1 Corinthians 13:1-13 If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. 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 put aside childish things. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. 13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.
Are you bottom-line person?
Ministry is only effective when it comes from a heart of love for people.
Why Do We Have This Passage Highlighted?
We are a confused people when it comes to love
Love is more than a feeling
Love is more than words
John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
CS Lewis wrote: To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to be sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one. Lock it up in the safe or the casket of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark and motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken but it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be safe from all the dangers of love is hell."
The Love List: vs 4-7
Love is patient
Love is kind.
Love does not envy
Is not boastful
is not arrogant, (proud )
is not rude,
is not self-seeking,
is not irritable / easily angered
and does not keep a record of wrongs.
Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but
rejoices in the truth
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
1. Without love, all our words are ineffective
1 Corinthians 13:1 “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal”
2. Without love, all that we know is in vain
1 Corinthians 13:2 “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge . . . but do not have love, I am nothing”
3. Without love, all that we believe is insufficient.
1 Corinthians 13:2 “If I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing”
4. Without love, all that we sacrifice is futile
“If I give all I possess to the poor . . . but do not have love, I gain nothing”
