Hook
[Introduce yourself and hand out Bibles]
You might not know it to look at me, but I am a nerd. I used to write code for a living. I have a wall full of Marvel and DC comic books. I have created my own board games AND attended a board game convention… three times. I make a reference to a movie or TV in every 3rd or fourth sentence! Has anyone here ever asked how I was doing and got “super perfect” in reply? That’s a reference! I—and this is true—I have watched Doctor Who unironically. In fact, I think ‘Blink’ may be the greatest episode of television ever produced. But the cream of the crop is that I collect video games. I have an Atari, a Sega Genesis, and every console generation of both Sony and Nintendo. At one point, I was trying to collect all 296 North American Nintendo 64 retail cartridges. I got out of that market in 2019. Right before the prices exploded during the pandemic of 2020. Here is the photo I posted on Marketplace.
Now, if you were unaware, while most of these games go for five to 20 dollars, some of them go for $50 or $100 or $500 and one is currently valued at just shy of $1400 dollars. And that’s just the Nintendo 64. Recently a Nintendo World Championship gold cartridge for the original 1985 Nintendo sold for $100,000 at auction! So, naturally, people started making fakes. You can order that $1400 game of Ali Express right now for 17 bucks. Take a look at these two cartridges. One is worth $1,383 more than the other… but how can we know? How can we tell? How do we not get hosed?
Great question… which I will answer later. So we’ll put that thought in our pockets and read our verse for this morning.
Book
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 — Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Look
Okay, Paul has provided us with quite a list here. 15 items by my count. So, note takers, get your pens ready!
Love
People like to say that love is an action word, not an emotion. I will say flatly that I reject this… I had to, my wife told me so. But the truth is that love IS a feeling, but it is not ONLY a feeling. See us important stoic leader-type like to argue that emotions get in the way of rational logical decision making. It’s as though we all aspire to be Mr. Spock from Star Trek. “Highly illogical, Captain!” But the fact of the matter is that emotions are an indicator of what we believe, what we value, what drives us. It reveals the heart of our ethics and the foundation of our perspectives.
Emotions are our first responders. When something happens you’ll immediately notice anger, or joy, or sadness, or any of the other characters from ‘Inside Out’ bubbling to the surface, then we apply the logic and reason filter, then we respond.
Is this emotion a good response? No? Suppress it and come up with a better response. But as Biblical love — the love of God — gains a larger and larger footprint within us, our initial emotional responses will get let through by logic and reason. So we shouldn’t disparage emotions. We just need to make sure that our hearts as well as our minds are conformed to Christ.
Opening Section
He opens with “Love suffers long and is kind”. This opening pair of attributes set the tone against which the actions of the Corinthian church will be judged soon.
(1) Love suffers long
What it actually means is “to bear up under provocation without complaint”! Put more simply it means to maintain patience in spite of difficulties. Paul is ASSUMING there ARE difficulties, and yet he calls us to patience anyway. This is the same attribute we see applied to God. When you read “long suffering” or “slow to anger” like we see in Exodus, Numbers, Nehemiah, and Joel… this is what that means. And you can REALLY tell God is exercising patience when you read the incessant whining through Exodus and Numbers! But note also that this is a passive word! This is not something we are making a point of doing. No, this is meant to be our natural state. When someone is flying off the handle at us? Patience. When our kids are whining about being “bored” when you KNOW there is a new form of life burgeoning in an abandoned Slurpee cup somewhere in their room. Restraint. When your spouse REFUSES to stop providing a realtime commentary on the quality of your driving… Long suffering. Long, long, long suffering. In all things we must bear up under provocation without complaint. In all things we must maintain patience in spite of difficulties.
(2) [Love] is kind
Kindness is the active word in our opening pair. Wherever one member of this duo is absent, the other steps into the breach. The goal is to provide something beneficial to the other person, whether it’s time, effort, or even a simple gesture.
Imagine this: If a coworker is struggling with a heavy workload, maybe sacrifice your own time and stay late to help them finish their project. Or if your spouse is having a tough day, go get them their favourite snack. For me, that’s greasy nachos from 7–11—nothing quite says comfort like liquid cheese!
Here’s a story from my own life: 22 years ago, I spent a summer in Australia. I mean winter… Look, it was sunny and 20 degrees. They insisted it was winter, but as a Canadian I really couldn’t tell. Anyhow, during that time, I had a candy bar that was white chocolate with raspberry bits. It was delicious, but I could never find it back in Canada and eventually forgot about it.
Fast forward to last fall. One of our staff members here at Mountain Springs asked everyone about their favourite chocolate bars. I mentioned that long-forgotten Aussie treat. Come Christmas, she handed me an unmarked brown paper bag and said, “Merry Christmas.” When I opened it, there it was—the same white chocolate bar I had enjoyed so many years ago. I was amazed and deeply touched. It probably cost her more than $10 just to get that single bar, but the thoughtfulness behind it was priceless.
