Sermon: The Way of Love by Rev. Jessica Johnson
Date: February 3, 2019
Key Scripture Passages: 1 Corinthians 13
Sermon:
The Corinthians
The city of Corinth was located on an isthmus between two harbors. Due to its location, Corinth was a major center of political and economic influence. The great amount of trade that passed through Corinth led the city to be a very pluralistic society influenced from all sorts of cultures and religions. As much as the Corinthians were known for their luxurious lifestyle, they were also known for their moral corruption. They were used to experimenting with all sorts of worldly pleasures, so it is not surprising that they embraced the experiential aspect of faith, specifically the spiritual gifts. They were used to living life on their own terms, so it is not surprising that they expected to encounter Christianity on their own terms.
The Gifts and The Fruits
The Apostle Paul, who founded the Christian church in Corinth, kept in close contact with them, and he had to do a lot of teaching about how to be a church and in proper relationship with God. The Spiritual Gifts were one of those things that Paul had to correct. They were using them to their own advantage rather than to the glory of God. Paul taught them about self-control to be in a right relationship with God and others, but even more so, Paul taught them about love.
The Way of Love
If I were to do a survey and ask everyone in this room to define love, I would get a different answer from each of you. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines love as a strong affection based on kinship or personal ties. To define love, it also uses phrases like warm attachment, admiration, devotion, and an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. In church, you often hear the phrase that God is love. While God is the source of all true love, love is merely one attribute of God. So, what is love? Paul offers one of the best definitions of love in his first letter to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 13 is well-known, and it is probably the number one reading used at weddings. Yet, when Paul wrote this, he was not writing about marital love. He was writing to the church in Corinth about how to love each other. While, yes, we should love our spouse in this way, it is also how we should love each other. 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us 3 main characteristics of love.
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
In verses 1-3, we learn that love is enriching. Paul specifically names five spiritual gifts: speaking in tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, and giving. Basically, Paul’s point was that if we practice these gifts without love, then they mean absolutely nothing. Love is to be our motivation. Love is what gives those spiritual gifts meaning and value.
In verses 4-7, we learn that love is edifying. Edification is when we build each other up instead of tearing each other down. Paul gives us the well-known list of what love is and what it isn’t.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
We put others before us. We do not exhibit pride over our own gifts or are not jealous of the gifts of others. Rather, we encourage each other to use our gifts for God. We work, minister, and live together in harmony, working towards a better good. Out of love, we seek to promote everyone’s relationship with God. Forgiveness and encouragement are two large components of love and edification.
In verses 8-13, we learn that love is enduring.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
While spiritual gifts may fade or no longer be needed when Christ returns, love will always be there. Love never ends. That is probably my most favorite parts of this passage. Love never ends. We have heard people say things like, “I just don’t love them anymore.” Yet, true love never ends. Knowing that God’s love never ends provides us hope; the hope we need to endure the rough times in life. Our faith and hope endure because of love.
Final Thoughts
In his letters, Paul teaches about the intersection of spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 states:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The way of love provides unity, harmony, diversity, and maturity in our spiritual walk. Our spiritual gifts should be controlled by the fruit of the spirit, chiefly amongst them, love. Let me leave you with one final prayer from Paul’s letters to the Colossians, Colossians 3:12-17.
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Love binds everything together in perfect harmony. May we embrace and share the love of Christ in all aspects of our lives. It is a love that never ends.
Further Suggested Study:
Date: February 3, 2019
Key Scripture Passages: 1 Corinthians 13
Sermon:
The Corinthians
The city of Corinth was located on an isthmus between two harbors. Due to its location, Corinth was a major center of political and economic influence. The great amount of trade that passed through Corinth led the city to be a very pluralistic society influenced from all sorts of cultures and religions. As much as the Corinthians were known for their luxurious lifestyle, they were also known for their moral corruption. They were used to experimenting with all sorts of worldly pleasures, so it is not surprising that they embraced the experiential aspect of faith, specifically the spiritual gifts. They were used to living life on their own terms, so it is not surprising that they expected to encounter Christianity on their own terms.
The Gifts and The Fruits
The Apostle Paul, who founded the Christian church in Corinth, kept in close contact with them, and he had to do a lot of teaching about how to be a church and in proper relationship with God. The Spiritual Gifts were one of those things that Paul had to correct. They were using them to their own advantage rather than to the glory of God. Paul taught them about self-control to be in a right relationship with God and others, but even more so, Paul taught them about love.
The Way of Love
If I were to do a survey and ask everyone in this room to define love, I would get a different answer from each of you. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines love as a strong affection based on kinship or personal ties. To define love, it also uses phrases like warm attachment, admiration, devotion, and an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. In church, you often hear the phrase that God is love. While God is the source of all true love, love is merely one attribute of God. So, what is love? Paul offers one of the best definitions of love in his first letter to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 13 is well-known, and it is probably the number one reading used at weddings. Yet, when Paul wrote this, he was not writing about marital love. He was writing to the church in Corinth about how to love each other. While, yes, we should love our spouse in this way, it is also how we should love each other. 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us 3 main characteristics of love.
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
In verses 1-3, we learn that love is enriching. Paul specifically names five spiritual gifts: speaking in tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, and giving. Basically, Paul’s point was that if we practice these gifts without love, then they mean absolutely nothing. Love is to be our motivation. Love is what gives those spiritual gifts meaning and value.
In verses 4-7, we learn that love is edifying. Edification is when we build each other up instead of tearing each other down. Paul gives us the well-known list of what love is and what it isn’t.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
We put others before us. We do not exhibit pride over our own gifts or are not jealous of the gifts of others. Rather, we encourage each other to use our gifts for God. We work, minister, and live together in harmony, working towards a better good. Out of love, we seek to promote everyone’s relationship with God. Forgiveness and encouragement are two large components of love and edification.
In verses 8-13, we learn that love is enduring.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
While spiritual gifts may fade or no longer be needed when Christ returns, love will always be there. Love never ends. That is probably my most favorite parts of this passage. Love never ends. We have heard people say things like, “I just don’t love them anymore.” Yet, true love never ends. Knowing that God’s love never ends provides us hope; the hope we need to endure the rough times in life. Our faith and hope endure because of love.
Final Thoughts
In his letters, Paul teaches about the intersection of spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 states:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The way of love provides unity, harmony, diversity, and maturity in our spiritual walk. Our spiritual gifts should be controlled by the fruit of the spirit, chiefly amongst them, love. Let me leave you with one final prayer from Paul’s letters to the Colossians, Colossians 3:12-17.
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Love binds everything together in perfect harmony. May we embrace and share the love of Christ in all aspects of our lives. It is a love that never ends.
Further Suggested Study:
- 1 Corinthians 13
- Galatians 5:22-23
- Colossians 3:12-17
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