2022-5丨General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

Message One Loving the Lord and Loving One Another— the Most Excellent Way for Us to Be Anything and Do Anything for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 8:1b; 12:31b; 13:1, 4-8, 13; 14:1, 3, 4b; John 21:15-17; Gal. 6:2-3

1 Cor. 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

1 Cor. 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And moreover I show to you a most excellent way.

1 Cor. 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

1 Cor. 13:4 Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;

1 Cor. 13:5 It does not behave unbecomingly and does not seek its own things; it is not provoked and does not take account of evil;

1 Cor. 13:6 It does not rejoice because of unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Cor. 13:7 It covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor. 13:8 Love never falls away. But whether prophecies, they will be rendered useless; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be rendered useless.

1 Cor. 13:13 Now there abide faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

1 Cor. 14:1 Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

1 Cor. 14:3 But he who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men.

1 Cor. 14:4 He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church.

John 21:15 Then when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

John 21:16 He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Shepherd My sheep.

John 21:17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved that He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

Gal. 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ completely.

Gal. 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

I. Paul commended the Thessalonians by telling them that “your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you all to one another is increasing”—2 Thes. 1:3:

2 Thes. 1:3 We ought to thank God always concerning you, brothers, even as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you all to one another is increasing,

A. To believe in the Lord is to receive Him as life, and to love the Lord is to enjoy the very person whom we have received; faith is given to us by God so that by it we may receive Christ as our life; love issues out of such a wonderful faith and enables us to live out all the riches of the Triune God in Christ as our life—2 Pet. 1:1; Heb. 12:1-2a; 2 Cor. 4:13; Gal. 5:6; John 1:12-13; 21:15-17; Col. 3:4.

2 Pet. 1:1 Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been allotted faith equally precious as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

Heb. 12:1 Therefore let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, put away every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and run with endurance the race which is set before us,

Heb. 12:2 Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.

2 Cor. 4:13 And having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak,

Gal. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith avails, operating through love.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name,

John 1:13 Who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 21:16 He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Shepherd My sheep.

Col. 3:4 When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.

B. To the apostle Paul the grace of the Lord “superabounded with faith and love in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1:14); through faith we receive the Lord (John 1:12), and through love we enjoy the Lord whom we have received (14:21, 23; 21:15-17).

1 Tim. 1:14 And the grace of our Lord superabounded with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name,

John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.

John 21:16 He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Shepherd My sheep.

C. In this wonderful faith and by this super-excellent love of the Triune God, we should love Him and all those who belong to Him; only in this way can we become, in the current of the church's degradation, the overcomers whom the Lord is calling and desiring to obtain in Revelation 2 and 3.

Rev. 2—3 To be omitted.

II. The Lord's recovery is a recovery of loving the Lord Jesus with the first love, the best love, and of loving one another for the building up of the organic Body of Christ, which is the building up of the New Jerusalem as the goal of God's eternal economy—Eph. 4:15-16; Rev. 2:4-5:

Eph. 4:15 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,

Eph. 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

Rev. 2:4 But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.

Rev. 2:5 Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

A. The Christ whom we love is the church-loving Christ; when we love Him, we will love the church as He does—Eph. 5:25.

Eph. 5:25 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her

B. The degradation of the church begins with our leaving the first love toward the Lord; to love the Lord with the first love, the best love, is to give the Lord the preeminence, the first place, in all things, being constrained by His love to regard and take Him as everything in our life—Rev. 2:4-5; Col. 1:18b; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Mark 12:30; Psa. 73:25-26.

Rev. 2:4 But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.

Rev. 2:5 Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

Col. 1:18 And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things;

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

2 Cor. 5:15 And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.

Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength."

Psa. 73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth.

Psa. 73:26 My flesh and my heart fail, / But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.

C. The very life that we received when we believed in the Lord Jesus is a person, and the only way to apply and enjoy this person is by loving Him with the first love; since the Lord Jesus as our life is a person, we need a new contact with Him to enjoy His present presence at this very moment and day by day—John 11:25; 14:5-6; 1 Tim. 1:14; John 14:21, 23; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Rev. 2:4-7; Col. 1:18b; Rom. 6:4; 7:6; Hymns, #559.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live;

John 14:5 Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

1 Tim. 1:14 And the grace of our Lord superabounded with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

2 Cor. 5:15 And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.

Rev. 2:4 But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.

Rev. 2:5 Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

Rev. 2:6 But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Rev. 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

Col. 1:18 And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things;

Rom. 6:4 We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.

Rom. 7:6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

Hymn 559—Savior, I by faith am touching Thee

1 Savior, I by faith am touching Thee, the source of every good;

Virtue now, by faith am claiming, Through the cleansing of Thy blood.

(chorus) Touching Thee, new life is glowing By Thy Spirit's burning flame;

Cleansing, purging, Spirit filling, Glory to Thy Holy Name!

