Progress up to this point  The Cross & Christian Unity (1:10-4:16)  Christian Sexuality & Marriage (4:17-7:40)  Christian Freedom & Responsibility in Relating to the World (8:1-11:1)  New Essay – Good Christian Meetings (11:2-14:40)  Women leading in Christian meetings  The Lord’s Supper (Consuming or Serving?)  Spiritual Gifts and the Gift of the Body of Christ

12:31-14:1

LOVE(12:31-14:1) Gifts & the Body (12:1-30) Leading in Worship (11:2-16) Order in Worship (11:17-34) Worshiping (14:3b-40) Order in Worship (14:26-33) Gifts & the Body (14:1-25)

1 Corinthians 1:4-5, 7  4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge… 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ…

1 Corinthians 1:4-5, 7  4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge… 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ…

31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. (12:31)

31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you hyperbole hodon. (12:31)

31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you the high road. (12:31)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (13:1)

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. (13:2)

3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned (that I may boast), 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned (that I may boast), but have not love, I gain nothing. (13:3)

God is love. (1 John 4:8, 16) Who defines love?

Love in the Greek Language  Eros (passion)  Storge (familial)  Phileo (friendship)  Agape

Agape  love, a word not found in Classical Greek but only in revealed religion. Translated charity (1 Cor. 13:1, KJV) meaning benevolent love. Its benevolence, however, is not shown by doing what the person loved desires but what the one who loves deems as needed by the one loved; (e.g., For God so loved the world that he gave...John 3:16).

Agape  He gave not what man wanted, but what man needed as God perceived his need, namely His Son who brought forgiveness to man. God’s love for man is His doing what He thinks best for man and not what man desires. It is God’s willful direction toward man. But for man to show love to God, he must first appropriate God’s agape, for only God has such an unselfish love. – Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study New Testament

1 Corinthians 13:4-7  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.

Love is/does…Love is/does not… Patient

Love is/does…Love is/does not… Patient Kind

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious Kind

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Arrogant

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Arrogant Rude

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Arrogant Rude Insist on its own way

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Arrogant Rude Insist on its own way Irritable

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Arrogant Rude Insist on its own way Irritable Resentful

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Arrogant Rude Insist on its own way Irritable Resentful Rejoice at wrongdoing

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Rejoice with the truthArrogant Rude Insist on its own way Irritable Resentful Rejoice at wrongdoing

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Rejoice with the truthArrogant Bear all thingsRude Insist on its own way Irritable Resentful Rejoice at wrongdoing

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Rejoice with the truthArrogant Bear all thingsRude Believe all thingsInsist on its own way Irritable Resentful Rejoice at wrongdoing

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Rejoice with the truthArrogant Bear all thingsRude Believe all thingsInsist on its own way Hope all thingsIrritable Resentful Rejoice at wrongdoing

Love is/does…Love is/does not… PatientEnvious KindBoastful Rejoice with the truthArrogant Bear all thingsRude Believe all thingsInsist on its own way Hope all thingsIrritable Endure all thingsResentful Rejoice at wrongdoing

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  Matthew 22: And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  John 13: 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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  1 John 3: By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  1 John 3:23 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  1 John 4: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  1 John 4: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  1 John 4: So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  1 John 4: If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  Romans 13: Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The Currency of the Kingdom is Love  Galatians 5: For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 5:8 8 …but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We love because He first loved us.

1 Corinthians 13:8-10  8 Love never ends (falls). 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.

1 Corinthians 13:11  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.

1 Corinthians 13:11  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.

1 Corinthians 13:12-13  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.

1 Corinthians 13:12-13  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.

1 Corinthians 13:12-13  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. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. (14:1)

1 Corinthians 13:12-13  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. Run after love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. (14:1)

1 Corinthians 13:12-13  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. Reflection Questions: Do you know the love of God for you? How can you run after love today?