1 Corinthians 13 - What did you learn?

As we finish our study of 1 Corinthians 13, we shared with you the things we learned through our time of studying this chapter. We'd like to now hear from you. What is this passage saying to you in your season of life? Maybe you are single, married, younger, older, with young children or with grown children. How did this passage help you in your relationships? What have you learned or been challenged with?

The Knowledge of God

1 Corinthians 13:12 tells us that God knows us fully. We tried today to answer the question: "The fact that God knows me fully now should cause me to....." We all agreed that we ought to humble ourselves before Him knowing He knows all about me. I can't hide my sin; I need to confess my sin right away! It should cause me to love Him more, to serve Him more, to trust Him more.... How would you answer this question?

1 Corinthians 13:11

A summary of verses 8-11: Verse 8 – Gifts are temporary, but love is eternal. Verse 9 and 10 – Gifts are partial, but love is complete. Verse 11- Gifts are elementary, but love is mature. As we look at verse 11 we see that Paul is describing how as a child we are immature in our thoughts and speech. As we grow, we put away those childish things. So it is in our spiritual growth. Ephesians 4:15 says that we are to "grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." As we grow spiritually and we will see that showing love to others is more important than loving ourselves. What are your thoughts on this verse? How do we put away childish ways spiritually as we grow?

1 Corinthians 13:10

This verse says "...but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away." We know that when Christ returns we will be complete. Until then, what should I do? What should my focus be each day? Am I seeking to live godly each day until the Lord returns? Am I sharing Christ with others? Sometimes we get bogged down with the "here and now." How can I direct my heart and mind to have the right focus?

Love Never Ends...

As we move on to the final section of 1 Corinthians 13, we see the permanence of love. Verse 8 tells us that love never ends. The gifts in the Corinthian church will pass away and will not last forever, and Paul is telling them that love will last forever! As you seek to practically apply this truth to your life ask yourselves these questions: 1) What if my main goal was to be successful at love above all things? 2) How would that impact my life and others lives?

Review of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Verses 4-7 of 1 Corinthians 13 is jammed packed full of truths. We've tried our best to help you to practically apply these verses to your life. As we reflect on what we've learned, we'd like to ask you - what have you learned? How can you apply these principles of love to difficult relationships in life?

Love Endures All Things

What does "love endures all things" mean? It is the idea that love is patient, enduring, long-suffering through trials, circumstances that are tough. It is the idea of enduring through hatred, loss, or loneliness. Why should we endure? Hebrews 10:36 gives us an answer: "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." We endure as we look forward to God's promises. James 1:2-3 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." As you begin to think about the endurance God wants you to have, we hope you'll mediated on these verses to help you see that you can endure through difficult times through God's strength. We're going to talk about how we can endure in our relationships, so be thinking of some practical ways concerning this. Will you share your thoughts with us? We hope you'll tune in tomorrow!

Love Hopes All Things

David is an example of one who showed His hope - Psalm 42:11. He gives the answer to his discouragement: Hope in God. There are many other verses in Psalms where David shares his heart of hope and trust in God. What great example to us as we ought to trust and hope in God for His promises. Abraham also had hope in God's promise that he should be the father of many nations- Romans 4:18. How can "hoping all things" affect your relationship with your husband? Children? Church family? Extended family and friends? How can "hoping all things" affect you?

Love Bears All Things

Bearing all things....what does this mean? The idea is that we seek to protect the sinner from ridicule or harm as a result of their sin. It doesn't mean that we condone the sin that another commits, rather it means that we don't expose or broadcast their sin to others. Since love bears all things, love does not gossip about others failures. 1 Peter 4:8 says “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” What about you? Do you gossip about others when they sin or do you seek to bear with them?

Love Rejoices with the Truth

What is the truth? We know from Scripture that it is Jesus and His Word! John 14:6 says, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Do we rejoice in the truth? Do we rejoice when our husband makes a godly choice, when our children are kind, or when another woman in church is having victory over sin? So often, we are quick to criticize when someone else sins, but do we encourage when they are living godly? How do we search out the truth?

Biblical Confrontation

Our discussion today continues regarding biblical confrontation. How does God want us to confront another when there is sin in their life? What verses can we go to? What are some steps we can follow as we seek to biblically confront another? 1) Evaluate your life first - Matthew 7:1-3 tells us that before we confront others, we must look at our own life. Is there sin I need to repent of before I go to another who has sinned? If so, I need to confess and repent before talking to another. 2) Motive check - What is my motive for confronting? Galatians 6:1 tells us that we ought to confront others in a spirit of gentleness to restore them. 3) Follow the Biblical pattern - Matthew 18:15ff gives us a pattern of how to confront. It begins with going to the person alone. 4) Speak the truth in love - Ephesians 4:14-16, 25 tells us how when we go to another person it ought to be with love in order to edify each other. What are your thoughts? We hope you will share your thoughts with us on this difficult topic. It's hard to confront isn't it? We pray that this will be an encouragement to you to follow through with confronting biblically.

