The More Excellent Way

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - Riley Boggs

We live in a society that is totally lost when it comes to love. What love is, who is deserving of love, how we should express love, and so on. They have it all wrong. And I’ll be honest with you, it would be very easy to stand in this pulpit it and give you 1,000 reasons why they are wrong. I could show you why their love is defined wrong, falls short in this way and that way, and then tell you what love actually is. That is the easy way to approach this text, and it’s not necessarily a wrong way.

But, as I began to work through this text, I found myself far too convicted of my own failures to stand here and point fingers at the world. And, actually, I think that’s the very point of the text. You all know this already, but this is a letter to a church. A body of believers who have walked down paths they shouldn’t have and are being chided by their father in the faith. Paul is not writing to them to tell them how they might correct their unbelieving neighbor’s definition of love, though from this they could. No, he is writing to them to tell them how they might love one another. He is writing them so that they might see the importance of love in the body of Christ. And I want you to see this same thing. My hope is that through this text you will be moved not to look at the world and wag your finger, but that you might be moved to love this body of believers better. And, be evermore grateful for the love of Christ, and His people, on you. And if you do all of that and still want to wag your finger at the world, I encourage you to wag away.

You’ll remember that last week Paul began to discuss the spiritual gifts. He wrote to them saying that every single believer has been uniquely gifted so that we might be dependent on one another. None of us have all the gifts, we all find ourselves lacking, and it forces us to rely on one another. And because of this, Paul says, believers should commit to one another and pursue and exercise the gifts for the building up of the church. We get this beautiful picture of a church full of people empowered by the Spirit all using their gifts for the betterment of their brother or sister. Wisdom being shared, knowledge being taught, stories of people with amazing faith, people being healed, miracles taking place, prophecy being shared, and it’s the amazing thing. Like a healthy body, all parts working together to grow and do all that it is supposed to do.

We read all of this and then in the final verse Paul says, “And I will show you still a more excellent way.” I’m sure the Corinthians were thinking, “A more excellent way? A more excellent way than what we are doing, and what you just described? Yeah, alright, this better be good.” And in that, they might be revealing the very reason Paul adds this section. The Corinthians seemed to be lacking love. They were abounding in gifts, but lacking in love. And love, as we will see, is the more excellent way.

This morning we are going to walk through this text where Paul tells us why love is the more excellent way and shows us what true love looks like. And hopefully, as an act of obedience to our Lord, we will find ourselves better prepared and encouraged to walk in this way. There are 3 things I want to bring out of this text for you to see this morning.

1.) As followers of Christ, all we do must be motivated and informed by love (vv.1-3)

Immediately after talking about spiritual gifts, Paul says this, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Some people take these verses to be an exaggeration. They read it and take Paul to simply be showing how important love is. And while that is true, I think he means more than that. See, what Paul is doing here is not only showing that love is important, but it is absolutely necessary. And the way that he shows us this is by putting all of these things before us, all of these wonderful and good things, and says that without love, they are nothing. Look at them with me.

Without love, the wonderful languages of men and angels turns to the loud clanging of a cymbal. Prophetic powers, understanding of all mysteries and knowledge, and even faith strong enough to remove mountains, all of this is nothing without love. Great sacrifice of one’s belongings or even of their body is for the gain of nothing, without love. This reads like much more than simply a charge for the Corinthians to see how important love is, but rather a rebuke and reminder that love is absolutely necessary for all that they do as Christ followers.

And that can feel a bit extreme. I mean, is Paul telling me that if someone gives all of their belongings to someone in need, but they do it without love, it is of no gain? Yes. Well consider why they would be doing this if it were not for the love of their neighbor or their love of God. What would be their reasoning? You are left with only selfish ambition. The same is true of all of the good things we do as followers of Christ. If we are not motivated by love to do them, if they are not informed by love, then our reasoning must be some kind of selfish ambition.

I think that is what Paul is getting at here. The Corinthians didn’t have a problem with doing all of these good things, they were exercising the gifts. The issue is that they were doing them to lift themselves up. They were boasting in their gifts, using them to categorize people in to more or less holy groups. They were missing love, and so they were missing it all.

For us, the call is the same. As followers of Christ, all we do should be motivated by love. That is, the reason we do this or that is because of our love for God and our love for His people. We don’t do things so that we might be seen in better light, but because of our love. And all we do must be informed by love. That is, the whole of what we do is an act of love. We don’t do things that begin with love, but end with us looking over our shoulder to make sure other people saw what we did. As with many things, easier said than done. Pride has deep roots in us. This kind of living requires a kind of selflessness that can only be found through the empowering of the Spirit. This is where Paul goes next.

