1 Corinthians 13

Illustration

Christian weddings

Love is patient and kind

Context

Church has been incredibly divided and have begun to boast in their spiritual gifts

yes this includes things like speaking in tongues, prophecy, etc.

They have begun to use them in chaotic manners

Their use of gifts has begun to tear apart the church as a whole

Tongues and prophecies are left uninterpreted, rather they are causing great amounts of chaos and concern from the church

This chapter puts forth this argument that although it is great to possess spiritual gifts, they will fall short every time if they lack love

V 1-3

Paul gives this great analogy of 3 gifts that the church had strong possession of

Tongues, Prophecy, and chaos

None of these matter if we forsake love

How many times do we get puffed up about our own gifts, and rely on them?

Our gifting mean nothing if we are not loving one another with every fiber of our being

If we speak the language of angels, or we have the prophetic power to move mountains, or we have enough faith to die for the sake of the gospel, who cares?

Illustration: Telling a story and someone asks “Who cares?”

V 4-7

2 is, 8 is not, 4 more is

Love is patient and kind

Right there we have an issue right? How many of us would claim our love looks like this already?

does not envy or boast or arrogant or rude or insist on its own way or irritable or rejoices at wrongdoing

Pride. The church in this day struggled with this, but I'd venture to say many of us can empathize with this church

When we look at the way we love others, is there an arrogance about us? Are we jealous? Do we matter more than others?

Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things

bears= covers

love is quiet when criticism is available

Gossip and slander is so much more fun than never talking crap about others and tearing them down. But if we are to love, to be unified, we have to be for one another

Believes all things

Are you inclined to see the merit in your brother and sister in christ? do you see them through the lens of a loved person?

Or do we rush to judgement. Do we leap at the opportunity for them to be wrong or to prove their evil intent

Illustration: When someone provides context and you realize this “evil intent” you thought was just a misunderstanding

Hopes all things

As a body of believers we have hope in Christ. Is the love you have easily discouraged? When hurt, does it believe that all will fall in the same category? Or does it offer the opportunity again to experience one another?

Endures all things

It holds these postures eternally

enemies, hard to love people, those that have deeply wronged you

While not easy, love is fierce and does not give up

V 8-12

There will come a time ultimately that Paul is pointing to where we won’t need these gifts, because we will have uninterrupted communion with the Lord

We have a partial view right now which makes these gifts helpful but one day we will see the fullness of what this means

“Child I thought like a child”

Entering adulthood and are learning about some of the complexities that exist in the world

When you were a kid, you thought you could be literally anything you had dreamed about

But reality is, there are somethings you probably can’t be.

When Paul looks at this audience, he is reminding them that the spiritually mature will hold whatever gifts and talents they have under the authority of love

V 13

The Christian life can be summarized in the pursuit of these 3

We have faith that God is who He says he is, even when we don’t understand it

We have hope that Christ has made us united with the father through his atoning death and resurrection. We have hope that one day we will be fully restored to perfect relationship with Him