1 Cor. 13 A more excellent way .
Intro: There is nothing better than walking in the door of
your house to the smell of fresh baked cookies or Brownies / Good Roast
A)Aroma is
sweet – fills the air w/ expectation / excitement
B) A
few weeks ago – Came home smell of death – Amy
warned me –
1)
Mom cooking something – not good – Bad meat – smelt
like Cow droppings – Horrid
C)
Well we have been discussing the Person & work of the HS – 14th
study
1)
Last 5 or 6 weeks on the gifts
D)
Gifts functioning in the body the way that God
intended – Nothing Sweeter – Great aroma in the Church
1)
When they are not – Aroma is foul – uninviting –
E)
Well here in 1 Cor.13 Paul tells us what the secret ingredient is for that
sweet Aroma – LOVE – READ V.1-13
A)
Many
studies have been given / books written / songs created/ often sung at weddings
/
B)
It
is indeed a clear description of the love of our Lord & savior Jesus
Christ./ It is indeed a
GREAT STUDY !!!!!!!!
G. Campbell Morgan said that
examining this chapter is like dissecting a flower to understand it. If you tear it apart too much, you lose the
beauty. Redpath said one could get a
spiritual suntan from the warmth of this Chapt.
However
what many people often forget is the context in which this Ch. Is placed in the
Bible . Most studies fail to observe that .
A) As a mere study on the on the Love of God it seems that a
better place for this Ch.
1) Might be Gal. 5 right after then description of the fruit of Spirit!
B)
Placed
right after Paul’s exhortation to walk in the Spirit – for surely you can not
come close to experience these attributes w/ out Spirit’s Power !
C)
Another fitting place – Right after Jn. 3:16 – For God so Loved …..
1) Now here is a description of
that Love !!!!
D)
But
those are not the places that the H.S. chose to place this Chapt.
E)
Instead
the H.S. puts this description of the Love of God – smack dab in the middle of
His discussion on the gifts of the Spirit / function in body.
We have looked at the gifts
Defined in Ch.12 / Their place & function in Ch.14 / Ch. 12 v.31 But earnestly desire the best gifts.
And yet I show you a more excellent way.
A)See
The Corinthians were enamored with spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of tongues.
1)
Without love, a person
may speak with the gift of tongues, but it is as meaningless as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
C) You can have all the gifts in the world – No Love
- NOITHING – MEANINGLESS
1) Love for God / Love for others - Essence of Christianity / everything summed up in that
“Love
tempers the power and enablings of spiritual gifts from pure force and
spiritual ability into caring accomplishment.”
D)
Motivation
is RESPONSE TO HIS LOVE
So
my purpose in seeking gifts / in desiring to be used / in reaching out is all
to be out of a response to the love of God.
A)Not to be seen / IMPORTANT / in
the “ IN CROWD” / Strokes feeling like satisfying my
need to be useful!!!
B)
WE ARE TO BE A DISPENSER – THRU WHICH THE LOVE OF GOD CAN
FLOW – THRU THE GIFTS GIVEN
C) Love is to be the main
Characteristic of any ministry - Not
Worship team / how well studied / how good at this or that –
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and
though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
It is not that the gifts are nothing - or that others
cannot be profited somewhat. It means that I
am not profited and I am nothing.
A)It's ironic that those who seek power and
recognition in the operation of the gifts in fact profit nothing with God,
B)while those who desire nothing but the edification
of others and the glory of God are the ones who are in fact exalted.
C) PROPHECY – Proclaim the Word – Preaching – No love
1)
Empty - G.L. Story –
B. Ball – another Pastor
Great WISDOM
& KNOWLEDGE – Insights are us
!!!
1Cor. 8 Knowledge puffs up / Love Builds up
A) I know a guy – great teacher – great insights – never
made it as a Pastor – No Shepherds heart / Doesn’t like People
B)God is not impressed by our tongues
/ our preaching / knowledge / our faith -
He is impressed by our love
GREAT FAITH ….MTS Paul,
quoting the idea of Jesus, refers to faith
which could remove mountains (Matthew
17:20).
A)What an amazing thing it would be have faith which
could work the impossible! Yet, even
that faith makes us nothing if it is without love.
A man with faith can move great mountains; but he will set
them down right in the path of somebody else – or right on somebody else - if
he doesn’t have love!