2.) True love requires radical selflessness (vv.4-7)

Look at this descriptive of love with me, starting in verse 4. “4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” These 4 verses are some of the most quoted verses in the whole Bible. We have heard them many times, and yet, I don’t think we have truly considered what is required for this kind of love. I know this is true for me. This kind of love is not easy, it does not come naturally. This kind of love requires radical selflessness. And yet, it is the kind of love that God, through His Word, is calling us to. Calling us to as followers of Christ to have for one another.

Let’s just walk through each of these and consider what this kind of love looks like. First, we read that love is patient and kind. Charles Spurgeon said, “This is, perhaps, the hardest work of all, for many people can be affectionate and patient for a time, but the task is to hold on year after year.” This love is not a moment of passion or desire, but rather a love that last, and last with kindness. There is no fuse that runs short, no line to cross. It is patient and responds with kindness.

Next, this love does envy or boast. It isn’t concerned about self-image. It doesn’t want what others have and doesn’t flaunt what others don’t. It is not envious; it is not boastful. Next, it is not arrogant or rude. I’ll be the first to say that “niceness” is not necessarily a Christian virtue. To be loving, at times, is to be direct and firm. But this kind of love, no matter the context, never calls for arrogance or rudeness. It doesn’t look down on others and scoff. It doesn’t make remarks that it knows will hurt. It doesn’t make remarks that will make people unnecessarily uncomfortable. And it doesn’t excuse their rude remarks with a, ”well, it doesn’t bother me, why should it bother them”.

Then we read that this love does not insist on its own way. That is, it lays down its own desires for others. And it doesn’t do it so that everyone might see that they are laying them down and be applauded for doing so. But instead it quietly, maybe without anyone knowing, insist a different way than it’s own. This love is not irritable or resentful. It doesn’t store up little annoyances and harbor frustration and resent. This kind of love makes someone approachable, easy to engage and talk to. It is the kind of love that when someone has it, you feel loved by them so easily. Not irritable, not resentful.

This kind of love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. It will never be found clapping for the unjust, the cheater, the swindler, the liar, or the evil actions of another. Rather it finds it’s joy in truth, and rejoices inwardly and outwardly for it.

Then we have the last 4. The first, this love bears all things. This word “bear” here could also be translated as “covers”. The idea is that when someone has this kind of love, they overlook, yes overlook, errors of others. They simply bear them and cover them. Now you might be thinking, is that right? Aren’t we supposed to call one another out when we are in sin? In one sense, yes. If you see a brother or sister in serious or repetitive, you might need to approach them about it. But that isn’t what is in mind here. The love that bears all things is a love that does not take offense at the missteps of our brothers and sisters. It doesn’t wait and watch until someone does one small thing so that we might call them out on it. It is the kind of love that never wants the errors of another to be seen, because it cares too much for them to embarrass them. 

Spurgeon says it like this, “It never proclaims the error of others. It refuses to see faults where it may kindly help in their removal. It stands in the presence of a fault with a finger on its lips. It does not attempt to make a catalog of provocation.” It does not ever proclaim the error of others unless it is for the sole purpose of helping them, and it stands in the presence of faults, real faults, with a finger on its lips. It does not keep a list of other’s missteps and sins. Does that kind of love describe you? Or do you find yourself quick to point out or talk to others about someone’s faults?

The next 2 I think are better understood when combined. This kind of love believes all things and hopes all things. I want to give an example of what this might look like. Let’s say you are talking with a friend one day and they say, “hey, I just remembered. I was on the golf course the other day and there was this guy who was incredibly drunk, and I think he might go to church with you.” You respond and say, “Really? Are you sure? Do you know his name? What did he look like?” And the person says “I might have overheard someone say his name was Ron. I think? I’m not too sure. But he had black hair and I thought maybe I had seen him before at your church, maybe.” And you think and say, “Well, I don’t go to church with a Ron, but I do go to church with a Don.” Your friend responds, “Yeah! Maybe it was Don. Well, your church buddy Don was drunk on the golf course yesterday.”

How you respond should be marked by this kind of love. When you think about Don, he a great brother. You have never heard that he has a drinking problem or any of that. He’s always kind to you and your family. And so you respond and say, “No, I don’t think that would be him. That doesn’t seem like something he would do. I believe that he wouldn’t do that.” 

