1 Corinthians 13, Called to Love

Theological Proposition/Focus: The key identifier of a legitimate covenant community is the presence of love.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Since love is the visible sign that legitimizes our covenant community the Christ follower must ensure that love is central in all their actions.

Introduction:

Image: KFC's secret Ingredient.

I personally like KFC, I know that not everyone does, but I like it. What is it that makes KFC so good? The KFC secret recipe is famously known as Colonel Harland Sanders' "11 herbs and spices." While the exact formula has been a closely guarded secret for many years, a supposed copy of the recipe was discovered in 2016. While this recipe has been widely circulated and tested, KFC has neither confirmed nor denied its authenticity. The company's official stance remains that the original recipe is a trade secret, kept secure in a vault at the KFC headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.

Unlike KFC, the secret ingredient for the church is no secret. We know what makes the church special, love and without love everything else is just a waste of time.

Setting the Stage:

Paul concludes 1 Corinthians 12 with verse 31b.

"And yet I will show you the most excellent way."

Body

Love is the secret sauce that makes everything else worth tasting (1-3).

Without love, speech is worse than meaningless, it is annoying (1).

Let me start by explaining the word tongues in verse one. The greek word that we translate as tongues is the word γλώσσαις. The word can refer to the speech organ which we know of as the tongue, it can also be used of a systematic body of words which we know of as a language. Finally, there is evidence that some of the Hellenistic cults referred to ecstatic utterances in their religion as tongues. We are going to dig more into the notion of tongues in a later sermon but for now here is what I want to point out to you. No matter what tongues refers to, tongues without love are like a resounding gong or symbol!

Let's dig in just a little. Greek society highly valued eloquence and the first century Corinthians were no exception. In fact, Paul had been criticized for being a good writer but a poor speaker in 2 Cor. 10:10. Culture was fascinated with good speaking and to those who spoke with authority were greatly honored. In fact, it has been suggested that the phrase "tongues of men or of angels" is a hyperbolic reference to individuals whose speech is so eloquent it is surely Heavenly. However, given the emphasis here seems to be on grace gifts it seems more likely this is tongues in the sense of foreign languages or even ecstatic utterances. In this case I think Paul is saying even if your utterances are so beautiful you think they are heavenly without love the utterance is clashing, annoying.

Without love, even profoundly helpful gifts help nobody (2).

Later Paul is going to talk about how different gifts help the church. Some of the most helpful gifts for the edification of the church are the gifts of public communication and instruction of God's Word. Theologians have spent a lot of time breaking down each of the words prophecy, mysteries, and knowledge. I am not going to get into all the details because I don't think that is the point of the passage. I think the point of the passage is something like this. Even if you can get in front of people and clearly teach the will of God. Even if you understand theological details that everyone else struggles with. Even if you have the sort of faith that rallies people to a cause and motivates them to move forward with God's plan, if you don't have love you are nothing.

Think about this. There are some incredibly smart people who know far more theology than I. There are people who have such a profound faith in God that you cannot help but get excited for the vision they cast. There are people who do and teach some amazing truths but without love they are nothing.

Without love, selflessness is empty of meaning (3).

Self-sacrifice for the good of others is a well-known noble act. In fact, other cultures hold this to be noble. The Romans held self-sacrifice for others to be a noble act and in Mark 10:21 Jesus told the rich man to sell all he had and give it to the poor. Self-sacrifice is noble, but, Paul argues self-sacrifice without love is meaningless. Paul even goes further, even if you give your life in the most horrific way without love it is of no gain.

The Corinthians had a problem with factionalism and a desire to prove they had some high spiritual status. Paul is arguing that status before God requires love.

Image: Caffein Free, what's the point.

I have to admit, I am not a caffein person. I love coffee and soda but I always choose caffein free. I just don't like the way Caffein makes me feel. But I know that for many of you when you hear the word caffein-free you say, what the point.

Love is so much more than a mere emotion (4-7).

