INTRODUCTION
· SLIDE #1
· Today, we almost come back full circle to where started this series back in the first two messages.
· In the Pentateuch and in the Historical Books, we touched on the subject that is the central theme throughout the Bible, the subject of love.
· Today we are continuing our journey through our Binge Reading the Bible series as we land in the Epistles.
· The word Epistle is a fancy word for a letter. An Epistle is writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually elegant and formal.
· In your New Testament, the Epistles consist of letters written to different churches and individuals; in these letters, early church leaders taught how we are to live as Christian and the theological framework for Christ’s work, and gave pastoral guidance.
· This section of the Bible is important because it showcases the issues people dealt with after the resurrection and includes teachings on day-to-day living, as well as the importance of our future hope.
· These letters are highly personal, written to particular congregations and people groups dealing with specific issues in some cases; but on the whole, these twenty-one books of the Bible (Romans to Jude) consist of real-life descriptions of faith, behavior, and future expectations.
· The Epistles focus heavily on teaching Christian communities about proper living as followers of Jesus, as well as how to interact with believers and unbelievers.
· Proper life as a Christian is built on the idea of love; specifically, the love of God, self, and neighbor (Mark 12:30–31).
· The list in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 provides many ways to know what a lifestyle of love is or isn’t. These verses encompass much of the broader teaching throughout the Epistles.
· In a Peanuts cartoon strip from 1959, Lucy is seen tormenting Linus about how he could never be a doctor because he has no love for mankind.
· To which Linus responds, “I love mankind … It’s people I can’t stand!”
· Have you ever felt like Linus? Does loving your neighbor feel like an obligation or an honor?
· Today we are going to focus on one of the most important marks of one who calls themselves a follower of Jesus MUST DO!
· 1 Corinthians 13, which many call the LOVE CHAPTER, is sandwiched between chapters 12 and 14. NOW THAT IS DEEP SAID CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!
· The context of those chapter deals with the use of spiritual gifts within the Corinthian church.
· The church was missing the point of focus for these gifts, and that was causing problems, fighting, envy, and jealousy within the church.
· Spiritual gifts were meant for the building up of the church; instead, they degenerated into a source of pride.
· This is the context we need to remember as we examine the passage today.
· Let us begin with 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
· SLIDE #2
· 1 Corinthians 13:1–3 (CSB) — 1 If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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 but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
· SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. The importance of love.
· We spend a great deal of time on the subject of love, as Jesus did. Ever wonder why?
· Look at what Jesus says about this subject.
· SLIDE #4
· John 13:34–35 (CSB) — 34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
· Now amid all the fighting, dissension, and strife, Paul offers us 1 Corinthians 13!
· Look carefully at the passage again.
· SLIDE #5
· 1 Corinthians 13:1–3 (CSB) — 1 If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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 but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
· This passage speaks of the gifts of tongues, prophecy, wonder-working faith as well as giving everything I own away.
· In chapters 12 and 13, we are given three principles concerning the exercising of the Spiritual gifts.
· Tests by which the Holy Spirit’s leading can be discerned, the need for diversity of gifts within the church, the need for unity of purpose as the different gifts are being exercised within the church, and THEN, the principle this chapter covers, LOVE MUST BE THE MOTIVE THAT CONTROLS THE USE OF THE GIFTS!
· Love is doing what is spiritually best for others. In 1 Corinthians 12:31, this is referred to as the more excellent way.
· We know the phrase speak human or angelic tongues refers to the gift of tongues because there are a couple of different Greek words for SPEAK.
· One of the words denotes speaking with without thought to content, it contrasts speech with silence.
· The second word refers to speaking thoughtfully using one’s mind.
· Since speaking in tongues was something that came from the Holy Spirit, the first word for SPEAK is used to reflect that thought.
· The Spirit acts on the Christian, so what is said is not of one’s own mind, but rather from a message from God. The Christian is merely the agent of transmission.
· If one gives all their possessions to help the poor, love has to be the motivation.
· The phrase GIVE AWAY punctuates this thought even more.
· GIVE AWAY denotes giving your possessions away a morsel at a time to help as many people as possible.
