I have a privilege this morning of introducing our guest speaker. He is my brother-in-law. I married his sister and 27 years later he's still trying to decide if that was a good idea or not. But Larry Murray is a pastor in Plano, Texas. Plano is a suburb of Dallas, Texas. And you've been there 10 years now, right? He's been at Plano Bible Chapel for 10 years. Our Bible conference speaker a couple of years ago, Dr. Tom Constable. was one of the founding elders of that church and a professor at Dallas Seminary. Larry and I worked together. I was a youth pastor and he was the janitor back in Dallas. I was cleaning up your messes now and then and I'm still cleaning them up today. So let's welcome Larry Murray. It's a privilege to be here together with you this morning. Grace and peace to you and from our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. I'm glad to be here from the Lone Star State and I find it remarkable that you made us feel so welcome with this great display of the Lone Star State as we're here this morning. I invite you to take an outline you'll find in your program for maybe taking some sermon notes or doodling or whatever you want to do, but hopefully you'll find some things that we share from the Lord's Word helpful to you and your life as you live for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me again just lead us in prayer. Father, we thank you for your abundant grace. We thank you for the mercy that you have showered upon us through your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for your demonstration of love to us through him. Lord, we pray that as we open your word and see what you have to say to us, that you would lead us and guide us, that you would transform us into the image of your Son, whom you love. In Christ's name, amen. Well, if you began experiencing some symptoms of significant chest pain, if you were finding yourself short of breath, constantly fatigued, what would you do? What would your spouse make you do? You'd go see the doctor, right? You'd go in for a checkup. And at this checkup, you'd ask some questions of the physician. Doctor, what's going on? What's happening to me? He would run a series of tests and diagnose exactly what was going on inside your physical heart. You would probably ask, what kind of treatments are available if he diagnosed a problem? You would say, what medicines are available? What have other people in similar circumstances done to change their lifestyle or their diet or their exercise regimen or whatever it might be? Doctor, what can I do to live the life that I want to keep on living? If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a significant heart condition, it can be frightening. But there is help and there is hope. But what about symptoms of a different kind of heart problem? What if you began experiencing relational pain? If you found yourself constantly busy, you were overworked and overcommitted and doing so many different tasks, doing so many different things, and yet you found yourself under-connected to people in your home or in your church? You were so busy doing things that you found yourself even lonely while surrounded with people. What would you do? What would you do if you found yourself over committed and under connected? Well, this morning we go to the great physician who not only heals our physical hearts in his way in his time, but he heals our spiritual hearts as we look to him. Maybe you're here this morning and you found some of these symptoms of your heart. And as we look at God's Word, we're gonna allow Him, through His Holy Spirit, to diagnose the issues, to prescribe how we need to live in such a way that brings glory to God. and find the cure for our broken hearts. Our primary text this morning and throughout this next week at family camp is going to be from 1 Corinthians 13 and so I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me there. We'll find Paul's words in this love chapter but even though many of you may have had this chapter or portions of this chapter maybe read or recited at your at your wedding ceremony, this love chapter isn't exclusively or specifically for couples. This love chapter is for the church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, for us to experience His love and reflect His love to others. You see, the goal in this passage was to help the church in Corinth that was over-committed and under-connected experience the love of Christ, what really mattered most. And so this morning, wherever you may be, and if you're like me, I find myself crazy busy at times. What Paul is saying to us is that really what we need in our crazy lives is love. God's love and our love for one another. Because a life of love and a simple life go together. Because love is the indispensable motivation that brings value and worth and meaning to everything we are as well as everything that we do. Love is what unravels a complex, overextended lifestyle that seems to always keep us running, but never really allow us to rest. And I don't know about you, but I'm just tired of running. I need some rest. Not just by a change of state, but by a change of heart. So through the Apostle Paul, the great physician, exposed the problems of the Corinthians' misplaced priorities, and also exposes ours as well. Even though the Corinthian believers were zealous about their faith, they were committed to teaching God's word. They were involved in healing, not only physically, but spiritually, the community around them. They were serving and doing so many great and wonderful, even godly things. and yet they had some dysfunctional relationships. You could say that they had spiritual heart failure. First of all, they were doing too much. They were such a busy church doing so many things, but for the wrong reasons, that they really weren't being effective. They were doing so much that they had lost their focus. You see, they were doing a lot of really good things. but they were doing them for the wrong reasons. Secondly, they were going too fast. