Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Makes Christians Different | Redefining Love (1 Cor. 13)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to drive across town. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we are working through 1st Corinthians 13, which is Paul's definition of love. How should Christians be known in our society? How should people be able to identify us as those who follow Jesus? Should it be because we wear Christian t-shirts? Or maybe wear Christian jewelry like crosses around her neck?

Starting point is 00:00:32 Or should it be because of politics, as if all Christians vote for the same particular political party? Or maybe it should be Christian bumper stickers. You should be able to tell a Christian because they have a little fish on the back of their car. Years ago, a Christian thinker named Francis Schaefer wrote a book called The Mark of a Christian. And in that book, he builds on Jesus' teaching that the mark of a Christian is love. Christian should be known by our love for other people. love for those inside the church, but love for those outside the church, love for our neighbor, and love for enemy. When one of the teachers of the law came up and asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was,

Starting point is 00:01:14 he responded by saying the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said that the fully formed follower of Christ is one who loves, God and loves others. In the next several episodes, we are going to focus on 1st Corinthians 13. It's Paul's famous chapter on love. Now, if I got to title this little series that we're doing on 1st Corinthians 13, and I'm not sure Patrick is down with it, but I'd say rescuing 1st Corinthians 13 from the wedding ceremony. Because you go to a wedding, and oftentimes there's a scripture reading at the wedding, and if you're a betting person, you'd be smart to bet that that

Starting point is 00:02:00 scripture would be 1 Corinthians 13. Now, of course, that's not always the case, but it is pretty often. And that's appropriate, because this chapter is a beautiful description of love. But the interesting thing to me is that when Paul wrote this chapter, he was not at all thinking about marriage. When Paul wrote this chapter, he was writing it to a church that was really struggling. They'd been arguing, having these internal arguments and debates about the leaders they follow. Some said, hey, I follow Paul. And they said that in a way that made it sound like they were better people because they followed Paul. Others said, no, I follow Apollos, who was one of the other Christian teachers. And some said, I follow Peter. And then there was the really spiritual people, you know, you know, the ones that are always trying to out-spiritualize the others. And so they said, well, I follow Christ. It's a version of saying, my ministry is better than your ministry, or my church is better than your church, or my pastor is better than your pastor.

Starting point is 00:03:07 But this church, they also struggled with pride. They were very impressed with themselves. They thought they were very wise and smart. They were very impressed with what they knew. And then they were impressed with their spiritual gifts. They thought that the spiritual gifts that God had given them, them made them better Christians than others. They thought that the spiritual gifts that God had given them made them a better church than

Starting point is 00:03:33 others. But Paul writes 1 Corinthians 13 and says that without love, none of this other stuff matters. Love is more important than what church you go to, or how much theology you know, or who your favorite preacher is. Paul starts the chapter this way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. Paul says, look, if I speak in heavenly language,

Starting point is 00:04:08 but I don't love other people, well, it doesn't matter. There was a goddess that was worshipped in this particular area that this church was in, and one of the things they did in their pagan goddess worship is they would bang this kind of big gong. this symbol. And so I think what Paul is saying is that I can speak in the language that angels speak in. But if I don't love people, then all my worship, it's just like a noisy pagan worship. Verse 2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I'm nothing. Paul says, even if I know all the secret mysteries, even if I can totally explain God's sovereignty and human freedom, even if I can totally explain the Trinity, things that are beyond a human's mind to comprehend, even if I could explain all of that, but if I don't love other people, then I'm nothing.

Starting point is 00:05:12 verse three if i give all i possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that i may boast but do not have love i am nothing i gain nothing paul says that you can serve you can give everything you have a way you can be known for all the sacrifices that you make in your life but if you don't have love then none of it matters see what paul is saying here is that love is primary in the Christian's life. He's not saying that knowledge or spiritual gifts or service or sacrifice are unimportant. He's just saying that they're unimportant without love. They're unimportant if they are done to exalt our own name. They're unimportant if they are done out of a love for ourselves. And then Paul gets really practical because he goes on to describe what

Starting point is 00:06:07 love is, what it is and what it isn't. And the kind of love that Paul is talking about, it's not vague and it's not nebulous, it's very specific and it's concrete. And it's not just a feeling. It's an action. Paul says love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. First John 318 says, Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. Ouch. Ouch, because John, like Paul, knows that we are too quick to assume that we are loving people.

Starting point is 00:07:10 We're all too quick to say, yes, I'm for love. But then when it gets down to what does love really look like in life, it gets really, really difficult. Love always costs you something. To love in actions and in truth, it always costs you something. There's always a sacrifice involved. It might be time, it might be money, it might be emotional investment, it might be setting aside your agenda. Love always costs you something. I was once challenged by someone to put my name in the place of love in 1st Corinthians 13. Can I say this is true of me? And so I'll read this and put my name in, but you can imagine your name being put in here instead of mine. Keith is patient. Keith is kind. Keith does not envy. Keith does not boast. Keith is not proud. Keith does not not dishonor others. Keith is not self-seeking. Keith is not easily angered. I mean, I just can't even

Starting point is 00:08:09 go on reading it because it sounds so utterly ridiculous. Because that's not true of me. Is it true of you? But don't you want it to be? When you read 1st Corinthians 13 in this description of love, isn't there something compelling about it? Something that you so desperately want to be true of your life. As we talk through 1 Corinthians 13 in these next several episodes, I would encourage you to read it as often as you get the chance. I would encourage you to pray that by God's grace, we will become people who love God, who love our neighbor, who even love our enemy. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with. Texting an episode

Starting point is 00:09:02 to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Makes Christians Different | Redefining Love (1 Cor. 13)

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