Bible Text: 1 Corinthians 13:5-7 | Pastor: Pastor Steve | Series: Engage: Do All In The Name Of The Lord Jesus

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.   Love never fails…
Two Foundational Attributes of Love

Love is patient
Love is kind

Eight Negative Attributes Of Love!

love does not envy
love does not parade itself
is not puffed up does not behave rudely
does not seek its own
is not provoked
thinks no evil
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth

Teach Us Eight Positive Attributes Of Love!
Love Does Not Envy
(LOVE IS SUPPORTIVE; CARING; OTHER CENTERED)

We are a society that has been obsessed with comparisons

Exodus 20:17 You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

James 3:17-18 The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, fully of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

James 4:1-2 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battles within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

To covet is to want what the Lord has not given you. To want it so much that you will damage your relationships with Him and others.

The core issue of envy is that we believe God is deceiving us and that He doesn’t care about us. We believe something or someone else will fulfill us and that God can’t and/or won’t.

Envy will damage our relationship with God—which, in turn, leads to damaging our relationships with other people.

Envy stagnates the church, causing us to be self-centered and self-focused, feeling sorry for ourselves, and not fulfilling our God-given purpose.
Love Does Not Boast
(LOVE IS UNASSUMING; MODEST)

The language of boasting is the language of insecurity.  The insecure person is anxious to get approval and will do many things to get approval—even at the expense of others.

James 1:19-20 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Proverbs 10:19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.  Proverbs 18:13 He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.
Love Is Not Proud
(LOVE IS HUMBLE)

Pride: God is opposed to the proud

Proverbs 16:5; Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces none will go unpunished.

Proverbs 16:18-19 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Pride is the basis of man’s distrust in God’s plan and His Word
God Gives Greater Grace That Overcomes All Our Sin
For greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world! 1 John 4:4

James 4:6-7 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:8-10 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Which One Will It Be?
James 4:1 …our fights and (our) quarrels and our desires…

VERSUS

James 4:10 Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up