The LOVE Of GOD-II—1Corinthians 13:1-13
Attention:
Perfect Spouse:
A young lady visited a computer dating service & requested, "I'm looking for a spouse. Can you please help me to find a suitable one?"
The matchmaker said, "What exactly are you looking for?"
"Well, let me see. Needs to be good looking, polite, humorous, sporty, knowledgeable, good at singing & dancing. Willing to accompany me the whole day at home during my leisure hours if I don't go out. Be able to tell me interesting stories when I need a companion for conversation & be silent when I want to rest."
The matchmaker entered the information into the computer &, in a matter of moments, handed the results to the woman:
“Buy a television.”
People are generally confused about the meaning of love.
Need:
To know & apply God’s self-giving love, so as to prevent anything less from taking it’s place in our lives.
•“Self-giving”—Giving of yourself for the sake of another or others, rather than for yourself alone.
Paul highlighted the necessity of self-giving, sacrificial love to the proper outworking of Christian living.
Self-giving, sacrificial love is essential to true Christianity.
How is that kind of love essential to the Christian faith?
*Without Self-giving, sacrificial love, the ‘living out’ of Christian faith becomes mere/empty social reform....Which the world at large, jealously & ravenously devours!
1Pet. 4:8—“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
1Tim. 1:5—“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, & from sincere faith,”
*This entire chapter actually describes & defines agaph love with it’s results.
The supreme example of agaph love is God’s agaph love toward humanity & the world, all for the sake of their betterment.
God’s love is agaph love, & it is always a self-giving &/or sacrificial love. It is best understood through God’s exercise of it. God’s Love cannot be accomplished by any of humanity, apart from their approaching it thru God in Christ.
Previously we found that:
As A Christian, the Love of God must Humble My...
1. SPEECH(:1)
Today we’ll also find that:
2—As A Christian, the Love of God must Humble My...
ABILITY(:2)
Explanation:(:2)Knowledge
:2—“And though I have the gift of prophecy, & understand all mysteries & all knowledge, & though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
“And”—That is, in a similar manner—as with speaking with the tongues of men & of angels in verse :1. The same conclusion will result IF our God-given abilities are accomplished/lived out WITHOUT “love.”
“Prophecy” involving fore-telling or forth-telling WITHOUT ‘agape love’, becomes prideful arrogance & intimidation.
“Prophecy” involving fore-telling or forth-telling WITH ‘agape love’, becomes edifying & salvific.
“Understand all Mysteries”—That which, having been previously hidden to others & to other generations, is readily explained by the particular ‘prophet’ of God. It is a gracious blessing of God, to grasp the wisdom of the ages that He has for us.
“And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,”
Without “love”, a person exercising “all faith” in God, so as to bring about the miraculous, becomes ‘selfish entertainment’ & a display of personal pride.
•The devil does & will do the same thing during the Tribulation thru his Antichrist’s false prophet(Rev. 13:13). He will bring about his miracles with the intent of calling attention to himself & thus deceiving the whole world.
Rev. 13:13-14—“He[the Antichrist’s false prophet] performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword & lived.”
So great ability—even ability given by God’s graciousness—CAN become a means of subtle deception, when employed without ‘agape love.’ God’s love calls us to share truth in love. And God’s love calls us to point to to Him rather than to ourselves.
Mat. 17:20—Jesus to the disciples when they could not cast out a demon—“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ & it will move; & nothing will be impossible for you.”
•It is not so much that the ‘degree’ of faith is the point here, but rather that real faith—full faith, ‘agape love’ faith, saving faith, faith that pleases God—is the point!
So IF(“though”) a child of God were to “have” been graced by God with the gift of “prophecy”—that is, be gifted with that ability—& further in that discipline to be able to “understand all mysteries” as well as “all knowledge,” AND be able to exercise it in the fullness of(“all”) the commitment of “faith,”—so that even “mountains” were moved from their place(Mat. 17:20; 21:21), that is quite an ability!...
*YET IF “all” that ability is put into effect WITHOUT ‘agape love’, then the person with such impressive ability would be forced to abdicate to being absolutely “nothing.” They may think that God sees them as so impressively special, so as to use them exclusively.
•1Cor. 10:12—“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
So anyone with ‘less ability’ than the penultimate ability—meaning everyone—then agape love applies!
Without “love” guiding all the compelling & faith-filled declarations & abilities of God thru me, then my very existence ranks as “nothing”! One writer states that “I am nothing” carries the nuance of NOT just being ‘a nobody’ in the eyes of others, but rather being “an absolute zero” in reality.—RWP
*If it were possible to “embrace the whole range of [spiritual gifts] & the full measure of any one of them, but at the same time would fail to” exercise them in agape love, then “such a person would be nothing in the sight of God.”—Gordon Fee
“Paul DID have the gift of prophecy, he DID have insight into the mysteries disclosed in the gospel, & he DID possess great faith, even to the point of effecting miracles.”—NAC...Yet Paul wielded those God-given ‘abilities’ in a godly manner(cf.-Acts 15:36-40 & 2Tim. 4:11—concerning John Mark). Paul always stood up for the Good News of God & the betterment of the Church in Christ Jesus, even when harm came to him as a result!