So let me make a statement that to get us started. Out culture has no idea what love is. Love is not just a feeling or emotion. Let's look at how Paul defines love in verses 4-7.

Love impacts the way I respond to the actions of others (4a).

The first pair Paul uses are the terms patient and kind. Patience is a state of tranquility while waiting or bearing provocation without complaint. Patience is the sort of word that doesn't need much explanation because we all know both what it looks like and unfortunately what it does not look like. The second term in the par is kind. Kindness refers to a state of treating others well. It carries the idea of benevolence and goodness.

Together patience and kindness describe how we should respond to the actions of others. In the presence of annoyance we respond without complaint. In any cases we respond with benevolent goodness. Love demands patience and kindness.Love puts up with another's weaknesses, idiosyncrasies, and problems and seeks to show favor and mercy to others.

Love impacts the way I relate to others (4b-5).

Love impacts how we respond to the actions or inactions of others, but it also affects how we relate to others. The phrases "does not envy, does not boat, is not proud" all connect with how we relate to others. There are individuals who constantly compare themselves with others to see if their status is as good as or better than others. This is not love! Let me say that again, if you are comparing yourselves with others you have a love problem! Love looks at others and delights in how God has blessed others or enters into prayer that God might bless others.

Closely related to envy is boasting. Love is careful not to elevate oneself by boasting. Can you talk about good things in life? Sure, but don't boast. In particular, love seeks not to elevate the self but to elevate the other. Boasting in a way that makes anyone feel small is not love!

Love is not proud, or does not puff up itself. The idea here is that love does not flaunt itself. An individual who is loving will not see themselves as better than another.

In verse 5 the list continues. Love does not dishonor others. You know, the jokes that make you look good at the expense of another. Not loving. Love is not self-seeking. That is love is prepared to give-up its rights for the benefit of the other.

Love is not easily angered. All of us have been on both sides of this. We have let things that were trivial upset us and we have seen others get upset with us for trivial matters. Love lets things go.

Love keeps no record of wrongs. The word λογίζεται means to calculate or reckon and it a mathematical term but is can also be used of the cognitive process of consideration or pondering. Have you ever had something in your mind and found yourself dwelling on it? I have. Love does not dwell on wrongs or let them sit in the mind to fester. Love lets things go quickly.

If you are alive and breathing then you are going to encounter rude, careless, arrogant, and mean people and well-intentioned but hurtful people. As a Christ follower love should impact and even dominate how you interact with these people.

Love impacts the way I view the world (6).

If you live in the world for long you will be exposed to all sorts of evil and it is easy to begin to be impacted by that evil. Indeed, people have a tendency to begin to develop some pretty negative thoughts and outlooks because of the evil in the world. I mean it, the more you are exposed to evil in the world the more people seem to respond with hatred and poorly to the evil in the world. Frankly, a lot of people would be a lot better off if they turned off the news.

Have you ever watched the news and thought, "good they are getting what they deserve?" Let me propose to you that such thinking is often a form of delighting in evil. Love does not delight in evil but instead rejoices in truth. This means you may need to look for truth to find something to rejoice in.

Look at Luke 9:51-55

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them.

I feel like this is the position that tI find myself sometimes. This is not love!

It goes without saying but Paul said it

Love impacts the actions I take and choices I make (7).

The Greek of verse 7 is beautiful. The emphasis is on the word All (πάντα) which is even repeated 4 times. You may have heard the phrase "all" means "all" but here it really does, it is the point of emphasis here. You may be tempted to state "I have put up with enough." Well sorry, but you have not. You might be tempted to think I have trusted you enough. Sorry, no. You might think I should give up with hope. Again, no. You might think I have risked enough protecting you. Again, nope.

This does not mean that love is naive or undiscriminating. There are situations you need to remove yourself from. There are people who are liars. Love does not believe a liar at every turn, love believe that God can change a person. Love does not naively hope in nothing. Love looks for the hope Christ offers. When we talk about love impacting our actions and choices we do not ask you to be naive but rather eternally minded. Love looks to the end and confidently endures with the end in mind.

