger “yes.”

How did I have two weeks to go be with orphans? And when I was with them and I was with these pastors and when I saw the Third World afresh, all of a sudden, some of the stuff that felt so demanding and some of the people and things I needed to say “no” to – it’s easy to say “no” to doing less when you’re saying “yes” to loving more.

The third Rx is, begin to redefine success. Begin to redefine success from, how did I do? That’s a performance question. Mom, how did I do? Dad, how did I do? Teacher, how did I do? Coach, how did I do? Corporate earnings, how did I do?

Change that to: who am I becoming? You might write above the question, “How did I do?” Performance. Then put an arrow. Who am I becoming? That’s a character question. What do I have? That’s possessions. Put an arrow from that and move it to, how am I using it? Not, what do I have? How am I using it? You move from possessions to stewardship.

And the third question is: how much to I give? What if you changed that question to: why do I give? So it goes from providing to motive.

What we have before us is one of the greatest chapters in all of Biblical history. But I want to tell you, the apostle Paul did not sit down one day and say, “You know something? I would like to write a literary masterpiece. I’d like to write something that people, whether they were Christians or non-Christians, all over the world, when there’s ever a wedding, they would read this.

“I want to provide something for people who love to decoupage. I want plaques to be filled in future Christian stores all over the world, I want it to be put with little lists of poems. You know, Ralph Waldo Emerson, apostle Paul. ‘If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels yet have not love,’ right? ‘If I prophesy…’”

You know, he was not trying to do that. In fact, what you’re going to find is, we’re going to spend our time and we’re going to walk through this. He doesn’t even define love in 1 Corinthians 13. He gives us fifteen descriptions of love beginning at verse 4.

And in the fifteen descriptions, I’ll show you a little bit later, he takes, at least fifteen of their dysfunctional, hurtful, bad, superficial, relational fallout behaviors, and every one of these things is a corrective so that they will be loving in their relationships.

This is a very practical chapter. He’s talking about, instead of suing one another, here’s how you do. Instead of feeling hurt and rejected and betrayed and gossiping about people, here’s what you do. Instead of living this way, here’s what you do. Instead of shacking up with your mother-in-law and being sexually immoral, here’s what you do.

I mean, this church had major problems. But if we’re going to love more, the danger is that we will think that love is an ooey-gooey feeling and now I have, I feel better, God. I had seventeen point five seconds of ooey-gooey feelings with my wife and eleven point seven seconds of ooey-gooey feelings with one of my kids. Or, I’m a single person and I had coffee and we had a deep talk and I feel better.

Now, all those things may be good. But here’s the question. If simplifying your life never works by just saying you’re going to do less but the secret is loving more, the fundamental question is: what is love and how do you practice it?

What does it really mean to be loving? And I’m going to get us started and we’re going to start real small. And we’re going to learn to start loving – what love really is. Not an emotion. Not a good feeling, but a choice to treat other people in a way that you don’t have the power, apart from God giving it to you, but we’re going to learn to love other people. And I want you to start with those closest to you. Family, friends, spouse, irritating in-laws.

And so, notice what he says. Verse 4. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It’s not proud.” Just underline “love is patient, love is kind.” That’s all I’m going to cover today.

We’re going to take one baby step toward how to become more loving people. Because as your love will get deeper and deeper and practical this week, you will gravitate and spend energy and time there and you’ll start doing less and loving more.

Love is patient. The word is macrothumus. Macro, meaning broad or to spread out. Thumus has the idea of passion. Some translators say it is, to have a longsuffering. The idea is only used, it’s not in reference to being patient with circumstances, this word has to do with being patient with people.

This says that when someone says a little remark that hurts your feelings and so you shut down and turn on the remote. This says someone who, you know, you wanted to be romantic on a certain evening and you got turned down, so you decide, “You know what? I’m not, I’m just not going to respond to her.” Or him.

This is that little comment that your parents make and you just say, “Well, forget it. I’m going to shut my door and…video game.” This is someone at school who says something to you to hurt your feelings and you just find yourself telling another friend what a jerk and how she’s stuck up and who does he think he is?

This is a different way to respond to hurt. Basically, love is patient, love is kind. He’s addressing the same issue. It’s one coin. The issue is this and write this down: how do I respond when people hurt me? And you don’t have to be in the church long to know you’re going to get hurt.

