1 Corinthians 13:1-13 | "The Greatest of These"
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· 318 viewsSunday, October 03, 2021. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 | "The Greatest of These" We, humans, tend to filter God through only one adjective, like "love." God is love, but He is much more than that. In the same way, if we view God's grace of love from only one angle, we risk distorting what love truly is. Love, as defined by God, is multifaceted. In this famous chapter, the apostle explains to the church what happens when love is absent, when love is active, and when love abides. This message preaches from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. It is part of a preaching series through 1 Corinthians "To The Church." The title of this sermon is "The Greatest of These."
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I. The Reading
I. The Reading
A reading from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. This is God’s Word:
1 If 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.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
5 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.
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.
This is God’s Word, Amen.
II. The Exhortation
II. The Exhortation
I urge us to think together about the way love is elevated among the three abiding graces.
Verse 13 again says -
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
“The greatest of these.”
That word “greatest” is a relative word.
Meaning, it exists in relationship with other things.
Something cannot be the “greatest” if it is the “only.”
This means the life that God gives us, the life lived by the Holy Spirit, is multifaceted. It consists of more than one side. More than one grace.
1 John 4:8 reveals this about God:
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
We’ve all heard that, right? God is love. And that is true.
But God is not “only” love.
The Word also reveals to us that God is spirit, God is light, God is unchanging, God is holy, God is just, God is a consuming fire, God is righteous, God is truth.
And lest we think that we could ever fully describe God, the Word tells us that God’s judgments are unsearchable and his ways are incomprehensible (Rom 11:33).
We cannot put God in a box. Many have tried to do that. It’s called idolatry. It’s called fashioning God after our own image.
God does not fit in a box of our making. God does not fit within our dictionary of words for describing him. God is love, but God is not “only” love.
Beyond this, God is not just an idea to be described.
God is living, and God acts.
God reveals His nature to us through His Word and through His Works, such that “his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” So that there is no excuse for not knowing the Creator - God who loves.
Often times, we humans just want to know God through one characteristic. We filter our understanding of God through one adjective, one attribute or one theme.
And this leads to scary misunderstandings and misinterpretations.
If you believe, for example, that God is “only” love, then eventually, love becomes God to you.
Life then becomes “all about love” rather than “all about God.” And without God, love loses its meaning.
This is why the world distorts love. This is why we, the church, revolt at most of the ideas and practices of the world in the name of “love.”
It’s not love without God, for God is love, but God is also truth. God is also righteous. God is love, but love is not God.
I encourage us all not to think about God in such a limited way, and not to think about “love” in such a limited way either.
Love itself, as defined by God, is multifaceted.
And we are in danger of wrongly treating love as we wrongly treat God, by making too much of only one side of love. By making too much of one aspect of love.
And if we do that, we end up losing the truth about love altogether.
Craig Blomberg helps us with this warning. He says —
1 Corinthians Bridging Contexts
It has often been observed that one could substitute the word “Jesus” for “love” throughout verses 4–7. Indeed, as the only sinless person in human history, he provides the perfect model for helping us to understand what patience, kindness, lack of envy, and so on, are. In so doing, we also guard against misinterpreting these attributes. If Jesus was all-loving, but could clear the temple in righteous indignation (Mark 11:15–18) or unleash a torrential invective against the hypocrisy of the conservative religious leaders of his day (Matt. 23), then our concept of love must leave room for similar actions.
Blomberg cautions us from saying of someone else’s actions: “that’s not loving” or accusing a person of “not acting in love” because WE do not define what love is. We are not interpreters of love.
God defines love. And God reveals love.
Quoting Lewis Smedes, Blomberg points out that being patient does not mean tolerating evil. Being kind does not mean you cannot at the same time be both intelligent and tough. He says that if someone were to run off with your spouse, it would be loving and even right, for you to be upset about it. (NIVAC)
This “love” of God, the word here is [ ἀγάπη ] , is multifaceted, in that it gives permission at times to be angry and still be loving, and allows for us to be irritated and at the same time to still love.
