Reflecting God's Agape Love in Our Lives

 

Summary

In our exploration of 1 Corinthians 13, we delve into the profound nature of agape love, which is rooted in the very character of God. This love is not merely an emotion but a reflection of God's essence, calling us to mirror His love in our interactions with others. As we examine the apostolic exhortation, we learn that the love we are to manifest is a direct reflection of God's love for us. This understanding is crucial as it provides insight into how God exercises His love toward us.

Jonathan Edwards' work, "Charity and Its Fruits," offers a deep exposition of 1 Corinthians 13, highlighting seven key aspects of true love. These include the revelation of the right Christian spirit, the genuineness of Christian experience, the friendly spirit of heaven, the pleasantness of the Christian life, the destructive nature of strife, the need to guard against envy and malice, and the call to love even our enemies. These insights challenge us to examine our own lives and the authenticity of our faith.

Paul's discourse in 1 Corinthians 13 emphasizes the supremacy of love over spiritual gifts. He argues that without love, even the most extraordinary gifts and sacrifices are meaningless. This challenges the cultural notion that talent and success can overshadow moral failings. In God's eyes, love is the defining characteristic of a true Christian life.

The nature of agape love is further described as longsuffering and kind. Longsuffering involves enduring pain, hostility, and slander without retaliation. Kindness, on the other hand, is about being patient, friendly, and gentle, even in the face of adversity. This kind of love does not seek to break the bruised reed but rather to heal and restore.

As we reflect on these teachings, we are reminded of the high standard of love that God calls us to. It is a love that transcends human capabilities and requires divine grace to embody. This love is the essence of the Christian life and the ultimate reflection of God's character in us.

Key Takeaways:

1. Agape Love as a Reflection of God's Character: Agape love is not just an emotion but a reflection of God's essence. It calls us to mirror His love in our interactions, providing insight into how God exercises His love toward us. This love is rooted in the character of God and is the foundation of our Christian life. [01:05]

2. The Supremacy of Love Over Spiritual Gifts: Paul emphasizes that without love, even the most extraordinary spiritual gifts and sacrifices are meaningless. This challenges the cultural notion that talent and success can overshadow moral failings. In God's eyes, love is the defining characteristic of a true Christian life. [10:30]

3. Longsuffering and Kindness as Expressions of Love: Agape love is described as longsuffering and kind. Longsuffering involves enduring pain, hostility, and slander without retaliation, while kindness is about being patient, friendly, and gentle. This love does not seek to break the bruised reed but to heal and restore. [14:18]

4. The Dangers of Envy and Malice: Love reveals the urgent need to guard against envy, malice, and bitterness, which can overthrow the work of love. These vices work against the virtue of love, and we must be vigilant in resisting them to maintain the integrity of our Christian witness. [05:22]

5. The Call to Love Even Our Enemies: True love calls us to love even the worst of our enemies. This love tempers the spirit of the Christian and is the sum of Christianity. It challenges us to rise above our natural inclinations and reflect the love of Christ in all our relationships. [05:22]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:34] - Introduction to Agape Love
- [01:44] - Jonathan Edwards' Insights
- [02:50] - Seven Aspects of True Love
- [06:00] - The Supremacy of Love
- [07:15] - Love vs. Spiritual Gifts
- [09:21] - Cultural Notions of Talent
- [10:30] - The Dreadful Warning
- [12:23] - The Importance of Love
- [14:18] - Nature of Agape: Longsuffering
- [15:01] - Real-Life Examples of Suffering
- [18:16] - Enduring Hostility
- [19:25] - The Pain of Slander
- [21:41] - Patience and Kindness
- [23:40] - The Bruised Reed
- [24:16] - Conclusion and Next Steps

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide: Exploring Agape Love in 1 Corinthians 13

Bible Reading:
- 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Observation Questions:
1. What does Paul say about the importance of love compared to spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues and prophecy? ([06:00])
2. How does the sermon describe the nature of agape love as longsuffering and kind? ([14:18])
3. What are some of the vices mentioned in the sermon that work against the virtue of love? ([05:22])
4. How does the sermon illustrate the concept of loving even our enemies? ([05:22])