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 11, Paul immediately addresses one of the reasons for his letter, that there were divisions in the body of Christ. There were factions. They were taking sides of who was the better teacher and who they were following. They were foolish arguments. He goes on to talk about the different abuses of the gifts of tongues, envy of each other's gifts, selfishness, impatience with one another, showing preference for not only people but philosophies and styles and preferences. They had behavior that was disgracing the Lord Jesus Christ even as they came to remember Him through the Lord's table. And all of these symptoms point to the fact that they were simply loving each other too little. The Corinthians considered themselves mature believers, but Paul addressed the issue that was stunting and limiting their spiritual growth. It was simply a lack of love. In chapter three, he said this. He said, you are babies in Christ. You are still fleshly. There is still envy and strife among you. That even though they were busy doing all these incredibly good things, had incredible gifts, had great talents, and were doing and giving so much, their lives were still hectic and busy and messed up. It was Jonathan Swift, the satirical author of Gulliver's Travels who said this. He said, we have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to help us love one another. They had misplaced priorities. And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we discover the Lord's diagnosis of their futile lives. The Lord's diagnosis of a worthless life. One without meaning and purpose. In verse 1 of chapter 13, he says this. I'm reading from the Holman Christian Standard Version. Says, if I speak the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I'm a sounding gong, a clanging cymbal. This sounding gong was a part of the pagan religious cults that they were aware of. It made noise, but absolutely no sense whatsoever. And Paul says, if we do not have love, that's what we sound like. In verse two, if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains, that is, if I have the abilities and the faith to move something immovable, but do not have love, if I don't have loving behavior, I am nothing. In verse three, And even if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing. In order to help us get this, Paul brings about a formula, a process for us to understand how significant this is. And the formula is three letters. minus L equals N. Can you say that with me? A minus N equals, I'm sorry, A minus L equals N. Let me try it again. A minus L equals N. If you go home and somebody says, well, what were they talking about at church today? You can say A minus L equals N. And here's what that formula means. Anything minus love or without love equals nothing. Anything done, even good things, anything we have, even that's beneficial, any relationship without love as the motivating factor is no thing. It's nothing. The priority of love must be the motivation for everything we do or anything that we do is good for nothing. This diagnosis Paul, first of all, in the first verse says that performing great tasks and doing many, many things without love produces nothing. If we do great things, even great things that advance God's kingdom, but don't have love, there's no value in it. He says, if I speak with the languages of man and even of angels, but without love, I'm just making noise. If I speak but don't have love, I'm just having a lot of noise that makes no sense to others. Secondly, if I prophesy or if I teach but do not have love, I'm nothing. Not what I do is nothing, but he says, I am nothing. Even this morning, if I'm coming and if I'm speaking and teaching, just so that my name is great or that I represent my family well. But if my motivation in standing here before you is not love, it's gonna make no sense whatsoever. I'm just wasting my time and yours. Performing even great things without love produces nothing. Any good thing done without love is worthless. But the priority of love makes everything we do worthwhile. Secondly, he says that possessing the greatest gifts and abilities without love amounts to nothing. He says, if I understand all mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I have unequaled understanding and knowledge, he's saying, but if I don't have love, I have nothing. Even if I have incredible trust or incredible faith to trust God in doing seemingly impossible things, but if love is not the motivating factor, even though I think I have something, I really have nothing. You see, Paul is saying to these Corinthians who are arguing about their spiritual gifts and who had what better talents or abilities or even gifts from God, he's saying that the mere possession of gifts is not as important as the exercise of these gifts in love. Because love in the exercise of these gifts, of what God has given us, of what we think we have that is all from Him, is that love thinks of others, not self. You know, it's great to see a man or a woman and even a boy or a girl who has unique and special gifts. But it's even more wonderful and it's glorifying to God when a man or woman or boy and girl uses those gifts from a motivation of love to serve others. to give attention to God rather than attention to others or to themselves. Performing great tasks without love is nothing. Possessing great gifts and abilities without love amounts to nothing. And the third problem of a worthless or futile life is that providing for those you love, for even the most needy, even if you feed the homeless and care for them, or whatever the greatest cause on earth might be, if it's done without love, Paul says, it benefits no one. Even if we accumulate enough to give our families and ourselves a comfortable or a privileged life, but if we don't have love, we've missed the thing that is most important. We've missed the thing that will not only bring value to our lives, but we've missed the only thing that will really last. Our homes, our cars, our possessions, all the things that especially we as guys work to provide, but if it's not done for love and out of love, it's not gonna last. If we make great sacrifices for anyone for any reason other than love for the Lord Jesus Christ, Just as Paul had said earlier in this chapter, earlier in 1 Corinthians, it's just wood, hay, and straw that's all going to be burned up as we appear before the Lord to give an account of how we've lived our lives. Paul says in