Our marriages prove this as well. For while in our union, we may disagree, fight or be angry at times, we are nevertheless still held together in the bonds of this multifaceted thing called “love.”
Love is more than a feeling. Love is a wonderful grace of God that allows us to experience all bands of emotions, but to experience each one rightly and appropriately - lovingly.
Love is given and received in different ways by different people. For some, it is loving to serve and be served. For others, it is loving to give and receive. For some, it is loving to speak and receive words of affirmation.
God created us all to love, but we all value different expressions of love.
Introduction to Text
Introduction to Text
With this in mind, the apostle is speaking to a multifaceted church in Corinth that is experiences many problems.
And when you have a body experiencing many problems, it needs a multifaceted solution.
Simple is not always sufficient for the complex situations.
The church needs a multifaceted grace, and that grace is this multifaceted “love.”
This congregation in Corinth is divided.
This congregation in Corinth is divided.
There are schisms.
“I follow Apollos.” “I follow Cephas.” “I follow Christ.”
These are Followships. Not fellowship, the apostle says.
This congregation in Corinth is deceived.
This congregation in Corinth is deceived.
How many times has the apostle said “Do you not know?” “I do not want you to be ignorant.” “I do not want you to be uninformed.”
They did not know the truth of God’s Word, and they certainly were not living by it. They were not standing with the truth.
They allowed an evil person, living in blatant and public sin, to remain among them in the church with no consequence. They boasted about their own wisdom and sued one another in public courts. They dishonored the apostle and his ministry who was God’s gift to them and for them. But they didn’t discern his needs or care for his living as God expected and provided for them to.
This congregation in Corinth is disgraceful.
This congregation in Corinth is disgraceful.
They gather to worship and partake of the Lord’s Supper but fail to discern those who are needy among them. Instead those who have, take more, and get drunk on what belongs to the Lord for His body. They do not remember how Christ gave up his own body by being obedient to God’s will and humbling Himself before God. They boast about their gifts and envy the gifts of others. They operate as parts, and not a whole.
God did not give the church in Corinth a simple solution. A simple solution to their multifaceted problems would have been to wipe them out - immediate judgment! Turn off the switch. Give up. A clean slate. To start over.
But instead, God gives them a spiritual solution.
God gives us a spiritual solution.
Love.
Because God loves them. And God loves us.
They are His Church, and we are His Church, bought by the blood of His Son, Jesus, who died for us.
And love, as we learn, is not simple! Love is spiritual, and love is sacrificial.
Love is not selfish. Love is consumed with care for God and the OTHER person.
So here, the apostle seems to interrupt his discussion of spiritual gifts, to weave together spiritual graces.
No spiritual gift is worth anything without spiritual grace.
In other words, no spiritual gift is effective without the Spirit of God, working that gift for His gracious purposes.
As F.F. Bruce says —
“More important than the gifts of the Spirit is ‘the fruit of the Spirit.’”
No fruit, no gift. And what is the first fruit of the Spirit? LOVE!
F.F. Bruce again -
“A Christian community can make shift somehow if the ‘gifts’ of chapter 12 be lacking: it will die if love is absent. The most lavish exercise of spiritual gifts cannot compensate for lack of love.”
(F.F. Bruce, 124)
III. The Teaching
III. The Teaching
It is often said, that “you don’t know what you have until it’s what? GONE!”
The apostle views love that way, and goes as far as to say that when love is gone, what we have, in fact, is NOTHING!
These first three verses can be described by this heading:
A. [ 13.1-3 ] When Love is Absent...
A. [ 13.1-3 ] When Love is Absent...
And by virtue of him speaking about love being absent, we learn that it is possible to not have love. It is possible to be unloving. And because this is possible, it is a sin for the church to avoid.
There is nothing that we can do to separate us from the love of Christ, but be on guard, church, that we do not lose the love of the Spirit of Christ that God has so graciously given us.
Here’s the situation the apostle suggests could happen:
13.1
13.1
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
The “noisy gong” and “clanging cymbal” were obvious noise-makers.
