The Greatest Of These

The Greatest of These…

1. This is love…

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

-Love is one of the main themes of Advent. That should be no big surprise since the Bible says that God Himself is love. Why did God send us a Savior? Love! John 3:16 – For God so loved the world…. Jesus is God’s expression of love to us! Jesus came as God in the flesh. NLT Hebrews 1:3 “The Son reflects God's own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly.”

-So, if God is love, and if Jesus is the exact representation of God to us, then we can safely say that Jesus is love. Jesus is God. (In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.) As God the Son, He too can be described by the most powerful word in use today – love. So, let me read 1 Corinthians 13 again and wherever we see the word love or charity, let’s put the name of Jesus there. Follow along with me.

2. This is Jesus…

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not Jesus, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not Jesus, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not Jesus, I gain nothing. 4 Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, Jesus does not boast, Jesus is not proud. 5 Jesus is not rude, Jesus is not self-seeking, Jesus is not easily angered, Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Jesus does not delight in evil but Jesus rejoices with the truth. 7 Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Jesus never fails.

If you don’t have Jesus, you can’t really have genuine lasting love. And if you don’t have love, you certainly don’t have Jesus.

1 John 4:7-12 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

3. This is you…

(Put your name in here and see yourself for who you are in Christ! You have been changed by the power of His love!)

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 4 Mark is patient, Mark is kind. Mark does not envy, Mark does not boast, Mark is not proud. 5 Mark is not rude, Mark is not self-seeking, Mark is not easily angered, Mark keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Mark does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 Mark always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

-Remember who you are in Christ and what a difference His love has made and can make in your heart! We are able to love because He loved us first! 1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”

ILL. There is a story about a man named Doug Nichols. He went to India to be a missionary there, but while he was just starting to study the language he became infected with tuberculosis & had to be put in a sanitarium.