Westtown Church
Westtown Church
The Love Chapter
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1 Corinthians 13 is widely known as "the love chapter." But it's not a chapter about romantic love. It's about Christ-like love: a far more powerful kind of love. In a culture that is confused about the very definition of love, it is essential for Christians to know and show the love of Christ.
The Power of Agape Love
Speaker 1We are today in 1 Corinthians , chapter 13 , and this is the last time we'll be in 1 Corinthians for a while , as Pastor Corey starts next week . We'll be doing something different over the summer . So we'll conclude today with what is widely known as the love chapter . This is a chapter that you probably have heard at a wedding before . In fact , it's probably one of the most well-known chapters in the whole Bible because of that . But here's the issue this is not about marriage . This chapter is not about marriage , although it applies to marriage , but really it's a different kind of love . It's not romantic love . It's about the love that Jesus has shown us and then , therefore , the love that we are called to show to others . And there's two reasons why we can see clearly that this is not about marital love , but rather is about Christ-like love . And one is the context . 1 Corinthians 13 is the meat of a sandwich . Chapters 12 and 14 are the bread . And chapters 12 and 14 are about spiritual gifts . We know this .
Speaker 1The last two weeks we've talked about spiritual gifts in chapter 12 and how the Corinthians thought you know , I've got this spiritual gift . This makes me a super Christian . And Paul's like slow your roll , man . No , it's not what spiritual gifts are for . They're not for you to show off , they're to give glory to God and to strengthen the church . And then , in chapter 14 , he's going to talk about spiritual gifts again , and he's actually going to talk more about what are some practical ways we can love one another in the setting of a worship service . And for those of you who have heard of something that we have in the PCA called the Book of Church Order it's this big blue book with all these sort of I hate to use the word rules , but they're rules for how to do church well and all of the churchy things . There's a verse in 1 Corinthians 14 that says that we ought to do everything decently and in good order in the church , and so chapter 14 is a very Presbyterian chapter . And you can now see that the book of church order though we may not love it , it's got a biblical basis . So in between those two chapters is this chapter on love .
Speaker 1It doesn't make any sense that Paul would give us a chapter on marital love , a romantic love , sandwiched between those two chapters . What this is about is Christ-like love . It's about the type of love that we ought to show to one another in the church , because it's what we have been shown . The other reason why I know this is not about marriage and marital love is because of the different Greek words for love . You know , we have a problem in America and in the Western world . In English-speaking nations we have one word for love , so I could say I love my wife and I could use that same word to say I love tacos , I love baseball . Clearly I don't love my wife and tacos in the same way . Right , but how would you know that I'm using the same word ? The Greeks , they , had this solved . They actually have four words for love Phileo , which is brotherly love , where you get the word Philadelphia , city of brotherly love . Eros , which is romantic love , the kind of love that probably most people think .
Speaker 11 Corinthians 13 is about Storge , which is that's what you would use , like if you say if you go to lunch today and you get a plate of tacos and you're like I love my tacos , right . And then agape , which is an unconditional love . It's a faithful love , it's a promise-keeping love , it's Christ-like love . The Jesus Storybook Bible , which is a children's illustrated Bible , calls it a never-stopping , never-giving-up , unbreaking , always-and-forever love . That's probably the best definition you'll get all day . That's exactly what agape love is and it's the foundation of Christianity and it's also the evidence that you are a Christian if you've known agape love and if you show agape love . So as we start out with the text , verses one through three , paul's going to show us that to be a Christian , all you need is love . Well , agape love You're going to find . I have had a number of love songs going through my head this week as I've prepared this passage , and some of this is just going to come out . It's going to happen . So here we go .
Speaker 11 through 3 says If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love , I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal . 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 . If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love , I gain nothing . So he's saying if you have great spiritual gifts , if you're a very gifted person , if you can do incredible things in the church , but you are not loving , he says you're a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal .
