Without Love You’re Nothing

Intro:

5 year old soccer

Transition: I learned a vital life lesson - ITS NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU DO BUT WHY YOU DO IT

I thought that I was EVERYTHING because of my perfromance BUT bc it was done with wrong motives I was NOTHING - this we will see is how it works in God’s economy,

YOU can SEEM amazing, DO great things and PREFORM - but without LOVE You are nothing

Prop: Without Love You’re Nothing

NEED:

IF YOU BOIL DOWN CHRISTIANITY - you find LOVE -AGAPE LOVE

This is not a nice feeling, strong desire, or intense passion and emotion AT ALL.

LOVE is - a determined act of your will to sacrificially benefit someone above yourself

The greatest example of that is John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

God exemplified love by sending His son Jesus to SAVE His enemies. By dying on the cross to take their punishment. Raising from the dead, ascending to Heaven - and commanding that all men everywhere SHOULD turn from their sinful ways and TRUST in Him to be saved.

Thats how God has loved sinners and the fact that there is breath in your lungs means the offer is made to you today.

You might ask WHY WOULD GOD DO THAT?

1st BECAUSE 1 John 4:16 “ God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Love doesn’t define God but God defines LOVE

2nd BECAUSE Matthew 22:37–39 “37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

3rd John 13:35 “35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.””

Is your life CHARACTERIZED by love?

Or selfish ambition?

DO you serve in crew or at church bc thats whats expected, or to keep a good repuatation?

DO you read your bible bc it makes you feel like a better person, or like God is now pleased with you?

DO you “evangelize” friends to flaunt your INTELEIGENCE or win an argument?

DO you have drama in your life?

I fear that many of us have STRAYED so FAR INTO RELIGION that we LOST the right motivation that we lost our first love and therefore lack love.

TRANSITION: That was the case in corinth

Context:

1 Corinthians IS A LETTER written by Paul to a church in the city of Corinth and He wrote predominatly to BRING correction to the church. This Book is filled with SHARP REBUKES, CALLING PEOPLE OUT BY NAME.

This Church was fighting with each other (ch.1:11), They were creating divisions (ch.1:12), they were “fleshly” (3:3), proud (3:21), judgemental (4:5), Imorality & Incest (5), suing eachother (6), marriages on the rocks (7), divorces (7), selfishness (9), Idolatry (10), getting drunk off communion (11),

So Paul is JUST HAMMERING THEM - He even asks “What do you want? Me to come with the rod or gentleness” (4:21)

So this letter is HEAVY - its tough, and in chapter 12 He begins discussing SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Spiritual Gifts - are simply stated - Gifts granted by the Holy Spirit to individual Christians for the purpose of BUILDING UP the church.

We can loosley categorize the gifts into 2 categories: Speaking & Serving

Speaking:

apostleship, prophecy, teaching, evangelism, exhortation, discerning spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues

Serving:

leadership, helps, mercy, giving, faith, healing, and miracles

AND in ch 12 Paul explains the way GIFTS are recieved

IN Ch 14 he describes the way gifts are to function

BUT HERE in ch 13 He gives the MOTIVATION & POWER behind the gifts which is LOVE

AGAPE LOVE

1. Without Love You’re Annoying v.1

1 Corinthians 13:1 “1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Remember Paul is trying to make a point here in the middle of his discussion on spiritual gifts. He intentionally pauses to HIGHLIGHT a very specific truth - that is LOVE is NECESSARY and BEST way for the gifts to operate. HERE in verse 1 He begins a 3 part illustration - to prove this point. His first illustration is that of a very UPFRONT, SHOWY kind of spiritual gift - TONGUES He says “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels”

The gift of tongues is a HOT TOPIC in Christianity today. We won’t dive very far into it tonight but will address it later in the series bc Paul does. But for now it’s best to understand that word “Tongue” as “language” bc that’s what it means. There are times that it refers to the actual muscle in our mouth but most often it simply means language. It seems that this church HIGHLY EMPHASIZED AND REVERED the gift of tongues. - if there’s one thing that made people seem special, or greater - it was the ability to speak for God in a foreign language.

Tongues of men - likely refers to speaking for God in a foreign language so that those present who spoke that language could understand (like Peter at Pentecost in acts 2)

However, some think it simply means to speak eloquently and impressively.

