Love: Over-used + Under-lived
“Without Love, I Am Nothing”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Watch a person’s activities, and you will see what they love!

I love…
God
Kathy
Sons, daughter-in-law, grandson
Fairhaven
Boba
Rice
Soccer & Golf 
Clean car
Ice Cream
Hot weather 

We all want to be known for something.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” –John 13:35

Love
Over-used word
Under-lived value

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Without love, we are a nonexistent example of faith.

Corinthian Church
Arguments about moral practices (3:1-3)
Confusion on sexual activity (6:9-11; 8:9; 10:23)
Focus on self, rather than others (7:1, 25; 8:1; 12;1; 16:1, 12)
Political tension between Greeks and Romans 
	
Sound familiar?

Problem in Corinthian Church
Failure of authentic Christian love

Love 
Cannot be persuasive if it is passive (13:1)
Identifies with other’s’ battles, otherwise our faith is incompetent (13:2)
Isn’t permissive but rather life-giving as Jesus is to us (13:3)

“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim…” – Hosea 1:2-3

“And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” – Hosea 3:1

Love is the “sine qua non” of the authentic follower of Jesus (Rom. 5:5; Gal. 5:22)

Sine qua non
“Without which not”

Love is the “sine qua non” of the authentic follow of Jesus
Christological – Like Jesus
Cruciform – By sacrifice, like the cross
Communal – Describe our Christian community 

Love must take center stage in our Christian community (Church).

Nothing.