Many of you here might be thinking, but what if it actually was him? I mean, it could be. Maybe it was, but the point is that have such a deep love for your brother, that you won’t stoop to believing he would do such a thing. Rather you hold him with high regard, and you believe the best, and you hope for the best. And when you call Don and talk to him, you say, “Hey brother, someone told me they might have saw you drunk at the golf course the other day. I told them that wasn’t like you at all, but I wanted to call you and let you know.” Notice how this believes and hopes the best. If he didn’t do, then he is not hurt by you having a low view of him in that. If he did do it, you can walk with him and help him. And guess what, if it months pass and it happens again, you approach it in the same way. Even if you are continually disappointed, you keep on believing and hoping that Christ has redeemed them from this, rather than assume the worst.

Lastly, this love endures all things. If you have this kind of love, do you know what that means? It means you are going to be wronged and sinned against over and over again, and you have been called to endure it rather than respond. Your brother or sister says something that is hateful and unkind, you endure it. You let it go.

I’ll be the first to admit, I hear this kind of love described and pride begins to rise up within me. Immediately I have the, “Well, what about if they do this? Or what if they do that?” But this text isn’t given to us so that we might find a bunch of exemptions and caveats. This text has been given to us so that we might love well and to love well means that we must live radically selfless lives.

And if you are thinking, “I can’t do that. I want to, I know that I should, but I just can’t do it. I’m not wired that way.” If you are thinking that, hear me say this. Of course you can’t. You are not capable of doing this on your own. You need the Spirit to empower you, and you need the example of Christ ever before you. And you will fail a million times, but you will also be surrounded by a body of believers who are seeking to love you in this same way. They know it’s difficulty and as they give you grace; they are asking for grace in return.

Before we move on to the last point, I want you to see the example perfect example of this love, because He is love itself, in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am going to read out of Isaiah 53, a prophecy of Christ. Listen to who Christ was and the kind of love that was required for this kind of love. 

Starting in verse 7 we read, “7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

This is the kind of love you have been called to show one another. It is a tall task, but you have a great example and have the Spirit to enable you. Pray and ask that God might grow you in this. The final thing I want to draw your attention to this morning is the final 6 verses where Paul gives his final reason for why love is the more excellent way, above the spiritual gits. His final reason is that…

3.) Love is eternal (vv.8-13)

In this final section Paul writes, “8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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 gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

In final remarks about love before returning back to the spiritual gifts in chapter 14, Paul tells us that love never ends, while all of the spiritual gifts will end. There will be a time when they cease. The question is, when is that? Well Paul tells us, when the perfect comes, the partial will past away. “The perfect” being referenced here is Jesus Christ. In other words, when Christ returns again, when “the perfect” returns, the spiritual gifts will pass away. Why is that though? Why will they pass away?

Well think about their purpose. The purpose of the gifts is to build up the church. And they aren’t perfect gifts, they will never completely build up. But when Christ returns, we will be completely built up. We will be finished, and there will no longer be any need for the gifts. They will pass away. 

Paul gives 2 illustrations of this truth. Children speak like children, until they are grown. Then they no longer speak like children. So we now speak like children. Some might prophecy or speak in tongues, but it still like a child speaking. But one day, we will be made entirely made new, and the way we will speak will change. There will be no need to speak like children anymore.

And again, what we know and understand now is like looking into a dirty dark mirror. We can see and make out a general idea, but we can’t see clearly. But one day, we will see clearly, we will see face-to-face. We will fully know, so there will no longer be a need for someone to impart knowledge to us. One day we will fully know, even in the way that we have been fully known by God.

And the point is that while all of these things will pass away, love will continue. Our love for God and our love for His people will continue. It will not pass away. Love is the greatest and is foundational because of this. To close he says, “Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” In other words, he seems to be saying that even among the things that will last into eternity, faith, hope, and love, love is the greatest among them. It is the most important because it informs the other 2. Another way of saying it would be, if someone truly loves, as a result they will find themselves having faith and hoping.

So what are we to make of all of this? What is the call? I think it is rather straightforward. The call is to pursue the more excellent way. The call is to pursue love. Let it be the thing that marks and motivates all that you do. As we read in Colossians 3:14, “…put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” The call is to practice radical selflessness in the church, so that you might love your brother and sister well. So that this church body would abound and grow and be marked by this kind of love.

The call is to hold all the spiritual gifts loosely, but hold love tightly, for it will go places that the gifts cannot. It will go into eternity. The call is to love others well, when they fail to love you well. The call is to love deeply, even when it is incredibly difficult. If it isn’t obvious enough already, we desperately need the Spirit to enable and empower us in this. And that is my prayer for us, that we would walk in obedience to this text and that the Spirit of the God, living inside each one of you, would empower you to love in ways you never thought possible. How glorious and honoring to God that would be.

                  This morning we are going to come to the table to proclaim our love of Christ and remember His great love for us. So if you have placed your faith in Jesus and trusted Him for salvation, I welcome you to come to the table.