Love Knows No Limits 1 Corinthians 1. A Peanuts cartoon shows Lucy standing with her arms folded and a stern expression on her face. Charlie Brown pleads, Lucy, you must be more loving. This world really needs love. You have to let yourself love to make this world a better place. Lucy angrily whirls around and knocks Charlie Brown to the ground. She screams at him, Look, Blockhead, the world I love. Its people I cant stand. Im sure we all feel that way from time to time, and some of us feel that way most of the time. Maybe you feel that way right now. Loving the world in general isnt that difficult loving the people around us can be a major challenge. City Of Friends Youtube Episodes Of The Invaders'>City Of Friends Youtube Episodes Of The Invaders. Watch Teleios Online' title='Watch Teleios Online' />In 1 Corinthians 1. Bible. This chapter is typically read at weddings and anniversary celebrations. It has even been set to music. Watch Teleios Online' title='Watch Teleios Online' />Yet, this was never the original intent. Instead, Paul was writing a rebuke to a dysfunctional church for their abuse of the spiritual gifts. Typically though, this understanding is often ignored. Consequently, I wonder if most Christians have truly pondered the deeper meaning of this passage. Have we heard this Scripture so often that we no longer think about what the words mean I would suggest that if we ignore the context of this chapter we are in danger of missing its major impact. In 1 Corinthians 1. Paul will argue that love is an action, not an emotion. The kind of love Paul will talk about is seen, experienced, and demonstrated. This is contrary to our culture that honors personal feelings above almost everything. We do what we want when we want because we feel like it. And if we dont feel like it, we dont do it. But as I study this passage, I am struck by the complete absence of any stress on personal feelings. REVIEW OVERALL RATING 93 GRADE A The Garmin Approach G6 exemplifies the trend of putting all of the best features of previous devices into progressively. Action Movies What makes an Action Movie Great The Action Movie Essentials, Top Action Movie Stars, and thosemust Action Movie Quotes aka Cheesy OneLiners. Hence, if love is an action, not an emotion, we need to study what God has to say about love. We need to know what love is and what it looks like when it is lived out in the church. In these thirteen verses, Paul provides three distinctions of love. Love is greater than any spiritual gift1. In these three verses, Paul mentions six spiritual gifts tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, giving, and martyrdom. The first four gifts are listed in 1. The gift of giving is among those mentioned in Rom 1. Martyrdom does not occur anywhere else as a spiritual gift, but by its association with the other five gifts here, we can add it to the spiritual gifts God gives to His church. Paul kicks off 1. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Some Bible students seem to have missed Pauls point here and have interpreted him as speaking merely of eloquence in human speech, but clearly he is referring to the gift of tongues. Watch Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Full Movie more. After all, the last gifts mentioned in chapter 1. And those same gifts are the main topic of chapter 1. It is quite logical, then, that Paul begins the intervening chapter by discussing tongues. The use of tongues that Paul is speaking of here is the gift of speaking a private prayer language. Paul says you can speak in tongues all you want, but if you dont have love you are merely making a lot of noise. In 1. 3 2 3, Paul mentions five more spiritual gifts when he writes, If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Prophecy refers to the ability to declare Gods truth in a powerful, life changing way. Knowledge involves the deep understanding of the Word of God. Faith is the unique ability to trust God for great things. These three gifts are all from the Holy Spirit, and yet without love the person who has them is nothing. Verse 3 poses a problem because it asks us to ponder activities that we automatically consider noble. Giving to the poor is a good thing to do. And dying for your faith in Christ is the ultimate sacrifice. But as good as these things are, without love they do you no good. Paul declares that the greatest expression of spirituality is love. We could summarize these three verses like this Without loveI say nothing, I am nothing, and I gain nothing. Clearly, we must have love when we are exercising our spiritual gifts. So stop for just a moment and reflect on your spiritual gifts and your ministry in the local church. Do you do what you do out of genuine love for peopleOr do you serve out of a sense of obligation Do you serve because of the satisfaction you derive from ministry Do you minister because you like honing your skills Although no one has perfectly pure motives, we ought to be seeking to grow in our love quotient. Paul says that love is an action, not an emotion therefore, we need to put feet to our love. After talking about the importance of love, Paul now will discuss how love behaves. Love is expressed by supernatural responses 1. Love is a word that can only be properly defined in terms of action, attitude, and behavior. Paul has no room for abstract, theoretical definitions instead, he wants us to know what love looks like when we see it. Thus, he paints fifteen separate portraits of love. Yes, thats right in the space of four short verses Paul uses fifteen verbs, all of which have love as their subject. Our contemporary definition of love is that it is an emotion or a feelingwe love our jobs, we love football, we love pizza. In the biblical definition of agape, love acts, for love is an action, not an emotion. Verse 4 begins by summarizing the unselfish nature of love. Love is patient. The Greek language has several words for patience. One signifies patience with circumstances while another is used only in reference to patience with people. The Lord knows we need both kinds of patience, but it is this second word that is found here. The KJV renders this word long suffering. I like this Paul seems to be saying that love doesnt have a short fuse. It doesnt lose its temper easily. A person who exercises agape love does not lose patience with people. Love never says, Ill give you just one more chance. Love is patient. The longer that I am in pastoral ministry, the easier it is for me to be patient with others. With every passing year, I recognize more fully that I sin against God and others. As God humbles me with my own sinful shortcomings, I find it easier to exercise greater patience with others.