Speaker 1People who have little children at home will understand that there are often these repetitive noises that just show up in the course of your life . In parenting it's , you know the children , especially when they're younger , like toddlers , they like to be repetitive and do things over and over again . They ask you the same question 19 times . Right , it kind of grates on your nerves a little bit . You love them , but it's a little bit nerve-wracking . And Paul is saying if you have these gifts but you don't love one another , you are like that . You're like an annoying noise , like a clock . If you're in a silent room , you know , and you're trying to sleep , and then you hear the and it's like , oh my gosh , I've got to go turn that thing off . I can't sleep . That's what he's saying .
Speaker 1He's also kind of referring back to the pagan practice where these religious cults would walk through a town on maybe like a Sunday morning and they would bang a gong or clash cymbals together to wake up their god or wake up their followers , so that they would go to the temple and do sacrifices . I mean , it's harsh , it's crass , but Paul is literally saying if you are a very , very gifted person , but you are not a loving person . You are annoying . That's what he's saying , it's not my words , that's his words .
Speaker 1So , for example , we have an adult Sunday school class that we're not meeting today but we'll start back next week and it's at 10.30 . And starting next week we're going to be actually going through a book called Tactics , which is a book about how to talk to people who disagree with you about things like faith . It's a great equipping tool . I would encourage any of you to come and join us , check it out . You don't even have to buy the book , you can just come and participate in a discussion . But imagine if we have a Sunday school teacher who's very , very gifted at teaching . I mean this type of person where you hang on their every word . Right , and they've got such a gift . But imagine they belittle people who they feel like don't know enough , which , by the way , that does not happen in our Sunday school class . Don't be afraid of that . Or imagine they are cynical in the way that they interact with people , or just ornery with people .
Speaker 1Paul would say your gift of teaching that you have is worthless because you don't love . You don't love people , you're just there for yourself , really . Or maybe you have the gift of leadership . You're an amazing leader , you're a there for yourself really . Or maybe you have the gift of leadership . You're an amazing leader , a visionary leader . Maybe you also make everything about you . Maybe you don't have humility , maybe you can't listen to other people , you can't . All you can think about is here's my idea , my vision , and we're doing what I say . Paul would say that gift of leadership it's nothing . Here's my idea , my vision , and we're doing what I say .
Speaker 1Paul would say that's that gift of leadership ? That's , it's nothing . It's worthless . Why ? Because you don't love . You have no love for other people .
Speaker 1And so he's saying again no matter how gifted you might be , you might be the most gifted Christian in this church , but if you don't love your neighbors as yourself , your gifts are worthless . You're wasting them . They're meant to be about loving others and preferring others , and this means either you are an immature Christian or no Christian at all if you have not love . Because we only can be Christians if we have been shown the agape love of Jesus Christ . 1 John 4.19, . We love because he first loved us . There's no chicken and egg debate . Which came first . It's Christ has set his love on us and therefore then we are loving . It's not that we are loving and Christ says , oh , I'll love that person because they're a loving person and they deserve it . No , it's , he sets his love on us and then we can love . So if we know the love of Jesus , if we've experienced the agape love of Jesus , we can then show the agape love of Jesus to other people . And so what does that look like ?
Speaker 1As the renowned philosopher Hathaway asked , what is love ? Baby , don't hurt me , what does agape love look like ? Practically Everybody now wants to do this , right ? If you're like 25 or 30 , you don't know what I'm talking about , go look up Night at the Roxbury . What does love look like practically ? I mean , here again , I've got to start coming up with new material , right ? Because another mid-90s reference Forrest Gump said I'm not a smart man , but I know what love is . Right , we might not be that smart , but we know where to look for love . It's in the Bible . We see exactly what love is in the Bible . We have a very practical definition of love in the Bible . It's all over the Scriptures , we see it everywhere . But right here , in verses 4 through 8a , we get the most practical description of love in the entire Bible .
Speaker 1Paul writes love is patient and kind . Love does not envy or boast , it is not arrogant or rude . It does not insist on its own way , it is not irritable or resentful . It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth . Love bears all things , believes all things , hopes all things , endures all things . Love never ends .
