A MORE EXCELLENT WAY

John 13:34-35 – 34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35By this all will know that you are My disciples, If You Have Love for One Another.”

I. The Wrong Way – Ranking and Comparison

Romans 12:3-4 – 3For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function…

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3 – 31But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 13:1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but

have not love, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

• The Verdict on Tongues — White Noise: “I Say Nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:1 – Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I HAVE BECOME sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

• The Verdict on Prophecy, Knowledge, and Faith — Identity Loss: “I Am Nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:2 – And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I AM NOTHING.

• The Verdict on Self-Sacrifice — I Gain Nothing: “I Profit Nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:3 – And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, IT PROFITS ME NOTHING.

II. The More Excellent Way – Love

• The Limitation of the World’s Love

− Family Love (storge) – Natural affection, instinctive, based on blood relation. Limited to kin.

− Friendship Love (philia) – Based on shared interest, mutual delight.

Conditional on common ground.

− Romantic Love (eros) – Desire-based, attraction-based, physically based.

• The Default Love of the world— and the church’s greatest counterfeit – EROS!

• Why these “Lesser Loves” cannot and Do Not save us

− Storge cannot because we are not God’s family by blood.

− Philia cannot because we are not God’s friends — we’re His enemies.

− Eros cannot because there is nothing attractive about us — we’re sinners.

• The Power of God’s Love – Agape

1 John 4:8 – He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:16 – And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates HIS OWN LOVE toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

− Agape – a faint, colorless word in classical Greek, making it available for use!

1 John 3:1 – Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

• What makes Agape love the more excellent way

− Agape originates in God and is His essence, not in the worth of the loved.

− Agape love only and always seeks the Highest Good of the other – regardless of cost to the love giver.

− Agape love acts toward ENEMIES, not just friends.

− Agape love is demonstrated and proven by SACRIFICE, not by feeling.

Romans 5:8 – “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

III. Agape Love at the Table

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 – 23For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

1 Corinthians 11:27-30 – 27Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.