1 Corinthians

Love is the Greatest

Love is the Greatest

1. Greater than faith and hope
2. Therefore, pursue love.

Love Never Ends

Love Never Ends

1. Love is Complete
2. Heaven is a world of Love

Love always endures

The big idea of 1 Corinthians 13:7: Love always endures. Enduring love in the church sounds romantic, but when we set our hearts to love the real church community that God has brought around us, the question that comes to mind: How do we do it? How does love endure? Three answers: 1. Love always bears 2. Love always believes 3. Love always hopes.

Love Endures All Things

Love Endures All Things:

1. It bears all things.
2. It believes all things.
3. It believes all God says.
4. It hopes all things.
5. Love knows what God will do in the end.
6. Therefore, love is hopeful about what God can do now.
7. Love endures all things.

Love What God Loves

Love what God loves.

1. Do not rejoice at wrongdoing.
2. Rejoice with the truth.

Love Does Not Have a Critical Spirit

Love does not have a critical spirit.

1. Judge charitably
2. Forgive quickly
3. Self-reflect clearly

Love Is Not Irritable

One of the words of this season has been unprecedented. I think that’s a bit overplayed, but one that I don’t hear too much that I think could aptly describe our culture right now is this: Irritated

Everybody is irritated. I don’t think it’s a stretch for any of us to identify with that word today. We feel it. It takes much less to tip the scales to be angry than it used to. We are short with our spouses and our kids. We are annoyed easily by our coworkers or even strangers out in the world. We are irritated by ads on tv. We are simply just irritated and this is a problem.

So this morning I want to look at two ways to describe this problem and then the solution to the problem. 

1. A heart and actions problem
2. A heart and actions solution

Love is not selfishly angered

I bring up anger because Citylight Church is giving particular attention to strengthening our gospel culture this ministry year. A gospel culture is a church that makes the doctrine of the gospel visible through our culture; our relationships and life together. And at the heart of a gospel culture growing strong is a people learning to love one another as Christ has loves us. Anger and irritability are skilled at indicting others, but unskilled in the love required to cultivate a gospel culture. That’s where the Apostle Paul takes us next in our journey through 1 Corinthians 13. In the middle of verse 5 we read: it [love] is not irritable. That brings us to the big idea of our brief passage: love is not selfishly angered. I say selfishly angered because the sinless Lord Jesus Christ did get angry for the glory of God when he overturned money changer’s tables in the temple out of zeal for his Father’s glory. But Jesus was never irritable; he never got angry over a personal slight or wrong done to himself. Love is not selfishly angered. To address the first rising of anger in the heart and learn to love as Jesus has loved us, we are going to look at selfish anger from three angles this morning: 1. The anatomy of selfish anger. 2. The ugliness of selfish anger. 3. The hope for selfish anger.

Love Does Not Seek Its Own Advantage

In 1 Corinthians 13:5 we read that love “does not insist on its own way.”  Said another way, love does not seek its own advantage.  This truth can be easier to state than live by because the sin of selfishness is deep rooted in our hearts.  We are all prone to put our happiness, our comfort, ourselves on the throne of our lives rather Christ.  When Christ is properly seated on the throne of our lives we become more concerned with seeing Christ glorified than ourselves.

Love Is Not Proud

Love is not proud.

1. It does not BOAST.
2. It is not ARROGANT.
3. It is not RUDE.

Love Does Not Envy

Big idea: Love does not burn with envy. 1. The problem of envy. 2. The solution for envy.

Envy is the Enemy of Love

Envy is the enemy of love.

1. The root of envy.
2. The fruit of envy.
3. The cure for envy.