"Kurt Gavin" > wrote in message ink.net...
>
> "lambert.uk" > wrote in message news:lq2dnVrx4OVF-
>
>
>>
>> 22 ?a?Professing to be wise, they ?unbelievers? became fools,
>>
>
> Yes, the whole shrieking mess is filled with question marks, which is more polite than just coming out and saying it is a bunch of
> low class bullshit.
>
> Of course, if there really was a god, he would have utter disdain for groveling brainless "worshippers" and will make them the
> slaves in the afterlife of those who were intelligent enough to question and be atheists. <=== hehehaha (-: ;-)
>


The Excellence of Love


(1 Corinthians 13 NASB)

The Excellence of Love

1 If I speak with the ?a?tongues of men and of ?b?angels, but do not have
love, I have become a noisy gong or a ?c?clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of ?a?prophecy, and know all ?b?mysteries and all
?c?knowledge; and if I have ?d?all faith, so as to ?e?remove mountains, but do
not have love, I am nothing.

3 And if I ?a?give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I ?b?surrender
my body ?1?to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love ?a?is patient, love is kind and ?b?is not jealous; love does not brag and
is not ?c?arrogant,

5 does not act unbecomingly; it ?a?does not seek its own, is not provoked,
?b?does not take into account a wrong suffered,

6 ?a?does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but ?b?rejoices with the truth;

7 ?1??a?bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of ?1??a?prophecy, they will be done
away; if there are ?b?tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be
done away.

9 For we ?a?know in part and we prophesy in part;

10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason
like a child; when I ?1?became a man, I did away with childish things.

12 For now we ?a?see in a mirror ?1?dimly, but then ?b?face to face; now I
know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also ?c?have been fully known.

13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the ?1?greatest of these is
?a?love.

[1]


I love my wife. I love my kids. I love Big Macs. I love walks in the park on summer
evenings. We use the word "love" so freely that we diminish its meaning. The Greeks
circumvented this problem by using four words for love..

.. Storgi means affection. Storgi is the kind of love one feels toward his cat or dog.

.. Eros refers to sexual, physical love.

.. Phileo, from which we get the name "Philadelphia," speaks of brotherly love.
Phileo says, "If you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you."

It wasn't until the New Testament apostles introduced the concept of unconditional
love that the Greeks added agape to their vocabulary. Agape is a love that gives
simply for the sake of giving, never expecting anything in return. People who don't
know the Lord can experience all of the other kinds of love. But for them, agape is
impossible because it is found only in God. Agape is the love of which Paul speaks
when he says, "If I don't have love, I'm just making noise even if I speak in tongues
fluently."

In the year 1647, during England's Civil War, a deserter in Cromwell's army was
captured and brought before him.

"When the curfew bell sounds tonight, you shall be executed," said the general.

But that night, the curfew bell was not heard. Upon investigation, it was discovered
that, receiving news of her fianci's sentence, his betrothed made her way quickly to
the camp and hid in the bell tower. As curfew neared, she positioned herself within
the bell in such a way that when the rope was pulled, the clapper hit her body rather
than the inside of the bell. Seeing the bruised and battered lady standing before him,
Cromwell was so deeply touched by her love that the soldier's life was spared.

Jesus Christ climbed not a bell tower, but the hill of Calvary in order that you and I
would be spared the execution we so rightfully deserve. Whether the word is charity,
love, or agape, the love Jesus showed us, the love we are to extend to one another is

spelled one way: S-a-c-r-i-f-i-c-e.

[2]


A Topical Study of 1 Corinthians 13:4

The description of agape seen in 1 Corinthians 13 is glorious indeed. But, to the
believer, this passage can be very frustrating as well. You see, in 1 Corinthians 13,
we read that love is longsuffering and kind, that it neither envies nor seeks its own,
that it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, that
it never fails.

"What a beautiful description of love," we say with one breath, but, "too bad I'm so
far from it," with the next.

Today, however, I want you to look at the chapter before us from a slightly different
perspective. The apostle John tells us that God is love-literally that God is agape (1
John 4:16). Paul tells us that this Fountainhead of agape, the Essence of love, God
Himself demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners He died in
place of us (Romans 5:8). Seen in this light, 1 Corinthians 13 becomes not only an
exhortation to love others, but, more importantly, a description of God's love for
us..

Love suffereth long. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (a)

God suffers long. He suffers long toward me. Think of Jesus on the Cross. As men
cursed Him and spit on Him, what did He do? He suffered long. He said, "Father
forgive them. They don't know what they're doing" (see Luke 23:34). My tendency
is to think I've blown it so badly that surely God has given up on me. But the Cross
shows me otherwise.

..and is kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (b)

If you think God is vengeful, angry, and mean-spirited, you have the wrong image of
God. So kind, so gentle, so big-hearted is He that He does more for us than we
could ever ask or even think (Ephesians 3:20).

The psalmist tells us that the Lord will withhold no good thing from those that love
Him (Psalm 84:11). Therefore, if I'm not getting something for which I'm asking, it's
because what I'm asking for would not be good for me. If the timing isn't right, if the
request is wrong, He'll withhold it not because He's mean, but because He is love.

..love envieth not. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (c)

Bound together in the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit are completely self-sufficient
and totally happy. God says, "I want to walk with you; I'll never give up on you; I
avail Myself to you-but I'm not dependent on you." God's love is mature.

..love vaunteth not itself. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (d)

God doesn't have to hype Himself. What He says, He does. Who He claims to be,
He really is.

..is not puffed up. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (e)

God doesn't say, "I'm God and you're dust." No, He came to dwell among us, to
walk with us, to die for us. And He's the same today. He's always available to me,
always ready to hear my prayers, always ready to share with me truths from His
Word.

When I read 1 Corinthians 13 in this light, what does it do?

The apostle John tells us exactly what it does when he literally says, "We love
because He first loved us" (see 1 John 4:19). The person who understands that 1
Corinthians 13 is most fundamentally talking about the nature and character of God's
love toward him personally will be one who inevitably overflows with love to the
people around him.

We looked at only one verse in Paul's perfectly placed pomegranate of love. As you
make your way through the rest of the chapter, you will see God's love for you in
every verse. Marvel at it. Bask in it. Then let it overflow from your life to everyone
around you.

[3]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a 1 Cor 12:10
b 2 Cor 12:4; Rev 14:2
c Ps 150:5
a Matt 7:22; Acts 13:1; 1 Cor 11:4; 13:8; 14:1, 39
b 1 Cor 14:2; 15:51
c Rom 15:14
d 1 Cor 12:9
e Matt 17:20; 21:21; Mark 11:23
a Matt 6:2
b Dan 3:28
1 Early mss read that I may boast
a Prov 10:12; 17:9; 1 Thess 5:14; 1 Pet 4:8
b Acts 7:9
c 1 Cor 4:6
a 1 Cor 10:24; Phil 2:21
b 2 Cor 5:19
a 2 Thess 2:12
b 2 John 4; 3 John 3f
1 Or covers
a 1 Cor 9:12
1 Lit prophecies
a 1 Cor 13:2
b 1 Cor 13:1
a 1 Cor 8:2; 13:12
1 Lit have become...have done away with
a 2 Cor 5:7; Phil 3:12; James 1:23
1 Lit in a riddle
b Gen 32:30; Num 12:8; 1 John 3:2
c 1 Cor 8:3
1 Lit greater
a Gal 5:6

[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (1 Co 13:1). LaHabra, CA:
The Lockman Foundation.

[2]Courson, J. (2003). Jon Courson's Application Commentary (1074). Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson.

[3]Courson, J. (2003). Jon Courson's Application Commentary (1078). Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson.



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