2 Touching Thee in faith, I take Thee In Thy riches full and free;

All I am I open to Thee, All Thou art Thou giv'st to me.

3 Touching now Thine outstretched scepter, O most mighty King of kings;

Of Thy fulness now receiving, High I mount on eagle wings.

4 Grace and virtue, strength and wisdom, All my need, by Thee supplied;

Keep me touching, keep me claiming, Keep me ever at Thy side.

D. We must be persons who are flooded with and carried away by the love of Christ; the divine love should be like the rushing tide of great waters toward us, impelling us to live to Him and love Him to the uttermost beyond our own control—2 Cor. 5:14.

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

E. In order to love the Lord to the uttermost, we need to be those who desire and seek to dwell in the house of God all the days of our life to behold His beauty (loveliness, pleasantness, delightfulness) and to inquire of God in His temple; to inquire of God is to check with God about everything in our daily life—Psa. 27:4.

Psa. 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple.

III. Among the co-workers, the elders, the responsible ones, and everyone in the vital groups, love must prevail—1 Cor. 12:31b; 13:4-8, 13:

1 Cor. 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And moreover I show to you a most excellent way.

1 Cor. 13:4 Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;

1 Cor. 13:5 It does not behave unbecomingly and does not seek its own things; it is not provoked and does not take account of evil;

1 Cor. 13:6 It does not rejoice because of unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Cor. 13:7 It covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor. 13:8 Love never falls away. But whether prophecies, they will be rendered useless; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be rendered useless.

1 Cor. 13:13 Now there abide faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

A. We have been regenerated to be God's species, God's kind (John 1:12-13), and God is love (1 John 4:8, 16); since we become God in His life and nature but not in the Godhead, we also should be love; this means that we do not merely love others but that we are love itself.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name,

John 1:13 Who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

B. We must keep ourselves in the love of God and be constrained by the love of Christ to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers—Jude 19-21; 2 Cor. 5:14; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:14-16; 4:7-21.

Jude 19 These are those who make divisions, soulish, having no spirit.

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Jude 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

1 Pet. 1:22 Since you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love, love one another from a pure heart fervently,

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. He who does not love abides in death.

1 John 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 3:16 In this we know love, that He laid down His life on our behalf, and we ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and everyone who loves has been begotten of God and knows God.

1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him.

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God has loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:13 In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.

1 John 4:14 And we have beheld and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

1 John 4:17 In this has love been perfected with us, that we have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, so also are we in this world.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has punishment, and he who fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also.

C. God first loved us in that He infused us with His love and generated within us the love with which we love Him and the brothers (vv. 19-21); to abide in God is to live a life in which we love others habitually with the love that is God Himself, that He may be expressed in us—vv. 16-17; Hymns, #546 and #547.

1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

1 John 4:17 In this has love been perfected with us, that we have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, so also are we in this world.

Hymn 546—I love my Lord, but with no love of mine

1 I love my Lord, but with no love of mine, For I have none to give;

I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine, For by Thy love I live.

I am as nothing, and rejoice to be Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.

2 Thou, Lord, alone, art all Thy children need, And there is none beside;

From Thee the streams of blessedness proceed, In Thee the bless'd abide.

Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace, Our source, our center, and our dwelling-place.

Hymn 547—Something every heart is loving

1 Something every heart is loving: If not Jesus, none can rest;

Lord, my heart to Thee is given; Take it, for it loves Thee best.

2 Thus I cast the world behind me; Jesus most beloved shall be;

Beauteous more than all things beauteous, He alone is joy to me.

3 Bright with all eternal radiance Is the glory of Thy face;

Thou art loving, sweet, and tender, Full of pity, full of grace.

4 When I hated, Thou didst love me, Shedd'st for me Thy precious blood;

Still Thou lovest, lovest ever, Shall I not love Thee, my God?

5 Keep my heart still faithful to Thee, That my earthly life may be

But a shadow to that glory Of my hidden life in Thee.

1. Whether or not we will be useful in the Lord's hands for the long run and whether or not we will bring in the blessing for a lasting time does not depend on what we can do but on how pure our heart is; we need to have a pure heart, purified from any form of subtle ambition in intention, purpose, motive, and action in the Lord's recovery—Matt. 5:8.

Matt. 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

2. Pride means destruction, and to be proud is to be a top fool; humility saves us from all kinds of destruction and invites God's grace—James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5.

James 4:6 But He gives greater grace; therefore it says, "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."

1 Pet. 5:5 In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

3. We should never hunt to be the first in any work for the Lord (3 John 9); rivalry in the Lord's work is not only a sign of ambition but also a sign of pride; referring to our capacity, success, perfection, and virtue is a careless form of pride (Luke 17:10; Phil. 1:15; Gal. 5:25-26).

3 John 9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not receive us.

Luke 17:10 So also you, when you do all the things which are ordered you, say, We are unprofitable slaves; we have done what we ought to have done.

