“The Greatest Need of The Church Is Love.”
Text: 1 Corinthians 13
If I were to ask each person here the question, “What is the Church’s greatest need today?” I’m sure
that there would be many good suggestions. Some might say “We need good preachers.” Some might
say “We need good children and youth ministries.” Some might say “We need more money to do God’s
work.” Some might say “We need revival!”
The truth is we need all of these things I’ve listed. We especially need preachers who preach the truth.
We need solid Bible based doctrine and theology. We need to see God working in a new fresh way in
and through our lives.
There was one church who had all these things that a church needs. This church had good preachers,
people in this church were studying and applying scripture, and this church regularly experienced great
spiritual movement.
The Apostle Paul wrote to this church twice. He did write about the good things this church had going,
but Paul also wrote about what was wrong with this church and about what the greatest need of this
church was.
The church Paul wrote to was the Corinthian Church. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, Paul wrote about the
spiritual gifts this church had. They had wonderful spiritual gifts like wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing,
miracles, prophecy, discernment, languages, teaching, administration and more. But the tone of Paul’s
writing was one of great concern.
It seems that in the Corinthian Church there was a lot of competition and comparing going on to see
who had the greatest gift. Some gifts were elevated higher than others. Paul was very concerned about
how the Corinthians were exercising their spiritual gifts.
So at the end of Chapter 12 in v.31 he wrote:
“But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.”
Then in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 Paul tells the Corinthian Church, and every church that would come
after them, that the greatest need of the church is love.
For the last several months, starting back in September, I have preached 17 sermons on 1 Corinthians
Chapter 13. We have learned a lot about what real, genuine love is. We have been challenged over and
over to become givers of love to others.
Today is my last sermon on this incredible love chapter and today we need to embrace strongly that the
greatest need for our church is to love others. Let’s look closely at what Paul is saying about love being
the greatest need of the church.
In v.1 of 1 Corinthians 13 Paul is telling us that eloquent speaking apart from love accomplishes nothing:
“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a
clanging cymbal.”
In the Corinthian Church the gift that was placed above all others was the spectacular gift of languages.
Some had the gift of speaking many known languages and others claimed to be able to speak in
unknown languages.
Paul was not impressed with this spectacular gift. He equates this gift with the sound of a gong or a
clanging cymbal.
The Corinthians knew exactly what Paul was referring to. Large brass gongs and smaller clanging
cymbals were used in Corinth to call people to gather at the pagan worship shrines that were all over
that city. Paul was making it clear that the spectacular gift of languages, or tongues, was nothing but a
loud noise. There was no music in a gong or cymbal, just loud noise. So apart from love there was no
spiritual value in this spectacular gift of tongues.
Have any of you ever given your kids or grandkids the gift of cymbals or maybe a play drum set? For the
first day the gift is cute and it’s fun to watch the kids discover new sounds. But the next day those gifts
aren’t near as cute. Especially if they wake you up from a dead sleep. There is no music in a cymbal or
drum played by itself, it’s just noise.
Paul is saying that spectacular, eloquent speaking without love is nothing, it’s empty, it has no purpose.
A preacher was a guest speaker at a large church where the pastor was known as an eloquent preacher.
After one of the special guest’s messages a woman spoke to him about some valid concerns she had
regarding her pastor. She said: “When our pastor preaches we wish he wouldn’t stop, but when he isn’t
preaching and we see the harshness and coldness in his life we wish he would never preach again.”
When we as Christians speak we need to realize that we don’t just speak truth we also communicate
attitudes. Paul is telling us we must not present the truth in a loveless way. We must speak the truth,
but we must always do it in love.
The church is often seen as a negative, condemning instrument in our culture. We must see that our
speaking and our communicating will never be truly heard unless it is accompanied by love.
In v.2, Paul speaks another important truth for the church. In effect he says that spiritual gifts exercised
apart from love make us nothing.
“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that
can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
Imagine a brilliant Christian man or woman who has incredible knowledge and this person is also a great
communicator. Let’s say this person has huge faith. Everywhere they go a new ministry starts, this
person marches through obstacles and starts Missional endeavors. Everyone is impressed with this
brilliant man or woman and his or her spiritual gifts.
Paul is saying that no matter how brilliant this person is, no matter how impressive their spiritual gifts
are, without love this person is nothing.
Let’s say that you put a $20 bill in the offering today. Let’s say Diana, our church treasurer, gives me that
$20 bill as part of my salary. Let’s say I use that $20 bill to buy groceries this week. Let’s say the grocery
store owner uses that $20 bill to help pay his rent.
