1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NRSV If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have 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 do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. 7 [Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love. I’ll bet, that when this scripture was read, the first image in your mind was watching two people pledge their love to each other at a wedding. Maybe it was your own wedding. This passage is such a fantastic definition of Love. What it is, what it isn’t, and how it can permeate a love relationship is paralleled by no other passage in the Bible. Janna and I use it in our Marriage Ministries – Marriage Encounter. I have no desire to negate that usage. Paul certainly wouldn’t argue with the application of this chapter to the love a couple shares. Unconditional love is the foundation of every good marriage.
Paul, however, is concerned with a different dynamic in his letter to the Corinthian church. I’m reminded of that every time I hear, “Love Never Fails” (13:8). As one who has been divorced, love (that is couple love) did fail. Here is where I believe that Paul can offer some clarity we can apply to the church as well as marriages, when he talks to the church in Corinth – and us. Without taking away from usage in relation to couple love, the context in I Corinthians is important. From chapter 12 through chapter 14 Paul is addressing Spiritual gifts and relationships within the body of Christ. In the very opening of 1 Corinthians, he affirms the Corinthians by saying they are ‘not lacking in any spiritual gift’, but then he cautions them to ‘be in agreement with no divisions among you.’ Paul finds the Corinthians using spiritual gifts as a measure of spiritual status and pride. ‘My gifts are better than your gifts!’ Paul is very concerned about the Spiritual Gifts. They are the building blocks that God uses to effect change in the world. Look at the lists in 12:8-10 & 12:28. Verses 8-10 speak of the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Then through a powerful image of the human body, he talks of a unity amongst the variety of gifts. There are many members in the body, but unique gifts in each. He also addresses the problem of excluding people from the body. He speaks of self-exclusion – ‘I’m not good enough to be in the body’, and being excluded by others – ‘because you don’t possess this gift or that gift you are not a part of the body’. He then makes the transition through 12:31, “But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” We should always be open to discovering the spiritual gifts God has in store for us, but … . There are three divisions in this chapter, that give rise to three main points. First, Love is the ground of all meaning (13:1-3) Second, Love requires the formation of Character (13:4-7) And third, All knowledge is partial and incomplete (13:8-13) Before we go any further I want to remind you of something you are probably already aware of. In the Greek language, there are several words that all get translated “love” in our English language. The word used throughout Chapter 13 is “agape” – unconditional love. It is the love that God has for His Son, Jesus Christ. It is not love that comes from affinity for someone or is based on feelings and emotions. “Agape” is God’s pure love, unconditional and never ending. To illustrate the various words for ‘love’, I would call your attention to John 21:15-19. This is the scene when Jesus meets his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee post resurrection. After breakfast, he has a conversation with Peter. He asks three times if Peter loves him. In the first two times, Jesus asks “do you love (“agape”) me more than these?” And Peter responds, “yes, Lord, I love (“phileo”) you”. Phileo is a love characterized by an attachment to the object of our love coming from feelings. The name Philadelphia comes from the root, “philo” – indicating a brotherly kind of love. The problem is that feelings disappear under stress, and love wanes as well. Jesus was asking him if his love was the lasting kind. The third time Jesus asks, he uses “philo”, recognizing that Peter’s power to love still has to grow, and he needs to learn how ‘God-powered’ love conquers all. God wants agape love for all of us. Let’s take a deeper look at the three lessons in chapter 13. First, Love is the ground of all meaning. Paul takes several spiritual gifts he believes are important and valuable, and sets them against the “love test.” If our spiritual gifts are not used with love, then they are useless. It should be the test of everything we do. Paul is challenging the Corinthian Community to test its motives? He sees that their motives are not always positive, and he wants to change that, For us, we need to ask (of everything we do), ‘Why am I doing this?’ If we cannot honestly say, ‘I’m doing this for love and in love’, then the legitimacy of the whole enterprise must come under serious doubt. When I was in my first year of college at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology I began to attend the United Methodist church in Socorro, where the college was located. Brother Jim, and his wife Trig, was the pastor. He was a solid Biblical preacher who related well to almost everyone. A small group of members started going up to Belen, NM (north of Socorro) and attending a charismatic small group. They discovered the joy of the gift of speaking in tongues. I thought it was marvelous that they were deepening their spiritual walk with God. Unfortunately, in their zeal, they began to use the gift as a litmus test as to a person’s spiritual health. ‘If you could speak in tongues, then you were truly saved, truly mature.’ It became a battering ram that nearly destroyed the church. Paul would say that the gift was not being used ‘in love.’ A caveat to all of this is that love doesn’t mean uncritical acceptance. Paul’s confrontation of the church in Corinth in this letter is a great example of this kind of love. He wants the best for the believers and the church as a whole, and so he confronts their current errant behavior. He insists, as we do, that a unified body of Christ is an amazing witness for a loving God. Second, Love requires formation of Character. This section details what love is (vv. 4 & 6b-7) and what love is not (vv. 5-6a). Paul paints a picture of habitual actions and dispositions that set everything in life on the right course. Go back and reread verses 4-7. Here is how it reads in the New International Version. “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” It is a powerful lesson on the character of love that should be present in growing Christians. For example, if I need to be more patient, I may need to learn not to keep a record of wrongs. Paul closes this section with four “all” statements”. Hear the consistent character of a Christian who loves with ‘agape’: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Paul intends that we learn these attitudes and responses to life as we follow Jesus Christ. Last, All our knowledge is partial and incomplete. The Corinthians, in a crossroads of culture and commerce, highly valued knowledge. He talks about knowledge in 8:1 when he says, “…knowledge puffs up but love builds up.” What Paul does here is to compare and contrast love (agape) with other virtues. Paul was particularly aware of prophecy, and yet he reminds us that prophecy, tongues, knowledge – all of these grand virtues and spiritual gifts - will end when Christ comes again. Only love will not be rendered obsolete in the end of all time. Think about it. “Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” Faith becomes reality – there is no need to have faith in God when you are standing right in front of Him. Hope is fulfilled in the end – as Paul says elsewhere, you don’t hope for something you already have. We will have eternal life and communion with God, so there is no need for hope. But love will continue – and in even greater measure as we adore God face to face, as we feel the full force of God’s limitless love directed to us. Therefore, Love is the greatest and most lasting. As a church – the Body of Christ – love must ground everything we do. Our music ministry is a wonderful example of this. Our musicians – choir, accompanists, strings and flute and percussion, guitars, mandolin, and bass – all pour countless hours into music all for the love of God and love of music! God blesses us and empowers us to bring the Gospel to life in music. As we reach out in ministry to our community and the world, love must drive us. It must be at the root of who we are and what we do. For example, evangelism can easily be co-opted by self-centered motives. You’ve heard it and have probably said it (I know I have on occasion), we need more people so we will have more income, … so we can continue to minister. It can take on the character of self-preservation instead of extending the Gospel. We must evangelize because we have a burden for the soul of every person, that they would come to know our amazing and loving God, and find salvation. Another example is in doing mission without strings. The Cookie Jar auction for Skylar Ohrt last night was love in action. People did not come to find a bargain, but to give love and support to a family in crisis! In another church I served, we were holding an auction to raise funds for the ministries of the church. As the auction started it felt like everyone was trying to get something for a little as possible. The auctioneer, a member of the church, stopped the proceedings to remind us that we came to raise money NOT find a bargain. As the auction resumed, people caught the spirit, and began paying more than things were worth out of love for God and belief in the ministry we were trying to do. As a church, we can never afford to be lax in developing our God given love. Our Christian character is what allows God to use us more effectively. As a church, we must embody, in all our internal and external dealings, the fact that we are powered by Love – agape! Today, let us begin a daily habit of examining our actions and motives. What we do religiously; what we do in our jobs and the marketplaces of the world; what we do in political arenas; what we do in relationships with others – let’s ensure that the motive of love is what drives us. Amen!
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