The Missing Ingredient

So who are my cooks or bakers in the room?

so for you guys have you ever been cooking or baking something and you forget a key ingredient? (I should probably be asking those of you who didn’t raise your hand)

Because if you have done that you know that all it takes to completely ruin a meal or desert is to forget one single ingredient.

Wether it is you forgetting the eggs or the yeast it only takes one ingredient to destroy the recipe. Right?

I actually had a friend in college and I remember she was tried to make a bunch of us cupcakes and somehow she got the salt and sugar mixed up

And guess what they were awful cupcakes

But you know today we are continuing our series we have been in called “Dysfunctional church” and we have been talking about this toxic church in the Bible called Corinth Church.

And this church had a really bad reputation

and in the passage we are in today ( which is 1 corinthians 13:1-13), it tells us that the main reason this church was so far off from who God had called them to be.

And really what we are going to discover is they were missing an ingredient

And not just that but they swapped out the sugar for salt.

So once again we are in 1 Corinthians 3:1-13 and we are just starting in the first 3 verses. It says this:

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

So Paul starts out talking about gift this church has.

And really if you were looking at this church you would probably say wow this church in gifted.

In theory if this church was a cake they should actually have almost every ingredient to make the perfect cake.

In fact if you were here a few weeks ago you will probably remember me saying that this area was successful. I mean they knew how to make money.

And not just this but Paul (who wrote this) mentioned they had other gifts:

He said some of you speak in tongues

If you are not familiar with that term it is based off of this event that happened called Pentecost where the Holy Spirit filled the disciples where they were in front of a crowd that spoke different languages

but what was amazing is when the disciples would speak and each person in this crowd heard what the person was speaking in their own language.

And they called it speaking in tongues because the others were able to here the language that wasn’t their own.

And so Paul is saying some of you believe God has gifted you that way

Others are saying God has given you the gift of prophecy which we always think is future telling, but it is actually a lot of times just speaking truth into a situation

He says others of you God has gifted you where you are really smart- I mean God has given you a brain

and others He has given you this amazing faith

And if you are like me you look at that list and your going this church should be amazing.

But the issue is this passage tells us they are missing something called Love

And I love the language that the Bible was written in because there were a lot of different words for love.

they had a word to describe romantic love

they had a word for love between friends

they had a word love between family

but then there was one word called “agape” which was used to describe the love of God

And really this is the love this church is missing

And because of them missing this key ingredient these gifts God has given them actually created division among them.

because instead of them using these gifts to further God’s will and be a blessing to the community, to the church and to others, they ended up using their gifts to help theirselves

and ultimately instead of building God’s kingdom they chose to build their own.

And that is why this passage says you can speak in tounges, but without love it sound like a clashing cymbol

You can be gifted with prophetic powers

You can be a genius

You can have faith to move mountains

But without love it is nothing.

And can I just say this: our culture is pretty similar to the Corinth culture, because without God’s love in our life we build our own kingdom with the gift’s God has given us to build His.

And what Paul does next is he says look I want you to understand just what this love is, because if we are not careful we can twist God’s love and create our own version of love.

So look what Paul says in verses 4-7, because Paul describes what God’s love is and what it isn’t.

It says this:

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

So I know this is a lot so just bear with me for a second because Paul says you want to know what true agape love is.

And I want you to notice everything Paul says here is a verb

He says love is patient:

Meaning it does not give up easily

I mean Liam is a sweet son, but everyonce in awhile he slaps me and I don’t say your not my son anymore right?

No because love is patient.

And we are called to patiently pursue and love

So next Paul says love is kind

Does that need explaining? When you show Christ love its called to be nice right?

Then Paul says love rejoices in the truth

I mean if you are with a friend and they have spinach in their teeth you tell them right?

And thats what Paul is saying love does not ignore the things in our life that are not aligned with where God has called us, but true love addresses those areas because they are toxic in our lives

So next Paul says love bears all things-

you know there can be situations where there is a lot of hurt maybe even resentment, and Paul is saying true Christlike love is bigger then any hate or resentment you can have.

In fact that word “bear”its litteral translation is for a roof or cover

meaning God’s love can be placed over even the deepest hurt

The next two Paul mentiones go together because he says that: love believes and hopes all things

Meaning our love that we should have in our life should see potential in others.

