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The Power of Love, Part 3
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
Bruce A. Hess
I invite you right now to take out the Word of God and turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians, and chapter number 13. 1 Corinthians, chapter number 13.
This is the third message in a series that we have entitled, ‘The Power of Love,’ from the first seven verses of 1 Corinthians, chapter number 13. We have been acknowledging that we live in a culture that is confused about what love is and that confusion is often reflected over the years in a number of popular American songs about love. I want to open today by talking about another one of those songs. This is one that was sung by the classic rock idol, Tina Turner, with her spiked, teased hair and her soulful strut. This is a song that she released in 1984. It was her only number one single. It is a song that sold two million copies. The title of that song was ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It?’ Here’s some of the lyrics of that song,
What’s love got to do with it?
What’s love but a second-hand emotion?
What’s love but a sweet old-fashioned notion?
You know, you see the lyrics of that song and a couple of things stand out to me. One thing is, it seems like the author of this song is saying that love is secondary in some way or form. We have seen previously that Paul gives us a ‘spiritual mathematic formula’ in 1 Corinthians 13 and that formula—we’ve looked at this before—is, everything minus love equals = what? Nothing! It’s not a secondary thing at all.
Another thing I noticed about the song is I think the writer of that song falls prey to the imprecision of the English language. We’ve talked about this previously too. We (in English) have one word for love. We pointed out three different Greek words for love:
Eros, which describes the passion dimension of love.
Phileo, which describes the affection/friendship dimension of love.
Then agape, which describes the action dimension of love. It is this last
term that is used in 1 Corinthians 13.
In this (agape) dimension of love, love is not mere sentiment; it’s not fluffy; it’s not mushy; it is not rooted in what I FEEL, it is rooted in what I DO.
So, let’s go back to some of those lyrics again. Remember, part of the lyric in the song was, “what’s love got to do with it?” Biblically we would say, everything! Absolutely everything. Then, the lyric goes, “what’s love but a second-hand emotion?” Well, we learn in 1 Corinthians 13 that true love is not a second-hand emotion. It is love in motion; it is action, love in action. Then, we have that lyric, “what’s love but a sweet old-fashioned notion?” Is that what it is? An old-fashioned notion? No. We learn that true love is devotion to other people, sacrificial action towards others.
With that as just a little bit of a set up for today, I want you to look at 1 Corinthians 13. I want to read this morning the first four verses of 1 Corinthians 13 and invite you to follow along as I am reading. Paul writes,
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast, love is not arrogant.”
Now we pointed out last time, if we’re going to be effective in loving other people, we need to understand—this is the way he lays it out for us—that love does this, love does not do this. I want to remind you that in verses 4, 5, 6, and 7 these are all verbal forms. They are all verbs. It’s either this is something love does, or something love does not do—and that is why this type of love can be commanded.
We have seen as we’ve been walking our way through this, first of all we saw that Love is Patient, patient towards other people. We have seen that Love is Kind. That means kind deeds and kind words.
Today we are going to look at the rest of verse 4. I want you to know, as I was preparing this message this week, and I’m looking at verses 4, 5, 6, and 7, I am thinking to myself: how am I going to be able to adequately cover this gold mine of information in five messages? I still don’t know exactly how I’m going to do that, but that’s what we are going to do. Today is message number three. There is just so much richness here! There’s so much spiritual depth here.
I want to remind you of something we’ve mentioned. The key to utilizing this passage in your spiritual life is to not view it as a window, a window through which you view what other people are doing. Rather, the key to getting the most out of this passage is to view it as a mirror, through which the Holy Spirit can reveal in my life—in your life—some attitudes and actions that should be altered in our spiritual walk. So, we are going to be thinking of this passage as a mirror.
As we come to the remainder of verse 3, having seen that Love is Patient and Love is Kind, there is an over-arching theme that I think summarizes the next three items that are mentioned and that theme is, Love is Humble. We see that expressed in three ways. First, Love, he says, does not Envy. If you have a New American Standard or New Living Translation, it says, “Love is not jealous.” The Message translates it, “Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.” Love does not Envy.
What is envy? Well, here is a definition: “envy is the practice of focusing on another’s blessings instead of our own.” Envy can be very dangerous and damaging. For example, Proverbs 27:4 (NLT): Anger is cruel. Wrath, like a flood. You know, a flood causes damage. But jealousy is even more dangerous.
James, chapter 3, verse 16 (NLT), “For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition,” what happens? “There you will find disorder and evil of every kind.” Love does not Envy.
