New Sermon Series: The Greatest of These is LOVE
I planned out our summer series about 18 months ago.
I’m not sure what I was thinking about when penciling this in — perhaps a contentious election coming up in the fall. But never in a million years would I have imagined a situation where we would need 1 Corinthians 13 as much as we do now.
Perhaps you’ve heard of this passage. It’s often called The Love Chapter. And it’s read at weddings, found on greeting cards; sometimes people cross-stitch it. But the context of the passage is not romantic love, nor is it sappy sentiment.
We’ve studied 1 Corinthians over the past few years (see: Life Together, Come to the Feast, Showing the Spirit), and what we’ve seen is that this church is pretty messed up.
In chapters 1 and 12, we see that they are constantly passing judgment on one other. In chapter 3, they have major divisions over minor theological issues. In chapter 5, Paul charges not only that they commit adultery, but they celebrate it, shrugging and laughing it off. In chapter 6, it’s frivolous lawsuits; chapter 7, divorces without Biblical grounds; chapter 8, parading Christian liberty in front of those with a troubled conscience. And in chapter 11, it’s the rich ignoring the needs of the poor.
This is a broken church in a broken society.
So then, we get to chapter 13 -- it’s not a sweet poem, it’s a rebuke; a call to radical change. That’s why he ends the previous chapter, “And I will show you a still more excellent way.”
This summer we’re going to walk through 1 Corinthians 13 phrase by phrase, considering both the nature of love, and how to embody it. It’ll be ugly at times, because none of us are really touching the way of life described in this chapter. But it will also be hopeful, because we'll see the real possibility of growth in love, individually and as a community.
We hope you’ll join us, and invite a friend.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who sent us artwork! They’re beautiful!