This morning, we

continue our message series helping us to better understand and live out

unconditional love.

This series is

entitled, “Love Is” and it is based on that familiar passage found in

1 Corinthians chapter 13. 

We were created by

God with the need for love that can only be expressed through relationships.

As there are

different types of relationships, there are different types of love.  There is, however, a type of love that we are

to express toward anyone and everyone. 

In fact, the Bible teaches that if we learn how to express this type of

love toward God and others, that we will entirely fulfill all that God’s law

requires of us. 

This distinct type

of love is the love that God has for us. 

In the Greek language, it is the word agape.  It is this type of unconditional love that

we’ll be covering through this message series.

To be able to

possess and express this unconditional love, we’re going to break it down into

parts as Paul chose to do in his letter to the Corinthians.  He taught all about spiritual gifts and said

that it is not using these gifts that truly matters, but how we choose to use

them, our motive, that matters to God. 

We can do all sorts of good things for God, but if we do not do them as

an expression of God’s love, then they are pointless, useless, and meaningless.

1 Corinthians 13:1-4

1 If I speak in the

tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong

or a clanging cymbal. 2 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

do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give

over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain

nothing.  14 Love is patient, love is

kind.   It does not envy, it does not

boast, it is not proud.

Love is not boastful

or proud.

Most of us have

encountered this type of person before. 

You know, the loudmouth who always has to one-up everyone.  If your kid earned a 3.98 GPA this semester,

his kids all earned 4.0’s.  If you worked

50 hours last week, he worked 65.  If

your mother was just diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, his was just diagnosed with

stage 4.

Let’s be honest,

when we’re around them, we don’t necessarily feel loved.  In fact, love isn’t the word at all that we

would use to describe even being around them!

It’s one thing to be

proud in a sense of having proper self-respect. 

It’s OK to be proud of a job well done or of a hard-earned reward.  This is not the type of pride that love is

not.  In fact, love is very proud in this

sense.

The type of pride

that we are referring to is the type of pride that puffs oneself up and thinks

more highly of themselves than they ought to.

It is the type of

pride revealed in a person who cannot learn from anyone because they already

know everything there is to know about everything.  The person who is never wrong and if they

are, well, it was because of something or someone other than themselves. 

It’s the person who

thinks that they are better than others and that no one can do as good of a job

as they can.  The person who consistently

looks down on others, or only helps them in order to prove that they are somehow

better.  It’s the type of person who

always feels that they are more valuable than others.

Love is not proud.

The Bible has much

to say about this type of pride and not any of it is good.  Here are just a few examples:

James 4:6b

…“God opposes the

proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Psalm 10:4

In his pride the

wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Proverbs 11:2

When pride comes,

then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Proverbs 13:10

Where there is

strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before

destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

1 John 2:16

For everything