1 Corinthians 13:1-8; The Necessity of Love

Introduction

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Timothy Beougher teaches church planting and revitalization at Southern Seminary. For my MDiv, I had to take one of his courses on church revitalization. He told us he was contacted by a church that was looking for a new pastor. The search committee contacted some other pastors in the area to help fill the pulpit while they were looking for a new pastor. They scheduled him for a Sunday a few months ahead of time and everything was fine. Time went on and that week for him to preach at this other church came. On Saturday at 9 pm the phone rang. His wife answered the phone. It was the chairmen of the deacons. He called and wanted to speak to Dr. Beougher. One of the deacons walked into the woods and took his own life that morning. The chairmen of the deacons described how this man was a pillar in the community. His two children were with his parents and the wife was coming back from a trip. The community and the church was shaken from this tragedy.

Dr. Beogher hung up the phone and said, “I’m not preaching that tomorrow.” He said, he couldn’t even remember what he planned on preaching. It was one of his tried and true sermons that he would preach on short notice or if he was going to another church. He said, he stayed up half the night to prepare a sermon from the Psalms for this grieving congregation.

If you have been to our church before, you know that the regular preaching at Colgate is sequential exegetical preaching through books of the Bible. In my three years as the Senior Pastor, we have preached through Philippians, Ruth, 1 Timothy, Esther, Mark, Daniel, Ephesians, 1 Samuel, James, and we are working our way through Song of Solomon. We believe that each book of the Bible needs to be exegeted on passage at a time. That is the necessary average diet of a Christian.

However, there are times that the preaching must pivot and address the prominent needs of the congregation. We have done this before. I took six weeks to teach through six different areas of what it means to be a biblical church member. Today, I am going to take a break from our regular preaching from the Song of Songs. We are going to look at the necessity of love.

As most of you know, we had a meeting with the pastors of Providence last Sunday evening. And I want to thank most of our members for the thoughtful questions, willingness to listen, and hospitality. We had 14 church members that were part of this meeting. These members were the committee members and spouses of those on the Church Council, Administration Committee, and deacons. In that meeting, there were very few people that did not behave like mature Godly Christians in some form of leadership in a church.

Even before the meeting during our lunch, I had such an bad conversation with a few of our members that I became physically sick. I have tried to bring change slow. In my preaching I have tried to be as specific as possible while also trying to not address events or people by name. I belief that I have tried to be too generic and too slow in many instances. Today, I am going to do things a little different.

Need

After the last two weeks, Colgate Baptist needs to be reminded of the necessity of love.

Referent

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Organization

The Need for Love (vs. 1-3)

The Nature of Love (vs. 4-13)

Sermon in a sentence:

Love is always necessary.

*Read 1 Cor 13:1-13*

*Pray*

Context

Paul went to Corinth in his second missionary journey. He met Priscilla and Aquila in the city during his time there (Acts 18). This city was rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. By the time Paul came to the city, there was a population of around 1/2 million people. It was a serious commerce and trade center. Traveling speakers traveled through the city and amassing a large following, like a musician might do today.

The entire book of 1 Corinthians was written to address the divisions and immaturity of the church. Paul begins in verse 10 of the letter with describing the divisions in the church. Some are following Cephas, some follow Apollos, some Paul, and other follow Jesus. But Paul reminds them that Christ is not divided!

He has to addresses their divisions and immaturity. Finally, in chapter 5, he addresses the letter they sent him. They had men entrenched in sexual sin. Yet, they were boasting in their ability to look spiritual.

In chapters 12-14, Paul addressed their spiritual boasting and fighting. They were using the gift of tongues as a competition. These three chapters were all one unit. These congregations were using their spiritual gifts or status as a way of causing division and fighting.

Saints, these believers were claiming to be spiritual. They were using this as a means of gathering a following. But they did not use their spiritual gifts for the unity of the church or the building up of each other.

The Need For Love (vs. 1-3)

Paul recognized the reality of different gifting.

He recognized that there were some that were speaking in tongues.

He recognized that there were some that were prophesying and knowledgeable believers.

He recognized there were some that may have given away their possessions (Acts 5 - Ananias and Sapphira)

These things are good in themselves! We must not stop doing good deeds. However, these actions are harmful when done without love.

