April 21, 2024
1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:7
“All We Need is Love”
Service Overview: It’s been said that love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8), but in order for love to do that we’d better know what love is in the first place, and what it’s not.
Memory Verse for the Week:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)
Background Insights:
- First Corinthians 13 may be one of the most written about, talked about, and preached on passages of Scripture that the apostle Paul wrote. In it, a particular Greek word for love, agapē, is used ten times. While some have suggested this is an early version of a Christian hymn or perhaps a stand-alone, independently composed chapter on love, it is clear within the context this chapter is an integral part of a discussion Paul is giving on spiritual gifts and worship in the church. (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 257)
- Few chapters in the Bible have suffered more misinterpretation and misapplication than 1 Corinthians 13. Divorced from its context, it becomes “a hymn to love” or a sentimental sermon on Christian brotherhood. Many people fail to see that Paul was still dealing with the Corinthians’ problems when he wrote these words: the abuse of the gift of tongues, division in the church, envy of others’ gifts, selfishness (remember the lawsuits?), impatience with one another in the public meetings, and behavior that was disgracing the Lord. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Wise, 143)
- The purpose of chapter 13 is to portray love as the sine qua non of the Christian life and to insist that love must govern the exercise of all the gifts of the Spirit. Paul’s lyrical prose in this unit has encouraged many readers to take it out of context as a lovely meditation on the nature of love; nevertheless, the many verbal and conceptual links between 1 Corinthians 13 and the rest of the letter show that this chapter is not a hymn or an independently composed oration on love. Within 1 Corinthians it serves a clear argumentative purpose: Paul is trying to reform the Corinthians’ understanding and practice of spiritual manifestations in worship. (Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, 221)
- We use the term short-tempered to describe someone who loses his or her temper quickly or has a short fuse. Here the word that Paul uses is made up of two words. The first word is macro, which is the opposite of micro. It means “long.” The second word is thymia, which refers to heat or passion. So, literally, “love is long-tempered.” Love has a long fuse. Love also has a short memory. (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 259)
How does godly love so radically contrast with worldly love?
- Godly love compels action for the sake of another while worldly love fundamentally seeks to answer the question, “what’s in it for me?”
(vv. 3, 5, 7 | Rom. 13:8; Galatians 5:13-14; Philippians 2:4; 2 Timothy 3:2-4; 1 John 3:18)
In the New Testament, love is more of a verb than a noun. It has more to do with acting than with feeling. The call to love is not so much a call to a certain state of feeling as it is to a quality of action. (R.C. Sproul, The Intimate Marriage, 53)
Biblical love is not emotions or feelings, but attitudes and actions that seek the best interests of the other person, regardless of how we feel toward him. (Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 208)
Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object. (Voddie Baucham, Family Driven Faith, 57)
- Godly love offers a long leash to others’ faults while worldly love turns quickly to harshness or ridicule over minor inconvenience.
(vv. 4-5 | Ps. 86:15; Prov. 10:12; Gal. 5:22; Ephesians 4:2-3; Colossians 3:14; 1 Peter 4:8)
What does patient love among believers look like? Such love bears with certain annoyances or inconveniences without complaint. Such love does not lose its temper when provoked. Such love steadily perseveres. Without love, no matter how wonderful the gifts in the church, people will be impatient with one another, short-tempered, and irritable. (Grant R. Osborne, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 185)
- Godly love seeks to use gifts, knowledge, and wisdom to build others up while worldly love uses them to prop oneself up.
(vv. 1-3 | Rom. 12:10; 1 Cor. 10:24; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 2:3-4; 1 Peter 5:6-7; 1 John 4:20)
You may have knowledge bursting from your head, but if you do not have love bursting from your heart, you are just a big bust. (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 258)
Selfishness seeks its own private happiness at the expense of others. Love seeks its happiness in the happiness of the beloved. It will even suffer and die for the beloved in order that its joy might be full in the life and purity of the beloved. (John Piper, Desiring God, 176)
Spiritual gifts, no matter how exciting and wonderful, are useless and even destructive if they are not ministered in love. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Wise, 142)
- Godly love compels one to give regardless of what one gets in return.
