1 Corinthians 13 1-13

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1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The 7 Characteristics of Christ-Centred Faith: 3. Love

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If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

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If Ihave the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can movemountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

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If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body [to hardship]that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

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It does not dishonor others, it is notself-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

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Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with thetruth.

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It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

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Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled;where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

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For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

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but when completenesscomes, what is in part disappears.

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When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like achild. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

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For now we see only a 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.

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And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,I know that there are turkeys and celebrations that are on your mind and I want to talk about those this morning…But before we talk about celebrations and turkeys and tables I wantto get back to our discussion about Christ-Centred faith and seeingthe ways that God has given us to escape spiritual prisons in thisworld.Two weeks ago we talked about integrity. Living our lives in a waythat God would have us live – so that our lives are transformed andthe lives of those around us are transformed through us.Last week we talked about prayer – and how our prayers transformus through this relationship we have with God – and how theytransform others and this world through the power that Goddisplays in his answering.And what we’ve noticed each week is that Christian’s don’t requirefancy gimmicks, or programs, or things outside of our ability totransform us – instead, we find that it’s the simple things that Godhas given us that transform our world.And it is for this reason that we continue to look at these basiccharacteristics that Peter wrote about in chapter 4 of his letter. That

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the solutions to life’s problems are not found in complicatedreligion but in the simplicity of Christ-Centred faith.

I. Which is why we continue this morning by talking aboutLOVE.

Show of hands…How many of you have heard this passage fromPaul read at a wedding? How many of you have heard this passagefrom 1 Corinthians read at your wedding? How many of you haveit as your wedding text?It’s not often that we hear this text about love being talked abouton Sunday morning because we hear it so often in the context of weddings. So much so that we may come to think of the love thatPaul is describing as being the kind of love that exists between ahusband and wife.And it certainly is that…and it’s of vital importance marriages thatthey are built on love like this…but there is more to it and whenwe look at this passage we find out that Paul isn’t writing about thesituation of marriage at all.In fact, he’s writing about the broader Christian life – especially inthe relationships that we have with one another…and he’s sayingof all the things that we do in our expression of faith there is thisgreater reality that we have to be aware of…If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I amonly a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

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If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if Ihave a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I amnothing.

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If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body[to hardship] that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

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And we could extend the reasoning of Paul to the present age…if I build the biggest barn and do not have love I’ve built nothing…or if I get the best grades in school and do not have love…I’velearned nothing…I think you get my point…For the Christian – one of the most important elements of our faith – one of the the most important characteristic of the Christ-Centredfaith is that have this thing called love……now the world has many ideas of what love is…we see it ontelevision, we read about it in books…even our children have peculiar ideas about what love is…A little boy named Dave once said this about love…Love will findyou even if you’re trying to hide from it. I’ve been trying to hidefrom it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me.We need to be clear about the kind of love we’re talking about…what we’re talking about is God’s agape love…The love that is thefoundation of strong relationships…and what this kind of lovelooks like we find from verse 4 in Paul…

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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, itis not proud.

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It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, itis not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

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Love does notdelight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

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It always protects,always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.This is powerful love – it’s different that what the world offers us – the world’s love is selfish – it’s about me and what I can get fromit…God’s love is different…it looks to the outside…to the other…

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