verse 3 here, he says, If I donate all my goods to feed the poor, that is, if I serve others selflessly but do not have love, I gain nothing. And if I give my body to be burned, that is, if I give my life sacrificially but do not have love, I gain nothing. You see, when love is minimized, trivial things are maximized. Without love, our whole order of priorities get mixed up so that without love, the things that are unimportant become the most important things in our lives. But when we start with love, first of all, God's love for us, and live that out in such a way that we love others, not how we want to be loved, but how God has loved us, all of a sudden the trivial things of life begin to fade. And the most important things that will last take on new and greater importance. You see here this morning there's just an incredible, a palpable ache in our hearts. That all of us really want to share our lives with people that we care about. We want to share our lives with those who will go deep with us. There's a longing for all of us to maximize our lives for the things that will last and to minimize the trivial things that tend to crowd our hearts and our minds. And so the question here this morning is if love is the key to bringing clarity and simplicity and value to all that we do, how are we gonna maximize love so that it takes the highest priority in our lives? How do we prioritize love in such a way that the things that bring stress to our lives, that keep us constantly going, where we're over committed and under connected, where those things begin to get set off to the side, so that we focused on the most important thing, love. We need a practical prescription. for our lives that will change us, transform us to love not as the world loves but to love as God has first loved us. So Paul gives us a prescription for a fruitful life. He gives us a prescription for a worthy life. He gives us a prescription for life that doesn't bring attention to us, but He gives us a prescription for what brings glory to God. Not only for this life, but for the life that is to come. The life that is real. The life that will last. But like all prescriptions that are given by a physician, prescribed medicines, prescribed treatments don't work if you don't follow them. So you may walk away here with a great formula of A minus L equals N, but unless you apply that formula to your life, it will make no difference to you whatsoever. You've got to take these prescriptions from the Lord Jesus as prescribed. And just like medicine, you've got to take it out of the cupboard. You've got to take it as prescribed. I want to encourage you to do more than just hear these words, Begin to consider how can I apply these words that anything without love is nothing. That anything plus love is everything. It's up to us to take this and to live it out. If you look back to the previous verse in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, verse 31, Paul says this, he says, Desire the greater gifts, and I will show you an even better way to live. What are the greater gifts? I mean, if you were to look back up here that Paul is talking about how God has put the body of Christ together, giving honor to the parts of the body, how we together as the church are to honor one another, not only those who are high profile, but those who have gifts and abilities who may be covered by clothing or skin. So that if one member of the body suffers, all the members suffer. And if one member of the body is honored, all the members are honored. Regardless of what you have, regardless of what you've been given, regardless of what you do, that we are to focus on love as one of the greater gifts. What are these greater gifts that he talks about in verse 31? Well, they're the gifts that build up the body of Christ. If we want to know exactly what those are, look to verse 13 in 1 Corinthians 13. Now these three remain. These three greater gifts that build up the church. Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is what? Love. Desire the greater gifts, not the things that bring you attention, but the greater gifts that bring Christ attention through His entire body. Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Because anything with love is worthwhile. Anything with love produces fruit that brings glory to our Savior. Listen to what Jesus commanded us as his disciples in John chapter 15. He says, I've spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy be complete. This is my command. Love one another as I have loved you. Love one another in the same way that I have loved you. Verse 13, he goes on and says, no one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. If you were to read on, verse 16 says, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain so that whatever you ask my father in my name, he will give you. And this is what I command you, love one another. See, this isn't just something that's new with Paul. This is the greatest command from our Savior Jesus of how we live out His love. The greatest command was, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is just like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. But Jesus takes that and goes a step further. that no one has greater love than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. What does this love look like? Well, Christ-like love gives others what they need the most when they deserve it the least at the greatest personal cost. Let me say that again. A great definition of love that I think comes exactly from Christ and what He did for us. That love, just like Christ, gives other people what they need the most, normally when they deserve it the least, and at the greatest personal cost. Because Jesus says, no one has greater love than this, then He would lay down His life for His friends. How did Jesus love us? He gave us what we needed the most. When we deserved it the least. In Romans 5, he goes on to say, God demonstrates his love for us in this, while we were still caught in the act of sinning. When we least deserved it, Christ died for us. The picture I have of that is, while my hand is still in the cookie jar, Christ died for us. That's what our love for others is to look like. And it's not this emotional feeling of whether or not I