“The most gifted man of God is not exempt from ministering in love.”—MNTC
So, Declaring the future, declaring God’s mysteries, having limitless intelligence, as well as ‘mountain moving’ “faith”, can be useless to ourselves & others. Those abilities are worthless in the kingdom of God, apart from their being offered selflessly for the benefit of God’s glory & the benefit of others, thru their being offered in ‘agape love.’
*We must learn to be satisfied with what God grants us to be & to do. We must also be satisfied with God’s manner or ways, & the times of God’s choosing.
•To do anything less than be satisfied with God, is to lessen God Himself, at the sad expense of elevating yourself.
•Many Christians have a ‘hard time’ working with one another because they might be jealous of another brother or sister’s gifts. Such people spend more time ‘fussing’ about what somebody else is doing or not doing, rather than exercising & honing their own giftedness in Christ. Such Christians operate for themselves & because of it, deny the necessity of agape love. They want what they want no matter what.
•And others may have a ‘hard time’ working with one another because they ‘find it difficult’ to perceive the world thru the eyes of others, or from another perspective. They think to themselves, “Why can’t or why won’t that person do, ‘so on & so forth’, like I do?!” Or, my personal pastoral favorite, “Our church needs a ‘such-&-such’ ministry!” “Why won’t brother ‘Ben’ or sister ‘Jen’ take care of it?”
•Such Christians prefer to see the church body as uniform, to the exclusion of ‘unity.’ Unity rather works thru a variety of unique & uniquely gifted individuals who will not & should not stoop to uniformity.
•So some Christians truly won’t, & thus can’t, comprehend why their brother or sister doesn’t see & do things their way. These have an uncanny way of ‘lording’ their spiritual giftedness ‘over’ that of their brothers & sisters in Christ.
“Have”(See :1)—ecw OR-- scew—Present Active Subjunctive 1st Sing.—1) To have, i.e. To hold; 2) To have i.e. Own, possess—; 3) To hold one's self or find one's self so & so, to be in such or such a condition; 4) To hold one's self to a thing, to lay hold of a thing, to adhere or cling to. Strong—To hold(used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remote; such as possessions; ability, continuity, relation, or condition)including an alternate form scew; (used in certain tenses only); a primary verb.
“Prophesy”(See :8)—profhteia—Noun Fem.—Foretelling God’s truth. 1) Prophecy—1a) A discourse emanating from divine inspiration & declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving & admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events, 1b) Used in the NT of the utterance of OT prophets—1b1) Of the prediction of events relating to Christ's kingdom & its speedy triumph, together with the consolations & admonitions pertaining to it, the spirit of prophecy, the divine mind, to which the prophetic faculty is due, 1b2) Of the endowment & speech of the Christian teachers called prophets, 1b3) The gifts & utterances of these prophets, especially of the predictions of the works of which, set apart to teach the gospel, will accomplish for the kingdom of Christ. Strong—from profhthv[a foreteller](“prophecy”); Prediction(scriptural or other). Used 19X.
“Understand/Know/Fathom”—eidw OR--oida—Perfect Active Subjunctive 1st Sing.—1) To see—1a) To perceive with the eyes, 1b) To perceive by any of the senses, 1c) To perceive, notice, discern, discover, 1d) To see—1d1) i.e. To turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to anything, 1d2) To pay attention, observe, 1d3) To see about something 1d31) i.e. To ascertain what must be done about it, 1d4) To inspect, examine, 1d5) To look at, behold, 1e) To experience any state or condition, 1f) To see i.e. Have an interview with, to visit; 2) To know—2a) To know of anything, 2b) To know, i.e. get knowledge of, understand, perceive—2b1) of any fact, 2b2) the force & meaning of something which has definite meaning, 2b3) To know how, to be skilled in, 2c) To have regard for one, cherish, pay attention to(1Th 5:12). Eidw/oida denotes to see with the mind's eye, signifies a clear & purely mental perception. Strong—a primary verb; used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent optanomai & oraw; properly--To see(literally or figuratively); by implication(in the perfect only)--To know.
“All”3X(See :7)—pav—Adj.—1) individually—1a) Each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything; 2) collectively—2a) Some of all types. Strong—apparently a primary word; All, any, every, the whole.
