08/30/2026
East Clemson Baptist Church
I taught our Sunday School lesson today and Jesus was there...
A Love for Others
We are to love others as God loves us.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
The Greatest Gift
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 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. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body [a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not [b]puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, [c]thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is [d]perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
>>>Phileo could be defined as brotherly love, and unfortunately, we often treat it as an inferior love compared to agape love.
Phileo is the word used for the Father's love for Jesus (John 5:20).
>>>Paul used the word agape, which denotes a love that is unconditional. It's a love that seeks the highest good of the other person. It's a love that is willing to lay aside any personal comfort or benefits for the sake of the one loved.
>>>Saying we love Jesus isn't enough. It must be seen in our actions. Our love for Jesus is seen in how we love others, and that love is seen in the way we minister and serve.
>>>Without love, gifts like tongues, prophecy, and knowledge are pointless.
>>>We are to be just like Jesus (1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1).
>>>"We love because He first loved us: (1John 4:19).
>>>So, what remains? Faith, Hope, and Love. Faith is needed because it's our faith in Christ that brings us to salvation. Hope is tied to our faith, in that it is our trust-filled and confident expectation of what awaits us in Christ. But love sits over and above it all. Faith and hope are gifts God gives us, but love is His very nature. "God is love" (1 John 4:16). Therefore, "the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13).