Take your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. We are going to be looking at one of the most well-known and beloved texts in the whole Bible tonight. This is commonly called "the love chapter."
When I was in sixth grade, my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Teirney, made our class memorize this chapter. It is probably the first chapter I memorized and I am very grateful I did.
Then in college, I picked up a little book called "The Greatest Thing in the World" by Henry Drummond which is kind of a sermon on 1 Corinthians 13 and I got a little bit obsessed with this chapter for awhile.
There probably isn't a passage in all of Paul's books that has been written about more than 1 Corinthians 13. It is commonly read at weddings. It is quoted in movies. It's found it's way into more than a few Hobby Lobby decorations and probably been tattooed on a vast amount of millennial forearms.
But it is important for us to understand why this chapter exists. It isn't a chapter that is just about love. It wasn't like Paul was writing 1 Corinthians and he thought "you know, these guys need a break, they need an intermission, let me give them a poem about love" then I'll go back to roasting them about their view of spiritual gifts.
No! This chapter was written to correct a church. It wasn't written about marriage. It wasn't written for Hallmark card fodder. It was written to deal with a fighting church.
Remember, the church at Corinth was dividing over all kinds of issues:
- Over who their favorite preacher was (I am of Paul, I am of Appollos)
- They were suing each other.
- They were ignoring sin.
- They were being very careless in the way that they handled Christian liberty.
- They were totally abusing the poor in the way they did their potlucks and the Lord's supper.
- and in Chapter 12, they were really off in the way they used Spiritual Gifts.
They treated spiritual gifts like a bunch of kindegartners playing with toys. It was either "mine!" or "mine is better!"
And this chapter, this whole chapter gives the one thing that this church was missing. It wasn't knowlege or giftedness or money - it was missing love.
So let's go ahead and read the chapter. It's a short chapter.
[!bible] 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - KJV
- Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
- 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, and have not charity, I am nothing.
- And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
- Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
- Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
- Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
- Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
- Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
- For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
- But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
- When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
- For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
- And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
The word "charity" here is the greek word Agape. The greek language has four different words for love - and it's helpful. Because in English we use the word "love" a lot, but we don't really have a way of distinguishing it.
For instance, someone might say "I'm in love with Susie" or "I really love pineapple pizza" or "My mom really loved me."
All three of those are completely different things. It's confusing. The greeks had a way around this, they had proper words for each of these things:
- Eros - this is a physical, self-serving love. It is the word we get "erotic" from.
- Storge- this is a word for familial love.
There is this story of how a king conquered a city, and he was going to let two brothers go out free and he said "you can take with you anything you can carry" and so these two brothers chose to go out and do you know what they were carrying? One was carrying his mom and the other was carrying his dad. That is storge.
- Then they had the word "Philo" - which is a friendly love. Brotherly love. We have the city "philadelphia" to remind us of that.
Finally, there is the word used in this chapter - a word that is hardly found at all in all secular greek literature - the word agape - which is Christian love. Our King James translates it as "charity."
I'm going to give you three short sentences from this chapter to help you understand and apply this awesome text.
The first thing I believe this chapter is trying to teach us is...
1. You need love more than you need any spiritual gift. (1-3)
Remember that chapter 12 is all about the use of spiritual gifts. Paul had just explained that the church is like a body. And we need all different kinds of body parts.
Apparently, the Corinthian church really valued the flashy gifts. Speaking in tongues. Hearing a word of knowlege from God. Preaching and prophesying.
But Paul promised at the end of chapter 12 He would show us "a more excellent way." This is that more excellent way. Instead of focusing on what gifts you have - focus on love. Focus on what our king James here calls "charity."
And Paul makes a very important point here, you can have all of these flashy gifts, but if you don't have them with Christian love - they are nothing.
You can be this amazing speaker, who speaks like an angel - but if it isn't paired with love - it's like a bunch of symbols clashing together.
You can have all kinds of knowlege. I mean, you can have more degrees than a thermometer. But if you don't love - you are nothing. You are a big nobody.
And you can even have faith to move mountains - but it is nothing without love.
You can even do these great things - you can give away everything you have for the poor. You can even give yourself as a martyr - but if it is done without love, it doesn't count for a hill of beans.
The most important thing is love. It is acting in Christian love. It means more than gifting, it means more than knowlege, it means more than leadership - it is THE thing in the church. You have to love each other.
