“Why does she have to be cute, huh? Explain that! Why can’t someone fall in love with a person with freckles and a big nose? Explain that Charlie Brown!”

“Well, maybe you’re right,” answers Charlie. “Let’s just say I see this girl walk by with this great big nose…”

“I didn’t say great big nose, Charlie.”

In the last frame, his hands jammed into his pockets, Charlie dejectedly walks away from Lucy and says, “You not only can’t explain love, you can’t even talk about it.”

In some ways, Charlie Brown’s right. It’s hard to explain love. We’re not experts on love. Oh we know a little about romantic love; enough to woo our spouses and make them feel loved. And we know a bit more about brotherly love; that warm affectionate love we have for family that really gets magnified this time of year. But it would be safe to say that all of us are novices with God’s Kind of love. And yet, it is God’s Kind of love that Jesus commands us to give to one another. As he said, “A new command I give you:Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

So when we love one another like Jesus loved us people will notice! When we love one another as Jesus loved us, people will see something different. They’ll not only see that we follow Jesus, but they will see what God is like – for God is love.

We are in a series called Love Does, and we started this series by learning that we can only love like God if we’ve experienced God’s love for us.We love because He first loved us. Sothe starting point for loving like God loves begins with acknowledgingthat God’s love doesn’t come natural to us. We must learn how to love from Him.

So where do we start? How do we learn to love like Jesus loved us? Well as I’ve been digging into this question, I see that there are at least three ways we can learn to love as Jesus loved us. First, by keeping our eyes on Jesus. Jesus is love personified. He shows us what love is. That’s one reason we want to see every person following Jesus with others in a Journey Group. For these groups are designed to help us learn to live and love like Jesus.

And two, by learning how God actually works out His love for us. We did that a few weeks ago by unpacking part of Ephesians One, where we learned how God has always wanted us to be in relationship with Him – how God has always loved us. So He chose us to be “In Christ” before the foundation of the world so we might become holy and blameless in His sight. Not only that, but we learned that once God united us in Christ, He chose to give us every spiritual blessing in Christ. God has poured out grace upon grace into our lives. But what pleased God more than anything else was to choose to be His very own. At the very moment you put your trust in Jesus, He adopted you into His family. You are now His beloved. God will always be your Father. God will always watch over you. God will always be for you. God will always be with you. That’s what love does. God is constantly pouring out His love for you. But there’s a third way we can learn to love as Jesus loved. And that’s found by unpacking the very Scriptures that teach what love does! And those Scriptures are recorded for us in 1 Corinthians 13… So, if you brought your Bible, let me encourage you to find 1 Corinthians 13– the love chapter. If you don’t have a copy of the Bible, just slip up your hand and we’ll give you one. That’ll be our love gift to you today.

But it is here in 1 Corinthians 13, where we get a special insight into What Love Does. Paul spells it out for us. Love Does all these things: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.1 Corinthians 13:4-8

So today we are simply going to unpack the very first love action in the list: patience. Love is Patient. Have you ever asked yourself, why does God’s love list start here? Why patience? The answer is pretty simple: You and I will blow it, often. You and I will say and do things that will rub people the wrong way. We will offend, hurt and even damage people by our words or actions. The truth is, that no matter who you are, you are not going to love people the way God intends us to love. You are not perfect and neither is anyone else in this room. So if we are going to love as Jesus loved, then we are going to need to start by learning to love with God’s kind of patience. So what is that?

What is God’s Kind of Patience? Well, the word Paul uses here is made up of two words: The first word “macro” means “long” and the second word “thumea” (the word we get thermostat from) means “heat.” So patient love describes a person who stays long under the heat. In other words, God’s love waitsa long time before fuming and breaking into flames. God’s patience means standing up under the heat of criticism or unjust treatment without reacting in anger. You will weather unjust treatment and ungodly behavior with a gracious and uncondemning attitude. You won’t grow hot under the collar and explode in anger. You’ll love like Jesus. Peter describes how Jesus stayed long under the heat of unjust treatment this way: When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:23

Nothing shows the lack of God’s love better, then when you are quick to react with anger when you’ve been wronged. About a year ago, the Eloy Electric Company sent me a bill saying I had not paid my previous monthly bill and if I didn’t pay it soon, they would disconnect my power. Immediately I was irate, because I knew I had paid it. In fact, I went into my bank records and found the cancelled check. So I called them to see if they could rectify the situation. Do you know what they said? “No. If you want this fixed, you need to bring us a copy of the cancelled check.” Now I was getting steamed. I had to fix their mistake or get my power cut off. Come on! I So I drove to Eloy to fix this thing. Safe to say, on that day I was not filled with God’s patient love. Now I never exploded, and actually calmly explained my situation and handed the girl my canceled check. And she apologized and fixed my account. But I’m pretty sure that even though I never exploded, she could tell from my tone, that I wasn’t a happy camper. But that is not what love does. Love stays long under the heat and holds back anger, not just words but in attitude. So I realized that I missed a chance to be truly gracious, to love like Jesus. But here’s the good news: I know that it won’t be too long before God gives me another chance. God’s love stays long under the heat!