We see this issue of envy surfacing in Scripture over and over again. For example, we see it in 1 Samuel 18, with King Saul. You remember the story that no one wanted to take on Goliath, and David, the shepherd boy, takes on Goliath, wipes out Goliath, and then the Philistines are totally defeated. After those events occur, it tells us that the women of the nation begin to sing this song, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” Then, it goes on to say that when he heard that song Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. And Saul ‘eyed’ David from that day on. Eventually, Saul tries to hunt him down and kill him. Why? Envy, envy! We see it all through Scripture.
We see it in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, between Joseph and his brothers. Remember, he was the youngest one and his father had given him this multi-colored outfit to wear, and his brothers became highly envious. They got so mad and envious about it they decided to sell Joseph to a slave trade caravan that was coming by.
We see this idea of envy causing issues in Scripture. We see it also with the religious leaders in Thessalonica in the New Testament in Acts chapter 17. What is happening there is Paul is showing up reasoning from the Scriptures in the synagogue every day. Some of those who were listening were becoming followers of Jesus. How did the Jews respond? The Jews, becoming jealous—envy, envy, envy—formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. See, men and women, envy can be a destructive tool in the hands of the Enemy.
One thing I think is important to remember is that envy is also dangerous to us personally. For example, envy leads to discontentment and misery. It does. I mean, we’re not to be comparing houses, and comparing spouses, and comparing kids, and comparing abilities, and comparing opportunities, and comparing blessings—but we tend to do that very thing.
That is something that always leads to discontentment and misery. I mean, there is always somebody who has more money than you do, they have a better car, a bigger house, they have a larger scholarship, they’re more popular, they’re more athletic. We need to understand that envy leads to discontentment and misery. Who wants to go there?
Another thing we would have to say about how envy is dangerous to ourselves personally, is that envy chokes the life energy out of relationships…even among committed Christians. Not too long ago I was talking to some of our World Outreach partners who are ministering outside of the United States. And I was asking them, what are some of the issues that you have to deal with? What are some of the biggest problems you have to deal with on the mission field? You know what they said to me? They said, this is the top problem with missionaries. What do you guess they said? They said the top problem is comparison and envy. Well, you see, envy chokes the life energy out of relationships. That happens even on the mission field among those who were called to bring the Gospel to people.
Love, rather than envying, rejoices at another person’s blessings, rejoices at another person’s accomplishments, rejoices at another person’s recognition. Love does not Envy.
Well, how can I protect myself from developing envy in my life? A couple of suggestions: one key would be, God’s Providence ( He is the sovereign King.) We must remind ourselves of that. He is the one who dispenses the abilities. He is the one who dispenses the blessings. And because it comes from His hand, we have the opportunity—when we see someone who has something different from ourselves—to rejoice with them over what God has dispensed. His Providence helps us!
Another key to protecting ourselves from envy is God’s Sufficiency. See, whatever my situation may be—whatever it might be—He is there with me. His grace is sufficient. There’s no need for me to envy another person. He is sufficient in my life; His grace is sufficient. He is there, He has given me everything I need.
Now, I want to make one other quick statement in this regard about envy, and that is this: the principles of thankfulness and contentment leave minimal room for envy and jealousy to rampage. The principles of thankfulness and contentment leave minimal room for envy and jealousy to rampage. So, he is being very practical with us. Love does this: Love does not Envy.
Secondly, he says Love does not Boast. This is the flip side, I think, of envy. J.B. Phillips translation says, “Love is not anxious to impress.” The Message says, I like this one, “Love doesn’t strut.” The New King James version translates it, “Love doesn’t parade itself.” See, the idea here is that love does not elevate ourselves onto our own pedestal, and we tend to do that with the aim that maybe some other people would be jealous of how wonderful I am.
You know, I was doing some reading online recently and I came across a definition in the Urban Dictionary of a term that is new. This is something that is very easy to fall into in the social media world, and that is, a ‘humble brag.’ Have you ever heard about this one? “A humble brag.” It is so easy to get into this in social media. What is a humble brag? Well, they define it as “a seemingly casual statement meant to draw attention to one’s qualities or achievements.” That is a ‘humble brag.’
I’ll give you an illustration of one–you can see this kind of thing on social media:
“I just got back from a three-week trip to the Bahamas, I’m already needing another vacation.” There’s a humble brag going on in that statement. Here’s another one: “my new Cadillac Escalade doesn’t get the mileage of my neighbor’s 2012 Corolla…bad for me.” There’s a humble brag going on there.
