Love - 1 Cor. 13 - Part I

1 Corinthians 13 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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. 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. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Add pictures with the red stickers that contain every verb!

Introduction

Love - Context

God so loved the church that He sent His own Son, the Prince of Universe - Jesus Christ! So, God was the first who loved us!

Love is the most basic principle of christianity: Love God and love your neighbor.

Love is the core of discipleship - if you love Me, you obey what I say.

Love is our external proof of belonging to Jesus, being His disciples.

1 Corinthians 13 - Context

I am nothing! It’s not about being like nothing, but really be nothing!

The list (1 Cor. 13:4-7) is not an adjectives list but verbs list.

Love is … GOD is ... Love!

WAITS!

1. Love awaits patiently

The first two qualities of the love represent the two sides of the divine attitude toward humankind (Rom 2:4 + 2 Pet 3:9). Bruce

Love (that means show patience):

The ruler - Prov 25:15

Suffering - Rom 12:12

To all - 1 Thess 5:14

Ministry - A sign of the true apostle - 2 Cor. 12:12

Abraham

According to a traditional Hebrew story, Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him. Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man’s feet and gave him food and drink.

The old man immediately began eating without saying any prayer or blessing. So Abraham asked him, “Don’t you worship God?”

The old traveler replied, “I worship fire only and reverence no other god.”

When he heard this, Abraham became incensed, grabbed the old man by the shoulders, and threw him out his tent into the cold night air.

When the old man had departed, God called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, “I forced him out because he did not worship you.”

God answered, “I have suffered him these eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one night?” 10.000 Illustrations

! When the Bible becomes dirty, the soul is cleansed.

Abe Lincoln

Joseph Sizoo was pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington where Abraham Lincoln often attended. Among Sizoo’s most memorable moments was the day he held Lincoln’s own Bible—the same Bible from which Lincoln’s mother had read to him as a child. Sizoo remembers, “Book in my hand, I wondered where it would fall open. It opened to a page which was thumb-marked and which he must have read many times. It was the thirty-seventh Psalm...’Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.’“ 10.000 Illustrations

2144 No Time To Hurry- Composer Igor Stravinsky’s publisher urged him to hurry the completion of a new composition.

“Hurry!” he cried angrily. “I never hurry. I have no time to hurry.” 7.700 Illustrations

Red Lights - Running red lights is the No. 1 cause of car crashes in American cities. Annual cost to society: $7 billion in damages, medical bills, and lost work time. The average amount of time saved by running a red light is 50 seconds. 10.000 Illustrations

The Purposes of God - The purposes of God often develop slowly because His grand designs are never hurried. The great New England preacher Phillips Brooks was noted for his poise and quiet manner. At times, however, even he suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him feverishly pacing the floor like a caged lion. “What’s the trouble, Mr. Brooks?” he asked. “The trouble is that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!’’ 10.000 Illustrations

People sometimes forget that a rat race can be won only by a rat. 7700 Illustrations

The right timing plays a huge part in securing the welfare of the other! A. Thiselton

KIND

2.Love shows kindness

As we already said, this quality of love belongs to the way that Paul uses to express God’s attitude toward humankind! His kindness is obvious in its many expressions of mercy! Bruce

Ăsta-i din fier! Tu ești făcut din plastilină? Stai mai drept.. ce stai ca ziaru’!?

The kindness of Christians in the second century so surprised their pagan counterparts that, according to Tertullian (Apol. 3.39), they called Christians chrestiani, “made up of mildness or kindness,” rather than christiani. Garland

Respond to other with a tender heart and forgiveness - Eph. 4:32.

When we are good, the people will trust us! - 1 Pet. 2:3 & Ps. 34:8

Be kind to people until you make your first million. After that people will be nice to you. 7.7000 Ill

The greatest pleasure in life is to do a good turn in secret and have it discovered by accident.7.770

So, until now we know that we must be toward others as God was toward us! Fee.

JEALOUS

3.Love doesn’t envy - doesn’t burn with envy

Love never boils with jealousy - Charles B. Williams

Those who are jelous resent the success of others. FSB

It can refer to ‘intense negative feeling over another’s achievements or success’ BDAG.

Christians are of the flesh if they burn with envy - 1 Cor 3:3.

The most profound scholar that has ever spoke about 1 Corinthians, Gordon Fee, says like this when he talks about what envy means: Love does not allow fellow believers to be in rivalry or competition, either for "vaunted positions" or to curry people's favor in order to gain adherents. Indeed, it seeks quite the opposite: How best do I serve these for whom Christ died, whatever my own desires? 

