"love Is A Verb"

“Love is a Verb”

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

I have read this passage of Scripture at every wedding over which I have presided.

It’s practically an anthem for Christian Weddings in the Western World.

It’s often printed on napkins and programs, even balloons.

It’s read for two people who love one another and are dedicating their lives to one another.

This is interesting, though, when you think about it because Paul was writing this in response to the opposite kind of situation.

He was writing it to a group of people who didn’t love one another or at the very least, weren’t acting as if they loved one another.

And so, unlike a wedding ceremony, Paul isn’t writing this to affirm something that is already present in the community.

He’s writing it as a way to introduce the community to what is necessary if they are going to survive, thrive, and be the Christian Church.

The Church at Corinth or the Corinthian Church was made up of very diverse people.

It was made up of people who broke the traditional boundaries of ethnicity, gender, age, rank, social status and life situation.

They were married and unmarried men and woman as well as widows and children.

While most members were converted Gentiles, this church was also made up of converted Jews.

And some of these Jewish members were powerful people who served as former synagogue leaders, like Crispus who is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14 and Acts 18:8 and Sosthenes who is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:1 and Acts 18:17.

Most of the members were from the lower classes but some were from the upper class.

Erastus, for example, was the city treasurer of Corinth and Gaius had enough money to support Paul and the entire church.

Some of the members were slaves and others were free.

And sadly, the diversity within the Corinthian Church dissolved into discord and rivalries.

Members divided into cliques and contentious groups.

They had lawsuits going on among themselves, and they disagreed on how to deal with food that had been sacrificed to idols and the freedom Christ offers.

They were also in competition with one another over who had the best and most important spiritual gifts.

Those who spoke in tongues thought they were superior to those who didn’t.

Those who had the gift of prophecy, were knowledgeable, and appeared to have the strongest faith out of the bunch were holding these things over the heads of others and using their gifts to prop themselves up, rather than help others, and those who were generous bragged about it.

And Paul is making it clear that things like being right or powerful or honored or generous, or strong in faith, or smart or popular or whatever don’t mean a thing—are worthless really if the person does not have love.

As a matter of fact, it would be better to have love than to even have faith and hope.

Because even faith and hope are worthless if they don’t accompany love.

Yes, the Corinthian Church was a rough and tumble bunch.

They were not united.

They were a community that was fragmented and fighting rather than being enriched by their differences and diversity.

Yet, Paul is very firm on the fact that their diversity is non-negotiable.

God has called this Church to be diverse and to love one another and be stronger because of their differences because, in God’s eyes, diversity is a good thing.

So, Paul’s amazing Chapter on Love was not written to celebrate the unifying love that this community already had for one another.

It was a call to action.

It wasn’t a tribute to what is, but it is an instruction manual on what is supposed to be.

1 Corinthians 13 is arguably one of the most popular passages of Scripture in the entire Bible, but set in its original context it would have made this church angry.

The point was not to make the reader feel comfortable but challenged.

So, let’s allow this passage to challenge us this morning as well.

Because if we are honest about it none of us have reached the heights of love that Paul talks about.

All of us have room to grow, and I’m preaching to myself here.

We often fight about things that don’t get to the core of the teachings of Jesus.

We disagree on disputable and splinter over disputable matters.

We argue about different political perspectives.

We disagree on the causes and extent of climate change, and who can and should be accepted fully and equally into our group.

We get mad if we don’t sing our favorite songs.

We fight over lots of things.

Some of us could even be called

“spiritual snobs.”

We might think we are more Christian than other members and our job is to put the rest of the group in their place.