The Greatest of These Is Love
1 Corinthians 13
Introduction: Let me begin with a “softball question.” What is the primary reason there were divisions in the church in Corinth? We could come up with all sorts of reasons. They were following different teachers. They overlooked immorality. Some didn’t believe in the resurrection. People wanted to eat in the idol’s temple because they had the best dinners. In worship, many wanted to show off their special gifts. And we could go on.
But none of these, not even the doctrinal differences, were the primary reason for divisions in Corinth. The primary reason for their divisions is, they didn’t love each other.
Nothing has changed today. Churches split today or members get upset and leave. What is really amazing is how often one side (whether the “leavers” or the “stayers”) jumps up and down and says, it is because of a doctrinal issue. I’ve seen it time and again, and it wasn’t doctrinal. It was one group or both groups who simply stopped loving. And once that lack of love got irritating enough, a doctrinal issue came to the surface and was used as an excuse to split.
In 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul commanded that these brethren “all agree, and that there be no divisions among you, that that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” To obey that command, what must be the first step? Love!
- Paul’s Introduction to Love: 13:1-3
- It is significant that Paul places his discussion on love toward the end of his letter instead of the beginning. In essence, it is Paul saying, “Now that I’ve shown you the total mess you have made of God’s church, let me show you the root problem and how to fix this.”
- 12:31 “…and I will give you a still more excellent way.” Throughout chapter 12 Paul had been showing the Corinthians the proper use of their gifts, and primarily how those gifts should be used together to build up the body. But to simply give instructions on the use of the gifts is not enough. Paul uses the word “still” to indicate, “Let me take you to a higher level…something more excellent than just knowing some rules.” This approach is so important! God cannot foresee every problem in a church. Therefore, the “still more excellent way” is to teach love so that no matter than circumstances, the problem will be solved.
- These first three verses make it obvious that the Corinthians have an inordinate concern for their own personal importance. Paul uses hyperboles or exaggeration to indicate that that which we personally attain has no significance without love: tongues of angels, prophetic powers, all mysteries, all knowledge, all faith to remove mountains, give away all I have, deliver my body to be burned…”
- In other words, we can be the greatest of the greatest in what we do for the Lord, but without love, we are a noice maker, we are nothing, we gain nothing! Without love, we are simply an irritating gong that keeps annoying everyone around. Did you know that this happens in baseball and football teams? A player can be a superstar, but the disruption he brings to the locker room causes him to be cut or traded.
- Remember, Paul’s beginning message was, “I preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why is this true? Because “love builds up” (8:1).
- The Attributes of Love
- Love is Patient – long-suffering; to endure patiently, wait with patient expectation. A person who “forebears” another is a person who is able to wait for someone without complaining, to put up with another’s weaknesses, mistakes, and idiosyncrasies.
- This is so hard for us, and we typically give very little slack to others. instead of patience, we get irritated. When you have made mistakes and done foolish things that affected other, how many times would you have liked to have said, “Please deal with me gently; be patient with me; I’m working on it.”
- We are all at varied levels of growth. Consider your foolishness when you were young and how many people patiently waited for you to grow.
- Love is Kind.
- Kindness is a reflection of God. Ephesians 2:5-6, “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
- Ephesians 5:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
- Definition: “gentle, obliging, gracious.” God’s kindness is illustrated in his mercy and compassion. Kindness is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
- Love does not Envy. Envy comes from comparing ourselves with others to see if our “status” is superior or adequate. This was going on between the Corinthians over their gifts.
- Love does not Boast.
- This word in its various forms is used 30 times in the Corinthian letters. It was a key sin of the Corinthians and their false teachers.
- 4:7 is one of the best explanations: “For who sees anything different than you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
- The point is clear. Everything we are, have, or have accomplished, is what we have received from the Lord. Therefore, in what will we boast except in what the Lord has done?
- Love is not Arrogant/Puffed Up.
- Obviously, this is very similar to the “boast.” In this case it is flaunting the significance of oneself and one’s standing.
- It is reflected in Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees in their long robes, their lengthy public prayers, and their insistence that they be give titles such as “father” and “rabbi.”
- Love does not act this way because love is set on the care and needs of others and therefore has no interest in self-promotion. Paul’s “foolish boasting” of his boasting in 2 Corinthians 11 illustrates how he was willing to allow himself to be last so others could be first.
- Love is not Rude — Does not behave Rudely.
- This word is used only one other time in the NT (7:36): “If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed…let them marry—it is no sin.”
- Thus, being rude is to “act unbecomingly.” It seems to connect well with boasting and arrogance in that one’s inflated view of self causes unseemly behavior—treating others as below you or beneath you.
- Love does not Insist on its Own Way — Is not Self-Seeking.
- 10:24 clearly addresses this principle: “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.”
- 10:33 “Just as I try to please everyone is everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”
- We live in a society that constantly promotes boasting, arrogance, rudeness, and self-seeking in mediums like Facebook, Instagram, and Tic-Tok.
- Love is not Irritable — Provoked to anger — not easily Angered. ESV adds, “or resentful” (mrg: Greek: “does not count up wrongdoing.” The NIV: “Keeps no record of wrongs.”
- We really do not need and explanation of that, do we? Can you imagine how much better we would be at loving if we followed these words?
- When we struggle with this, consider what God did for us:
- Romans 4:8 “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:19 “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…”
- If we appreciate and want this blessing from God, we must give this same blessing to each other. It is love to the highest degree.
- Love does not Rejoice at wrongdoing, but Rejoices with the truth. Or, NIV, “Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.” If we love like God loves, we are never happy about evil or wrongdoing even when it includes a person taking unlawful retribution against those who have done evil.
- Love is Patient – long-suffering; to endure patiently, wait with patient expectation. A person who “forebears” another is a person who is able to wait for someone without complaining, to put up with another’s weaknesses, mistakes, and idiosyncrasies.
- Concluding Applications
- Please think about where God’s priorities are.
- Truth and knowledge of God’s word matters to God. Speaking truth, hearing truth, and practicing truth are extremely important to God. “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
- But in 1 Cor. 8:1 Paul placed love as a priority over knowledge of the truth. “Knowledge (by itself) puffs up; love edifies.” Christians have long concerned themselves so heavily on whether we are teaching and following what is right that it has resulted a people who act is if nothing else matters. This is not only arrogance (who knows and understands all truth?), but it has resulted in strife, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, quarreling, and a general atmosphere of biting and devouring one another.
- Love bears all things
- Love believes all things
- Love hopes all things
- Love endures all things
- Love never fails
- Therefore, what is required of us from this text? Read it again and put your name in every place that love is mentioned. Everyone of us will see ourselves falling short. Everyone of us has serious work to do. We cannot afford to neglect growing in love!
- Please think about where God’s priorities are.
Berry Kercheville
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