Speaker 1We're not going to go into great detail about all of these characteristics of love . In fact , I believe the plan in the fall is for Corey . He will come back to this chapter and do an extended series just on 1 Corinthians 13 . So we'll have more detail then , but for now , by my count , there are 16 characteristics of love mentioned here . And when I say by my count , you should take that with a grain of salt , because anytime I say I'm counting something , it could be very wrong . It's a risk I always take . But I think there are eight positive traits of love here and eight negative things , eight things that love is not . And the first thing I want us to notice about these characteristics is that they are active .
Speaker 1Love is an action . Agape , love is not a feeling , it's not an emotion . This is not a scenario where it's like I've got to feel love first and then I can do it . No , it's oftentimes it's an action we take when we don't feel it . Especially then it's an action we take when it's not easy .
Speaker 1So think about patience . When do you need patience ? It's when someone is getting on your last nerve , right . You don't need patience when everybody's fine , everything's fine , you're having a good time . It's when you know you're in line and the line is long and the person at the checkout is carrying on a conversation and socializing , when all you want to do is just get in , get out and go right . That's when you need patience .
Speaker 1Kindness , I mean . Jesus specifically says to love our enemies . Love our enemies . Yes , we should be kind in all circumstances , but we should even be kind when people are rude to us and when people are hostile towards us . There's no justification in the Bible for us , you know . Oh , they're rude to me , so I'll be rude back to them . No , that's not love , that's just what the world does . World does , so this kind of love can have incredible effects on people . That's the whole point of this is that oftentimes it's our agape love that we show to people in hard circumstances that actually begin to change people's lives .
Speaker 1I listened to a podcast where the guest was a guy named David Brooks . He was an author and he was talking about a time when he went and had breakfast in Waco , texas , with a woman named Mrs Dorsey who was a 93-year-old , very stern and intimidating woman with a prickly exterior right , I don't know if anybody's ever met a woman like that and he was having a rough time just interacting with her because of this . But then he said the third person who was joining them came in . He's a pastor and he just came up to her and hugged her . He was like he hugged her , maybe a little bit harder than you should hug a 93-year-old woman , but he said he hugged her and he said I love you , you're the best . And he said he just watched as this very stern and intimidating 93-year-old woman all of a sudden , that all just kind of melted away and she became this he said she became like a nine-year-old girl , just joyful and playful and childlike . Isn't it amazing how , when we encounter someone who is like that , who seems to be unlovable , seems like they don't even really deserve love , and then we love them anyway , it's amazing how it changes them , amazing how it sort of just melts their heart .
The Characteristics of True Love
Speaker 1We can also look at a few negative traits here , things that love does not do . It says love does not rejoice at wrongdoing , but it rejoices in the truth . You hear in our world a statement love is love , which I think the implied meaning is that love is subjective . Love is whatever you want it to be , whatever you say it is . So if you think about the practical applications of that , I could say you know , I'm going to insist on my own way , just all the time . It doesn't matter who I'm with or what I'm going to do , I'm always going to insist that things go my way . And by the worldly definition then I should have been affirmed that in you , right , I should say well , that's , I affirm , that's great , it doesn't matter how much relational damage you're causing around you , I'm just going to affirm that because that's what you want to do , that's your desire . If you carry that to a more extreme scenario , it's you know . I could just say I love another man , or I love two men , or I love two men , or I love two women or three women , and you should just affirm that . Just affirm it . I mean , it's what I want , it's my desire , just affirm it . That's what love is . That's what the world says at least . So when the world says love is love , they're saying we should affirm another person's desires and choices , no matter what they are .
Speaker 1Anything and everything can be love , and the problem with that is that if everything is love , then nothing is love . Nothing is love . The good news is that we have been told in the Scriptures what love is . 1 John , 4 , 7 , and 8 says Beloved , let us love one another , for love is from God , and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God . Anyone who does not love does not know God , because God is love .
Speaker 1So often we hear people even quote that verse God is love and say well , this means that God affirms everything we do and everything we desire . And that's absolutely not the case . That's actually a lie . That's satanic to say that , because you know what else ? The Bible also says that God hates sin . God doesn't affirm everything that we believe and desire and think . For Him to do so would actually be for Him to go against His own character and nature .