Each Christian will have a different spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:29-30); however, every Christian is given the fruit of the Spirit!

Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

1. How many times have we seen people who said they are no longer Christians because of something a pastor or spiritual leader did? How many people say they can’t believe in Christianity because there are people that use religion as a way to manipulate and serve themselves? These people that use Jesus as a means to their own personal benefit are a blemish on the body of Christ!

2. The Charismatic movement has been full of false prophets and teachers. They are full are charlatans that use their revelation, their experience, or position as a way to manipulate and bully the body of Christ.

3. There have been those that have even become martyrs for their own selfishness and not the glory of the gospel. ——-Jim Jones in Jonestown ——-David Koresh in Waco. We have muslims that are committing Jihad for their own personal benefit. That does not come from a Christlike love.

The Nature of Love (vs. 4-8)

Hate is hasty, mean, greedy, puffed up, praises itself, dishonorable, demanding, unable to please, keeps a record of wrongs, happy about misfortune for others, enjoys lies and gossip. Hate never lets anything go. It never gives the benefit of the doubt. Hate is not willing to take anything from anyone.

v. 4

Patient: long-suffering. I can tell you for sure, this sermon has been an exercise in patience.

Kind: Twice I have had people tell me something like “Do you want me to lie to you? or Do you want me to be fake?” No! I don’t want you to be fake. I don’t want you to not feel comfortable to voice your opinion. However, you don’t have to say exactly what you are thinking.

Each one of us have been told, “If you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all.”

Boast: bragging

Arrogant: puffed up and thinks of oneself more than they should

v. 5

Rude: It is not indecent!

Romans 12:10 ESV

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

It doesn’t have to have its own way: “We haven’t done that before.” I’ve heard some people say that to me this week that a few months ago were talking about how some people don’t want change because they are stuck in their old ways.

Irritable: some people are always irritable. You feel like that person is going to complain just about you or too you just because you are in their presence.

Resentful: does not count the evil

v. 6

Does not rejoice in wrongdoing : Romans 12:9 “9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”

Gossip! Gossip is rejoicing in wrongdoing. We just have to savor every detail. Saints, I am going to look at our ladies in particular. I have gone into the kitchen on a Sunday morning before Sunday School starts. Ladies are getting their dishes ready and when I walk in, the attitude changes. It gets quiet. Do we have gossip and cliques in the church?

We have fellowship before the service. But how often do we have fellowship between the same people? We have people come for months or years and people don’t know who they are. They come to a Wednesday night service and no one knows who they on Sunday.

Rejoices in the truth: I want the truth, not gossip or slander to prevail. I want the gospel to bring truth to light.

vs. 7

It takes offense, it believes the best in people, it hopes for the best, and can endure sins.

I said this last week in my sermon and I will say it again. Some of our people told me and then gossiped to others about the pastors of Providence. Some of our members knew they would come in here and take over. They knew Providence was meeting with us because they need our building. They knew we had to move our meeting up was because they were making a power move, not because one of the pastors had a meeting with Chinese pastors change their meeting time.

If we just gave each other the benefit of the doubt before we jumped to conclusions, the universal church would be a much healthier place. Ask questions, listen, and step into someone else’s shoes.

v. 8

This love will never end. For eternity into eternity, we will live in true perfect love.

Conclusion

Andi Naselli

Romans–Galatians Comment

The ultimate example of love is the triune God. For example, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.… God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (

Application

You will not have it apart from Christ. You cannot reproduce love you have not known. Today is the day to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Read and meditate on this text this week.

I am calling out to our committee members first. I want to ask you to consider this text. If your life is not reflecting this kind of love, I am asking you to step down from your position. As it is now, we are not even filling the positions that we have in our bylaws. Many of the members in these positions we have filled are not coming or participating in the meetings that are required. I would rather us have fewer participants that are mature and fully engaged than a perfectly filled out list of committees. Committees were made for man, not man for committees.

Non committee members, do you show the church love? Are you willing to serve on a committee? As we continue to meet with Providence, will you show respect and honor in these meetings? Will you seek the best for the committees, leaders, pastor, deacons, and congregation? One of the big issues we have run into Colgate has been a pattern of not calling sin out. I have heard time and time again, members say something like, “That’s how _______ is.” Do you love your congregation enough to not use that excuse anymore?