Sermon: Love
Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4a
The love is patient; the love is kind
I. Introduction (various passages of 1 Cor):
1. 3:3: You are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? (referring to factions, a divided church)
2. 4:7 What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift? (boastful attitude and pride in their leaders)
3. 8:1 Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church (being “puffed up” or “arrogant” opposite of love; exaggerated assessment of oneself)
4. 10:24 Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others and 10:33 I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved (selfishness)
5. 14:40 be sure that everything is done properly and in order (disorderliness) (they were parading their gifts before others and bringing disorderliness in the church)—
6. In brief, the church in Corinth was suffering from issues like jealousy, boasting, pride, rudeness, demanding, irritable, keep counting the wrongs, rejoicing over injustices, and shallow relationships (13:3-8)
7. The Corinthian church lacked “love”—interestingly, the word agape was less known until the arrival of Christianity
a. 1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love
b. 1 John 4: 11-13Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us. 4:13 By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit
c. Based on these verses, we can conclude that the Corinthian church was a carnal church
d. Though the Church at Corinth had the “so called gifts,” but they did not reflect God in their dealing with one another (how about our church?)
II. Paul defines “love” with two verbs (13:4a): suffers long (patient) and “helps others with kindness” (kind). Let’s study these words
1. Patient
a. Dictionary definitions of “patient”
i. suffer long
ii. slow to anger
b. Embedded in the word is an aspect of “bearing pain” or “to be put up with”—i.e., “suffer long”
c. To be patiently “being put up with” in the context of relationships where offences and injuries are bound to happen
d. Why would a person “be put up with” the offenses and injuries of others?
e. “Patience” is one of the characteristics/attributes of God (Exod 34:6; Joel 2:13)
f. It is “divine restraint”
g. Therefore, “being patient” or “suffering long” refers to exercising divine restrain in God’s family in the face of provocation of any kind
h. When Paul says, “love is patient,” he seems to say that love suffers long, i.e., exercises divine restraint by choosing to go through pain
i. Therefore, “patience/long suffering” is a gift of God, not something we can cultivate or the virtue of self-control
j. Only a Christian can have “patience” in a real sense
k. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22)—it cannot be manufactured
h. And, it is in need of it in a church family
2. Kind
a. This word is used only in Christian literature—it is primarily a characteristic of God
i. Romans 2:4 benevolent/charitable
ii. Romans 9:22 favorable
iii. Ephesians 2:7 merciful
iv. Generous act towards others out of generosity
v. In the context of God: God has been graciously engaged with humanity through Christ
b. When Paul says, “love is kind” he seems to say that love engages others in favor and benevolence just as God engages with believers with favor and benevolence
c. It refers to a loving attitude that seeks to be useful to others
d. “Kindness” is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22, 2 Cor 6:6, Eph 4:32)
e. A church is said to have love only when it is seen in action through favor and benevolence towards each other
3. Verses 4b-8 negates what they were in the faith family
III. Principles
1. Love is not a feeling but an action
2. Love is a spiritual fruit—a person who is said to have love is patient and kind in the context of relationship
3. It de-centers self and re-centers on others
4. Love is a spiritual barometer which measures a persons spiritual depth
Take Away:
Seek earnestly the gift of love for your life because love is both a gift and fruit of the Spirit