Love, the Fruit of the Spirit

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “I Corinthians 13” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 16, 1996.

Sermon transcript

One of my thoughts as we make our way through our sermons on 1 Corinthians 13 is that we might read as much of this letter to the Corinthians—the first letter to the Corinthians—as we can during this series. We have read the first three chapters, and we have read from other portions of 1 Corinthians. This morning we are at 1 Corinthians 4, and we will be reading from that passage, then moving on into the thirteenth chapter. Let us give our attention to God’s holy word in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

Let a man regard us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me, it is a very small matter that I should be judged by you or by human judgment. Indeed, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not thereby justified. The one who judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive praise from God.

These things, brothers and sisters, I have applied in a figure to myself and to Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn in us not to think of anyone beyond what is written, and so that no one of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who makes you different from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? If you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?

Now you are full, now you are rich; you have reigned as kings without us. And I would to God you did reign, that we also might reign with you. So I think that God has set forth us, the apostles, last, as though appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, but we are despised. Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, are naked, are beaten, have no certain dwelling place, and labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure it; being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things to this day.

I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you, for though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to be followers of me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord. He will bring you into remembrance of my ways, which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of meekness? And then from 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4 and following: “Love suffers long and is kind. Love envies not, love does not seek its own, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil. Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

We will pray together now. Our Savior and our God, deliver us from perfunctory prayer and superficial prayer, so that we may present to You our open hearts as we approach You in petition and in thanksgiving. Our God, there will be much prayer today among Your people, even on behalf of Your people. Lord, regarding this means of grace, we ask You for integrity. Whether it is here in the pulpit, at home at the dinner table, or privately as we offer our petitions this afternoon or this evening, may we concentrate fully in our prayers. And bless us, Lord, according to Your grace, in keeping with Your will, and may our requests be conformed to Your purpose. In this present instance, Lord, we ask You as one person for a common heart that thirsts for Your Word.

May we give our attention to our God, through Christ, who Himself prays perfectly. Amen. Love is the principal fruit of the Spirit. It is mentioned first in Galatians 5:22, and the listing of the fruit there. Love is the principal fruit of the Spirit of God. It is thoroughly indispensable as well for the expression of all spiritual maturity.

This is the intention of what Paul is saying to us here in 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 and 5. Such high estimation and such high language about love commend themselves to us because love is commended to us, being at the very center of God’s action toward us. For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8. But further, this exalted estimation, this high language about love, commends itself to us because it takes us, according to the testimony of another apostle, into the very heart of God. John says, God is love. 1 John 4:8 and 16. Concentrating on the Apostle Paul this morning, we may well say that Paul, no less than John, is the champion for love. And how clear this is to us in 1 Corinthians 13.

Love here is not simply one more gift among many, particularly not one more gift among the many gifts that are spoken of here explicitly by the Apostles. Being very honest about what the Apostle is saying, what he is communicating here, this man, this servant of God, is pleading for love as an environment and atmosphere in which we live.

He sets us up for this consideration. The last verse of the twelfth chapter in 1 Corinthians has Paul speaking to us about the excellent way, the most excellent way, that way being the way of love. He has in mind, then, a route or a path—that is the image—a road on which we find ourselves, and in which we are to give expression to the various aspects of our Christian character, and in which we are to give expression to the various gifts that come to us along the way. This means, then, that the road, the way, in its most comprehensive sense, is greater than any of the particular endowments granted us for traveling in our journey. Love is greater than tongue-speaking. It is greater than prophecy. It is greater than knowledge. It is greater than faith. It is greater than charity. While this is the tone and the direction of the Apostle’s intention, he is pleading here for love as environment and as atmosphere, and in an even deeper sense.

And this is evident to us when we realize that he is providing to us, in this thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, a description of Jesus Christ himself. Even though Jesus is not mentioned in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, this chapter is about him. He stands at its very center. The love of God in Paul’s teaching is uniquely related to Jesus Christ, as I’m sure you know.

But consider some specific examples, some instances. The well-known conclusion of Romans 8, for example. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Verses 38 and 39 of that eighth chapter of Romans. For Paul, we who have been saved by God’s grace cannot be separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, because we who are his elect, who are his church, cannot be separated from Christ himself. We have been savingly joined to him.

Do you think of your salvation in these terms? Not merely in terms of a conscience freed from guilt. Not merely in terms of the recovery of purpose for living. Not merely in terms of a positive outlook, nor even in terms of the forgiveness of sins. Do you think of salvation concretely as your being united to Christ?

You are joined. This is the point for which the Apostle pleads. He knows how easily you may miss the meaning, how quickly you may become preoccupied with other matters, how likely you are to stop short of where you ought to be in your religious reflection and conscience. You are prone to stop just at the issue of sin. Christians have been forgiven by God on the cross. That is wonderfully glorious, magnificent, but do you understand the end and the goal that is set before you?

That we might be united to Christ, joined to Him. It is because of this truth that Jesus Christ is presented to us by the Apostle Paul as the environment and the atmosphere in which we live. We have taken up residence in Him; we are in Christ. Now, I will suggest to you that this explains some of Paul’s imagery throughout his writings—his imagery regarding the body, his imagery regarding the temple, and his building image. We are in the temple; we are in Him. We dwell, we reside there.

And such language as this builds upon the Old Testament vocabulary, does it not? For in the Old Testament, is it not God who continually reminds us that He is for us a fortress in which we may dwell? That He has become for His people a sanctuary in which they may abide? In Paul’s pastoral letters—letters that are unfortunately not received as they ought to be—you know what the pastoral letters of Paul are: the letters to Timothy and to Titus. Paul speaks about this matter once again, but in ways we might miss, because we are prone to treat them as mere religious rhetoric.

