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The Great Commandment, Part 3
1 Corinthians 13 – The Love Chapter INTRO
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June 15, 2014 ~ Legacy Baptist (www.LegacyBaptistChurch.org)
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My prayer is (and at the top of our website ) that we are becoming a:
GREAT COMMANDMENT CHURCH (the next few weeks’ MEMORY VERSES):
Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV), THE GREAT COMMANDMENT - “Teacher, which is the great
commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first
commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On
these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
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With a GREAT COMMISSION GOAL (the last few weeks’ memory verses):
Mt 28:18-20 (ESV), The Great Commission - And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.”
--------------------------Here is the “Love Chapter”! It’s often heard at weddings (and of course it applies there), but
here’s the original context… The church at Corinth was very gifted, and particularly admired
showy speaking gifts (contrast 1 Cor 2:1-5). They were divided over which Christian leaders and
speakers they admired (1 Cor 1:10-13; 3:3-9, etc). And then in 1 Cor 5 they were apparently
bragging over their tolerance of the open, ongoing, unrepentant sexual sin of one of their church
members. So yet ANOTHER misunderstanding of what Biblical love is supposed to be like. In 1
Cor 6 we find they were suing each other. In 1 Cor 8 and 10 they weren’t willing to sacrifice any
of their food/drink preferences, even though they were tempting other church members to
stumble in sin. In 1 Cor 11, we find out the rich have been eating elaborate meals before the
Lord’s Supper, before the poor had time to get off work and get there, so ANOTHER division in
the church. And 1 Cor 12 and 14 are about spiritual gifts, and how what we need is a focus on
gifts that BUILD up the body of Christ, not let an individual show off. THIS is the context for the
“Love Chapter”! It would have been VERY convicting, not a pretty thing to read at a wedding.
They (like so quickly happens with us) were slipping into an individual focus, rather than on what
would honor God and build up the whole church.
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Today we live in a culture that has redefined love as what makes ME feel loved, or as tolerance
of whatever the person is doing. But Biblical love is being committed to what is best for the one
loved. There are descriptions here with hard edges (like “love rejoices with the truth” – v 6) and
descriptions with a softer feel (“kind” – v 4, “not irritable” – v 5). In other words, there’s enough
here for all of us to be in over our heads and desperate for God’s Spirit to bear His fruit in our
lives (the first of which is love – see Gal 5:22-26)!
---------------------------1 Corinthians 12:24–13:13 (ESV)
24 …God has so composed the body, giving
greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that
there may be no division in the body, but that
the members may have the same care for
one another. 26 If one member suffers, all
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suffer together; if one member is honored, all
rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of
Christ and individually members of it. 28 And
God has appointed in the church first
apostles, second prophets, third teachers,
then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping,
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administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all
possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with
tongues? Do all interpret? [These are
“rhetorical questions,” where you already know
the answer – “No!”] 31 But earnestly desire the
higher gifts.
[I think this refers to the gifts that build up the
body – see chapter 14. ALL of the gifts must
be exercised in LOVE, and not be a chance
to just do our thing and feel good about
ourselves.]
And I will show you a still more excellent
way.
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I. The IMPORTANCE of Love
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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.
[See below for more on the importance of love…]
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Love is patient
[or “suffers long” / “endures”; see this Intro for
how much the Corinthian church had done to
each other, and Paul wants them to hang in
there and love each other!]
and kind;
[gentle / useful / acting on behalf of another’s
good – see 1 Cor 5:5 which may not have
love does not envy [NASB: “is not jealous”]
or boast;
[or “brag” / doesn’t need to “top that
testimony”]
it is not arrogant
[or “puffed up” / proud; this word is used a lot
in 1 Corinthians to describe this church – 1
Cor 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1.]
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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.
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II. The DESCRIPTION of Love
FELT kind, but WAS aimed at his long-term
good and the good of the church as a whole.
Many have commented that these
descriptions are all actions, but this one gives
a gentle “feel” to all those actions.]
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III. The PERMANENCE of Love
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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.
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----------------------------------------1 Cor 12:31b-13:3 – The IMPORTANCE of Love
Here’s what other Scriptures say about this [start with the GREAT COMMANDMENT, above –
Jesus said that to love God and love others summarizes the entire law of God!!]…
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John 13:34–35 (ESV) - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I
have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.” [So Jesus says love is THE MARK of discipleship that
others can see!]
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1 John 4:7–8 (ESV) - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves
has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because
God is love.
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1 John 4:19–21 (ESV) - We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and
hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love
God whom he has not seen. [This is why Jesus said in the Great Commandment section, “And a
second is like it.” We can’t say we love God (who we CAN’T see if we don’t love those made in His image
that we CAN see!] 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also
love his brother.
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Romans 12:9–10 (ESV) - Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. [See 1
Cor 13:6] 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
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Romans 13:8–10 (ESV) - Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves
another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall
not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed
up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor;
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
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Galatians 5:13–14 (ESV) - For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your
freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law
is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
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1 Thessalonians 3:12–13 (ESV) - and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for
one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in
holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
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1 Timothy 1:5 (ESV) - The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good
conscience and a sincere faith. [This is what Paul’s teaching was aimed at!]
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1 Thessalonians 4:9–10 (ESV) - Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to
write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is
what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do
this more and more,
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Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV) - And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good
works, [how can you strategize to increase love and good works in our church??] 25 not neglecting to
meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see
the Day drawing near.
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1 Peter 4:7–8 (ESV) - The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and soberminded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly [refers to a
constant, deep love], since love covers a multitude of sins. [As “the end of all things” gets closer,
“ABOVE ALL, keep loving one another earnestly”!!]