Tongues of angels - is Paul clearly being hyperbolicly. This isn’t a verse that proves or disproves people speaking in tongues of an unknown angelic language. That’s not the point. Paul’s point is IF I HAVE THE MOST INCREDIBLE SHOWIEST SPIRITUAL GIFT - yet I preform it W/O love - i might as well be playing the tamborine - i’m just like nails on a chalkboard to God.

ILLUS:

In the NT times there were many PAGAN religions that would worship false gods and one way they did that was through crazy noises and utternances and smashing gongs and symbols. So the OG audince of this letter would have gotten the point - if they spoke in languages or even angelic languages BUT lacked love - that is as unacceptable to God has PAGAN WORSHIP.

APP:

And so to is our worship - when not done in love - every song you sing, minute you spend, dollar you give and word you say WITHOUT LOVE does not register to God - it offends Him.

DO you envy those who have influence and leadership? DO you see people around you getting “moved up the ladder” and think - that makes no sense, that should be me, I can do it better.

Then recognize you don’t want a position to serve God you want it to serve yourself - love doesn’t view SERVICE as an oppurtunity to make a good impression, serving in church is not meant to be another thing on the resume - it is to be an act of SELF SACRIFICE for the benefit of others.

DO you maybe have a position of leadership/ influence - you think you’re needed for this youth group to function, or you teach the kids on sundays or youre the president of a christian club, or team captain, or popular christian kid - and that makes you GREAT - that means God kinda needs you?

Well - you’ve lost your first love - and it may be time to evaluate your heart tonight and ask yourself if you have faded in your love for God and His people?

2. Without Love You’re Nothing v.2

1 Corinthians 13:2 “2 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.”

PROPHECY - later Paul will exalt the gift of prophecy - but here he makes clear that even what may be the greatest spiritual gift is worthless w/o love

One prophet named BAALAM - lacked love. He was accepted money to CURSE God’s people instead of serving them w/ His gift. In that instance God prevented Him. BUT this was a man who KNEW God’s word, had the right theology and yet HAD NO LOVE. He used his gift for his benefit.

APP: See you can know the right answers, you can make persuasive arguments for christianity, you can SAY seemingly good things - but w/o love its nothing.

KNOWLEDGE - another hyperbole

myseries probably means DIVINE things not yet revealed

knowledge - probably refers to revealed things that men can know

Paul basically says EVEN if he was omniscient - yet didn’t have love HE IS NOTHING!

FAITH - How can someone have FAITH w/o love for God

Example A - Jonah

3. Without Love You’re Unsuccessful v.3

1 Corinthians 13:3 “3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

Paul brings his illustrations to a climactic point here with the MOST EXTREME examples of LOVE - and yet even these can be done with the wrong motive and profit NOTHING.

This gies to show that LOVE = self sacrifice BUT self sacrifice does not always = love

give all possessions = bit by bit giving ALL YOU ARE AWAY

how could giving to the poor be done w/ wrong motives? Ask Jeffery Epstein who donated over 9 mil to charity

app: giving money is often done to make others feel better

even dying for someone or something can be done for the wrong motives

think of all the kamakaze pilots and suicide bombers - or even Christians who think if I die for the truth my legacy will be HUGE. MY NAME WILL BE IN THE HISTORY BOOKS

why do you want to do good things for God?

CONCLUSION:

Walk By The Spirit (Gal 5:16,25)

That means to live dependently and submissively to the Holy Spirit. If you’re a Christian - you have the Holy Spirit IN YOU already leading and guiding you - to walk by the spirit means you RESPOND. Practically this looks like STUDYING the scriptures - which we’re authored by the Holy Spirit It also involves praying to God which is powered by and corrected by the Holy Spirit And then OBEYING why God commands

To Bear the Fruit of The Spirit (Gal 5:22)

SEE spirituality is not measured by how GIFTED you are BUT by the spiritual fruit you bear. And the CHIEF fruit of the spirit is LOVE Galatians 5:22 THROUGH the fruit of the Spirit, God gives the motivation and power to minister the Gifts of the spirit. - jmac

To use the Gifts from The Spirit

Your spiritual gifts or even natural talents become useless when not motivated by love Eph 2:10 - when you are filled with the spirit, walking by the spirit, bearing the fruit of the spirit - then it’s time to step out in obedience and do the work that God has specifically designed you to do - primarily serving and building up the church