1 Corinthians 13:7
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
Every time Greg prays for the next person coming up to preach, I just think of clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. He goes, let's praise that. Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. You can find that on page 960 in the Pew Bible. I'm guessing for most of us in the room, this passage has one specific application that comes to mind, and that's marriage. If you've ever been to a wedding, you've probably heard this passage read.
We talk about this passage in premarital counseling. It's a beautiful passage. It gives concrete language to what love is. And so on one level, it makes sense why this passage is often tied together with marriage. But on the other hand, marriage is not on the forefront of Paul's mind at all. Like most of Paul's letters, this letter was written to a church. a church that was divided, and a church whose members were struggling to love one another.
So let's go ahead and read our text for tonight. I'm going to start in verse 4. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. And the verse we'll focus on for tonight. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I think the main idea from this passage is that church unity is of utmost importance, so love one another. Church unity is of utmost importance, so love one another. So point one, church unity is of utmost importance. Right now, you might be thinking to yourself, I don't see anything about church unity in this passage. What are you talking about? Where are you getting that? Well, you have to zoom out a little bit to see it, but chapter 13 is not written in a vacuum.
It's not a beautiful piece of literature that we can just apply to marriage and it doesn't apply to anything else. No, this chapter, chapter 13, is right in the middle of two chapters about church membership. We talked about it this morning, right? Chapter 12 and chapter 14 are all about what it means to be a member of the body of Christ. And so, the Corinthian church was wracked by division, puffed up with pride.
They were not loving one another. here's an example of what paul tells about them in verse 18 of chapter 11 for in the first place when you come together as a church i hear that there are divisions among you when you come together it's not the lord's supper that you eat for in eating each one goes ahead with his own meal one goes hungry another gets drunk as lovely as these words are in chapter 13 that we read at weddings, these words were likely meant as a rebuke to the Corinthian church. The Corinthians would see in Paul's words in chapter 13 the exact opposite of how they were acting.
By describing what true love is here in chapter 13 and how Christians ought to love one another, Paul is providing an antidote to heal the cracks and divisions in this church. So far from being just a mere hallmark sentiment or a good feeling, the love that Paul describes here in chapter 13 is a blueprint for a unified church. We're not going to spend long on verses 4 through 6, but suffice it to say that each thing that Paul listed out there is the exact opposite of what the Corinthian church was doing.
They were envious. They were boasting. They were being arrogant. They were insisting on their own way. Their actions led to a divided church. And a divided church tells a lie about the gospel. That's why church unity is of utmost importance. You see, the gospel tells us that we're all sinners. We're all rebels against a holy God. No one is righteous, not one. We've all earned judgment from God, but God.
God sent his son, his only son, to live the perfect life that we could never live. To die in our place, taking the punishment that we deserve. And for those of us who trust in Christ, we're united to him. But not just that, we're united to one another in the local church. So, what Paul was just saying in chapter 12, this church, it's made up of many members, very diverse.
It's not meant to be divided. So when the body is divided, we're not representing Christ the way that we ought to. A divided church tells a lie about the gospel and about who Jesus is. But Paul has an excellent solution to this problem. So point two, we are to love one another. Of course, Paul didn't come up with a solution on his own. No, Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
You also are to love one another, and by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. This commandment is fundamental to the Christian life, And therefore, it's fundamental to our lives as members of the body of Christ. That's why it's the first promise that we make together in our church covenant, that we will walk together in brotherly love. In our verse for tonight, Paul, he tells us what true love should look like.
He gives feet to it. This is the antidote for a divided church. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The word bear here, it could mean a number of things. It could mean that we're supposed to bear one another's burdens and sorrows, like we read in our church covenant. And that's something we should be doing. We see that in many passages in the New Testament. But the sense of to bear here is actually a different idea.
it's the idea of overlooking something. It's exactly what Proverbs 10 12 means when it says hatred stirs up strife but love covers all offenses and Peter says above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. To be clear we're not talking here about covering up sins that should be exposed. For instance, you shouldn't be covering up something that is potentially criminal. And if you're not sure whether or not something is potentially criminal, it would be best to go ahead and tell someone about that. What we're talking about here is bearing with one another. When you're tempted to be offended by something much smaller, right?
Sometimes it's when somebody sins against you. Maybe they intentionally sinned against you. Maybe someone said something hurtful. Maybe they sinned unintentionally. Maybe they said they would do something and they completely forgot about it and left you hanging. Sometimes the person isn't even intending to sin against you. And they might not be sinning against you at all. They're just annoying you because they didn't do what you wanted. They didn't do what you expected.
Whatever it is, you've been offended. So what do you do? Should you overlook the offense or should you go to that person and tell them? That's the dilemma, right? That's the dilemma we get stuck in. Because sometimes you really do need to go to someone and tell them that they've sinned against you. This is the same letter where Paul tells the church to remove someone by church discipline because they're in unrepentant sin. So clearly Paul isn't saying this is just everything goes, cover all sins.
No, there are times when we need to go and tell our brother his fault. Just like we read in Matthew 18, Jesus says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him. But I don't think that Jesus is saying there that every time someone sins against you, you need to go and tell him. No, I don't think that's how we're supposed to read that. Also, it doesn't count as bearing all things. If every time someone sins against you, you have to ask six people whether or not you should go and tell them their fault.
That's just gossip. Don't do that. Trying to put these different passages together, I would venture to say that as a default posture, when you're offended, you should try to overlook that offense. But if something is constantly nagging at you, you can't let it go, that might be a sign you should bring it up. Bring it up to them. You don't want a root of bitterness to grow between you and a brother or sister in Christ? Maybe you struggle in this area. Maybe you're easily offended.
