What Happens to the Church When Christ is Not Center Love 1 Corinthians 13

What Happens to the Church When Christ is Not Center

Love

1  Corinthians 13

Paul at the end of his famous chapter on Love in 1 Corinthians 13 says

 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.

 When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Maturity does not come from speaking in tongues

It does not come from prophesying, even powerful faith

Maturity does not come from how powerful

we become as a spiritual leader or a world leader

Maturity comes through Love

  

Nothing makes you more mature than Love

What makes God so righteous and so mature

God Is Love

Love

1  Corinthians 13

I know a man whose children love him

because they badly want their father’s love.

But the children do not want to be with their father.

Why?

The father demands his children do what

he wants them to do and show him love.

This father needs love,

but does not know how to give it.

 

In all reality these pre-teen children

are more mature than their father.

Paul at the end his famous chapter

on love in 1 Corinthians 13 says…

 When I was a child, I talked like a child,

I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Maturity does not come from speaking

in tongues, it does not come from

prophesying, even powerful faith.

Maturity does not come from how powerful we

become as a spiritual leader, or a world leader.

Maturity comes through Love.

Nothing makes you more mature than Love.

What makes God so righteous and so mature?

God Is Love!

Paul says we are growing up learning

spiritual things like prophesying,

the ability to speak the Word of the Lord.

Our spirit prays and sings in another tongue

to God bringing us personal edification.

Our knowledge increase as the
Holy Spirit teaches us all things.

Yet, with all this personal growth

in us, Paul says we are imperfect.

It is not till we see Jesus face to face will we

be able to fully deal with our imperfections.

It will not be till we see Jesus as one looks

in a mirror that we will become mature.

Why?

Because when we get that one

on one look at God our Savior…

Will we see love without the filters of our personal

need for love and our definition of perfection.

Look at what love does again…

  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.     

Love matures us and love eliminates imperfections.

Our Father in Heaven loves us so

much He sent His Son to die for us.

Our Heavenly Father is not telling us what

to do and demanding us to show our love

for Him to fill His need to be loved.

God is so full of love He gives His love while

we are underserving, immature sinners.

 

You see we love God because He first loved us.

Every glimpse of God we get

reveals how much He loves us…

Reveals what true maturity is.

God wants you and I to be like,

Him full of love, perfect and mature.

The day is coming when you will not look

at God through the filters of this life.

We see the love of God as a poor reflection.

Many of us are taking what we do

see and trying to become like Him. 

Our insecurity and immaturity

makes the reflection unclear.

But when He appears we will see Him as He is.

The figure we see will be the purest look at love possible.

We will be fully known.

Suddenly all our self-love, self-help will not be important.

We will see maturity and perfection like never before.

We will not want what comforts our bodies.

Because we will have a new body.

We will not want the things of this

world because we will see a perfect world.

We will for the first time be able to

fully love without hidden agendas.

Keep looking at love.

Every day look at God who is Love.

Because it is love that makes us mature and only what

is done in love reaches to the level of perfection.

The Greatest of these is Love.

This is the most excellent way.

The way of Love.  

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 12:31-14:1 NIV

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13 NIV

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.