Love: A More Excellent Way Which Leads to Growth In Christ 1 Corintians 13; 2 Pet 1:3-11

Intro: Good morning Fellowship Espanol, we are glad you are here with us this morning and if you are joining us online we want to welcome you as well. We have been in this series entitled Following Jesus. We started off the series looking at the invitation of Jesus to Follow Me, which involves a willingness to abandon all thing for Jesus, a Radical Surrender to Jesus and a Joyful reliance on the grace of Jesus.

Last week Pastor Alfredo reminded us, the grace of Jesus doesn’t just save us, the grace of Jesus, empowers us to live the Christian life, His grace sustains all the way to the end. Grace is how God transforms us. Alfredo also spoke of the why, why does God save and transform a people, for his Glory. Now that we are followers of Jesus, we are the people of God who live by God’s grace and for his glory.

We also talked about following Jesus or discipleship with Jesus is a journey. On this journey there will be times when your heart or your spiritual life will be dry. There will be times when you don’t want to pray, you don’t want to read your Bible, you don’t desire God, times when you want to give up. One of my favorite persons in the Bible to study is Peter, he is one of the Biblical Characters we can learn much from because much of his discipleship journey is recorded in Scripture, he had amazing mountain top experiences with Jesus, but he had some pretty low lows or valley experiences. After Jesus was crucified, buried and risen from the dead, where do we find Peter, he returns to his fishing career? It appears Peter was giving up, he hit a wall, discouragement because Jesus was gone, maybe disappointment because he denied Jesus three times as Jesus was on trial, maybe both.

In our discipleship journey with Christ, we will hit roadblocks.

In our discipleship journey we will hit roadblocks, times when we are discouraged, tired, weak, disappointed. There may also be times where we are prideful, we feel like we are better than others, or think “this is easy, Jesus, I got this, you can take a seat.” During these times when we hit a roadblock we will begin to feel dry, we will not pray as much, we will not read scripture as much, we may even not attend church as much. When we hit these road blocks what do we do?

The Corinthian church, was a church full of issues. They were Gentile believers who came to faith in Christ, yet they hit various road blocks along the way. Many of them were Greek, so they valued wisdom, philosophy and teachers who were wise. In the church we see some people loved Paul, others Apollos, yet others Peter and yet others said you can have those guys I am for Jesus, but said it in a way so they can be superior to the others.

Some of the Corinthians were arrogant and prideful, there was favoritism going on. When they had their fellowship meals, there was group of people enjoying much of the food, and leaving the left overs to other less fortunate members of the church, or maybe they wouldn’t get anything. They were also using their spiritual gifts as a source of pride instead of using their spiritual gifts to build the body of Christ.

Paul begins an argument in 1 Corinthians 12, letting them know that the church is the body of Christ, with Jesus as the head. Just like your physical body is best when it has all its members or parts functioning together, the church is at its best when all there parts are working in unison, the eye doesn’t tell the hand I am better than you, I don’t need you.

After Paul explains this he says, “i will show you a still more excellent way.” Paul then transitions to what has become to be known as the Love chapter. Many times we use this passage at weddings or to talk about marriage, which I am not saying it isn’t helpful or appropriate there, but the context of this passage is Paul trying to teach the Corinthian church a more excellent way of living together as a community of faith, a more excellent way of being the people of God. Paul was doing this because the Corinthian church was hitting many road blocks along the way, read 1 Cor 13:1-3 with me;

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 (ESV)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Si yo hablara lenguas humanas y angélicas, pero no tengo amor, he llegado a ser como metal que resuena o címbalo que retiñe. 2 Y si tuviera el don de profecía, y entendiera todos los misterios y todo conocimiento, y si tuviera toda la fe como para trasladar montañas, pero no tengo amor, nada soy. 3 Y si diera todos mis bienes para dar de comer a los pobres, y si entregara mi cuerpo para ser quemado, pero no tengo amor, de nada me aprovecha.

Paul was beginning to address some issues the Corinthians were having, and sometimes we may have the same issues. Some of the corinthian church was seeking the experience of the spiritual gifts, like the gift of languages. Yet others valued knowledge and pursued God through knowledge and there were still others who pursued God in service. They were looking for God through experience, knowledge or service, and instead of finding God, they found pride and began using there gifts as a source of division instead of unity and building up the church.

When we hit road blocks, we began to look for God in our own strength, some of us begin to look for God in experiences, thinking that if I just pursue and have more experiences I will find God. Yet others pursue knowledge, thinking if I know more, i will find God and grow more. Still others give there life into serving, thinking if I serve more I will find God.

