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, May 19, 1996.
About this sermon
The outline of 1 Corinthians 13 exposes the danger of a methodical, man-made religion that substitutes technique for love. Love’s long-suffering shapes how Christians treat one another.
Sermon transcript
This morning we are beginning our scripture reading in Matthew chapter 5, and we are beginning at the very first verse. This is Matthew chapter 5. This is God’s infallible and inspired word. We give your closest attention to it. And seeing the multitude, Jesus went up into a mountain. When he was seated, his disciples came to him. He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
And then turning to 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 7. 1 Corinthians 13, 4–7. Love suffers long and is kind. Love envies not, love does not boast, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not 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. Pray together now. Our God, we know that through the foolishness of preaching it pleases you to call your own and to build your church.
And for this reason, Lord, there cannot be any haughtiness or vanity in those who would declare your truth to your people and before the world. Our Lord, be pleased to raise up for yourself servants who shall declare the word of the living God. May they, O God, be strong in you even as they set themselves to speak in Christ in your sight.
We ask, Lord, for the good of your church through good preachers. Even Jesus himself asked his disciples that they be good, and asked you that you would send forth laborers into the harvest. Father, if it is the case with the disciples, how much more with us that we should be praying for good and strong preachers of the word. If we have not been doing this, Lord, stir up our hearts. And Father, may we not merely be concerned about the preaching from this pulpit, but may we be concerned for the preaching throughout the world in the pulpits of your church.
So, Father, make also this word proclaimed mightily effective, even as it pleases you to strengthen the saints and to convert sinners. These things we ask, Lord, as we turn our attention now to the proclamation of your word, through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Spirit. Amen. I ask you to keep in mind the outline of 1 Corinthians 13, which I have set before you previously.
Verses 1–3, love’s necessity and its superiority to all spiritual gifts. Verses 4 through 7, love’s character and its indispensability for the expression of all other spiritual maturity. Verses 8 through 12, love’s permanence and its unique ability to bring into focus the eternal qualities of Christian life. And finally, verse 13, love’s excellence, even among the other spiritual graces of faith and hope. We have already dealt with the first section, verses 1 through 3, in a thorough manner, noting how Paul uses satire and even sanctified sarcasm to push the gifts he speaks of to impossible extremes. He says that even if he were able to possess such gifts, which he does not, without love—or more clearly, without God, or without Jesus Christ—he is no better than any idol-worshipping pagan. In the sight of God, he is nothing, and he gains nothing. But now we move on to the second main section, verses 4 through 7.
Love’s character and its indispensability for the expression of all other spiritual maturity. Here Paul sets aside his biting sarcasm and incisive wit, which have served their purpose. He now turns to a description of love that breathes with the animation of an intimate friend. For the Apostle, love is alive.
Therefore, it is important that our analysis of these verses and the various traits they describe does not descend to the level of a manual description, the purpose of which is to break down love into its individual parts, to provide a diagram for easy assembly, or to give a picture of a finished love machine. Paul’s purpose here is not, as one commentator has stated, to provide us with a methodical dissertation on the subject of love, nor a manual description of love and its properties.
Now, there is an improvisation that is necessary, a homiletical condenser that is appropriate at this point. Those who attend concerts understand this. As I sat before you, I want you to understand that I mean it in the spirit with which Paul writes.
There is something utterly destructive to the soul of biblical religion, and it is this manual, mechanistic approach to the faith. This is particularly evident in our own time, because we live in a technological society and are constantly exposed to the advances of technology, advances that even influence our consciousness in ways we do not suspect. We are liable to become little religious robots. This is a matter that concerns us, especially in light of recent church history over the past ten years. Recently, I was reading a history of the first Presbyterian church in Pittsburgh, a congregation reputed to be conservative and relatively orthodox within the PCUSA, especially at the turn of the century, when it was led by Nathan Alexander, a very fine man.
But as I read that history, I could not help but be overwhelmed by the technological spirit that had overtaken that congregation. Programs came out the window, organization was emphasized to the point of exhaustion. All of this was done with good intentions, I expect, and I judge. Yet it also conveyed a certain sterility and emptiness. This congregation was so technical and technological in its approach to ministry that it would surpass any modern megachurch, let alone our federal government. Not that organization is not essential or helpful.