How do you grow in this area? This isn't something that we talk about much. Well, for starters, you need to be around other people. Particularly, you need to be around Third Avenue members, people that you have covenanted together to live life together. You need to invite them into your life. You need to get involved in their lives. Chances are, if you're the kind of person who is easily offended, you've also realized at this point in your life that you're introverted.
A.K.A. you don't like to be around other people very much because it's draining on you. Maybe you took a personality test, so now you feel justified in sitting at home and watching TV or looking at your phone in your free time. Introverts, raise your hands. 99% of introverts did not raise their hands because they're introverts. I'm one of you. And as introverts, we figured out that if we're around other people, then they will sin against us and that will offend me.
Yes, exactly. And you will get the chance to overlook that offense. Thereby allowing God to sanctify you and Lord willing, grow you in the ability to bear with one another. Love bears all things. Love also believes all things. Let's get the obvious right out of the way. Paul is not trying to say that Christians are supposed to be gullible, believing everything that they hear. No, that's not what he's talking about. If you've ever read Paul's letters, then you know that he was one of the most discerning people to ever live. He had no problem calling out falsehoods when he saw them. Now what Paul is trying to say here is that Christians are supposed to assume the best of one another. They're supposed to believe the best about their brothers and sisters. This one goes right along with the last one. As soon as you start doing the opposite of this, assuming the best, when you start assuming the worst of someone,
Trust me, you will no longer be able to bear anything that that person does against you. Instead, everything will become offensive. You'll be assuming that no matter what, this person is trying to offend you. If you've ever been married, if you've ever had kids, if you've ever had a roommate, if you've ever lived, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Once you start assuming the worst about someone, everything they do is not only wrong, but you assume that it's done intentionally to offend you or annoy you.
Is there someone in your life, someone in your life here at Third Avenue that you've stopped assuming the best of? Is there a member of Third Avenue that you've pigeonholed in your mind, this person has it out to get me? Is there someone that you can't trust anymore? Maybe it's because they've sinned against you in the past and you're struggling to forgive them. If that's you right now, you need to be reminded that forgiveness is not optional.
For a Christian, forgiveness is not optional. It doesn't matter if they've asked for forgiveness or not. You need to forgive them from your heart. And if you can't find it in your heart to forgive someone who has sinned, then you have to ask yourself, do you understand what grace is at all? A sinner is someone who's received God's grace and forgiveness. They understand just how much in debt they were. The debt was unfathomable.
There's no way that you could pay it back. And that sinner understands that God had every right to condemn them. But instead of condemning to hell, he sent his son, his only son. He sent his son to die for you so that your sins could be forgiven and your debt paid. How then are you going to withhold your forgiveness from another sinner? Unreconciled relationships in the church are like little bombs that are scattered around.
They've been armed. They're just waiting to go off. Work to diffuse those bombs. Don't let unreconciled relationships go on in the church. If you're having trouble believing the best about someone, that may be a sign that there's a lack of love. Love believes all things. Love also hopes all things. If you love someone, you will hope the best for them. You'll hope the best for them in the here and now.
You'll hope the best for them in the future. you'll hope that God will give good things to them. The easiest way to know that if you're lacking love for someone in this area is when something good happens to someone else and you hope it was happening to you. It's extremely obvious that you're lacking love in this area if something bad happens to someone and you rejoice. We know that, right? It's obvious. You shouldn't be rejoicing at the calamity of others.
You're supposed to mourn with those who mourn. It's a little less obvious when someone else receives the blessing that you were hoping for. Someone else found a job and you've been looking for months. Someone else just got engaged and you've been praying for a spouse for years. Someone else got a promotion at work and you've been stuck in the same job for decades. A newly married couple just announced they're expecting a baby and you've been struggling with infertility for so long now.
What will you do when someone else receives the good news that you were hoping for? In that moment, are you able to rejoice with those who rejoice? If not, can you honestly say that you're hoping the best for that person? I'm not trying to say it'll be easy. The Christian life is not easy, but love hopes all things. Love also endures all things. There isn't much difference here between enduring and bearing.
Love bears all things. Love endures all things. They're very similar. But they are different words in Greek that have a slightly different nuance. Bearing something, it carries the idea of overlooking. And enduring, it adds the idea of doing that for a long time. You endure with one another. This love that Paul is describing is not easy. It doesn't come naturally. This is a way of living. It's meant to be practiced and cultivated in the local church.
It's also something that the church won't survive very long without. Do you know what oil does in a car? probably not many mechanics in here but you know what oil is right if you don't put oil in your car it's not going to run for very long there are hundreds of moving parts in a car the engine has all these moving parts and they work together to make the car move but you see there's friction between these parts and the parts can't keep working without oil without oil those parts would grind to a halt. They'd keep trying to work together, but they would break down until the engine breaks or blows up. And so it is with the church. Without love, church just doesn't work. In fact, it would become hopeless. The whole thing would blow up. As much as it falls to you,
don't let that happen here at Third Avenue. Love one another. Bear with one another. Believe the best and hope the best for one another and endure with one another. Let all that you do be done in love. Let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, as we close our time this evening, we're reminded of how much you have loved us.
You have shown us what love is because you are love. Father, we pray that the truth of your word would sink deep into our hearts tonight. We pray that it would shape our hearts, shape our thoughts, shape our words, shape our actions. Help us to embody the love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Holy Spirit, empower us to live together in peace and unity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.