Text:
1Corinthians 13:4–8a:
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.
8a: Charity never faileth:
Theme:
What is Love
Introduction:
- Our text comes from the writings of Paul to the church in Corinth. This church sent letters of inquiry or questions to Paul regarding marriage and other issues of carnality existent in the church. Simply put, the people of the church of Corinth did not know where humanity stopped and God started.
- The 13th Chapter of First Corinthians has traditionally been known as the “Love Chapter”. The King James Version uses the word “charity” instead of love…highlighting the primary act of love which is to “give”.
- This chapter is divided into three distinct sections:
- Love’s necessity and advantage
- Ministerial gifts must be GOVERNED by LOVE
- Love’s properties and effects
- What is love?
- Love’s abiding and superiority
- Love conquers all
- Love’s necessity and advantage
- The Theme focuses on the second section of this chapter….WHAT IS LOVE?
- A prerequisite for the text is to understand the essence of love itself.
- As 1John 4:16 says, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
- God is Love…therefore the converse holds true…. (TRUE) Love is (of) God
- There are two “loves” that we experience, manage, and are impacted by in our lives:
- Love of GOD
- Mark 12:30, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
- Love of OTHERS
- Mark 12:31, “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
- What about “Love of SELF”?
- Mark 8:34 says, “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
- As believers we sacrifice a pure love of self and replace it with a caretaker’s mentality
- 1Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
- It is not loving self. It is respecting and taking care of what God has blessed us with.
- As believers we sacrifice a pure love of self and replace it with a caretaker’s mentality
- Mark 8:34 says, “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
- Love of GOD
- As Mary J. Blige said in her R&B song of 1993… “Real Love! I’m searching for a Real Love!”
- Not everything that feels like love is REAL LOVE!
- We tell ourselves, convince ourselves, delude ourselves…and then have to deal with the repercussions later when we grow up, wise up, look up!
- In the movie, Captain Coreles’ Mandolin in 2001, a father explains how confused some are about what love is told his daughter:
- Love is what is left over after being in love is over. He said that your roots are deep and they are so intertwined that you cannot imagine being apart…that is love!
- As the old Gospel song says, “Only what you do for Christ will last!”. Once the “Thrill is Gone” as BB King said, if you have something left, that is LOVE.
- Not everything that feels like love is REAL LOVE!
- There are three types of love that we typically deal with in our day to day living.
- Filios – brother or sister
- Eros – sexual/intimate
- Agape – unconditional …Love of God
- There are two embodiments of love that we typically deal with in our day to day living
- Love that one has “inside” and wants to share with someone else
- God’s Spirit housed in our soul
- Love in an intimate relationship with another person
- The reciprocal, “give and take”, relationship with another person where what is exchanged is LOVE
- What is in us, LOVE, is so great that is overflows to others that are CHOSEN to be close to us
- Psalms 23:5, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
- Love that one has “inside” and wants to share with someone else
- So, who is YOUR cup running over onto?
- Choose your “relationships” carefully!
- It takes TWO people to have a relationship.
- It takes TWO people to have a LOVING relationship.
- As 1John 4:16 says, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
Body:
Our text goes a step further for us to explain the properties and effects of LOVE:
- “Charity suffereth long”
- Love endures. Love suffers. Love puts up with it. Love keeps pressing.
- If it is LOVE, this takes no thought or effort. But, if it isn’t LOVE, this is work and not happily accepted.
- “and is kind”
- Love is kind and not hindering, harmful, or hurtful
- “charity envieth not”
- Since God is love, and I can do all things through Him, I have no need of anything besides Love. I don’t envy what others have. I have confidence that what I have is ENOUGH!
- “charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up”
- Love is humble and doesn’t impose itself on others. Love doesn’t have to defend or argue itself…it speaks for itself!
- “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil”
- Love is predictable! With love there are justifiable expectations that one MUST have. Don’t be open to anything because Love will NOT produce just anything. If it does not ACT LIKE Love, then it is NOT Love.
- “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth”
- Love doesn’t like what is not of itself. Love yearns for truth on the inward parts as David said. Either come correct or don’t come at all!
- “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things”
- You can’t pick and choose the things that you want or don’t want in Love. It is the Love me or Leave me dichotomy.
- If it is LOVE, this takes no thought or effort. But, if it isn’t LOVE, this is work and not happily accepted.
- “Charity never faileth:”
- Absolute statement that summarizes all of the others. Love won’t fail!!! People fail, but Love never fails!!
- If the people fail, then the Love does not exist between the two EVEN if one may individually still have it.
- If the “love” fails, then IT WASN’T LOVE!!
Conclusion:
- Considering all these, if it DOESN’T ACT LIKE LOVE, then it ISN’T LOVE
- So, do you have LOVE or something that you are calling love?
- Choose Life…not death
- Choose Jesus…not the world
- Choose Love
- So, do you have LOVE or something that you are calling love?
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