Love does not Rejoice at Wrongdoing, part 2

Am I glad when others fall into sin? Am I glad when another woman's child sins and causes embarrassment to her? Rather than rejoicing in others failures, we ought to reflect on Ephesians 3:17-19 that we be "rooted and grounded in love." Do you love God so much that you would be willing to confront the evil of the devil? What hinders you from confronting sin? Galatians 6:1 tells us that we ought to seek to restore others with gentleness. Join us tomorrow as we discuss confrontation further.

Love does not Rejoice at Wrongdoing

Rejoicing in sin is wrong first of all because sin grieves our Holy God. When we rejoice in sin, we are rejoicing in something that offends and grieves our heavenly Father. This should not be so! Do you rejoice in sin? Are you in the Word to recognize sin and turn away from it? This is just the beginning of our discussion about how love does not rejoice at wrongdoing. Join us tomorrow as we continue!

Love is not Irritable

Do you get irritated and upset when things don't go your way? As you think about this question, be honest with yourself. Do you feel you have the "right" for certain things in your life? Maybe those "rights" might be time to yourself, a clean house, a hobby, shopping, a vehicle, job, etc.... When you stop and think about it, we really deserve an eternity without God. Yet, God sent His Son to save us from eternal condemnation. If you have accepted this free gift of salvation, then you have all you need! Perhaps it would help to write down the areas in your life that you get upset at. Pray through this list, confessing the areas of selfishness and asking God to help you to not focus on yourself.

Love is not Rude

When you are rude you are showing that you do not care enough for those around you to act politely. Rudeness can come across in our attitude, actions and our words. Yet as verse 5 tells us, Christlike love is not rude. How can we combat being rude? It can start by thinking of others before yourself as Philippians 2:4 says, "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." What are other ways to combat this? How do we teach our children, grandchildren, church family to be polite and not selfish?

Love is not Arrogant

Arrogance in our hearts often comes out as rudeness in our behavior. Proverbs 8:13 tells us that God hates pride and arrogance. This can be a hard area to identify in our lives. How can we tell if we are arrogant in our own lives; in our children's lives; in our homes; in our church? What does arrogance look like? A few things that could show up as arrogance in our lives: 1) boasting about accomplishments or gifts, 2) the money we make or possessions we have, 3) boasting about our body (diet, exercise, clothing), 4) being super-mom. How do we combat an arrogant attitude? Keep God in mind and realize that He is the provider of all things.

Love does not Boast

As we discussed today in our program, 1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us that love does not envy or boast. When we boast we are seeking to make other jealous of what we have or our accomplishments. Christlike love does not do this. When we look at the example of Christ in Philippians 2:6-8 we see that Christ was humble. As we seek to pattern our life after Christ, we ought to be humble rather than boasting. What are other ways to fight against boasting? Reflect on your life - do you envy or boast? If so, recognize that as sin, repent and put on contentment and humility as Christlike characteristics. We pray that you'll be challenged by this study as we ask some tough questions; questions we hope will help you determine if you are not loving as God would have you to love.

Love does not Envy

Envy. Jealousy. Covetousness. These words are very descriptive of the sin of not being content with what we have. We all face the temptation of being jealous when someone else receives a blessing - whether it's a vacation, new car, marriage, a child, etc... Love does not envy. If we are truly desiring to show Christ's love to others, we will not be envious of others. Rather we will rejoice with others (Romans 12:15). Why is it so tempting to be envious and how can we battle against this sin?

Love is Kind

Patience and kindness are linked together here in verse 4. As we are patient with others, we also show kindness. Kindness is an action and is shown when we serve others. Why is kindness so critical in our homes? What are practical ways to show kindness to your husband, children, women in the church, neighbors, extended family? How do you encourage others to be kind?

Love is Patient

Verse 4 tells us that "love is patient." How can I be patient? We believe that it starts with being in the Word, spending time in prayer and then actively choosing to be patient in difficult situations. Perhaps memorize a verse that will be helpful to you to remind you of patience. Prepare! There are many relationships where you can practice patience: with your husband, with your children, with other family members, with your job, with other women at church. How can you practice patience in these relationships? If you are truly striving to show love to others, patience will be a part of your love.