The God of Love is the God Above

Text: 1 corinthians 13:1-13

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  Quinquagesima Sunday Service | March 2 2025|
  
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1 corinthians 13:1-13

Jonah Albrecht

Quinquagesima Sunday

March 2^nd, 2025

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The God of Love is the God Above

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

What is the first thing you think of when you hear 1 Corinthians 13? If you thought marriage, you would be right. This is one of the most popular texts to be read at wedding ceremonies because of how beautifully it describes the qualities and importance of love. Those are important things to remember when making a commitment to your husband or wife. But that is not what this sermon is about. Our theme for today is The God of Love is the God Above. It is about the only One who can fulfill the love Paul describes perfectly and always. 1. The God of love is God above all else. He sets Himself apart from any other manmade god or idea of self-elevation because of His love. 2. The God of love is the God who lives and reigns over all things in order to show His love through us. May the Holy Spirit bless our study of His Word.

Over the last two weeks we have been preparing our hearts for the Lenten season which begins on Wednesday. In Lent, we solemnly ponder our sins that necessitated a Savior to die in our place. In order to do that faithfully and without reservation, we first considered why we do not have to fear confessing our sins – we live under God’s grace. Last week we considered how we can keep ourselves from falling into sin that we might present ourselves to God as a holy people. We learned that God’s Word, and especially, the message of Christ crucified for you, is the only way we are holy before God. What did those two subjects teach us about our spiritual lives? We are wholly dependent on God’s grace and God’s Word. In other words, our salvation, our spiritual lives would not be possible if God did not constantly work in them. The subject of love, which we are covering today, is no different.

There are 4 different kinds of love in Ancient Greek: Phileo – brotherly love from which Philadelphia is named; Storge – which is romantic love; eros – which is familial love; and the one which appears over and over in Scripture agape love. Agape love is different from all the others and it is the most pure. This is a selfless, sacrificial love that seeks the best for others without expecting anything in return. While we are reminded of the importance of this love in our relationships with other people, we must remember that only God truly knows this love.

Listen again how Paul describes it: ⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never ends.

Pick any manmade religion in the history of the world. Is their god described in this way? The answer is no. While some so-called gods are considered benevolent, or nice, it is always contractual; meaning: they are benevolent when their worshippers provide so many offerings or good deeds in exchange for the god’s goodness. Remember how the prophets of Baal would mutilate themselves in hopes their god would answer them, but to no avail. Even in modern times, you can look at many false religions and the doctrines they teach. It is all moralism. It is about being a good person in hopes that your future life might be better than your current one.

We also support being good citizens and helpful neighbors. But, as Paul says, if you do not have this agape love, it is worthless as far as eternal life is concerned. To put this into practice, I’m going to read verses 4-6 again, but this time, I want you to substitute the word Love with your name.

⁴ Jonah is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; Jonah is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. Jonah does not insist on his own way; Jonah is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ Jonah does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

If you know me for long enough, you would know that I do not carry this agape love by nature. My patience has run short, my kindness run out; my boasting has overtaken humility and my arrogance dominated; my flesh rejoices in my sin.

How many times have you shown patience and kindness towards someone who has wronged you or betrayed you? How many times have you not gloated at your enemy’s misfortune? How many times has your flesh found joy in sin against God? Continue down the list. Your nature and agape love are no closer to each other than light and darkness.

Every single person in this room, nay, in the world has failed to even come close to agape love. It is outside of our nature to be completely selfless, self-sacrificing, always pure in love. And it is discouraging, isn’t it? We want to do these things, we want to be like God, but we can’t, we fail – hard.

Let’s try reading these verses again, but this time substituting the name Jesus.

⁴ Jesus is patient and kind; Jesus does not envy or boast; Jesus is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. Jesus does not insist on its own way; Jesus is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ Jesus does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Sounds much better, doesn’t it? That is because Jesus is love, the very definition of the word. John tells us in 1 John 4 that God is love. Jesus saw the lack of agape love in this world. He saw all the resentment and hatred, the evil and the rebellion, every sin and all the guilt that we conjured up. He had every right to spit us out of His mouth and simply let the world die off. But that isn’t part of God’s love. God’s love for you saw everything you did and will do and loved you anyways. He sent Jesus anyways to be your propitiation, the means by which your sins are paid for. That is love. Jesus, the Son of God dying on the cross for your sins, and taking up His life again to declare you not guilty before God.

2. If that was the end of the story, then it would be enough. We could never ask more from God than Him sending His Son Jesus to be the Savior from our sin. We are indebted to Him more than we could every repay. But that is exactly what makes Him the God above all. His love doesn’t demand us to repay Him for His grace, rather He doubles down to show us His love forevermore.

What if God only showed His love to you on Good Friday and never again? Every single one of us would wonder if that love was really meant for me. But God’s agape love is for you. As a human father does not stop loving his child even when it has grown, even more does our Heavenly Father love you. Yes, even on those days when your frustration boils over, or your love has run dry.

Many times in Scripture, God speaks about an everlasting covenant. He made one with Noah after the flood, that He would not destroy the earth by water ever again – and the rainbow in the sky was the proof of God keeping His word. How many times have you seen a rainbow in your life? That is a continuous proof of God’s promises fulfilled.

This is God’s Covenant with you: No matter where you find yourself in life, no matter how terribly you have sinned against Him or your neighbor, no matter how lost you feel – God’s love is present to forgive you of your sins. And if you want proof, look no further than 1 Peter 4:8, love covers a multitude of sins. How many times have you sinned and needed forgiveness? God’s love covers a multitude of sins. It is constant.

God’s love is special in that it does more than just serve as a blanket to cover your sin; it shows how God’s love is in you. By God’s grace, you have been given this agape love through faith, and by God’s Word, the Holy Spirit feeds that love so that it permeates every area of your life. Paul listed a number of gifts like speaking in tongues, prophesy, knowledge, and so on. But without love, without God’s love, these all meant nothing. God gave them His love and used those gifts to build up His Church. You have been blessed individually with numerous gifts that you can use to glorify God. Without God’s love, these also are nothing. But because you do have God’s love – faith in Jesus as your Savior, your gifts and abilities God does use for the benefit of His Church. In singing and praying; in cleaning and organizing; in teaching and listening; in leading and following.

There is one last thing for us to consider this morning. That is verses 8-13, ⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Why is love elevated higher than faith and hope, which are extremely important to our salvation? Because there will come a day when faith and hope are no longer needed. Faith is trust in Jesus as our Savior for eternal life. When Jesus returns to take us all to eternal life in heaven, our faith will be realized. The same which has been our hope through good times and bad will be before our eyes and we will no longer need to hope for it. But love? Well, that is something that will never fade away. From now and into eternity the love of God the Father; the love of God the Son; and the love of God the Holy Spirit will not cease or diminish in its greatness. Therefore, let us all abide in the love of our God all the more, that the God above might show His love to the world. Amen.