Witness" Pt.8 The Way Of Love Pastor Jono Zantingh

Paul makes love the point. If tongues sound without love, the noise means nothing. If prophecy sees without love, the sight amounts to nothing. If sacrificial giving bleeds without love, the cost gains nothing. The text names love’s texture in everyday life: patient, kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not me first, not irritable, not keeping score. Love rejoices when truth blooms. Love never quits, never loses faith, always hopes, endures every season. Then the text relativizes the spectacular. Prophecy, tongues, special knowledge all go dim. Love lasts.

Jesus then sets the horizon for how love takes shape. Acts 1:8 speaks you in the plural. The Spirit clothes a people, not lone rangers, so the witness looks communal. Wanderlust gets exposed as a false formation strategy. Culture trains the heart to chase the next and the new, to swap gyms, cars, churches, relationships, imagining change of scenery will change character. Jesus calls disciples to abide, remain, stay. Rootedness, not roaming, becomes the furnace where the Spirit forms the church into the image of Jesus.

The contrast sharpens. Individualism sneaks into spirituality, turning shared disciplines into private hobbies, turning Sunday into an option, turning connection into rush in and rush out. Scripture insists on alone together. Word, prayer, fasting, worship, confession, service all live in both lanes, personally and corporately. The kingdom is not talk but power, and the meeting point where gifts and fruit braid into power is local, often underwhelming, always transformative community. Gifts plus fruit equals the way of love.

Three claims keep landing. First, the way of love is anchored in being, not doing. Pursue love, then eagerly desire gifts. Gifts without the life of love turn clanging or controlling. The Spirit aims at patience, kindness, a non-demanding, non-keeping-score presence. Second, the way of love is eternal. Anxiety, worry, and fear function like practical atheism, handcuffing hearts to the temporary. Trust holds today, releasing disciples to become unanxious, powerful, loving presence. Third, the way of love is a mark of maturity. Childhood speech, thought, and reasoning give way to grown sight and whole knowing. Pride blocks that road; perseverance in hard relationships builds it. The church lives already and not yet, but the tattoo that steers the day reads eternity. So the Spirit commissions the body to practice interruptible obedience, tangible love, and Spirit-empowered gifts as a public witness to Jesus.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Love outranks gifts and achievements Love stands as the non-negotiable center, rendering tongues, prophecy, knowledge, and even sacrificial giving worthless without it. Power without love becomes noise, and brilliance without love becomes barren. The Spirit aims first at who a disciple is before what that disciple can do. Paul’s order protects the church from impressive dysfunction. [36:18]
• 2. Rooted community resists wanderlust Abiding, not hopping, is where character is actually formed. Transience promises novelty but delivers thin souls and transactional ties, while staying put exposes the shadow places love needs to transform. Local, known, accountable life becomes the Spirit’s workshop for patience, kindness, and endurance. The witness Jesus envisions is plural on purpose. [40:13]
• 3. Pursue being before doing Eagerly desiring gifts makes sense only after pursuing love as the core identity. Without that inner work, gifts tend to hurry, control, or outpace people. Love slows the gifted to walk with others, to wait, to explain, to include, to bless. The church’s credibility grows when gifting bows to Christlike character. [50:08]
• 4. Hold today with eternal eyes Love endures when every other competency fades, so trust brings tomorrow’s weight back into God’s hands. Worry says God will not come; fear says God cannot come. Trust frees disciples to show up present, generous, and interruptible today. Eternity does not detach the church from now; it deepens now with fearless love. [55:30]
• 5. Maturity looks like a life of love Childlike speaking, thinking, and reasoning yield to a grown sight centered on Christ. That shift rarely happens by escaping hard places but by staying put through them, where endurance births tested character. When gifts and fruit meet in community, presence itself begins to minister. That is the life of love. [60:07]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [31:47] - Series finale and 1 Corinthians 13
• [36:18] - Without love, nothing
• [37:44] - Love’s resilient character
• [38:52] - Faith, hope, love endure
• [39:11] - Corporate call to witness
• [40:13] - Confronting wanderlust; choose abiding
• [46:23] - Alone together: practices of formation
• [49:31] - Gifts plus fruit equals power
• [50:08] - The way of love is being
• [55:30] - Hold today; love is eternal
• [58:15] - Fruit grows in rooted community
• [60:07] - Maturity: put away childish ways
• [63:07] - Grow up with eternity in view
• [70:46] - Commissioned to live as witnesses

1. According to 1 Corinthians 13, what specific actions or gifts become meaningless without love?
2. How does Acts 1:8 emphasize the communal nature of being witnesses for Christ? [39:11]
3. What contrast does Paul draw between "childish" ways and maturity in love?
4. What practical examples were given in the sermon about how culture promotes "wanderlust" over rootedness? [40:13]

1. Why do you think Paul prioritizes love over dramatic spiritual gifts like prophecy or faith that moves mountains?
2. How does the idea of "abiding" (staying rooted) counteract the cultural tendency toward transience and superficial relationships? [41:02]
3. The sermon claims that anxiety and worry function like "practical atheism." What does this mean, and how does trusting God’s eternal perspective combat this? [56:25]
4. Why might staying in hard relationships or communities be necessary for developing Christlike character? [58:15]

1. Reflect on a recent situation where you prioritized achieving something (even a "good" thing) over acting in love. What would patience or kindness have looked like in that moment?
2. How rooted are you in your current community? Are there ways you’ve treated relationships or commitments as optional or temporary? What step could you take to deepen accountability? [45:55]
3. Identify an area where fear or anxiety is dominating your decisions (finances, relationships, health). How would trusting God’s eternal care for you change your actions this week? [56:09]
4. Think of a challenging relationship in your life. Instead of avoiding conflict or discomfort, how could you practice endurance or kindness there? [58:28]
5. What "childish" patterns (self-centeredness, impatience, keeping score) do you need to "put away" to grow in mature love?
6. When have you been tempted to chase novelty (a new church, job, or hobby) to avoid hard growth? How can you commit to abiding instead? [40:52]
7. How can you intentionally slow down this week to prioritize being (patient, kind, present) over doing (tasks, achievements, or even ministry)? [50:08]