Well, I'm thankful for the opportunity to share in the Word of God with God's people here tonight. Tonight, we'll be continuing to look at Paul's sketch of the love of the Christian in 1 Corinthians 13. So I welcome you to go ahead and turn there with me and we'll read it momentarily. Last time we gathered in this passage, we spent more than half of our time building the foundation for this list of attributes that Paul provides for us here. The most important takeaway was that while we are today familiar with this passage due to weddings and anniversaries and the like, this passage was not initially intended for a primary audience of newlyweds. This passage was written for the whole church. for a church with struggling relationships and people who struggled to show love to their brothers and sisters within the church. The Corinthian church was fractured. It failed to live in unity. It failed to consider others more than itself, including both the toleration of or joining in sin as well as the need to serve each other. It failed to see differences within the church as blessings that can be used in cooperative ways, and instead viewed their own preferred leadership styles, or giftings, or theological emphases, or even race, wealth, and status as somehow morally superior to their brothers, whether explicitly with their words or clearly with their actions. All things that we continue to struggle with today. We looked at the context and the flow of the argument. And where did Paul end up? Not at one sides or even putting his own position as superior, but instead focusing in on the supremacy of love and making clear what that love truly means. This is a text written not for a wedding, not for young couples, not for 50th anniversaries, though it's certainly fitting for those. But this is a text that was written for a church who needs reminder of how to love their church family, just as we all do today. So with that in mind, let's turn our attention to our text for the evening. 1 Corinthians 13, four through eight, and then I'll skip down to 13. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. We'll skip down to 13. So now faith, hope, and love abide. These three, but the greatest of these is love. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for making clear to us what kind of love you would have us emulate to each other. In the world today, there are So many definitions of love, many of which are competing. And God, you didn't leave that up for us to decide, but laid it out clearly for us, Lord. Lord, thank you for that. Lord, I pray that you would be with us, that you would help us to hear from you and that you would help us to love each other in response. In Jesus' name, amen. So here in our text this evening, we're confronted with the 15 characteristics of biblical love. This love we mentioned last time is not merely a love of emotion, but also action. And conversely, it's not merely a love of action, but one that expresses the feelings that we feel. This love is not one that we are helplessly dragged into either, but one that even if preceded by some kind of unsought magnetism, we continue showing this love and investing in this love as an intentional act of the will. Last time it was so important that we lay the appropriate foundation that when we finally got to the characteristics of love, we only got through two of the 15. Love is patient. That is, love is slow to anger or to impassionment. It's long-suffering. It isn't easily worked up into tears or raised voices, but endures being sinned against before giving the reins to our emotions. Love is kind. It is gentle and mild, but it's also benevolent. And this gentleness and benevolence extends not only to those in the context of our favor, but also to those who we would naturally rather not spend time with, or perhaps those who have wronged us. Do we exercise gentility and make an effort to be a blessing to such people? Well, that catches us up to where we left off tonight. I'm hoping to pick up the pace a little bit, but I still anticipate that we will need at least one more night to finish looking at this section of Scripture. Our third characteristic of love is love does not envy. We translate this word as envy, but in the Greek, there's really a more broad usage of the word. While it certainly can mean envy or jealousy, more so it is a zeal for something you desire. The Greek word is actually where we get the root of the English word is zealot. There are many places in the New Testament where this word is actually used in a good way, in pointing such an intense desire towards good things. Twice in 1 Corinthians, Paul uses this word to encourage the Corinthian church to pursue giftings with which to bless the church. And it's translated there as earnestly desire. But in many other uses, it is speaking of a bubbling over zeal, an earnest desire for whatever it is that we covet, whatever it is that we zealously yearn for. And in the context of this passage, it's indicative of a zeal for oneself. It's an orientation that is zealous for myself or yourself, my wants, my comparative lack, what I deserve, instead of submitting to truths like in Philippians 2, 3, and in humility, counting others more significant than myself. It is hearing about a co-worker getting a raise and immediately being upset that I didn't. It's seeing my spouse sleep in and abandoning any pretense of trying to be quiet to avoid waking them up, as they have no right to sleep when I can't. It's seeing the comparative success of those in many areas in the church around us and tearing down their character in our hearts and minds, or worse yet, with our words to other people, because they have what we don't. It's hearing of the stumbling of the object of your jealousy, the person you're jealous of, and taking joy in their struggle. And Paul here tells us that this is not love. Love looks at the blessing of others and shares in their joy. Love, according to Philippians 1, 15 through 17, is honoring the blessed in the midst of their trials and helping them bear their burden. Listen to this passage. Philippians 1, 15 through 17, Paul writing from prison. