LOVE DOES NOT END

As we have seen in this sermon series We’ve seen that in the Corinthian church had many issues. There was those who thought they were better than others because they possessed gifts that others did not have. They elevated man over the Godman “Jesus”.

1 Corinthians 3:1-7

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

We all have to fight this! We look to man that we can see and forget to look to the God that we can not see. It’s easy to praise, promote, and perform for the man who has gifts. But forget praise and perform for the one who gives the gifts.

These grace gifts given by the Spirit of brought contention in the body of Christ. As we’ve seen the Apostle Paul clearly communicates that one can speak in tongues of men and of angles, have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and have faith to move mountains, or give my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain NOTHING!

Here we see Paul speaks to what’s primary! Those other things are good but love is primary. Without love those things are nothing. This is the same emphasis Jesus type of forceful language that Jesus used in the sermon on the mount:

Matthew 5:13-16

English Standard Version Chapter 5

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven

Every human being wants something that worth something or something that will! We don’t go out and buy things that will tear up the next day. We all desire for things that we have to last forever.

Our hearts grieve when someone close to us passes away. Our desire is to be with them forever. You may be hear this morning grieving the lost of a love one and you really desire for their presence. It is something in creation itself that seeks to life and love.

This causes me to think about birds. Outside of our house we had a bird house that one of the girls made. Of course a bird built a nest in the birdhouse. As the babies hatched we would watch the mom fly back and forth to get food for her babies. One thing I noticed was the male bird would keep a watch near the nest as she left to get food. There is a something in the nature of God’s creation to love, protect, and fight for life.

As we end this series on Love it… We will see the importance of love.

Central Point of the Sermon: Becasue Christ’s love is eternal we must have a right view of the external.

Question: How has this love changed our view.

- it causes us to have a correct view of the gifts we’ve been given vs. 8-9

-It causes us to cling to the perfect gift vs.10

-It causes us to cease to think like a child vs. 11

-It causes us to be confident in the coming Christ vs. 12-13