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Love is / Love is Not
Sep 15 2002 • Greg Boyd
In this sermon series, Greg focuses specifically on what love is in itself and how we become lovers in the biblical sense. Using the classic biblical text on love, 1 Corinthians 13, Greg shows how love is the center of the Christian experience. Everything in Christianity hinges upon Christ’s demonstration of love on the Cross for us and our manifesting that love to others.
Sermons in this series:
Love Bears All Things
• Greg Boyd
Is the Christmas season as pleasant as the advertisers portray it? Along with the wonder and joy of the Season, many people feel, at times, melancholy, bitter, and depressed. Whatever the case, is it possible to celebrate Christmas with joy if we are experiencing such “unseasonal” emotions?
Focusing on the Center: Love Does Not Seek its Own
• Greg Boyd
This week Greg focused again on I Corinthians 13:5: “Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.” He started this sermon with a review of the past few months.
Love Does Not Insist on its Own Way
• Greg Boyd
Greg continued his sermon series through I Corinthians 13 by focusing on verse 5: “love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.” As a general principle, love does not seek to control others. However, controlling behavior typically characterizes human nature. Why is this?
Love is Not Rude
• Greg Boyd
The “big picture” of God’s goal for creation is that we will learn to live in the center of His love. This is not a hypothesis but a lived experience where love comes to us by Jesus Christ. This transforms us and flows from us to others, with God at the center.
Love Does Not Boast and is Not Arrogant
• Greg Boyd
Greg started this sermon with a review of the past few months. The “big picture” of God’s goal for Creation is love. God wants loving creatures that embrace and reflect love back to God and to others around them. Sin interrupts the flow of this love to us. This leaves a void in our lives that is supposed to be filled with love. This, in turn, motivates us to find other things to “feed on” besides God’s love. But the world has limited resources, and we are created with an infinite need for God’s love in us.
Love Does Not Envy
• Greg Boyd
Greg started this sermon with a review of the past few months. The “big picture” of God’s goal in creating is love. God wants loving creatures who embrace and reflect love back to God and to others around them. Sin interrupts the flow of this love to us.
Love is Kind
• Greg Boyd
This message continues with the theme of discovering what love looks like by turning to I Cor. 13, where we looked at what it means that love is “kind.” Greg used Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible entitled “The Message” to help us get at the idea of kindness. Peterson describes how love is kind in this way: “Love cares more for others than itself.”
Love is Patient
• Greg Boyd
This message continues with the theme of discovering what love looks like by turning to I Cor. 13, where we saw that this chapter is found within a discussion of the spiritual gifts and how the church of Corinth was using—and abusing—those gifts. Paul warns that the presence of the gifts (tongues, prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, faith, radical obedience, generosity, etc.) does not guarantee the presence of love. This is a stunning revelation! Paul is teaching that one can have wonderful experiences of faith and spiritual intensity and still lack true spiritual life—that is—still lack love.
Love is Not a Feeling
• Greg Boyd
Greg focused specifically on what love is in itself and how we become lovers in the biblical sense. He started out by turning to the classic biblical text on love: 1 Cor. 13. He reminded us that verses 1-3 clearly show the “all or nothing” character of love. One can have amazing experiences of God, faith to move mountains, and be a sacrificial disciple, but if you don’t have love, it means nothing to God.
"Just a note of thanks. I came across the site, having heard Greg speak in Ireland many moons ago. The church here is a bit jaded, we have found. Groupthink, lack of going deep, fear, perhaps, of facing tough questions. [WH has] great sermons, and not just from Greg. Real food for a somewhat undernourished Irish Christian. Keep it up! Ian from Ireland"
– Ian, from Ireland