Speaker 1Now , god is love means that God both defines what love is In fact , whatever God says he loves . That's what love is In fact , whatever God says he loves , that's what love is , because he is God , he is sovereign and he is foremost and he is the creator . And so whatever he loves and however he loves , that's what love is . And that is why love rejoices with the truth , because it's saying I love . What God says is true , that's what I love . I want to find out everything that God says is true and everything that God says is right and everything that God says is pure and lovely . I want that and I want to affirm that . That's what it means to say that love rejoices with the truth . And so if we live out this faith in Jesus , that's what it means to say that love rejoices with the truth . And so if we live out this faith in Jesus and if we show this love and we rejoice with this truth , we will be told we're unloving . We will be told that we are not affirming people .
Speaker 1But we cannot affirm everyone's desire . Listen , I have desires that I hope that no one ever affirms . Every day , I have desires for evil , desires for sin , desires for wrongdoing . Please do not affirm those things in me . I do not need those things affirmed . I need them put to death . I do not need those things affirmed . I need them put to death , because what I need is to dwell on the truth of what God says is good and what God says is lovely . So let us not rejoice at wrongdoing by affirming sin . Let's rejoice in God's objective truth and love . What God says is true . Now we've seen that agape love is an action , but agape love is also selfless . That's another characteristic I want to point out . It's selfless .
Speaker 1Notice he says love does not insist on its own way . Now , that doesn't mean that you must deny yourself of anything and everything you want all the time . It doesn't mean that we can't ever speak up and say here's what I think or here's what I want . It doesn't mean that we can't ever say you know what ? I don't really want to go to Olive Garden tonight , I want to go to Carrabba's instead . I mean , it's not what that's saying , we're not doormats but what it does mean .
Speaker 1Think about this have you ever known someone who has to have their way all the time , like every time , always have to have their way , always have to be in control , always need to get what I want , can't be happy unless I have things go my way ? This is what we're talking about . We're talking about that type of a person who just is constantly insisting on no things have to be my way . You have to do things my way . Not only do I want you to wash the car for me , I'm also going to micromanage you and make sure you do it my way . Not only do I want you to wash the car for me , I'm also going to micromanage you and make sure you do it my way , because my way is the right way . Right , that's what we're talking about .
Speaker 1It's love does not demand that . It simply does not demand that from other people . Love can say I feel like I really want things to go my way , but I'm going to back up and not insist on that , so that maybe you can have things go your way for once . Love does not demand that others fulfill our every desire , and this is where we kind of see how it applies to marriage . Okay , so a former seminary professor of mine named Simon Kistemacher said love flourishes in an atmosphere where two people trust each other and know that they will promote the welfare of the other . So think about this If , in a marriage , you have two people who both of them always insist on their own way , what is going to happen with that marriage ?
Speaker 1I mean , you have two people walking two very different paths just going like this very quickly , that's a marriage that's going to end quickly . Or if you have a marriage where one person always insists on his or her own way and the other person is sort of like , okay , sure , whatever you want , it's a marriage that's going to end slowly and painfully . Or maybe it doesn't end , maybe it just is slow and painful forever . But if you have a marriage where each person prefers the other , submits to one another , says no , I'm not going to insist on my own way all the time , I'm going to serve you and insist on preferring you . Well , now you have a marriage that's going to thrive . Not be perfect , of course , but it's going to thrive . Why ? Because it's a marriage that is based on Christ-like love . I'm telling you , if your marriage is struggling , I can 95% certainty say that's probably at the heart of it . One of you , or both of you , is always insisting on your own way and you can't stop . You need to let the love of Christ melt that away from you .
The Greatest Love of All
Speaker 1Now you may have thought right now , man , I haven't heard anything you said . Since you said love is patient . I heard that and I was like , oh man , I failed . Yep , this is hard . None of us do this perfectly . None of us even really do this that well . Honestly , if we look at this like a checklist , we're going to get discouraged and we're going to be defeated and we're just going to be like well , it's 7 am . I've already failed at the love checklist . Right ?
Speaker 1Paul is saying this is what love looks like . Right , I want to be clear . He is saying this is the love looks like . I want to be clear . He is saying this is the way we ought to love . But he actually , the way he talks about it is that he personifies it . He's not saying love , you'll know that you are loving if you just do this , do this , do this and do this . No , he's saying love is or love does not , almost like . He's saying this love has already been shown to us in a perfect way .
