The Royal Road of Love
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13
Skip Heitzig
1 Corinthians 12 (NKJV™) | |
27 | Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. |
28 | And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. |
29 | Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? |
30 | Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? |
31 | But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. |
1 Corinthians 13 (NKJV™) | |
1 | Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. |
2 | And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. |
3 | And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. |
4 | Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; |
5 | does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; |
6 | does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; |
7 | bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. |
8 | Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. |
9 | For we know in part and we prophesy in part. |
10 | But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. |
11 | When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. |
12 | For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. |
13 | And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. |
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.
Today, we begin a new series based on perhaps Paul the Apostle's most famous literary work, 1 Corinthians 13. This "chapter of love" is one of the most beautiful, most needed, and most misunderstood sections of the New Testament. As we survey this plot of scriptural real estate together, my hope is that God will work within each of us a heart of mature love—love that is unconditional, sacrificial, and satisfying!
God's love is the missing ingredient in many of our relationships. Many of them are merely perfunctory and unfortunately erode over time. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul paints a picture of what true love is and what it is not. Throughout the text, Paul shows us that true love has many facets and explains it in both positive and negative terms. He tells us our love for others is meant to be a mirror of Christ's love for us. This series looks at what true love really is, highlighting how we can learn to let love govern our personal relationships.
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