B)
Interesting that another thing that this seems to be saying
is that it is possible to exercise spiritual gifts
1)
Possible to function in the Body – Possible to even take
great leaps of faith & see results
C)
But be totally in the wrong & VOID as far as any
heavenly reward goes – because the MOTIVATION WASN’T LOVE
Bestow
my goods to feed the Poor / body burned
A)Many Christians believe the Christian life is all
about sacrifice. Sacrificing your money, your life, for the
cause of Jesus Christ.
B) Sacrifice is important, but w/out love it is
useless. It
profits me nothing.
Duty vs Devotion
C)Each thing described in 1
Cor 13:1-3 is a good thing. Tongues are good. Prophecy and knowledge and faith are good. Sacrifice is good.
1)
But love is so valuable, so important, that
apart from it, every other good thing is useless.
What
Kind of love ?
A)Paul is using the Greek word agape. The ancient Greeks
had four different words we translate love.
B)It is important to understand the difference
between the words, and why the apostle Paul chose the Greek word agape here.
1st Eros was one word for love.
It described, as we might guess from the word itself, erotic love. It refers to sexual love.
A)2nd Storge was the second word for
love. It refers to family love, the
kind of love there is between a parent and child, or between family members in
general.
B)3rd Philia is the third word for
love. It speaks of a brotherly
friendship and affection. It is the
love of deep friendship and partnership.
1) It might
be described as the highest love of which man, without God’s help, is capable
of.
C) 4th Agape
is the fourth word for love. It is a
love that loves without changing. UNCONDOTIONAL -
1)
It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting
re-payment.
D)It is love so great that it can be given to the
unlovable or unappealing. It is love
that loves even when it is rejected.
1) It gives because it loves, it does not love in order to
receive.
PAUL PROCEEDS TO GIVE A DESCRIPTION OF LOVE IN V. 4-7
A)Paul is shinning Agape through a prism & we see 15 different colors
Each
ray gives a diff. facet of God's Agape love /
B)The focus is not so much on what love is / but what love does/ doesn't do
B)That is Because Agape is active / not passive !
Action words not esoteric concepts – Touchable /
relatable / Understandable
1) It doesn't just feel kind it does kind things / feel patient - is patient!
1JO 3:18
My
little children, let us not love in word or in tongue,
but in deed and in truth.- That's Agape
Begins w/ Two things love DOES : longsuffering and kind.
Love suffers long and is kind.
A)Love suffers long:
Love will endure a long time. It is the
heart shown in God, when it is said of the Lord,
The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward
us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
B) If God’s love is in us, we will be longsuffering
to those who annoy us and hurt us.
The ancient preacher John
Chrysostem said this is the word used of the man who is wronged, and who easily
has the power to avenge himself, but will not do it out of mercy and
patience.
Love suffers long & is
Kind- Kindness is the counter part to
patience
KINDNESS IN GRK – Speaks of that which is useful / serving & gracious
A)
Instead of being impatient – patient & seeking to see
how I can serve others
B)
Love is seen in acts of KINDNESS
4b-6) Eight things love is not: not envious, not proud, not arrogant, not rude, not cliquish,
not touchy, not suspicious, not happy with evil.
A)Love does not envy:
Envy is one of the least productive and most damaging of all sins. It accomplishes nothing, except to
hurt.
B)Love keeps its distance from envy, and does not
resent it when someone else is promoted or blessed.
1)
Adam Clarke describes the heart which does not
envy: “They are ever willing that others
should be preferred before them.”
C) Is envy a small sin?
Envy murdered Abel (Genesis 4:3-8).
Envy enslaved Joseph (Genesis 37:11, 28).
1)
Envy put Jesus on the cross: For he
knew that they had handed Him over because of envy (Matthew 27:18).
DOESN’T PARADE ITSELF – NOT PUFFED UP
A)
Hey look
at me / draw attention to self -
Musicians
B)
I’m doing
such & such
C)
Not HEY
LOOK AT ME / LOOK AT JESUS – JN.13
To be puffed up is to be arrogant
and self-focused.
A)It
speaks of someone who has a “big head.”
Love doesn’t get it’s head swelled, it focuses on the needs of others.
1) Love is Humble
ii.
William Carey is thought by many to be the founder of the modern missionary
movement. Christians all over the world
know who he was and honor him. He came
from a humble place; he was a shoe repairman when God called him to reach the
world. Once, when Carey was at a dinner
party, a snobbish lord tried to insult him by saying very loudly, “Mr. Carey, I hear you once were a shoemaker!” Carey replied, “No, your lordship, not a
shoemaker, only a cobbler!” Today, the
name of William Carey is remembered, but nobody remembers who that snobbish
lord was! His love showed itself in not
having a big head about himself.