Speaker 1And so let's do this , let's go back and look at this passage again and let's replace the word love with the name Jesus and just see what happens . So Jesus is patient and kind . Jesus does not envy or boast . Jesus is not arrogant or rude . Jesus does not insist on his own way . Jesus is not irritable or resentful . Jesus does not rejoice at wrongdoing , but rejoices with the truth . Jesus bears all things , believes all things , hopes all things , endures all things . Jesus never ends . It really changes the way you might think about that passage .
Speaker 1Think about when , for the hundredth time , the disciples didn't understand what Jesus was saying . He was patient with them . Think about when he went and met with a Samaritan woman and he knew that she was a sexual struggler who had been with a lot of guys , currently was with a guy she wasn't married to and she was an outcast . He was kind to her . He didn't insist on his own way , he insisted on his father's way , and his father's way led him straight to the cross . And when his disciples tried to say no , don't go to the cross , he was like get out of my way , satan , you're not going to stop me from insisting on my father's way , because he knew that was the way to save the world . And that's why , by the way , if you , you know , today , you decide , out of the love that I've been shown by Jesus Christ , I'm going to resolve to try to start insisting , not insisting on my own way .
Speaker 1It's going to feel painful , by the way . That's going to hurt . It's going to feel like a death . It's supposed to feel like a death because this is when we take up our crosses and follow Jesus and we die to ourselves , which is what Jesus calls us to do , every one of us . That's not easy . That is painful . What do they say about pain ? Pain is weakness leaving the body . Maybe you could think of it like this Pain when we die to self is our sin nature being weakened , even being put to death . So Jesus did not insist on his own way .
Speaker 1Jesus does not rejoice at wrongdoing . Jesus doesn't affirm sin . Jesus hates sin . Very clear about that in Scripture . He loves truth . He actually says Father , your word is truth . That's what he loves . And Jesus never ends . Jesus has risen from the dead . Jesus is alive . Jesus is at the right hand of the Father , reigning and ruling . The Bible says that he upholds the universe by the word of his power .
Speaker 1Jesus is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31.3 , where God says I have loved you with an everlasting love . Therefore , I have continued my faithfulness to you . This is crucial . It does not say that God loves us with an everlasting love because of this , that and the other thing that we have done . And it doesn't say that he continues to love us with an everlasting love as long as we keep up our end of the bargain , as long as we tithe , as long as we read our Bibles , as long as we go to church , as long as we figure out where our spiritual gifts are and use them to build up the church . No , it says I have loved you with an everlasting love . Why ? It says I have loved you with an everlasting love ? Why ? Just because I have this is what I decided to do . That's what God decided to do . He set his love on us , end of story , not because of anything in us . Guys , if you want to really understand the love of God for you , you really want to understand why this is a never stopping , never giving up , unbreaking , always and forever love .
Speaker 1Then dive into the truth in Scripture that we don't deserve His love . We do not deserve His love . We are idolaters . The Bible describes us as like being adulterers in our relationship with God . And yet it says in Ephesians 2 , jesus loved us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins . It says in Romans 5 , jesus loved us when we were his enemies , hostile to him . It does not say that Jesus waited until we got our act together and felt good about him until he loved us , that Jesus waited until we got our act together and felt good about him until he loved us . No , he loved us when we were at our most unlovable , when we did not deserve it . That is the truth of the gospel , and his love is everlasting . There's no condition behind that . So please hear this it does not matter how bad you have screwed up , if you are in Christ , you cannot cause Jesus to stop loving you . Period , period .
Speaker 1His love is marvelous , it is wonderful , it is astounding , especially when you see it from that perspective . And so , because he has set his love on us and loved us so well , we are called to love others . 1 John 4.11 , beloved . If God so loved us , we also ought to love one another . In fact , you could even make the case that when Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 , he starts it off with love . Right , the fruit of the Spirit is love , and we tend to think of that as like a list of I think there's like nine different characteristics that are the fruit of the Spirit , but really some people think no , it's actually the fruit of the Spirit is love . And then here's eight ways that we love With joy , peace , patience , kindness , goodness , faithfulness , gentleness and self-control . These are all flowing from love . They're not necessarily equal to love . So this is not easy . This is not even really possible without Christ , christlike love , without the Holy Spirit . If you have the Holy Spirit , then you can love this way . You won't do it perfectly , but you can , because he's in you .
