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Be Excellent to Each Other
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
December 9, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kid’s Korner.
The sermon starts at 17:35 in the audio file.
Or, What’s Love Got to Do with It?
I may have given my age away in the title and subtitle for this message. “Be excellent to each other” was the salutation between Bill and Ted in their excellent adventure (a movie in 1989), and “What’s love got to do with it?” is a line from pop-legend Tina Turner (an album in 1984). With a little effort I suppose I could have gone looking for more current references that maybe more of you would be familiar with, but it is what it is. To a certain demographic these words ring familiar, and they also happen to relate.
1 Corinthians 13 is one of the top ten all-time well-known chapters in the Bible, across ages and lands and languages, and maybe the most familiar chapter of anything written by Paul. It is a glorious, beautiful, and divine portrayal of love.
But, what’s love got to do with it? Haven’t we been reading about spiritual gifts and the church as a body with different members doing different things (chapter 12)? Aren’t we headed to an extended comparison between two gifts, prophecy and tongues, in the church (chapter 14)? Yes, and this is exactly it; love’s got to do with how we treat each other as fellow members of the body.
It’s how Paul ended (what our copies of Scripture have as) chapter 12: “I will show you a still more excellent way.” Be excellent to each other by loving each other. Chapter 13 sings what makes love excellent compared to spiritual gifts, it sings what defines love, and it sings what a permanent place love will have between God’s people forever. Love is the “more excellent way” (12:31), and we should “pursue love” while we use our spiritual gifts (14:1).
Love is the center of Paul’s argument about how we treat each other in the church; it’s the meat between chapters. It’s also the argument Paul has been making the entire letter even though he’s only used the word “love” four times so far. The Corinthians had all the spiritual gifts (1:5-7) and yet they were divided. They had understanding of God’s sovereignty (chapter 8) and they trampled on the weak. They came together for the Lord’s Supper and despised the church (chapter 11). Every one of their problems included, or primarily involved, a lack of love.
So this chapter–great for all sorts of situations: weddings and marriage counseling, teaching brothers and sisters how to behave, learning how to be a friend, knowing what it means to love like Christ—has mostly to do with loving those who are different than you, the ones thatGod Himself arranged you next to.
There are two types of people who mess up what love means: non-Christians and Christians. I’m not sure which is more wrong, but I know which one is more worse.
Humans have been talking about love, writing songs about love, wishing they had more love, arguing about love languages, et cetera ad nauseam, since creation. Adam’s celebratory poem about Eve are the first recorded words of mankind. Of course men and women regardless of religion are concerned about being loved and having someone to love because we are made in the image of God even if they deny it. So idolators get parts of love right, and they can’t help but get parts of love wrong, because they’re becoming like what they worship. Those who worship love, also known as Eros/Cupid or Venus/Aphrodite, actually destroy love quicker than it takes to get tired to the chorus of a Taylor Swift song.
Yet Christians, the ones who worship the God of love (1 John 4:16), and who know the Son of God’s love (Colossians 1:14), and are indwelt by the Spirit who sheds God’s love abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5), the ones with the verses a[...]
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By Trinity Evangel Church1 Corinthians 13:1-3
December 9, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kid’s Korner.
The sermon starts at 17:35 in the audio file.
Or, What’s Love Got to Do with It?
I may have given my age away in the title and subtitle for this message. “Be excellent to each other” was the salutation between Bill and Ted in their excellent adventure (a movie in 1989), and “What’s love got to do with it?” is a line from pop-legend Tina Turner (an album in 1984). With a little effort I suppose I could have gone looking for more current references that maybe more of you would be familiar with, but it is what it is. To a certain demographic these words ring familiar, and they also happen to relate.
1 Corinthians 13 is one of the top ten all-time well-known chapters in the Bible, across ages and lands and languages, and maybe the most familiar chapter of anything written by Paul. It is a glorious, beautiful, and divine portrayal of love.
But, what’s love got to do with it? Haven’t we been reading about spiritual gifts and the church as a body with different members doing different things (chapter 12)? Aren’t we headed to an extended comparison between two gifts, prophecy and tongues, in the church (chapter 14)? Yes, and this is exactly it; love’s got to do with how we treat each other as fellow members of the body.
It’s how Paul ended (what our copies of Scripture have as) chapter 12: “I will show you a still more excellent way.” Be excellent to each other by loving each other. Chapter 13 sings what makes love excellent compared to spiritual gifts, it sings what defines love, and it sings what a permanent place love will have between God’s people forever. Love is the “more excellent way” (12:31), and we should “pursue love” while we use our spiritual gifts (14:1).
Love is the center of Paul’s argument about how we treat each other in the church; it’s the meat between chapters. It’s also the argument Paul has been making the entire letter even though he’s only used the word “love” four times so far. The Corinthians had all the spiritual gifts (1:5-7) and yet they were divided. They had understanding of God’s sovereignty (chapter 8) and they trampled on the weak. They came together for the Lord’s Supper and despised the church (chapter 11). Every one of their problems included, or primarily involved, a lack of love.
So this chapter–great for all sorts of situations: weddings and marriage counseling, teaching brothers and sisters how to behave, learning how to be a friend, knowing what it means to love like Christ—has mostly to do with loving those who are different than you, the ones thatGod Himself arranged you next to.
There are two types of people who mess up what love means: non-Christians and Christians. I’m not sure which is more wrong, but I know which one is more worse.
Humans have been talking about love, writing songs about love, wishing they had more love, arguing about love languages, et cetera ad nauseam, since creation. Adam’s celebratory poem about Eve are the first recorded words of mankind. Of course men and women regardless of religion are concerned about being loved and having someone to love because we are made in the image of God even if they deny it. So idolators get parts of love right, and they can’t help but get parts of love wrong, because they’re becoming like what they worship. Those who worship love, also known as Eros/Cupid or Venus/Aphrodite, actually destroy love quicker than it takes to get tired to the chorus of a Taylor Swift song.
Yet Christians, the ones who worship the God of love (1 John 4:16), and who know the Son of God’s love (Colossians 1:14), and are indwelt by the Spirit who sheds God’s love abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5), the ones with the verses a[...]