If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13
1. Love is patient
2. Love is kind: 1 Cor. 13:4-7
a. Defining kindness:
Attitude: inward experiences of personal care and
compassion producing a desire for the happiness and
welfare of others.
Action: outward conduct contributing to the happiness,
welfare, and supportive companionship to others.
b. Relationship between patience and kindness: Eph. 4:20-24
c. God’s kindness toward us
– His kindness in the preservation of life: Gen. 19:15-19
– His kindness in not forsaking His image-bearers: Ruth 2:20
– His kindness in His tender leadership: Hosea 11:4
– His kindness in the exercise of common grace: Luke 6:35
– His kindness leading to repentance: Rom. 2:4
– His kindness in making us trophies of His grace: Eph. 2:4-7
– His kindness in the granting of forgiveness: Eph. 4:32
– His kindness in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus: Titus 3:4
d. Our kindness towards others
– A good word: Prov. 25:11
– A sacrificial deed: 1 John 3:16-18
– A burden-carrying heart: Gal. 6:2
– A friend in time of need: Job 2:11-13