want to love someone. It's not how they respond to me, of whether or not I like them or whether I connect with them. Because quite frankly, because of my sin, there's no way that God could love me. It's only by His grace and His mercy demonstrated through the love of Christ that while I was still sinning, Christ died for me and for you. And that's why my life and why yours is worthwhile because of Christ and His great love for us. And he says that loving others as Christ has loved us produces fruit that glorifies God And quite frankly, just simplify our lives. Because we no longer have to do anything in how we live our lives to measure up to God's standard of holiness. There's nothing more that we could do because Christ did it all. It is finished. And so instead of trying to hurry up and to do all these kind of things to measure up, to be approved by God, we just rest in his love because Jesus paid the price of our sin. And so because we no longer have to do all of these different things, we can simply love Him more and do less because He's done it all. So what's the prescription for living this fruitful life, loving one another? But let's get a little bit more specific in some things that we can do. Some things that I think come out of this passage and how we live a life of love. This indispensable addition that gives meaning to everything that we do. First of all, prescription for a fruitful life requires that we take our daily meditation medication. We gotta take it. What does that mean? I think first and foremost it means remembering Jesus and what He has done for us. That on a daily basis we remember, we meditate on His scriptures, we consider God's great love for us. And we live our lives out of that love by loving others. Taking a daily dose of meditation medication may also mean meditating or memorizing scripture. Maybe a great passage like John chapter 15 that we read or memorizing this love chapter of 1st Corinthians 13. Meditating on God's Word of who He is as our great God who is love through Jesus Christ who has commanded us to love one another. Secondly, a prescription for a fruitful life requires that we clothe our lives with love. We clothe our lives with love. In Colossians chapter 3, verse 12, Paul wrote this to the Colossians. He said, therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another, If anyone has a complaint against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. And above all, put on love, the perfect bond of unity. Put on love. You know, many of you gave considerable thought and took significant time this morning to consider what you were going to wear. You know, as we plan to travel from Texas to California, I probably gave way too much thought to what I was gonna wear this morning. And I think my daughter even more than that. Maybe not. Some of you here this morning maybe should have given more thought to what you're gonna wear than the simple smell test of your clothes off the floor. But wherever you were and whatever you were doing this morning, Paul says for us to put on love, to clothe ourselves with the kind of love that Christ has demonstrated to us, just as we've been forgiven, to put on love that enables us to forgive others. We put on love that is there for us to give others what they need the most, when they deserve it the least, and usually at the greatest personal cost. Thirdly, the prescription for a fruitful life requires that we ask some reflective questions. This one is an overarching question that I think is there for us to consider as we have options of how we spend our time, of what we think about, what we worry about, what we commit to the Lord. This reflective question of, am I doing all that I'm doing simply to make myself look good, or am I doing all that I'm doing to make myself feel good? or am I doing what I'm doing to bring glory to God? The surgeon Atul Gawande wrote a book called The Checklist Manifesto. And in this book, he shows how doctors can use checklists to save lives and reduce mistakes, especially for surgeons during a procedure or surgery. Gawande's surgery checklist includes the following three pause points for doctors and surgeons to consider. He encourages them to stop before anesthesia, before incision, and thirdly, before leaving the operating room. Each of these pause points is intended to really take no more than just a moment, more than even a minute, just long enough for the members of the medical team to slow down, to stop, to ask some questions. What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Did we do it all? Did we do it right? It might not seem like pausing for a few minutes would make a difference, but following this checklist of Gwandi seemed to make a significant difference. The results were striking. Even these short pause points before an incision helped to slow down the process of a surgical procedure. And the slower tempo led to greater outcomes. For example, starting in the spring of 2008, eight hospitals began using Gwandi's checklist. And within months, the rate of major complications from these surgical procedures had fallen by 36%. Even more important, deaths fell by 47%. And now these same kind of checklists are found at most hospitals. Taking time to slow down and to ask some questions has great value. They work not only because they impose delay by having this kind of speed bump to stop and reflect and to think, but they also make sure that we're doing the right things in the right order for the right reason. This kind of checklist is a good idea for every follower of Jesus Christ. In this crazy life that we live, for us to slow down, take a breath. Ask the Lord, why am I doing this? Am I doing this to make myself look good? Am I doing this to make myself feel good? Lord, am I doing this to bring you glory by living a life of love? These speed bumps can and I think should be for all of us some spiritual disciplines to train us to seek God's perspective and to ask for His help in situations where we may be likely to give a significant amount of energy or attention or time to make sure that what we're doing and why we're doing it is for the sake of God's glory, to make sure that our lives are fruitful. Because you see, a life that is futile is one that brings attention to ourselves, that