INTRODUCTION:
Over the last two Sundays we have been exploring what the Bible says about love… specifically the kind of love that God demonstrates for us, gives to us, and is for us. We talked about how there are different forms of love, some very shallow and feeling based, some that are more about what I get out of the relationship, some that are more of a like or preference, and some that involve commitment, giving (not taking), and sacrifice.
We’ve also seen how the world’s type of love is much different than the love that God demonstrates for us. Today we are going to look at the world’s flawed definition of love versus God’s perfect love that never fails.
Aphrodite! Aphrodite – the Ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, passion, pleasure, beauty, and sexuality… is still a name known and mentioned even today. Aphrodite, like so much of what the world worships, is a false god offering a very false and imperfect form of love. So we will allow this false god, Aphrodite, to represent a love that is self-driven, self-serving, self-seeking, and … well selfish. That has more to do with lust and desire and what benefits me. Versus the one true God that we believe in representing TRUE LOVE. Today we are going to be studying “The Love Chapter,” as it is called.
1 Corinthians chapter 13. Let us turn there now.
BODY:
The city of Corinth was a bustling city of more than 600,000 people. A port and trade center of the Roman Empire, it attracted many tourists and visitors. One of the main sites to see in the city was the Great Temple of Aphrodite, know for its cult of followers and temple prostitution. According to John MacArthur, “Even by the pagan standards of its own culture, Corinth became so morally corrupt that its very name became synonymous with debauchery and moral depravity. To “corinthianize” came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery.” The Greek word translated “corinthianize” meant “to practice fornication.”
It was in this city that the Apostle Paul founded one of his most troubled churches and why the two letters that we have in our Bibles to the Corinthians were written.
[MacArthur] “Paul lists some of the specific sins for which the city was noted and which formerly had characterized many believers in the church there. Tragically, some of the worst sins were still found among some church members. One of those sins, incest, was condemned even by most pagan Gentiles (5:1). The most serious problem of the Corinthian church was worldliness, an unwillingness to divorce [from] the culture around them. Most of the believers could not consistently separate themselves from their old, selfish, immoral, and pagan ways.”
The Bible says that they [the world] will know that we belong to Christ by our love for one another. But what happens when the world’s definition of love influences the Church?
Well, what do we see that happened to the Corinthians.
There were divisions among them; one followed Paul, another followed Apollos, another followed Peter, and others followed Christ. There was jealously and quarreling. There was obvious immorality that was being allowed. Church members were taking each other to court over disputes among themselves. And Communion...The Lord’s Supper? Instead of being a sacred time of reflection and remembrance, it had become a first-come-first-serve meal. So Paul wrote to combat these terrible things happening within the Church.
In 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NASB20 He writes- If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have [the gift of] prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions [to charity,] and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own [benefit;] it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong [suffered,] it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if [there are gifts of] prophecy, they will be done away with; if [there are] tongues, they will cease; if [there is] knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, [and] love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Now why did Paul write these words? They sound poetic and we’ve probably heard them many times, but what do they have to do with what is going on in the church?
Well, we have to look at what he wrote before to understand the context.
Now I’m not going to read it all, but I’m going to try and sum it up so we can better understand Paul’s reasoning for writing the Love Chapter.
In chapter twelve Paul transitions to the topic of spiritual gifts and he concludes this topic in chapter fourteen by saying that God is a God of order not chaos, and that spiritual gifts are given for the edification of the Church.
He tells them “there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all [persons.]” And he explains that the Holy Spirit gives these gifts, these ministries to people as He sees fit in order to bless the Church for the common good of the Church. Then he goes on to compare the Church to a physical body with many parts. But even though the parts are all different, they all belong to the same body.
We can’t all be an eye or a foot or a mouth, yet we all have our purpose to benefit God’s kingdom. We all are part of the body of Christ, the family of God. There is NO PART more important than another, because if any part gets hurt or, God forbid, gets dismembered, the whole body suffers for it.
And he ends with saying, “You are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.”
Now all of this plays into the message that each of us is given something from God to do, something that the Spirit of God has blessed us with, some purpose that serves the body so that the body of Christ might thrive and grow. But the Corinthian church was corrupted, divided, immoral, unloving, and selfish. It was like a body that was literally falling apart!
