Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Pullin' out my big black book

Cause when I need a word defined that's where I look

So I move to the L's quick, fast, in a hurry

Threw on my specs, thought my vision was blurry

I looked again but to my dismay

It was black and white with no room for grey

Ya see, a big "V" stood beyond my word

And yo that's when it hit me, that luv is a verb

We’re going to be in 1 Corinthians 13 this morning.

We’re continuing our short dive into the middle of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians 13, that’s on page 652 of the white pew Bible.

That song I just quoted was from dc Talk’s 1992 record Free at Last, the song called Luv is a Verb.

A little goofy, perhaps, but accurate nonetheless.

The song continues:

Words come easy but don't mean much

When the words they're sayin' we can't put trust in

We're talkin' 'bout love in a different light

And if we all learn to love it would be just right

Here’s our major takeaway from 1 Corinthians 13: Christians must demonstrate self-sacrificial love because love, not gifts, is the truest expression of Christ-likeness and love, not gifts, is what will last forever between his disciples.

Christians must demonstrate self-sacrificial love because love, not gifts, is the truest expression of Christ-likeness and love, not gifts, is what will last forever between his disciples.

In this letter to the Corinthians, Paul has been instructing the Corinthian church on how to order their worship in a proper way.

The members of the church at Corinth, it seems, have been acting in an extremely selfish way.

They’ve been elevating themselves instead of helping others, turning a blind eye to sin, and forming themselves into little cliques.

So, Paul writes this letter to tell them to get their act together.

Last week, we saw how he specifically taught them that spiritual gifts, manifestations of the Holy Spirit for believers, were given in order to promote diversity within the unity of the body and to unify their natural diversity.

Remember our main idea from last week:

The one Holy Spirit gives a variety of gifts within the church, with the intention that they are used for the common good to build one another up in the faith.

Bringing diversity to our unity and building unity within our diversity.

And he affirms, spiritual gifts are good.

They are God-given, after all.

But the Corinthians were using them abusively, to promote themselves, to make themselves look good.

And they were looking down on people in the church who had been given what they considered to be “lesser” gifts.

Gifts that weren’t flashy or showy or put you in the spotlight.

They thought those weren’t as good.

Paul says, not only are those good, we actually ought to give more honor to those gifts because they are less showy.

And when we get to the end of chapter 12, actually, that’s where we’re going to start today, 12:31, Paul says, “Yeah, it’s OK to desire gifts.

If there is a spiritual gift that you’d like, there’s nothing wrong with asking God for it.”

The Father gives good gifts to His children, Jesus said.

So, desire the greater gifts.

But then he says, I will show you an even better way.

Now, stick with me, because we have to do some grammar work real quick to follow Paul’s train of thought.

In 12:31, he says “Desire the greater gifts.”

Now, look at 14:1: “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts.”

So, here’s what’s happening: Paul is starting a new train of thought in 12:31.

He’s just finished his setup that gifts are to be used for the common good to build one another up, and now he’s going to tell them with specifics how they are to use their gifts, especially tongues and prophecy.

That’s chapter 14.

So in 13, he immediately interrupts his train of thought with almost this parenthetical statement.

Imagine, as it were, a set of parentheses around all of chapter 13.

“I’m going to tell you how to use your gifts in the church, but first, let me just say up front that all of these gifts have to function in this way, the better way…in love.

The way you guys are using your gifts right now is going to tear your church apart.

You are using your gifts to build yourself up at the expense of others.

I’m going to show you the way that is beyond comparison: Using your gifts in love, that is, seeking the good of others before yourself, edifying the church, and seeking the common good.

Christians must demonstrate self-sacrificial love because love, not gifts, is the truest expression of Christ-likeness and love, not gifts, is what will last forever between his disciples.

Love...

And so, now to our text:

The passage that is so often used in weddings, it turns out, really has little to do with romance.

Paul writes it in the context of a church that is ripping itself apart from the inside through selfishness, everyone demanding their rights, and thinking about me, me, me.

This is a passage for the church, to tell us how to operate and serve one another.

And in it, we find a clear expression of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is love itself.

PRAY

Paul wants us, the Church, to desire gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But, they are not to be divorced from their intended purpose, to be used in love, to look out for others instead of ourselves.

In fact, he says, without love, gifts, no matter how great, mean absolutely nothing.

Love is Necessary

Our first point today, verses 1-3: Love is Necessary.

Christians must demonstrate self-sacrificial love because love, not gifts, is the truest expression of Christ-likeness and love, not gifts, is what will last forever between his disciples.

Paul starts this section laying right into the Corinthians.

Remember, in their minds the ability to speak in tongues, to speak in a language that they hadn’t studied, was the premiere gift of the Spirit and it made you better than anyone else.

And Paul comes right in and says, if I speak in tongues, heck, if I speak the language of angels, but I don’t do it in love, all I’m doing is making obnoxious noise.

Then he goes on to list all of these other gifts, gifts that he’s just finished telling them are important in the life of the church, and says they are completely pointless if they aren’t exercised in love.

Can you prophesy, can you preach like Charles Spurgeon or George Whitefield?

If you don’t do it in love you are nothing.

Do you have knowledge of the Scriptures?

Are you a walking tome of spiritual wisdom from the pages of the Bible?

If you aren’t sharing it in love, you are just a bag of hot air.

And he doesn’t stop just with gifts, he lays into their, and our actions, as well.

Are you an extremely generous person?

Are you willing to give everything away, are you even willing to sacrifice your own body?

If you don’t do those things in love, you gain nothing.

He’s not saying that these activities are pointless.

The activity isn’t at stake.

The person doing them is at stake.

I am nothing, he says.

I gain nothing.

All of these things are good things, what is not good is religious performance, putting your gifts on display when you aren’t acting in love, which we’ll see in the next paragraph and our next point.

Remember, the Corinthians thought the mark of a spiritual person was that they had flashy spiritual gifts.

No, Paul says, the mark of a spiritual person is that they are a loving person.

The question before us this morning, then, is this: what do you think the mark of a spiritual person is?

Put that into Paul’s words...

If I go to church every Sunday, but do not have love...

If I give money to the church regularly, but do not have love...

If I preach like Spurgeon, but do not have love...

GET THE COVENANT

Love is necessary.

Regardless of what your gifts may be, or what you may give, or how much you may sacrifice, if you aren’t acting like a loving person, you are nothing spiritually.

Without love, you have missed the point of being one of Christ’s disciples.

A failure to act in love is a mark of spiritual bankruptcy, no matter how good you may look or what you might do.

So, if we are to act in love, what does love act like?

Love is Others-Focused

Paul tell us, at least gives us some examples, of exactly how love acts in verses 4-7.