Many of you know that there are times when I have Emily fly the airplane. Emily does well but it is not as smooth as when I fly. Why? Because Emily has a tendency to try to solve the immediate problem instead of looking ahead of the airplane. For example, if we are 10 feet below our assigned altitude but climbing slowly I just let it climb slowly knowing we will get there. Emily tends to pull back and overshoot.

In life our love should protect, but protect in light of eternity. Love seeks to trust in light of eternity. Love seeks to hope in light of eternity, and love seeks to persevere in light of eternity.

Image: Name brand and knock off products.

There are things that I don't mind buying the off-label product. When we were in China we enjoyed going to the market and negotiating on items. I remember buying a Nike hat for less than $3 because the swoosh was just a little off center. I was happy to have the hat, it didn't cost me much, and no-one has ever noticed. There are other things where the story is different. I once bought a can of off-label Pringles. They were disgusting. I am sure if you have never had a real Pringle then it tasted fine but these were gross.

Don't settle for off-label love!

Love is enduring (8-13).

Three temporary gifts prove the importance of love (8).

What was hinted at in the previous passage now comes to full statement. Love has profound eschatological implications. Three gifts are mentioned to start prophecies, tongues, and knowledge. Each of these gifts played an incredibly important role in establishing the early church. With the incomplete revelation of the Bible prophecy and knowledge were necessary gifts to the early church. These foundational formative gifts allowed the church without the written complete Word of God to thrive. The gift of tongues was a further formative gift that was necessary with the incomplete Word of God and hence lack of translation availability of the Word and as a means of confirming the legitimacy of the church. In fact in The spiritual gifts given to the early church seem to be directly from Jose 2:28-29 and Isaiah 28:11. These early formative gifts provided evidence to Jews that the church was the legitimate work of God.

However, these gifts were only temporary. They served a purpose, an incredibly important purpose in the formation of the early church but they were still only temporary. The permanent mark of God's church was not the gifts of tongues, prophecy, and knowledge. The permanent mark was love.

The incomplete is a reminder of the significance of love (9-12).

Verses 9-12 are some of the most hotly debated verses in the Bible. I have a view, it is not a view I am willing to die for, but I will share it with you.

In the early church there were those with special knowledge and even prophecies given by the Holy Spirit. However, as we know from Scripture, these sources of knowledge had limitations. It would be decades before the complete Word of God was available. So what is the complete, or perfect as some translations put it? Some scholars think this is the Bible, others the Second coming of Christ, and still others the eschatological consumption of the church. I have a slightly different proposal. I think the complete is the end of the apostolic age. That is, as John completes writing the Bible and passes into eternity the church was left with a complete manuscript and a structure in place for exposition of the Word of God. I think that is the complete, the close of the apostolic age. What happens when the complete comes, we see tongues and prophecy come to an end as wide-spread gifts and we have lost apostolic knowledge and must turn to Scripture for our authority.

What does this mean? I think with the end of the apostolic age we see the end of tongues, prophecies, and super-natural knowledge as normative gifts.

This does not mean that God cannot supernaturally work through someone to exercise miracles; but rather that as a principle, these gifts should not be considered normative for today.

This fits with the picture in verse 11. As the church matures the methods should also mature.

Ultimately, we will reach full maturation when we see Christ and are finally capable of seeing God as God can already see us.

We can look forward to a future marked by faith, hope, and love (13).

I want to take a second and look at verse 13 a little more. Paul mentions three items that we will enjoy into eternity. Faith, hope, and love. When we see Jesus we will be like him perfectively sanctified but we will not be perfect infinite beings like God. We will still be created beings and I think we will still need and exercise faith and hope. I don't believe Heaven is going to be boring without surprises it is actually going to require us to have faith and continue to trust God. But the greatest part of Heaven I think will be perfect love.