6.12.52. 11.21.2021 Love is… 1 Corinthians 13

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1 Corinthians 13:1–13 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.

Entice: Our relationship with today's passage of scripture is a little odd. We cram it into situations far different from what Paul had in mind when he wrote these words. I know that this is the case because when I say "we" I mean me. I'm the guy who has taken this passage, this eloquent, poetic, lyrical testimony to the Love we should share in the body of Christ and stuck it into a wedding; For poetries sake, for the sake of its beauty. Because it says so well what we can never really express.

It is good, today to take this piece of the complicated puzzle that is 1 Corinthians and fit it properly into its place. Chapters 11, 12, and 14 are about worship, gifts, complicated relationships and conflict. Why? Because that is how the Corinthians rolled.

Engage: How do you feel about these people around you? More importantly, how will you treat them, speak to them, engage them if you have negative feelings toward them If they make you angry? If they need to correct you? How will you feel if they get noticed and you do not? How will you love them when they are hard, feckless, and unlovable?

Love is not about how we react when we feel good but how we react when we are angry, put-out, offended, marginalized, castigated, or offended.

There was a lot of that going on in the Corinthian Church! We've been right in the middle of it since September.

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 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.

Expand: Right in the middle of one of the most argumentative sections in a letter written to the the most divided congregation, with greatest number of conflicts Paul's poetic plea to learn the Jesus-defined nature of love calls to every one of us who wishes to put Jesus first and touch others with His self-sacrificing love.

Explore:

If we cannot love as expected…we are in desperate trouble, and un-impacted by the Gospel.

Explain: Love empowers everything about the redeemed life we share in Christ.

Body of Sermon: love

1 Legitimizes Ministry. vv. 1-3

Love legitimizes our …

1.1 Our Gifts.

Love Legitimizes our…

1.2 Our Service.

Love Legitimizes our…

1.3 Our Sacrifices.

Without love our sacrifices are merely reckless. Our contributions just self-aggrandizement, our gifts simply skills. With the love supplied by Christ our mortal capacities become the stuff of ministry.

Next, Love

2 Actualizes our Message. vv 4-7

An extraordinary list of verbs that categorize, extend, define, and announce what love does.

2.1 Description...

2.1.1 It is patient and kind.

2.1.2 It is not envious or boastful.

2.1.3 It is not arrogant or rude.

2.1.4 It does not insist on self.

2.1.5 It is not irritable or resentful.

2.1.6 It does not rejoice at wrongdoing..It does rejoice with the truth.

2.2 Distinguishing characteristics...

2.2.1 Bears all.

2.2.2 Believes all.

2.2.3 Hopes all.

2.2.4 Endures all

We are loved by Jesus so that we might become the means by which others feel that love we have experienced. The "all". The whole shooting-match. The complete. God loves you that way in Jesus so that you in Jesus might love others the very same way.

Last of all we need to understand how Love…

3 Eternalizes this Moment. vv. 8-13

Because of the love of God what you say and do can have consequences beyond this hour, day, week, month, or year. When we share the love of Christ we are sharing something which is eternal. Paul describes what that looks like.

3.1 Love transforms the temporary and partial into the eternal .

3.1.1 These words will be forgotten…but the faith they inspire may become eternal.

3.1.2 Our knowledge is partial, our gifts failing. Yet the consequences unending, enlarging, completing. Because of God's love in Christ Jesus.

3.2 Love insures that growth leads to maturity.

3.2.1 When I was a child.

3.2.2 When I look into a mirror.

3.2.3 When I am most fully known.

Shut Down:

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 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.

Every moment. Every word of our message. Every aspect of our lifelong ministry. Anchored in the Love of God. From the creation, through the cross, until consummation. God's act of eternal love invites us not to merely know it but to show it to others.

That is God's word, His loving word to us today.