The Qualities of Love Part 2

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The Qualities of Love Part 2

1 Corinthians 13:4-5a

October 20, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Corinthians 13:4–5

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Introduction:

There is a quality that runs through every answer given to any problem the people of God are experiencing.

Whatever the problem is, you can be sure that what I’m about to mention is necessary to the solution.

THAT QUALITY IS LOVE.

Not just any kind of love — THE LOVE OF GOD.

And not just the love of God in name.

THIS IS ONE OF THE GREAT PROBLEMS THAT WE FACE WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LOVE.

More people talk about love than rightly understand it.

More people talk about love than consistently define it properly.

More people talk about love than REQUIRE OF THEMSELVES.

The requirement necessary to honor God in any challenge is love rightly defined, consistently chosen, and faithfully practiced.

Love that is only known in Christ.

ESV Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Love that is poured out in a human life by the Holy Spirit.

ESV Romans 5:5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Love that we GROW in.

ESV Philippians 1:9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,

Love that is the fruit of God’s own work in a soul.

ESV Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

And so, for the next two Sunday evenings, I want us to focus on THE PRACTICE OF LOVE.

Overview:

The context for our verses is a large section that deals with the subject of love. The larger section deals with:

*The priority of love (vs.1-3)

*The permanence of love (vs.8b-13)

Sandwiched between the two – Paul describes THE PRACTICE OF LOVE

What is interesting is that his description of its practice serves to DEFINE IT.

When you take note of what it does, and you take note of what it does not do — if you will be honest with yourself — you come away with a convicting sense of its supernatural nature.

*Love is powerful

*Love brings change

*Love is a great testimony to the reality of the living God

IT IS SUPERNATURAL. IT IS ONLY POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF SALVATION.

The goal of this section is not just INFORMATION, or EXAMINATION. The goal of this section is TRANSFORMATION.

Paul describes 16 Qualities that you find in God’s love:

1. Love is patient

2. Love is kind

3. Love is not jealous

4. Love does not brag

5. Love is not arrogant

6. Love is not rude

7. Love does not insist on its own way

8. Love is not irritable

9. Love is not resentful

10. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing

11. Love rejoices with the truth

12. Love bears all things

13. Love believes all things

14. Love hopes all things

15. Love endures all things

16. Love never ends

Love Is Not Provoked

November 3, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Corinthians 13:5

Introduction: One of the things that the late Martin Lloyd-Jones would warn about in his preaching was our tendency to read the Scriptures and miss their challenge. He talked about our tendency to assume that we have already experienced what they call for, or what they describe. So that, instead of being called to higher ground. Instead of being challenged to a real surrender of ourselves to the Lordship of Christ. Instead of recognizing our need to live and experience something only made possible by the new birth — only made possible by the indwelling Spirit — we SETTLE for what is natural. We settle for what we can produce. WE SUBSTITUTE what is OUR OWN BEST effort, instead of that which God produces. The quality of love that we consider tonight represents more than just self-control. It is more than self-mastery, self-discipline. It is an internal mildness that belongs to Christlikeness. IT IS A MILDNESS (patience and graciousness) THAT BELONGS TO A RECIPIENT OF THE LOVE AND GRACE OF GOD — A MILDNESS THAT MANIFESTS ITSELF IN HUMBLE AND PATIENT RESPONSES. It is the graciousness of love. It is the pliability that belongs to love. It is an aspect of the inner PEACE that knows the love of God. IT IS A RESPONSE THAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND WHERE PEOPLE DON’T MAKE TOO MUCH OF THEMSELVES. God’s love — true love — is not easily provoked. I. LOVE IS NOT IRRITABLE That statement is simple and straightforward, but we do well to meditate on it for a while, and honestly examine ourselves in light of it. I WOULD REMIND US THAT WHAT WE ARE REALLY EXAMINING IS WHETHER WE ARE WALKING IN LOVE. WHEN WE REMEMBER THAT LOVE IS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, THEN WE ARE EXAMINING WHETHER WE ARE WALKING BY THE SPIRIT. WHEN WE REMEMBER THAT WALKING BY THE SPIRIT IS A LIFE OF SUBMISSION TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST, AND SUBMISSION TO THE WORD OF GOD, THEN WE ARE EXAMINING WHETHER OR NOT WE ARE MORTIFYING SIN AND HONORING JESUS AS LORD AT THE LEVEL OF OUR ATTITUDES AND RESPONSES TO PEOPLE AND CIRCUMSTANCES. The word itself means: BDAG — παροξύνω “to cause a state of inward arousal, urge on, stimulate, esp. provoke to wrath, irritate”#_ftn1 In the word is the idea of “sharpness — to sharpen.” Here it is in the passive voice, so it means to be irritated, to become provoked or indignant. It is used one other place in the NT, in Acts 17:16. ESV Acts 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. As always, context is king. That verse (Acts 17:16) demonstrates that this word could be used in a positive way. It was Paul’s zeal for God’s glory, and his compassion for deceived souls, that moved him when he saw Athens full of idols. INDEED, SOMETHING IS WRONG WHEN WE ARE NOT PROVOKED BY THINGS THAT SHOULD MAKE US ANGRY. So, the teaching in our verses is NOT that true love is never bothered BY ANYTHING. But in 1 Corinthians 13 it is obviously being used in a different sense. I THINK IT IS INSTRUCTIVE THAT IT FOLLOWS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TEACHING THAT LOVE IS NOT SELFISH. HERE, PAUL IS DESCRIBING A KIND OF PROVOCATION, ANGER, SHARPNESS, IRRITABILITY, THAT IS SELF-SEEKING, OR SELF-INTERESTED — SELF-FOCUSED. This kind of agitation, irritability, anger, sharpness, comes because I feel you are infringing upon me. Or you are not being to me (in one or another) what I expect and deserve. Whatever the cause, in this kind of sharpness I am more concerned about myself than I am you. ONE TRANSLATION HAS “IT IS NOT EASILY ANGERED.” NET 1 Corinthians 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. #_ftnref1 William Arndt et al., https://ref.ly/logosres/bdag?ref=page.p+780&off=1811&ctx=%3b+mel.%2c+p.+93%2c+699)+~to+cause+a+state+of+ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 780.