I have in mind 1 Timothy 1:14, very instructive in this regard, for this passage shows Paul making full use of the very idea we have just discussed. He tells us about the grace of God so abundantly lavished upon him, an unworthy and ignorant sinner. You may remember that in this context Paul calls himself the chief of sinners.

But hear what he says in verse 14 of 1 Timothy 1: “The grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and the love which are in Christ Jesus.” This is deliberate language on the part of the Apostle. The faith and the love which are in Christ Jesus. In other words, according to the Apostle’s confession at this point, the faith and the love necessary for his own personal vindication, his own personal justification, and his own devotion and sanctification, are found in Christ Jesus, not in himself. Jesus Christ becomes a place to dwell in—a place in which we are to be found, in which and from which we are to live. Joined to Christ, yet living in Him. Have you ever thought of Jesus as a house? Have you ever thought of Jesus as your home? I do try to stir your souls.

But the Apostle then repeats himself, this time with respect to Timothy. In 2 Timothy, again in the first chapter, verse thirteen, Paul speaks along similar lines. What he said about his own situation in the first chapter of the first letter to Timothy, he now says with regard to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy, in verse thirteen of the first chapter of the second letter. He says, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, Timothy, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” In 1 Timothy, Paul speaks about his own position in Christ; here in 2 Timothy, he speaks about Timothy’s position in Christ. But when considering the apostle’s doctrine and teaching as a whole, he does not leave things at this level—neither at the level of the apostle and his servant, nor at the level of his son in the faith, nor at the level of the pastor, such as Timothy is. For in 1 Corinthians, going back to 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks powerfully along these lines with respect to the whole Church. I have in mind 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30.

But by God’s doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Fundamental to the apostle’s teaching is this truth: Jesus Christ is our place of residence. And in him—that is, in the environment and atmosphere which Christ has become for us—we breathe in his faithfulness and his love, and we exhale these very realities into the Church and even into the world, to God’s glory. 1 Corinthians 13 radiates the love which is in Christ. Jesus. And that is the love that Paul has in mind. No other love will do.

Now, it is this Christ-centered approach to this exalted and precious chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, which refutes the many damaging misunderstandings of this text. One of the most damaging misunderstandings is the view that 1 Corinthians 13 represents only a brief moment when the Apostle rises to a higher and more true understanding of religion. 1 Corinthians 13 represents only a brief, although brilliant, moment when the Apostle rises to the greater and truer reality of religion. In other words, Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 presents an exception to his usual teaching and to what he says elsewhere. Here in this chapter, he sets aside the specific details of Jesus’ doctrine and Jesus’ theology, together with the foundation of that theology and doctrine in the particularities of Old Testament Judaism.

It is here especially that Paul addresses the universal concerns of humanity, apart from the specific elements of Christianity. You do not need to be a Christian to appreciate and apply the message of 1 Corinthians 13. It expresses a general religious truth. You do not need Jesus Christ in order to live in accordance with what 1 Corinthians 13 teaches. That is, you do not need him in any redemptive sense. This damaging misunderstanding does not end here.

It says that Paul had a glimpse into the eternally valid truth of absolute tolerance and acceptance. The Apostle Paul was not a modern advocate of political correctness or acceptance. This chapter presents him as moving beyond the narrow confines of a religion defined by exclusionary doctrine and membership in any particular group. As you would note, such an approach to this chapter cannot accept Paul’s language elsewhere, where he speaks about predestination, election, or even salvation by grace, unless that language is understood to refer to a predestination, an election, and a salvation that are common to all people, which all people may enjoy. Thus it is stated, thus it is held, that the Paul of 1 Corinthians 13 stands in contrast to the Paul found in all the rest of the writings attributed to him in the New Testament. In those writings, he uses language that clearly indicates his belief in the separation of believer from non-believer, the church from the world, and his belief that there is a heaven for the blessed and, according to the reprobation of God, everlasting fire for the damned.

This liberal position on Paul boasts of having discovered the highest moral ground. Although it may speak as if it were occasionally declaring its own anathemas against others—such as fundamentalists and strict Calvinists—it assumes a sense of superiority and a condescending attitude toward all its opponents. Ardent and insistent Calvinists may be utterly obnoxious, these liberals say; we may even drive them out of our churches. Yet we know they are included in any form of redemption that we believe is consistent with our view of religion. It is to our credit, and to the credit of our superior theology, they say, that we tolerate and accept these people. Not necessarily into our churches, but at least into the cosmic unity that we profess to be at the heart of all true religion. That the Christ-centered character of 1 Corinthians 13 makes it clear that we are not dealing here with an exception to Paul’s doctrine and teaching.

It is precisely the love that is in Christ Jesus, in all of its redemptive and saving glory, in all of its saving particularity, and in all of its reality regarding heaven and hell, that is patient and kind. Moving through those verses, then, chapter after chapter, only the love that is in Christ Jesus withstands jealousy, boasting, and arrogance. You have no strength to withstand such things as jealousy, boasting, and arrogance apart from Christ, when you are in Him. As we have seen from an earlier message, this love that is in Christ Jesus exercises a sovereign authority over the standards of respectable behavior. Indeed, it does not act in an unseemly manner, nor does it act unbecomingly, but it goes beyond the customs of the Gentiles and even beyond the laws of the Old Testament, finding its standard in Jesus Christ Himself, as He has truly become the environment and atmosphere in which we live. The love in Jesus is not selfish, it is not easily offended, it is not ruthless. It does not take pleasure in the failures and faults of others. Instead, it takes pleasure in the truth, in the realm of truth.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.