One translator calls them “resonating jars or a reverberating cymbal.” (NIGTC).
These were instruments used to amplify sound and produce noise.
F.F. Bruce says:
“such as were used in various well-known cults, producing much sound but little sense” (F.F. Bruce).
They are noise!
But the apostle doesn’t say “THEY” are noise - as in these instruments. He says in verse 1: “I am noise...”
I become noisy when I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love.
13.2
13.2
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.
Our gifts mean nothing if not handled with grace. With love.
More poignantly, I AM nothing in that case, if what I have is not accompanied with love.
One commentator said this is true of our attributes and also our achievements (Conz.).
Love matters not only for what we have, but for what we do too.
13.3
13.3
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.
Here we see love revealed as selfless.
Is giving away all I have selfless? Yes.
Is delivering up my body to be burned if required, an act of martyrdom, and act of sacrifice - is that selfless? Yes.
BUT! For what Reason are you giving all away? For what reason are you sacrificing?
These selfless acts gain nothing for us if we do them without something called “love.”
Which means that we can give everything away, and still be doing it for ourselves and not for another. We can give up our lives and still be seeking our own gain, and not that of another.
Love is revealed as selfless by nature.
When Love is Absent...
I am noise. I am nothing. I gain nothing.
And now we turn to the second section of this text, which teaches us that love is not just a thing. Love is not just an idea. Love is not just a word. It is an action.
You can say that you love me, but what does that mean if that’s all you do - is talk? That talk doesn’t serve me. That talk doesn’t build me up. That talk doesn’t seek my well being.
A young man and woman date and court, and the woman hears the words “I love you.” But eventually, it may be awhile, but eventually, those words ring hollow without a ring on a finger to back it up!
Jesus taught this in Luke 12:
15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,
17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
This man had many things, enjoyed many years, but he was selfish, he was foolish, and ended up with nothing.
In Matthew 6:21, Jesus said:
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Your treasure will reveal what you love. What you do with your treasure will reveal what you love.
This is what happens -
B. [ 13.4-7 ] When Love is Active...
B. [ 13.4-7 ] When Love is Active...
This section reads to us in English as if love is being described with many adjectives. But the Greek reveals something different.
The Greek reveals loved being described not by adjectives, but by actions.
These words in verses 4-7 are not adjectives, but verbs.
And so love is chiefly known, not through descriptions, but deeds.
Love acts. Love acts both upon us, as individuals, and also upon others in relationships (GCM).
13.4
13.4
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
Patience understands timing. It may or may not e the right time to act. ANd so love waits.
Love doesn’t brag about oneself. It doesn’t “puff up.” That’s the word “arrogant.”
Remember -
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
Love is not like a balloon that keeps inflating itself until it pops. Instead, it inflates the other person. It is generous toward the other.
It is not arrogant —
13.5
13.5
5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
Love is not rude, meaning it does not “behave dishonorably.” It is not going to insult the other, or embarrass another.
It does not insist on its own way. Literally, it “does not seek the things of itself.” Circle or underline or highlight that word “its” in verse 5. That is where the emphasis is. ITSELF. That’s not love.
Church - it is my prayer and desire to lead us in love not by my way, or our way, but to align my way and our way to God’s way. What is it that I have said form the beginning?
We are to be God’s people - God’s way.
We are to “be God’s people, who do God’s will, as revealed in God’s word.”
That is the essence of love, that loves first God, and second the other.
Love is not irritable or resentful. This does not mean it does not get irritated, but it doesn’t stay irritated. It does not become transformed into a persistent negative, unrighteous anger. Love does not insight anger.
Love does not become resentful, literally, “love does not keep a record of wrongs.” Love does not allow a root of bitterness to take hold in the heart and so become sin.
13.6
13.6
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Literally, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.
This verse is a great example of the multifaceted nature of love we’ve been talking about.
It would be wrong for you to be unconcerned, and unmoved, and apathetic when unrighteousness is being done, when the truth is being trampled upon.
Love rejoices with the truth.