Love Is Not Selfish

October 27, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Corinthians 13:4–5

Introduction: What is love? The true definition of love is the definition that God has given us in His Word. That is what God is doing here in 1 Corinthians 13. He is telling us what love is by telling us what love does and doesn’t do. Love is not simply words. Love is not simply a feeling. Love is a choice, and love’s true choices are the choices that please God. We have seen several descriptions of love already. *Love is patient *Love is kind *Love is not jealous *Love does not brag *Love is not arrogant *Love is not rude Tonight, we focus on the fact that God’s love, true love, IS NOT SELFISH. I. LOVE DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN INTERESTS (vs.5b) Woodenly translated you could say that “love does not seek the things of itself.” The ESV has does not insist on its own way.” The NAS has “does not seek its own.” I think a faithful way to describe it is to say that LOVE IS NOT SELFISH. One source has it, “one’s own advantage.” LOVE IS NOT SELFISH — IT IS NOT SELF-SEEKING. One of the great ironies of our time, and one of the clearest indicators of the blindness of lost humanity, is that we have lived our lives in an era that has preached the message of SELF-LOVE. “YOU MUST LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF” is the message. It has been a very popular message, that has even made its way into the church by the church’s fascination with psychology. THE IDEA IS THAT YOU CAN’T REALLY LOVE OTHERS UNTIL YOU LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF. And so, the teaching was that we need a positive self-image, a positive self-esteem. We cannot love others (in a marriage for example) unless we KNOW OURSELVES, and LIKE OURSELVES, and PURSUE A KIND OF FULFILLMENT discovered through INDEPENDENCE. We must FULFILL ourselves. There be no teaching that so turns the truth upside as that one. What the Bible always assumes about sinful man is that HE DOES love himself. He is an INCURABLE SELF-LOVER. And the Bible does not view that as a positive thing. ESV 2 Timothy 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, Nowhere does God command us to LOVE OURSELVES — but He CLEARLY COMMANDS US to love Him supremely and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In fact, God tells us that all His commands are summed up in the command to love God with all our being and to love others as we love ourselves. SATAN’S LIE IS THAT MEN WILL FIND HAPPINESS AND MEANING THROUGH SATISFYING OUR SELFISH HEARTS. Is anyone listening to me who has bought that lie? Is there anyone who imagines that if you just GET YOUR WAY, if you can just pursue what you have always wanted to pursue, achieve what you have always wanted to achieve, enjoy what you have always wanted to enjoy, that THEN YOU WILL BE A SATISFIED PERSON? THE WHOLE WORLD TESTIFIES THAT SUCH A HOPE IS A VAIN HOPE. THE MORE SELFISH A PERSON BECOMES THE MORE MISERABLE A PERSON BECOMES. ESV Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?" 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine-- my heart still guiding me with wisdom-- and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. 9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

The Qualities of Love” Part 1

October 13, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Corinthians 13:4–8

Introduction: There is a quality that runs through every answer given to any problem the people of God are experiencing. Whatever the problem is, you can be sure that what I’m about to mention is necessary to the solution. THAT QUALITY IS LOVE. Not just any kind of love — THE LOVE OF GOD. And not just the love of God in name. THIS IS ONE OF THE GREAT PROBLEMS THAT WE FACE WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LOVE. More people talk about love than rightly understand it. More people talk about love than consistently define it properly. More people talk about love than REQUIRE OF THEMSELVES. The requirement necessary to honor God in any challenge is love rightly defined, consistently chosen, and faithfully practiced. Love that is only known in Christ. ESV Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Love that is poured out in a human life by the Holy Spirit. ESV Romans 5:5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Love that we GROW in. ESV Philippians 1:9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, Love that is the fruit of God’s own work in a soul. ESV Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, And so, for the next two Sunday evenings, I want us to focus on THE PRACTICE OF LOVE. Overview: The context for our verses is a large section that deals with the subject of love. The larger section deals with: *The priority of love (vs.1-3) *The permanence of love (vs.8b-13) Sandwiched between the two – Paul describes THE PRACTICE OF LOVE What is interesting is that his description of its practice serves to DEFINE IT. When you take note of what it does, and you take note of what it does not do — if you will be honest with yourself — you come away with a convicting sense of its supernatural nature. *Love is powerful *Love brings change *Love is a great testimony to the reality of the living God IT IS SUPERNATURAL. IT IS ONLY POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF SALVATION. The goal of this section is not just INFORMATION, or EXAMINATION. The goal of this section is TRANSFORMATION. Paul describes 16 Qualities that you find in God’s love: 1. Love is patient 2. Love is kind 3. Love is not jealous 4. Love does not brag 5. Love is not arrogant 6. Love is not rude 7. Love does not insist on its own way 8. Love is not irritable 9. Love is not resentful 10. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing 11. Love rejoices with the truth 12. Love bears all things 13. Love believes all things 14. Love hopes all things 15. Love endures all things 16. Love never ends