By: Pastor Cecil Lovelace

HOW IS YOUR LOVE LIFE?

Text: I Corinthians 13

INTRODUCTION:

Today is Valentines Day. This is that time of year that you hear a lot about love. It’s when you send valentines to your sweetheart; you get engaged; or married. You see hearts everywhere you go.

I don’t know of a better passage on love than that of I Corinthians chapter 13. It tells what real love is. It is the basis for the True Love Waits campaign that our Youth have been participating in. It talks about love being patient and kind. Love never gets in a hurry.

Paul was writing to the Church of Corinth. It was a church that thought it was spiritual; yet Paul describes it as being very carnal. They were a divided church; a worldly church; and indulgent church; a compromising church. They were having divisions among themselves in chapter 1; allowing fornication among the members in chapter 5; having a drunken feast and calling it the Lord’s Supper in chapter 11.

This church had grown so lax in the things of God that they were drained of all their spiritual power. They were suffering from spiritual mal-nutrition. They were no longer affective as a body of believers in the work of Christ.

Paul had been preaching the message of the cross up til this point. All of a sudden, he begins to change his message. Now, he changes from telling them what is wrong, to telling them what to do about it.

I am afraid this Corinthian Church represents too many of our modern day churches. Many have fallen into the same rut this church had. It was a weak, defeated, spiritually cold church and Paul was telling them that the only remedy was LOVE!

As we look at this chapter that has become know as the LOVE chapter, notice several things with me.

Love is an absolute necessity to a Christian walk. After all, God IS love!

     A. It’s essential in our speech. V-1   Paul is saying whether it be tongues of men, of angels, or a great orator, without love it is just a big noise. Love will speak in any language. When we speak, our words should be tempered with love.

     B. It’s essential in our service. V-2   Love in absolutely essential in service:

         (1) Power to understand mysteries. (Trinity, election, all powerful, ever present, all knowing God.

         (2) Understand all of God’s secrets, all scripture; had faith to move mtns. If you are without love, you would just place that same mtn. In someone else’s path.

     C. Essential in Sacrifice. V-3   If you give all your goods to the poor; body to be burned and have no love? It is useless!

Notice in verses 1-3 the form "ifs" and "alls." IF one could do ALL this or that he still needs love.II. LOVE IS EFFECTIVE. V-4-7

     A. Love brings meekness. V-4  The next four verses show us a picture of God’s character. Note the contrast between God and man.

        (1) Love is patient. We are often impatient.

        (2) Love is Kind. We are so easy to get discontented.

        (3) Love knows no jealousy. We are envious of those who have more than us.  

       (4) Love never makes a parade of self. We are such a proud people. Some parade their prosperity, others parade their problems.

     B. Love brings manners. V-5

        (1) Love is never rude. We as humans often become ill-mannered.

        (2) Love is never selfish. Man is self-centered.

        (3) Love is never irritated. We lose our temper.

        (4) Love is never resentful. We look for slights and cherish wrongs in the lives of others.

     C. Love brings mercy. V-6-7

        (1) Love will cause you to have feelings for others. 

        (2) Love is never glad when others go wrong. It’s easy for the flesh to take a secret delight in the failures of other people.

        (3) Love is gladdened by goodness, and always looks for a good side in everything and everybody. Love never looks for the negative.III. LOVE IS ETERNAL. V-8-13

   A. Because it is eternal, it is practical. V-8  Love is workable, sound, and sensible. It never fails. This is the heart of this chapter and this book. This church had been failing in it’s task. They had everything except love.

Love never falls to the ground like petals of a flower, because it never decays.

Love never loses strength like a traveler on a journey because love is inexhaustible.

Love never drops out of line like a soldier on a march because love is tireless. Love perseveres because it can never fail.

So because love is eternal it is practical, progressive, and also:

     C. Love is precious. V-13 Why is love so precious? Because it is greater than faith and hope.

        (1) Faith possesses the past (Calvary); Hope claims the future; Love dominates our life right now.

        (2) Faith says Jesus came to save me; hope says he’s coming again; love says, he’s real in my heart today.

Faith without love is a cold conviction; hope without love is just a dream.CONCLUSION

Here was a church that had the idea that they were spiritual. But, they had left out the most important thing... God. Because they had left out love, they had left out God.

QUESTION:  How is your love life? : Love will outlast us because God is love.You can have all the things just mentioned an still be a failure, but live is effective. It will do the work. Love works when nothing else does. Some try to win their loved ones by "lashing" but you’ll get more done by loving.