So we need this kind of love to be at the center of any relationship we encounter. Why? People need grace rather than criticism. People need kindness rather than rudeness.Your spouse will blow it this week. Your sister will say something that gets under your skin. A server will get your order wrong. Someone’s not going to agree with your politics. You will be misunderstood, maybe even criticized or accused. And when that happens – you will have a choice: you can love like Jesus loves – and can stay long under the heat, be gracious and not react, or you can react in kind. But what does love do? Love is slow to react. LOVE WAITS.

This is how God’s patience is described for us in the Old Testament: “The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God is slow to anger.” Exodus 34:6

You see, God’s love works itself out with compassion and grace. God’s love holds anger in check. Can you imagine God letting you have it every time you blow it? This is what’s so great about our God. He is not the judge, jury and executioner every time you blow it. He is patient because He is love. So He is slow to anger.

This is one of the reasons why there seems to be so much evil in the world today. It’s not because God doesn’t care, it’s because He does care. We should be GRATEFUL that He doesn’t pour out His wrath every time someone does something wrong. That’s not His nature. His nature is to be compassionate and gracious! He looks at that difficult person with compassion, because He knows that person is being difficult because she’s wounded from her divorce. He looks at the angry young man with compassion because He knows this boy grew up under a father who beat him. He looks at the workaholic husband who has a hard time loving his wife, because He knows he grew up under a father who demanded perfection. Love waits because love is guided by compassion and grace. That’s why God doesn’t intervene and strike down evil every time it rears its ugly heard. Because God is slow to get angry. And we should be grateful for that.

So the next time someone wrongs you, rather than react, ask God to give you His compassion and grace for that person. Ask God to help you see pastthe hurtful action, and give you compassion for the hurt that makes them that way. No one starts out this life angry, bitter or rude. Something or someone has made them that way, and they don’t need more criticism or anger from you. They need compassion and grace. And hat’s what love gives. LOVE WAITS.

How can I cultivate a love that waits? Well, we can take a hint from an illustration about patience that James gives us. He writes,“Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”James 5:7-8 James compares “patience” to a farmer who works faithfully while waiting for his work to bear fruit. When I lived in Tacoma, I planted a new front lawn. After I rototilled the soil, brought in new top soil, tilled it in and planted the new lawn seed, then I waited.. Everyday I watered the seed. Everyday I was waiting for it to sprout. But there was nothing else I could do but wait. I couldn’t make the seeds sprout, only God could do that. But that’s just the point. With this kind of patience, we will wait on God to work. We will wait on God to change the person that fails us, frustrates us, aggravates us, who blows it with us.

What does this waiting involve? It means that I wait without demanding change. I wait without anxiety. I wait without anger. Not easy to do in your own strength. So, being patient then, is more than simply an attitude or an action. It’s action with an attitude. We all have people we need to wait on for God to change. No one has arrived. All of us are in process. So all of us need the grace and compassion of this love that waits – this grace giving patiencethat doesn’t demand change. There’s another word for waiting in love: It’s called perseverance. It’s called sticking with that friend who fails no matter how long it takes. Perseverance means looking beyond their flaws and waiting for God to work. So perseverance is the action, but patience infuses that action with an attitude of contentment or peace…

And the only way you can display this gracious love is by remembering that God loves you the same way. You see, God has a long fuse when it comes to loving you and me. God’s love for us gives Him great patience with us in spite of our failings. His compassion for you keeps His anger in check. And boy am I ever glad for that, aren’t you? The Bible describes His loving patience this way: He is patient with you,not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.2 Peter 3:9

That is why God’s patient love is FIRST on the list! He is the father of the prodigal, He waits patiently for us to turn back to Him. He lets us go our own way. He lets us make our own choices, even if those choices hurt us or hurt others. Why? Because He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in love. And so love waits, love stays long under the heat, because that’s what love does. LOVE WAITS.

Is there someone God is calling you to love on in this way today? If so, then ask God to give you His compassion and grace to wait on them to change. For you see, it may be that God has actually been waiting on you to change, so you start loving difficult people like He does… It may be that He’s waiting for you change before He changes those people you want to see changed. That’s just how God works.

He wants to change us first, then He can unleash His love through us toward anyone who needs a little grace in their lives. So may God begin with us. May He change us into people who stay long under the heat, so we might unleash His love to a world who so desperately needs a whole lot more grace and a lot less criticism.

Let’s pray.

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