Welcome to the defender bible study. A weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services, where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word. It's Monday, March 25th 2024, and I'm coming to you from Birmingham, Alabama. Well, this week, we're continuing our study on the book of first Corinthians, and, specifically, we'll be looking at first Corinthians chapter 13, also known as the love chapter.

You see, beloved, we live in a culture and a day and time where the word love is thrown around and trampled upon like a penny. Someone may say, I love your shirt or I love your hair. We may say, I love March Madness or even I love my church, but biblical love is much deeper and even much more complex than what has become in our vernacular. You see, biblical love says in 1st John chapter 4 verses 18 through 19 that there is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

We love because he first loved us. 1st John 3 16, by this we know love that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. And then, of course, the Paul says to the church at Galatia in in Galatians 2:20 that I have been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live to the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who, what, loved me and gave himself for me. 1st John 3:1, see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.

And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we continue to see the tie between loving, biblical love, and biblical giving. All throughout, we see that god loved us and he gave to us until we get to the pinnacle of Christian love found in John 3 16 when it says, for god so loved the world that he gave, again, gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. You see, there are 4 main types of love we see described in the bible, and the first is eros, and it's the Greek word that's used to describe romantic love between a man and a woman.

Though the word itself is not in the bible, examples are given of romantic love everywhere. Romantic love is a gift of god, and it's present from the beginning of creation. God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, and so he created Eve. Genesis 2 23, and Adam said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be take called woman because she was taken out of man.

And then the second type of love we see described in the bible is the Greek word, which is translated as brotherly love, and it describes the bond of love that binds family members together. Romans 12:10 says, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another. We go back to 1st John 3:1 when it says, see what kind of love the father has given to us, what, that we should be called children of god, familial love. But then the third type of love we see in the bible is philia. Philia is the Greek word used to describe deep, meaningful friendships.

This goes much deeper than simply acquaintances. Filia love binds 2 people together and holds them through thick and thin. Filia of friends are faithful, staying close to you in your best moments and throughout your worst moments. David and Jonathan are prime examples of this type of friendship when we see in first Samuel chapter 18 verse 1. Now when he, David, had finished speaking to Saul, the son of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

And then the 4th and the pinnacle love that we see in the bible, which is the love that is truly biblical love, is agape love, and this is the Greek word for sacrificial, self giving love that is primarily concerned with the good of someone else. Agape love is much more than a feeling, although feelings are certainly part of it. Agape love is demonstrated through action. First John 4:8, he who does not love does not know god, for god is love. Romans 5:8, but god demonstrated his own own love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You see, today, we are continuing our study and looking at the love chapter, 1st Corinthians 13, and Paul completes his teaching on spiritual gifts with a beautiful description of agape love. Remember that the chapters and verses were added later to the text in this letter that Paul had written to the church at Corinth. And so the thoughts of 1st Corinthians 12 are continued into 1st Corinthians 13. So for context, let's start in verse 27 of chapter 12 and read through 1st Corinthians chapter 13. This is what the word of God says.

It says, now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And god has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?

Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I, I will show you still a more excellent way.

And then he goes into this passage that we know is first Corinthians 13. And listen to the way he uses these gifts from 1st Corinthians 12 to say, these gifts are really nothing if you don't have love. 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verse 1, if I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith so as to remove mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but I have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Again, as for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease.

As for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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. 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. So now faith, hope, and love abide these 3, but the greatest of these is love. You see, beloved, while each member of Christ's church are given unique giftings, all of the gifts are to be worked out in and through agape biblical love.

Without the love which flows from god, our gifts are a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal, and they result in nothing and gain us nothing. As the body of Christ and as a ministry called according to his name and purpose, we are called to love those we serve expecting nothing in return. We're to love our teammates and our colleagues in a way that models unselfish love which works for the betterment of one another, and to love god with all of our heart, mind, and soul in such a way that we model him to a watching world. In 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 7, Paul gives 15 descriptions of what love is. He says love is patient.

2, he says love is kind. 3rd, he says it is not jealous. 4th, he says love does not brag. 5th, he says it is not arrogant. 6th, he says love does not act unbecomingly.

7th, it does not seek its own way. 8, it is not irritable. 9, love does not take into count a wrong suffered. 10, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness. 11, love rejoices in the truth.

12, love bears all things. 13, love believes all things. 14, love hopes all things. And then 15, light love endures all things. You know, Jesus says something peculiar in the gospels that's recorded in John's gospel, John chapter 12 verse 24 through 26, and it's repeated throughout the gospels in a different way.

But but this is how John records it. Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. And then he looks at his followers and his disciple, and he says, whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me and where I am, there will my servant be also.

If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. You see, beloved, if we are truly going to see agape love as described in first Corinthians 13, take a reign and rule over our lives, then we have to die to ourselves. We must stop living for our own wants and desires and begin to follow Christ and let him take over. We see a great parallel of dying to self and loving like Jesus in this passage. Three quick examples of how there can be no love without death as we see it in 1st Corinthians chapter 13.

The first, love is patient, and love is not irritable. You see, verse 4 says love is patient, and verse 5 says love is not irritable. Literally, verse 4 says love suffers long. The phrase in verse 5 could also be rendered, love is not easily angered or love is not provoked. And these two descriptions of love are are different sides of the same coin.