This act of kindness showed me that even small gestures, when done with genuine care, can have a profound impact. It’s about putting others first, even at a cost to oneself, whether in terms of time, effort, or resources.
Rebuking Corinth
Then Paul suddenly gets into all these negative attributes of love. Why the change in tone? Why is Paul suddenly telling us all the things love isn’t? Why does Paul give us this:
love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity
When he could give us this:
love rejoices in the success of others; love is modest, is humble; is respectful, is selfless, maintains its composure, pursues holiness; loves justice
Here’s the important thing to remember. The authors of the Bible could have used any words available to them, but they chose specific ones. This means that any time you see a word used in the Bible when another word COULD have been used, you need to ask yourself why was THIS ONE included? So then, why does Paul use all these negatives? Because this passage, this beautiful, flowery passage that we read at weddings and tear up over. The love passage. I mean THE love passage is a rebuke of the behaviour of the Corinthian Church! Paul is telling them, “This is you, and this ain’t love! When it comes to love, you haven’t got it! You think so highly of yourselves because you are excelling, but you are using the WORLD’S MEASURING STICK. God doesn’t care about that. All that righteousness is as filthy rags that you wouldn’t stop to pick up if it was FREE. God wants what God has always wanted: your heart.
So let’s take a look at the state of the Corinthian church. And yeah, I have receipts.
(3) [L]ove Does Not Envy
This word, envy, means jealousy or even lust. It’s a kind of a deep-seated instinctual desire. This is not the kind of thing that happens through rational thought, but is instead almost reflexive. Like that old Savage Garden song, “Ooh, I want you. I don’t know if I need you but ooh I’d die to find out!” Back in 3:3 of this very book, Paul says this:
1 Corinthians 3:3 — For you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?
Paul says they are acting like children, infants even! Because this green-eyed monster called jealousy is given free reign. No! We cannot allow this. Envy is inward-focused, when we should be outward-focused. Envy is self-obsession, when we should be others-minded. Jealousy says, “Better me than them” but God calls us to say, “Better them than me!” Envy is childish! Showing a lack of trust in God to provide what we need when we need it. Jealousy wants to rob your joy, crush your soul, and steal your sunshine.
Envy wants to kill you. Don’t let it. Right now I want you to think of someone who has something you don’t — bonus points if it’s someone you don’t like. Got it? Now thank God for blessing them in that way. That’s love.
(4) [L]ove Does Not Parade Itself
Parading ourselves… huh. What does that mean? Did you know that the Greek word Paul uses is never used anywhere else in the Bible? When that happens, we often turn to contemporary ancient literature to see how the word was used in the culture of the time. We see this word — perpereuetai — used by both Aristophanes and Plato. And what it means is self-flattery. Folks who are better than you. Whose lives are more interesting than yours. This was also a problem in Corinth, in 4:7 Paul writes:
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
My mother used to talk about people like this. People Brian Regan calls “Me Monsters”. They blather on forever talking about themselves and their achievements, successes, adventures, and anecdotes. And eventually they grow weary of monopolizing the conversation and turn to the room and say, “But seriously, I’m tired of talking about me. Why do you talk about me for a while?”
It is not love to make sure other people know how busy or important or successful you are. That’s just simple self-aggrandizement. And it leads to our next attribute of love.
(5) [Love] Is Not Puffed Up
This phrase — “puffed up” — actually means “to have an exaggerated self-conception”. Paul offers a scathing rebuke of this back in chapter 4 where he addresses a faction within the Corinthian church that Paul himself planted who think they know better than him and have begun to undermine his authority. Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 4:18–20 — Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
I remember as a young man in the faith, maybe 16 or 17 years old. And I was in a prayer circle with a man who waxed eloquent in his prayers, speaking at length about God’s attributes and reciting scripture with his booming baritone voice made me intimidated and afraid to pray publicly with him around. I would be horrified if I found out that the way I conducted myself during prayer was hindering the prayers of others! Jesus even says in Matthew 6:7, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” In fact, if you have ever prayed with me, you might have noticed that I say ‘amen’ after each person’s prayer. I want them to know that I value and stand behind their petition before the throne of grace. Amen? Amen.
(6) [Love] Does Not Behave Rudely
When Paul says that love “does not behave rudely,” he’s talking about maintaining good order and decency in our actions. Paul fancies himself a wordsmith on the level of Tolkien or Lewis, so of course he digs deep for uncommon words. This is one such word. It is unique to Paul in the New Testament. Since it does not appear elsewhere in scripture, we again turn to contemporary ancient literature to understand its meaning. Both Aristotle in his “Nicomachean Ethics” and Plutarch in “Moralia” discuss the importance of propriety and appropriate conduct in social settings. Their writings align well with Paul’s teaching here: love acts appropriately, respecting both other people and God Himself.
