Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
8 sermons cite this verse
… We are starting a brand new series today called Love Actually, God's Plan for Real Love. We're going to jump in in just a moment to 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4. Before we do, I want to thank everybody that gives to and through our church. We are able to help through fire relief so many people because of your generosity. If you'd like to give, go to our website, zoechurch.org, and you can give right there. Thank you for your continued faithfulness in making a difference in L.A., around our country, and around the world. Let's jump into this week's message called, Love That Lasts. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we're starting a brand new series today called Love Actually, God's Plan for Real Love. Real love, not the fake stuff. And when we talk about love, I first want to just let everybody know that the type of love that we want to aspire to is the love that we receive from God. God is the standard of love. …
… It's in verse 2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Now, let me show you what those three things are, for example. First of all, faith that can move mountains, almost every commentator thinks, every commentator I checked, and I checked on Maul just about, says that Paul wouldn't be speaking this way about saving faith. He wouldn't be talking about the kind of faith that relates you to God. Faith that moves mountains is a leadership gift. Faith that moves mountains, what is leadership? Leadership is the ability to get a group of people who otherwise would not be able to surmount a particular obstacle to do so. you're able to it's an infectious vision gift that enables you to get people to do things otherwise they couldn't do so faith to move mountains is a leadership gift prophecy is not just a communication gift it's direct revelation from God fathoming the mysteries now let me show you how astonishing this is Paul is saying God could have made you a great leader in the church have helped hundreds thousands of people through you, and may have given direct revelation right to you. …
… See, first of all, notice he says, he says, For we know now in part, and we prophesy in part. He's talking about, in verse 8 and 9, he's talking about now versus later. Time versus eternity. He says, now we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfection comes. Now, he uses a word here. Sometimes it's translated the perfect, usually. The perfect or when perfection comes. This is one of those places where it's very important to know the particular Greek word, because there's a number of Greek words that can be translated perfect. And I don't think the word perfect is the best word, though I don't really know what the best English word would be. The Greek word that Paul uses is, he says, when totelion comes. the teleon, the telos is the word that means design, aim, the aim, you see, we even get the idea of a telescope, the aim, the design, and Paul is talking about totelion, not that he's saying when we get to that which we're all aiming for, he's talking about ultimate fulfillment of design, He is saying there's a place where we become all that we should be, all we were meant to be, all we were made to be, all we want to be. …
Thank you. 1 Corinthians 13, verses 1 to 13. 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. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trusts always hopes always perseveres 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 for we know in part and we prophesy in part but when perfection comes the imperfect disappears When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. …
… Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It's not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection is 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. And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. …
… If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. And where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. And when I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. …
… Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish things behind me. Now we see but a poor 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. And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. This is God's word. Now, he said last week that if you read this thing as a standalone passage, not seeing why Paul wrote it, to whom he was writing it, you miss the impact of it, and it's really a bombshell. …
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will cease. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. And when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now we see, but a poor 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. …