· To give one’s body over to boast deals with self-sacrifice but doing it for your own glory.
· To bring down to us today. Why do you do what you do for God, for your spouse, for your children, for your friends?
· Do you do what you do because it is spiritually best or for some other reason?
· Do you do it for a pat on the back, for public glory, or to get something you want from another person?
· Selfish actions do not produce spiritual maturity in this life. Standing before God, motives, and actions count.
· SLIDE #6
· 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 (CSB) — 4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
· SLIDE #7
II. The description of love.
· How can we determine if we are acting out of love? How can we tell if we are motivated by love? Verses 4-7 gives us a view of what being driven by love looks like.
· We will see many LOVE IS, and love IS NOT’s in this section.
· Let’s look at each.
· Love is patient. This word is always used in the context of how we deal with people, not circumstances.
· The word is used of a person who is wronged and who has it easily in their power to avenge oneself yet will not do so.
· When others are ungrateful, rude, insulting, a patient person will not retaliate, love demands that they endure it and show the love of Jesus to them. Are you patient toward the people you LOVE?
· THIS IS NOT EASY!
· Love is kind.
· It is good-natured, gentle, tender, affectionate, useful, and helpful. It is not looking to be angry over the slightest provocation. Are you kind to the people you “LOVE”?
· Love DOES NOT ENVY!
· TO envy is to boil with jealousy. 1 Corinthians 3:3 shows this was a problem in the church at the time.
· Not boastful- Love does not call attention to oneself. It does not strut around like a peacock.
· This word describes how a frog swells up just before it lets out a croak!
· Not arrogant. Not inflated with pride.
· Not rude- Not ill-mannered or crude, indecent, or repulsive.
· Not self-seeking- doe not seek one’s own pleasure or advantage above all else.
· Not irritable- Does not fly into a rage and is not embittered by injuries inflicted by others.
· The root of this word is to sharpen. It applies to sharpening a knife or sword, in this context it denotes sharpening the mind and temper to use against others.
· Does not keep a record of wrongs.
· This is an accounting term used for entering items into a ledger to remember them. We are not to have a book-keeping system for recording hurts until they are paid back!
· Love finds no joy in unrighteousness.
· We do not celebrate when we see unrighteousness or wrongdoing or the disaster of others!
· but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
· Love rejoices in the truth of the Gospel!
· The Corinthian church should rejoice when the gifts were used for the Gospel!
· Finally, love bears all things- Love hides imperfections. The word means to cover, this does not mean we cover evil.
· Believes all things- WE are not in a hurry to impute false motives. Love withholds judgment until all the evidence is in.
· Hopes all things- When love finds no evidence, it believes the best. When evidence is unfavorable, it hopes for the best.
· When hopes are repeatedly disappointed it still courageously waits.
· Endures all things. Patience that we looked at deals with people, ENDURANCE involves dealing with trials and tribulations which we bear with noble courage!
· WOW! There is some homework!
· SLIDE #8
· 1 Corinthians 13:8–10 (CSB) — 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.
· SLIDE #9
III. The duration of love.
· I will make this short and sweet!
· LOVE NEVER ENDS!
· The precious gifts the church was fighting over, they were going to end, and they were going to end soon.
· Verse 10 tells us, but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.
· The word PERFECT means, COMPLETE, MATURE.
· The word perfect denotes a THING, not a person. The word is in the NEUTER form.
· When Paul was writing this, the perfect was not done. In the context of prophecy and tongues, miracles, and miraculous knowledge, the THING that fits, the THING that would be able to replace all those items was the completed New Testament.
· SO, Paul is saying that when it was completed, the miraculous things would be done away with!
· In verse 13, we are told that faith, hope, and love would remain, and the greatest is LOVE!
CONCLUSION
· Jesus told us to make disciples, which requires love and relationship with the body of Christ, as well as with the world around us.
· We can live a godly life with help from the pastoral teaching of the Epistles, and in the process, we can learn how vital love for our neighbors is.
· This love needs to be on display in our homes, in our churches, in our communities.
· We have to learn to be driven by love!
· The Epistles teach us how to do that!