And it stands to reason that one of the main causes of this was their failure to divorce themselves from the ways of the world and the immorality of the culture that they lived in. They allowed the surrounding culture to influence their behavior and attitude towards one another. And the result was something that did not look at all like God’s love.
So Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:31 NASB20 - [E]arnestly desire the greater gifts. And yet, I [am going to] show you a far better way.
This is the last verse of chapter 12 before writing what he did in chapter 13 where he says, “If I have this gift or that gift, but don’t have love, I have nothing… I am nothing… and it profits me nothing.” And then he goes on to describe a love that was not the “Aphrodite kind of love” and definitely not the love they were showing one another. The better way to love.
Verse 4… Love is… patient and kind.
Patient (long-suffering, patiently endures) and Kind (desires to good to others coming from a tender and good heart). Are we always patient and kind with one another? I know we’re not! I know I’m not. But this is what love looks like, so when we are not patient and kind then we need to ask one another for forgiveness and ask God to help us love better.
What does love not look like? Jealousy or envy of others, boastfulness or a desire lift oneself up, and arrogance (describes someone who has an inflated ego, puffed up)
Instead, there is a humility about someone who is loving. There is a softness and tenderness about someone who is loving. He goes on in verse five to say that love does not look like someone who is rude, or someone who demands or insists on having their way. It doesn’t look like someone who is easily provoked and ready to fight. And it certainly doesn’t look like someone who keeps grudges, or as someone who keeps a list (a record) of wrongs that people have done against them.
You see, one looks down on others as judge and puts themselves first. While love… love looks at others with compassion and mercy… grace.
Verse six. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness (injustice, wrongdoing… delight in evil).
Instead, what does Love do? Rejoices in the Truth! Delights itself in the Truth! Why truth and not righteousness or good? Because there are a lot of self-righteous people who are very unloving! You can be boastful and arrogant, demanding your own way, and keeping a list of everyone’s wrongdoing when you are self-righteous.
But someone who is concerned with what is true, that person will care about all those involved… will care about others too. Even if that means that you are in the wrong, the loving person will recognize that and do what is necessary to make it right. That’s what loving looks like.
What else does love do? It keeps every confidence. It believes all things (puts faith or trust in, places confidence in, gives the benefit of the the doubt, looks for the best in others). It hopes all things. It doesn’t give up hope… or give up on someone else. It endures all things (remains faithful and true while persevering). [NLT verse 7] Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. [NIV verse 7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love keeps going. Kind of like that energizer bunny in those old commercials.
If its real love, then it will never fail. It will last through it all.
Verse 8. Love never fails (never perishes, comes to an end or ceases).
But if… there are gifts of prophecy, tongues, or knowledge… they will… they will what?
Be done away with (rendered entirely idle or useless, be abolished, cease, make of no effect, come to nought, come to an end, vanish away, be made void).
[NIV verse 8] Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
But love never fails, never ceases, never passes away.
Now what a minute, preacher! I’ve seen love end! I’ve seen love that ceases! I’ve watched as people fall out of love for one another and get divorced or break up and then can’t stand to be around each other! I’ve been in relationships that are like that! And you can’t tell me that I didn’t love that person! But love stopped, and love failed, and love ended.
You see the problem is we love imperfectly and we need God’s help to love the right way.
CONCLUSION:
And I want to ask you… I want to ask you this morning, what way of loving influences you the most- God’s Way or the Aphrodite Way (the World’s Way)? What way of love are you buying into? Are you allowing the world to tell you how to love your spouse or your kids or even yourself? Or are you basing your knowledge of love upon God’s Word, God’s Truth, God’s Way? What way of love do you worship?
And in the Church, are we loving God’s Way or Aphrodite’s Way? Is there jealously among us? Is there gossip? Is there kindness or rudeness? Is there trust and forgiveness and long-suffering or is there deep-seeded anger, bitterness, and being easily provoked? Is there selfishness or self-less-ness? What love represents Hwy Christian Church?
Stop letting a false god define reality for you. Stop worshiping at the Temple of Aphrodite! Run to the true God who will give you the real thing, the lasting and real and true love.