And we hurt one another in families. And we hurt one another in friends. And we hurt one another in ball teams. And we hurt one another in business. How do you respond when a word or an action or a neglect or someone doesn’t invite you or someone says something about you? How do you respond when there’s a little hurt or a wound?

My reaction is, I’m going to do it back. Or I’ll passive-aggressively say, “Did you hear what he did to me?” Or, she did that, therefore, you know, some of you will lash out with your words. Some of you will pay back later. Some of you will passive-aggressively leak and be sarcastic. Some of you will cut your parents off.

This passage says, “You want to learn to become loving?” Here’s what it says. “Love is patient.” Then the word “kind” is only used in this form in the New Testament. And it’s giving an undeserved response of goodness, winsomeness, and encouragement to the person who has wounded you.

Love absorbs the blow and returns a hug. And it says, “You don’t deserve this,” and I can’t give it in my strength. But you said that to me and it hurt my feeling, I’m going to go to the bedroom and I’m going to forgive you. And then I’m going to think about how could I affirm and encourage you? Because most people who hurt you, it usually comes out of a wound in their own life.

Can you imagine what’s going to happen in relationships if that’s all we do? Love absorbs the blow and gives a hug. Now, some of you have some historic situations and there’s some abuse situations and issues that you have, kind of, in the background. And this does not mean that you go home now and say that, you know, the father that abused you, sexually, “You think we could form a meeting? I learned from God I’m supposed to hug you.”

No, no, no, no, okay? Let’s not oversimplify. There’s issues and boundaries. But let’s just start with the everyday relationships of where we live in our homes or in our apartments with roommates and at work and our neighborhood. And let’s say, what would happen if we absorbed the blow like a pillow and we returned a hug?

That’s really what Jesus did, isn’t it? When He was on the cross, He was hurt, rejected, beaten. And it wasn’t just by those people, it was by our sin. And what did He do? He absorbed the blow. “Into Your hands, Lord, I commit My spirit.” And then He died, He rose from the dead, and He said, “Father, forgive them.” He was kind. He loved.

And we’re going to learn, you know what that does? It never fails. It’s powerful. This is supernaturally responding to evil with good. This is just normal for God’s people.

And so, let me give you a little assignment.

What does your life and schedule indicate you want to be known for? That would be a real honest one to answer, now wouldn’t it? Second, what’s the biggest barrier to you slowing down and simplifying your life? Jot that down. Have coffee and talk with someone that you can trust that is safe over that one.

Third, how can you begin to be more loving this week and with whom? Let’s just get it to one person, just as you’re thinking right now, write someone’s name down. Who is it that has a little wound, a little hurt, a little dissing, you feel a little rejection? Who could you just absorb the blow, forgive them, and give them a hug of some sort?

It might be a note, might be a word of encouragement. Might be bringing something up and telling them you forgive them, I don’t know what it is. God will show you.

And then here, finally, why is it so critical to understand how much God loves you in order to become more loving? See, your first assignment, are you ready? Your first assignment is not go be more patient and kind and loving. Your first assignment is to let God do that for you. Some of us, the reason it’s so hard to love, we don’t let God love us. When we mess up, we beat ourselves up, we feel condemned, “I’ll try harder.”

Yesterday, I did one of the dumbest moves in my car probably in the last ten years. And I got in the wrong lane, and then I cut over about two and a half lanes to make a freeway exit. And as I pulled through – and you know I kind of had it – but I did it too fast, I did it too quick. And then I didn’t see it, and a guy was out in the crosswalk. And I, you know, he got by, and I got by – and I just, because I was in a hurry – I mean, I just thought…and then it was real quiet, and Theresa looked at me like, “Oh my.” And she should’ve just wailed on me. And I finally said, “Are you okay?” She goes, “Yeah.” She goes, “You know you almost hit that guy?” I said, “I know it.” And then I thought of how my whole life could be different because of a hurried, stupid, foolish act.

And then I started on this journey of, Chip, you’re not this, you’re not this, you’re not this, you’re not this, and because of this message, instead I just stopped and said, God, thank You for not giving me the consequences I may have deserved. And for that man, I just totally blew it, Father. I am so sorry. I want to remember You’re patient with me. I’m going to receive Your forgiveness right now. And for some of you, you’ll never be patient with others, until you let God be that for you.