Sermon Tone Analysis

“*LOVE’S EXCELLENCE*”

(A Series on I Corinthians)

 

Westgate Chapel 1~/17~/99 a.m.

I Corinthians 13:4-7

 

PROPOSITION:  Agape love is most excellent in so many ways.

! I. introduction

!! -     THE church of Jesus Christ throws together in one fellowship, in one place, people of every temperament, every race, every ethnic background, every personality, different cultures, different generations....to live a life of faith together like one happy family.

!! -     ON the surface it is a prescription for trouble any way you look at it.

!! -     BUT what differentiates us from a club of people with common interests or goals....is that we have been transformed by God’s grace and are in the process of being conformed to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:29).

!! -     THE Gospel of Christ is being written on our hearts and in our lives....read by those around us.

!! -     WHICH makes agape love a vital component of our fellowship, our lives together.

!! -     REMEMBER, agape love is a determined, committed pursuit of the highest good for another, without regard for what they have earned or deserve.

!! -     IT is the kind of  love that sent Jesus to the cross.

!! -     IT is the kind of love that is the essence of the Godhead.

!! 1.   THIS agape love goes all the way back to the beginning of the church of Jesus.

!! -     IT is one of those foundation stones of the church.

!! -     I John 3:11 says,

!!!       “*This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.*”

(I John 3:11)

!! -     IT was the “new command” that Jesus gave as a priority for the life of His church in John 13:34.

!!!       “*A new command I give you: Love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another*.”

!! -     AND from then on...it was carried by His apostles as a non-negotiable from the beginning.

!! -     THE apostle John continues in his next epistle in 2 John 1:5,

!!!       “*And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning.

I ask that we love one another*.”

(2 John 1:5)

!!  

!! 2.   THIS agape love is God’s command.

!! -     I ALREADY read you Jesus’ command in John 13:34.

!! -     NOW look at I John 3:23,

!!!       “*And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.*”

(I John 3:23)

!! -     IT is not an option in the Christian home or church.

!! -     GOD puts the weight of a command behind it.

!! -     LOOK at I Peter 1:22,

!!!       “*Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.*”

(I Peter 1:22)

!! -     SO, it is a command to be obeyed with feeling!

!!  

!! 3.   THIS agape love comes from God.

!! -     TURN with me to I John 4:7-8.

!!!       “*Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.* (8) *Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love*.”

( I John 4:7-8)

!! -     THE reason that the world is so full of hatred and rage is because they don’t have God.

!! -     THE reason you or I are full of rage is because you don’t have God....in an intimate transforming kind of way in your life.

!! -     LOVE comes from God.

!!  

!! 4.   WE love others with this agape because God first loved us.

!! -     TURN with me to I John 4:11,

!!!       “*Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another*.”

( I John 4:11)

!! -     WHEN we were our unloveliest....God loved us.

!! -     WHEN we were filthy in our sin....God loved us.

!! -     WHEN we were enemies of God, shaking our puny fists in His face...God loved us.

!! -     I JOHN 4:19 says,

!!!       “ *We love because he first loved us.*”

!!  

!! 5.   WE love with this agape love because it is the principle evidence that God lives in us.

!! -     TURN to I John 4:12,

!!!       “*No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us*.” ( I John 4:12)

!! -     OF course the opposite is true too....that if we don’t love it is obvious that God does not live in us.

!! -     THAT is why Jesus said, in John 13:35,

!!!       “*By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another*.”

!!  

!! -     THERE was a problem in the church in Corinth.

!! -     IT was more dangerous than doctrinal error, than sexual sin, or poor stewardship.

!! -     THE church in Corinth lacked this kind of agape love.

!! -     INSTEAD of love, the church in Corinth was in trouble and would not last very long, because they were...

!!! ~*     Always arguing....it was part of their culture.

!!! ~*     Pulling one another down....speaking about each other behind their backs.

!!! ~*     Fighting and divided.

!!! ~*     Boasting about themselves.

!!! ~*     Jealousy of one another’s position or blessing.

!!! ~*     Proud of themselves.

!!! ~*     Taking each other to court to settle their disputes.

!!! ~*     Tearing up families and marriages.

!!! ~*     Insensitive to the weaker brother or sister.

!!! ~*     Contentious.

!! -     ALL of that in light of God’s command to love one another.

!! -     SO, in the last half of the last verse of I Corinthians 12, after addressing a wide range of topics in the previous 12 chapters, Paul writes,

!!!       “*And now I will show you the most excellent way*.”

(1Corinthians 12:31b)

!! -     THAT most excellent way is not...

!!! ~*     Better teachers for the SS.

!!! ~*     More comfortable pews in the sanctuary.

!!! ~*     Expensive advertising.

!!! ~*     The latest technology in the church office.

!!! ~*     Better preaching from the pulpit.

!!! ~*     More guests speakers.

!!! ~*     Improved curriculum.

!! -     NO!

The most excellent way...is love!

!! -     WITHOUT love, in the first three verses of chapter 13, Paul says...

!!! ~*     You can have speaking ministry, but you will be a re-sounding gong.

!!! ~*     You can have prophetic insight and miracle-working power, but you would be a nothing.

!!! ~*     You can engage in mercy ministry and even give your very life for others, but you would gain nothing.

!! -     THEN, in the next four verses, Paul gives us a detailed description of the power of this agape love.

!! -     TURN with me please to I Corinthians 13:4 (page 1137).

!

ii.

LOVE’s excellence

!! 1.   LOVE is patient.

!!! ~*     It is not overly sensitive or easily put out.

!!! ~*     The King James translates it, “love is long suffering.”