Interpretation Questions:
1. Why does Paul emphasize that without love, even the most extraordinary gifts and sacrifices are meaningless? How does this challenge cultural notions of success? ([10:30])
2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that agape love is a reflection of God's character? How does this understanding impact our interactions with others? ([01:05])
3. How does the sermon explain the relationship between love and the Christian spirit? What does it mean for love to reveal the genuineness of Christian experience? ([03:30])
4. What does the sermon suggest about the role of kindness in agape love, especially in the context of enduring hostility and slander? ([18:16])

Application Questions:
1. Reflect on a time when you prioritized talent or success over love in your life. How can you realign your priorities to reflect the supremacy of love as described in 1 Corinthians 13? ([10:30])
2. Identify a situation where you find it difficult to be longsuffering. What practical steps can you take to embody this aspect of agape love in that situation? ([14:18])
3. Consider someone in your life who you find challenging to love. How can you apply the sermon’s teaching on loving even our enemies to improve that relationship? ([05:22])
4. Envy and malice are described as vices that overthrow love. Is there a specific relationship or situation where you struggle with these feelings? How can you address them to maintain the integrity of your Christian witness? ([05:22])
5. Think of a recent conflict or disagreement you had. How can you apply the principles of kindness and patience from the sermon to resolve it in a loving manner? ([22:05])
6. The sermon highlights the importance of not retaliating when slandered. How can you practice this in your daily interactions, especially in a world that often encourages retaliation? ([19:49])
7. Reflect on the concept of agape love as a reflection of God's character. How can you intentionally mirror this love in your interactions this week? ([01:05])

Devotional

Day 1: Agape Love Reflects God's Essence
Agape love is more than an emotion; it is a profound reflection of God's very essence. This love calls us to mirror God's love in our interactions with others, providing insight into how God exercises His love toward us. It is rooted in the character of God and forms the foundation of our Christian life. Understanding this love helps us comprehend the depth of God's love for us and challenges us to embody this love in our daily lives. [01:05]

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7-8, ESV)

Reflection: Think of a relationship where you struggle to show love. How can you intentionally reflect God's love in that relationship today?


Day 2: Love's Supremacy Over Spiritual Gifts
Paul emphasizes that love is supreme over spiritual gifts, arguing that without love, even the most extraordinary gifts and sacrifices are meaningless. This challenges the cultural notion that talent and success can overshadow moral failings. In God's eyes, love is the defining characteristic of a true Christian life. This understanding calls us to prioritize love above all else, recognizing that it is the essence of our faith and the true measure of our spiritual maturity. [10:30]

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Corinthians 13:1, ESV)

Reflection: Consider a talent or gift you possess. How can you ensure that love is the driving force behind how you use this gift?


Day 3: Longsuffering and Kindness as Love's Expressions
Agape love is described as longsuffering and kind. Longsuffering involves enduring pain, hostility, and slander without retaliation, while kindness is about being patient, friendly, and gentle. This love does not seek to break the bruised reed but to heal and restore. It challenges us to respond to adversity with grace and compassion, embodying the love of Christ in our interactions with others. [14:18]

"With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:2-3, ESV)

Reflection: Identify a situation where you are tempted to retaliate. How can you choose to respond with longsuffering and kindness instead?


Day 4: Guarding Against Envy and Malice
Love reveals the urgent need to guard against envy, malice, and bitterness, which can overthrow the work of love. These vices work against the virtue of love, and we must be vigilant in resisting them to maintain the integrity of our Christian witness. By recognizing and addressing these negative emotions, we can cultivate a heart that is aligned with God's love and reflects His character to the world. [05:22]

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a recent moment of envy or malice. What steps can you take to replace these feelings with love and forgiveness?


Day 5: The Call to Love Even Our Enemies
True love calls us to love even the worst of our enemies. This love tempers the spirit of the Christian and is the sum of Christianity. It challenges us to rise above our natural inclinations and reflect the love of Christ in all our relationships. By loving our enemies, we demonstrate the transformative power of God's love and become a living testimony of His grace and mercy. [05:22]

"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." (Luke 6:27-28, ESV)

Reflection: Think of someone you consider an enemy. How can you take a concrete step to show them love today?