Let’s say his landlord uses that $20 bill to buy pizza at Pizza Hut. Let’s say the Pizza Hut store owner
takes the $20 bill to the bank and as the teller is counting out the deposit she discovers that the $20 bill
is counterfeit and it’s worthless. That $20 bill has been all over Loudonville during the week, but when
its real value counts, that bill is discovered to be worthless.
Paul is saying that we as Christians can do a lot of impressive things with our gifts from God, but if when
we stand before Christ and He sees that all we have done has not been motivated by love, then all we
have done will be declared worthless.
Again, spiritual gifts exercised apart from love make us nothing.
Now let’s look at v.3:
“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain
nothing.”
Here Paul is telling us that our sacrifices apart from love gain us nothing.
One person said: “You cannot love without giving, but you can give without loving.”
When Paul talks about giving all we possess to the poor, he is talking about getting personally involved
in the lives of the people we give to. How often do we get personally involved in the lives of people? It’s
too easy to give money or food or clothing donations without getting involved in the life of the person
we give to. Paul is saying to us: “If you aren’t loving the person you are giving to then the sacrificial gift
you are giving gains you nothing.”
In this verse Paul also talks about “surrendering our body to the flames.” He may have been thinking
about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego or he may have been thinking of some people in the early
church who were not slaves, but they would actually sell themselves into slavery, so a fellow Christian
who was a slave, could go free. Whenever this was done the new slave would have the slave owner’s
mark branded into his flesh with fire. This was an incredible act of sacrifice. So Paul is saying that we
may even sacrifice our lives, but if it is not done in love it gains us nothing.
In these first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul clearly tells us how important love is if we are truly to
be the Christians and the church that God calls us to be. He is telling us that the greatest need of the
church is love.
So we know what the greatest need of the church is, but do we really know what love is.
We’ve been trying to learn what love really is in this sermon series, but just to be sure we know what it
really is let’s review what we’ve learned about love.
The word love in our culture has a multitude of meanings.
In this sex crazed culture we live in many equate love with sex.
Some think that if being with another person gives them goosebumps then they must be in love.
We say we love strawberries, or we love apple pie, or we love our car or we love our home.
But what is real love?
The Christians at Corinth were as confused about love as we are today.
They had several different words that they used to describe love. Phileo love was friendship or family
love. Eros love was sexual passion or it was also used to describe ecstasy at pagan worship services.
The word Paul used for love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is agape. This love is unconditional love. It’s not
primarily an emotional love. It’s more a love that involves choice. Agape love is setting our mind and will
to seek the highest good of others.
Agape love is love in action, on purpose action.
As we’ve seen in this series, Paul in v.4-8a, shows us not just what love is, but also what love does.
First we see that love is patient and kind. In the Bible, patience and kindness are always used in
connection with people. There is no virtue in being patient with your computer, but there is great love
when we are patient and kind toward others. But patience and kindness do not just happen. They are on
purpose choices. We decide to be patient. We decide to be kind. Patience and kindness are love in
action.
Next Paul says that love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
Envy, boasting and pride thrive on comparing ourselves to each other. Whenever we envy, boast, or
show pride we are putting others down to build ourselves up. This is nothing but self-centeredness. Paul
says love has nothing to do with comparing ourselves to others.
Next Paul says love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.
Anger is at the root of rudeness and self-seeking. A lot of our anger has to do with people not
understanding that “we have things to do and places to go” and sometimes other people get in our way
of doing those things or getting where we want to go. Most of the time when we get angry with others it
is because we’ve made the choice to put ourselves at the center of the universe. We say: “I will be nice
if you fit into my plans, but when you interfere with my stuff I’m going to choose anger.”
Paul is saying that love chooses to recognize that other people have a claim on our lives and love
chooses to put the interests of others before our own interests.
Next Paul says love keeps no record of wrongs. Simply he is saying that love chooses to forgive those
who have wronged us. Choosing to forgive is love in action, it is acting like God because He has chosen
to forgive us.
Next Paul says love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
Love never wishes evil or bad on others instead love rejoices when truth wins out.
Next Paul says: love protects, love always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, love never fails.
If we really know Christ and want to be like Him we will hunger to be the kind of loving person Paul
describes in these verses.
In v.8-13 Paul tells us that everything we think is important now will all fade away and only faith, hope
and love will remain. And the greatest of all is love.
“But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where
there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection
comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we
shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now
these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
People, the greatest need for the church today is love. Love is the greatest need because we in the
church need love and those who aren’t in the church need love. They desperately need love even if they
won’t admit it.
Over the last several months our Church Board has been seeking the Lord for a Church Mission
Statement that will give us as a church a purpose and a calling. The Board has prayed about this Mission
Statement, they have looked at God’s Word and they have discussed ideas for this statement.
