Sister Sunny Sunday School 8/4/13

Sister Sunny Sunday School 8/4/13

 What would love do:

1Co 13:4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity suffers long:  This is an attribute of God for God is love.  How long did He suffer with the Children of Israel in the wilderness?  How long did He send prophets to warn His people to turn from their wicked ways before He allowed them to be led captive into Babylon?  How many prophets did He send to try to get them to turn from their wicked ways? 

How longsuffering has He been with me!

2Ch 7:13  If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

2Ch 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Notice God’s judgment in saying, “and turn from their wicked ways.”  He is speaking the truth in love.  Turning from our wicked ways to God opens to us the treasure house of heaven:  He will hear, He will forgive, and He will heal.

Isa 42:3  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Isa 42:4  He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

He will be constant, consistent, and not be turned back from His purpose.  Where there is a little life, He will encourage more.  He doesn’t condemn the feebleness of the life that is there.  His goal is to increase the life.  He has long patience. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

God is not slack, but longsuffering.  He will keep His promise.  His character is to suffer long.  He loves.

How long has he been working on me?

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

What would love do?

Matthew Henry -
I. It is long suffering - makrothumei. It can endure evil, injury, and provocation, without being filled with resentment, indignation, or revenge. It makes the mind firm, gives it power over the angry passions, and furnishes it with a persevering patience, that shall rather wait and wish for the reformation of a brother than fly out in resentment of his conduct. It will put up with many slights and neglects from the person it loves, and wait long to see the kindly effects of such patience on him.

Wouldn’t the world be a nicer place if there was more love?

Charity is kind:  God is kind.  He sends the rain on the just and the unjust. 

Kind - G5541 χρηστεῦομαι chrēsteuomai khraste-yoo'-om-ahee

Middle voice from G5543; to show oneself useful, that is, act benevolently: - be kind.

Notice the word kind is tied to actions.  It is more than just thought.  ‘To show oneself useful’ – kindness is a benefit to others.  To be kind is to be useful. 

Benevolent - Having a disposition to do good; possessing love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; kind.

 

God is kind even to the unthankful and the evil.  Luke 6.

Pro 31:26  She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

This is an attribute of the virtuous woman, a strong woman, a woman of means, valor, and force. 

In the Hebrew:  Virtuous – force, army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength.

Kindness - H2617 חסד chêsêd kheh'-sed

From H2616; kindness; by implication (towards God) piety; rarely (by opprobrium) reproof, or (subjectively) beauty: - favour, good deed (-liness, -ness), kindly, (loving-) kindness, merciful (kindness), mercy, pity, reproach, wicked thing.

Mat 7:9  Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Mat 7:10  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

Mat 7:11  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Mat 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isa 11:10  And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

Has compassion.  Reaches out to the oppressed.  Isaiah 1:16-18,15,19

Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

If you shut up your bowels of compassion when you see a need, how dwells the love of God in you?
1 Jn 3:17.

The Good Samaritan was kind.  We are exhorted to love our neighbor as our self. 

God so loved the world:  God’s giving His son for our salvation was His love and the action was kindness.

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

What would love do?

Matthew Henry -
II. It is kind - chrēsteuetai. It is benign, bountiful; it is courteous and obliging. The law of kindness is in her lips; her heart is large, and her hand open. She is ready to show favours and to do good. She seeks to be useful; and not only seizes on opportunities of doing good, but searches for them. This is her general character. She is patient under injuries, and apt and inclined to do all the good offices in her power. And under these two generals all the particulars of the character may be reduced.

Charity envies not.  Envy is to have pain at someone else’s good fortune and to be happy at the misfortune of someone else. 

Rom 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Heb 13:3  Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

What would love do?

Matthew Henry -
III. Charity suppresses envy: It envieth not; it is not grieved at the good of others; neither at their gifts nor at their good qualities, their honours not their estates. If we love our neighbour we shall be so far from envying his welfare, or being displeased with it, that we shall share in it and rejoice at it. His bliss and sanctification will be an addition to ours, instead of impairing or lessening it. This is the proper effect of kindness and benevolence: envy is the effect of ill-will. The prosperity of those to whom we wish well can never grieve us; and the mind which is bent on doing good to all can never with ill to any.