And not that the Lord our God is not the Lord over machines as well as over humanity. But there is something about man-made products and human-generated creations. It is not surprising, then, that we find in the pages of Scripture strong condemnations against Israel regarding idols. They are the works of human hands. And just as idolatry, no less than the technological and organizational preoccupations of our time, leads us to conclude that there is no breath in them, so too the machine has no life in itself.
So as we observe what the Apostle is doing here in 1 Corinthians 13, I urge you with earnest Christian love to keep in mind his intent and his tone. For he engages in verses 4 through 7 in a deliberate personification. That is, he represents love as if it were a person, or at least as if it had a person behind it, breathing life into it. In this way, Paul subtly yet firmly presses upon the Corinthians the living image of God. No, the living image of the Lord Jesus Christ, upon their conscious consideration. And in doing so, Paul more powerfully confronts these people with the shame and scandal of their own behavior and attitudes. You see, Paul’s intimate friendship with God and with Christ stands in sharp contrast to the glaring deformities of character found among the Corinthians—their lovelessness and their estrangement from their faith.
Love is patient, Paul writes, or as the King James Version puts it, love suffereth long. Paul’s thought here is more than that love shows a willingness to wait, that it is slow to anger, that it is essentially calm and composed. Instead, as emphasized by the King James rendering, the focus is on persistent endurance in the face of hardship, in the face of overt suffering, even such suffering that comes through deliberate provocation and opposition. Love’s long-suffering patience is alive, therefore, in hope and with hope, in hope that this suffering will reach its conclusion, that it will come to an end. It lives, not without hope, even of the transformation of those who cause the pain and resist love’s entreaties. It is long-suffering. There is in love a purity that holds on, even for the sake of those upon whom it has set itself, yet hoping for their transformation. Thus it is that love does not reckon up scars or hours. So great is its affection, so strong is its holy desire.
Can I say something to you about the Jews and the religious spirit of Judaism? This is not an anti-Semitic statement. It is a statement of religious truth, gospel-grounded, for the religious spirit that animates Judaism is different from the religious spirit that animates Christianity. I am speaking to you about a love that does not reckon up scars or hours. So great is its affection, so strong is its holy desire.
But Judaism has become, if it was not already in the days of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul, a religion animated and directed by revenge. And I dare say that you can find evidence and witness of this any day that you open a newspaper or turn on the television in our time. The scars and the hours are meticulously accounted for, and there must be revenge. But you must know that these Corinthians are quite close to the spirit of Judaism, not the spirit of Jesus Christ.
They have inverted the whole matter. They are incensed. That is their habitual way of thinking. They are outraged, always it seems. They will not endure even an insult to their person. They bear no provocation for a single moment of their precious time. Moreover, their character is such that it does not bear pain, but inflicts pain. Beware lest one fail to recognize my importance, the superiority of my gift, the resilience of my character produced by my gift, the gift of speaking in tongues, and that gift’s indispensability for the expression of any other spiritual maturity.
What nonsense! The Corinthians misread the face of the gospel. They misread gospel love. They misread the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly, in this one whom they profess—Jesus Christ himself—this one alone who embodies the impossible gifts described by Paul in verses one through three—love is present in His person, and in Him there is longsuffering and patience, of which the apostle speaks.
Jesus’ love waits while being abused. It draws even those who oppose Him violently. Our Savior does not count the scars or the hours, so great is His affection for those for whom He patiently waits. But it is precisely because we are face to face with Jesus Christ when we consider the long-suffering nature of love that we dare not overemphasize the waiting dimension of this love. Yes, love waits. Jesus waits.
But at the same time, love is never inactive. Even in its waiting, it is energetic and engaged. This may be the reason why the Apostle Paul regularly joins kindness immediately to patience. He does so here, in verse 4. Love suffers long and is kind. But note what he does again in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 6. Love’s long-suffering there is also followed by kindness. And this occurs in a description of Paul’s own ministry, which follows hard after and faithfully according to the ministry of Jesus Christ.
And what might we say of Galatians 5:22 and its wonderful listing of the fruit of the Spirit?
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, which is patience, gentleness, which is kindness. There is a kind of piety in Christian circles that hides behind pretended patience, forced endurance, as if it were concealed behind a cloak or a closed door. Such piety merely seeks excuses for inactivity and belongs to the church of easy-chair Christianity. Never confuse in yourself or others mere spiritual laziness or outright sloth with godliness.
