Series: Faith, Hope & Love
LOVE
I Corinthians 13
Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13
Faith = Trust
Hope = Confidence
Love = Sacrifice
Love is a sacrificial, unconditional giving of one’s self for the good of another.
why is love the greatest?
1. Faith and hope are dependent upon love.
2. Of faith, hope and love, only love is a Divine activity.
3. Jesus declared the distinguishing mark of a believer.
the primacy of love
If you do not love, it doesn’t matter what you say.
If you do not love, it doesn’t matter what you know.
If you do not love, it doesn’t matter what you do.
a description of love
Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. I Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is not an activity we generate... it is a gift given to us.
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. I John 4:9-11
You pursue love by focusing on Jesus.
TODAY’s TAKEAWAYS
1) Love is the defining characteristic of true belief.
2) Love for others is the greatest testimony to the power of the Gospel.
3) We love each other because He has first loved us.