Quotes


Well, again, we understand that love, agape love, is rooted and grounded in the character of God. And the love that we are called to manifest to each other is the love that comes from God and a love that mirrors and reflects his character. So when we look carefully at these admonitions about how we are to demonstrate love, we learn at least by way of analogy something about how God exercises his love toward us. [00:00:42]

Number one, love reveals what the right Christian spirit is. What kind of spirit we are to display as people is defined by love. Second of all, love reveals to those who profess faith in Christ whether their Christian experience is genuine, because if we have no love, we are not born of God. Remember John said those who love are born of God, and all who are born of God love, in this sense of agape. [00:03:07]

Love reveals an urgent need to guard against envy, malice, bitterness, and other dark spirits that overthrow the work of love. The insight there of course is that with a spirit of envy towards another person, I can't really love another person and envy them. I can't feel malice to somebody whom I really love. And so bitterness, malice, envy, jealousy, these are the vices that work against the virtue of love. [00:05:00]

And finally, in his summary, he said love calls us to love even the worst of our enemies as it tempers the spirit of the Christian and is the sum of Christianity. Well, looking at this as the brief overview, let's take a look now at the text itself where we read in 1 Corinthians 13 these words, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol." [00:05:38]

And so what he's saying is if you were the most gifted, charismatic person that ever lived, but you don't have the gift of love, you're nothing more than a sounding brass and a clanging symbol, just clashing noise. And then he goes on, "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 I have not love, I'm nothing." [00:07:56]

Now, one of the things I want to say in terms of drawing this to our contemporary situation: we have this idea in our culture that talent covers a multitude of sins. If somebody is a successful movie actress, or a movie actor, it doesn't matter how many affairs of adultery they are involved in. If a person is an outstanding athlete, it doesn't matter how many illegitimate children they have, because we don't look to our leaders to be role models, if they're talented, if they're able, that's all that counts. [00:08:57]

And the same is true in the church. If a person is educated and is knowledgeable, and is sophisticated as a professor or as a theologian, he's above criticism in many ways. Or if a person's a golden-voiced orator, great preacher, doesn't matter. We will still exalt these heroes despite their behavior. That's not what the apostle is saying. What the apostle is saying is, "I don't care how gifted you are, I don't care how accomplished you are, I don't care how celebrated you are, if you don't have agape you are nothing in the sight of God." [00:10:04]

And there are still people who are resting their hope and their confidence on their performance to get them into the kingdom of God. When Jesus said, "If you are workers of iniquity, I don't know who you are. Please leave." I mean now that's scary. That's particularly scary for somebody who's involved as I am in what we call full-time Christian service. And I often wonder that. [00:11:13]

And it's scary when Paul says, "I don't care if you have prophecy, if you understand all these mysteries, and you have all this knowledge, and if you have enough faith to move mountains, you don't have love, you're nothing." And then listen to what he says, "And even if 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." [00:12:15]

Love suffers long and is kind. Have we seen those words in other places in Scripture? How many times does the Bible describe the character of God as being longsuffering? Longsuffering. I was in the medical center the other day for an MRI on my shoulder, and as I was in the waiting room an elderly man brought an elderly woman in the waiting room in a wheelchair. And when I saw her come in, I could see that she was in distress. [00:14:45]

We find it very difficult to suffer for a long period of time. We want the pain to be over in a hurry. It's one thing to be short-suffering, and it's another thing to be longsuffering. But this longsuffering is not just related to physical pain and the endurance of that kind of thing, but it also has to do with enduring hostility from other people, insults from other people, slander from other people. [00:18:08]

To be a kind person is not to be a mean person. To be a kind person is to be patient, to be friendly, to not be nasty, and mean, and bitter in one's spirit. One of the great privileges of my life earlier was in the early days of the beginning of the ministry of prison fellowship, I was on the board of directors and I was in a meeting one day with Chuck Colson and we were talking about creating a logo for the ministry. [00:22:05]

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Transcript
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