Again, this negative attribute is born of Paul earlier rebuke of the conduct of the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 11:21–22 — For when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing?
In this passage, Paul rebukes the Corinthians for their disgraceful actions during the Lord’s Supper. Some were overindulging while others were left hungry. This behaviour was not only disrespectful but also disruptive to the community, showing a lack of consideration for others. As Christians, we are called to a different standard. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbours as ourselves (Mark 12:31 — which we will talk about next Sunday), to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), and to consider others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).
Which leads nicely along to…
(7) [Love] Does Not Seek Its Own
When I went to Australia all those years ago I started to notice some Australian idiom and turns of phrase that would crop up from time to time. I was disappointed to find that “G’Day mate!” Was not among them. But one that I always found hilarious — and which my Aussie friends didn’t understand my amusement at was the phrase “just before”. Someone would be talking to you and would say something to the effect of “I was at the shop just before”. Naturally you pop an eyebrow like Dwayne Johnson and ask, “Just before what?” And the confident reply was “just before”.
This phrase by Paul is similar. It should read “Love does not seek its own [whatever].” But the Greek expects that we will pull the contents of that blank from the surrounding context. But you can go ahead and stick any word in there and it will STILL be applicable!
- Love does not seek its own success
- Love does not seek its own interests
- Love does not seek its own food
- Love does not seek its own comfort
- Love does not seek its own welfare
The idea here is not that you can NEVER seek these things, but instead it is implied that love puts itself last. And Pastor Joel is fond of saying, if you want to find J.O.Y, seek Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last. This is what Paul was telling the Corinthians in chapter 10:
1 Corinthians 10:24 — No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
Give up your Saturday to help the friend of the guy who comes to your Refresh group move. Listen to what people are saying without waiting for them to inhale so you can jump in with your own story. Drop what you’re doing to go see a passing acquaintance who needs help during a turbulent time in their life. That is love.
(8) [Love] Is Not Provoked
Imagine a roiling sea. Waves are crashing and wind is howling, but the anchor holds firm, keeping the ship steady and secure. This is what Paul means when he says love is “not provoked.” He means that love remains steady and composed, even when life throws challenges and irritations our way.
A while back I taught on 1 Corinthians 6, where we saw that lawsuits among Christians undermined their witness and unity, betraying the unresolved anger and disputes just under the surface. These disagreements were stirring up the tempest. But, in Acts 17:16, we see that when Paul himself was distressed and provoked by the idolatry he encountered in Athens, he did not lose his composure; but was able to engage with the people thoughtfully and respectfully. His distress became a catalyst for SHARING the Gospel rather than letting it spiral into a bitterness that would cut his own legs out from under him.
When anger comes knocking, look to your anchor — Jesus Christ, and maybe you can, in turn, be an anchor for someone else. As the famous British WWII posters said, “Keep Calm and Carry On”.
(9) [Love] Thinks No Evil
And building off the lawsuit passage, Paul continues on to say that real love “thinks no evil”. This means, essentially, don’t hold a grudge. If someone is doing something that is hurting, offending, or annoying you, then talk to them about it!
Imagine you and I are walking together and I drop a small stone in your path. You accidentally stepped on it and it hurt your foot, but it’s just a small stone, so you let it go. Then I do it again. And again. And again. Each time you pick up the stone so that you don’t get hurt again, but rather than toss it aside, you put it in your pocket. And the weight grows and grows and grows. And suddenly the small stones have the weight of a boulder and you explode at my horrible behaviour and aggressive indifference to your health and wellbeing!
Letting go of the small things is good, but talking it out is better. And sweeping it under the rug is a worst-case scenario. Let’s leave meticulous record-keeping to librarians, historians, and the CRA.
Do you really want to harbour that ill-will in your heart? Do you want that poison inside you? Do you really want to be the person who is excited to see a brother or sister fail? Do you think that’s how Jesus would want us to act?
Do you think that’s how Jesus looks at us when we fail?
(10) [Love] Does Not Rejoice In Iniquity
Schadenfreude!
Schadenfreude is a German word that encapsulates the unsettling feeling of deriving pleasure from someone else’s misfortune. It’s a complex emotion that we all may experience, but Paul is telling us that love does not partake in such joy over wrongdoing. This means that love rejects any delight in the suffering or downfall of others, especially when it comes to injustice or evil.
Imagine — if you can — the Prime Minister is a disgrace to his office. His policies are destructive, his leadership is ineffective, and his actions have led to widespread discontent. As the country struggles with the consequences of his governance, it’s tempting to feel a sense of schadenfreude when he faces public criticism or political setbacks, but love does not delight in evil. Love prays for the man that God put in charge, lest we become that which we mock.