Phil. 1:15 Some preach Christ even because of envy and strife, and some also because of good will,

Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Gal. 5:26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

4. Thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think is another form of pride (Rom. 12:3); self-boasting, self-exaltation, self-glorification, self-will, self-justification, self-righteousness, and lusting after vainglory are all ugly and base expressions of pride (Gal. 5:25-26).

Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Gal. 5:26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

5. Wanting to be great and not to be a servant and wanting to be the first and not to be a slave are also a sign of pride—Matt. 20:26-27.

Matt. 20:26 It shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant,

Matt. 20:27 And whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave;

6. We should pray for one another, have an intimate concern for one another, cherish and nourish one another, and always cover one another, speak well of one another, and never expose one another's failures and defects (2 Cor. 7:2-3; Eph. 1:15-16; Philem. 4; 1 Cor. 13:4-7; cf. Matt. 24:49); we need to forgive one another and seek to be forgiven by one another (Col. 3:12-15).

2 Cor. 7:2 Make room for us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

2 Cor. 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts for our dying together and our living together.

Eph. 1:15 Therefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you and your love to all the saints,

Eph. 1:16 Do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

Philem. 4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,

1 Cor. 13:4 Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;

1 Cor. 13:5 It does not behave unbecomingly and does not seek its own things; it is not provoked and does not take account of evil;

1 Cor. 13:6 It does not rejoice because of unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Cor. 13:7 It covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Matt. 24:49 And begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken,

Col. 3:12 Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering;

Col. 3:13 Bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive.

Col. 3:14 And over all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfectness.

Col. 3:15 And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful.

7. On the one hand, we should have a clear sight over the people for whom we care with much discernment, and on the other hand, we should be blind spiritually—Isa. 11:1-4a.

Isa. 11:1 Then a sprout will come forth from the stump of Jesse, / And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Isa. 11:2 And the Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon Him, / The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, / The Spirit of counsel and might, / The Spirit of the knowledge and fear of Jehovah.

Isa. 11:3 He will delight in the fear of Jehovah: / He will neither judge by what His eyes see, / Nor decide by what His ears hear.

Isa. 11:4 But He will judge the poor in righteousness, / And decide with equity for the afflicted of the land. / And He will strike the land with the rod of His mouth, / And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

8. We should not speak reviling words; to revile is to rebuke or criticize harshly or abusively; to revile is to assail someone with abusive language; to revile is not only to rebuke someone but also to sharply wound him and stamp him with open rudeness or contempt arising from arrogance—Gal. 5:14-15, 25-26:

Gal. 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Gal. 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.

Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Gal. 5:26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

a. Revilers are ones who beat their fellow slaves, which means that they habitually mistreat fellow believers; revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God—Matt. 24:45-51; 1 Cor. 6:9-10.

Matt. 24:45 Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time?

Matt. 24:46 Blessed is that slave whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

Matt. 24:47 Truly I say to you that he will set him over all his possessions.

Matt. 24:48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, My master delays,

Matt. 24:49 And begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken,

Matt. 24:50 The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,

Matt. 24:51 And will cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

1 Cor. 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be led astray; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals

1 Cor. 6:10 Nor thieves nor the covetous, not drunkards, not revilers, not the rapacious will inherit the kingdom of God.

b. Those who take in reviling words bear the same responsibility as those who speak reviling words; in order for the church to maintain the oneness, the brothers and sisters must withstand reviling words—v. 10; cf. Num. 6:6.

1 Cor. 6:10 Nor thieves nor the covetous, not drunkards, not revilers, not the rapacious will inherit the kingdom of God.

Num. 6:6 All the days that he separates himself to Jehovah he shall not come near a dead person.

c. The consciousness of sin comes from knowing God; in the same way, the consciousness of reviling words comes from the knowledge of the Body; reviling words are opposed to the testimony of the Body—1 Cor. 1:10.

1 Cor. 1:10 Now I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.

IV. Love is the most excellent way for us to be anything or do anything for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ—12:31b--13:8a:

1 Cor. 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And moreover I show to you a most excellent way.

1 Cor. 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

1 Cor. 13:2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

1 Cor. 13:3 And if I dole out all my possessions to feed others, and if I deliver up my body that I may boast, but do not have love, I profit nothing.

1 Cor. 13:4 Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;

1 Cor. 13:5 It does not behave unbecomingly and does not seek its own things; it is not provoked and does not take account of evil;

1 Cor. 13:6 It does not rejoice because of unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Cor. 13:7 It covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor. 13:8 Love never falls away. But whether prophecies, they will be rendered useless; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be rendered useless.

A. The love described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 is the expression of the divine life (vv. 4-8a); furthermore, the fact that love is the fruit of the Spirit indicates that the substance of love must be the Spirit (Gal. 5:22); if we do not have love, our speaking is like that of sounding brass and a clanging cymbal, which give sounds without life (1 Cor. 13:1; 14:1, 3, 4b, 12, 31; 2 Cor. 3:6).