For the Apostle Paul, love is courageously active, arising out of suffering and hardship, enduring long, and demonstrating a determined kindness that seeks the glory of God. This is a spirit of grace, disposed to genuine helpfulness in the face of all threats and causes of abuse and wrong. Here is the true practical theology for which the genuine Church of Jesus Christ longs. It is a theology that is practical and useful because, after God and after His wonderful Son, it possesses a spirit determined to be kind to those who have caused abuse and wrong. Jesus Himself provides parallel instruction in such love through teachings that reveal His very person.
In the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3 through 9, He first addresses the suffering of God’s servants—poverty in spirit, mourning, meekness, hunger and thirst for righteousness—and then follows with the Beatitudes of determined kindness. In the face of opposition, this servant of God is to persist in showing mercy, being pure in heart, and being a peacemaker. This is the exposition of the Beatitudes. There is no other. It is an exposition of Christ Himself and the love that He manifests in the face of opposition and hostility. This means, of course, that the Beatitudes preach the gospel. Of course, Jesus is the one who is poor in spirit. He is the one who mourns. He is the one who is weak. He is the one who hungers and thirsts because of the abusive hostility of those who are set against Him.
Nevertheless, he persists in showing mercy, in demonstrating purity, in pursuing peace, even to and through his cross. Jesus, like his Father in heaven, is kind. His patience and long-suffering are not inactive, but courageously, hopefully, and helpfully kind, seeking even the good of his enemies. And we have been blessed by just such loving kindness, such patience, such long-suffering. For God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, while we were yet God’s enemies, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8. Compare with that. Verse 10 of that fifth chapter. One more thing merits our attention here this morning before we close.
We have made our way through this passage, making much of love’s ability to endure through hardship and suffering, to persist in affection despite abuse. Love here is set before us in its extremity, with respect to its greatest reach and capacity, even as we keep in view those who hate us. But what if those with whom we are dealing do not hate us? What if those with whom we are dealing are not our enemies? Are they not those who abuse us or persecute us?
Is there a strange distortion of the gospel abroad that oddly reserves love for enemies and overlooks love for friends, those in intimate fellowship, and thereby sets itself apart as a superior kind of love because it is so deeply engaged with the matter of love for enemies, to the disadvantage of love for those with whom we have the closest fellowship?
I often think of this abnormality when I consider the case of C. Edward Cook. A man who, as a public Christian figure, appeared remarkably affectionate toward the enemies of the gospel, and especially hostile toward brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. He goes to Washington. It is as if the words on his lips are, “I never knew you.” Talk to any responsible individual with a proper vision for the right to life about C. Everett Coop and his monumental betrayal. Yet the Corinthians, no more than Dr. Coop, seem to grasp the Apostle’s point.
Love in the extremity of suffering at the hands of enemies makes love within the fellowship of friends—those friends in the Lord—ever more dear and ever more a direct demand. If love is long-suffering toward enemies, how should it behave toward friends? If the gospel demands my love for my enemy, even in the extremity, what then of love for my fellow believers? Love within the ordinary bonds of Christ’s Church? If the gospel calls me to patience and kindness toward my enemy in Christ, how much more should I love those with whom I am joined in Jesus Christ?
And what about you? Is there something in you that is more comfortable loving enemies, even those far removed geographically, than loving the saints who live and worship with you? What about your love for one another? It is also possible, and grievously so, that you may be arrogantly contentious toward all humanity, friend and foe alike, loving no one but yourself.
And if that is the case, may God have mercy upon your soul. Our God, we delight in the apostles’ words and in how the Lord Jesus Christ rises from those words to greet us. We thank you for how you set him before us in many ways, and even here, where it may not be immediately obvious to us at first glance. Father, may we be trained by what the Apostle has said, but Lord, we ask that his words, even as they are your words, may work to bring to light even more wonderfully the bond that exists between us and our Savior. We, Lord, are profiting from the long-suffering of our God manifest in Christ, and we also profit beautifully from that long-suffering of Jesus as it benefits us. But as we enter into our Savior, we must acknowledge that we are entering into his love. And we are entering into his long-suffering and patience, even as it is matched with fellowship. And this, Lord, with respect to enemy and with respect to friend. Hear us, O God, that the perfection of the kingdom might be manifest in us.
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.