Love Fuels the Church

Love is the fuel that makes christian life legitimate.

-John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

-1 John 4:7-8

1 John 4:7–8 ESV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

The character of God, agape, should be on display by God's people.

ILL--running lawn mowers on old fuel - wrong fuel can destroy the engine.

1 Corinthians 13

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

Set Up-- Church is fighting over who is the most spiritual. Everyone is trying to prove they are the closest to God.

3 Ways We Are Fueled by Love

1- Love Fuels Works (1-3)

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

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.

We only get love from the Spirit.

We can only love because Christ loved us and we received the gift of his love.

Love for God and love for others is the only proper motivation for working within the church.

Love is what makes you spiritual, not the manifestation of spiritual gifts.

Tongues= language

Tongues of Men= Pentecost

Tongues of Angels= Jews believed that angels speak their own dialect.

So one way to prove you are more spiritual is by speaking in the language of the angels.

"noisy gong"= instrument associated with the pagan cults.

What they were doing was speaking noise which resembled the empty, hollow noises of pagan worship.

Prophetic Powers= notice Paul gives the most dramatic of definitions.

No one understands all mysteries and all knowledge.

No one has the faith to remove mountains. (mustard seed).

Sacrifice = again, the most dramatic of examples

The most powerful of spiritual gifts are a waste of time if you do not love.

Without the fuel of love these things become about yourself.

Spiritual gifts only exist to help the church.

Whatever your spiritual gift, demonstrate it with love.

If I teach without love...

If I clean without love...

If I sing without love...

If I give without love...

2- Love fuels character (4-7)

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

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.

What love is

Patient= suffers long -- God holds back his wrath toward human rebellion= mercy

Kind= active goodness-- God gives us gifts we do not deserve= grace

What love is not (Paul points to specific behavior flaws of the church at Corinth)

Envy = There is no room for competition in the body of Christ.

Boast = In order to draw attention to self

arrogant = proud or "puffed up"

rude = lit. to behave shamefully or disgracefully. - doesn't offend others.

insist on its own way = I am free to do whatever I want. For Corinth this was eating food sacrificed to idols. It was offensive to some therefore you shouldn't do it.

irritable = easily angered. Carry a chip on shoulder. Unforgiven wrongs of past can make a small wrong in the present seem worse than it is.

resentful= keeps no record of wrongs

rejoice at wrongdoing-- only one with the opposite reaction. Instead of rejoicing with evil let us rejoice for what is true.

Result of Love in your life. -- You always think of the best in other believers.

Love Bears All Things = Love never ceases to sacrifice for others.

Love Believes all things = Love never ceases to have faith in other believers.

Love Hopes All Things = Love never ceases to have hope for other believers.

Love Endures All Things = Love never gives up on others. Turn other cheek.

3- Love fuels Eternity (8-13)

1 Corinthians 13:8-13

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

Spiritual gifts only last while we are on this earth, but love is for eternity.

Why make such a big deal about the things that will end and forget about loving each other. We will get to love each other for eternity.

Paul points out the temporary nature of 3 of the spiritual gifts.

Prophecy was his favorite and thought the most important because it edified the church (see chapter 14).

The other two are favorites of the Corinthians church

We will not need those spiritual gifts because one day we will know and understand everything.

I will be out of a job in heaven.

Two Illustrations

Child vs Adult-- Right now we see everything like a young child but one day we will see things like an adult.

ILL--David asking “how?”/ Hannah asking “why”

Tara asked David why he kept asking how. His answer, “Because I don’t know everything yet.”

Mirror--

Corinth produced the best bronze mirrors in the world. They had the clearest image of any mirror in the world. But still not as good as looking face to face.

The Holy Spirit gives us great understanding of the Truths of God. But one day we will understand fully. Our difficulties of understanding will disappear and we will understand truth as God understands truth.

3 Christian Virtues

These were a common triad of virtues for the early church.

Faith= needed because right now we do not see face to face.

Hope= hope for the future - needed because we need to look toward eternal reward

Love= needed both now and through eternity.

CONCLUSION

God showed us how to love by sending his son, Jesus, into the world to die in our place for our sins.

1 John 4:9-12

1 John 4:9–12 ESV

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

How are you living in God’s love?