The Love Chapter: Benifiting Others

As we look at the words Paul uses to describe the love chapter, most words falls into two groups; serving others, or denying yourself.

Love is…..

Patient: To endure boredom or the annoyance of others

Kind: Always ready to help others

Doesn't envy: Doesn’t want what others have

Isn’t Boastful: Doesn’t brag about oneself

Isn’t Proud: Doesn’t think too highly of oneself

Isn’t Rude: shows respect for others

Isn’t self-seeking: the desire to benefit oneself

Isn’t easily angered: doesn’t become furies with others

Keeps no record of wrongs: Doesn’t keep track of wrongs others have committed.

Always Protects: to guard others

Trusts: A strong belief that some person is honest or can be depended on

Love is, in short, the desire/act of benefit others, even at personal cost.

1 Corinthians 13: definition of adjectives

I like most of us are familiar with the Love Chapter (1 Corinthians 13). We’re going to look at this passage, but from a new perspective. I love looking up the definitions of words. For every adjective in the sections, I looked up the definition of that word. When I did it, I really enjoyed it. It brings the text to life in a whole new way.

Love is patient
• Able to put up with pain, trouble, delay or foredoom without complaining.

Love is kind.
• Always ready to help others and do good; friendly, gentle, generous, or sympathetic. To show kindness.
-The condition or habit of being kind.

It does not envy
• A feeling of jealousy or dislike toward someone who has what one would like to have.

it does not boast
• To talk about oneself or accomplishments with too much pride and pleasure; to brag.

it is not proud
• Thinking too highly of oneself; conceited or haughty. To be self forced.

5It is not rude
• Without respect for others; not polite. Rough or crude.

it is not self-seeking
• To find or search for something valuable to claim for one’s self.

it is not easily angered
• To be upset or to lose one’s temper.

it keeps no record of wrongs

6Love does not delight in evil
• Does not give great pleasure or rejoice or become joyful in wrong or shameful acts.

but rejoices with the truth.
• To be glad or be delighted of what is fact or has the quality of being true, honest and real. What is true; the facts.

7It always
• At all times; at every moment. Forever.

Protects
• To guard or defend against harm or danger; to shield.

always trusts,
• A strong belief that some person or think is honest or can be depended on.


always hopes,
• A felling or strong belief that what is wanted will happened.

always perseveres.
• maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly.

8Love never fails
• At no time, under no conditions does not do what one tries to do; not succeed. To lose.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Jesus’ life: Miracles

Jesus was always healing people; the lame, the sick, the blind, the mute, etc. Every miracle was an act of love; he was serving someone else.

In that day, the teachers (Rabbi) had to be clean. There was a list of requirements that a teacher must do to remain clean; ceremonial washing, not touching dead animals, etc. One of the requirements was you couldn’t touch a dead or ill person. If you did, you had to go through this time-consuming ceremonial washing.

When the widow’s only son had died, Jesus had compassion on her. She now had no one to provide for her.

At the funeral, Jesus came forward, touched the boy, and healed him.

Jesus touched him. Jesus knew he’d have to do ceremonial washing, but he did it anyway. He put the needs of the widow and her son before his own.

I think Jesus had to go through the ceremony washing a lot, because he was always touching and healing sick people.

Jesus demonstrated love by putting other’s needs before his needs.

Jesus' life: The cross

Jesus is love. He doesn’t have love; He is love. You cannot separate the two. If you have Jesus, you have love. If you have love, you have Jesus. Jesus can’t run out of love; it’s a part of His identity. Jesus is love. Jesus life is a perfect example because He didn’t just have love; He was love.

Let’s look at Jesus and His life on Earth. The reason he came was to die for us and to save us. He chose to leave heaven, live like a human for 30 some years, and then die a cruel death.

What did the cross do for Jesus? Nothing. It brought Him only pain. He sacrifice and lost everything He had.

What did the cross do for us? Everything. It gave us life and saved us.

Jesus didn’t put himself first, but He always put other first. If He’d been thinking of Himself and His own well being, He would have stayed in Heaven. But He didn’t. He chose to put others and their needs before His own.

Love is putting others’ needs before your own.

Love is the source

When God told me to study love, I had to ask; why love? What about hope, or joy, or passion, or patience, or kindness, or boldness? Why love? Why is love such a big deal? Why is it more important than prophecy, or speaking in tongues, or faith, or hope? Those things are important. Why aren’t these mentioned? Why is love such a big deal?

Here’s why: If you don’t have love, you can’t have those other gifts. If you can’t love, you can’t be kind. If you don’t have love, you can’t have faith, or hope. But if you have love, these things will be added; they will just bubble over without you thinking at it. If you love God, you’ll trust Him. If you love His people, you will want to put them first and serve them. It all comes from love. Love is the tree; everything else is the fruit.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
–1 Corinthians 13:1-4

On Sunday, we’ll start looking at Jesus’ life and how He lived out love.

God commands it

Before we go any further, there is something that must be made clear; why? Why should we love? Why should we sacrifice what we own for others? If you’re going to go through all that work, shouldn’t you know why? Without a reason, it is very easy to get discouraged.

First reason: God commands it.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you”—John 15: 12

“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another”—1 John 3:11

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”—1 John 2:9-10

“Jesus replied: ‘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’”—Matthew 22:37-39

Short. Sweet. Simple.

We’ll look at another reason why we should love on Friday.

True Love: Introduction

What is love? This is a question that I think everyone has asked at one time or another. What do our parents mean when they say “I love you”? Or when our friends say it?

In our culture, the word love is used a lot and its definition isn’t very clear: I love my family, I love those clothes, I love pizza, and I love God, etc. As you can see, the word love can easily be over used.

When I’m talking about love, I’m not referring to that warm feeling you get when you see some hot guy or girl. I’m not talking about the chick-flick “He’s so cute!” kind of love.

I’m talking about real love, the love that takes work and effort, the kind where you don’t feel like it, but you do it anyway.

This is the love we see in God and His son. The love that nailed Jesus to the cross and would make you lay down your life save someone else. I’m talking about self sacrificing, self denying, serving others, God filled love.

Intense, right? Whenever I refer to the word ‘love’, I will be referring to this kind of love; True Love.

Warning! True love takes time, work, money and resources. Living out true love is exhausting. If you aren’t willing to sacrifice and don’t want to change, then don’t continue. However, if you are willing to sacrifice and want learn more about the love that changed the world and will change your life, you’ve come to the right place.

Counterfeits

How can we recognize evil in the world today? If everyone is trying to look good and right, how can we tell the differences? How can we identify what is a counterfeit, and what is genuine?

Know the original.

Bankers aren’t shown counterfeits; they work with really money. It would be nearly impossible to learn all the counterfeit money. There are always new ways and new tricks of making the money look more realistic; there is simply no way one could keep up with the twisted lies. The original, however, will never change.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He won’t change. If you know Him and His voice, you will recognize any counterfeit that comes you way. When you know the voice of Jesus, you will identify when someone who try to imitate it.

Christians vs. Atheists

Atheists are always being offended by Christians because Christians believe in God. Atheists say there’s no God and can’t stand it when Christians say there is. Atheists don’t like “In God we Trust” or “One nation under God” or ending a prayer in Jesus’ name because it offends them.

As Brad Stien put it: "Which is more reasonable: A man believing in a God he can’t see, or a man who’s offended by a God he doesn’t believe in?"