(v. 7 | Prov. 19:17; Luke 6:35; Acts 20:35; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7; Hebrews 13:16; 1 John 3:18)
Love is kind—not merely patient or long-suffering in the face of injury, but quick to pay back with kindness what it received in hurt. (D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit, 62)
Love is giving – giving of oneself to another. It is not getting, as the world says today. It is not feeling and desire; it is not something over which one has no control. It is something that we do for another. No one loves in the abstract. Love is an attitude that issues forth in something that actually, tangibly happens. (Jay Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 99)
Conclusion… How can we become counter-cultural lovers by God’s standards?
A. As we regularly check our motives.
(Prov. 21:2; Matt. 6:1-18; Rom. 12:9; 1 Cor. 16:14; Phil. 2:3; 1 Thess. 2:4; 1 John 4:8)
Paul insists that there is nothing to be gained by self-sacrifice where love is absent. (Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, 225)
Christians do no one a favor if they remain pleasant but fail to communicate important truths which others neglect at their peril. But all the truth in the world, when not transmitted in a spirit of sensitivity and compassion, is likely to fall on deaf ears. (Craig L. Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, 350)
B. As we regularly realign our motives.
(Psalm 51:10; 1 Samuel 16:7; Psalm 37:4; John 14:15; Colossians 3:17; 1 Timothy 1:5)
Feelings change. You can’t promise to have a feeling. So if love is a feeling, the marriage vow makes no sense at all. But the vow does make sense because love is not a feeling. What is it, then? Love is a commitment of the will to the true good of another person. Of course, people who love each other usually do have strong feelings too, but you can have those feelings without having love. Love, let me repeat, is a commitment of the will to the true good of another person. (J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College, 98)
C. As we regularly spend time with Jesus so his motives can be cultivated in us.
(Ps. 37:4; John 13:34-35; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:16-19; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 John 4:16; 5:11-12)
In Himself, God is love; through Him, love is manifested, and by Him, love is defined. (Burk Parsons, Love is in the Air, Tabletalk Magazine, May 2004, 6)
the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others. (Grant R. Osborne, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 186)
Gospel Connection…
The greatest lover of all is Jesus; who laid aside all comfort and glory to obtain the greatest good for the objects of his affection; people.
(John 3:16; 15:13; Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:4-5; Philippians 2: 1-18; 1 John 4:7; 4:19)
If we want proof of God’s love for us, then we must look first at the Cross where God offered up His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Calvary is the one objective, absolute, irrefutable proof of God’s love for us. (Jerry Bridges, Trusting God, 138)
God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love. (Augustine)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- Why is prophecy or preaching worthless without love?
- In what ways have you tried to substitute other things, such as speech and scholarship, for loving? What was the result?
- Which of the virtues of love do you find easiest to practice? Which of the virtues of love do you find most difficult to practice?
- Which of the qualities of love would you most like to grow in?
- What is one tangible step you can take to more fully reflect the love of God to those you will encounter this coming week?
Quotes to note…
While spiritual gifts are important to the functioning of the body (12:12-31), they lose their value if love is not behind them. (Grant R. Osborne, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 182)
Society confuses love and lust. Often, so do believers. Unlike lust, God’s kind of love is directed outward toward others, not inward toward one’s self. It is utterly unselfish. (Osborne, 186)
Jesus Christ exemplified that true love is selfless love. It is a loving-you-before-you-love-me and even-if-you-don’t-deserve-it kind of love. (Daniel L. Akin, 1 Corinthians, 260)
Love enriches all that it touches. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Wise, 143)
In an age in which demanding one’s rights is considered a virtue, we must read again and again that love “is not self-seeking” (v. 5). (Craig L. Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, 352)
Love is not a higher and better gift; rather, it is a “way” (12:31b), a manner of life within which all the gifts are to find their proper place. (Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, 222)
Agapē means loving not for one’s own benefit, but for the benefit of others. (Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on 1 & 2 Corinthians, 190)
Love, and do what you like. (Augustine)
God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son. (Jerry Bridges, Trusting God, 155)
Love as distinct from “being in love” is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask, and receive from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 99)
With real love, believers can deal with conflict lovingly. When everyone willingly thinks the best of everyone else, people are freed to be honest and open. (Osborne, 188)
Love does not hold a grudge. It leaves a lot of room for people to make mistakes, and when they do, to forgive them and overlook the offenses. (Akin, 261)