Speaker 1Let's quickly look at how Paul wraps this up with the last few verses . He says 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 . 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 . So now , faith , hope and love abide these three , but the greatest of these is love . So our last point here is that agape , love is the greatest love of all . I think that was a Whitney Houston song , maybe Fact check that . Thank you All right .
Speaker 1So Paul returns back to spiritual gifts now , and he's talking about these gifts that these Corinthians are so proud of . Like you guys think you're something because you have these gifts . And he's saying guys , one day these gifts are going to pass away , one day you're going to be , lord willing , in the new heavens and new earth with Jesus for eternity , and you know what . You're not going to need spiritual gifts then , because the church will be perfect . Imagine that . Imagine that , a perfected church not needing to be strengthened anymore . I long for that day . Why is Paul talking about this ? Well , again , it's because these Corinthians . They felt like , well , I've got these powerful spiritual gifts , so I guess I've arrived , I guess I've made it . You know , I'm a super Christian now and you know what you start to think when you think you've arrived is that you don't need any help , you don't need to depend on anybody , and maybe you even start to think you don't need to depend on Jesus anymore .
Speaker 1Paul actually says that's very childlike and immature . It's the opposite of what we think of as maturity . Right In our world we think maturity is when your kids grow up and they graduate and they move out of the house and get a job and they're independent and self-sufficient . And I want to say that's right . If my kids are listening especially , I want to say that's right , that's what we want , but that's the opposite of how it is in Christianity .
Dependency on Jesus
Speaker 1Maturity in Christianity is not becoming independent of Jesus , it's becoming more dependent on Jesus . We never stop needing to be dependent on Jesus , and the sooner we realize that , the sooner we grow in our maturity . And so he's saying here are the three things that we really always need the most essential things for us faith , hope and love . Why ? Well , again , we always need them . We always need faith .
Speaker 1We come to Jesus in faith , you know , for the first time , when we find salvation in him , but then we always need faith . We come to Jesus in faith , you know , for the first time , when we find salvation in him , but then we always need faith . We need to cling to Jesus in faith every day because I look , I got to have faith that me obeying his word is the right thing . That takes faith . That doesn't happen naturally .
Speaker 1Or what about hope ? We always need hope and we always have the most solid hope . We can have hope no matter what we're going through . You could be on death's door , you could be being persecuted for your faith , you could be in the throes of poverty , but you have hope . Why ? Because we know Jesus is King and we know Jesus is going to bring us home . One day and we know that Jesus is going to day comes , our faith will be sight , we'll walk with Jesus and we'll see Jesus and look into his eyes and he'll give us a big hug . We won't need to have faith in him anymore , we'll just see him and we won't need to have hope anymore , because our hopes will be realized the greatest hope we could ever have . It will have happened .
Speaker 1But this is why Paul says that the greatest of these is love .
Speaker 1It's because on that day we will still have love .
Speaker 1We will still be loved with an everlasting love by our Savior and , amazingly , we will love Him perfectly because we'll be like Him .
Speaker 1So if you are struggling to love Jesus right now , if you came in here today and you just kind of dragged yourself here on fumes and you're like I don't feel this right now , I don't feel any love for anybody , let alone Jesus , I invite you to open your Bible , go , read really anything in your Bible and just sort of sit with it and dwell on it and reflect on it prayerfully and think about how maybe this passage I'm reading right now tells me about how Jesus loves me and start there and let that be what begins to change your heart , because it really does change who we are . When we sit with this and we understand the way Jesus loves us , despite our sin and failure and faithlessness , despite our doubts , that is what changes a person , that's what shapes us into being more Christ-like and that's what drives us to then be able to show agape love to even the hardest people around us . All right , let's pray God . We thank you .