“Mysteries”—musthrion—Noun Neuter—1) Hidden thing, secret, mystery—1a) Generally--Mysteries, religious secrets, confided only to the initiated & not to ordinary mortals, 1b) A hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding, 1c) A hidden purpose or counsel—1c1) Secret will—1c1a) Of men, 1c1b) Of God: the secret counsels which govern God in dealing with the righteous, which are hidden from ungodly & wicked men but plain to the godly; 2) in rabbinic writings--It denotes the mystic or hidden sense—2a) Of an OT saying, 2b) Of an image or form seen in a vision, 2c) Of a dream. Strong—from a derivative of muw(to shut the mouth); A secret or “mystery”(through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites).
“Knowledge”(See :8)—gnwsiv—Noun Fem.—1) Knowledge signified in general intelligence, understanding—1a) The general knowledge of Christian religion, 1b) The deeper more perfect & enlarged knowledge of this religion, such as belongs to the more advanced, 1c) Especially of things lawful & unlawful for Christians, 1d) Moral wisdom, such as is seen in right living. Gnwsiv denotes knowledge by itself, sofia denotes wisdom as exhibited in action, gnwsiv applies chiefly to the apprehension of truths, sofia adds the power of reasoning about them & tracing their relationships. Strong—Knowing(the act), i.e. by implication--Knowledge.
“Faith”—pistiv—Noun Fem.—1) Conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God & divine things, generally with the included idea of trust & holy fervor born of faith & joined with it; 2) Fidelity, faithfulness. Strong—Persuasion, i.e. Credence; moral conviction(of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly--Constancy in such profession; by extension--The system of religious(Gospel) truth itself.
“Remove/Move”—meyisthmi OR--meyistanw(1Co 13:2)—Present Active Infinitive—1) To transpose, transfer, remove from one place to another—1a) Of change of situation or place, 1b) To remove from the office of a steward, 1c) To depart from life, to die. Strong—To transfer, i.e. Carry away, depose or figuratively--Exchange, seduce. Used 5X.?From—meta—1) With, after, behind. Strong—a primary preposition; properly--Denoting accompaniment; “Amid”(local or causal); occupying an intermediate position between apo[off, away from] or ek, ex[from, out] & eiv[to, into] or prov[toward, near to]; less intimate than en[in] & less close than sun[with, together]).—&—isthmi—1) To cause or make to stand, to place, put, set; 2) To stand. Strong—a prolonged form of a primary staw(of the same meaning, used for it in certain tenses); To stand(transitively or intransitively), used in various applications(literally or figuratively).
“Mountains”—orov—Noun Neuter—1) A mountain. Strong—probably from an obsolete orw(to rise or "rear"; perhaps akin to airw; compare orniv[a bird(as rising in the air)]); A mountain(as lifting itself above the plain).
“Love”—agaph—‘...one of the rarest words in Greek literature, but one of the most common in the New Testament.’—John MacArthur, Jr.
“Nothing”—oudeiv, feminine--oudemia & neuter--ouden—Pronoun—1) No one, nothing. Strong—Not even one(man, woman or thing), i.e. None, nobody, nothing.?From—oude—Not however, i.e. Neither, nor, not even.—&—eiv—(including the neuter [etc.] en hen); A primary numeral; one.
Argumentation:
Lk. 10:1, 9—“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, & sent them two by two before His face into every city & place where He Himself was about to go.”..... ““And heal the sick there, & say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”..... “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents & scorpions, & over all the power of the enemy, & nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.””
Mat. 7:21-23—“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, & done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
?Are you “practicing lawlessness” with the ability God has graciously supplied to you?
Php. 4:10-13—“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, & I know how to abound. Everywhere & in all things I have learned both to be full & to be hungry, both to abound & to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Illustration:
I had a rich uncle who gave me a wonderfully generous financial gift, which I didn’t deserve.
I took the gift & started investing in stocks: Beef stock, Chicken stock, & Vegetable stocks!
If I don’t get too high-minded & anxious, & instead turn the ‘stocks’ over to the Lord, then I’m certainly destined to become a ‘boullion’-aire!
•Concerning your God-ordained ABILITY:
?Are you personally happy to ‘lovingly’ use it to fulfill God’s desire thru you?
Application:
Spiritual knowledge in our Lord “is good, beautiful, & fruitful when it is held in humility & ministered in love. But it is ugly & unproductive when love is missing” from the equation.—MNTC
?IS your ABILITY Humbled or brought into submission to God thru His Agape love working in you?
?As a Christian, does the Love of God keep you Humble?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
The woman’s idea of a perfect spouse revealed her ignorance & confusion about ‘love’—the result: “Buy a television.”
Action:
As A Christian, the Love of God must Direct/Guide/Humble My...
2. ABILITY(:2)
•God’s Love must guide how I share my knowledge.
1. SPEECH(:1)
?•God’s Love must guide what I say & how I say it.
Pt# 2 only! presented 02/21/2021am to:
1BCCbelle
206 SE Ave. A(Storrs Ave.)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