We shouldn’t just have this negative outlook on everyone around us but we should see people as people created in the image of God.

Well look at this last one because it says love endures all things— and you will notice this is pretty simalar to love bears all thing and love is patient,

But I really think Paul recognizes that relationships get messy,

You know somehow love is easy did not make the list, because there are times where hurt can come, but whats amazing is we are called to have a love that endures.

Well look at this next list because Paul says there are things that love is but there are also things love isn’t.

and Paul says love does not envy

Meaning love does not get jealous

Paul Love does not boast

Meaning I am not going up to someone bragging and showing off because I know that they don’t have what I have

Next Paul says love is not arrogant

And it is neat because the translation for the word arrogent can also mean to inflate or puff up

meaning love does not inflate yourself so you seem better than everyone around you, but it is humbling yourself

Then Paul moves on to saying love is not rude

This one is pretty self explanatory right?

if we are loving someone we are not being a jerk

Then Paul moves on to say love does not insist in its own way

The Brendan Shea translation would be its not my way or the highway.

But we are called to lay down our lives for others

Next Paul says Love is not irritable- and this word is really interesting because irritable here means that we do not have abnormal sensitivity

Meaning people should not have to walk on egg shells around us where they are worried they will say something that offends us easily

Next Paul says love is not resentful- meaning it doesn’t keep score

And then love does not rejoice in wrong doing, but it rejoices in good.

You know Paul really gives a lot here doesn’t he? But you know the reason I think he does is because its important.

Because the truth is when we live a life where our version of love has things that are on the do not list, what we are doing is we are creating an enivroment where sin is easily able to seperate us from others

But when we are doing things in true God like love we actually grow closer to those around us.

And you want to know a great way to tell if you are living a life that looks like this God like love

Replace the word love with your name and see if it matches.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 (ESV)

4 Brendan is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; Brendan is not arrogant 5 or rude. Brendan does not insist on his own way; he is not irritable or resentful; 6 Brendan does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Brendan bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I Mean that is convicting isn’t it?

Because God has called our lives to reflect His love.

You know I heard a story the other day (I do not know if its true or not), but there was a passion play that a theater was putting on and during this play there was a man who was playing Jesus and apparently someone thought he wasn’t doing a good job

Because there was another guy who wasn’t in the play who was heckiling the guy playing Jesus

and it went on for a awhile until all of the sudden the guy playing Jesus actually through down the cross and punched the guy heckling him

And apparently the director did not let him be Jesus again, because they couldn’t have Jesus punching people right?

But you know I wonder sometimes if thats how we look when our lives do not match God’s love.

Because like we talked about last week our lives are reflecting God’s love to our world.

And so when our lives do not look like God’s love (when we are not patient, when we are irritable) we are showing the world a distorted picture of our God.

And not only that but we are destroying ourselves in the process.

Does how you live match who you serve?

Well look at this last part in verses 8-13 because Paul says this:

1 Corinthians 13:8–13 (ESV)

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

You know Paul points out why its important for us to get this whole love thing down.

And what He says is other things will pass away, but love will not.

in fact at the end of this passage Paul actually says its going to do the oppisite.

Because He says right now how we are able to see God’s love is like if we were looking in a dimly lit mirror or even where we are seeing a shadow of it.

But there is one day coming where we will see Him face to face.

And that love that He has for you and all of us will be more than anything we can imagine.

And I think this is why Paul says I use to act like a child, I did childish things, but when I became an adult I knew it was time to give up the childish things.

You know thats a pretty self explanatory thing isn’t it?

When your a child you act like one, but then there comes a point in your life where its time to stop acting like a child and begin acting like an adult.

But the issue is this church that Paul is writing to are still acting like children.

They are not reflecting God’s love and instead are reflecting a distorted image of Him.

And so Paul is asking them this question and I believe its a question that we can ask ourselves: is there an area I need to mature this morning in how I show God’s love?

Maybe it is time to stop holding on to grudges or being resentful, and maybe it is time to be kind, rejoicing in the truth, and patient

Because I believe God’s love does not leave us as a child but it grows us into who He has called us to be.

Read this last verse with me:

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Will you pray with me?