The Greatest Of These

Introduction

In case you forgot, since it has been a few years when we last worshipped together, my name is Titius Justus.

I was that guy in whom when Paul came to Corinth, after some temple goers in the city opposed him, he stayed at my house. I was one of the first persons outside the traditional Jewish faith which Paul preached the gospel to.

So it is good to be with you again in sharing the Word of God..

In fact, it is good any time you get to spend time in the House of the LORD with the people of God.

The last time we were together, when your pastor allowed me to share the gospel with you- we talked about this thing called love, but there was just not enough time to fully discuss this matter.

In fact, how could you ever fully cover and discuss love in one sermon.

And I must say, that my time away has also allowed me to consider or rather reconsider this issue of love within the local church from another perspective.

So if you don’t mind today, I would like to go a little more deeper than the last time since this is your year of Greater. And I would like to share with you what I have learned since we last worshiped together- because you ought to learn something every day you are alive and following our LORD Jesus, the Christ.

Transition To Body

As I may I have told you the last time, I used to live right next door to the synagogue, the place of teaching (that is what we called it). As a result I t was easy for me to make my way to the place of teaching and worship.

By the way, if you live close to the church, you have no reason not to make it Sunday- to be counted in the number.

So I spent a lot of time worshiping God. I was known as a worshiper of God. I loved being in the place where the people of God gather to praise and honor Jesus.

So now to this matter of Paul’s first love letter to the church at Corinth.

Body- Every time I heard this letter read, it reminded me of the opportunity the church has to grow in this area

The Absence Of love (or what a church looks like when love is absent)

Without Love We Offend Others

1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Without Love We Are Nothing

1 Corinthians 13:2 ESV

2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Without Love We Gain Nothing

1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV

3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The Nature Of Love

The verbs Paul uses are all in the present continuous tense, denoting actions & attitudes which have become habitual, ingrained gradually by constant repetition

Love & The Darkness Within Us

Love Does Not (i.e. what We do to others)

1 Corinthians 13:4–5 ESV

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

What love is-

patient (not going to court over it)- to bear up under provocation without complaint, be patient, forbearing

Be patient with me, God is not through with me yet

kind (regarding sharing the gospel & whom shares the gospel & taking care of the pastor)- to provide something beneficial for someone as an act of kindness

What love is not-

envy (regarding want other’s spiritual gifts)- to experience strong envy and resentment against someone—‘to be jealous

boast (regarding one’s own spiritual gifts)- to praise oneself excessively

arrogant (what one thinks they about God)- be proud, be arrogant, be puffed up

rude (the LORD’s supper)- in defiance of social and moral standards, with resulting disgrace, embarrassment, and shame

Love & The Darkness Of Others

It Does Not (i.e. what Others do to us)

1 Corinthians 13:5–6 ESV

5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

insist (regarding marriage & those unsaved within the family)- to ask for something which is being especially sought—‘to ask earnestly for, to demand.

irritable - to be provoked or upset at someone or something involving severe emotional concern

resentful- to keep a mental record of events for the sake of some future action—‘to keep a record, to remember, to bear in mind

Love & The Apparent Darkness Of God

Only God Can Love Like This & Why did God let this happen to me?

1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

In All Things...

bears- to put up with annoyance or difficulty

believes- to believe to the extent of complete trust & reliance

hopes- to look forward to someth., with implication of confidence about someth. coming to pass that is good and beneficial

endures- to continue to bear up despite difficulty and suffering—‘to endure, to bear up, to demonstrate endurance, to put up with.’

The Endlessness Of Love

Everything Else Ends, Except Love

1 Corinthians 13:8–10 ESV

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

Time To Give Up Your Childish Ways Church!

1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

We Can’t See Everything Clearly

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

There was a man named Moses

who was what you would call a type of Christ

Exodus 33:11 ESV

11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Numbers 12:8 ESV

8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

The Greatest of These...

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

You need your faith (trust &believe) too...

You need your hope too...

But the greatest of these is love....

I was sinking deep in sin Far from the peaceful shore Very deeply stained within Sinking to rise no more But the master of the sea

Heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me Now safe am I

Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help Love lifted me Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help Love lifted me

Transition To Close- Endless love for Diana Ross & Lionel Richie

My love, there's only you in my life

The only thing that's right

My first love

You're every breath that I take

You're every step I make

And I, I want to share

All my love with you

No one else will do

'Cause you

You mean the world to me (oh)

I know, I know

I've found, I've found in you

My endless love

Oh, and love oh, love

I'll be that fool for you I'm sure

You know I don't mind

Oh, you know I don't mind

And, yes

You'll be the only one

'Cause no one can deny

This love I have inside

And I'll give it all to you

My love, my love, my love

My endless love

You need God’s Endless Love!

Close- Endlessness of God’s Love

1 John 3:1 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 4:7–12 ESV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 8:37–39 ESV

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.