And so Paul is saying "stop worrying about your gifts and start worrying about loving each other." That's the most important thing.
That's the first thing this chapter is supposed to teach us. The second thing this chapter is supposed to teach us about love is...
2. You'll know you have love by the way you treat each other. (4-7)
Now verses 4-7 tells us how love behaves. Look at those verses again:
[!bible] 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 - KJV 4. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Love treats other people well. It treats them like Christ treated us.
I mean, you can look at these verses and substitute Christ and it still works:
Christ suffers long and is kind. Christ doesn't envy. Christ doesn't brag. Christ isn't puffed up.
All of these things are true of Christ. They are also things that correspond to the fruit of the Spirit.
[!bible] Galatians 5:22-23 - KJV 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
If you put these two lists over each other in a venn diagram - they almost completely overlap.
So how does love act? How are we supposed to treat each other? We treat each other like Christ would, like we would if we were filled with the Spirit.
But let's pick three specific things out of this list here to focus on:
Love doesn't envy
Way back in Genesis 4, we had the very first son Cain, give into envy and kill his brother.
Envy, or jealousy, is a destructive cancer - and it is the enemy of love.
You have to determine in the church you aren't going to envy other people.
- You won't envy their gifts.
- You won't envy their blessings.
- You won't envy any part of them.
You will just love them.
I want to tell you about this guy I sat next to in almost every college class. His name is Tyler Gillette. He was a really good guy. He was a fair student. But not a standout. He was just Tyler.
Tyler went to work after college to the Worth Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Texas, working under Dr. Raymond Barber. When Dr. Barber retired, Tyler was picked to be his successor. He pastors a church with over a thousand members. He gets asked to speak regularly at all kinds of big conferences, at every major college. God is really blessing him and his ministry.
Do you think that is easy? I have struggled with envy about that.
What does Christian love do - it kills envy. It says "praise the Lord, amen, good for you, I'm glad God is using you."
Love envies not.
Let's look at another one:
Love doesn't behave unseemly.
This basically means that love isn't rude. Love doesn't make a scene.
This isn't something we are really tempted to, but something we have to grow out of and be conscious of. We have to learn to have manners and to not embarrass others.
Because that isn't loving.
One more...
Love thinks no evil.
Do you know, sometimes it is human nature to want other people to fall. It is human nature to say "Oh, I bet they are up to something. I just know they are going to be found out." This is especially true if someone has hurt you.
And agape love says "I'm not going to do that. I'm going to give this person the benefit of the doubt. I'm going to think the best of them."
And there is a whole list of thes e things. This would be a good list to memorize - but more than memorize - it would be good to write out what each of these words means and how you can be these things to others.
It would be good to take this list and just pray through people in the church and say "God, help me to be kind to Mark, help me to suffer long with Mark, help me to not envy Mark and his cool, cool cars."
Christian love isn't some nebulous thing - it is manifested in the way we treat each other.
One more point we can learn from this chapter about what it means to love...
3. If you get love, you'll get something that lasts longer than Spiritual gifts. (8-13)
That's what I believe verses 8-13 are saying. Spiritual gifts are temporary and spiritual gifts are incomplete - but love is forever.
There is going to come a time when Jesus comes back and we don't need the spiritual gifts anymore. There is going to come a time when our faith turns to sight and our hope is fulfilled. But love will still be needed.
On a practical note - love is what lasts. Not gifts. Not talents. But love. That is what we remember.
A couple of months ago, one of my childhood pastors died. His name was Calvin Fuller. If there is one reason why I'm in the ministry today besides the call of God, it was Cal Fuller.
Do you know, I don't remember a single sermon Brother Fuller ever preached. Actually, that's not true - there are a few I remember because they were really bad. But the week in and week out preaching ministry - I don't really remember any of it.
Do you know what I do remember? I remember that he loved me. I remember how he loved others. I remember him picking me up and going to a widows house, to take care of her yard work with him. I remember the way he loved odd people and treated everyone with respect.
Listen, how you love each other in this church is going to have a bigger long term impact than any sermon, any song, any cantata, and any program. How you show interest in each other, how you show patience for each other, how you love each other through trials and blessings - that is what matters in the end.
So do you know what the more excellent way is? It is to focus on love. To focus on treating each other with these fifteen different ways we are to love each other.