Jealousy and rivalry are sisters. We cannot be brothers and sisters as long as we envy others!

When someone else has a so-called “better call” from the Lord, I have to love him. If I envy him, I hate him.

Love is not displeased at the success of others. Morris

Someone singing better? I am happy about that.

Someone giving more than I do? I am happy to have a new standard.

One of Dr. Seuss’ children’s book creatures is “Grinch” who is a creature who can’t bear the sight of anyone enjoying himself without getting so mad it bites itself. - A little bit more about the Grinch: when you envy others, you’re stealing the Christmas. 7.700

The Devil And The Hermit

There is a fable wherein the Devil once was crossing the Libyan desert and met a group of friends tempting a holy hermit. They tried seductions of the flesh, used doubts and fears, etc. But to no avail. The holy man was unmoved. The Devil then stepped forward: “Your methods are too crude. Permit me one moment.” Going to the hermit, he said, “Have you heard the news? Your brother has been made the Bishop of Alexandria.” According to the fable, a scowl of malignant jealousy clouded the serene face of the holy man. 7.700

Killing Himself

I remember reading somewhere in a Grecian story of a man who killed himself through envy. His fellow citizens had reared a statue to one of their number who was a celebrated victor in the public games. So strong was the feeling of envy which this incited in the breast of one of the hero’s rivals that he went forth every night in order, if possible, to destroy that monument. After repeated efforts he moved it from its pedestal, and it fell, but in its fall it crushed him. 7.700

  The man who keeps busy helping the man below him won’t have time to envy the man above him—and there may not be anybody above him anyway.—Henrietta C. Mears. 7.700

A picture with GRINCH! Biting himself!

PARADE

4.Doesn’t boast

The men who loves is a men that doesn’t envy when others have a great success, but he never speaks about his own success!

Moffat: makes no parade!

Corinthians problem: 1 Cor 4:6, etc.

They think of themselves as having "wisdom" (3:18) and "knowledge" (8:2), and especially as being "spiritual" (14:37). (Fee)

Pride is like a beard. It just keeps growing. The solution? Shave it everyday. 1.500

Pride is the only disease known to man that makes everyone sick except the one who has it. 1.500

Ostentatious rhetorical boasting: those people that love to hear themselves speaking and boasting about how good they are!

Oh that I were judge in the land! 2 Sam. 15:4

ARROGANT

5.It is not proud

Is not arrogant! Give itself no airs (Moffatt).

It doesn’t cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.

Obsessed with myself. See Est. 6:6.

Six of the seven occurrences of this verb in the NT appear in this letter (4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1).  The other is Col. 2:18. Thiselton

They were speaking a lot about themselves

What makes us humble? The teaching! The real teaching. The real Bible reading. The real following Jesus every day!

The very act of opening the Bible can be an act of humbleness, if we are willing to obey what it says!

Our Head, Jesus, makes us humble because it is a holy reflex to take care of others!

When we love we do not think about our importance. We only think about how important others are!

RUDE

6. It doesn’t behave shamefully

Love does not behave indecently.

It may have sexual overtones! Garland

Corinthians: 1 Cor. 5:1-2, 11:2-16, 11:17

Love is not in opposition with courtesy, good public manners. Thiselton.

Is not according to anything indecent.

What would we think about?

It is not decent to enter a building and not greet people. At least those right next to you. If you love, you say hello.

SELF-SEEKING

7.Love is not self-seeking

Does not seek its own interest. Collins

Christ did not please Himself (Rom 15:3 & 1 Cor 10:33).

Does not insist on its own way! RSV.

This love differs from eros, which always seeks its own interests.

When we look for our own interest, we behave shamefully, because there is no border that can hold us back!

I’m not looking for other’s interest to win them for me but to save them.! 1 Cor 10:33.

Paul Powell, Illinois secretary of state, had to decide who would get auto license plate No. 1. “It was a real problem,” he said. “I’m not about to assign it to someone and make about a thousand other people feel hurt.” His solution? He assigned it to himself. 7.700

Theodore Roosevelt, sometimes known as Roosevelt the First, was a President who knew his value; he did not cheapen himself by underestimating it. “Father always had to be the center of attention,” said one of his children. “When he went to a wedding, he wanted to be the bride. When he went to a funeral, he was sorry that he couldn’t be the corpse.”

Horseback Logic

A small boy and his sister were riding on the back of the new wooden horse given to them as a present. Suddenly the boy turned to his sister and said: “If one of us would get off there would be more room for me.” 7.700

“Be Yourself!” is about the worse advice you can give to some people.

Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.

Final

So much work to have only a half of it? Auch!

Let’s love the community.