That means love must know the truth.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
This is why, by God’s design, it is the most loving thing for a Pastor, a preacher and teacher, to be devoted to the Word of truth, not distracted from it.
For by the truth, you are led into love.
Parents, Grandparents — rejoicing in the truth may mean loving your children and grandchildren in a way that doesn’t feel so loving to you. It may mean you have to stop supplying them with the provisions and protections that are fueling their unrighteous passions and errors.
The same love that gives us permission to give to another, also gives us permission at times to withhold from another, because it cares most of all for the other! Love rejoices in the truth.
This means it doesn’t erect a facade.
Do you know what a facade is?
A facade is “an outward appearance that conceals a less pleasant or credible reality.”
A facade is appearing as if everything is wonderful when in fact, it is wretched.
Church, we do not love anyone when we hide the truth, or mask the truth, or conceal the truth.
If what we do as the people of God cannot be done in the open, or said in the open, it probably isn’t truth, and it probably isn’t love.
Love exposes the truth - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
That’s what the light of God’s Word does as it shines into the shadows, illuminating the darkness. That’s what the Spirit of truth does through this grace of love.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
This is what happens when love acts:
13.7
13.7
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The word “bears” does not mean love communicates everything. It means love covers everything. It is a protection, a shelter from a storm (GCM).
When it rains, my children like to walk under the umbrella with me. My umbrella extends over them. That’s what love does when it bears all things. It shields, it covers, it protects.
Love “believes all things.” It trusts completely. This means it is not suspicious. Assuming. Accusing. It has confidence in the other person. If it assumes anything, it assumes the best.
Love “endures all things.” meaning, humans will fail to love rightly. We all have and we all will.
But for the sake of the other, we endure difficulties. We put up with suffering.
For the sake of time, I will leave off teaching this last section for now. This is a lot to digest. Perhaps later this week I’ll teach on the rest of this chapter.
But I think at this word, we can come together to a conclusion . Not just any conclusion, but the Christ conclusion.
IV. The [ Christ ] Conclusion
IV. The [ Christ ] Conclusion
For Christ gave us this kind of love by giving of Himself fully to the will of God, and sacrificially for another - for us.
Church, we remember today that Christ endured.
He endured a sham trial of lies.
He endured the blasphemy and the beatings.
He endured the public embarrassment and humility, the whip and the nails and the crown.
Jesus endured the scorn of cross for all to see.
For all to see — love.
Why did Jesus endure these things?
He had the power to speak a word and be delivered and proven right.
He had the power to speak a word and be defended by legions of angels.
He had the power to speak a word and dismiss the entire ordeal, and Jesus had the right to do that.
But as Jesus hung on that cross, it wasn’t about Him!
It wasn’t about His will.
It was about His Father’s will. And his Father’s glory.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
It took love, to set us free.
It took love to save us from our own, wretched sin and the wrath that we deserve.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ died for you. Christ died for us.
WE are the sinners. Not loving God enough to hear His Word and live by it. Rather, we chose and we choose to love our lives and live unto ourselves. It is our fallen nature. It is the human condition.
And God would be just to throw us all into Hell and the lake of fire and that is what we deserve.
But God — That’s the Gospel messsage. “But GOD!”
The scriptures say that we are dead as we are in sin. BUT GOD so loved that he met us in our dead condition. For this reason, Christ died and Christ was buried. To meet us where we needed him the most.
And God raised Christ from the dead, and with Him, God raises all of us who receive God’s love through Christ.
This means, all who hear these words, you may be forgiven.
There is no condemnation in Christ.
Have you failed to love? Absolutely.
Have you really messed up in acts of love. Most definitely.
But you are not beyond forgiveness. I am not beyond forgiveness.
For not even death, could separate us from the love of Christ.
Christ met us where we were, in our unloving state, and Christ overcame our sin through his selfless, sacrificial, serving love.
Jesus emptied Himself, and became nothing, that we might receive everything through faith in Christ, who is our only hope.
We cannot see faith but we live by it. We cannot see hope but we know we have it. But we can SEE love. For God has shown it to us, in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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