Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning and welcome!

This morning I would like for you to start turning in your Bibles to .

Many of you will recognize this as the “love chapter,” which it is because it is all about love.

You will hear this passage read at weddings all the time, sometimes even at proposals for marriage.

And because of this we tend to pigeonhole this passage to make it only applicable to couples and how they should treat one another.

Which is not untrue, but we need to be very careful with this because Paul didn’t write these words as instructions for just for husbands and wives.

And he certainly did not write it just for wedding ceremonies.

No, Paul penned these words and all of his letters for the overall benefit of the church.

His goal was to equip the church to survive and grow beyond the 1st Century.

And one of the key foundations of this goal of Paul’s was to equip the saints with the essentials of what they would need in order to do the ministry.

And this chapter, nestled here in the first letter to the Corinthians, we find the key ingredient to all success we will ever have as Christians.

And that ingredient is love.

Love is foundational to all we are and all we do.

Over the next four weeks we are going to be looking at the subject of Neighbors, but we first have to start right here with love.

Remember Jesus told us to . . .

So, in order to fulfill the command of Jesus we have to have some understanding of what love looks like, which is exactly the picture that Paul is painting for us here.

So, if you have found in your Bible, I’d invite you to stand with me as we read and answer the question, What is Love?

Paul writes . . .

Scripture Focus

The List

So, we see here that Paul gives us quite a comprehensive list of what love looks like.

He tell that:

Love is patient

Love is kind

Love does not envy

Love does not boast

Love is not proud

Love is not rude

Love is not self-seeking

Love is not easily angered

Love keeps no record of wrongs

Love does not delight in evil

Love rejoices in truth

Love always protects

Love always trusts

Love always hopes

Love always preserves

And if you are keeping track, that is 15 things that describe love, but I’m going to tell you that there is one thing that can sum it all up.

John says that . . .

God is love.

That is the key.

God’s essential nature is love, to give love and to receive love.

We can sum up everything we know about love by comparing it to God and we can also sum up what we know about God by comparing God to love.

I am going to read the verses I just read again, but this time I am going to change something.

I am going to take out the word love and put in God.

Listen to how it sounds now....

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not God I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not God , I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not God, I gain nothing.

And I am going to stop there for just a minute, because this is a key concept that we need to understand.

We can do the greatest miracles that humans have ever seen, be the smartest people on the planet, be the richest, most powerful, strongest, most giving, nicest, and sacrifice more than anyone on the planet, but if God is absent it is completely for nothing.

And what Paul is saying is that if we do all those things and the love of God is not in our heart, they gain us absolutely nothing because our motivation is self-centered and self-serving and not God centered.

People actually think that they can do all of these good deeds and somehow that will erase their sin and God will just overlook everything else in their lives.

People will look at their lives on a kind of scale and think that as long as their are more things on the good side than on the bad that this justifies them.

They think that as long as they are doing better than the person next to them that this gives them some kind of bargaining chip with God.

It doesn’t.

Our entrance into God’s kingdom is not a negotiation, it is not some sort of “Let’s Make a Deal” game.

God has established the rules and parameters and we do it God’s way or we don’t do it all.

God laid the framework and made the necessary sacrifice to secure our eternity for us.

God did the work, we just have to accept the gift.

And accepting it means admitting that we are sinners that are separated from God.

Admitting that there is nothing we can do that can save us.

Admit that we need a Savior.

Acknowledging that Jesus Christ is that Savior.

Accepting by faith that the price Jesus paid was sufficient.

Asking for forgiveness and trusting that God has forgiven.

And following Christ the rest of our days.

That is what it takes.

No good deed can substitute for this.

Your momma can’t write you a note.

Your best friend can’t write you a recommendation.

You have to decide for yourself what direction you are going to go in.

Just remember that even though good deeds are appreciated, good deeds are not enough.

Has God instilled in you the desire to do good deeds or do you do them to earn points?

So, with that understanding lets move on because this next part is going to tell us about some of God’s attributes.

Remember we are substituting the word “God” for “love.”

God is patient, God is kind.

God does not envy, God does not boast.

God is not proud.

God is not rude.

God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs.

God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

So, if you ever have a question about what God is like, just remember these things.

Again . . .

God is patient, God is kind.

God does not envy, God does not boast.

God is not proud.

God is not rude.

God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs.

God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

Loving our Neighbor

Now, if we are called to love our neighbor, which we are, how do we go about doing that?

We know that Jesus’ command was to . . .

So, the first part is loving God with all we are.

When we do this, we learn the capacity and the ability to love others.

Loving God with all we are is put into action when we love others as ourselves.

Loving people is how we love God.