Not easily provoked, irritated, or angered is the flip side of it suffers long and it is patient. By nature, we do not like to be interrupted when things are going well. We do not like delays in our plans. We all have a strong craving for a trouble free life, and we tend to get irritated when our best laid plans go sour. I, for instance, cannot stand traffic, and especially when I have an appointment because I like to drive with purpose and with movement.

New parents will agree. We don't like for babies to cry through the night or kids to wake us up during the night. We don't like when our bank account is low. We like it with when life flows according to our plan and to our pleasure. And when it doesn't, our nature is to be provoked and to complain and to grumble and to murmur and to be angry and critical.

So what should we do with the side of us that has an extremely short fuse and that is easily provoked and easily complains and easily grumbles and easily gets angry and criticizes others. The answer is, it must die. To love like this is to die. If I'm going to be like this, something in me must die. My strong cravings for a trouble free life must die.

My need for an uninterrupted schedule must die. My demand that frustrations and interference get out of my way must die. We simply cannot love the way Paul describes until we die. But then the second thing we see of of how love and death flow together is that love does not envy or boast, and it is not arrogant. Verse 4 tells us this, we all love to be admired and appreciated, beloved.

We all like it when people notice our successes and miss our failures. We like it when we hear people say nice things about us. We don't like it when people make fun of us or criticize us or laugh at us or humiliate us. We have developed strategies for minimizing our failures and maximizing our successes. We tend to draw attention to the one and cover over the other.

We overtly brag and boast and develop a cocky swagger or talk. In fact, in America, we have turned the vice of bragging into a virtue of entertainment. But there are also more subtle, refined, acceptable ways of expressing our pride, like bringing the conversation back again and again to ourselves and and what we've done, or even more subtly by constantly talking about how wounded or how sad we've become and about how badly things have or are going for us. Self pity and boasting are both forms of pride. 1 is pride in the heart of the weak, and the other is pride in the heart of the strong.

But love does not speak much about itself. It's not puffed up with its achievements or too concerned about its hurts. Love is others directed, not self consumed. This means that a massive craving in our hearts must die if we are going to love. We are prideful because of our fallen sinful human nature.

If love is humble and others directed, then we must die to ourself and our sinful nature. The glory loving, self exalting, attention seeking, whining, pouting, self pitying me has to die. But then 3rd, love does not insist on its own way. Verse 5, love does not insist on its own way. This this doesn't mean that it is wrong to want to be happy.

In verse 3, Paul argues that if you don't have love, it profits you nothing. So it's not wrong to want the right kind of profit. What Paul is saying is that love does not seek its own personal private preferences. Furthermore, you know, what Paul is saying is is that love without reference to what can be good for other people is really not love at all. Love seeks its joy and its profit and the good of others, not just in private gratification.

When Paul says love seeks not insist on its own way, he is not saying that we shouldn't stand up for our convictions. Paul died for his convictions. Paul is saying that our convictions should be found fully grounded in god's word and not on our own preferences. Love seeks the good of many, not just the comfort of self. So love seeks not its own way.

What does it do? Love dies to its own way. Love dies to its own preferences. Love dies to self. Furthermore, we see this in the other descriptors of perfect love that Paul talks about.

Being long suffering means dying to the desire of an untroubled life. Having no jealousy means dying to the desire for unshared affection. Not boasting means dying to the desire to call attention to our successes. Not acting unbecomingly means dying to the desire to offensively offensively express our freedom. Not taking account of wrongs means dying to the desire for revenge.

Bearing all things and enduring all things means dying to the desire to run away from costly obedience. Paul goes on to describe why this perfect love is worth dying for. It never ends. This agape love is eternal. It will not pass away.

While the world and even our spiritual gifts will fade, love will reign supreme in the face of our savior when we spend eternity with him. Faith, hope, and love exist, but love is the greatest. Because without the perfect love of Christ, we have no object of faith and nowhere to place our hope. Beloved, thank you for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. This week, we are praying for, the finance team here at Lifeline for all the work that they do.

You know, with any ministry and with any organization, you have to have good stewardship, good financial reporting, good accounting. And we're grateful at Lifeline for our accounting and finance team because of the stewardship, the accountability, and the reporting that they bring. And so let's pray for our finance team, and by extension, let's pray for finance teams and accountants and others who help us with this very important function in our day to day lives. Father god, we pray specifically for Lifeline's finance team as they evaluate and implement processes to prove efficiency and effectiveness of the team's service to this ministry, as they help us with our stewardship, as they help us to be good stewards, to use the resources that you've entrusted us in the ministry for which you've called us to. Father, I pray for clear communication and intentionality among the finance department.

I I pray they would provide optimal service to the ministry and seek to honor front facing staff. I pray for, upcoming financial audit that their report will be in accordance with the ethics and principles that we conduct our work in. And, lord, I I pray for for others who are in finance and and other organizations that need strong financial backing. Lord, I pray that you would help us to appreciate the accountability of record keeping. I pray that you would help us to to appreciate the accountability that comes and is ours through accounting.

And, lord, you own the cattle on a 1000 hills, and we are simply your stewards. Help us to be good stewards of all that you have entrusted us. Lord, you are a god of accountability. So accountability is good, it's right, and it's pure. And may we appreciate it knowing that accountability is ultimately the friend of integrity.

It's in your great name that we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the defender bible study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info at lifelinechild.org. We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible study.