I want to be very practical. I think there are Two common ways that boasting can surface in our everyday life. So, I want to talk about them. The first common way—and I just know how I’m wired and I’m assuming you are wired very similarly—is that we share something with others with a clear goal of impressing them. You know, impressing other people where we design our comments to steer the other person to pat us on the back; “Man, you’re something else!”
In truth, we are a boaster. When someone is being a boaster, there is usually a whole lot of ‘I,’ first person pronouns involved. A whole lot of ‘I’ coming out in our comments.
There is a very thin line between sharing—follow me here—and bragging and boasting. I need to be reminded of this. I need to be reminded of this! I find myself occasionally reminded when I think of Proverbs 27:2. It is like the Holy Spirit is just sort of poking me. Remember what it says here, Bruce? “Let another praise you, not your own mouth; someone else, not your own lips.” Watch out for those humble brags!
The second common way this tends to surface in our everyday life is not only sharing with a clear goal of impressing other people—so that they are basically patting us on the back—but also listening to another person share, and then we are quick to ‘top’ them. You know, they are sharing an incident, an event, an experience, and we’re very quick then to point out what happened to us. It’s sort of a subtle form of, ‘Can you top this? ‘
I think it would be good right now if we just pause for a moment, take a deep breath—pause before the Lord—and ask yourself the question, Am I a boaster? Am I a boaster? The truth is—I just think this is true of us—we are in danger of severe bruising by patting ourselves on the back. We can be a boaster. And love does not ‘blow its own horn’ [talk in boastful, bragging ways]. Love builds up and praises other people.
1 Corinthians 1:31, “Let him who boasts,” do what, what does it say? “Boast in the Lord.” Boast in the Lord. The over-arching theme of what we are looking at about what love is, is that Love is Humble: Love does not Envy, Love does not Boast.
Then, third, we are going to see that Love is not Arrogant. In this translation the term appears as an adjective, but remember, these are all verbs. I think this points to the attitude that lies behind boasting and bragging. The New King James version says, “Love is not puffed up.”
This leads us to one of the most colorful verbs in all the New Testament. That verb, which is the verb in the phrase, Love is not Arrogant, is the word in the original language, phusioo (p-h-u-s-i-o-o). Phusioo is an onomatopoeic word. What does that term mean? It means the verb sounds like what it means. Think of it. Phusioo. Phuu, phuu, phuu, [a sound like FOO in English] like you are blowing something up. Phusioo.
What is interesting about this verb is it only occurs seven times in the New Testament, and six of them are in 1 Corinthians. Why? Because they had a problem with phuu, phuu, phuu, puffing themselves up, and inflating themselves.
The only other time it occurs is in Colossians 2:18, where it is translated ‘puffed up without reason’ in the ESV; ‘inflated without cause’ in the New American Standard Bible. Love is not arrogant, it doesn’t have a phuu, phuu, phuu, overinflated, arrogant view of itself.
You know what’s really interesting about this concept of arrogance and being puffed up? It is something we see showing up in Scripture. For example, arrogance was an attribute of Satan. He became very inflated with himself. Arrogance was also an attribute of the Pharisees. In Luke 18:11 one of the Pharisees is praying, “I thank you, God, that I am not like other people,” like all these other ‘losers’ out there.
This idea appears in Scripture over and over again. For example, we see it in 3 John 9. A guy by the name of Diotrephes, it says there of him, he likes to put himself first: phuu, phuu, phuu, building himself up.
Romans 12:16, “Don’t be haughty in mind; do not be wise in your own estimation.” Which sets us up for one of my favorite quotes of all time. This is a dandy quote. It comes from Amy Carmichael. I love this one so much. She says this, “Those who think too much of themselves don’t think enough.” So true!!
Love is not Arrogant, it doesn’t puff itself up, phhhh, phhhh, phhhh. You know that concept is the complete opposite of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ did not have an inflated view of Himself.
Max Lucado put it this way, speaking of Jesus, he said, “He (Jesus) went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw” [It was probably pretty stinky straw also]. “He went from holding stars in his hand” [he doesn’t mean Hollywood stars; he means the stars of the universe] “to clutching Mary’s finger. The palm that held the universe, took the nail of a soldier.” I love this part: “Your place in heaven was more important to him than His place in heaven, so he gave up His so you could have yours.”
Love is not Arrogant, it’s not puffed up, phuu, phuu, phuu.
C.S. Lewis says this, pride, arrogance, “is the completely anti-God state of mind.” You cannot get further away when we are allowing ourselves to be puffed up in our own thinking.
Paul wrote to the Philippians about this in Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4. He says there, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but with humility count others,” [this verb ‘count’ means to calculate, to regard] in humility count, [calculate, regard] “others as more significant than yourselves.”
