A more excellent way.

www.maf.org

the mission of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is sharing the love of Jesus Christ through aviation and technology…

…so that isolated people may be physically and spiritually transformed.

MAF flights support indigenous churches and local evangelists, create access to medical care, provide disaster relief, ...

…and make community development projects possible ... in some of the most remote places on earth.

No longer slaves

A more excellent way

1Co 12:31-13:3

Because the priority is not to boast but to build up the whole body.

Tongues contributed the least to the common good.

Time and time again, Paul has been urging them to stop being selfish and think about the needs of others.

He speaks of love as the ultimate antidote to the selfish, boastful, thoughtless behavior of the Corinthian church.

Col 3:12-14

Love preserves the unity of the body. Love is the more excellent way.

Verses 1-3 contrast the gifts without love and the gifts with love.

A spiritual gift, no matter how spectacular it is, is of no value if there’s no love there.

Verses 4-7 describe what love is - and what it isn’t.

He gives 9 negative statements about what love is not,
And 7 positive statements about what love is.

Verses 8-13 put the spiritual gifts in their proper place.

The first one is between the partial (gifts) and the complete (perfect).

The second contrast is between that which passes away (gifts) and that which abides.

The third contrast is between the child (gifts) and the man (maturity).

1Co 13:1-3

Love is a way of living that is incomparable.

He purposely exaggerates them. Even on their best day, these gifts are nothing without – love.

Paul uses himself as the example.
Verses 1-3 are in the first person “I”.

Their behavior showed that they were not doing things in love.

Luk 2:8-14

1Co 13:2

Even if Paul knew every one of God’s mysteries and obtained all knowledge, if he lacked love, he amounted to NOTHING.

We will see these three revelatory gifts - tongues, prophecy, and knowledge - again later on in chapter 13.

Rom 8:37-39

God is much more pleased with selfless love than He is with miracles.

It’s the love that brought the Son of God into this dark world and onto the cross.

Mat 7:21-23

1Co 13:3

But even Jesus never told anyone to surrender their body to be burned!

Paul tells Church age believers to present their bodies for service, not to give them over to be burned.