Love That Lasts - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - December 17, 2007

Sunday school Lesson – Love That Lasts – December 17, 2006

This is lesson three (3) in our series “Life-changing Gifts.”

Our background and focus scripture is 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13.

Faith, hope and love are the foundational building blocks of our life in CHRIST. We begin with faith which requires a decision by each person seeking forgiveness of his or her sins and a walk with CHRIST. Once we act on faith by asking CHRIST to forgive us of our sins and to come into our lives, that action begins a series of events – forgiveness of our sin, righteousness, rebirth in the spirit, eternal life, family status as the child of GOD, indwelling of the HOLY SPIRIT. All of which confirm our hope and assurance of eternal life with GOD in heaven.

Our next building block is love. The Greeks have four (4) words for love.

1 – Erotic love (This word does not appear in the New Testament.)
2 – Love for family (This word used once in the New Testament in a compound word found in Romans 12:10. 9 Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. 10 Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.)
3 – Love for our friends (This word is used many times in the New Testament and conveys the idea of friendship or brotherly love.)
4 – Agape or love that does not require love in return. Agape love is self-giving love. This word is the most frequently used word in the New Testament. The word Agape was not widely used before the New Testament.

Agape love is the building block for our study today.

But the question is where does love come from? We are attracted to another person through physical attraction, positive activities and interaction which develop into a relationship. We can have a love for something such as a sport, craft, music, art, travel or reading because we enjoy that activity. We love to eat because we enjoy food. The list goes on. Our love grows with another person or some activity because of our interaction with that someone or activity. Our love for a person depends upon whether or not that person is our spouse, relative, sibling, child, friend or acquaintance.

Our love for our children and grandchildren takes on a different level of love. We love them because they are part of us whether through adoption or blood relationship.

GOD’S so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON. John 3:16-17:

16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His • One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.[10] 1 Jn 4:9–10 17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

As you may recall, in last weeks lesson, I asked, “Where were you nine (9) months prior to your conception and all the way back to the beginning of time?” The answer is you were in the mind of GOD. GOD first loved us before we ever existed physically. GOD is the source of love but sin separated us from HIM. When we ask HIM to forgive us of our sins and believe that HIS SON JESUS died on the cross and paid the price for our sin, the relationship HE intended for us to have with HIM from the beginning is restored. We become a member of HIS family through the miracle of rebirth and nothing will ever change the fact that we are HIS child.

GOD calls ever person to salvation. The person has to take a step of faith to accept that call. When the call to salvation is accepted then hope is a gift from GOD as a result. Hope confirms the reality of salvation. The next building block is agape love or self-giving love, love that does not require love in return. To me this type of love can only come from an intimate loving relationship between us and our SAVIOR and LORD JESUS CHRIST. Since GOD is the source of love, when we have the right relationship with HIM, we see others through HIS eyes.

We may determine we are going to love more today than we did yesterday but it is a chore for us to muster up the where-with-all to love more. WHO is the source of love? GOD. Therefore, it is our relationship with HIM that produces a genuine love in us toward GOD and then toward our fellow man.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:31:

31 But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.

In chapter 12, the Apostle Paul has just discussed some of the gifts of the HOLY SPIRIT. Look at 1 Corinthians 12:11:

11 But one and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each one as He wills.

It clearly states that HE gives the gift or gifts to whom HE chooses. We can desire a certain gift but GOD decides who gets which gift and when.

The Corinthians had equated their spirituality with the gift or the number of gifts they had received. Their focus was more on the gift than the giver. They had let the gifts of the spirit cause them to get puffed up. So the Apostle Paul is giving them a dose of reality.

It is a wonderful thing to have these gifts from GOD and to use them in HIS service but there is one important thing you must keep in mind. You can have the greatest of all the gifts but if you do not have love and show love to your fellow human beings you have missed the whole point. You are no more than --- let’s read our next scripture.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3:
The Superior Way
1 If I speak the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have [the gift of]* The bracketed text has been added for clarity. 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. 3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned,[1] Other mss read to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Notice the Apostle Paul makes his statement personal. Notice his use of “I”. Paul of all people could boast of many things GOD had done through HIM but he stresses the importance of having and expressing love to others. You can give your last dime to feed the poor or sacrifice yourself by works but unless you do everything from the outflow of love, then it is nothing.

Again, our relationship with our FATHER through CHRIST is vital. HE must direct our paths and HIS love must flow through us to others and in all that we do.

Notice most of the things Paul mentions are things we can do. When we do our ego most often gets in the way and we get puffed up with false pride. Agape love is a love that only comes from GOD. When we love the unlovely and the ungrateful, we know it is GOD’S love flowing through us.

I have to confess, I am not there. It is clear to me that the only way for me to even think of loving more is to be more yielded to CHRIST and to become more intimately involved with HIM through a deeper relationship.




Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited; 5 does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs; 6 finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Paul attempts to describe what agape love is. Agape love is the love that GOD and JESUS have for every human who has ever been or ever will be. These attributes of love, in my opinion, can only be genuine in us as result of our relationship with GOD through CHRIST. These are not attributes we can muster up on our own. These are attributes which result as we grow and mature in CHRIST and become more like HIM.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:8-13:

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 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. 12 For now we see indistinctly, 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. 13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The Apostle Paul is making it clear that there will be a time when all the things associated with prophesy and gifts will come to an end. As we grow and mature in CHRIST we will see things in a more spiritually mature way. The ultimate expression of love will be when we are with GOD in heaven and know fully that HE gave HIS ONLY SON to die for us. JESUS willingly gave HIS life for all mankind. Some will accept this greatest of all gifts but some will reject it. If you or I had been the only person on earth to ever accept CHRIST as our SAVIOR, HE would have died just for you or me. That is as personal as you can get. That is the ultimate expression of love.

GOD wants his children to love their fellow humans in the same way HE loves us. To minister with genuine love, in my opinion, can only be done because we have developed a loving intimate relationship with GOD through JESUS. Such a relationship is a life long commitment. For us to express the love GOD wants us to express to others can only be done as GOD’S love flows from HIM through us to others. GOD is the source of love and we must be thoroughly connected to the source of love. Loving others with agape love is an out flow from our relationship with GOD.