So, I want to pause for a moment and I want you to do something, alright? Right where you are seated, I want you all to look to your left, do that right now, look to your left. Then, I want you to look to your right, and then ask yourself this question: do I regard them, do I count them, as more significant than myself? That’s really what it is saying we are to do. In humility, count, regard, calculate others as more significant than yourselves.
You know, he goes on to say this right there in Philippians 2. He says, “Let each of you look, not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.” See, love’s focus is not on me, what I want. Love’s focus is on others and what they need.
We’ve been sharing this definition of New Testament love. Remember this, New Testament love is:
A commitment of my will to your needs and best interest regardless of the cost.
That, men and women, is how Jesus loved us. A commitment of His will to my needs and best interest regardless of the cost. A commitment of His will to your needs and best interest regardless of the cost to Him. That’s how He loved us, and that’s how He loves us right now.
What Paul is trying to communicate is that love pumps up others, rather than inflating oneself. Love is quick to make others a priority. Love is quick to share the applause that might come our way.
You know, as I was working on this message, I was thinking about this: how can I point others to Jesus when much of the time my thumb is aimed at me? How can I really point other people to Jesus when much of the time my thumb is aimed at me? See, that is what ought not be happening when we are talking about The Power of Love. Start to think about what we’ve seen so far, unpacked before us. If we begin to practice those dimensions, do you think it would make any difference in our relationships? Yeah!
Remember, we mentioned this, as we are studying 1 Corinthians 13, we suggested rather than just studying 1 Corinthians 13, let 1 Corinthians 13 study you, study me, so that we can see what we might need to do differently in the way we live our life.
What does love do? Well, Love is Patient with people, Love is Kind, it expresses kind deeds and kind words. What does love not do? Well, Love does not Envy, Love does not Boast, Love is not Arrogant, love is not phuu, phuu, phuu, puffed up.
Now, we’ve got two more messages in this series and I want to say, get ready to hold onto your hat because we are going to have to move through a lot of information the next two weeks. I do want us to talk about some Life Response we can have this morning based on what we’ve looked at. I’m going to suggest two things.
First, Build a Grid of your Relationships. Actually, write these down. Maybe you are thinking of your parents, or your children, or your sisters or your brothers, or your roommates, maybe your neighbors, maybe your co-workers, maybe your friends, maybe your spouse. Any other relationships maybe that I have missed, any relationships going on in your life, Build a Grid of your Relationships and then here’s what we need to be doing, we must check our ‘love quotient’ in each one of those dimensions of relationships. We need to look at my relationships with my siblings, sisters and brothers. Am I Patient? Am I Kind? Are there kind words and kind deeds that I am displaying? Do I not Envy, do I not Boast, am I not Arrogant, phuu, phuu, phuu, you know, puffing myself up?
So, the first thing we can do is to Build this Grid of Relationships. Then, secondly, earlier on we made this statement: The principles of thankfulness and contentment leave minimal room for envy and jealousy to rampage. Very important, thankfulness and contentment!
By way of life response, the second thing we are suggesting that we do is that sometime this week, two different times, Spend some Time Thanking God for the Blessings that He has Given you. Life is busy, we have it just fly by us. Spend some time this week thanking God for the blessings that He has given to you.
Let’s pray together. Father, we just thank You so much again for Your Word. We thank You for the magic that it brings us, because it shows us what we need to see and You are always teaching us to be more like Jesus. We would pray that we would be men and women who want to love the way that You love, the way that You love us. Thank You for this section of Scripture. May it make a difference in how we choose to live our life in the sphere of all our relationships. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen
Questions for Reflection
The Power of Love
Message 3, 13:4
1. Our culture is often obviously confused about the nature of love. List some reasons as to why that is.
2. Bruce said, “Envy is the practice of focusing on another’s blessings instead of our own.” Why do we struggle with that so much?
3. Bruce also said that “envy leads to discontentment and misery,” and that “envy chokes the life energy out of relationships.” Brainstorm some
real-life illustrations of how you’ve experienced that yourself or seen it happen with others.
4. Talk some about how you’ve seen social media can become infested with “humble brags.”
5. We’ve all had times when we’ve been guilty of being a “boaster.” What situations tend to make you more prone to boasting?
6. Philippians 2:3-4, Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count [calculate or regard] others as more significant than
yourselves. What are some practical ways we can grow in regarding others as more significant than ourselves?
7. 1 Corinthians 1:31 says, Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Take some time in prayer to ‘boast in the Lord.’