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. Some saw Paul's imprisonment as an opportunity, an opportunity to hurt the one that they were so envious of, to capitalize on his trial and launch themselves forward in the wake of his absence. But what was love's response? they communicated encouragement to Paul. They knew his imprisonment was a divine appointment to advance the gospel. And also, in the midst of his imprisonment, they knew that the gospel work that he had to leave, they knew that they had to pick it up, and the gospel continued to go out. Love does not envy. Love is not self-ambitious. Love does not zealously prioritize the self. The fourth characteristic of love, love does not boast. In a sense, this is really the other side of envy. If envy is gasping after what you wish you had, boasting is flaunting what you do have. Or in many cases, flaunting what you want other people to think that you have. I won't take you through all the steps, but if you dig into the Greek here, it's really fascinating. The word means exactly what you see in the translation. It's boasting or bragging. But the etymology of this word comes from a word that denotes separateness. being above or beyond something or someone. And then interestingly enough, this word duplicates the root of that word. So in essence, what this word was, was someone being beyond, beyond, or above, above. It's not merely taking joy and talking about something you may be good at. but excessively describing oneself or one's feats in such a way that leaves the listener feeling that you are among the best of the best, or at least that you see yourself that way. This word is found nowhere else in scripture, but when Antonius, who I believe is Marcus Antonius or Mark Antony, the first century BC politician and general in the Roman Empire, when he used this word, it was tied to the idea of embellishment, not merely a recounting of something one did well, but a presenting it in a way that's likely less than fully accurate. all for the end of making one look greater than he actually might be. And what's the root? What is the root in the heart of the person doing this? Well, just as in the case of envy, it's once again a self-orientation. a desire for the focus to be on us, a craving of attention, of honor, of recognition, or possibly the secondary benefits of such attention, like promotion, advancement, or reward. The fifth characteristic of love is closely tied to this one. Love is not arrogant. Now, their tie there is obvious, right? Arrogance is often the moving force behind the self-orientation that expresses itself in bragging. Arrogance is such a danger. In a way, it can be seen as the antithesis of love. The arrogant person is so tied up in themselves that they often spare no thought for the people around them, or their lives, or their circumstances. Pastor John MacArthur said it well when he said, only humble people love. Arrogant people do not love. They are not interested in other people's issues. They are not interested in other people's lives. They do not desire to be patient with them. They don't care about being useful to them. They're more than happy to brag endlessly in front of them because they are consumed with themselves. Only humble people love. This arrogance that Paul speaks of here is a direct indictment against the Corinthian church. The church would have read this letter in one sitting, and Paul uses the word arrogant in reference to the Corinthians five other times in this letter alone. His usage in the various contexts points to different expressions of that arrogance. Othering or otherwise ostracizing church family in good standing. Acting as if they're above correction or are unconcerned about the counsel of their church leaders on clear spiritual matters. Tolerating, even celebrating sin in their congregation. Belittling new believers in front of those outside the church when they fail to understand certain freedoms that they have in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 8-1, Paul shows that the opposite of the arrogance this church was displaying was to instead build up others. And I think it's important to make clear here that this building up isn't in reference to a single isolated word of encouragement. Certainly, there are times that this is the one bit of work that we have to do this day. But by itself, that isn't enough. This building up is the same word that we use for building a house or building a tower. It's a time and skill-intensive process that involves intentionality and a lot of long-term effort, often with cooperation. The alternative to arrogance is not simply telling people encouraging things and leaving them where they are, but having our eyes off of us and lovingly on them enough that we are able to invest effort and time to sharpen them and be sharpened by them as we all seek to conform our lives to the example set forth in scripture. Love does not brag and is not arrogant. Love doesn't keep turning the conversation back to being about me. It doesn't exaggerate its own capabilities. It is willing to accept biblical correction, whether from a pastor or from some nobody with an understanding of what they're talking about. Love is willing to sacrifice of itself to invest time and effort in those around it. Love is not boastful, and it's not puffed up with pride. The sixth characteristic of love, love is not rude. That is, it doesn't act dishonorably, unseemly, unbecomingly, with impropriety or improperly. Barnes notes on the Bible, this is a little bit of a longer quote, but I think it's worth reading. It says this, It means to conduct improperly or disgracefully or in a manner to deserve reproach. And then a little bit later, love