we're constantly busy trying to either measure up or perform, to make ourselves look good or feel good. And Paul says, that kind of life is worthless. But a life that is fruitful, lived in the right way for the right reasons, brings glory to God, is a life that is fruitful. Because futile brings attention to us, fruitful brings attention to God. So here are three questions, questions that have to do with our performance or our possessions and even what we provide for others. Instead of asking the question, how did I do? We ask the question, who am I becoming? Instead of asking the question, what do I have? Begin to ask the Lord and ourselves, how am I using what God has given? Either spiritual gifts or talents or possessions. Thirdly, instead of asking how much do I give of my time, my energy, my talents, my treasures, instead of asking how much do I give, say, Lord, why am I giving this? Is it to make me look good? Is it to make me feel good? Or is it simply because I love you and I love others? But just like medicine in a bottle, these questions won't do you any good if they just sit on the counter or get added to another stack of papers or maybe just end up in the cover of your Bible. What I want to suggest to you is that you take these questions and in the morning begin to plan out your day as you have your calendar, as you have your to-do list, to say, Lord, why am I doing this? Am I doing this for me or am I doing the things that I'm planning throughout this day for you? Lord, throughout this day, who am I becoming? Lord, throughout this day, how am I using the gifts, the talents, the treasures, the time that you've given me for your glory? And maybe the most important question is that of motivation. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Because anything without love is nothing. Anything done with love is worthwhile and brings glory to God. Are you experiencing some relational pain this morning? Maybe just some relational impatience. Constant fatigue of just doing so many things Or when somebody says, how are you doing? Your response is, well, I'm busy. Do you find yourself constantly over-committed to doing too many things and desperately under-connected with people in your home or maybe even in this church? Is your life just too busy? Well, the cure for a busy, overwhelmed life is simply this, love more and do less. The cure for our lives that are complicated and we spend so much time doing things that don't last, to live our lives instead for what matters, that we love more, we love God more, we love others more, and because of His great love for us, we're free to no longer try to measure up, fit in, be approved. Make the grade because God loves us infinitely more than anything we could ever do to try and measure up. We can rest in his love and we can say no to more things, to more people, to make sure that love is the highest priority. It's the motivation for everything that we do. Paul said this, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 4, he says, love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, it's not boastful, it's not conceited. It does not act improperly. It is not selfish. It's not provoked. It doesn't keep a record of wrongs. It finds no joy in unrighteousness, but it rejoices in the truth. See, all of those things we find ourselves busy doing and doing, trying to measure up, trying to compare ourselves, trying to fit in. But Paul says love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Why? Because love never fails. Love never ends. It will eternally outlast anything that we spend our time doing without the motivation and the purpose of love. So that Paul in verse 13 says, now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. So Paul says in the next verse of chapter 14, pursue love and simply desire the spiritual gifts or the graces that enable us to build up the church and bring glory to God. We love more for God's glory as the motivation for living that enables us just to simply do less because we're loved infinitely more. Glen Davidson in his late forties had a very critical heart condition. As he went to his doctors and asked questions about his cardio problem, the doctor said that unless he began to make some significant changes in his life, that he wasn't going to survive. He still had kids in the home, a daughter in college, And so he made the changes that the doctor ordered. He changed his diet drastically and lost significant weight. He began to exercise regularly and he began to specifically eliminate areas of stress in his life. 20 years later, Glenn Davidson is still actively serving the Lord, both his family and his church and in his workplace. You know, when it comes to matters of the heart, making these kind of changes in how we love and why we live are difficult. Because all life-changing love is inconvenient. All life-changing love requires that we look to the Lord, that we listen to His diagnosis. that we live the way in which He is prescribed for us and we find our faith, our hope, and our love in Him alone. Are you experiencing the symptoms of a serious heart condition? Well, love is this incredible motivation that gives meaning and value, not only to everything we do, but to who we are in Christ Jesus. Let me pray. Father, we thank you for your great love demonstrated to us through your Son, Jesus Christ. And we ask, Father, that as you lead us and you guide us by your Spirit, that our every action or every thought would be motivated by your great love demonstrated to us through Christ on the cross. Father, I pray that these would not just be words of how we are to live, but Father, that you would transform us into the image of your Son so that you would get the credit and so that you would get the glory for our lives individually and collectively as the body of Christ as we live lives that are worthy of the gospel and that make you look great. We ask all this in His name. This message has been brought to you by the Santa Rosa Bible Church. Our purpose is to lift up the Lord by living out the word, loving one another, and leading others to Christ. Be sure to visit us on the web at www.srbible.org or come visit us in person at 4575 Badger Road, Santa Rosa, California 95409. You can also give us a call at 707