10-23-16
Illuminated 1 John 3:10-20
Living a Different Kind of Love
I. Love's Message
A. Love One Another - 3:11
B. The Lack of Love is Equated With Evil - 3:12
C. Love of our Christian Family is the Fruit of Salvation
- 3:14
D. The Lack of Love is Equated with Death - 3:15-16
II. Love's Messenger 3:16-17
III. Love's Method
A. We Sacrifice - 3:16
B. We Serve - 3:17
C. We Speak - 3:18
D. We Act - 3:18
IV. Love's Confidence
A. Confidence of His Truth in Us When We Love - 3:19
B. Confidence in His Love, it is Greater Than Our Hearts
- 3:20
C. Confidence in His Full Knowledge of Us - 3:20
A Unique Look at 1
Corinthians 13:4-8
The following is a paraphrase of the “love” verses based on
the question of “what if one paraphrased love as a negative rather than a
positive?” This gives a unique and
startling perspective on love and highlights the positive attributes of the
kind of love that God has for us and gives to us.
First, the text from the NIV:
1 Cor 13: 4-8
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does
not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love
never fails . . . (NIV)
A Paraphrase of the
Negative Concept:
What if ... Love is short fused, impatient, hurried and
rude; it is irritable and often annoyed by others. It is jealous and resentful, arrogant,
prideful and bragging, puffs up and shows off.
It is impolite and discourteous, even disrespectful; and selfish,
imposing, demanding. Flashes with rage,
sets off easily; holds grudges, and is bitter; keeps track of mistakes, and
uses them as leverage. Love appreciates
inequity and watches gleefully any wrong doing; squashes the truth, hides the
truth, doesn’t listen to truth. Love
preserves self, takes advantage of others, doubts others, suspects others,
disbelieves others; love renounces, quits, resigns, falls short, lets down,
disappoints, dissatisfies. Love always
fails.
A Paraphrase of the Positive Concept:
Love is not short fused, impatient, hurried or rude; it is
not irritable and never annoyed by others.
It is not jealous, resentful, arrogant, prideful and bragging; nor does
it puff up and show off. It is polite
and courteous, even respectful, and self sacrificing; never imposing or
demanding. Love doesn’t flash with rage,
doesn’t set off easily; holds no grudges, and refuses to be bitter; doesn’t
track mistakes to use as leverage. Love
appreciates equity and cannot take part in any wrong doing; it cannot squash
the truth or hide the truth, and always listens and speaks truth. Love is not self preserving, takes no
advantage of others, doesn’t doubt others, nor suspects and disbelieves others;
love will not renounce, quit, resign, fall short, let down, disappoint, or
dissatisfy. Love always triumphs and
never fails.
(written by Mark W.
Gregory)