As we are following Christ, we can get tunnel vision and focus only on experiences, or gaining knowledge, or acts of service.

Paul says if you pursue those things and you don’t have love you are like a clanging cymbal. Now I can go over to this drum set behind and bang on the cymbal for the rest of my sermon, but I am guessing that will annoy everyone pretty quick. Paul says that is what it is like when you use your gifts with out love. He says you are nothing and you gain nothing because “you have not love.”

Paul then goes on to explain what love is, now we do not have the time to go through each of the qualities of love in detail, but many of the qualities of love are self explanatory.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 (ESV)

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

4 El amor es paciente, es bondadoso[; el amor no tiene envidia[; el amor no es jactancioso, no es arrogante; 5 no se porta indecorosamente; no busca lo suyo, no se irrita, no toma en cuenta el mal recibido; 6 no se regocija de la injusticia, sino que se alegra con la verdad;7 todo lo sufre, todo lo cree, todo lo espera, todo lo soporta.

Wow! What an amazing definition of Christian Love. I do say Christian Love because you need Christ to fulfill this definition of love. I am not saying you cannot show love without Christ, what I am saying is if you are going to love according to this definition, in 1 Corinthians 13, then we need the power of the grace of Christ working in me so I can show the love of Christ to others.

Don’t forget that Paul is trying to teach the Corinthian church, a more excellent way. Which is the way of love. Paul is trying to teach them that the gifts the Spirit gives to the church are for the building up of the church and while we use our gifts for the building of the body and it feels amazing to be used by God to build the body, the use of the gifts, pursuing experiences, pursuing knowledge, pursuing service, while those things can be good and beneficial, those things are not the goal.

Love is the goal of Christian Maturity, it is the more excellent way.

Why? Why is love the goal? When we act in love, we are not looking for our own interest, we are looking out for the interest of others. When pursue the more excellent way of love, we are walking the footsteps of Jesus.

Paul gives us another reason, love never ends! Listen to what Paul says;

1 Corinthians 13:8–13 (ESV)

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

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

8 El amor nunca deja de ser; pero si hay dones de profecía, se acabarán; si hay lenguas, cesarán; si hay conocimiento, se acabará. 9 Porque en parte conocemos, y en parte profetizamos; 10 pero cuando venga lo perfecto, lo incompleto se acabará. 11 Cuando yo era niño, hablaba como niño, pensaba como niño, razonaba como niño; pero cuando llegué a ser hombre, dejé las cosas de niño. 12 Porque ahora vemos por un espejo, veladamente, pero entonces veremos cara a cara; ahora conozco en parte, pero entonces conoceré plenamente, como he sido conocido. 13 Y ahora permanecen la fe, la esperanza y el amor, estos tres; pero el mayor de ellos es el amor.

Paul says look one day, these gifts will cease, knowledge will pass away. They will not be around forever. One day faith will become sight, because we will see Jesus, one day our hope our longing to be with Christ, will be fulfilled. But love, love will never end.

When they asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment, listen to what Jesus says;

Matthew 22:36–40 (ESV)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Amarás al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón, y con toda tu alma, y con toda tu mente. 38 Este es el grande y el primer mandamiento. 39 Y el segundo es semejante a este: Amarás a tu prójimo como a ti mismo. 40 De estos dos mandamientos dependen toda la ley y los profetas.

The greatest commandment is love God will all that you are because if you love God with all that you are, everything else falls in line. I am not saying everything will be easy, but if your focus is on loving God with all that you are, your life will be about pursuing God above everything else, God above experience, God above knowledge, God above service. Experience, knowledge, service become the byproduct of loving God not the goal.

Then Jesus says, the second is like the first, love your neighbor as yourself. You see if you love God with all that you and you love your neighbor as yourself, then you are going to live in obedience to the words of God and when you live in obedience to the words of God, it should result in loving others as Christ loves us.

What Paul is saying and what Jesus is saying is that when you hit the wall, when you do not need to pursue experience, knowledge or service, you need to pursue love. It is love for God and love for others which will lead us to push through the road blocks and keep us on the discipleship journey to growing deeper in love with God which will transform us to love others as Jesus loves. I am sure many of us have driven down Arkansas Highways, have you driven down the highway that a tractor trailer has driven millions of miles on? What does that highway look like, they have deep grooves in the road, they travel the same path which cause deep grooves in the highway. That is the same way with the Christian life, we need to travel the dicipleship path of being filled with the Spirit, prayer, reading the word, getting involved with the church and a D-Group, worship, serving, giving. As we travel the discipleship path, the grooves of our love for God and love for others will begin to develop and grow deeper and deeper as we grow in Christ.

