Sermon Tone Analysis

As we have been learning, spiritual gifts are meant for the glory of God and the good of others.

Today we turn our attention to our intention, to live out what Real Love Looks Like.

And, I think you’ll find, that - in context - this passage is more amazing than you thought it was!

John MacArthur writes: “This chapter is a breath of fresh air, an oasis in a desert of problems.

It is a positive note in the midst of almost continual reproof and correction of wrong understandings, wrong attitudes, wrong behavior, and wrong use of God’s ordinances and gifts.” 1

This passage is often read at weddings, but rarely is it attached to the context of the rest of the writing.

So, let’s...

CATCH THE CONTEXT

Several weeks back we finished 1 Cor 12 with these words from Paul.

1 Corinthians 12:27–31 (CSB)

Now you [plural] are the body of Christ, and individual members of it.

And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading, various kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles?

Are all prophets?

Are all teachers?

Do all do miracles?

Do all have gifts of healing?

Do all speak in tongues?

Do all interpret?

But desire the greater gifts.

And I will show you an even better way.

Every disciple of Jesus is gifted, but not with the same gifts.

God wants us to put those gifts into practice and I hope you have taken the time or WILL take the time to discover your gifts and how that fits into how God has SHAPEd you to serve.

I encourage you to go back to our website (FOM.life) and check out our previous teachings, as well as pick up/download the Spiritual Gifts Discovery and SHAPE Profile in your notes.

Although every gift is important, distributed by the Holy Spirit as just was He wants (1 Cor 12:11, 18),

Paul encourages his audience to desire the greater gifts - gifts that impact a greater amount of people.

We will talk more about the greater gifts in chapter 14, but today we will see what Paul meant when he says I will show you an even better way.

We aren’t to use these gifts for the glory of self, but for the glory of God & the good of others.

Paul is going to show us What Real Love Looks Like.

Our culture has mutilated & disfigured what LOVE really is.

Love - according to our culture - is rarely sacrificial - considering how to put others first, but often selfish - what’s in it for me.

It’s more often about pleasure than purity.

We live in a messed up world, where people want to do whatever they want - even in blatant disobedience to our Creator - and just keep repeating the phrase “Love is love.”

But, just because we call it “love” doesn’t mean it is.

And Christians are just as likely to misuse and abuse what “love” really is.

That’s why I’m so thankful that God gives us clarity to see What Real Love Looks Like, through this rhythmic poem we typically refer to as “the love chapter.”

Let’s read the whole thing and then dig up the treasures verse by verse.

1 Corinthians 13 (CSB)

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

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.

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.

Love is patient, love is kind.

Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, 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.

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.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

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.

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.

Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.

NOW, with the context of SPIRITUAL GIFTS ringing in our ears, let’s look at the “better way” of putting our gifts into practice.

1 Corinthians 13:1 (CSB)

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

There is much debate over what angelic tongues means.

Were people able to speak this language?

Some think this is what they speak today - a heavenly angelic language.

I don’t think that’s what biblical tongues is - as demonstrated in Acts 2 (it was a human language known to other people).

But that’s not the point of the passage.

The point is - even if we could speak all kinds of languages, and even communicate with angels, if we do not have love, the language we are using is irritating instead of encouraging - like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

You don’t want to listen to that for long!

If you have the gift of tongues, but don’t demonstrate love to others, what you have to say is just a bunch of NOISE.

And Paul adds 3 more spiritual gifts to the mix.

1 Corinthians 13:2 (CSB)

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.

Imagine one person able to speak on behalf of God with the gift of prophecy, understanding the deep mysteries with the gift of knowledge, AND with extraordinary faith that believes God for big things, and seems to trust God during the midst of incredible difficulty.

What an incredible resource this person would be to the Church!

Imagine knowing someone who could answer all your Bible questions, and explain deep things in ways you can understand, & trust God with a faith you’ve never encountered before.

EXCEPT…all these great gifts are LACKING LOVE.

Have you ever known someone who knew the Bible, spoke the truth of God, had vast knowledge, and trusted God in a way you wish you could…BUT…you didn’t want to approach that person for help, because they didn’t LOVE you nor others.

Without LOVE, this person would likely become prideful, arrogant, and look down on those who can’t match his/her prophecy, knowledge, or faith.

Warren Wiersbe says it well: “Spiritual gifts, no matter how exciting and wonderful, are useless and even destructive if they are not ministered in love.”2

And then there’s the spiritual gift of GIVING.

1 Corinthians 13:3 (CSB)

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.

BOAST or BURN?

Some translations like King James, ESV, and NAS refer to giving one’s body to be burned, but the Greek term in more important manuscripts contain boast while other manuscripts have burn, the difference of ONLY ONE LETTER that a copyist got wrong at some point.

(kauchēsōmai = I might boast; kauthēsomai = “I will burn”) 3

This giving over of the body might even refer to the ancient practice of selling yourself into slavery to raise funds to give to the poor.

4

To give away material possessions and to give over your body are both HUGE sacrifices, to be applauded.

The problem is that this person is living for the applause of people and these ‘sacrificial acts of service’ are really being done to boast.

This person would be doing great things, but for the wrong reasons - to bring glory to him/herself rather than for the good of others and the glory of God.

All those giftings - without love - are EMPTY, nothing.

BUT…those people with those gifts who LIVE out of LOVE for God and others, are giving a little glimpse into what life on the other side of eternity is going to be like.

Those are the kind of people who show the world...

What Real Love Looks Like!

Let’s take a look at that.

1 Corinthians 13:4–5 (CSB)

Love is patient, love is kind.

Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.

This is so intriguing to me, as Paul starts with 2 characteristics of what love IS, and then follows with 8 characteristics of what love ISN’T - maybe because people have so often seen what should not have been.

PATIENT & KIND

When I think of people who LOVE well, these first 2 characteristics all ALWAYS true - People who lOVE well are patient and kind.

You don’t often think of those who are impatient and unkind as being loving.

Since “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16), and since love is patient and kind, then God is patient and kind.

How patient and kind has God been to YOU? How many times could He have thrown a lightning bolt through your cranium?

8 THINGS LOVE DOESN’T DO

And now we hear the 8 things love doesn’t do.