We are told that the Corinthians take pride in their tolerance of a grievous sin. 1 Corinthians 5:1–2 reveal how such attitudes distort the true essence of love. Real love rejects iniquity and actively supports righteousness and justice. Real love is not content with mere appearances or tolerances. And “tolerance” really is the word of our modern times, isn’t it? We are told that the highest virtue is tolerance. But even the definition of tolerance has been deformed and twisted. I asked Chat GPT to define traditional and modern “tolerance”. Here is what it came up with:
Traditional Tolerance: Focuses on endurance and respect despite disagreement, emphasizing coexistence and mutual respect.
Modern Tolerance: Emphasizes acceptance, inclusivity, and often endorsement, promoting an environment where all differences are celebrated and validated without judgment.
Traditional tolerance recognizes that in order to “tolerate” something, we must DISAGREE with it, whereas modern tolerance is actually just a synonym for agreement.
During the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris our eyes were assaulted by a a blasphemous image of drag queens recreating the Last Supper. And we’re expected to accept, endorse, celebrate and validate that? No chance. None. I’m going to call this what it is — a demonic attack on art, on culture, on history, on femininity, on masculinity, on truth, and on God. So while some might try to convince you that your rightful rebuke of this is “intolerant”, we cannot allow ourselves to be hoodwinked by a culture that hates what we stand for. Why? Because…
(11) [Love] Rejoices In The Truth
When Paul says that love “rejoices in the truth,” he’s highlighting that love finds joy in honesty and integrity, even when that truth is uncomfortable. Because honestly, sometimes the truth is a bitter pill.
Imagine your doctor discovers you have the earliest stages of cancer, but not wanting to put the weight of that news on you, he chooses to say nothing and you don’t find out until many months later when it’s too late to intervene. Was this a noble lie? Was this trade-off worth it? Or would you prefer to have the bad news so you can deal with it head-on?
2 John 1:4 speaks of rejoicing when people walk in the truth. This isn’t about celebrating truth in a vacuum but about understanding its role in fostering genuine relationships and make us more like Christ. If you had a friend who was pursuing a destructive path, I would hope you would feel compelled to confront them from a place of love — not judgment — so that they might see the truth and turn their life around. I went through a rebellion when I was 20/21 and I wonder how I might have been spared that experience if I had good friends who were willing to give me bad news.
As Hamlet said, “I must be cruel only to be kind.”
The Hammer: An Imitable Love
And here Paul brings us home with his final four. Paul’s final four symbolize a shift in focus. He goes from talking about the umbrella of love that is patience and kindness, to specific examples of how the Corinthians have violated that love through jealousy, boasting, arrogance, rudeness, selfishness, irritability, resentfulness, and — yes — schadenfreude. And now he caps us off with the attributes of love that answer the question of why. Why do we care about this? Why is this so important not just for others, but even for ourselves? Because…
(12) [Love] Bears All Things
This is a love that withstands worldly pressures; that never abandons the faith; that never loses hope in the future promises. This is a love that keeps its eyes on the prize and presses on toward the goal with the steely determination of an elite athlete… or a toddler who wants the food on YOUR plate. Because…
(13) [Love] Believes All Things
Now, we might be tempted to think of this motivational love as naive, but that’s not what’s happening here. This is a love that maintains faith and trust in the One who is always faithful and always trustworthy no matter how it is used, abused, and taken for granted by faithless, trust-less people. Because…
(14) [Love] Hopes All Things
And that hope is an eschatological hope. A hope built on the promise of the return of the king, who will come to reclaim His bride. Hallelujah and amen. Because…
(15) [Love] Endures All Things
No matter what may come love stands firm, persevering through every trial and every challenge. This love — the love that bears, believes, hope, and endures — was lived out in the most beautiful and gruesome way imaginable when Jesus endured scorn, hate, malice, deceit, and ingratitude on that old wooden cross. And He did it all for the glory of love.
Took
I’ve done my best to provide examples throughout our study this morning that show how this love might be lived out in our day-to-day lives. But how do we keep our love pure? How do we keep it from being contaminated by the cheap knockoff of love the world tries to gaslight you with?
This is where we pull those games out of pocket from the beginning. One is real, worth $1400 bucks. The other is a fake worth about $17. I’m willing to bet that most of you can’t tell which is which. But as a collector who has handled hundreds of these games over the years, I can take one look at these pictures and instantly tell you which one is fake — it’s the one on the [left/right]. Why? Because I have spent so much time with the real thing, that the fakes simply cannot fool me anymore.
So it is with love. If you want to know real love, spend time with it. Spend time in prayer. Spend time in the Word. Let the love of God wash over you. And as you do, it will become harder and harder for this silly fake love of the world to pull you in, deceive you, and lead you astray. You will begin to easily see it and discern it for the lipstick-on-a-pig that it is.
So let’s leave this place and show the world what real love is. A love that bears, believes, hopes, and endures. Amen?
Let’s Pray