Listen to what Peter says,

2 Peter 1:3–4 (ESV)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Pues su divino poder nos ha concedido todo cuanto concierne a la vida y a la piedad, mediante el verdadero conocimiento de aquel que nos llamó por su gloria y excelencia, 4 por medio de las cuales nos ha concedido sus preciosas y maravillosas promesas, a fin de que por ellas lleguéis a ser partícipes de la naturaleza divina, habiendo escapado de la corrupción que hay en el mundo por causa de la concupiscencia.

These are an amazing two verses, listen to what it says, God has granted us everything we need to live a life of godliness on this earth.

God through Christ has provided the grace we need to bring him glory

Peter doesn’t stop there, look at what he says next;

2 Peter 1:5–11 (ESV)

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

5 Por esta razón también, obrando con toda diligencia, añadid a vuestra fe, virtud, y a la virtud, conocimiento; 6 al conocimiento, dominio propio, al dominio propio, perseverancia, y a la perseverancia, piedad, 7 a la piedad, fraternidad y a la fraternidad, amor.

Peter says because God through Christ has provided the grace we need to bring him glory, make every effort to supplement your faith with

virtue

knowledge

self control

steadfastness

godliness

brotherly affection

with love

Again we see that love is the goal to Christian maturity, the goal of growing in Christ. Peter says make every effort, work out the salvation which Christ has provided for you. Jesus empowers you to live out the Gospel, through the power of his Spirit and when we are walking in the Spirit we are growing in faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, brotherly affection, with the goal of loving God and loving others.

Peter doesn’t stop there he keeps going, Peter is on a roll;

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

8 Pues estas virtudes, al estar en vosotros y al abundar, no os dejarán ociosos ni estériles en el verdadero conocimiento de nuestro Señor Jesucristo.

This passage gets me excited every time I read it because Peter is telling us what we need to create the deep grooves of heart to grow deeper and deeper with in our relationship with Christ. If these qualities are yours and increasing, Peter says they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful. In other if you are yielding your life to the Spirit of God and he is empowering you to live out these qualities, you will be fruitful and effective, you will grow in Christ because you are growing in Love of God and love of others.

But the opposite is true as well, listen to Peter;

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

8 Pues estas virtudes, al estar en vosotros y al abundar, no os dejarán ociosos ni estériles en el verdadero conocimiento de nuestro Señor Jesucristo.

if when you hit the wall and you pursue knowledge only, experience only, service only, you will lack these qualities you become nearsighted, or as I said you get tunnel vision or worse become blind, forgetting what Christ has done in our lives, the grooves of love on our hearts become replace with pride, bitterness, unforgiveness, and our love for God becomes less and we start to do things in our own strength. Which is why Peter says this;

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

Así que, hermanos, sed tanto más diligentes para hacer firme vuestro llamado y elección de parte de Dios; porque mientras hagáis estas cosas nunca tropezaréis;

Did you hear that? I don’t think you heard that, let me read it again.

If you practice these qualities you will never fall, what does Peter mean? Is he saying you will never sin? To be honest it will be hard to sin if you are walking in the Spirit and practicing these qualities, but i know my heart and you know your heart, so we know we will sin eventually. I do not even think Peter is saying you will hit the wall What I believe Peter is saying is if you practice these qualities you will never fall away from the faith. Which is why Peter says the following,

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

pues de esta manera os será concedida ampliamente la entrada al reino eterno de nuestro Señor y Salvador Jesucristo.

When Peter is at the sea fishing, discouraged and disappointed, a man walks up and says cast your net over there, Peter does and they catch an amazing amount of fish again, the Apostle John says it is our Lord! It’s Jesus. What does Peter do? Peter puts on his clothes, he forgets about the fish and swims to shore to be with Jesus. Peter began to realize, Jesus still loves me, Jesus still pursuing me, Jesus is still calling me.

Jesus still loves you, Jesus is still pursuing you, Jesus is still calling you and he is inviting you to follow him

Therefore pursue Love...

because when it is all said and done, Loving God and loving others is the goal and it is what will help us push through the road block and continue growing deeper and on the path of the more excellent way, the way of love.