DOESN’T BEHAVE RUDELY -
A) Not short
w/ others / not obnoxious – Considerate polite
DOESN’T SEEK ITS OWN
A)
Huge Problem – what is in it for me ATTITUDE
B) Love says give myself away –
spent on others
1)
Love understands better give than receive
D)
Paul communicates the
same idea in Romans 12:10: in honor giving preference to one another. Also, Philippians 2:4 carries the same
thought: Let
each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests
of others.
E) This is being like Jesus in a most basic way, being
an others-centered person instead of
a self-centered person.
F)
“Love is never satisfied but in the welfare, comfort, and salvation of all.
“That man is no Christian who is solicitous
for his own happiness alone; and cares not how the world goes, so that himself
be comfortable.” (Clarke)
Love is not Provoked - given to outburst of anger
A boy once asked, "Dad, how do wars
begin?"
"Well, take the First World
War," said his father. "That got started when Germany invaded
Belgium." Immediately his wife interrupted him:
"Tell the
boy the truth. It began because somebody was murdered."
The husband
drew himself up with an air of superiority and snapped back, "Are you answering the question, or am I?" Turning her
back upon him in a huff, the wife walked out of the room and slammed the door
as hard as she could.
When the dishes stopped rattling in the cupboard, an
uneasy silence followed, broken by the son when he said, "Daddy, you don't have to
tell me any more; I know now!"
THINKS NO EVIL – NO ACCOUNT Wife
Historical
A) Book
keeping term / “love does not store up the memory of any
wrong it has received.” Love will put
away the hurts of the past instead of clinging to them.
B) Those in
body never forget – always keep an account – Blew it / never be used here /
never taken seriously
1)
Scarlet Letter L
tattooed for head – LOSER
C) Peter
- He denied the Lord – ( day of
Pentecost – don’t let Peter preach )
1)
Tell Peter Risen
DOESN’T REJOICE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS –
rejoice = justify
A)
Seeking to
be little / make light / rationalize sin / make excuses
B) No Love
calls a spade a spade / then & only then
- repentance
C) Because I
love you – confront you / Love warns corrects / challenges /
H.S. does in us !!!!!
LOVE
REJOICES IN THE TRUTH !!!
A) True AGAPE is based in truth – not mushy feelings ( I love you man )
B) Sometimes the truth hurts
Four more things love is:
strong, believing, hopeful, and enduring. Spurgeon calls these four virtues love’s four sweet companions.
Bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
All things: we might have hoped Paul
would have chosen any phrase but this! All things encompasses everything!
A)We can all bear
some things, we can all believe some
things, we can all hope some things,
we can all endure some things. But God calls us father and deeper into love
for Him, for one another, and for a perishing world.
LOVE
BEARS ALL THINGS = Cover /
support / protect
A)
1 Peter 4: 8 And above all things have fervent love for
one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."
B)
Interesting that Peter would write that – HE LIVED IT
!!!
. “Love does not ask to have an
easy life of it: self-love makes that her aim.
Love denies herself, sacrifices herself, that she may win victories for
God, and hers shall be no tinsel
crown.” (Spurgeon)
LOVE BELIEVES ALL THINGS = NOT Suspicious or cynical
A)Benefit
of the Doubt
LOVE HOPES – : Love has a confidence in the future, not a pessimism. When hurt, it does not say, “It will be this
way for ever, and even get worse.” It
hopes for the best, and it hopes in God.
Love Endures – Hupomeno -
Military term = to hold a position or to conquer
A)
Heb. 12 :3
Joy set before Him Endured the Cross - ( Jesus didn’t just make it – He conquered the Cross
Love . . . endures all things: Most of us can bear all things,
and believe all things, and hope all things, but only for a
while!
The
greatness of agape love is it keeps
on bearing, believing, and hoping. It
doesn’t give up. It destroys enemies by
turning them into friends.
. Love never fails: Paul is addressing the
over-emphasis the Corinthian Christians had on the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. He shows they should emphasize
love more than the gifts, because the gifts are temporary “containers” of God’s
work; love is the work itself.
V.8-13
Everything else is going to vanish away = katargeo = to be rendered in
active
A) Listen in
the Millennial reign – Kingdom age / Heaven – no longer a need for tongues
prophecy etc. / w/ the Lord – He will speak
C) But Major Characteristic in
Kingdom of God will be Love !!!!