seeks that which is proper or becoming in the circumstances and relations of life in which we are placed. It prompts to the due respect for superiors, producing veneration and respect for their opinions. And it prompts to a proper regard for inferiors, not despising their rank, their poverty, their dress, their dwellings, their pleasures, their views of happiness. It prompts to the due observance of all the relations of life as those of a husband, wife, parent, child, brother, sister, son, daughter, and produces a proper conduct and deportment in all these relations. The proper idea of the phrase is that it prompts to all that is fit and becoming in life and would save from all that is unfit and unbecoming. This rudeness is best thought of as an abandonment of the expected social mores of those around you. An embrace of unpredictable and uncomfortable chaos in the name of your own personal sense of freedom. Choosing to prioritize your legitimate right to not be bound to extra biblical demands at the expense of considering the expectations and needs of another. It certainly also would include the disgraceful behavior that is far outside the legitimate bounds of Christian liberty. Foolish and sinful acts that bring reproachment on the name of Christ and destroy the testimony of those who claim His name. But it is a lack of concern for others demonstrated by not considering social differences, disrespecting those of higher or lower status than you, crass words that tear others down, disruption of needed orderliness. It's in conflict with verses like 1 Corinthians 14, 33 and 40. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. And verse 40, but all things should be done decently and in order. As a brief aside, we're not going to get to this tonight. But I do want to say that the offense of the gospel is flatly not what this is talking about. We certainly can rudely stick to biblical truths, but that's more of a question of how we do it than whether we do it. But we'll touch on that more in the future. Simply, love meets others where they are and considers their expectations. Expectations that are influenced by a lifetime of experiences that we've been through. This kind of personalized care is evidence of an individual love. I'm not just loving you because you're a member of Arbor Church and I'm supposed to, but my awareness of your, for example, aversion to secular music will cause me to not want to play secular music around you. It's decency. An important part of the definition of the phrase is from Matthew Pool. He says that the one who loves will do nothing towards his brother, which in the opinion of men shall be a filthy or indecent action. If we are to embody Christian love, we cannot simultaneously embody sin. as well as the appearance of sin or flirting with sin. One of the things that immediately came to mind to me when I considered this aspect is actually from one of Pastor Steve's sermons on the qualifications for the eldership. When speaking of an elder being a one-woman man, he spoke of protections that the elders at Arbor do to prevent an appearance of impropriety if an unaccompanied woman comes to the church when only one elder is here. This is the kind of thing that Paul is talking about here. While we certainly need to make sure that we aren't preventing women from getting the pastoral care that they need, it's also important, not only for the pastor's testimony and purity, but also as a sign of love towards the woman, towards the church, towards the family of the pastor, that care and cautiousness is taken here. Love behaves with propriety and with consideration to the expectations of those around us. For the rest of us, this phrase tells us that love should be gracious, considering the feelings, expectations, and honor of those that we're interacting with. It's why we call our professors doctor. It's why we avoid foul language. It's why we don't get too friendly with someone's spouse. It's why, in part, we're careful to protect our testimony before the world. Love does not behave unbecomingly. I don't think we have time to jump into the next one, so we'll end it here. We've made it through six of the 15 characteristics of Christian love. The loving Christian is hard to get upset. He is gentle and beneficent. He is not so caught up in himself that he is only happy when he is the one who is blessed, or when the attention and honor and recognition falls on him. He has humility, being able to learn from the great or the small, and is willing to spend time serving either as well. And when he does, he is considerate of their needs and expectations, even when they differ from his own. and always strives to live out a careful and wise propriety of honest concern for everyone involved. We're a little less than halfway through and already we're beginning to describe someone amazing, aren't we? And hopefully we'll be able to delve more into that next time. In the interim, as we continue to consider these familiar characteristics of love, let us lean into Christ. Seek Him for His ever-necessary aid and endeavor to love in a way consistent with God's Word. Our spouse, our children, our parents or siblings, our bosses or coworkers, and quite possibly most consistently with our context here, let us endeavor to love our brothers and sisters within Arbor this way. Let's pray. Dear Father, thank you once again for meeting us here, Lord, for showing us your word, for helping us to to know the kind of love that you live, Lord. God, I pray that we would get an image of you and that we would pursue being you to each other, to the world, to our families, our spouses. God, I pray that you would help us, that you would help us help each other in this as well, Lord. This is no easy task, God, and at its heart, It's the root of most, if not all, of our failings, Lord. And God, I pray that you would be with us and help us to overcome and be like you. In Jesus' name, amen.