Today I want to ask all of us to rally around our new Mission Statement and begin to put it into action.
Our Mission Statement is: “We know God loves us and has called us to actively love others, so we will
through all means possible represent Jesus so that others will be drawn to Him.”
One of the passages of scripture that the Church Board looked at to come up with this Mission
Statement was Matthew Chapter 22:37-39 where Jesus gives what is called “The Great Commandment.”
“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the
first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
If our church is going to really live the Mission God has given us we must start by having a personal
intimate love relationship with Jesus.
As we just read in Matthew 22:37 Jesus says: “Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul and
mind.”
And out of that love relationship with Jesus we will be called to love each other.
Jesus told us to do this in John 15:17: “This is my command love each other.”
And also out of that love relationship with Jesus we will be called to love others to Jesus. Again, in
Matthew 22:39 Jesus says: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
What we’ve learned from our series from 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is that without love in action all we
do as Christians, all we do as a Church is worthless. It is love in action that will draw people to Christ and
into the church.
So as I close this series, I want to give us something to get us going in living out our Mission Statement as
far as actively loving others is concerned.
In addition to our Mission Statement, the Church Board has decided on some Core Values and action
steps that will help us live out the Mission Statement.
One of the Core Value statements says: “We will daily live out simple acts of loving kindness toward
people that God directs us to.”
So for the next 12 months we would like to challenge our congregation to live out acts of loving kindness
by giving donuts to people in public offices and businesses in our area.
When we lived in California I did this for several years.
Once a month I had to get allergy shots at the Allergy Clinic so each time I went I took a dozen donuts to
the staff at the clinic. By doing this I built relationships with the staff and I was asked to pray for their
needs at various times.
I also took donuts to the office staff of one of the High Schools, which opened doors for our church to
use student volunteers at our Food Bank. I also took treats to the women at the Post Office next to our
church. This opened doors for praying for the women and also doing counseling with them and their
family members.
Over the last couple of months I’ve been taking a dozen donuts to the staff at Jac-Lin Manor. I am
beginning to get to know people who work there, especially the activity director.
This may seem like a crazy idea to some of us, but I believe our community needs to know we appreciate
what people do to serve us. I believe doing the donut thing will give us an opportunity to show people
we care about them and we love them.
So I hope you will join me and the Church Board in participating in this yearlong adventure of putting
love into action.
In your bulletin is a flyer that gives information on how this adventure will work. Let’s look at it together.
Loudonville Church of the Nazarene
Loving Our Community Adventure
Church Mission Statement:
Because we know God loves us and has called us to actively love others, we will, through all means
possible, represent Jesus so that others will be drawn to Him.
The Project: Each family (person) adopts a business, public office, etc. for one year and commits to
praying for them and to loving the people in a practical way once month.
The Specifics: Take a dozen donuts to the adopted place along with a small card that expresses
appreciation for their contribution to our community. (Cards will be provided by the church)
The Donuts: Store bought, good quality, freshly baked donuts. (Suggested place to buy donuts is Stakes
Gro-cery Store - Approximate cost is: $8 to $10 for a dozen donuts)
The Delivery: Drop the donuts off with the card attached once a month on a weekday morning.
The Possibilities: Building relationships, seizing opportunities to talk or pray with people, inviting people
to church
Suggested Businesses, Public Offices, etc: Perrysville Fire Dept., Loudonville Fire Dept., Loudonville
Police Dept., Perrysville Police Dept., Colonial Manor, Loudonville Veterans Home, Loudonville Rest
Home, Loudonville Group Home (by Modern Home), McMullen Assisted Living, Loudonville Village
Offices and Mayor, Perrysville Village Offices and Mayor, Dr. Tomchak, Dr. Bowman, Loudonville Walk-In
Clinic, Kettering Center Workers, Loudonville Water Dept., Loudonville Maintenance, Bus Garage,
McMullen Elementary, CE Budd Elementary, Loudonville High School, Lville Public Library -----------------------------Tear Here---------------------------------Your Name(s): __________________________________
Phone: ________________________________
Email: ________________________________
Please select your choices from the above list:
First Choice: _________________________________________
Second Choice: _______________________________________
Third Choice: _________________________________________
People, the greatest need for the church today is to love others to Jesus. I believe that as we love others
in these simple ways that people will be drawn to Jesus and maybe our church will grow also.
But church growth is not our primary goal, loving others to Jesus is. I believe God’s Kingdom will grow as
we join Him in loving others and that is what really matters.
As we close today I would like for us to all read out loud our Mission Statement: “We know God loves us
and has called us to actively love others, so we will through all means possible represent Jesus so that
others will be drawn to Him.”